My love index is at its maximum.

Noticing the fiery intensity of his gaze, Shimamoto Kana adjusted her glasses, a gentle and serene smile appearing on her lips: "Are you feeling better?"

"Alright, no problem at all." Tsukasa Tazaki shook his arm a few times and smiled happily: "This little injury is just a superficial wound."

"Is there something you need, Shimamoto-sensei?" Hoshino Hanami asked politely again, her hand under the covers secretly touching the soft flesh of the scumbag's waist.

Tsukasa Tazaki immediately shut up.

"I just finished my business." Shimamoto Kana looked back at her and nodded slightly. "I heard from the nurse that Tazaki-kun had woken up, so I rushed over to see him."

"Thank you for your concern, he is doing very well."

"She seems to be alright." Shimamoto Kana touched a strand of hair behind her ear and smiled gently. "I have some good news to tell Tazaki-san. Hoshino-sensei, would you like to share my happiness?"

Hoshino Hanami asked uninterestedly, "What is it?"

"I successfully got a divorce."

"Congratulations." Hoshino Hanami gave a formulaic smile, leaned back, and snuggled into her boyfriend's arms.

With one arm around her slender waist, Tsukasa Tazaki used the other to straighten her slightly messy black hair.

“This is all thanks to Tazaki-kun.” Shimamoto Kana looked at the two of them standing side by side and smiled calmly. “To thank him, and for my own happiness, I changed my surname to Tazaki.”

Hoshino Hanami pinched down hard.

"Ah—" Tsukasa Tazaki hunched his shoulders, his back hunching over like a live shrimp that had fallen into boiling water.

"Tsukasa Tazaki, you're really something!"

"It hurts..."

"Such a young age, yet he knows how to please women." Hoshino Hanami smiled without a trace of emotion. "Such an outstanding young man, how can I, as his elder sister, praise him?"

"...Could you let go first?"

"Don't loosen it!"

"My back really hurts."

Kana Shimamoto placed her hands on her knees, looking at the two of them with a tender expression. The window behind her was open, and the late summer breeze fluttered the white lace curtains, a scene that could be seen as a ripple marking a new beginning in the relationship between the three.

"What should I call you now?" With a pained expression, Tazaki Tsukasa asked with difficulty, "Shimamoto-sensei, or Tazaki-sensei?"

Hoshino Hanami let go of her hand and glared at the ceiling in annoyance.

“Let’s still call you Teacher Shimamoto.” Kana Shimamoto smiled faintly. “My employment contract with the school is still under the name ‘Shimamoto,’ so it won’t be a problem to keep it a secret for two or three years. I’ll use the name Kana Tazaki after you start your university studies.”

"Alright."

Are you happy?

"I'm not just happy," Tsukasa Tazaki said, "I'm also very moved, it feels like I've suddenly settled down and started a family... Oh dear, big sister, I'm sorry!"

Kana Shimamoto leaned against the bedside table, looking at Tsukasa Tazaki, who was screaming in pain, with eyes shining and a smile occasionally appearing on her pursed lips, as if she were a sixteen or seventeen-year-old girl watching her beloved boy.

After venting her anger, Hoshino Hanami took a deep breath and looked at Shimamoto Kana: "From now on, he will take the surname Hoshino!"

"I don't mind that." Shimamoto Kana touched her fingers. "If you're going to be a lover, you have to be prepared. As long as he supports me and buys me pretty bags and necklaces, that's fine. Oh right, even without a marriage certificate, a wedding and a ring are still essential!"

"...You have absolutely no ambition!" Hoshino Hanami said dejectedly.

Kana Shimamoto smiled with relief.

“It seems so,” she said. “But this is what I’ve been pursuing for a long time. I’ve pursued it in the past, but I’ve never been able to get it no matter what. I can only wait quietly for that moment—for me, life ended at the age of twenty-two. Until this moment, I sorted out my own problems and completely reaffirmed who I am and what kind of life I want to live.”

After saying that, Shimamoto Kana came to stand in front of Tazaki Tsukasa.

She placed her fair, warm palm on the boy's forehead and, as if listening intently, transferred the warmth from his body to her own.

"Hoshino-sensei."

"what's up?"

"I can't live without him."

"It's none of my business."

“A feeling of overflowing happiness. I can feel it from him.” With a slight smile on her face, Kana Shimamoto continued, “I understand how much he likes you, so I will do my best to help him achieve his wish.”

Hoshino Hanami stretched out a long yawn.

"I won't bother you two anymore." Kana Shimamoto took out "In Search of Lost Time" from her bag and placed it on the table. "You won't be able to get out of the hospital so soon, so I brought it from home for you in case you got bored."

Tazaki Tsukasa exclaimed with delight, "Shimamoto-sensei is so thoughtful!"

"Good luck." Shimamoto Kana bent down and rubbed his forehead, smiling as she looked into his eyes and said, "I'm waiting for you to coax Hoshino-sensei back, and then the three of us will be together."

Hoshino Hanami frowned: "What are we doing together?"

"Of course it's that kind of thing." Shimamoto Kana gave her a meaningful look, turned around and walked out, a faint smile still lingering on her lips.

"To! Saki! Tsukasa!"

"I didn't say anything..."

"You dare say you don't want to?"

"...Is it illegal to think about this kind of thing? Oh dear! Those eyes are so scary. Don't always look so frightening. I find it unsettling to look at you like that!"

Hoshino Hanami glared at him fiercely, pressed a finger to her lips, and ordered him to be quiet.

Tsukasa Tazaki had no choice but to shut his mouth.

He was very good at obeying his older sister's orders; it could even be said to be a manifestation of the close relationship between the two.

"What would you do if I firmly disagreed with you having a lover?"

After asking the question, Hoshino Hanami smiled slightly, a smile so beautiful it felt like it would split one's heart in two.

Tazaki Tsukasa leaned against the headboard, gazing at her lowered eyelids: "Doing what you can is always better than doing nothing."

"What if I leave you now and never see you again?"

“Not bad, right?” Tsukasa Tazaki said. “For the rest of your life, you can just live in a daze, dreaming and living. As long as you’re in a daze, you won’t have any worries, no pain, and no anxiety. You won’t have to worry about how fast or slow time is passing, or whether your laundry is dry. How about that? Pretty great, isn’t it?”

Hoshino Hanami nodded and said, "Very good."

"Where is my older sister?"

"I'll take care of my own affairs, so you just need to think about your own future."

"But without you, I don't know what I would do."

"That's just psychological." Hoshino Hanami smiled slightly, tilting her head slightly. "You'll be fine. You've already become stronger, and you'll become even stronger in the future, so strong that no one can beat you."

“I don’t think so,” Tsukasa Tazaki said. “I just feel that I’m becoming more and more attached to you, and I can hardly bear to lose a day of you.”

Hoshino Hanami sniffed and drooped her head helplessly.

A gentle breeze blows, causing the white curtains to sway intermittently, their swaying carrying a profound meaning, like a metaphor for some kind of compromise.

After a long silence, she rubbed her nose, looked up, and shouted with unusually strong emotion, "Hurry up and hug me, you idiot!"

Tsukasa Tazaki reached out and hugged her waist tightly: "I won't let go of this hug."

"It wasn't a hug," Hoshino Hanami said stubbornly. "I was just hugged by you!"

"No, it's a hug." Tsukasa Tazaki hugged her and lay back down on the bed. "Even now you're still saying that. When did your personality become so awkward, sister?"

Hoshino Hanami's lips trembled as if she wanted to say something, but in the end she just yawned.

Then, she buried her face in Tsukasa Tazaki's chest: "You're just trying to fool me."

Her tone was soft and weak, conveying both grievance and helplessness.

Listening to her soft murmurs, Tsukasa Tazaki felt like drinking a cup of hot coffee on a cold winter's day.

It doesn't matter if the coffee is good or bad—whether it's hand-drip, instant, or distilled. Just holding a cup of coffee and feeling the steam on your face is already very comforting.

“Big sister…” Tsukasa Tazaki said, “I will always love you, just like you said at Toribaba—I love you more than I love myself.”

"How much love is that?"

"Love so much that all the tigers in the world turn into butter."

"You're trying to fool me with Haruki Murakami's words again."

"Then love them so much that all the tigers in the world turn into tiger-skinned bell peppers."

"That's good. It's making me a little hungry." Hoshino Hanami smiled warmly, then punched him on the nose: "Be nicer to me from now on, you hear me!"

"I heard it."

"I like you just as much." Hoshino Hanami pressed herself tightly against his chest. "Remember, you have to listen to everything I say and do whatever I ask!"

"of course."

"Never despise me!"

"Of course," Tsukasa Tazaki said, stroking her back. "Nothing will change."

"I'll let you off this time."

Hoshino Hanami put her arm around his shoulder and bit down hard.

A few small, clearly defined white clouds floated outside the window, and the wind carried the scent of the sea. It was summer, and it was still summer.

Chapter 230 Moving House: Kuriyama Sakura Wants to Get a Cat.

8 month 27 number.

After finishing his breakfast, Tsukasa Tazaki did some calisthenics in front of the window to warm up.

The weather outside was sunny, and the sunlit side of the tall building across the street was almost blindingly bright. The typhoon that swept through four days ago had hastened the end of the long summer, and the refreshing and pleasant autumn had arrived quickly.

It was almost nine o'clock in the morning, and the ward was quiet except for the clear and melodious voice of Kuriyama Sakura reading aloud.

[True knowledge can only be about self-knowledge. We can almost say that true jealousy is only about being jealous of oneself; the actions of others are insignificant; we can only derive wisdom and pain from the happiness we experience within ourselves.]

After reading this sentence, she paused for a moment, leaned back in her chair, and turned her gaze to the sun-drenched window.

"Why aren't you reading anymore?" Tsukasa Tazaki asked, doing push-ups with his back to her.

Kuriyama Sakura unscrewed the water bottle, took a sip to moisten her throat, and said with a hint of dissatisfaction, "I've been reading to you for two whole days!"

"You haven't finished reading it after two days?"