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“In the end, you did pay for everything,” Sakura commented after Kanata had paid the bill at the donut store.
“That’s how we planned it, I’ll pay for everything except for the travel expenses and entry tickets,” he replied with a smile, which made her wonder what he was so happy about.
“I-I guess.”

Kanata had paid the employee standing behind the checkout 300 yen. The two were then about to leave the donut store.

“Uhm, excuse me,” A middle-aged man wearing the store’s uniform called out to them.

Kanata immediately noticed from the uniform’s name tag, that this was the store manager.

“…Is there an issue?”
“Uhm, could you wait for a bit?”

The two kids were baffled after suddenly being addressed and told to wait. After disappearing further in the store for about a minute, the manager came back, holding a small paper back in one hand.

“If you don’t mind, would you take that? These are our shop’s prided donuts.”
“Eh… what?”

Kanata’s and Sakura were stunned by the incomprehensible situation. The manager, guessing how they felt, continued.

“I’ve seen the two of you on TV last year… and read about you in the newspaper the other day. While this is embarrassing to say, I was deeply moved. I saw you eat in our shop, and felt I had to do something for you… This is a mere donut store, so this is all I can do, but won’t you take them? Naturally, please keep that a secret from the other customers¹.”

Kanata and Sakura looked at each other. The proposal was way too surprising. For the time being, they discussed it.

“(What should we do?)”
“(He went out of his way to show his generosity, so I think it would be better to accept them.)”
“(I guess that’s true.)”

The two had decided.

“In that case, we will accept them gratefully.”
“Yes, yes, here you go!” The donut store manager looked quite happy as he handed Kanata the bag. “Thank you for taking them!”
“N-Not at all. We should be the ones to thank you!”
“Th-Thank you so much!”

The manager gave them a deep bow in farewell, to which the two kids reacted with light bows of their own.

“I wish you all the best! Yes…!”

The manager spoke some hastily formed words to the two kids, who were about to leave. Kanata and Sakura acted as if they hadn’t heard them and quickly made themselves scarce.

“He… he was wishing us the best.”
“Ha-ha-ha, even though we aren’t married yet.”
“Y-Yet… Eh-heh-heh.”

The two of them crossed a clean underground road with their faces tinged bright red. None of them said anything like “we’re not sure yet if it will happen.” At some point, they had set their minds to always stay together.

Kanata and Sakura strolled along the underground road and came to a stop in front of an exit.

“If we take this exit, it’ll lead us to the aquarium, right?”
“Yep.”

Thus, they left the metro station. While both Kanata and Sakura had walked this way several times before, it was a path they only took when they went to said aquarium. The two kids walking it had changed from close childhood friends to dearest lovers.

Before long, they reached the aquarium. Seeing it was in the city, it was on the smaller side. Even if you took your time to look at every single fish tank, you’d spend, at most, two hours there.

However, it was an ideal date spot for middle and high school couples in this area, and, furthermore, the people running the aquarium understood this, so they made several campaigns aimed at couples.

“It’s been months since we came here last, I guess?” Sakura mused.
“…Hm~, more like two years.”
“Huh.”

As they thought back on these two years, a rather long time from the perspective of students, they entered the building. They bought entry tickets for two people summing up to a total of 800 yen at the counter and entered the aquarium proper. The interior was dim, with numerous blue tanks.

“…Hey, Kanata.”
“What’s up?”
“Can it… stick a bit closer to you?”
“Of course you can.”

After hearing the boy’s consent, Sakura went from holding his hand to hugging his arm. Although they only felt each other through their clothes, their bodies were very close.

“Won’t that make walking hard?” she asked.
“It’ll be fine, I’m used to it.”
“Th-That’s true… Thank you.”

Kanata walked together with Sakura, seemingly accustomed to it. It made her realize, once again, just how much her childhood friend used to protect her. Side by side, the two kids peered into the first tank.

“That’s nice, isn’t it?”
“Yeah.”
“It’s so relaxing.”

Deliberately, thoroughly, the two kids burned the appearances of the rather large fishes swimming around into their minds.

“There’s a mackerel pike. It looks tasty.”
“Y-Yeah. It does.”
“Ah, right now, you thought I’m a glutton, didn’t you?”
“I didn’t.”

Kanata gently caressed Sakura’s head while smiling. She let it happen with a happy look, as if she had planned for it. Afterwards, the two of them parted with the first tank and moved their gazes to the one next to it.

1. Seems a bit late, after making that scene.

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