Laid-Back Life in Tokyo: I Really Didn't Want to Work Hard-Chapter 813 - 483: Morning and Going to School (Part 2)
"No!"
"Remember," Hanamaru’s mother patted the blanket.
"I can’t remember! I can’t remember!" Hanamaru Hanabi’s little legs swung back and forth, constantly knocking against the bed board.
"Stubborn."
Hanamaru’s mother said with a smile, even though she knew it wasn’t really stubbornness, just the natural resistance of a shy little girl, embarrassed by some of her comments. That’s why she had such a bashful look, unable to take in the words.
"It’s not stubbornness!"
Hanamaru Hanabi sat up, hugging the blanket, her cheeks bright red, and her soft hair a little disheveled across her face. "Mom’s the worst, asking... asking such questions..."
"What’s the big deal," Hanamaru’s mother said unconcernedly, "I’m just interested in your life. I’d be surprised if little Sakura hadn’t done it."
Hanamaru Hanabi muttered weakly, "What kind of mom is interested in whether her daughter and her husband do it... Ugh! Annoying! Mom, you’re the worst!"
She interrupted herself at the end.
"See, Hanabi-chan, you can still say it out loud."
"No, I can’t!"
"Alright, alright," Hanamaru’s mother soothed her in a motherly voice, "I was just joking earlier. The reason I asked is because I keep thinking about wanting to hold a grandchild." 𝐟𝚛𝕖𝚎𝕨𝗲𝐛𝚗𝐨𝐯𝐞𝕝.𝐜𝗼𝗺
"This time, you have to be honest. Did you and little Sakura take any precautions?"
Hanamaru Hanabi’s gaze wavered, and after hesitating for a while, she finally buried her face, weakly hugging the blanket and saying, "No..."
"No?" Hanamaru’s mother covered half her mouth with her hand in surprise, "Never?"
"Hmm..."
Hanamaru Hanabi nodded, now so embarrassed she just wanted to bury herself in a crack in the ground, but since no such crack existed, she could only use the blanket to cover her head.
"In that case, little Sakura might actually have been planning to have a child all along?"
Hanamaru’s mother pulled down the blanket covering Hanamaru Hanabi’s head.
"No, I don’t know..." Hanamaru Hanabi pulled it back up, the blanket on her head making her look like a camel hiding from danger in the desert.
"What do you mean you don’t know? If you didn’t want to, you should take precautions."
"Ugh..."
Hanamaru Hanabi couldn’t bring herself to say that Uesugi Sakura found it uncomfortable and didn’t want to wear one...
How could she bring herself to say something so embarrassing!
Bad guy.
Bad guy.
Sakura-kun is a bad guy!
With her head hidden under the blanket, Hanamaru Hanabi hugged her knees, her intertwined fingers fidgeting restlessly, as she pictured Uesugi Sakura grinning and kept calling him a big bad guy in her heart.
He was such a big bad guy yesterday morning too!
Bad guy! So bad!
"Hanabi, Hanabi-chan, little Hanabi." Hanamaru’s mother kept calling her from outside.
"Hmm." Hanamaru Hanabi finally snapped out of it, looking at her toes through the faint light filtering through the blanket, she nodded and made a soft humming sound in her throat.
"Did you hear what I said just now?"
"What?"
"I said, what’s wrong with little Sakura, or something. Otherwise why haven’t you had any signs by now after a whole month?"
"No, it can’t be," Hanamaru Hanabi recalled the time Uesugi Sakura took her to the hospital. She looked at her toes again, which she kept lifting and lowering, "Sakura-kun got checked... the doctor said he’s very healthy... even healthier than most people..."
"Checked what?" Hanamaru’s mother asked.
"Urology..." came the faint voice from under the blanket.
"That can’t be. Or, Hanabi, are you possibly already pregnant?"
Hearing her mother’s suggestion, Hanamaru Hanabi’s heart skipped a beat, and her pink toes stopped moving. She instinctively placed her hand on her belly.
Hanamaru’s mother looked at the blanket and asked, "Hanabi-chan, have you had your period this month?"
Hanamaru Hanabi shook her head.
"The month is almost over. Have you checked?"
"Yes, I have... I’m not pregnant..."
Mrs. Hanamaru: "Alright then, I won’t ask too much. It’s your young couple’s business anyway, but if you do get pregnant, you should be prepared ahead of time. The arrival of a new life is not that simple."
"Are you scared?"
Hanamaru Hanabi nodded, "Hmm..."
"It’s normal to be scared. No girl isn’t scared when she’s pregnant."
"Did you feel scared too, Mom?", Hanamaru Hanabi asked softly.
"Of course I did. When I was pregnant with you, I was only eighteen, just a young girl like you."
Mrs. Hanamaru recollected.
"Pregnancy... The first thing is surprise, and then comes anxiety, a feeling of insecurity. You want someone to rely on, and you wonder what if your boyfriend leaves, what if he doesn’t want to take responsibility... But overall, your father was a responsible man. Even though the family didn’t quite support us, he still specially took me away, found a small place, and got married."
Hanamaru Hanabi: "Did that happen...?"
"I never told you about it, that’s why your father isn’t in the best of terms with the family now. Originally, the position of Family Head in the Hanamaru family was supposed to go to your father, but now it’s gone to your uncle."
Hanamaru Hanabi actually knew that her grandfather’s family was quite influential... When she was young, she visited a few times, and her grandfather always left an impression of a stern face, sitting cross-legged on the tatami in a kimono.
The courtyard, the kimono, the eaves, the shoji... those are the images Hanamaru Hanabi had of her grandfather.
"So, a man really has to be reliable at crucial times. Little Hanabi, you too, must keep little Sakura firmly tied, just like I taught you when you were dating."
Mrs. Hanamaru suddenly remembered something, "By the way, why did you suddenly come back to stay today?"
"Because... because..." Hanamaru Hanabi faltered, "Because Sakura-kun bullied Hanabi..."
"Bullied you?"
Mrs. Hanamaru, for some reason, started laughing, "In what way?"
"It’s just... just in some way."
"Don’t be shy, just boldly tell mom."
"I don’t want to..."
Mrs. Hanamaru’s smile widened: "Even if you don’t say it, I know. It must have been Sakura pulling you early in the morning... Then you felt bullied, so you snuck back at noon, skipping work, right?"
Hanamaru Hanabi didn’t expect her mother to guess so accurately, she couldn’t even nod her little head.
"Okay, okay," Mrs. Hanamaru patted her, "That’s it for today’s mother-daughter talk. Hanabi-chan, do you want Sakura to like you even more?"
Hanamaru Hanabi poked her head out this time, her violet eyes glittering: "Hmm..."
"Then I’ll tell you a method..."
They whispered for a while, Mrs. Hanamaru moved away from her ear, "Got it?"
"Will that... really work?"
"Guys all respond to this, just relax."
...
After getting up, Hanamaru Hanabi changed into her everyday clothes: wool knitwear, a small jacket, a bow tied at her chest, and a simple pleated skirt.
Finally, she placed a beret on her little head and puffed up her cheeks in front of the mirror.
Go for it! Hanabi-chan!
With a light twirl, she picked up the handbag on her bed, and with the gentle sway of her skirt, the young girl’s light-footed figure vanished from the room.
The last view settled on a photo she had kept in this home, a childhood photo with Uesugi Sakura on the train.
It was summer, Uesugi Sakura was about to return to his hometown in Ehime Prefecture, and little Hanabi looked longingly at him about to board the subway outside the station, unable to go with him, she clung to her mother’s leg and cried.
Later, she still managed to follow him.
That’s when they had this photo taken together on the train.
The little boy was cool, which was normal, while the little girl beside him was bowing her head, clutching her skirt, feeling very shy.
The train swayed gently, and sunlight outside the window left light spots.
It was a youthful snapshot, taken by both mothers smiling at each other as they clicked the photo of the two young ones.
