“Finally up — morning, Yuito.”
“Morning… wait, what are you doing in my room first thing?!”
I’d been shaken awake and was startled to find Kano standing by my bed.
“Date. Obviously.”
“You did not need to come bust into my room for that.”
I had no plans today — plenty of time to be with her later. Let me sleep.
“I heard a beautiful girl waking him up is one of those scenarios guys cry about wanting to experience — figured I’d try it. Was it not great?”
“It wasn’t not great…”
“Glad.”
(Privately: it was one of those fantasy setups, I was secretly happy. First time being woken up like this.)
“Shower to wake up — your bedhead’s terrible.”
“Yes ma’am.”
I grabbed clothes and went to the bathroom. My brother was already at soccer practice — empty house.
(Kano timed it to his absence. After the fireworks incident with him bothering her, she didn’t want a repeat.)
I showered, dried my hair, dressed, came back.
“Welcome back — sorry, but could you explain these to me?”
”!”
Her gesture pointed to the desk where the four ero-manga I’d carefully camouflaged as textbooks and dictionaries were neatly stacked.
I’d thought my hiding was masterful — how did she find them while I was showering?
After the previous mysteriously deleted ero-manga incident on my phone, I’d switched to print to prevent a repeat. Backfired.
I tried to blame my brother as a stopgap. (Sorry, big bro — sacrifice for me.)
“T-those are my brother’s.”
“I feel like they don’t match Ayato’s taste, though?”
She gave me a flat stare. Excuse rejected.
”…I bought them all. Happy?”
“Mm-hm, obedient. So — what did you buy them for, and what were you planning to do with them? Details please.”
She had a sadistic smile. Making me say it aloud — cruel.
“No comment.”
“Whatever. Three of these are getting confiscated, regardless.”
“Wait — not all of them?”
“Confiscating all of them would be too mean — letting this one off just for you.”
The one left was a blonde tanned gal one. Cover girl resembled Kano. (I would never admit that’s why I bought it.)
(Two of the three confiscated were childhood friend ones. Despite getting caught in Hakone, I’d bought more — incurable.)
”…So what’s the plan today?”
“Shining Sun City.”
“That place with the famous aquarium?”
“Yep — Shining Sun Aquarium on the list.”
The day was just starting and already busy. (Fine — anything with Kano is fun.)
“Let’s get moving.”
“Yeah.”
I locked up and got on her bike. We headed toward Shining Sun City in the Ikebukuro area.