I.W.B.A.L

　　"Sorry for bothering you, these will do."

　　After handing some of the lighter vegetables to Kento, Takasu Ryuji raised his arm and pointed in the direction of his home.

　　"My home is over here, a little distance from your home."

　　"It's okay. I just don't have anything to do. Let's go. I just happen to be a guest at your house. You don't mind, do you?"

　　"Of course not, you are most welcome!"

　　When Takasu Ryuji heard that Kento was coming to his home, he became very happy. Normally, no one was willing to visit his home. Even his good friend Kitamura Yusaku from school had never been to his home.

　　If Kento visited his home, it would be considered as the first time that a person of the same age visited his home formally.

　　"Come to think of it, that girl looked familiar. Does she live nearby?"

　　"Yes, it's called Saionji World."

　　"So it's the Saionji family."

　　The two walked towards Takasu's house, chatting about some gossip and interesting stories about the neighborhood on the way. Maybe there were few people who could be considered friends, but they were old residents who had lived in this area for more than ten years. Takasu Ryuji's understanding of this area was more familiar and profound than the world of Saionji.

　　He told Kento about some strange people nearby, as well as some places and life details that needed attention. As a result, Kento, who had lived here for nearly three years, noticed some details that he had not discovered before.

　　"I feel like you...."

　　"Just call me Kento."

　　"Well, Kento, your knowledge of this area is no worse than those residents who have lived here for a long time. Did Xiyuanji tell you this?"

　　"Well, she also told me a lot about this film."

　　During their conversation, Kento inadvertently revealed some of his familiarity with the area, which confused Takasu Ryuji. However, without waiting for Kento to explain, he had already found the right answer and convinced himself.

　　This saves Kento some trouble.

　　"My home is in front, it's a bit simple..."

　　"No, it looks like a very cozy home, and it seems that the space is much larger than my apartment."

　　The two came to the door of Takasu's house and looked at the single-family house in front of them. It seemed to be a bit old, but it was not bad. At least it looked quite ordinary from the outside.

　　"Come in."

　　"Excuse me."

　　Under the guidance of Takasu Ryuji, Kento followed him into the house. Then, as soon as Kento entered the house, he saw a pair of purple lace underwear lying quietly on the floor at the door of the entrance.

　　Kento was stunned and looked at Takasu Ryuji who was standing beside him, but he only found that Takasu Ryuji walked into the house calmly, put the ingredients into the refrigerator, and then turned back to look at Kento who was standing there.

　　"What's wrong?"

　　"Uh... no, nothing. By the way, where's Mrs. Takasu?"

　　"Taeko? Taiko should be out working at this time. He won't be back until the early morning. Come in and sit for a while. I have to prepare the ingredients and preserve them first."

　　"Um."

　　After inviting Kento to enter the living room and sit down, Takasu Ryuji poured a glass of water and handed it to the table in front of him, and asked him what he thought.

　　"How is it, my family, are you a little disappointed?"

　　"No, it's about the same as my hometown in Gifu, but the environment there isn't as developed as here."

　　Looking at the environment of the Takasu family, compared with their old home in Itomori, Gifu, it is already considered quite good. At least when Kento was young, the environment he lived in was not much different from that of the Takasu family. At most, the environment was closer to nature and the houses were a little bigger.

　　"You and Mrs. Takasu..."

　　"No, no, don't call her Madam. It's too awkward to address her like that. I don't think Taizi will like it. Just call her Taizi."

　　"Uh... Miss Taiko then."

　　"Well, she should like this name very much."

　　Takasu Ryuji nodded, and was no longer in a hurry to clean up and preserve the ingredients. He sat down and prepared to chat with Kento for a while.

　　"Have you and Miss Taizi always lived here?"

　　"Didn't I tell you this before? My irresponsible father seems to be dead. Since I can remember, I have been living here with Taizi."

　　"That's really amazing, Ms. Yasuko."

　　Hearing Takasu Ryuji's words, Kento couldn't help but sigh.

　　"Um?"

　　Facing Kento in front of him who suddenly expressed his emotion, Takasu Ryuji was a little dazed and puzzled, not knowing what Kento meant by "great".

　　"Raising her own son alone and being able to persist in such an environment for more than ten years is already an extraordinary effort and excellence. She must have suffered a lot of grievances, but she still did not give up on you, Long'er. You are a great mother."

　　According to the data from the 'National Living Basics Survey', the poverty rate of single-parent families is 50.8%, and families without savings account for 14.9% of the total, and single-parent families with only one mother and one child account for nearly 40% of them.

　　The 2012 Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare's "Survey on the Current Status of Single-Parent Families" showed that the proportion of irregular employment in single-parent families with mothers and children was 57%, while the proportion of irregular employment in single-parent families with fathers and children was 12.9%.

　　A simple comparison shows how difficult it is for a single mother to raise a child.

　　What's more, for a single mother like Yasuko Takasu, who cut off all ties with her family but raised Takasu Ryuji alone, the hardships and setbacks she experienced are probably only understood by Yasuko Takasu herself.

　　Before she could go to work, Takasu Yasuko, who had just woken up, quietly leaned against the shoji, her hands wrapped around her knees, her expression no longer as frivolous as usual, with a faint smile on the corner of her mouth——

　　"I'm sorry, Longji."

　　"Mom, I... seem to have really fallen in love with a kid younger than me..."

　　Image: "Takasu Yasuko", Location: "Images/1635325425-100277911-107883335.jpg"

Cherry Blossom Season: 12. Shopping in the shopping street and sending gifts home

　　Kento did not stay at the Takasu family for long. He just met them by chance on the road and helped the other party take the ingredients home. He himself had to buy some discounted vegetables, so he just sat at the Takasu family for a while, then got up to say goodbye to Takasu Ryuji and went to buy vegetables.

　　When Takasu Ryuji sent Kento away and returned to the living room, he saw Taizi appear in front of the low table, drinking water from a cup in his hand, and glanced at him.

　　"That cup was used by Kento. If you want to drink water, you should at least get a new cup, right?"

　　Walking into the living room, Takasu Ryuji was not very surprised when he saw Yasuko appearing in front of him.

　　"You haven't gone to work yet?"

　　"The work at the bar doesn't start until the evening. If I go there this early, I'll just clean up the bar and do some other preparatory work. It's the same as going there later~"

　　"Since you are at home, why didn't you say anything just now? It's rare for someone to come to your home as a guest, and it's someone who helped you. It's a bit unreasonable not to thank him, right?"

　　Putting down the water cup in her hand, Takasu Yasuko gradually straightened her posture and looked at her son. Her expression and eyes seemed extremely serious and solemn, which made Takasu Ryuji a little uncomfortable.

　　"What's wrong? Why do you look so serious all of a sudden?"

　　"Hey, Long'er, what do you think of Kento?"

　　"Suddenly asking this...nice guy, what's wrong?"

　　"Then, do you think you would support Taizi if she and him were in a relationship?"

　　After he finished speaking, Takasu Ryuji's expression seemed a little subtle. He gradually squatted down and sat in front of Takasu Yasuko. He observed Yasuko in front of him seriously, confirming Takasu Yasuko's expression and reaction.

　　"Seriously?"

　　"Taeko, I've always been serious!"

　　"I didn't feel it at all. However, Kento is a nice guy. When I met him today, I saw a girl confessing her love to him. He has only moved in for two days and a girl has already confessed her love to him. Do you really have a chance?"

　　"Taizi, you will work hard!"

　　Looking at Takasu Yasuko in front of him, who was clenching her fists like a little girl, he felt helpless. He sighed slowly, stood up and waved his hand slightly.

　　"It's up to you, but don't make the relationship too awkward. After all, they are our neighbors. If the relationship becomes awkward, it will be very troublesome for me."

　　Watching her son stand up and start to prepare the ingredients, Takasu Yasuko was a little surprised. She didn't expect Ryuji's reaction to be so calm. The expression on her face became cheerful and excited. She stood up and began to cheer herself up.

　　"Don't worry, Ryuji! I will definitely work hard, Taizi, to win the heart of Kento!"

　　"..."

　　While walking on the way to the shopping street, Kento couldn't stop sneezing. He always felt like someone was talking about him. After thinking about it, the first person he thought of was his sister who was far away in Itomori.

　　"Oh, right, Tokyo's souvenirs. I really need to take care of her affairs first and send her some Tokyo's souvenirs. Otherwise, I don't know how she will curse me in Itomori..."

　　However, Kento was a little troubled about what kind of specialties to send back to his sister.

　　Foods and snacks like wagashi are mostly found in special places, like the famous souvenirs at Tokyo Station, sesame eggs in Ginza...you have to walk a long way to get them. Today, it's not impossible, but you have to go to the shopping street to purchase the ingredients.

　　"I just don't know what to buy, so I'll send you a text message to ask. I'll think about buying local specialties tomorrow."

　　Given Sanye's personality, she would most likely ask him to buy some cosmetics like those in fashion magazines, or some popular clothes, and then she could send some to her depending on the situation.

　　Arriving at the commercial street of Koishikawa, Kento started shopping by looking at the various shops on both sides of the street...

　　In addition to some common ingredients and seasonings, when Kento saw the drugstore, he went in and bought some emergency medicines that might be used in daily life, cold medicines and fever patches, as well as disinfectant sprays and bandages for treating wounds. He bought some of all of them.

　　Living alone is different from living with your family. Even if you are sick, you can only take care of yourself. This is inevitable. No one can guarantee that they will not encounter things like colds.

　　When Kento walked out of the shopping street, his hands were full of shopping bags, more than Takasu Ryuji had before. As he walked on the road, he felt his hands being tied tightly, and the pain made the corners of his mouth twitch slightly.

　　I didn't meet any acquaintances who could help me, and it took me about half an hour to finally get back to the door of my apartment.

　　Before opening the door, he put down the shopping bags, looked down at his hands, and saw his knuckles that were blue and white from being tied up. He sighed helplessly, opened the door of the apartment, and at the same time thought about buying a bicycle.

　　"Forget it, it's not like this every day."

　　The question of the bicycle had just come to mind when Kento himself rejected it.

　　In the whole of Tokyo, the most common crime is bicycle theft, with nearly 40,000 cases occurring each year. Whenever you ride a bicycle on the street, the police will ask you to show proof of your bicycle.

　　It was too troublesome, so he chose to give up.

　　He quietly brought all the purchased ingredients into the house, processed them first and stored them in the refrigerator. At the same time, he placed the emergency medicines in a more conspicuous place, such as next to the desk, and stacked them up.

　　"I need to buy some small storage boxes, and also..."

　　Kento took out some remaining cosmetics from the shopping bag.

　　Looking at these seasonal limited edition wet wipes and daily cosmetics in cherry blossom packaging, I think Mitsuha would be interested in them. No, it would be more accurate to say that she would be quite interested in them.

　　After all, she is someone who can say that she wants to come to Tokyo to be a handsome guy. Her yearning for the city of Tokyo can be said to be far beyond that of ordinary people. She should be very happy to see these limited edition products that can only be bought in big cities.

　　'Drug cosmetics' and 'limited products' can be said to be the 'best match' for women.

　　He placed them on the desk and planned to wait until tomorrow, then go back to the post office and mail them back to Itomori. Some of them were for his mother's second master and his younger sister's fourth leaf. He hoped they would like them.

　　"Speaking of which, we have to give our mayor a gift. Otherwise, even if he doesn't say it, he will mind it in his heart. Giving him a tie clip should be enough. I don't think he will care too much about the gift."

　　— — — —

　　Thanks to Guozitang, Gongwang, and Kejia for their monthly tickets! Thanks to everyone for their recommendation tickets!

Cherry Blossom Season: 13. Jimbocho and the Visiting Girl

　　24th, nothing happened.

　　When he went out to send mail again, he did not meet Saionji Sekai again. He went to the post office alone, handed some gifts and envelopes he had prepared to the post office staff, signed his name, paid the fee, and all that was left was to wait quietly.

　　It would take about three or four days to send these from Tokyo to Itomori, and by the time Mitsuha receives the email, she will probably contact him, so he doesn't need to pay too much attention to this matter.

　　After finishing the matter of mailing the letter, Kento began to grope his way towards the nearby bookstore.

　　Because I am starting over, all the knowledge I had about studying has been almost forgotten. Now I have set a new goal in life to get into a liberal arts university, so I have to work hard once again.

　　He didn't have any photographic memory, the only thing he could do was to make up for his shortcomings with hard work. It would be a bit of a stretch for him to get into a top university like the University of Tokyo, where the deviation value was nearly 70. But if he wanted to get into a university with a deviation value of around 60, it was not impossible for him to try his best.

　　In such an academically oriented society, you don't necessarily have to get into college to find a job, but whether or not you get into a good college determines a person's lower limit of foundation and the upper limit of future achievements.

　　Perhaps his father, the mayor, can provide him with a safety net. If he wants to live a good life, he inevitably needs to seriously consider things like academic qualifications.

　　The largest bookstore street in Tokyo is in Jimbocho in Chiyoda, where there are nearly 200 bookstores, most of which are second-hand bookstores, and there are also some discounted bookstores. Kento only needs to walk along Horizaka to Kasuga Station, and then take a bus directly to Jimbocho Station.

　　Jimbocho is full of bookstores, and looking at the dazzling array of books, Kento's eyes were a little complicated for a moment.

　　If you ask him what he likes most, it is reading. He wants to learn all kinds of knowledge that he has never known and feel the stories in the books. This used to be his favorite thing, but with the passage of time, he didn't pay much attention to posture and light. After reading for a while, his eyes would feel sore. If he read for too long, he would even feel stuffy, so he didn't read much anymore.

　　"From now on, start paying attention to your posture when reading. Let's take a look at what books are available."

　　Kento's goal is to read some textbook books and some popular literature. He is also considering whether he should use his spare time to create a popular work of his own to see if he can submit it and win an award...

　　After walking around the bookstore, he saw a lot of books that caught his eye, but after looking at the prices, many of them discouraged him from buying. After a lot of hesitation and struggle, he could only temporarily give up on the purchase.

　　The books were not cheap, especially the ones he liked were all around 1,000 yen. One book was fine, but if he bought three or four, it seemed that his already tight wallet could no longer afford such an expense.