Laid-Back Life in Tokyo: I Really Didn't Want to Work Hard
Chapter 313 - 242: Shinjuku Imperial Garden, Another Sky-Full of Cherry Blossoms

Chapter 313: Chapter 242: Shinjuku Imperial Garden, Another Sky-Full of Cherry Blossoms

The glossed rain visits the earth.

Slender arrows part from the fingertips, watched by all members of the Tokyo University Kyudo Club, flying into the distance as if fated.

Uesugi Sakura put down the bamboo bow, and amidst the discussions of her classmates, sat back in the resting area.

The seniors carrying bows over two meters long began to whisper and discuss.

———This was his eightieth arrow in this round of shooting, and the target was crowded with green arrows.

"Isn’t he the record holder of the hundred-arrow meet?" Seisa Takeshun put down the Japanese bow and sat beside Uesugi Sakura, "A hundred arrows, a hundred hits."

"Yes, I’ve participated once." Uesugi Sakura gazed absentmindedly at the familiar sight of rain outside the Kyudo Field.

"I always feel like you’re amazing at everything you do, Senpai."

"Persevere, maybe you won’t get as skilled as I am, but it’s more than enough."

"..."

"May I ask you a question, Senpai?"

"Go ahead."

"When the bowstring is drawn tight and the sight is focused on the arrow, what do you think about, Senpai?"

——————————

The lecture hall at Tokyo University.

"Literature and art are about making people feel that a stone is a stone, a bridge is a bridge, a flower is a flower."

"When I say write the word ’bridge,’ what is the first image that comes to your mind? A wooden bridge over a stream? An overpass across a street? A cross-sea bridge over Tokyo Bay?"

"Literature is something personal, it wears out, and needs to be reorganized, it requires a pursuit of defamiliarization."

"What is wear and tear? A metaphor: Ah, she’s as beautiful as a flower."

"This sentence sounds dated, doesn’t it? Everyone has heard it, countless times, instinctively labeling it: A sentence like this, is that literature?"

The students in the class laughed.

"But you have to know, when this metaphor first appeared, it must have been exceedingly beautiful to the people of that time. A woman as a flower? How could I have not thought of such a good phrase?"

"So, when we create literature, appropriately seek a level of defamiliarization, let the words you write create a sense of unprecedented aesthetic beauty in the reader’s mind, making them see it with fresh eyes, making them understand ’so words can be used this way’..."

...

After class, many students packed their notes and left first.

Some, still intrigued by the hour and forty-minute class, rushed to the podium to continue consulting the tea-drinking professor.

"Uesugi, let’s go eat at the cafeteria." Todaka Keichiro slung his backpack over his shoulder.

Uesugi Sakura arranged her notes, shifting her gaze, the gold-rimmed glasses reflecting the clock’s ticking hands, "No, you and Seisa go ahead and eat, I need to go to the school gate."

Soon, her silhouette disappeared from the lecture hall.

"Senpai, where is he going?"

Todaka Keichiro raised his chin confidently, "A man only slightly less handsome than me is surely going on a date."

"Senpai said he doesn’t have a girlfriend."

"No girlfriend?" Todaka Keichiro patted his shoulder, shaking his head, "Haven’t you noticed his left hand?"

"What’s with his left hand?" Seisa Takeshun asked in confusion.

Todaka Keichiro gave a look of ’how can you not get it,’ "Tsk, a ring, a ring! Such a big diamond ring, didn’t you notice?"

"Todaka, are you saying Senpai is... already married!?"

"Sigh, that’s the sadness of it. Among our whole class of 28, 26 have never been in a relationship, and Uesugi got married early."

"So, are you interested?" Todaka Keichiro urged.

"What?" Seisa Takeshun was slow to react.

"Witness Uesugi’s wife whom we’ve never seen! You’re not curious? He’s a man who gets a dozen love letters a month."

"What’s there to be curious about, no, don’t push me."

"Go take a look, just one glance."

————————————

"Sakura, these are clean clothes."

"Cookies, I found them so delicious when buying them with classmates! I wanted Sakura to try them too."

"The chocolates Hanabi likes, remember not to eat too much, Sakura, you’ll gain weight."

"Milk, drink more milk too."

"And a laptop, Sakura said you wanted one for notes and homework a few days ago, so..."

"You just went and bought one for me?" Uesugi Sakura didn’t take it.

Hanamaru Hanabi, who was handing over the large and small packages, was momentarily stunned and looked up at him, "Sakura... don’t you like it?"

"It’s too expensive, this is the salary you earned from doing illustrations." Uesugi Sakura took the Apple-branded black laptop bag from her hands, "Besides, I don’t lack money right now."

"Hanabi only wanted to help Sakura."

"I get it," Uesugi Sakura looked at the girl in the white dress, "Where do you want to go on Saturday?"

Hanamaru Hanabi slightly knitted her eyebrows, her ten fingers touching in front of her white skirt:

"Sakura, you decide."

"Do you have class today?"

"Yes, then I’ll be going first, Hanabi said.

Uesugi Sakura: "Goodbye."

"Yeah, goodbye."

Uesugi Sakura watched her disappear into the distance, then, as he turned around, noticed two people secretly observing behind the ginkgo tree, one of them looking very surprised.

Shaking his head, he didn’t pay much attention, carrying the bags and went to his nearby rented apartment.

—— They originally planned to rent the same apartment. After all, it’s only a half-hour drive from Tokyo University to the Tokyo Art University, but to let Hanabi grow a bit independently, he let her rent her own place.

——————————

May 16, Friday evening.

The twilight stretched across the sky, and the Sakura trees on the Kanda River embankment were all dyed red.

Uesugi Family.

"Hanabi, Hanabi, look, why is Shin crying?" Uesugi Sakura held their three-month-old sister Uesugi Shin, the adorably clumsy little thing, tears streaming.