An outing with Hibari. The destination had been decided in advance.

But well, at first…

“Hey, hey Hibari! How about this place? This attraction looks really fun—”

“Yes, I think that would be good.”

“Oh, this place is nice too! There’s apparently a food festival nearby!”

“Yes, I think that would be good.”

“And also… this place too!”

“I think that would be good.”

I had been researching various places on pamphlets and my smartphone. Every place was a troubling candidate for our outing destination…

“Um… Hibari?”

“Yes, what is it?”

I turned towards Hibari. She had the same expressionless face as always, but her beautifully arranged face and eyes gazed at me.

…I felt my heart skip a beat for a moment.

“Well, it’s not good for me to be the only one giving opinions… Where would Hibari like to go?”

Since earlier, I had been recommending places that had caught my interest to her… so perhaps it might have been difficult for Hibari to voice her opinions.

That’s what I thought when I asked.

“…”

Hibari turned her gaze to the pamphlets and the smartphone screen I was holding… then looked back at me.

“…I don’t really understand these kinds of things. I haven’t had much experience going out to have fun with other people.”

“I-I see…”

Hibari’s student days. From what I’d occasionally heard, it seemed she didn’t have very good memories of that time.

It wasn’t revealed in the game either, and I didn’t really understand it well.

But that didn’t matter now. It was okay not to understand. It was okay not to know.

I was…

“Then I’ll have to lead things so that Hibari can have fun and enjoy herself!”

“…”

I always enjoyed being with Hibari, anywhere and anytime.

“Ah, that’s right! How about this? In the morning, we go to a place Hibari wants to visit. In the afternoon, we go to a place I want to visit. We’ll announce each other’s desired destinations on the day itself!”

“Is that like a surprise?”

“Not quite a surprise, but… I thought it might be fun to introduce each other to places we want to go and recommended spots.”

“I see. That sounds good.”

I had said it on a whim, but wasn’t it a good idea, if I did say so myself?

“Even so, in the end, I’m still troubled about narrowing down our destination. It could be somewhere we want to go… or somewhere we want to go to again after a long time.”

“…Yes, that’s true. In that case, I would—”

◇◇

“It’s been a while since I’ve come to an aquarium—”

“Thank you for accompanying me.”

“Not at all. I think it’s a good choice.”

The first place we came to was an aquarium. It was Hibari’s request.

I bought entrance tickets for two people at the counter near the entrance.

“One high school student and one adult.”

“Y-yes. One adult and one high school student. The young lady over there, do you have your student ID…”

The receptionist lady looked toward Hibari. Apparently, she thought Hibari was the high school student. I had a stern face, and my build was better compared to an ordinary high school student… so I supposed it was fair that she would think Hibari was the high school student instead.

“I’m the high school student.”

When I showed my student ID, the receptionist lady panicked and said,

“I’m terribly sorry!!!”

No worries at all.”

“It’s business as usual today, isn’t it?”

“Indeed. Hibari, you’re used to this by now, right?”

“Yes.”

We entered the facility while having such light conversation. The interior was quite dark, but because of that, the illuminated fish looked beautiful. Just watching the fish swimming in their tanks… for some reason, I felt like I could stay like this forever. I suppose this was what it meant to feel healed.

“Where shall we start?”

“Hm? Oh, that’s right.”

Before I knew it, Hibari had a pamphlet with information about the facility in her hands. It must have been placed somewhere. I hadn’t noticed it at all. That’s Hibari for you. She was thorough.

Since it was dark, I peered over to look at the pamphlet.

“Let’s see, there are various areas… Natural jellyfish art and a sunfish-only area… Oh, whale shark feeding time sounds interesting—”

“There’s also a dolphin show.”

“That’s right. After all, when you think of aquariums, you want to see the dolphin show… How about we look around from the right until the dolphin show starts?”

“I think that’s good. I was thinking the same thing.”

We discussed our plans in small voices and nodded to each other quietly.

Then we went around looking at various types of fish. They were all beautiful.

Next was…

“Oh, garden eels. When you see garden eels, you want to say that, don’t you?”

You want to do that line and pose from a certain anime, didn’t you? Well, I wouldn’t actually do it, of course.

“Let me share some trivia here.”

“Oh!”

Hibari said, glancing at the sea anemones.

“Do you know why aquarium lighting is so dim?”

I had expected trivia about garden eels, but it was about that instead.

“Well, it’s so the fish look beautiful… and to create a good atmosphere for both the fish and the visitors, isn’t it?”

“That’s also correct, but… there’s another reason. Actually, it’s also to prevent the fish from seeing us humans.”

“Oh?”

“Many aquarium tanks use special glass, and due to the effects of light reflection, the fish can’t see us and everything appears completely black to them. This way, the fish don’t get frightened and run away, and they don’t experience stress either.”

“I see. So no matter how close I bring my stern face, they won’t be scared…”

I brought my face close to the tank, but all the garden eels were facing the same direction, looking relaxed. Looking closely, there were small things riding on the water current. Food, perhaps? They were eating it gracefully.

“Somehow, the fact that they’re not scared is… annoying in its own way.”

“Being jealous of garden eels shows that Yuji-sama is quite childish.”

“No, this isn’t jealousy, is it?”

I mean, I wasn’t in love with garden eels or anything.

“If someone’s going to be jealous, I’d prefer it to be a human.”

“…Is that so?”

Well, I didn’t think there was anyone who would be jealous of me—

Bump.

“…!”

“Whoa there.”

Suddenly, Hibari stumbled toward me. I grabbed her shoulder to support her.

“Are you okay?”

“Sorry… I seem to have bumped into someone.”

“It’s gotten a bit crowded…”

Dark shadows were moving around. Being a holiday, families with children and couples had probably increased.

It was nice that it was lively, but since the interior was dark, it would be terrible if we got separated.

“Hibari. I’ll walk ahead, so please follow behind me. If you stay behind me, you probably won’t bump into people.”

Besides, with my large body, I’d stand out even in the dark due to my silhouette.

“But it’s likely to get even more crowded from here on… if it looks like we might get separated, feel free to grab onto my clothes or anywhere you like.”

“Understood.”

I started walking first, and Hibari began walking behind me. Next was the shark and sardine school corner, if I remembered correctly…

…squeeze.

Hibari grabbed on. Probably to avoid getting separated.

However, what she grabbed wasn’t the hem of my clothes, nor the clothes on my back…

“…Hibari?”

“Yuji-sama said to grab anywhere I liked.”

“I certainly said that, but… this was unexpected.”

“…”

Hibari remained silent, but… squeezed. I felt her grip tighten.

Hibari was… holding my hand.

“Well, it’s to avoid getting separated.”

I squeezed back. Her hand was soft, and it felt a bit warm.

“…Am I the only one… who’s nervous?”