Translator: Haruto.

Hibari and I have already decided where we’ll be going today.

However, before we arrived at that decision…

“How about this place, Hibari?! This attraction looks like so much fun, and—”

“Yes, that sounds like a wonderful idea.”

“Oh! This one could be pretty cool, too! I heard there’s a food festival taking place nearby!”

“That also sounds quite nice.”

“Ah! And this one!”

“Yes, that one, too.”

…We checked numerous pamphlets and websites trying to narrow down the list of possible destinations…  

“Umm, Hibari?”

“Yes, what is it?”

I look straight at her. She stares back at me with her expressionless yet beautiful face, making my heart skip a beat.

“Erm, I feel bad being the only one throwing out ideas… Is there a place you’d like to visit?”

I’ve been listing places I’d like to visit for a while now, and perhaps that has made it difficult for Hibari to voice her opinion. That’s why I decided to ask her that question.

“…” Hibari glances at the pamphlets and my phone’s screen before turning back to me. “…The thing is, I’m a novice when it comes to this type of thing. I’ve seldom gone out to have fun with other people.”

“I-I see…”

From what she’s told me, Hibari didn’t have such a great time when she was in school. The game didn’t expand on her back story, and I only know very little about what happened, but well, that doesn’t matter right now. It’s fine if I don’t get the whole picture. It’s fine if I don’t know everything that happened back then.

All I need to do right now is…

“Alright, in that case, I’ll take the lead and make sure you have the time of your life, Hibari!”

“…”

At the end of the day, the when and where don’t matter much to me—I just like being by her side.

“Ah, I know! How about this? We’ll go somewhere you like in the morning and somewhere I like in the afternoon. That way we’ll get to hit places we both enjoy on the same day!”

“And do we have to keep the place we choose a secret to surprise one another?”

“Not necessarily. The main idea here is simply to introduce each other to fun places.”

“I see. That certainly is a great idea.”

Yeah, I also think I came up with something good.

“With that said, it’s hard to choose from so many options, so it doesn’t have to be a new destination, okay? You can pick a place you’d like to revisit.”

“…I understand. In that case, I…”

***

“I haven’t been to an aquarium in forever.”

“Thank you for accompanying me, Yuuji-sama.”

“My pleasure. You made a great choice.”

Our first destination was an aquarium, as per Hibari’s request.

We walk to the front desk to buy two tickets.  

“One high school student and one adult, please,” I say.

“O-Okay, one adult and one student, correct? Miss, can I see your student ID?” the clerk asks, looking at Hibari.

It seems she thinks Hibari is the student. It’s not much of a surprise, though. My face is pretty intimidating, and my body is bigger than most guys my age, so at first glance, Hibari looks more like a high school student than me.

“I’m the student,” I say.  

The moment she sees my ID, the clerk begins to freak out.

“I-I’m so sorry! That was terribly rude of me!”

“Don’t worry about it.”

“This type of thing has become a daily occurrence for you, hasn’t it?” Hibari remarks.

“Yeah, and I guess you’ve already gotten used to seeing it happen.”

“Why, yes, I have.”

We keep our light-hearted conversation going as we pass through the entrance. It’s rather dark inside, but we have no issues seeing the fish clearly thanks to the various lights inside their tanks.

Man, seeing the fish swimming around makes you want to remain here forever, and takes all your stress away…

“Where should we go first?”

“Hm? Ahh, let’s see…”

I then notice that Hibari is holding a brochure with a map of the aquarium. I wonder where she found it. I seriously didn’t notice when she got it. But well, all I can say is that she’s as reliable as ever.

Because of how dark it is, I have to lean in to take a good look at the brochure.

“Huh, there are lots of different areas… There’s an ocean-sunfish-only area and even a jellyfish art exhibition. Ohh, they also have a whale shark feeding event. Sounds like fun!”

“And there’s a dolphin show, too,” Hibari points out.  

“Yeah, and like, if you go to an aquarium, you have to see a dolphin show, right? What do you say we go check out the fish on the right until the show starts?”

“That sounds like a plan.”  

Having come to that decision, we both nod to each other. We then begin admiring the numerous types of fish around. They’re all beautiful.

And the next type of fish that catches our eye is…

“Ahh! Spotted garden eels! Whenever I see these eels, I get the urge to say that one phrase…”

I’d love to recreate a certain scene from a popular anime… but, yeah, I won’t.

“Here’s a little piece of trivia,” Hibari says, side-eyeing a sea anemone.  

“Ohh.”

“Why do you think aquariums have such dim lighting?”

Huh, I was sure she was going to tell me an interesting fact about sea anemones.

“Well, I think it’s to make the fish more visible and to create a nice ambiance for both the visitors and the animals…”

“Yes, that’s correct… but there’s one more reason. It’s also to prevent the fish from seeing us.”

“Oh?”

“Water tanks in public aquariums are typically made of a highly reflective kind of glass that makes it harder for the fish to spot us. This helps the fish remain calm and reduces stress.”

“I see. So, that’s what allows someone as menacing-looking as me to get close to the glass without scaring them off.”

I move even closer to the tank, but the spotted garden eels just keep looking in the same direction without a care in the world.

I then notice there are bits of something riding the current in front of the eels. It’s feed, huh? They’re calmly eating it.

“For some reason, the fact that they’re not scared at all… irks me.”

“Getting jealous and trying so hard to get their attention is not very mature of you, Yuuji-sama.”

“Huh? I’m not ‘jealous,’ though?”

It’s not like I’m in love with these eels.

“And it goes both ways. I wouldn’t want eels to get jealous because of me. I’d much prefer a human girl to do that,” I say.  

“…I see.”

Well, it’s not like there’s a girl who would get jealous because of me in my life right now—

Thud.

“…Ah!”

“Careful there.”

Hibari just staggered toward me out of nowhere, so I caught her by the shoulders.

“Are you okay?”

“I’m sorry… I think someone bumped into me.”

“It sure has gotten crowded in here”

Dark shadows are moving all around the place. Today being a holiday, the aquarium is packed with families and couples. I like seeing people enjoy themselves like this, but this also poses a problem: it’s so dark and crowded here that it’s very easy to lose each other.

“Hibari, I’ll walk in front, and I want you to follow right behind me. If you do that, I doubt anyone will bump into you.”  

And thanks to how big my body is, she will be able to easily spot my silhouette if need be.

“Although, I bet more visitors will be arriving soon, so maybe you should grab hold of my shirt or any other place you like to make sure you don’t get lost.”

“Very well…”

I start walking and she begins following me. We’re now supposed to go see the sharks and the sardines—

Squeeze.

Hibari has grabbed hold of me… to make sure she doesn’t get lost, of course.

The thing is… she didn’t grab hold of the hem of my shirt or anything like that…

“Hibari?”

“You told me to grab any place I like.”

“Yeah, I did, but… This is still a little surprising.”

“…”

Hibari falls silent… but I’m sure I felt her hand press mine when I said that.  

That’s right, Hibari… is holding my hand.

“Well, I really wouldn’t want you to get lost, so…”

I also hold her hand firmly in mine.

It’s soft and warm.

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