My daily life in love is too contrary to my character.

He even ran away on Qixi Festival (Chinese Valentine's Day). My mom could have asked him to stay with her, but he didn't. She said they're an old married couple and don't really care about these holidays.

Indeed, that's what Gennai Ichiro said this morning.

"So, Shiraishi-kun, what about me? I'm just a newlywed wife, and we're getting a divorce in less than a month. Are you really not willing to spend even a third of your time with me?"

Don't even think about it.

Chapter 101: Eventually, we must begin learning time management.

"......"

"Do you know how rare it is to spend an evening legitimately shopping for Qixi Festival with six or seven girls? As a girl, I drool just thinking about it."

Even after entering Chiyo, she was still trying to persuade him.

"I promise you, it's all the same whether I run to two or three places. It's pitiful to see you all alone at home. But I have to arrange the time, otherwise I can't spare the time."

Shiraishi Sawa suddenly nodded in agreement, leaving Ichiyo somewhat bewildered.

"Really? Are you alright, Shiraishi-kun?"

Shiraishi Zexiu sighed inwardly and nodded imperceptibly. The reason for his change in attitude was the release of a system task that had been dormant for a long time.

[Ding! With Qixi Festival approaching, you've received invitations to spend the festival with three potential partners, either directly or indirectly, in a single day. Could there be more? The quest has been triggered.]

[Task Description: Spend Qixi Festival with the girl on the day of the festival. The system will automatically determine the girl's satisfaction level at the end of the festival, and you will receive a reward based on the satisfaction level.]

[Task Rewards:]

[Spend time with at least three people on Qixi Festival: 1500 points]

[Spend time with at least three task participants evenly on Qixi Festival: 1500 points (within half an hour allowed for error)]

[For every 1 or more satisfied individuals, receive 1500 points + a random B-level skill mastery card]

[Number of satisfied candidates greater than or equal to 2: 1500 points + random A-level skill mastery card]

[Number of satisfied candidates greater than or equal to 3: 1500 points + random S-level skill mastery card]

[Number of satisfied candidates greater than or equal to 4: 1500 points + designated skill S-level mastery card]

Task rewards can be claimed cumulatively.

[The quest is not yet available; it will be available on Qixi Festival (Chinese Valentine's Day).]

This is forcing myself to become a time management master!

My points have been stuck at 6802 for quite some time, far from 50,000. I finally triggered a mission that Shiraishizawa Hide couldn't refuse. If I don't go to Chiyo, many missions will become much more difficult to complete, or even impossible.

"Go ahead, consider it my honeymoon with you before the divorce."

"Mr. Shiraishi, is your honeymoon only one-third of a night? I'm starting to worry about life with your second-marriage girl in the future."

"It's alright. But what will you do when I'm running around to the other two places during the Qixi Festival? What will you do by yourself? How about I take you to the president's place?"

That way I can avoid having to make one trip.

As if sensing Shiraishi Sawa's thoughts, Ichiyo extended her slender finger and shook it.

"No, Shiraishi-kun, don't worry, I won't be bored by myself. I'll wait for you quietly. Baby Fox is super well-behaved."

"I'm even more worried now."

--

"There are only 2 minutes left before we get off work, Shiraishi-kun, you don't need to keep looking at your watch."

"No, let me check the time and see if I have enough time to go to the Sumida River area tonight."

"I can't go tonight. I have to do a final project when I get back, it's so annoying. But what are you going there for, Shiraishi-kun? To scout it out?"

"What a pity," although he hadn't originally intended to invite Chiyo, he felt awkward refusing since she had said so.

"But you're right, I'm just going to scout out the location. I might have a bad sense of direction, so it would be embarrassing if someone sent me a location name the day after tomorrow and I didn't know it."

Additionally, it would also help me familiarize myself with the terrain so I could make my escape route easier.

The Sumida River is a river, and the main location of the Tanabata Festival is along the river near Sumida Park. Shiraishizawa Hide calculated that if he finished eating now, the time it would take to go there by subway and come back would be about right.

After having dinner together, the two went to the subway station together, but parted ways because they were on different lines.

"Is Takeuchi still by the Sumida River?"

"What happened? He's not here anymore. Maeda and I are on the subway now, on our way back."

"It's alright. I just finished my part-time job. I'm heading to the Sumida River now. If you haven't left yet, I'll come find you. Everything's fine now."

"You should have said so earlier, then we could have stayed a little longer."

"Oh right, the plans have changed. I'll be going to three different places on the day of the Tanabata Festival, so I'll have even less time to spend with my class. I'll refund you 1000 yen tomorrow."

"???"

"2000 yen."

"Is this a 1000 yen issue? Is Shiraishi, the third party, also a girl?"

"Uh...that's true."

"May all the popular girls explode!"

The people on the subway looked at the two inexplicably manic teenagers with envy in their eyes.

--

After exiting the subway station, Shiraishi Sawah followed the path to Sumida Park in the shortest distance.

The residential area along the alley is very dense and the passageway is narrow, but what is comforting is that many households have planted some flowers and plants in their small front yards. As Shiraishi Sawah walked through the area, he smelled the fragrance of various flowers.

As you approach the Sumida River, the roads become more spacious, with several wide avenues wide enough for three cars to drive side by side.

This place is also a famous location for fireworks festivals. In mid-August, many people come here to visit. In order to continue doing business for the Qixi Festival, many merchants and vendors choose to go here at this time and set up camp until the end of the fireworks festival.

Therefore, at 8 o'clock, there was a constant flow of traffic near Sumida Park, many of which were large vehicles, clearly there to set up small shops. In the middle of the road, traffic police, perhaps working overtime, were directing everything.

After waiting at several traffic lights, Shiraishi Sawa finally arrived at the Sumida River.

The place we arrived at was too far upstream, so there were no shops yet, but as Shiraishi Zexiu looked downstream, the lights had already formed a long line.

The river was exceptionally calm at night; the sound of the water rushing past the banks could only be heard when you got very close.

Shiraishi Sawa first checked the location of Sumida Park and then went inside.

A park is a place where flowers bloom in every season, though the flowers are different each season. However, Shiraishi Sawa Hide didn't come to admire the flowers; he found the most important place to prevent social death—the public toilet.

Although there are definitely more public toilets around the Qixi Festival area than just this one, and the government will also set up temporary ones near such large gatherings, it's still good to be familiar with one more location in advance, just in case.

Afterwards, Shiraishi Sawah took a walk around the park, familiarizing himself with the paths and viewpoints. There were many benches available for resting, so he could bring people here if they got tired from walking around all day.

The cherry blossom area here isn't as big as Ueno Park; I'll have to go to Ueno Park next April.

Walking downstream from the park, you soon see shops, and more and more are being built upstream.

Shiraishi Sawa slowly walked from upstream to downstream of the long line of shops. It wasn't just two straight lines of shops; there were many winding paths with shops side by side, creating an oddly shaped yet strangely orderly scene.

I looked at each shop and made notes on their contents. Although some of them were just sheds at the moment, others had already started setting up stalls to sell their wares.

The special colorful paper figures for the Tanabata Festival are already available, and there are many families doing so. Shiraishi Zexiu silently memorized their locations.

Even walking very fast, it took Hideki Shiraishizawa nearly half an hour to visit all the shops just to remember their contents. He must have spent a long time visiting them all on the day of the Tanabata Festival.

Finally, he visited the nearest temple, Senju-ji Temple, familiarized himself with the roads, and then Shiraishi Sawah took the subway back home.

Chapter 102 Trivial Matters the Day Before Qixi Festival

It was almost 10:30 when I got back to the apartment. Takanashi Yuko was no longer in the living room and had gone back to her room. She had class the next day, so Shiraishi Sawa quickly did some boxing, then took a shower and went to bed.

On Tuesday morning, Shiraishi Sawa Hide woke up ten minutes earlier than usual, aiming to run two kilometers more during his morning run.

When they returned, Takanashi Yuko had already prepared breakfast, but today's breakfast was probably not made by Takanashi Yuko herself; it was a long, twisted strip similar to a braid.

Takanashi Yuuko was taking small bites of a twisted dough stick. If you got close, you could hear a faint sound of the "twisted dough stick" being chewed, but it wasn't very loud and probably not as crisp as a twisted dough stick.

"Birdstalking, what is that?"

"I've never seen this before," Shiraishi Sawa asked curiously.

"Hey, Shiraishi-kun, don't you know? This is a type of pancake eaten on Qixi Festival. It's made by baking wheat and rice flour."

Takanashi Yuko took out a stick and handed it to Shiraishi Sawa.

"I've never had this before. I rarely celebrate Qixi Festival," Shiraishi Zexiu said, taking a bite. The outer layer was crispy, while the inside was rather soft and chewy. The taste was alright. "Isn't Qixi Festival tomorrow? Why are we eating this today?"

"Because I plan to make noodles for you tomorrow morning, and there's a saying in our area that 'eating noodles on Qixi Festival will prevent serious illness,' so we'll have the pancakes today."

“We don’t have that where I’m from. We mainly use colorful clothes and letters to pray for blessings, and I only heard about these things from other people.”

"Is that so? Then I hope that tomorrow's Tanabata Festival will leave a good impression on you, Shiraishi-kun."

No need for tomorrow, it was already destined yesterday that this year's Qixi Festival would leave an unforgettable impression.

--

After finishing their biscuits, the two of them set off for school together.

Today is the day before Qixi Festival, but the residential area is already full of 'short books'. These short books are made of five colors of colored paper and long strips of poetry paper, plus decorative little things, and they are made of bamboo.

Shiraishi Sawa knew this because his family also hung it up like that.

When you get home in the evening, you can do something simple to add a festive touch.

The classroom was as hot as ever, but it gradually began to break into more groups, as some people had already found friends to play with tomorrow, while others were all alone, looking a little anxious.

In Japan, a country that places great importance on being welcomed, having no one to hang out with is something that can easily make you look down on.

Nana Hashimoto is calling people to collect their homework.

Although I wasn't there, several people had gathered next to the takoyaki area.

Ayane Uemura, Yuka Sakai, and Mie Wada are the three girls who will be going out with us tomorrow, besides Yuko Takanashi and Nana Hashimoto. They are currently chatting with Arisu Takeuchi and Shusuke Maeda, mostly planning tomorrow's itinerary.

Upon seeing the two people walk in, the five of them waved happily in greeting.

"Takayuki, this is our current itinerary for tomorrow. We plan to leave together as soon as get out of class ends tomorrow afternoon, then catch the third-to-last subway to go home. Would you like to take a look?"