CHAPTER 381: CHAPTER 282 MR. REFLECTION

The heavy dark clouds hovered in the sky, letting down a fine drizzle that covered everything in the park with moisture.

Aei squatted under a bridge in the park.

The bridge was flat and not high, and beneath it flowed a shallow river, flanked by grass as green as emerald.

The bridge pier obscured half of her figure, and her tilted hat seemed to be on the verge of slipping off her beautiful tresses at any moment.

She seemed to be in a daze, pondering some questions thoughtlessly.

This made Uesugi Sakura, who was holding an umbrella on higher ground, recall the way she looked when they first met.

That day, she was also in a daze, lowering her head, staring at the ground.

When asked what she was doing, she said she was watching ants carrying sugar.

This pointless daydreaming was actually a way to kill time, allowing the mind to empty, to forget everything.

In the womb, people have their first sense of perception, which is why many children like enclosed spaces.

As a child, they enjoy covering their heads with blankets at night, enveloping their whole body. They like small cardboard boxes, curling themselves up into a ball to sleep contentedly. They enjoy building small straw huts, curling up under banana leaves, gazing at the sky while hiding from the rain.

Uesugi Sakura understood her desire to be alone with her thoughts, but making her sister worry was never a good thing.

He stepped on the soft mud below the grass to approach the little girl.

The river flowing in front of Aei reflected the image of her tilted hat on her head.

Uesugi Sakura squatted beside her and attempted to converse: "Are you okay?"

"Ugh... not very comfortable..."

"If you’re not feeling well, you can go home first. You’ve been hiding here all afternoon, and it’s raining now. Your sister will be very worried."

"Hmm."

Aei responded to him, but the answer was ambiguous, as she neither stood up nor took any further action.

The air was silent for a while.

Uesugi Sakura noticed that she kept staring at her own reflection in the water.

"Did something happen today?"

"Hmm..."

"Can you tell me?"

"I’m asking Mr. Reflection if he can keep looking at me, but he never answers."

It’s a strange question, and the reflection in the water was a little girl opposite her, not some ’Mr.’.

"As long as you look at the shadow, it will keep looking at you," Uesugi Sakura answered for her reflection.

Ripple after ripple spread across the circular water patterns, endlessly overlapping, making the small river seem less calm.

"Will it keep watching..." Aei gazed at the water surface pounded by raindrops into circles.

Uesugi Sakura answered accordingly:

"Yes, it will."

Explaining it with the reflection phenomenon learned in junior high does make sense, but at Aei’s age, she’s yet to learn about the phenomena of light.

In a child’s perception, the water surface reflecting appearance is just taken for granted.

Uesugi Sakura noticed her clothes were a bit wet. If they didn’t go home soon in this rain, catching a cold would be inevitable.

"Why don’t you go back with your sister and take a bath first? You can talk about anything slowly."

Aei shook her head, her fine, curved brows not showing any sign of happiness:

"If I don’t look at Mr. Reflection, Mr. Reflection won’t look at me either."

"You can see Mr. Reflection at home as well," Uesugi Sakura said, still not understanding why she wanted to look at her reflection.

Aei was smart, for she immediately understood when he said this, "Oh right... the bathtub at home also shows Mr. Reflection, but... if I leave now... would Mr. Reflection change into someone else... and stop recognizing me?"

Uesugi Sakura: "In such a short time, it won’t."

At this moment, it was hard to connect her with the lively and cheerful little girl from last Friday.

Now she seemed more immersed in her own world, forcing herself to adapt to something.

"Let’s go home with your sister. She got wet looking for you, and if you don’t go back, she’ll keep waiting outside."

Uesugi Sakura pointed to Chiaei standing above. Due to the rain, the sloped grass was slippery, so he didn’t let her come down with him.

Aei shifted her gaze from Mr. Reflection to see her sister on the shore and gave him a "Hmm" in response.

Uesugi Sakura found that she was still obedient when it came to matters involving her sister, as she would always try her best to consider her sister.

Aei stood up, grasping her backpack straps with both hands, slinging the rain-soaked red backpack onto her back.

"Be careful climbing up, don’t slip." Uesugi Sakura held the umbrella over her head, holding the somewhat heavy backpack in hand.

"Okay." Aei hid under his umbrella, glancing up at him.

The original intention was to take Chiaei home after finding her sister, but carrying the slight weight of the backpack in his hand made him think it better to see them home first to ensure they wouldn’t catch a cold.

...

This was an apartment building, with clean decor and corridors, and the door lock operated with a swipe card.

Even though it seemed like a high-end apartment, Uesugi Sakura always felt something was missing here.

Maybe it was the cleanliness that lacked the touch of living?

While entering the elevator, Uesugi Sakura saw a suit-clad man.

Judging by his appearance, he seemed to be in his thirties, still adjusting his tie as he left the elevator.

Adjusting a tie in the elevator?

For such things, Japanese people usually let their wives do it, especially in such a high-end apartment, clearly inhabited by salaried professionals.

They arrived at the entrance of their home under Chiaei’s lead.

Once Aei took off her shoes, she pitter-pattered to the bathroom to change clothes.

Chiaei, while reaching for her slippers, saw her sister’s shoes in disarray and tidied them for her.