The store wasn't too busy at the moment. Uesugi Sakura handed over the work to Kobashi Rikai and sat down next to Todaka Keichiro, who was still sitting in the corner.
"How did it go?"
"Well... not too bad, not too good either. At least she's willing to stop avoiding me."
"Have you confessed or anything like that?"
"I didn't dare to say it..." Todaka Keichiro said, "Uesugi, after talking to her just now, I've come to understand more about the things she's always been worried about."
"Her father's matters?" Uesugi Sakura asked.
"Yes, I always feel she's stuck in a quagmire, a quagmire that follows her, binding her, preventing her from moving. Human emotions are remarkable, yet they can also become shackles that make one voluntarily put their leg into it, worrying whether lifting the leg would cause the mud in the quagmire to disappear."
