After school ended, I changed clothes and came out for the date we’d promised each other that morning.
"Hehe, I’m looking forward to it."
"...Yeah."
Marina was currently clinging to my arm, pressed right up against me.
Thanks to that, I could feel something, but let’s just ignore it.
"Hmm~ why are your ears all red?"
"...Don’t ask."
I flicked Marina on the forehead as she kept teasing me from the side, then looked ahead.
Where we were headed now was a cafe.
While I was at school, Marina had searched the internet on my room computer and put together a date course, so I was just going along with it.
"Good thing I didn’t do anything weird on my computer."
If I had watched or downloaded anything indecent, I would’ve been exposed on the spot.
As I silently praised my past self and kept walking, we were at the cafe before I knew it.
The cafe Marina had picked wasn’t a regular one, but a dessert cafe.
"Come on, let’s go in! I heard the atmosphere here is really nice."
"Sure. Let’s go in."
Ding-a-ling
As we opened the cafe door and stepped inside, Marina looked around with wonder.
Since she had only ever existed inside computers and phones, this was her first time actually coming to a place like this, so she seemed incredibly excited.
I chuckled at the sight and patted Marina on the head.
"W-What was that for!"
"Nothing. You’re just cute."
She grumbled about me treating her like a kid, but she didn’t actually refuse the petting, which made her even cuter.
"There’s an empty seat over there. Let’s go."
I took my hand off Marina’s head and moved to the empty table.
Marina looked a little disappointed, but then smiled again and sat down in the chair across from me.
We sat facing each other and looked over the menu to decide what to get.
"I’ll have... this. A chocolate parfait."
Marina pointed at the huge parfait on the menu.
"You sure you can finish that by yourself?"
What worried me was that it wasn’t just big. It was huge.
Compared to the regular parfait pictured next to it, it looked almost twice the size.
"What’s the problem? I’m going to eat it with you."
Marina said it like I was asking something obvious.
I couldn’t help laughing at her reaction.
"When did I say I was eating it?"
I wasn’t that hungry, so I’d only planned to have coffee or a drink, but thanks to Marina, I was apparently going to have dessert too.
Probably her own way of being considerate.
Marina tilted her head back and forth, waiting for my answer, and she looked pretty adorable doing it.
"Fine. I’ll eat some too."
"Right?"
Marina smiled like she’d been waiting for that answer.
Really, how could someone this cute have ever tried to do something so terrifying?
I stopped myself before comparing the Marina of the past with the Marina now, since it felt rude to her, and stood up from my seat.
"I’ll go order. Wait here a sec."
"Okay."
"Oh, and what do you want to drink?"
"Melon soda, please."
"Got it."
I went to the counter and ordered the parfait Marina and I would share, along with two glasses of melon soda.
"Yes, your order’s been received. Please wait here, and you can pick it up from the side when it’s ready."
"Okay."
After a little while, I picked up the dessert and drinks and returned to our table.
Marina was there, searching for all sorts of things on my phone.
"Marina?"
"H-Huh? You’re back?"
"What were you looking at?"
"N-Nothing! Nothing at all!"
Her hurriedly closing the app seemed suspicious, but I figured it probably wasn’t anything important and let it go.
"Here."
I set the parfait down in the middle and placed the melon sodas in front of Marina and me.
Marina stared at the parfait with sparkling eyes.
"Ah! A photo!"
Then, suddenly saying she had to take a picture, she snatched my phone again and pulled me closer.
"Wah!?"
While I was still startled by the sudden tug, Marina held up the phone so that both she, me, and the parfait were all in frame, then took the picture.
Click!
I heard the shutter sound from the phone, and only then was I released.
"Hehe. Now I can brag to Maria."
Marina’s goal seemed to be bragging to Maria.
Seeing her plotting some smug little victory over Maria with a wicked grin on her face made me feel oddly sorry for her.
"Just how starved for attention are you...?"
"W-What’s with that look!?"
"Nothing. Let’s eat."
If I said what I was thinking out loud, she’d definitely get hurt, so I kept my thoughts to myself and we started eating the parfait.
*******
"Ugh... maybe I went a little too far."
"See? I told you not to push yourself."
That was the conversation we had after leaving the cafe.
Starting with the parfait, Marina had ordered all kinds of desserts.
Since she didn’t know when Eden might disappear and she’d lose her body, she’d decided to enjoy herself while she still could.
But the human body has limits.
She’d overlooked that and kept eating until it got to her.
In the end, I had to handle the leftovers, and now we were in our current situation, having left the cafe.
"Still, you were cute, like a hamster."
"Ghh...! What are you saying!"
Marina smacked my side with a loud thump.
It didn’t really hurt, but I felt a little wronged.
I was just telling her exactly what I thought. Was that really such a terrible thing to say?
"Ugh... seriously, that’s embarrassing..."
"Hm. Was that not because you were mad?"
So she hadn’t hit me because she was annoyed, but to hide her embarrassment.
How could a person be this cute?
Thinking those pointless thoughts, I met Marina’s eyes.
"W-What is it."
"I thought I missed what we were going to do next."
"Next? Next is..."
Marina closed her eyes for a moment and thought, then opened them as if she’d remembered.
"Let’s go watch a movie!"
"A movie?"
"Yeah. I mean, I never had any friends... so I wanted to watch one with a friend..."
Embarrassed by the fact that she had no friends, Marina’s voice trailed off.
I placed my hand on her head and slowly patted her.
"Sure. Let’s go watch one. What’s the big deal about a movie? Since you were the one who asked me out first, I should hear you out as much as I can."
"...Thanks."
Marina gave a short reply and leaned against my side.
"Hey, hey. That’s dangerous while we’re walking."
"Then why don’t you hold me up, Hii?"
"......"
I’ve thought this for a while now, but this girl really has no shame.
That didn’t mean it bothered me, though.
People should have a little shamelessness, shouldn’t they?
And more than anything, seeing a beautiful girl acting like this was just plain cute.
"If you want."
I grabbed Marina by the shoulder and pulled her a little closer to me.
She made a flustered sound, but since this was what she’d asked for, I didn’t really care.
"So, what movie are we watching?"
"I don’t really know. I heard it’s a romance movie."
"...I see."
"What’s with that pause!? What are you implying!? I deliberately didn’t watch it because I wanted to see it with you too, okay!?"
Walking along while talking with Marina like this, we reached the theater in no time.
We bought tickets, got popcorn to suit our tastes, and decided to kill a little time until the movie started.
"Ah! I wanted to try that!"
What Marina pointed at was a claw machine.
The cute plushies inside the cold machine, staring out with sparkling eyes as if begging to be won, were no different from money-eating ghosts.
"Ugh...!"
Look at that. This was already her fourth try, and she still hadn’t won.
Marina moved the claw with the joystick and pressed the button to grab a plushie, but the one she caught by the head slipped free and came right back down.
The empty claw only left the air in the prize chute, as if mocking her.
"Hii..."
Marina had no choice but to call me over.
Well, really, I stepped in because she was looking at me like she was about to explode.
"All right, let me try."
I operated the claw, planning to fail a few times so she wouldn’t feel awkward.
Each time I moved the joystick, the claw shifted.
I lined it up over a cat plushie and pressed the button.
Whirr-
The claw descended with the machine’s usual mechanical sound, grabbed the black cat plushie, and lifted it up.
Then it dragged it over and casually dropped it at the prize chute.
Clunk!
"...Huh?"
It didn’t take long to realize something had gone wrong after winning the plushie on the first try.
"W-Wait...?"
Feeling uneasy, I turned around, and Marina’s eyes were trembling wildly.
Then her mouth opened.
"I-I won it!"
Marina was genuinely happy just because she’d won a plushie.
"Ahaha, yeah. You won it. Here."
I gave Marina the plushie with an awkward smile, and after a moment of surprise, she carefully took it.
"A present from Hii..."
"You like it that much?"
"Of course. It’s the first gift you’ve ever given me."
Marina left the popcorn and cola with me and buried her face in the plushie she’d won.
She really does love it.
"Here, Marina."
"Hm?"
I turned on my phone camera and framed Marina with the black cat plushie.
"A-Abruptly?"
"This is a memory too. Hurry up and hold up the plushie."
"O-Okay..."
Marina lifted the plushie and hid her flushed face behind it.
Luckily, she only covered her mouth, so her whole face wasn’t hidden.
Click!
After taking a picture of Marina looking embarrassed, I checked the time and saw that the movie was about to start.
"Oh, the movie’s starting."
"......"
"Marina?"
"L-Let’s hurry!"
Watching Marina rush ahead with her face still red made me smile on my own.
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