Even though I could guess how he would answer, even though I had no doubt about his feelings.
But the only thing she was not sure of was what kind of feelings she had for him; and how she should muster up the courage to calmly accept the changes in their relationship.
The distance to take that step was longer than she had imagined.
...Perhaps this date can give her the answer she wants?
"By the way, Toyokawa-san, isn't the agreed time eleven o'clock?"
Ming Hai's question brought her back to her thoughts.
"Why are you here so early?"
"Well... isn't it the same for Narumi-kun?" Toyokawa Shoko pointed at the ticket in his hand and forcibly changed the subject, "You still bought a ticket, did you lose the previous one?"
"I just want to go in and take a look first." Ming Hai shook his head. After all, it wasn't a bad thing, so he said it directly and honestly, "This way, when I go shopping with you later, I can know in advance which side is crowded and which is less crowded, and where is the best place to start... You have investigated so detailed, I can't really do nothing, right?"
Toyokawa Shoko looked up, smiling, and gazed into his eyes.
"So, you want to look cool?"
Ming Hai wanted to refute, but in the end he couldn't resist her teasing look and could only sigh helplessly.
"Just take it as it is..."
"How cute~" Toyokawa Shoko poked his cheek happily, and when he dodged, she took the opportunity to grab his slightly raised hand, "But you don't have to do this."
"What I want is for the two of us to explore the feeling of 'first time' together."
Under Ming Hai's surprised gaze, she wrapped her soft and warm palm tightly around his palm, and said to him slowly and seriously, gently and briskly:
"Although I have researched a lot of things beforehand, that was just to prepare for our 'first time' to go smoothly... What kind of surprises are waiting for us inside, and how beautiful the scenery we will see for the first time will be, just imagining it makes me excited!"
"Although you are really handsome for thinking so much about me, more handsome than any other man I have ever seen. But..."
Like the sound of pure white bells, like wind chimes in early summer.
The girl's voice was pure and pure, and in the slightly warm air surrounded by the two people's breath, it went gently from the ears to the heart.
"Mr. Narumi, I want to give you this joy of the 'first time'."
"...So, please let me have your 'first time' as well."
That's not a request, that's an invitation.
It's like the Siren's gentle call to the sailors, or like Medusa's gentle glance back.
Ming Hai just stared into her eyes, like a stone statue, without moving for a long while.
He suddenly felt that he might have been bewitched by a succubus, and his heart began to beat strangely.
Maybe if he relaxed a little, he would be so mesmerized that he wouldn't even be able to think, and would become a big evil wolf that couldn't help but attack a fifteen-year-old girl?
Even so, Ming Hai still managed to calm down with difficulty.
He bit the tip of his tongue, took a deep breath, and forced himself to smile maturely and steadily.
"That's true. I didn't think it through."
He didn't hug her back when she was defenseless, nor did he respond to her word "first time" with the same affection.
Just achieving this point was a complete test for him.
——There’s no way, the damage is too great.
A pure and straightforward young lady, with such an innocent expression and such an affectionate tone, said something so ambiguous...
If it were anyone else, he would have already kneeled down under Miss Xiangzi's plaid skirt. How could he be as nonchalant as he was?
"In that case, I'll give the ticket away."
Ming Hai took the ticket, looked down at the two people's tightly clasped hands, and reluctantly suggested: "Teacher Xiaoxiang, how about letting me go first?"
"Oh, my apologies!"
Toyokawa Shoko finally came to her senses and let go of her hand as if she had been electrocuted. She put her hands behind her back with a blushing face and smiled a little embarrassedly.
Ming Hai didn't care. He just gave the ticket to a passerby and returned to the girl with the ticket he got from the cafe clerk.
"Although we're half an hour early, shall we go in now?"
"Ah."
Just as Toyokawa Shoko nodded, she found a hand stretched out in front of her and looked at him in surprise.
"Hold hands?"
Ming Hai didn't show any abnormality, he just asked this naturally.
"...Then, please give me your guidance."
Without much hesitation, she answered softly, handed him her ticket and held out her other hand.
The slender, white fingers touched his fingertips again.
Volume 49: Chapter Chapter Encounter at the Aquarium
Then he climbed up slowly and nervously. He no longer had the boldness and initiative just now, but instead had a bit more of a vague attachment and temptation. Every touch of his rubbing made her body tremble slightly, and she became very sensitive.
Finally, the big hand and the small hand tightly held each other, and the burning temperature instantly spread through the skin to the whole body, as if a stove was stuffed into the chest, and even the blood began to boil.
Toyokawa Shoko lowered her head slightly, her ears had already turned red, and she let him lead her through the ticket gate. Her mind was still a little dazed and she couldn't think about anything.
At this time, Ming Hai spoke lightly:
"anyway……"
"So you came to the appointment half an hour early because you were too excited to sit at home?"
Toyokawa Shoko was stunned for a moment, then her expression changed slightly, but she didn't have time to raise her hand to cover his mouth.
Sure enough, the next sentence he said with a slight smile:
"Teacher Xiaoxiang is looking forward to the date so much, just like a kid before a spring outing..."
“How cute~”
"Well--!"
Toyokawa Shoko gritted her teeth slightly, her face flushed, and she stared at his smug profile angrily.
——Mr. Minghai is good in everything except his unyielding personality. I really don’t know what to say!
……
The Sky Forest Aquarium is divided into three floors.
There is the Ocean Tour on the first floor, the Waterfront Tour on the second floor, and the most popular Sea Paradise Sky Tour.
The biggest attraction is the interactive performances with various marine creatures.
After the two entered the aquarium, they first took the guide DM at the entrance, and then followed the map and slowly started from the very beginning, "Ocean Journey".
On the left hand side is a beautiful coral ecosystem. In the colorful aquarium, light beams shine in from the hole above, like the light of hope illuminating the dark and endless deep sea and lighting up every sparkling color.
Just as the name of this design - "Flowers blooming in the cave", it is as beautiful as a famous painting.
"Narumi-kun, do you want a picture?"
After watching it with great emotion, Toyokawa Shoko shook his hand and suggested enthusiastically.
Before Ming Hai even mentioned that she had brought a camera, she took out her cell phone from her bag and openly asked passers-by to help her take pictures.
After taking the photos, she first sent them to Ming Hai, and then set them to standby mode in front of him. She nodded with satisfaction at the results, and her eyes couldn't help but bend into crescents.
"Mm, it's really beautiful~"
Then he looked at Ming Hai, and seeing that he didn't move, he asked in confusion: "Ming Hai, aren't you going to set it to standby mode?"
Ming Hai didn't understand why she was so matter-of-fact: "Is there any reason?"
"Because that's what the comics say, the photos taken on a date should be set as the standby screen on your phone..." As if she realized something, Toyokawa Shoko spoke more and more quietly, then coughed dryly as if nothing had happened and turned her head away, "Nothing, just think of it as a spur of the moment thing. It doesn't matter if you don't set it."
Before she could finish her words, Ming Hai tapped his phone several times and showed her the standby screen.
"If you are not afraid of being discovered by others, then it doesn't matter."
"Isn't it normal for young people to set photos of themselves with friends as their mobile phone's standby screen? Why should they be afraid of being discovered?"
Toyokawa Shoko asked stupidly, and only then did she act like a real young lady, so ignorant of the ways of the world that it was laughable.
Ming Hai explained carefully, "It's okay to take a photo of girls together, but if you put a photo of a man and a woman together on your desktop, it basically only has the meaning of a 'couple commemorative photo'."
"Even if there's nothing wrong between us, other people will immediately assume that we're a couple if they see us... As long as your family has no problem with it and you're not afraid of other classmates and friends asking about it, then you really don't have to worry about it. Just let it be misunderstood."
"..."
Toyokawa Shoko fell into silence, biting her lips slightly, her expression constantly changing, and she seemed to be struggling violently in her heart.
Finally, she sighed softly and changed the standby screen back to its original setting.
"I'm sorry, Narumi-kun."
"You don't have to apologize to me." Ming Hai said casually while operating his phone, "If you were my daughter, I wouldn't want to see her looking at a boy's face on her phone every day at her age."
Toyokawa Shoko shook her head and said nothing. She just leaned on his shoulder somewhat depressedly. Her drooping eyes seemed to hide many thoughts that she couldn't tell anyone.
Ming Hai thought about it, and instead of taking the initiative to understand her troubles in depth, he reached out his hand to her.
Toyokawa Shoko held it again very naturally, and the soft little hand lay obediently in his palm.
"No, let's hold hands later. Open our chat history first, and then lend me your phone."
"..."
Under Ming Hai's amused gaze, the girl quickly pulled her hand back and handed the phone to him with a blushing face.
Not long after, Ming Hai finished the operation and returned the phone.
"Here, I've set the photo as our chat background. If anyone wants to peek at our chat history in the future, remember to hide it as quickly as possible."
Toyokawa Shoko watched as the emerald green background of LINE turned into the photo of the two of them just now. She stared at it for a long time with shining eyes, then raised her smiling face with joy and said to him solemnly: "Okay, I will be careful!"
"It doesn't matter if it's an accident. What I said before still counts." He said seriously.
Toyokawa Shoko was stunned for a moment, then she suddenly remembered that what he said was "I will take you abroad overnight, so that you can get rid of your identity as a young lady and freely choose the life you want."
It sounded like a joke, but there was no guarantee that it was a lie.
"It's not that exaggerated. It's just that if we get caught, it might be a little troublesome." She patted his arm and said softly, "But if you say that... I will take it seriously and remember it for the rest of my life, okay?"
"Though it's good to take it seriously."
Ming Hai nodded without any pressure.
Go ahead and remember it. If you have the ability, you can continue to remember it after I die - the system won't lie to me, or it won't even be able to erase the memory of an ordinary young lady, right?
"Then let's move on to the next area!"
Toyokawa Shoko regained her spirits, and this time she took Ming Hai's hand openly and walked happily towards the next floor behind the aquarium.
However, after walking a few steps, the crowd that was crowded in front of the viewing glass taking pictures dispersed, and a petite girl with short gray hair walked out, and happened to meet their eyes while holding hands.
Both sides were taken aback.
"Teng-san?"
"Shoko-chan?" Gao Songdeng's gaze gradually shifted from the two people's holding hands to Ming Hai, "And... Ming Hai-san?"
She looked at Toyokawa Shoko's suddenly stiff expression with a puzzled look on her face.
Volume 50: Chapter Chapter A date between two people turns into a threesome
Almost reflexively, Toyokawa Shoko quickly pulled her hand back and hid it behind her back.
Then he said to Gao Songdeng as if nothing had happened:
"Deng-san, what a coincidence... I didn't expect to meet you here."
"Well, do you like aquariums too?"
As if he didn't notice this action, Gao Songdeng took out an annual ticket from his bag, walked up to the two of them, and said in a weak but positive voice: "When I have nothing to do or feel depressed, I will come to the aquarium and planetarium to visit. It can calm my mood and I can also get to know many interesting lives... By the way, do you have any favorite marine creatures? The penguins here are very cute. I have all the band-aids they need. I can give you the extra ones..."
Unlike her usual timid and silent self, Takamatsu Deng, who was wearing neutral daily clothes, started to share all kinds of things related to the aquarium incessantly, regardless of whether they were willing to listen or not, just like a little otaku who found that his niche hobby was also liked by others.
