CHAPTER 728: CHAPTER 441: THE OLD TREE ENCOUNTERED DURING THE MORNING RUN

Morning is actually Uesugi Sakura’s favorite time of the day.

After helping Hanamaru Hanabi clean up the breakfast dishes, the daily routine of morning running begins.

Uesugi Sakura would run ten kilometers every day, but if Hanabi accompanies her, she has to slow down the pace to keep her company.

Even though she is a delicate girl, once she gets serious, she becomes incredibly stubborn.

Her approach to running is naturally similar, always thinking she needs to try harder and run further. Often under the guidance of this willpower, she can run until she feels dizzy and collapses.

Uesugi Sakura knew that her running ahead was one of the influencing factors, so now she usually lets Hanabi run in front, so she doesn’t have to worry about her.

This approach clearly works remarkably well, making the run quite smooth all the way.

Today is the first day of November; the air along the streets has become much fresher compared to summer. Birds are less frequently seen under the blue sky, and everything seems to be moving towards the new year.

Uesugi Sakura and Hanamaru Hanabi walk on a deserted downhill road, surrounded by barriers blocking out cars and utility poles standing at regular intervals. From the uphill to the downhill, the poles extend into the distance, and the street, like a curve from thick to thin, disappears at the intersection farthest away.

Occasionally, a car passing by from behind, after a single roar, gradually fades away in the distance of the street.

Because they just stopped running, the girl’s forehead was still dotted with sweat, but this did not affect her appearance at all. Instead, thanks to the strands of hair dampened by sweat, her face appeared even more vivid and beautiful.

When passing by the steps on both sides of the road for pedestrians, she paused, her gaze falling on a bare tree in front of her.

She gazed at that tree for a long time and then slowly said:

"Why does only this tree have no leaves? All the others have them."

Uesugi Sakura also stopped with her actions; under this tree, there was a solid wooden bench, and behind the bench was a vending machine selling various drinks.

His gaze followed where the girl’s was directed.

That tree seemed to be at the end of its life, even the few remaining leaves were extremely withered.

"There could be many reasons, illness, age, environment, all could be possible reasons."

"But it should have been planted with everyone else; it should be like the others nearby."

"Then it’s probably... sick," Uesugi Sakura guessed.

"Sakura-kun, is there any hope for it...?" Hanamaru Hanabi’s uplifted eyes kept staring.

"No, it’s already dead, I can tell," Uesugi Sakura said, looking at the decayed branches.

Hanamaru Hanabi continued gazing at the diseased, dead beech tree before her, staying silent and saying nothing.

Uesugi Sakura waited beside her, also not speaking proactively.

Hanamaru Hanabi withdrew her gaze and murmured, "If... if it weren’t sick, it probably could have lived a long time..."

"Yes, a long time, beech trees have a growth cycle of seventy to eighty years. As for later, it depends on the tree itself."

Hanamaru Hanabi stepped forward, and Uesugi Sakura followed her, and then the girl reached out to touch the dry, hard trunk of the beech tree:

"Actually... everyone will disappear..."

Uesugi Sakura echoed beside her, "Yes, of course, even the world will eventually come to an end one day. It sounds a bit cliché, but it’s the truth."

Hanamaru Hanabi stated in a soft voice, "So... everyone will be forgotten... like this tree, the closer it gets to the forgotten day, everything around will become increasingly desolate..."

"Not really," Uesugi Sakura said, "some people leave with quite a fanfare... they smile... close their eyes under the gaze of family, with happiness, forgetting the past memories, forgetting everything they once disliked, liked, loved."

"Sakura-kun..."

"What’s wrong?" Uesugi Sakura heard the emotion in her voice.

"Hanabi doesn’t like parting... I hate it... absolutely hate it..."

"Yes... I know, I can understand, but... everyone eventually has to say goodbye."

Hanamaru Hanabi buried her small face, silent once again, and after a while, she softly opened her mouth, slowly uttering in her usual weak voice:

"Will Hanabi have that day too?"

Her weak and pitiful voice left Uesugi Sakura momentarily stunned.

Hanabi... will she disappear too?

Uesugi Sakura recalled many things, her beautiful appearance, her past joys, the smile when she accepted the confession, her attentive company, the tears of happiness at her wedding, and the soft call that would echo every day...

All of this seemed to grip his heart, and the tightness in his chest seemed reluctant to let her show such an expression and speak in such a tone.

"Don’t worry... Hanabi..."

"Yes... Hanabi won’t be sad, Sakura-kun is by her side."

Uesugi Sakura knew that this was because the lonely tree reminded her of her past self.

The illness that followed her since childhood had never been cured.

"Hanabi-chan..."

The girl suddenly laughed, smiling brightly, beautifully, but Uesugi Sakura could see, could understand, that she was forcing herself to smile.

"Sakura-kun... everyone says, a person truly disappears when no one can remember their name in memory, their appearance, their name. Only then are they truly forgotten; their past good and bad no longer appear in this beautiful world."