After rebirth, I became Tokyo Sentimental

Chapter 213, Section 212: The Grand Finale Did Not End in Tranquility
The band members slowly made their way out, carrying harps and cellos. The delicate flower petals scattered on the ground were crushed underfoot. Groups of guests, their faces flushed, shook hands and chatted at the entrance of the banquet hall. They were swaying and clearly had drunk quite a bit, and their voices were much louder than usual.

Hilton Hotel's cleaning staff have begun entering the venue and cleaning up the mess in the banquet hall.

Yuan Ye Si stood in the corner of the banquet hall near the floor-to-ceiling window, raised his hand to pry open the window, squinted his eyes to face the salty sea breeze, and then took out a lighter and cigarettes from the inside pocket of his suit.

"Clap!"

A tiny cluster of flames suddenly rose up.

The lighter was moved to his mouth.

The tobacco wrapped in paper came into contact with the orange-yellow outer flame that swayed gently in the wind, and quickly curled up and began to turn red.

Pull it deep into the lungs.

It no longer has the initial spiciness.

The long exhale of gray smoke seemed to carry sorrow, dissipating with a gust of wind, but it also seemed to take away only the smoke from the burning tobacco, leaving nothing else behind.

Yuan Ye Si stood there smoking, gazing at the azure sea outside the hotel's clean floor-to-ceiling windows.

We chose a day with good weather for the wedding.

Therefore, the sky was cloudless.

Even the sea surface is completely still if you don't look closely.

What's the meaning of hiding here to smoke?

I'd only smoked half a cigarette when a familiar fragrance wafted over from beside me, accompanied by a sarcastic remark.

"I'm a little tired." Yuan Ye Si had become so familiar with the women he frequently encountered that he could practically recognize them by their scent, so without even glancing at those around him, he pulled out a cigarette from his pocket: "Want one?"

"Can't you just put it to my mouth?" Sato Mie said again, "I'm also very tired today."

After hearing this, Yuan Ye Si shifted his gaze to the person beside him and carefully examined her from head to toe, from protrusion to depression, from fullness to flatness, until he stared at the fine sweat seeping from the tip of her upturned nose for a long time before saying, "I really have troubled you today."

As the wedding emcee, or master of ceremonies, Sato Mie's workload is undoubtedly enormous.

In addition, although it is early autumn, the temperature has not dropped. Even with the air conditioning on in the banquet hall, it is not very useful. The long hours of speaking and maintaining a high level of concentration have obviously exhausted her energy. The fine sweat on her nose and forehead has even caused her makeup to come off.

Although the makeup smudges don't diminish her beauty, these things are undoubtedly evidence of her hard work today.

And the expected disruptions did not occur.

Indeed, she set aside all previous personal grudges from beginning to end, and in that respect, Haruno Tsukasa should thank her, since the entire wedding went very smoothly.

"This isn't like you. You've never properly thanked me before, and you're acting strangely today."

"Really?" Haruno Tsukasa smiled and said.

"Yes." Sato Mie seemed to have no intention of smiling at all. Her charming face was half-hidden in the hazy smoke as she asked meaningfully, "Because you succeeded, you feel empty, right?"

"People are often happiest when they are closest to happiness." Haruno Tsukasa did not deny her question.

"What a load of bull! I think you lost the whole forest for the sake of gaining one tree. Now that you can't fool people with the excuse of being single anymore, you're hiding here having a smoke by yourself after getting married."

Is marriage really a constraint for me?

Haruno Tsukasa countered with a question.

“Isn’t that right?” Sato Mie blurted out, but then realized that this guy had more than one or two girlfriends. Even after getting married, his indecisiveness wasn’t because he was facing a difficult choice. Thinking of this, she choked for a moment before sneering, “I misjudged you.”

"Hmm?" Haruno Tsukasa looked at her in confusion.

"I thought you were much more mature than your peers, and that is true, but since you haven't reached our age and haven't experienced or seen as much as we have, your emotions are still so easily swayed."

"Is that so? Perhaps."

Hearing the ambiguous answer, Sato Mie was clearly not going to give up easily, and seemed determined to get him to say something: "In that case, I can reluctantly listen to you complain about some of your probably disgusting grievances."

"There's nothing to complain about. Didn't Shina come?" Haruno Tsukasa stubbed out his cigarette and changed the subject.

"What's she doing here? Watching the person she thinks could have married me marry someone else, and then having me go out of my way to ruin your feelings for that child?"

Sato Mie said with a sneer.

“That makes sense.” Haruno Tsukasa suddenly realized.

After responding, he subconsciously reached into his inner pocket for a cigarette, but Sato Mie slapped his hand away as soon as he put it in, angrily saying, "Still want a smoke? I really don't know how you got my hands on me!"

"Because I have great potential." Haruno Tsukasa, whose hand had been knocked away, was not angry and slowly said as he touched it again.

"You? 'Great' indeed..." Sato Mie subconsciously thought he meant magnanimous, but the words had barely left her mouth when she realized what he meant. Several images flashed through her mind, her legs tightened, her heart skipped a beat, and she whispered, "Disgusting!"

"Do you want a wedding? I can throw one for you." Yuan Ye Si could tell she wasn't really sincere.

"Would she agree to throw me a party?"

Sato Mie blurted out those words instinctively, but immediately realized that they sounded like she was trying to marry him, and she panicked for a moment. She forced a cold, hard expression and retorted sarcastically:
"And are you kidding me? The meaning of a wedding is to receive blessings from family and friends. Who are we inviting to our wedding? Your girlfriends?"

"Forget it if you don't want to."

Haruno Tsukasa's indifferent way.

"hehe."

Sato Mie chuckled coldly twice.

After a brief silence, she still didn't hear any flattery or apology from Haruno Tsukasa. Recalling his earlier words about holding a wedding for her as well, she recalled many beautiful scenes from earlier, and her heart couldn't help but itch with longing.

No woman dislikes a sense of ritual.

Marriage and wedding are not the same thing.

Yuan Ye Si hadn't eaten a single thing from the beginning to the end of the wedding. After smoking a cigarette to calm himself down, he suddenly felt hungry. He walked to the nearby table that hadn't been cleaned yet, grabbed a piece of matcha mousse, and asked while eating:
"Did you turn down a lot of work today?"

"Why are you suddenly showing concern for me? Is it because you feel guilty towards me, or is it because you have nowhere else to express your feelings?"

Sato Mie came to her senses and realized that Harano Tsukasa, who had just been in front of her, had run to the other side.

“Calling you to host today was indeed a very inappropriate choice,” Haruno Tsukasa said, his words muffled.

"and then?"

"Gone."

"Not even an apology!?"

“Apologizing is useless. I think if you want to express your remorse, you can make amends in other ways.”

"That's pretty much it..."

Sato Mie was already used to Harano Tsukasa's sharp tongue, and she was quite relieved that he was willing to make such a promise. She glanced at the banquet hall, which was almost empty, and suppressed her thoughts, reminding him: "Your status today is different, so don't waste your time here. Besides, if you stay with me and someone sees you, they might misunderstand."

"It's alright, Saka is probably still in the dressing room removing her makeup. Besides, you're the host, so it's normal for me to say a few words to you after the banquet," Haruno Tsukasa replied.

Sato Mie laughed in anger, realizing he was truly a complete scoundrel, even on their wedding day he couldn't behave. She immediately steeled herself and provoked him:
"Since you've put it that way, shall we take this time to review our lessons for a while?"

"Now?"

"Now!"

After hearing the affirmative answer, Yuan Ye Si ate the last piece of matcha mousse in his hand, wiped his hands with a tissue, turned his head, looked at her silently for a few seconds, and then smiled and said, "Isn't this a bad idea? It's not that I don't want to, it's just that you know I'm always very focused when I'm studying, so time flies by. I'm afraid this little bit of time won't be enough."

"Time is something you can always find if you squeeze it in. Didn't you just say you wanted to make it up to me? What happened? Are you just all talk and no action?"

Sato Mie continued her sarcastic remarks with a blank expression.

Actually, she was a little excited.

After all, she knew very well how magnanimous Haruno Tsukasa was, and today was his wedding with Suzumiya Saka. Discussing a business deal worth hundreds of millions of dollars at this time and place made her feel very different.

Like an old married couple whose frequency has dropped from once a day during their honeymoon to once a month, suddenly one of them putting on makeup and dressing up touches the other's heart. Plus, it's this special time.

Even though Sato Mie hadn't intended to cross the line today, she couldn't help but be deeply moved.

However, she tried her best to remain calm.

"Twenty minutes, no more than that." This was the only way Haruno Tsukasa could currently subdue Sato Mie, but he added, "I will do my best, but I have to go back when the time is up."

"can."

"Then let's find one first..."

Just as Haruno Tsukasa was about to take Sato Mie to a secluded place to make amends to her, a familiar, cold voice came from beside them.

"Don't say twenty minutes, let's say twenty days."

"..."

"..."

With a somber expression, Suzumiya Saka slowly walked from a short distance to the two of them. She first gave Sato Mie a look as if she were looking at a dead person, and then shifted her gaze to Harano Tsukasa's face, saying indifferently:

“You’re in such good health, and I know Sato has a high demand, so you don’t need to go home today, and you can stay away from home for the next twenty years.”

There was no fury as expected.

There was no cursing.

However, the content of those words was clearly cold.

"What?" Haruno Tsukasa immediately displayed his acting skills, which had reached the level of an Oscar winner. He pretended to be stunned for a moment, and then showed an expression of understanding her misunderstanding. He explained helplessly, "Why didn't I go home? I was just reviewing my studies with Sato-san. Did you hear that just now?"

"You heard me, and then what?"

"Aren't you overthinking it? The so-called homework is just the questions in her daughter's textbook. I promised that I would tutor her before, but I haven't had time recently because of the wedding. Now that I have some free time, I plan to explain some of the key points of the questions to Sato-san so that she can explain them to the girl."

In response to Haruno Tsukasa's earnest explanation, Suzumiya Saka simply asked, "Do you think I'm a pig?"

"No, everything I said is true."

Haruno Tsukasa, well aware of the principle that one should never admit to something even if caught red-handed, immediately displayed the composure and fluidity of a veteran artist, turning his attention to Sato Mie, who stood by in astonishment followed by amusement, and dragging her into the fray with an extremely stern and reproachful tone:

"I told you not to look for me! Don't you even know what day it is today! If it weren't for the fact that you're officiating my and Saka's wedding today, and also for that child's sake, I would have refused long ago! Now there's been another misunderstanding, you better explain yourself! I could jump into Tokyo Bay and still not clear my name!"

Urgent matters require expediency.

The situation is indeed urgent.

Sato will suffer a little more, and he will take responsibility later.

Sato Mie, who had been watching the show from the sidelines, saw him turn his attention to her. After hearing his outrageous remarks, her beautiful face showed an expression of disbelief, as if she had seen a dog fly into the sky. After her lips were open for a long time, she hurriedly turned to Suzumiya Saka and asked, "Do you believe me or him?"

"I believe you." Suzumiya Saka's eyelids drooped slightly.

"Then do you think he'd be embarrassed to fight back if we all attack together?" Sato Mie immediately perked up upon hearing this, marveling that she had finally been rational for once.

However, Suzumiya Saka's next words clearly distanced her from her: "I don't know if he hit you or not, but I'm sure he wouldn't dare hit me."

Sato Mie was stunned again.

She opened her mouth as if to say something.

But before she could even speak, she felt her liver trembling with anger. She felt that the two of them were treating her like a pig or a dog again. She suddenly remembered someone saying that even if a couple is not on good terms, they should still stand together against outsiders. It turned out that they were treating her like a stupid dog being played.

"Having children gives you confidence."

Sato Mie, her face darkening, couldn't help but sarcastically remark.

"I'm just as strong-willed even without children."

Suzumiya Saka's expression remained calm and composed.

"Then I'll leave?" Sato Mie whispered.

Suzumiya Saka didn't say anything more, just waved her hand dismissively like swatting a fly, and then stopped looking at her.

Sato Mie was even angrier. She felt like she would either be double-teamed by the two of them or lose all face and be ignored. Instantly, a surge of anger rose in her heart. She turned her head, gritted her teeth, and shouted, "Hit me!"

"Ok?"

"Hit me!" Sato Mie forcefully pulled Haruno Tsukasa's hand up and placed it on her face, her eyes red.

"What are you doing?" Haruno Tsukasa frowned.

"Come on! Hit me! Come on! Come on!"

"Can you calm down?"

"I'm calm? Didn't you want me to give her an explanation? Come on! Hitting me is the best explanation!"

"Do not make jokes."

"Useless trash! Bastard! I bet you won't dare..."

"Snapped!"

As the crisp sound faded, the previously noisy noise abruptly ceased. Haruno Tsukasa, who slowly withdrew his hand, sighed and said with a hint of helplessness, "I've never seen anyone make such a request before."

"How dare you hit me?"

Sato Mie covered her cheek in disbelief.

"Isn't that what you asked for?"

Haruno Tsukasa coughed in response.

Sato Mie's beautiful eyes reddened even more, a surge of grievance and heartache welling up within her: "I never imagined that even now, I would still hold such a low place in your heart. And I even came over just now to kindly comfort you..."

“Zuo…”

"Don't call me!" Sato Mie shouted, then took a step back. "Go ahead and fight! Let me tell you now! You've completely driven me away this time!"

After she had walked away, forcing back her tears, Suzumiya Saka, her hair tied up, stood beside Harano Tsukasa and together they stared at Sato Mie's retreating figure, saying:

"Aren't you going to give it a try?"

I'll contact her again when I have time.

"You're really planning to contact them?"

"..."

[Wish object: Suzumiya Saka]

[The wish list is as follows]

[1. I hope this time it's a son (red)]

[2. I want to slap him (blue)]

[3. Why did Sato just leave after being beaten up? That's so boring. And I kind of want to see them getting extra help with their studies (red)]

After a few seconds of silence, Haruno Tsukasa shook his head as he watched Suzumiya Saka walk away, her slender figure disappearing into the distance.

The grand finale did not bring tranquility.

Time management is not a simple task.

(End of this chapter)