Laid-Back Life in Tokyo: I Really Didn't Want to Work Hard
Chapter 370 - 275: Aei and Chiaei_2

Chapter 370: Chapter 275: Aei and Chiaei_2

Sitting next to Uesugi Sakura, Chiaei heard her sister’s words, lowered her head, and whispered to herself, "Because... at home, we can only eat those vegetables..."

This sentence wasn’t meant to be overheard, but Uesugi Sakura, due to Hanabi’s influence, had very good hearing.

The two sisters seemed somewhat unusual.

Aei had just finished speaking and quickly continued: "But, my sister is still very reliable, she’d let me eat first if there’s something good, and if she cooks, I’ll eat as much as she makes~"

Chiaei: "Even if you say so, I’m just starting to learn and can’t cook very well."

Aei: "Then just drink milk."

Chiaei: "You can’t just drink milk, you’ll get diarrhea."

"I don’t want to eat not-so-tasty food," Aei lifted her head, looking at Hanamaru Hanabi with hopeful eyes, "Is Hanabi-sister’s cooking delicious?"

Hanamaru Hanabi gently stroked her soft hair and smiled at her, "If Aei wants to eat, you can come to my house to eat."

"So, it is delicious!"

Aei thought Hanabi-sister’s smile was beautiful and couldn’t help but feel drawn to her, "Sister, you smell good too."

After finishing lunch, the kids began to clear the dishes, and Hanamaru Hanabi kindly helped them clean up.

Uesugi Sakura seized the opportunity to go over to Teacher Imanishi, who had just returned to inspect the classroom, to ask about the situation.

Teacher Imanishi thought for a moment and said: "Aei and Chiaei, they are the only two children who don’t have to be worried about. They’re quite like you and Hanabi when you were young, not troublesome, but not very popular either."

"What’s their family situation?" Uesugi Sakura asked, as he became suspicious when Aei said her sister’s cooking wasn’t good.

After all, in a complete family, how would a young primary school child end up cooking?

"A single-parent family, with a father still around. It is said that their mother left on her own. Speaking of which, to abandon two such adorable daughters, it’s not something a typical mother would do."

Teacher Imanishi faced the classroom.

Aei was lying on the desk sleeping, while her sister Chiaei and Hanamaru Hanabi were helping to clean up the children’s dishes and put them in a box.

"Chiaei is very sensible, Aei is a bit special, frequently zoning out by herself. According to her sister, she’s pondering useless questions to kill time."

After chatting for a while longer,

Uesugi Sakura had a general understanding of them. The older sister Chiaei could communicate normally and was very sensible; the younger sister Aei liked saying playful things to attract attention.

The older sister was in sixth grade, the younger in fifth grade. Chiaei was two years older than her sister and often came to her sister’s classroom during free time.

Their mother left, and presumably... their single-parent father isn’t much of a good person either.

In the afternoon, official class activities began.

Drawing and folding paper cranes with brothers and sisters, games like that.

Uesugi Sakura’s classmates also arrived on time, apart from their class members, students from other classes joined too.

In short, it wasn’t left up to one or two people to handle a whole class of young kids.

The two sisters, Chiaei and Aei, didn’t seem to be very popular and didn’t take the initiative to join the group.

Uesugi Sakura asked the two little girls who had confessed to him but failed before.

They said they felt Aei was strange and difficult to approach, that sister Chiaei was very nice, but she was always sticking with her sister, so no one played with them.

The two sisters stayed in a corner of the classroom, not playing with the others, which deeply touched Uesugi Sakura.

This reminded him of when he and Hanabi were young, also unpopular.

Little Hanabi always stayed with him, someone not fitting in with the primary schoolers. Most of the time, she was disliked by others, who all thought she was strange.

She had been made to cry several times because of it.

Uesugi Sakura walked over and sat down by their table.

Chiaei watched her sister, while Aei was doodling on a piece of paper, her little hands holding the pen looking quite cute.

"What are you drawing?"

"Drawing my sister," Aei said softly, "Both sisters are really nice."

Her sentiment was good, but her drawing skills weren’t that great.

Uesugi Sakura could only distinguish who was Hanabi and who was Chiaei by the beauty mark under the right eye.

"Chiaei-chan."

"Hmm... um! I’m here!" A distracted Chiaei responded seriously.

"Chan" is an affectionate term, but for children, it’s just an ordinary title.

Elementary school students call each other "\"Miki-chan,\" \"Yuzu-chan,\" \"Yoshizawa-kun\"... things like that.

Saying the name plainly is no big deal.

"Is it usually Chiaei who cooks at home?"

"Ah, no, no, usually we buy boxed meals from the convenience store."

"What about mom and dad? They don’t cook either?"

"Mom left, dad... dad..." Chiaei’s voice suddenly became very small, "Dad... dad doesn’t cook either..."

"Sister is lying, Aei has never seen dad since she was little."

Aei casually revealed an astonishing fact.

"Aei! You fool..."

"No, Sister is lying, she should be the fool."

"No, didn’t I tell you not to say random things...."

"It doesn’t matter if brother knows, he’ll let Hanabi-sister come to our house to make delicious food."

Chiaei pouted angrily, but compared to her sister’s pouting expression, there was a hint of reproach, coupled with a feeling of helplessness for not taking better care of her sister as an elder:

"Really...."

Uesugi Sakura frowned and said: "Is it just the two of you at home now?"

Chiaei was a little afraid of his frowning look and lowered her head, softly replied: "Yes..."

"Haven’t the police investigated your situation?"

"Huh...? Will the police come!? I thought someone would just come to take us away..."

Uesugi Sakura wasn’t very sure, but what he knew was that, in this situation, someone would take them away, as there was no guardian.

Chiaei seemed to misunderstand the police as there to take the sisters away.

Older sister Chiaei was very sensitive; just a frown seemed to make her somewhat scared.

Uesugi Sakura softened his voice, knowing that with his face, he was quite likable among young girls:

"Can you tell me about your current situation?"

"Then... can brother not tell the police...?"

"Why? If you two are living alone, it must be very hard, with no source of income."

"There’s money, in a card, though not much..."

The situation was a bit dire. Surprisingly, the two sisters had no adult supervision, and their money was only left in the card.

Chiaei still seemed a bit scared. Uesugi Sakura realized he might have been too focused on facts, making her feel very insecure, so he promised her:

"Don’t worry too much, I won’t tell anyone about your situation for now."

"Rea... really?"

Aei: "Sister, brother just said ’for now’, you know."

This little girl, purely looking to trouble her sister.

"If you run out of money on your card, there will be no other choice."

Chiaei lowered her little face, "I know... but even if it’s just the two of us, I think we’ll make it somehow."

Uesugi Sakura picked up a small piece of paper from the table in front of them, folded a paper crane he learned from Hanabi, and placed it in front of Chiaei:

"Sometimes, isn’t the solution to try hard and find a way?"

Chiaei saw the paper crane, then looked up. Perhaps, as an older sister, she was a bit too strong.

But inside, she still had the vulnerability of a little girl.

As evident from her overly polite movements before.

"It seems Teacher Imanishi knows you have a father?"

Aei: "That was someone sister paid to answer the phone, for entrance ceremonies and opening ceremonies, it’s always been just me and sister attending."

During entrance ceremonies, parents would sit in the back, watching their children at the ceremony that belonged solely to them.

Uesugi Sakura and Hanamaru Hanabi were both led by their mother. They even presented her with a boutonniere after the principal’s speech.

But for this pair of sisters....

In the vast auditorium, only the seats behind the two sisters’ parents were empty and desolate.

He could imagine what a terrible scene it was.