Kitagawa Sakisa faced down indifferently, her hands clutching the lace dress on her thighs.
"Want to apologize?" Uesugi Sakura said.
Kitagawa Sakisa held back the words she was about to say, stealing several glances at him, "To, to apologize... You should be the one apologizing to me..."
Uesugi Sakura raised an eyebrow, his tone cold and emotionless: "Me?"
Actually, the sports festival opening ceremony just now was so long and boring, he only wanted to take the chance to read a bit more, so he could cheer for little Hanabi in the afternoon.
Yesterday, she ran hard all afternoon.
Kitagawa Sakisa shouted at him with her eyes closed, lifted her skirt, and turned to leave.
The silk floss trees in the back garden, with lush green branches and leaves, swayed leisurely under the clear blue sky.
Uesugi Sakura gazed at her departing figure with deep focus.
This girl, what’s she up to?
He seemed not to even know this little beggar’s name, right?
She was as mysterious as her black dress swaying in the wind on her path.
The sound of a metal can dropping from the vending machine.
A hand reached through the narrow rectangular gap, stealthily letting light into the inside, illuminating the coffee and milk.
Milk coffee has always been a popular category within coffee.
The milk is sweet, the coffee rich, blending in the mouth creates a pleasurable smoothness.
Milk and coffee go well together.
So Hanabi, who loves milk, and the one who loves coffee himself, also go well together.
———Uesugi thought so.
"How about we open a coffee shop after graduation?"
Under the bright noon sun, the girl in a fresh shorts and sports outfit showed a puzzled expression.
"Isn’t Sakura-kun aiming for Tokyo University?"
"I meant after college graduation." Uesugi Sakura handed her a cooler milk with dew drops hanging on it.
Hanamaru Hanabi reached out her warm, fair hand under the sunlight to take it: "But opening a coffee shop doesn’t require going to Tokyo University, right?"
Tokyo University is notoriously hard to get into, that’s something everyone knows.
Anyone would long for that top-tier university.
Uesugi Sakura said, "What’s the necessary connection between going to Tokyo University and opening a coffee shop?"
Next to the vending machine in the July summer, after some thought, Hanamaru Hanabi’s face softened more gently than the sunlight as she shook her head.
Uesugi Sakura smiled at her adorable appearance: "So, whether I go to Tokyo University or not, it doesn’t affect the coffee shop we’ll open in the future at all."
"Is this a new promise?" Hanamaru Hanabi’s bright eyes shined with youthful light.
"If Hanabi agrees, then it is."
Perhaps it’s unspectacular, but being able to spend uneventful days with her is the goal he can strive for now.
Hanamaru Hanabi showed her bright youthful smile once more:
Their promise was always being fulfilled.
At three in the afternoon, the floating clouds in the sky covered the scorching sun.
There’s still half an hour before the women’s 1000-meter run starts.
Hanamaru Hanabi is doing preparatory exercises in the resting area.
Lunging to stretch her legs, then crossing her hands alternately across her chest in a crisscross manner, finally jumping up and down on the spot twice.
Her gentle short hair quickly fell, panting hot air from her lips.
Sitting on a bench behind her, Ayaka Rie said, "Hanabi-chan, there’s still some time before it starts, no need to be so nervous."
Hanamaru Hanabi turned her head, with small horizontal stripes on the chest of her white short shirt, written with the word Hanamaru.
"But, I think starting to exercise early is better. Sakura-kun also said that intense exercise needs keeping the body active."
"When did he say that?"
Hanamaru Hanabi recalled a little: "At night."
A head popped out from outside the resting room.
With a small body like an elementary school student, Kawase Nanami was holding a bouquet of white lilies wrapped in pink cowhide in one hand.
A big bouquet that was larger than her entire upper body.
She walked in with a huff and puff.
Ayaka Rie asked curiously, "Nanami-chan, did someone actually send you flowers?"
Just like her nickname, Kawase Nanami is a petite girl.
If a boy were to send her flowers, he’d get labeled as someone who likes lolitas, a definite social death move in high school.
Kawase Nanami peeked her head out from the right side of the bouquet’s cowhide paper: "Not for me, it’s for Hanabi."
Ayaka Rie turned her head to look at the somewhat confused Hanamaru Hanabi: "Was it that guy Uesugi?"
"Sakura-kun didn’t mention it to Hanabi..."
Kawase Nanami kept leaning her flower-hugging body forward: "Here, take it, it’s heavy."
Hanamaru Hanabi took the bouquet, which consisted of dozens of white lilies symbolizing pure love.
The pink paper overlappingly embraced, green leaves setting off the snow-white flowers, and purple forget-me-nots hidden in the spaces, arranged haphazardly.
As soon as she hugged it, a thick floral scent wafted over.
"These fresh flowers must be expensive, right?" Ayaka Rie said.
"Certainly expensive!" Nanami took out a white letter from her pocket and handed it to Hanabi, "It says to give it to Hanabi here."
Hanamaru Hanabi’s fair arms hugged the bouquet, while her other small hand curiously took the white letter.
It read: "Please deliver to Class Four, Year Two, Hanamaru Hanabi, much appreciated"
Kawase Nanami: "There’s another sentence on the back."
Hanamaru Hanabi flipped the letter over.
"The flower language of white lilies is eternal love
———To the eternally cute hn-chan, I’ve always been watching you"
This section of text was emphasized with a gold floral border.
The little girl observed her sparkling engagement ring on her ring finger, her eyes emitting a similar glow: "Hanabi-chan, it’s surprising that Uesugi-san can be so romantic, seeing that you barely talked last semester."