CHAPTER 434: CHAPTER 309: THE PATH OF THE WISTERIA BLOSSOMS_2

These words, Uesugi Sakura would not say to Chiaei, even though she’s quite quirky and smart.

But she would always think about whether mom and dad would come looking for her and her sister.

And as for Chiaei... she had taken care of her sister from a young age, making her much more mature.

"Can’t I... stay with brother and sister Hanabi?"

"You want to live with us?"

"Mm..." Chiaei hugged Uesugi Shin, looking even more like a sensible sister, "If sister Hanabi and brother don’t want us... Aei and I wouldn’t know where to go..."

"Don’t worry, sister Hanabi and I are always happy to have you and Aei," Uesugi Sakura said with a smile, "When you’re at home, you can spend more time talking with sister Hanabi, you’ll also have more energy."

"Thank you, brother..."

——————

The place we’re heading to today is Ashikaga Flower Park located in Tochigi Prefecture in the Kantou Region.

It’s near the suburbs of Tokyo, and you can take the Tobu-Isesaki Line from Asakusa and get off at Ashikaga City Station.

Ashikaga City Station provides free shuttle buses to the Flower Park on Saturdays, Sundays, and public holidays.

It took about 90 minutes to reach Ashikaga City District from Tokyo Shinjuku.

As soon as she got off the train, Aei ran out of the carriage, spreading her arms and running around the station mimicking train sounds:

"Woo~~"

Chiaei: "Slow down!"

Mrs. Hanamaru laughed, "Aei sure is energetic."

Mrs. Uesugi: "Having a child like that must be joyful, Sakura and Hanabi are great but they aren’t like little kids."

Uesugi Sakura, holding his sister: "After sons grow up, mothers start to complain, sigh."

"Sakura, you can interpret it that way too." Mrs. Uesugi teased with a laugh.

"Would you rather have a son or a daughter?" Uesugi Sakura asked, holding Uesugi Shin in one arm.

"Aren’t they both the apple of your eye?" Mrs. Uesugi shook her head, "You don’t understand the pain of childbirth, if I lost you both, I’d have no will to live."

Mrs. Hanamaru added, "That’s how we all feel."

"What was it like having your first child?"

"My mind went completely blank, only the sensation of pain, shaking from the pain, the nurse yelling to push hard, but by the time the sound reached my mind, it was just a blurry signal."

Mrs. Uesugi raised her eyes to the sky, reminiscing as she spoke.

"Sakura, do you know how much you weighed when you were born?"

"How much?" Uesugi Sakura honestly didn’t know.

"7.9 pounds, those little arms, thick and round."

Mrs. Hanamaru smiled, "When I gave birth to Hanabi, I was really mad at her dad, but after she was born, it was all good, and Sakura, you were even bigger than Hanabi, your mom had it tougher than I did."

Mothers are great, which is why all his life he has always respected her.

Uesugi Sakura glanced at Hanamaru Hanabi chasing after Aei, "After getting married, Hanabi will probably be like that too..."

He remembered on the day his sister was born, there was a quiet girl, gently talking about a happy future with her husband while caressing her belly.

As soon as she entered the delivery room, she was fine, but later she started crying and shouting that she wouldn’t have the baby!

"So, little Sakura, shouldn’t you cherish her? A girl as nice as Hanabi can’t be found again."

Mrs. Uesugi: "Hanabi is so gentle, wouldn’t childbirth be hard for her?"

"It would be hard." Mrs. Hanamaru concurred, "She hasn’t had any big illnesses before, but her constitution has always been weak."

He knew her constitution was weak, so he took Hanabi for morning runs.

Uesugi Sakura couldn’t help but wonder if one day he would have to choose between saving the mother or the child?

He followed the two mothers onto the bus and sat next to Hanabi.

The more he looked at her, the more he couldn’t help but wonder.

Saving the mother or the child?

It definitely had to be the mother.

He hadn’t yet formed a bond with the child, but he and Hanabi had years of shared memories.

If all these little pieces suddenly disappeared, who could bear that?

"Hanabi."

"Mm," Hanamaru Hanabi responded, her gaze shifting to his face, "What is it?"

"Do you think we should have children?"

"Sakura-kun... why are you suddenly talking about this...?" Hanamaru Hanabi clasped her hands together, shyly uneasy.

"Seriously, I’m afraid you wouldn’t be able to handle it."

"Unable to handle it? But I watched mom give birth to Hanami, and it seemed fine... Aunt and Shin looked relaxed too... it shouldn’t be very painful."

"That was her second child, it’s very painful for the first."

"Sakura-kun, it’s a bit early to talk about this... we aren’t even married yet..."

"Hana, what do you think about having kids?"

"Before... didn’t Sakura-kun say you wanted five?" The more Hanamaru Hanabi spoke, the quieter she became.

"I understand."

Uesugi Sakura felt indifferent about having children, while Hanabi thought it would be nicer to have them.

The thought of fragile Hanamaru Hanabi experiencing the intense pain of childbirth made him feel the unfairness of the human body.

Girls also have monthly periods, which are troublesome without mentioning the occasional pain.

It’s not easy, really not easy.

Uesugi Sakura put his left arm around her, "Hana-chan, how can I treat you even better?"

The two could really feel each other well, Hanamaru Hanabi also wrapped her arms around his waist, leaning against his shoulder, "Sakura-kun being by Hanabi’s side is good enough."

"Don’t want more?"

Hanamaru Hanabi shook her head, indicating no need.

"You’re so easily satisfied, I, on the other hand, feel guilty, really sorry for you."

"Sakura-kun just has to know that Hanabi really likes Sakura-kun..."

She meant to reassure him, not to burden himself unnecessarily for her.

He used to always help her, but now it was the other way around.

The bus drove through the middle of the street, and compared to Tokyo, Tochigi Prefecture lacked the hustle and bustle of a big city.

By taking the direct bus, their group directly arrived at Ashikaga Flower Park.

The park is open from 10:00 to 17:00.

The ticket prices change with the seasons, adults in June are 800 yen to 1,300 yen, children 300 yen to 700 yen.

The pricing is based on the condition of flower blooms inside the park.

Unfortunately, today is the most expensive at 1,300 yen and 700 yen.

But fortunately, this means the flowers are blooming beautifully today.

"So many people~~" Aei tiptoed, trying to see over the crowd with her small stature.

Uesugi Sakura told her, "Don’t get lost; it would be a hassle to find you."

"If Aei gets lost, would brother come looking for her?"

"If you get lost, your sister would be the most worried."

"What about brother?"

"I would come looking."

"Hehe."

Apart from the throngs of people, the beautiful irises lining the pedestrian street were also a delightful sight.

Clumps under the trees, clumps next to the street lamps, and even inside each store, a variety of flowers were placed at intervals.

Thanks to these flowers’ fragrances, although there were many people, the air was also pleasantly fragrant.

Mrs. Hanamaru held back Hanamaru Hanami, who wanted to crawl on the ground, "I didn’t expect so many people today."

Mrs. Uesugi: "After all, it’s the wisteria sea that blooms twice this year, everyone wants to take a look."

Uesugi Sakura picked up the camera hung around his neck and snapped a few photos.

"What’s worth photographing here?"

"Travelers traversing the streets, they come from all over, dressed differently. In a few hundred years, these would be precious documentary photos." Uesugi Sakura explained as he looked at his camera’s outcomes.

Of course, he wasn’t photographing the crowd; he was photographing Hanabi.

Mrs. Hanamaru peered over his shoulder and saw a profile of her daughter.

She wore a straw hat, with a colorful backdrop of irises.

"Very nice."

"Let me see."

This camera belonged to Mrs. Uesugi; she bought it just for fun, sometimes using it to take photos of Uesugi Family’s roses.

Uesugi Sakura couldn’t resist the demand of the two mothers who wanted to see Hanabi’s photos, so he had no choice but to hand over the camera.

As a trade-off, his sister Uesugi Shin ended up in his arms.

"Nobuko, Sakura’s photos are better than yours."

"Oh, they really are."