Chapter 15: CH 15

As you can see, there isn’t.

Translated by Dawn

As you can see, there isn’t.

I got off with Mizutani at the next station and exited through the ticket gate.

Shuji and his girlfriend were right in front of us.

“Yo, Akito. Good morning, Mizutani.”

“Good morning, Aizawa-kun and…Mizutani-chan! So cute!”

The moment she shifted her eyes from me to Mizutani next to me, the pitch of Ogura’s voice changed.

She ran up to Mizutani and asked, “Where did you buy this skirt?” and other questions.

Mizutani seemed a little confused by Ogura’s aggressive attitude.

“I’m sorry, Mizutani. Natsuki’s bad side came out.”

“Ah, sorry. I just got too excited.”

Shuji followed up.

Ogura came back to herself and scratched her head in embarrassment.

“…It’s fine. I was just a little surprised.”

Mizutani shook her head.

Her expression was almost blank, but she probably meant what she said.

Ogura smiled as if she could sense Mizutani’s feelings.

“Thank you, Mizutani-chan. …Do you remember me? We were in the same class last year.”

“Un, I remember you. Ogura was kind to me too.”

“Really!? I’m quite happy that Mizutani remembers me!”

“…I’m also glad that Ogura remembers me.”

“Kyaah, what a nice girl!”

Ogura hugged Mizutani.

She was pulled away just a few minutes ago for going too aggressively, but she never learned, did she?

Well, Mizutani seemed rather satisfied, so it was okay.

“Hey, Akito.”

Shuji turned to me with a very sharp look on his face.

I already had a bad feeling about this.

“…What?”

“The sight of two cute girls making out with each other is…the most eye-pleasing thing ever.

“I’m begging you, please, for the rest of the day, be silent.”

“Why! That’s what you’re thinking too, right, Akito!? Right!?”

“There’s a big difference between thinking it and saying it.”

“Well, that’s true…wait a minute. So, Akito must have been thinking the same thing as me!”

“I never said that.”

“The way you said it earlier was as good as said it!”

As I was having a low-level argument with Shuji, Ogura now turned around and said.

“Hey, Aizawa-kun. Can I take this Mizutani-chan back home?”

“Ogura…Mizutani is not a stray cat.”

Also, Mizutani-chan was just Mizutani.

If you add ‘this’ to ‘Mizutani,’ you made it sound like there were a lot of wild Mizutani.

After a short chat, Shuji pointed toward the monorail station and said, “Well, let’s go.” Ogura replied “Yes, yes, I’m coming!” and lined up next to Shuji with a natural gesture. This is the kind of place that makes me feel like a couple. That kind of thing would make you seem like a couple.

While I was thinking about that in a daze, Mizutani came up next to me.

Although her expression was the same as usual, she seemed to be somewhat excited.

…Speaking of which, I had completely forgotten about it.

Mizutani wanted to go to the zoo, so she accepted this double date.

“What’s wrong?”

“…Are you looking forward to it? The zoo”

I asked Mizutani as she looked into my face.

Mizutani smiled slightly.

“…Un, I’m looking forward to it.”

*****

We passed through the entrance gate with a large statue on our left.

As soon as we entered the park, Ogura immediately shouted, “It’s so spacious!” with delight.

I could understand her feeling.

It was true that this zoo was very spacious.

I had been here several times in the past, but it was not an exaggeration to say that I could not go around the zoo even if I spent a whole day there. Animal lovers must be drooling over the wide variety of animals, from insects to elephants.

Ogura unfolded a map of the zoo from a pamphlet in front of everyone.

“Where should we start? There’s the Asian Park, the Australian Park, and the African Park.”

“Hmm…Why don’t we go from Australia Park and come back while going around Asia Park? There are only birds in the African Park.”

Shuji looked at the map from the side.

“There are birds in the Australian Park and the Asian Park.”

“But it’s not a bird”

Mizutani looked at me with a puzzled look, and I was taken aback.

Was Mizutani a natural airhead?

“Okay, to Australia Park first then. Let’s go, let’s go!”

Anyway, Ogura pointed to the front of the building as if she couldn’t wait to see the animals.

Mizutani seemed to be looking forward to the zoo as much as Ogura.

With Ogura in the lead, the four of us started walking in unison.

“I think if we go a little further, there’s a tapir on the left.”

“Really? Tapir, that’s nice. Let’s go see it.”

As soon as we started walking, Shuji said, and Ogura turned around to respond.

Just as Shuji remembered, a sign with a description of the Malayan tapir was soon seen on the left.

Beyond the sign, under a fence, by a pool-like pond, a Malayan tapir was lying down.

“It is so nice and relaxing. When I see Malayan tapirs, I feel as if time is passing slowly here. It makes me feel like I’m living a very hectic life.”

Ogura, her hand on the fence, said sincerely.

Her eyes were devoid of life.

Maybe you’re just a little stressed out?

Shuji pointed at the tapir.

“I’ve been thinking for a while now…that the only thing black about the tapir here is the head and the feet. Did that part of the body get soaked in water?”

“That’s just what they look like. It’s not because they got wet or sunburned.”

Don’t say strange things.

If I had to say, though, it didn’t look that way to me.

“As I recall, the tapir is an animal that is said to eat dreams.”

After the four of us were looking at tapirs in a daze for a while, Mizutani opened her mouth.

Shuji and the others didn’t seem to have a clue, so I answered.

“That’s technically a baku. It’s a legendary creature from old Chinese folklore.”

“Ah…then, it’s not the same as this tapir?”

“[tnote keyword="Baku"]獏(Baku)[/tnote] is not the same as [tnote keyword="Tapir"]バク(Baku)[/tnote]. It’s true that the tapir was named after the mythical baku.”

“I see. Thanks for the easy-to-understand explanation.”

“…Was it easy to understand? I didn’t understand a millimeter of it…”

Besides Mizutani’s understanding, Shuji was actively twisting his head.

Ogura stared at the tapir as if hypnotized.

She probably didn’t hear a millimeter of what we were saying.

After admiring the Malayan tapir, we continued to see a variety of animals.

“An Indian rhinoceros. It’s huge when you look at it again.”

“Rhinos are like dinosaurs.”

“I know. It looks like a Triceratops.”

“Triceratops is like a rhinoceros with horns, right?”

“Roughly speaking, it’s like that. Triceratops is much bigger, though.”

“Huh. Dinosaurs are big after all.”

I talked with Mizutani about such things in front of the Indian rhinoceros dipping in the pond.

It seemed like a normal conversation.

With just this, well, we don’t look like a couple, do we?

…Un, I couldn’t see it.

When I compared myself with Mizutani next to me, I was once again acutely aware of reality.

Sorry for getting carried away.

Just as I was about to break off my conversation with Mizutani, I was suddenly hugged on the shoulder with a shove.

When I looked next to me in surprise, I saw Shuji’s warm eyes looking back at me.

Shuji pulled me backward.

“What?”

“It’s hot, you two.”

“…I don’t want to be told by you, Shuji, who’s one half of a baka couple.”

I cursed as I shifted my attention from Shuji to the rhinoceros.

Then he poked me on the cheek.

“Oh, are you embarrassed? Akito has a surprisingly cute side.”

“Don’t call me cute. You’re giving me goosebumps.”

“Haha, I’m sorry.”

After a brief laugh, Shuji’s face turned serious.

“Anyway, I’m rooting for you, Akito. If there’s anything you need help with, don’t hesitate to ask.”

“…As you can see, there isn’t.”

“…I see. Then that’s good.”

Shuji said with a snicker, then removed himself from my shoulder and headed toward Ogura.

Ogura, by the way, was at the front of the line with the kids, watching the rhinoceros.

I didn’t lie.

I said, “as you can see, there isn’t” and Shuji just converted it into, “It’s going well.”

However, even so…my chest hurt a little.