Living in Tokyo, all I want to do is laze around.

Mrs. Uesugi, holding her youngest daughter, smiled and said, "Buy more so they can eat more."

It seems that neither parent has any concept of junk food.

It means the child can eat whatever they want.

As long as you don't lose your appetite during mealtimes because you're eating snacks, it's fine.

"Hot dogs! Sandwiches!" Xiao Aiyi saw the steaming food with lettuce in the shop window and dragged Qian Aiyi over.

"It seems that children have no resistance to this kind of food."

As Uesugi Kai spoke, he turned to Hanamaru beside him and asked, "Hanabi, do you want to eat it? I'll go buy you the biggest one."

"Kai-kun...are you trying to please Hanabi?" Hanamaru Hanabi smiled.

"Yes, that's the idea."

"Alright, Hanabi will have one. But let me make this clear first, Hanabi won't be bought off by a simple hot dog sandwich."

"So it means it won't increase favorability, right? Okay, I understand."

Kai Uesugi smiled and walked towards the shop window.

He ordered a hot dog with corn sauce and Frankfurt sausage for Hanabi, and also paid for the two little girls, Aiyi and Qian Aiyi. After waiting for about five minutes, he received Hanabi's hot dog.

"Hi~ Please take care, sir." The shop assistant smiled and waved to the two adorable little girls.

"Aiyi, don't eat yet."

"Oh, right!" Ai looked up and said to Kai Uesugi with a grin, "Thanks, Nini~"

Qian Aiyi was also behind, hugging the hot dog obediently and saying, "Thank you, brother."

"fine."

Kai Uesugi really likes them; they're polite, cute, and very sensible.

Aside from Ai Yi being a bit mischievous, isn't she the perfect younger sister template?

"Here, this is the corn sauce I ordered for you."

Hanabi Hanabi's little hand reached out from the sleeve of her coat and took the hot dog he offered.

She looked at him, somewhat puzzled: "Kai-kun, aren't you going to eat?"

"I'm not hungry."

“But you only ate a little bread this morning. I don’t care, you must be hungry.” Hanamaru Hanabi said, placing the hot dog in his hand and then ordering another one from the shop herself.

"A Frankfurt sausage hot dog with corn sauce."

Kai Uesugi stood still, looking at the hot dog in her hand, then at her back as she stood in front of the shop window.

I couldn't help but feel a little self-deprecating.

He meant to care about her, but instead she ended up caring about him instead...

However, precisely because of this, there is even more evidence that the two fireworks are essentially the same.

......

Boarding began, and to keep the two little girls from running around, Uesugi Kai grabbed Chiai's hand and led her into the cabin.

Before boarding the plane, you have to walk across the boarding bridge. Perhaps because it was the first time she had stepped on it, Qian Aiyi was quite sensitive to the sounds of her walking. Her eyes were also looking at the distant Tokyo city through the glass wall of the boarding bridge, filled with a light called childlike innocence.

The lights over there filled the sky, like scattered lights radiating their own splendor along a black line.

The group boarded the plane, found their seats, and it was 6 o'clock; the plane was about to take off.

Soon, the passenger plane began to taxi to the takeoff gate.

During the flight, passengers could clearly feel the plane changing direction.

Outside the airplane's square window, the sun was slowly rising, the horizon was beginning to lighten, and the few sparse clouds in the distance were tinged with the red of the rising sun.

Hanabi Hanamaru sat on the outer edge, her purple eyes gazing at the distant horizon.

"Kai-kun, if fireworks really disappear, will you feel a sense of loss?"

"If I said there wouldn't be, would you believe me?" Uesugi Kai saw her small hand on her skirt. He subconsciously wanted to hold that delicate hand, but then gave up the idea because he remembered that their affection level was 0.

Hanabi Hanabi did not answer, and Kai Uesugi, unable to see her expression, could not discern what she was thinking.

The engines started running, the captain pulled the latch, the co-pilot reported the situation, and the aircraft began to slowly climb during takeoff.

And the rising sun outside the window was even more dazzling.

"Kai-kun, this scene of fireworks... seems familiar."

"Hmm? When was that?"

"Like... that time in England, Hanabi was sitting in a seat on the outside, looking out the window at the sun that was getting bigger as the plane took off. Even though she was looking at the sun, Hanabi was thinking that she would never be able to see Kai again."

A long silence followed.

"Actually... at the airport, you wanted me to try to stop you, right?" Uesugi Kai asked.

"Yes, Hanabi has always hoped that Kai-kun could understand what she is thinking, just like her dream of drawing. Because of Kai-kun's encouragement, that little girl fell in love with drawing, and because of Kai-kun's gentleness, she persevered. Although she loves drawing and hopes to improve her skills, what she hopes for even more is for Kai-kun to be by her side."

Hanabi Hanamaru kept her gaze fixed on the window, without turning around.

As the cabin lights were turned off, the distant sunrise became the only light inside the cabin.

Her profile was illuminated by the red light, her hair glistening and sparkling, exquisitely beautiful.

Kai Uesugi was speechless at what she said.

He was wrong then, thinking that Fireworks shouldn't have her dreams ruined because of him, so he sent her to England.

But actually... her real dream was just to stay by his side, and it always has been that way.

He could hardly imagine what kind of feelings Hanabi had when she boarded the plane.

Kai Uesugi only remembered that the moment that thin, frail figure disappeared into the boarding bridge with his suitcase, he had never looked so frail.

If you never lose something, you'll never know how hard-won this wonderful thing is.

Kai Uesugi reached out and took Hanabi Hanabi's small hand in his.

Hanabi Hanabi turned her head and looked at him.

"Fireworks...is it only at times like this that you feel at ease?"

"Kai-kun, did you know?"

"I know, I know." Uesugi Kai squeezed her hand. Her petite figure was like a dandelion in spring; if not careful, it would dissipate with a gust of wind.

Hanabi Hanabi saw his expression and, unconcerned about being shaken hands with someone she barely liked, smiled and said:

"If I received this warmth from Kai-kun before I disappeared, then Hanabi... would have no regrets."

“Don’t say that,” Uesugi Kai smiled at her. “No matter what kind of fireworks they are, they are still fireworks. None of them can disappear, and I won’t let her disappear either. As long as your affection level reaches 50 points, you will have a reason to stay. I will try my best to make you feel warm.”

Hanabi Hanamaru was taken aback by his words at first, then a smile gradually bloomed on her cute face:

"Hanabi, too, is willing to believe him."

"Alright, take a nap on the plane. We already go to bed late, so we need to conserve our energy to have more fun."

"Um......"

The plane stopped shaking and began to enter a stable flight state.

Kai Uesugi closed his eyes, leaned back in his chair, and held the small hand of the girl beside him.

"Kai-kun".

"what happened?"

"What you just said will increase your favorability by 10."

Uesugi Kai laughed: "So, you've already achieved 20% of the goal before even setting off?"

That's right.

"Well, fifty points of favorability shouldn't take long, right?"

"Ah."

Kai Uesugi immediately relaxed. "Where do you want to go when we get to Hokkaido?"

"Kai-kun, let's talk about it when we get there."

"Okay, we'll talk about it when we get there. Let's go to sleep now."

Even after saying all that, the two of them still didn't let go of each other's hands.

......

Five minutes passed like this until Uesugi Kai fell completely asleep. Hanabi Hanamaru then opened her eyes. She turned her head, and his image was reflected in her violet eyes. The light in her eyes revealed a reluctance to part.

--------

In November, Hokkaido has entered winter, with temperatures dropping below 5 degrees Celsius, accompanied by a heavy snowfall.

We transferred at Tokyo Haneda Airport to Sapporo New Chitose Airport, and then took the Snow Country Train from Sapporo to Hakodate. After all that, we met up at 5 o'clock and set off, and now it's almost 11 o'clock.

The sun was hanging on the horizon.

The train passed through a narrow tunnel, and what came into view was a snow country, a vast expanse of white under the clear sky.

Although the night scene differs from that of "Snow Country," the visual experience is remarkably similar, as if one were actually there.

As Kai Uesugi sat inside the train, listening to the sound of the tracks, he gazed out the window. Countless tiny white snowflakes drifted down from the colorless, transparent sky, swirling and dancing among the brilliant beams of light filtering through the clouds—a beauty beyond words.

"I didn't expect Hakodate City to have such a rare snowfall so early this year."

When talking about snowy days, Uesugi Kai always thinks of the snowy day when he met Hanabi-chan.

As the moving company's truck drove by, a delicate little girl timidly clung to her mother's clothes on the opposite side of the street, hiding behind her.

She stood beneath the swirling snow, looking so delicate and pitiful.

###A statement, and my thoughts on writing this###

Even now, I still want to continue writing this book.