At 10 a.m., Yukino finally got to see the penguins, just as she had hoped.
There weren't many visitors at this time of day to begin with, and with someone like Yukino—this stunningly beautiful girl—standing there, both her presence and appearance immediately made her the center of attention.
Fortunately, the staff's introductions and the penguins' clumsy, adorable behavior managed to draw most of the attention away.
Otherwise, Yukino likely wouldn't have wanted to stay any longer.
Makoto wasn't interested in penguins. Earlier this morning, he had called the music composition teacher and said he wasn't feeling well.
Even though everything would reset tomorrow and the teacher wouldn't remember anything from today, it wasn't any trouble to say something out of courtesy—and Makoto didn't mind making that small effort.
Yukino watched the penguins' round bellies and couldn't help but smile.
These kinds of clumsy and cute animals always seemed to bring out a sort of maternal joy in girls.
Her smile wasn't quite that dramatic, but anyone could tell just by looking at her—she was in a very good mood.
After a while, Yukino contentedly looked away and turned to see Makoto chatting with some passerby.
She didn't go over to interrupt, instead patiently waiting for two minutes. When he returned, she asked, "Someone you know?"
"Nope. I just overheard them speaking Chinese with each other and got curious, so I went over to chat. Turned out they really were tourists from Huaguo," Makoto said casually.
But Yukino focused on something else entirely: "You can speak Chinese?"
"This time I'm not going to say I've just dabbled in it—I'll say I've mastered it."
"So confident?" Yukino clearly had her doubts.
She had read about Chinese before. Just the tones alone were enough to trip up a ton of students—it was notoriously hard to learn.
Makoto was just about to reply when the two tourists he'd been chatting with earlier came walking over and spoke in Chinese:
"We're off to see the other animals. What about you—holy crap, is this your girlfriend? She's way too gorgeous!"
Both of them were visibly stunned by Yukino's looks.
Makoto burst out laughing. "It's been a while since I heard such a textbook 'holy crap.'"
The guys scratched their heads, looking a little embarrassed. "Sorry, sorry—we just say that out of habit."
Then both of them gave Yukino a polite and somewhat awkward smile as a greeting.
Yukino politely nodded in reply.
The other person asked Makoto, "You two must be a couple, right?"
Makoto replied, "Not yet."
The two tourists clearly didn't believe him: "You came together to the aquarium this early in the morning, you must be a couple. Dude, you're awesome!"
They gave him a thumbs-up, impressed both by Yukino's beauty and by Makoto.
Makoto laughed and asked, "What's so awesome about that?"
The two tourists were stunned for a moment before laughing: "You actually get this joke? You really are awesome."
After they said their goodbyes, Yukino suddenly asked, "What did you two talk about?"
Makoto said, "They complimented your beauty."
Yukino nodded. "I kind of figured that out. Their tone and the way they looked at me gave it away."
"Aren't you going to be modest about it?"
"Why should I be modest? It's the truth."
Yukino countered and then stared at Makoto's face, slowly saying, "But I still feel like, besides complimenting my looks, they must have talked to you about something else."
Makoto replied, "They think we're definitely a couple, and clearly, they have good judgment."
Yukino stared at him for two seconds, surprised, "Is that actually true?"
"Why are you asking in such a doubtful tone?"
"Because you have too many skeletons in your closet. I have to be cautious."
Makoto deliberately asked, "So, does that mean you know me really well?"
Yukino gave an elegant smile. "I can't say I know you well, but I do feel confident handling you now."
Makoto turned his head and looked ahead. "I checked the map earlier, and there's a seal exhibit up ahead. Want to go check it out?"
"Sure."
Yukino had already planned to relax, so she didn't refuse.
However, as they walked forward, the crowd suddenly grew significantly larger. It seemed like many people were headed to the seal exhibit.
Yukino frowned slightly and was about to step aside to avoid the crowd when she suddenly felt warmth in her palm.
She froze for a moment and quickly looked at Makoto, who was also looking at her.
Their eyes met, and Makoto raised her hand. "Did you see this coming? I noticed there were a lot of people coming to see the seals today."
This was a provocation!
Yukino took a deep breath and said calmly, "Let go."
Without saying a word, Makoto kept holding her hand as they walked forward.
Yukino hesitated whether to break free, but Makoto spoke first, "Stay close, there are too many people here."
Yukino fell silent and stopped trying to break free.
At that moment, she thought to herself: A guy's hand can really hold mine completely.
She quickly looked down and saw that Makoto's hand was covering most of her own.
His soft and delicate hand, with its fair skin, now appeared even more radiant in comparison.
Yukino didn't speak the whole time, but the occasional flicker in her eyes revealed that she wasn't as calm as she appeared.
They had lunch together later, and as Yukino thought about Makoto's sudden "move" at the aquarium, she suspected that he might have had some plan.
So, she spoke up, "Thanks for taking me out. I've pretty much relaxed now…"
Makoto suddenly asked, "How about we go sit at that cat cafe next?"
Hearing the words "cat cafe," Yukino hesitated for half a second, then regained her composure. "You really did plan ahead."
"The cat cafe wasn't originally part of my plan, but I bumped into Yukinoshita-san in the time loop and learned where she'd be in the afternoon," Makoto explained.
Yukino wanted to ask: How often do you contact my mother in private? Why are you bringing her up again?
Instead, she asked, "So your original plan was to take me to see my mother?"
"Yeah. I thought if we appeared in front of her together, she'd probably be really happy."
"Alright, no need to say more. I'll go with you to the cat cafe."
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