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

"Huh? You, a social butterfly, actually know about visual novels?" Murata is now starting to wonder if Uesugi is one of his kind.

"I also have a friend who plays visual novels."

"how?"

"He didn't date anyone throughout high school, and now... his dad is forcing him to date some arrogant and domineering rich girl. Why do you think that is?"

Murata didn't understand: "Why?"

Kai Uesugi walked up to him and patted him on the shoulder earnestly: "It's because games kill time. You have to understand that some things are hard to have at the same time. You can't have two kinds of happiness at the same time. You have to make a choice."

"I'm leaving now. Keep up the good work, see you tomorrow."

Kai Uesugi waved and walked out of the dance studio.

Watching his figure disappear through the door, Murata silently thought to himself, "Lies, all lies... In the end, isn't all that effort in life just so I can play games more comfortably? Girlfriends and all that, I don't need them..."

......

Kai Uesugi strolled slowly through the campus at night, his hands in his pockets.

He pushed aside the weeds growing from the edge of the bushes with his right leg as he moved forward, and a spider lurking beneath the grass silently peered into the outside world with its compound eyes.

He looked quite dashing, but he always felt a little lonely inside.

Kai Uesugi walked to a vending machine with only a dim light on the side of the road. He glanced at the drinks displayed above, inserted coins, hesitated between coffee and cola for a while, and then pressed the cola button.

He continued walking in the cold December wind, holding the icy aluminum can of Coke in his hand, one hand in his pocket, slowly pacing forward.

He walked to the stream in the school's back garden, where the lights were dim and only a lonely bench stood beside a willow tree.

Uesugi Kai stopped, suddenly feeling that the scene was somewhat artistic.

A street lamp, a willow tree, a wooden bench, and dim lighting from above.

Kai Uesugi took out his phone, snapped a photo, and posted it on Twitter as a picture update without any caption.

Then, he sat down on a bench and tried to engage in a kind of exercise called "rest".

I was drinking cola while watching the black swans and a few ducks in the river, who were also awake.

Humans often find that nothing is enjoyable.

But sometimes I find the sight of ants crawling on the ground or ducks swimming on the river quite delightful.

Humans would calm down and observe why it floats and how its flippers propel it forward.

And through this, they discovered many mysterious things.

The cold wind hitting my face traveled down my skin and into my collar, making me feel chilled all over.

Uesugi Kai adjusted his collar, put on his hat, and remained there in the quiet, cold night.

Before long, the cola was finished.

He saw a trash can about ten meters away across the street, but he was too lazy to walk over. He glanced at it for a moment, then stood up, flattened the Coke can with both hands, and pretended to throw a shot put.

With a pull of his right leg and a sideways movement, he flung the cola can away with a backhand.

The flattened Coke can glided through the air in a curved parabola, carried by the gentle breeze, and landed precisely in the trash can across the street.

【Precision Lv:MAX】

boring.

That was all Uesugi Kai could say. He plopped back down in his previous spot, intending to watch the black swans and ducks a little longer before going home. But not only were the black swans gone, but even the ducks had waddled ashore.

Their home is a small wooden house built for them by female students from Tokyo University of the Arts.

It's very ordinary, with no paint or patterns, just tiny holes that allow them to crawl in.

However, those few swaggering ducks brazenly went into the black swan's enclosure and even squeezed together with the female black swan inside.

Do ducks also want swans as wives?

Kai Uesugi took out his phone again, ready to take another picture of this strange scene, but just as he opened the camera, a pop-up message appeared on Twitter.

Someone replied to your post.

Filled with curiosity, Uesugi Kai leaned back on the bench and tapped the pop-up window.

There are two replies below.

One of the messages was from Erina Akane: "What are you doing in the middle of the night? You didn't come to work again today, be careful the manager fires you!"

Another one was posted by Hana Maru Hanabi; her personal account ID is her name.

[Is this the school's back garden? Has Kai-kun not gone home to sleep yet?]

Kai Uesugi selectively ignored Akane Rina's reply.

Hanamaru Hanabi... Uesugi Kai hesitated for a long time, typed a long message on his phone, then deleted it because he felt it was inappropriate, and only typed a single reply:

[I'm sitting here for a bit, just getting ready to go home.]

After clicking the send icon, Uesugi Kai let out a sigh, turned off his phone screen, and got up to leave.

Walking on the school road, Uesugi Kai felt inexplicably nervous when replying to Hanabi earlier.

During the afternoon rehearsal, her gentle and delicate gaze left a deep impression on Uesugi Kai once again. Her eyes seemed to linger in his mind, leaving a lasting impression on him.

After walking for an unknown number of minutes, Uesugi Kai arrived near the school cafeteria. Since the university is an open university, there are many businesses located nearby.

The lights illuminated the entire street, and the aroma of cooked food and fried food wafted through the air from time to time.

Ramen, oden, takoyaki, milk tea, burritos... all kinds of snacks and vendors can be found here.

It's 10 p.m., and there aren't too many people here, but there are also a fair number. You can see many couples walking together, holding hands, chatting and laughing as they wait in line.

Even though I'm a married man myself, I still feel a little envious of them.

Kai Uesugi didn't even know what was going through his mind.

"One serving of oden, and two each of chikuwa (fish cake), fish roe pouches, boiled radish, and fish tofu."

Kai Uesugi walked to a small shop window, peering through the rising steam, and spoke to the shop owner inside.

"okay!"

The owner was a middle-aged man with an Osaka accent, wearing a chef's hat, and slightly overweight. He enthusiastically agreed.

"Clear broth or spicy broth?"

"Make it red, and add more chili."

"No problem!" The uncle's voice became even more enthusiastic, as if the heat from his food could be transmitted through his voice.

But it must be said that on such a chilly day, it is precisely this warmth and the aroma of oden that bring a touch of warmth to one's heart.

Kai Uesugi stood outside the small window, waiting.

"Hey, Christmas is almost here, what are you going to give me?"

"A gift? What do you want?"

I want everything!

"Then I'll give you everything!"

After cuddling together for a while, the two happily pressed their foreheads together and shook them incessantly.

At this moment, both of them had smiles on their faces.

The stench of romance was palpable. Uesugi Kai overheard a young couple openly flirting next door while buying skewers, and couldn't help but inwardly grumble.

But... Christmas is almost here, isn't it?

Although Kai Uesugi doesn't really celebrate Christmas, it's the perfect time to give out small fireworks as gifts.

But when she thought about giving a gift, Uesugi Kai felt a little troubled, not knowing what to give.

I recently gave her a sapphire necklace, which she wears often. If I give her another one, she'll probably switch between them, or even wear two at the same time.

What am I thinking?

They haven't even made up yet, and he's already thinking about giving her a gift.

Perhaps the wait for the food was too boring, so Uesugi Kai looked back at the two young couple from before.

I don't know if I don't see it, I'm startled when I see it.

The two of them actually started kissing passionately right in front of him, with the man pinning the woman against the wall, displaying his dominant masculine side.

Hey, I've never been this open before.

Is it really okay for you two to kiss passionately in front of so many people on the street?

That's absolutely indecent, isn't it?

If this happened in the Showa era, if two couples dared to kiss like that in the street, their parents would definitely drag them home and force them to break up.

Then, the two lovers went their separate ways.

They went from being reluctant to part ways to gradually forgetting each other, until finally, they didn't even care whether the other person existed or not.

—Uesugi Kai scratched his head, wondering what he was thinking. He wasn't usually like this.

But seeing the couple across from him gazing at each other tenderly and feeling each other's warmth, Uesugi Kai suddenly felt a little colder.

Even the steam from the oden wafting over his face didn't warm him at all.

His gaze drifted into the distance, where he saw the Tokyo Tower, its lights flashing orange.

It shines alongside the city lights, illuminating the entire city of Tokyo and painting the night sky with a layer of orange-red hues of black.

"One serving of oden, and two each of chikuwa (fish cake), fish roe pouches, boiled radish, and fish tofu."

"Okay! But we'll have to wait until this guy finishes. Haha, you guys ordered exactly the same things."

Gazing into the distance at Uesugi Kai, I suddenly heard a familiar voice.

He instinctively turned around and immediately saw Hanabi Hanabu, wearing a beret, smiling at him.

A rosy smile graced her delicate face, and her light, fine hair swayed gently in the fleeting night breeze.

"You...why are you here?"

Upon seeing her, words lingered in his throat for a long time before finally uttering this sentence.