"That's it, nothing more to say." Uesugi Sakura said.
"Hmph!"
Ayaka Rie didn't want to admit defeat, she looked at Uesugi Sakura with a disdainful glance, snorted lightly, and continued to focus on eating her curry.
Lately, she had been hearing from other classmates that Uesugi was using Line to frivolously chat up girls.
She told Hanabi, but she didn't believe it and always wanted to trust him.
It must be that Uesugi guy being smooth-talking and keeping her in the dark, even though they were childhood friends, he still treated Hanabi's feelings like a blockhead.
Kyujuu Rika took a bite of her shrimp fried rice and suddenly remembered something, she asked Uesugi Sakura across the table:
"Uesugi, why were you late this morning? Teacher Haneda wouldn't keep you until class starts before letting you go."
Hanamaru Hanabi sneaked a look at Uesugi Sakura sitting next to her, she was also quite curious about that question.
"Nothing much, I bumped into a fellow Kyudo Club member when I was absent-minded." Uesugi Sakura replied.
Ayaka Rie looked up at him:
"Did you apologize?"
"Of course, it's not something shameful anyway."
Uesugi Sakura replied, picking up a piece of sushi Hanabi handed over, putting it in his mouth, and savoring it slowly.
Seeing Hanamaru Hanabi's gesture of giving him sushi, Ayaka Rie increasingly felt that Uesugi was hopeless, talking to so many girls, how could he justify himself to Hanabi?
"Ah~ Hanabi, I want some too."
"Here you go."
Hanamaru Hanabi didn't think much and just directly handed her lunch box filled with sushi to her.
It was a bento her mom Meiko made for her every day, exquisite and delicious.
Sushi was a regular, with the variety often changing, like today it was corn sushi, tomorrow it might be sweet shrimp sushi, egg sushi, or salad crab leg sushi.
Meiko also knew Hanabi shared her food with classmates, so often there was more food in the bento than she could eat alone.
Tasting the sweet corn flavor, Ayaka Rie couldn't help but smile widely, happily hugging Hanamaru Hanabi and saying:
"Hehe, Hanabi is still the best."
"No... no,"
Hanamaru Hanabi could feel Ayaka Rie's enthusiasm, she placed the bento in the center and said, "If you all want to eat, you can have some, there's a bit too much for me to finish alone."
...
After finishing lunch, they returned to the classroom quickly.
Kamigoe High School doesn't have a long lunch break, but fortunately, after eating, there's still about half an hour to rest.
Uesugi Sakura lazily lay down on the desk, he liked to use a book as a pillow, that way his arms wouldn't feel too stiff while sleeping.
Listening to the sound of conversations and laughter from classmates in the classroom, Uesugi Sakura closed his eyes, peacefully falling asleep in a haze of darkness, enjoying the rare leisure time.
The effect of a half-hour rest was significant, Uesugi Sakura always felt this afternoon's classes were especially easy to comprehend, whether it was physics or geography.
Although it's very likely a result of his intelligence reaching 8.
Ring, ring, ring...
The bell for the end of class rang.
As soon as the geography teacher walked out of the classroom, Goto Iwao eagerly stood up and shouted:
"Great! Another new day of club activities!"
Attracting the attention of many classmates.
"You're in love with your Photography Club?"
Tsubokawa Takahiro said while packing his bag, at this moment he was preparing to go to the Uniform Research Department in the club building.
"Yep!"
Goto Iwao looked full of anticipation, seemingly filled with enthusiasm,
"Photographer! That's an enviable career, I've decided, my dream from now on is to become a photographer!"
Uesugi Sakura looked at this enthusiastic guy, deciding to throw some cold water on him to cool him down:
"I remember last academic year you had 5 dreams, baseball player, bank employee, fashion designer, lawyer, and an embalmer, now you added photographer, quite busy, huh?"
Tsubokawa Takahiro also added jokingly at this moment: "Goto has grand ambitions, aiming to span six fields in his lifetime, becoming the benchmark and model for the entire nation."
One thing Uesugi Sakura was curious about, he asked:
"Do these careers have anything in common?"
"Ah, I know this," Tsubokawa Takahiro said with a deadpan expression, "Every time he sees a cool job, he gets all fired up, like that bank employee, was inspired after watching 'Hanzawa Naoki'."
"An eye for an eye, returning with interest?" Uesugi Sakura looked at Goto Iwao.
"Pretty passionate, right?" Goto Iwao asked back.
Uesugi Sakura put the book on his desk into his shoulder bag: "Why are you thinking of becoming a photographer now? It's not as thrilling as Hanzawa fighting bank higher-ups."
"Cool! Only cool jobs are more appealing to girls, no more to say,"
Goto Iwao quickly packed his bag, slung it over his left shoulder, stood up, and said to the two of them:
"I'm off to the club, see you tomorrow."
Finishing, he dashed out of the classroom door, looking eager.
"..."
Uesugi Sakura looked at Tsubokawa Takahiro, only to see him shrug, also slinging his bag over his shoulder, said to him:
"See you tomorrow."
The time after school in the afternoon was always noisy, Uesugi Sakura slung his satchel over his shoulder and walked down the school building alone amidst the crowd of students.
Passing by the courtyard, he walked on the right, aiming to head towards the Kyudo Club on the sports field.
Although he hated troublesome things, considering Senior Seisuke from yesterday, he decided to go anyway.
"Hey, Uesugi!"
Uesugi Sakura felt a pat on his right shoulder, turned his head to look.
"Over here."
A clear voice came from the left again, Uesugi Sakura turned to see, expressionless, looking at the sailor-suited girl smiling mischievously, with her hands behind her back.
She was still wearing the same earphone from the morning on her ear, though she wasn't chewing gum anymore.
Ignoring her, Uesugi Sakura continued walking forward.
Seeing Uesugi Sakura walking farther away, Chitose Mai quickly ran over to block his path:
"Hey, hey, why aren't you reacting?"
"What kind of reaction are you expecting?" Uesugi Sakura didn't answer her question and asked back.
"Um..."
Chitose Mai tilted her head slightly, seemingly thinking, then smiled and said, "I don't know either."
"You're going to the Kyudo Club?"
"Of course, Senior, why are you asking when you already know?"
"Then hurry up, don't block the way."
Uesugi Sakura couldn't bear such a familiar girl, finding it inexplicable, turned and walked around her to move forward.
Chitose Mai saw his lonely figure, shook her head, chuckled lightly, not minding, she hurried over to Uesugi Sakura's right side, trying to smile to not seem annoying.
"Uesugi, from now on we'll be in the same club, as a classmate you should let me off a bit, after all, you're my senior."
"Are you a first-year?"
"Yeah, I'm your super cute junior." Chitose Mai nodded as she replied.
"Why are you approaching me?" Uesugi's voice remained as calm as ever.
"Because we're both in the Kyudo Club, everyone will need to help each other out from now on, is there a need for some special reason?"
As she spoke, she took out gum from her pocket and popped it in her mouth, immediately placing two fingers on her forehead, the old-fashioned lace hairband on her wrist particularly noticeable.
Afterward, she looked up at Uesugi Sakura, smiled, and said:
"Please take care of me in the future, Senior."