Chapter 651: Chapter 408: The Gift Floating on the Sea Surface
In fact, fishing isn’t that easy to learn.
Kitagawa Sakisa and a few others who were using fly fishing because they fancied the look of the hook, didn’t catch a single fish all morning.
By noon, they were unbearably hungry.
Grilled fish was already placed on the wire mesh, brushed with seasoning, surrounded by scorching charcoal, grilled to a crispy brown on the outside, emitting a fragrant aroma.
Now, the four of them gathered around the grill, eyeing the single rockfish that Uesugi Sakura had brought in the morning.
"Five people, one fish, how do we split this?" Kitagawa Sakisa glanced at Uesugi Sakura fishing not far away.
...
After some deliberation, the grilled fish ended up with Hanamaru Hanabi.
"Ah... is this for me...?"
In a magnanimous manner, Kitagawa Sakisa said, "It’s fine, isn’t Uesugi still fishing? Let him catch a few more, and you can eat first, Hanabi-chan."
Kyujuu Rika and Ayaka Rie also persuaded a bit more, finally making Hanamaru Hanabi agree to accept it.
Though very hungry, Hanamaru Hanabi hesitated to eat. She glanced at everyone and said:
"Or maybe, let’s give it to Sakura-kun... Sakura-kun taught us fishing all morning."
"Hanabi-chan, feeling sorry for your hubby, are you?" Ayaka Rie teased with a smile.
"No, it’s not... I just think Sakura-kun worked really hard..." Hanamaru Hanabi’s voice softened.
Kyujuu Rika jokingly added, "So sweet, Uesugi-kun has such a caring wife like Hanabi-chan."
Hanamaru Hanabi lowered her face from embarrassment.
"Oh~" Kitagawa Sakisa sighed, "Go on, go on then, you forget your girlfriends when you have a husband."
...
Uesugi Sakura gazed at the sea breeze, still waiting for the second fish to bite.
Being hungry was a given, he hadn’t eaten since morning.
Not to mention the grilled fish promised to Todaka before, even now, he had nothing to eat.
The rockfish he brought was given to the four girls; he wasn’t sure how they shared it, but it should have filled them up a bit.
The store was quite far, so he thought it’d be better to bear with it and catch a few more fish for lunch.
——With that thought, the entire morning passed without catching a second fish.
Honestly, fly fishing was really difficult.
Just when he pondered if he should go back and ask Todaka for some fish, a grilled fish suddenly appeared before him.
Of course, the grilled fish wasn’t the main point, it was Hanamaru Hanabi handing him the fish that mattered.
"Sakura-kun, here you go..."
"You’re not eating?" Uesugi Sakura glanced at the fish, then at her, feeling tempted.
"Hanabi’s not hungry..."
Just as she finished speaking, her stomach let out an untimely grumble.
Uesugi Sakura smiled, "You call that not hungry?"
"Still... let Sakura-kun eat it..."
"Why would you rather go hungry and give it to me?"
"Hanabi thinks, Sakura-kun might need it more, they say guys get hungry faster... besides, Hanabi has been sitting the whole morning, unlike Sakura-kun, who was standing, teaching us how to cast the rod..." Hanamaru Hanabi spoke thoughtfully, listing all sorts of trivial reasons.
"Those are just excuses from Hanabi-chan..."
Uesugi Sakura sighed, but still took the grilled fish from her hands.
Holding the fish in his right hand, he gazed at the aromatic smoke rising, murmuring:
"Sometimes I feel so lucky... Hanabi-chan always thinks of me first."
"Sakura-kun, just keep Hanabi in your heart..."
"No need to express it in action?"
"Actions are certainly the best... Hanabi likes that too... but as long as Sakura-kun remembers in his heart, that’s enough..."
Just as long as you remember in your heart...
Her requests were always so modest.
Yes, they’re already married after all...
Uesugi Sakura marveled at the passage of time in his heart, taking out a pocket knife, cutting the grilled fish in half along the middle line, then splitting it with an iron skewer, handing one half back to Hanamaru Hanabi.
"Let’s eat together, just to fill our stomachs a bit, you think of me... I surely can’t forget you... between us, we’ve always said, we’re each other’s sunshine, to forever warm one another."
"Sakura-kun..."
"Feeling moved? Wouldn’t it be better to call me hubby?"
"That’s... only for special occasions..."
Uesugi Sakura laughed it off nonchalantly, handing half of the grilled fish to Hanamaru Hanabi.
However, as he extended his hand mid-air, he noticed her eyes were slightly damp.
"Why... are you crying?"
Hanamaru Hanabi shed crystal-clear tears, confusedly saying, "Hanabi... isn’t crying..."
Her tone was normal, but the tears kept flowing.
"But the tears in your eyes..."
Uesugi Sakura stopped midway, realizing something.
It wasn’t her who was crying.
But another Hanabi-chan shedding tears.
...
"Sakura-kun?"
"Let me wipe it for you."
"Ah... no need..."
As the tears rolled down her cheeks, Hanamaru Hanabi also realized this, quickly using a wet tissue to wipe her face.
True, she was abandoned by another Sakura-kun, hearing her own words again here, her heart must be in turmoil.
The other Uesugi Sakura must have whispered such sweet words to her before, but eventually he betrayed her.
She believed so deeply in her heart... but in the end...
Come to think of it, if one day Hanabi-chan ever really sticks him with a fruit knife, he must have let her down terribly to make her turn into the person in that dream.
If it ever came to that, Uesugi Sakura felt that if Hanabi stabbed him, then so be it, he’d deserve it.
Uesugi Sakura noticed a few strands of hair sticking by her eye, so he reached out to help smooth them away.
At that moment, Hanamaru Hanabi grabbed his wrist, her expression changed dramatically, from cute, to affectionate, from ordinary, to focused.