CHAPTER 731: CHAPTER 442: ONE IN A TRILLION_2

On the balcony, there are climbing plants personally nurtured by Manager Yanagi, along with various flowers. The lighting here is excellent, making it as comfortable and tranquil as sitting in a small garden enjoying coffee.

This is usually the spot where customers love taking photos.

Now, Hanamaru Hanabi is taking a short break here.

She sits on a wooden stool, turned sideways, with a latte prepared by Uesugi Sakura in front of her, topped with an adorable shark art.

Hanamaru Hanabi welcomes the sun’s warmth with her delicate profile, filling her senses with the aroma of the latte. She glances back at Uesugi Sakura, who is at the counter cleaning coffee tools, and finds his expression still as serious as ever.

Turning back to the coffee cup in front of her, with the smiling shark art, Hanamaru Hanabi unintentionally feels a variety of emotions, some of which are hard to describe or explain.

...

Inside the café’s counter area.

Uesugi Sakura wipes his hands with a handkerchief. Suddenly, the phone next to him lights up, and he reaches to find a message from Hanamaru Hanabi on LINE.

[Sakura-kun.]

He turns his head, looking at the girl on the small balcony.

At this moment, she is bathed in sunlight, with her hands holding the phone under the table, focusing on the screen.

Uesugi Sakura smiles at her back, raises his phone to take a picture of her back view, then opens LINE, and in the chat interface noted as "Little Hanabi," his thumbs swiftly tap the screen.

He hits send.

A bubble pop sound occurs instantly.

The contact’s profile picture in the chat interface flickers.

Sitting on the balcony, Hanamaru Hanabi realizes it’s a reply from Uesugi Sakura.

[What’s up, my dear wife?]

Seeing the message, a barely noticeable smile spreads across Hanamaru Hanabi’s adorable face.

[The coffee is delicious, thank you, hubby! (Image: Shark holding flowers happily)]

Uesugi Sakura smiles at the screen too, glancing again at her back on the balcony, replies quickly:

[Glad the little cutie likes it.]

[Thanks, Hanabi is very happy.]

[How happy?]

[Just like... just like... as happy as this (Image: Earth)]

[Really? Then I am this (Image: Sun)]

Hanamaru Hanabi is momentarily stunned at the sight of the sun image; if she remembers correctly, the sun is many times larger than Earth.

No, she needs to find something even bigger.

Uesugi Sakura is still waiting for her reply, in a short while, she sends another image:

[Hanabi should be this instead! (Image: VY Canis Majoris), which is over 1,400 times larger than the sun!]

[Hanabi is so much larger than me, what are we comparing now?]

Seeing Uesugi Sakura’s message, Hanamaru Hanabi ponders for a long time. Yeah, being so much larger, what are they comparing?

[Sakura-kun, do you remember the topic of reincarnation?]

Upon seeing the message, Uesugi Sakura pauses for a moment before replying: [Yes, I remember.]

[This star is 5000 light-years away from Earth. At Sakura-kun’s rate of running ten kilometers every morning, it would take 12,959,904,756,960 years to reach it. If Hanabi were there in the next life, would Sakura-kun come find Hanabi?]

[What does Hanabi think?]

[Hanabi doesn’t know... but Hanabi would definitely look for Sakura-kun... even if she can’t find him, she’d strive to keep searching until she collapses.]

Uesugi Sakura thinks for a moment, replies: [Hanabi, you should know that a trillion years isn’t a timeframe one can casually mention; it represents the long passage of time, changes in civilizations, the disappearance of matter, and human life in it is just a speck of dust.]

[Yes, so... Hanabi will cherish every moment to strive before consciousness fades, even if progress is only a trillionth...]

[Why?]

[Because that way... I’ll be a little closer to Sakura-kun.]

Uesugi Sakura looks at the ordinary information bubble and simply smiles:

[I never thought Hanabi-chan would say such touching words.]

[No way! It’s sincere!]

[Alright, alright, it’s sincere, I completely believe it.]

Uesugi Sakura smiles again.

"What’s making you so happy that you’re laughing?" Towa Rina, who had been idly observing him from the living room table for a while, finally walks over to the counter, "How about making me a cup of coffee? Just a simple black one is fine."

"Nothing, just chatting with my wife." Uesugi Sakura puts down his phone and starts preparing black coffee.

Towa Rina is curious, having specially taken a peek at the girl’s silhouette on the balcony: "Your wife? Isn’t Hanabi-chan sitting on the balcony? Such a short distance and you still need to chat on the phone?"

Uesugi Sakura unhurriedly asks in return: "Have you ever been in a relationship?"

"No," Towa Rina answers straightforwardly.

"The phone is just one medium for communication; what’s important is the emotions experienced through the interaction, not the method or if it’s face-to-face."

"?"

Towa Rina is even more puzzled, "I don’t get it."

Uesugi Sakura: "Think of it this way, chatting face-to-face via phone can also be fun. You can sneak a glance at the other’s expression while they send a message. If you combine both elements, you can guess the other’s true feelings; that’s where the fun lies."

"Still don’t get it?"

"Nope."

"Then I won’t explain further. You’ll understand when you fall in love."

Towa Rina never planned to fall in love, nor did she want to linger on this topic any longer.

"Why is your wife working today? Shouldn’t it be Hanami?"

Uesugi Sakura was ready to respond to this question, answering: "Hanami has something very important at school, so her sister is helping her out today."

Towa Rina squints at him: "You know, substituting isn’t consistent with employee policy."

"I know, which is why... today I didn’t plan on revealing Hanabi’s identity, after all, they’re twins, you wouldn’t notice the difference, right?"

"You can still tell; Hanabi-chan is more likable. Not to say Hanami isn’t charming, both sisters are lovely. Hanami feels like a quirky little girl, while Hanabi-chan feels like a gentle elder sister."

Towa Rina notices Uesugi Sakura suddenly spaces out.

"Eh? What are you spacing out for?"

Uesugi Sakura wasn’t spacing out, he was sighing. It’s amusing that little Hanabi could be called a gentle elder sister by someone their age.

She’s not an elder sister, just a shy little girl.

"It’s not your fault, considering you don’t know much about Hanabi."

"Hmm? What? Did I misunderstand?"

"Not at all," suddenly recalling something, "Oh right, there’s a new employee joining today."

"That I know, your classmate, right," Towa Rina asks again, "Why does he suddenly want to work here?"

"Don’t you know?"

"I don’t know, I’m not his classmate, how would I know."

"It’s nothing, I thought Little Bridge mentioned it to you."

Uesugi Sakura thinks it’s time for the maid-in-charge to understand everyone’s actual relationships, so he explains: "The new staff is my classmate, Todaka Keichiro. There are two things I need to clarify about him."

"Uh-huh, uh-huh, say it, why whisper."

Uesugi Sakura ignores her comment: "First, Little Bridge is his sister."

"Uh-huh, uh-huh, uh-huh...? What!?"

Without letting her digest the information, Uesugi Sakura continues:

"Second, he likes Little Bridge."

"Huh?!"

Towa Rina is even more shocked, "But they don’t even share the same surname!?"

"There’s a reason for that," Uesugi Sakura doesn’t explain completely.

It takes Towa Rina a while to fully comprehend these two points before she looks up at Uesugi Sakura, covering half her face, and speaking in a low voice:

"So... he’s here to woo his sister?"

"More or less."

Towa Rina observes Uesugi Sakura’s expression getting stranger.

"What’s wrong?" Uesugi Sakura asks.

"I don’t know if it’s just me, why does it seem like everyone’s relationships around me are so... unconventional!!"