Laid-Back Life in Tokyo: I Really Didn't Want to Work Hard
Chapter 70 Goto, Still Waiting for the Rescue of the Two

Chapter 70: Chapter 70 Goto, Still Waiting for the Rescue of the Two

"Does Uesugi know how to wield a hatchet?" Tsubokawa Takahiro asked cryptically.

Bang!

The brisk sound of a baseball echoed from within the green wire mesh fence. Uesugi Sakura, while listening to the crisp sound of the metal bat vibrating his eardrums, retorted similarly,

"Why do you think I can’t wield a hatchet?"

Tsubokawa Takahiro walked beside Uesugi Sakura, slightly bowing his head, and touching his reflective glasses,

"You’ve already confirmed your relationship with Hanamaru, so Hanamaru is now your main partner. Given Hanamaru’s personality, she probably wouldn’t backstab you, right?"

"I believe that as long as you, Uesugi, persistently persuade her, you can get her to accept it. By then, once the main partner agrees, given your looks, who knows how many secondary partners you could attract. Under your main character charm, it’s not a problem for them to coexist peacefully."

"Shingo, that’s my experience."

Tsubokawa spoke with conviction. Uesugi Sakura looked straight ahead, imagining in his mind the scene of himself flirting with other girls and then accidentally getting caught by Hanamaru Hanabi.

Uesugi Sakura couldn’t guess what kind of mood she would be in upon encountering such a situation.

Probably... she would be very sad.

But what can be certain is,

With her timid personality, she would just deeply bury those emotions, and every day when she faces him, she would still show that bright smile.

She would face the changed him with equanimity.

Even if he brought his new girlfriend in front of Hanabi and came clean, she would likely smile and say, "Hanabi... Hanabi... it’s okay, as long as Sakura likes it..."

Even though beneath the smile, her heart would be filled with bitterness, she would still force herself to say these words that would make him happy.

Just imagining that suddenly saddened heart made Uesugi Sakura feel really guilty.

Although at that time, he would most likely be dumped into Tokyo Bay by Hanamaru Hiroki.

Shaking his head, Uesugi Sakura brushed aside all these thoughts and faced Tsubokawa, who was advising him, saying,

"That’s what you thought, but actually Hanabi isn’t someone so easily bullied."

"What? Does Hanamaru have a split personality?"

Tsubokawa Takahiro had only spoken to Hanamaru Hanabi a couple of times at school, and the entire class knew they were childhood friends.

So it’s only natural that Uesugi knows things that he doesn’t.

"Almost," Uesugi Sakura said seriously, "It’s very close to that situation."

"What is it?"

"Yandere."

"Yandere!?"

Tsubokawa Takahiro was stunned for a moment, showing a look of shock, "You’re joking, right? Uesugi, Hanamaru, who’s such a gentle girl, would be a yandere!?"

He couldn’t imagine the normally cute and timid Hanamaru would show a sinister expression, holding a fruit knife, saying something like "No one can get close to Uesugi."

That would completely destroy her character setting, wouldn’t it?

"It’s true, that’s why I said Hanabi is now very close to having a split personality."

Uesugi Sakura was very serious, not at all like he was joking.

Then, he continued to say to Tsubokawa, "Let me ask you, don’t you think Hanabi is very easy to talk to?"

"Yes."

Tsubokawa Takahiro nodded earnestly, because Hanamaru Hanabi was easy to get along with and also very pretty, which made her quite popular in class, which was exactly the opposite of Uesugi Sakura.

"Doesn’t she agree to help with many requests?"

"Yes."

"Isn’t she very timid, the kind of girl who won’t refuse any requests?"

"Yes."

"That’s what I used to think too."

"Used to?" Tsubokawa questioned.

Uesugi Sakura continued, "Ever since she accepted my confession, I’ve come to realize her deeply hidden traits are gradually getting stronger."

"Why is that?" Tsubokawa couldn’t comprehend.

"Sigh~~"

Uesugi Sakura sighed, raising his head to look at the sky as if reminiscing, "This kind of personality was very welcomed in high school, but in middle school and elementary school, it completely made her a target for bullying."

Tsubokawa Takahiro frowned as he listened.

"Especially in middle school," Uesugi Sakura continued, "Back then, I wasn’t in the same class as her, and because she was cute and very easy to talk to, she was often bullied by the girls in her class."

"She was made to do things like cleaning, wiping desks, wiping the blackboard, and cleaning windows."

"Although she never complained much, as you know, those guys only become more aggressive once they start bullying,"

Uesugi Sakura tightened his face earnestly, as if stating a fact, "Because she often walked with me after school, rumors started spreading in her class, saying that she seemed innocent but actually..."

He paused for a moment here.

"Isolation, provocation, deliberately speaking ill loudly... She’s experienced everything you can imagine. During that time, she was very gloomy, yet still pretended not to be in front of me, not wanting me to know."

Uesugi Sakura sighed once more here.

"I was really oblivious at that time, too. So focused on studying to get into this famous Tokyo high school, I completely ignored what she was going through, only talking to her about getting into Kamigoe High School."

"By the time I came to my senses, she had developed an almost imperceptible side, sigh~~"

"Is... it really true?"

The doubt in Tsubokawa Takahiro’s heart gradually diminished; he truly believed the experience Uesugi Sakura described.

Because he had indeed encountered such people in middle school, and had really seen someone being bullied in the restroom.

The next day, a corner seat in class became vacant.

Although he didn’t know what kind of bullying occurred among girls, he guessed it was something like what Uesugi mentioned.

"Of course it’s true,"

Uesugi Sakura said earnestly, "This is called a Psychological self-protection mechanism."

"?"

"It can strengthen a sensitive and fragile mind, help people cope with crises and setbacks, and reduce or avoid internal anxiety and pain to better adapt to the present situation."

"Hanabi belongs to the self-protection mechanism called ’compensate,’ because of the failure of her innate personality, prompting another side to emerge to make up for the feelings of loss due to failure."

"Don’t you find Hanamaru behaving oddly recently?" Uesugi Sakura asked seriously.

"No,"

Tsubokawa Takahiro, baffled by all these terms he’d never heard, instinctively replied, "except for frequently sneaking glances at you."

"No, no, no,"

Uesugi Sakura shook his head and said, "That sneaky look is because recently, her other side has expanded. It’s an unconscious desire to know what I’m doing at any given moment, a side of her personality wants to control everything."

"Really?" Tsubokawa Takahiro found Uesugi’s explanation increasingly absurd.

"How could I be lying? Just now when we walked from the classroom to the stairwell, Hanabi was staring at me the whole time. Didn’t you find her gaze very odd?"

Tsubokawa Takahiro furrowed his brows in contemplation,

"It seems... a little..."