CH 63

After eating lunch and paying the bill, I went outside the store and immersed myself in the afterglow of the food.

Takuto’s eyes met mine, and when I made the OK sign with my finger, he looked at me with an apologetic expression.

“Sorry, can we go around, just the two of us, for a little bit?”

“Eh! I want to go around with Kae-chan too!”

“I’ll lend her to you as much as you want later.”

“That’s fine then, …”

I said, and Chinatsu looked a little unconvinced.

After that, Takuto handled it well, and we went our separate ways.

“Oh, um! Why are we two suddenly…”

“Do you not like it?”

“No! It’s not like that…”

“Would you get angry if I told you that I wanted to create a space where Takuto could easily apologize?”

When I said this, there was a pause, but Kaede smiled and said, “I’m not angry! I’m rather happy!”

“Happy?”

“Yes! Because we can finally be alone together! And if it’s just the two of us, then it’s a date, isn’t it?”

Kaede’s face was slightly red when she said the word “date,”.

“We are still on a double-date”

“That’s totally different from this!”

“T-that’s right…”

I was swept away by Kaede’s momentum and responded.

When I looked at Takuto and Chinatsu, the atmosphere was a little tense.

I watched their backs and hoped it would work out.

“Where shall we start?”

“Well, how about… here?” She said,

Saying so, we came to the place, in front of a large aquarium tank with various fish swimming in it.

There were many people and I could hear them snapping pictures from all over the place.

“Look! It’s full!”

“Yes, it’s full of them..”

Kaede’s big eyes sparkled as she was amazed at the number of fish.

I was grateful to be able to see it from the side, from the most privileged seat.

But… is it my imagination that I’ve been getting a lot of stares since a while ago?

I thought so, and when I looked around, it wasn’t just my imagination. People passing by were looking at Kaede.

(Look at the fish, not Kaede!)

“What’s wrong, Ren-kun?”

“Ah? No, nothing…..”

“Suspicious… you can’t keep secrets, okay?”

“It’s nothing. ,,, really.”

I managed to fool her with an affectionate smile. Kaede was not convinced.

“It’s fluffy, isn’t it?”

She brought her face close to the tank and stared intently at the jellyfish, which seemed to be dancing in the water.

“It’s so cute.”

“But aren’t some of them poisonous?”

“As expected, it’s scary…”

For some reason, after being scared of the jellyfish in the tank, she was intimidated like a cat.

More like a kitten.

I ended up stroking Kaede’s head. I stroked her head gently as if I was caressing a kitten.

“W-W-What!?”

“Ah, my bad. I…shouldn’t have done it here.”

“Well, I don’t mind it, but… Um, it would be helpful if you could do it at home…”

“… yes.”

(Ha!? What do you mean by “helpful”!? Oh man, I’m starting to look forward to going home.)

“You look kind of happy, don’t you?”

“Because, I am on a date with Kaede.”

“M-Me too”

“Because I suggested we go our separate ways, you know?. I wanted to do it.”

“I was going to say that too!”

“Really now…”

When I said that while laughing, Kaede puffed out her cheeks and said “It’s true!!”.

Her appearance was so cute.

“Well, let’s just leave it at that.”

“You definitely don’t think so, do you?”

“Let’s go to the next place.”

“Mou~, Ren-kun… please wait.”

She came up next to me, a little pouty but with a slight blush on her cheeks, and her lips were redder than usual, probably from wearing lipstick.

“I want to kiss you”

(Oops! I let it slip…)

I looked at Kaede fearfully to see if she heard me, and she froze looking at me.

And then, as if time had begun to move, her cheeks turned redder and redder.

“W-W-W-What are you talking about!?”

“I-I’m sorry! I didn’t mean anything strange.”

“I know that much! B-But…”

“But?”

“Not here.”

“Well, then, where?”

“T-that’s…”

Kaede hid her face in embarrassment, and then fell silent.

“Umm? Kaede-san?”

“I-If we are at home…”

“If it’s at home, Kaede will even allow me to kiss you.”

“!? Mou~! Baka!”

I was hit with a pop. But rather than being angry, Kaede was very embarrassed.

Kaede started walking faster.

“I’m sorry… for teasing you a little too much.”

“…I feel like I’m always losing”

“It’s all in your head.”

“Is it?…”

As Kaede said this, her cheeks, which had been red earlier, gradually returned to normal.

However, when I held Kaede’s hand, she squeezed it back tightly and forcefully with her soft little hand.

I felt very happy.