"It’s okay, Hanabi doesn’t mind these things..."
The gentle wind of the summer courtyard carried her soft voice, "Sakisa-chan said she’s really disliked, but actually, Hanabi feels the same..."
"How could that be!? Hanabi-chan, you’re such a good person," Kitagawa Sakisa lifted the bento box in her hand, "You even made a bento for someone like me who you’ve barely met."
The bright shade under the sunlight cast a green hue on the girl’s downcast face.
Hanamaru Hanabi sat upright on the bench, her head lowered, eyes focused on her interlocked hands resting on her pleated skirt:
"People always used to say Hanabi is disgusting, hoping Hanabi would... just disappear..."
Kitagawa Sakisa could clearly sense something was off about her emotions, and quickly asked, "No, no way, why would they say that?"
[Whatever someone asks you to do, you just do it, isn’t that being cheap?]
[Stop looking like that all the time, pretending to be pitiful? It’s disgusting, you know that?]
[Why act all weak? To show the boys?]
Hanamaru Hanabi’s head lowered even further.
"Hanabi, Hanabi, Hanabi."
Kitagawa Sakisa waved at her repeatedly, and finally, she seemed to respond, her eyes gradually regaining a bit of sparkle.
"I’m okay..." The usual soft voice.
"I just felt like you seemed... really off just now," Kitagawa Sakisa said.
"Hanabi... was just thinking about some things..." Hanamaru Hanabi clasped her small hands tightly together, her mind recalling him standing in front of her.
"Things... about being disliked?"
Kitagawa Sakisa’s voice also lowered: "Sorry... I seem to have asked something I shouldn’t have."
"No, it’s okay... Hanabi is used to it...."
Is it possible to get used to this kind of thing?
Kitagawa Sakisa could see the feeling of being alienated and rejected in Hanabi’s eyes.
This was something she could also relate to.
Kitagawa Sakisa suddenly said loudly, with her bento box in hand, prompting Hanamaru Hanabi to turn towards her.
"If they dislike you, let them dislike you. Just ignore them, I really like Hanabi-chan! You’re so cute, kind, and caring. I have no idea what those who dislike you are thinking!"
"They are the ones who are truly awful!"
After saying that, she puffed up her chest, making Hanamaru Hanabi smile slightly:
"It sort of feels like something Sakura would say."
Kitagawa Sakisa found her smile especially heartwarming, though she could still faintly see some ingrained impurities in her eyes.
"Has Hanabi been unhappy lately? Did that cold guy Uesugi Sakura bully you?"
"No, no, Sakura-kun has always been very nice to Hanabi..."
Hanamaru Hanabi glanced around, seeing only classmates walking and eating in the courtyard, "It’s just that recently... it seems like someone has been stalking me..."
"Mm," Hanamaru Hanabi took out her phone and opened her texts, "It seems like they’re all from this person..."
Kitagawa Sakisa placed the bento aside, took the phone from her hand, and slid the screen with her small fingers, eyes fixed intently.
The more she looked, the more her brows furrowed, and her expression became heavier.
She angrily turned off the phone screen.
"What a creep! It’s definitely harassment, right? Does Uesugi Sakura know about this?"
Hanamaru Hanabi, facing her angry face, said, "Hanabi was afraid Sakura-kun would be really upset, so I didn’t tell him..."
"You’d better tell him, after all, he seems quite capable," Kitagawa Sakisa returned the phone with a pepper keychain, "though a bit cold."
"Mm..." Hanamaru Hanabi held the phone with both hands, responding absentmindedly.
Hanabi had already caused Sakura-kun a lot of trouble... can’t let Sakura-kun worry anymore...
"But don’t worry," Kitagawa Sakisa said, "as a friend, I will definitely help you!"
"Sakisa-chan, it might be dangerous, better not..." Hanamaru Hanabi said worriedly, "Hanabi will be more careful."
"Rest assured!" Kitagawa Sakisa said with full confidence, "This is something a good friend of Hanabi-chan should do!"
Hanamaru Hanabi, who rarely had friends her age before, smiled when she heard the words "good friend":
"Thank you, Sakisa-chan."
"Mm-mm... No need, no need."
In the middle of the courtyard, in a small pavilion surrounded by flowers and grass, Uesugi Sakura also saw the two talking and laughing on the bench in the distance.
When did they... meet each other?
As the sun set, the colorful neon lights of Kabuki-cho First Street started to emit the dazzling glow of nightlife.
Hanpe Suji was introducing a restaurant to two Korean female tourists.
"I heard... it’s very dangerous here, are there any issues?" As a foreign tourist, she had heard many strange stories about this place.
Such as the Yakuza in black suits patrolling the streets, someone emerging from dark corners at night covered in blood, and young girls falling to their deaths in the middle of the night.
Hanpe replied in awkward Korean:
"Over a decade ago, this place... was indeed very dangerous, but now it has mostly... become a place for restaurants."
He pointed back at the colorful signs on the street and the continuous flow of people.
"This is also why... Kabuki-cho has... gained popularity, and many foreign tourists like you come... to visit, everyone... has started doing... legitimate business."
"So those kinds of places are all gone?" The other female tourist asked curiously.
The younger-looking female tourist patted her on the shoulder, interrupting: "Oh, what are you saying? We’re just here to have a look around."