When I came out of a yakiniku restaurant in the depths of Hanami Koji, there was already a long line outside the door, and I couldn't see the end at a glance.

After taking a few steps, Naruse looked back and waited for the two companions who were a little slower, "It's good that we came early enough." ”

"Yes...... "Hikaru Takikawa followed, leaning on his shoulder, "my stomach is good." ”

The starfish on the other side couldn't make intimate movements like her, but her steps were slow, and she looked like she had eaten a lot.

"There's a lot of people in line."

Takikawa Hikaru looked at the people waiting outside the yakiniku restaurant, "You can eat so much meat for a few thousand yen, no one can refuse." ”

"And the beef in this shop is fresh, too."

Turning back to write down the name of the store, Naruse shrugged his shoulders and motioned for Hikaru Takikawa to stand by himself, "Let's go." ”

She lay on her stomach and didn't move, "Go back to the hotel?" ”

"It's still early." Naruse thought for a moment, "Just go shopping." ”

"Good~"

Hikaru Takikawa patted him on the shoulder, and then let go.

Walking out of the Hanami path, the three of them walked towards the Shijo Bridge.

"Why don't you go to Kawaramachi, there are a lot of shopping malls over there?" Starfish suggested.

"Aren't you going to Shinkyo tomorrow afternoon, in more than two hours, I will definitely go over there."

After Naruse finished speaking, he found that the starfish was still looking at him, and the expression on his face seemed to ask what was going on.

He suddenly realized that the two of them didn't have the same concept of shopping at all—at least when it came to repeating shopping, and they had very different attitudes toward each other.

“…… Then just take a stroll. ”

Leaving Gion, they walked across the Shijo Bridge and went straight to Kawaramachi, where Naruse and Hikaru Takikawa followed the starfish and walked around the mall.

And she seems to have a clear destination, and soon leads the two to a drugstore.

"I saw online that this store has a very good contact lens drop...... I want to buy it and try it. ”

Starfish appeared in front of him most of the time wearing contact lenses, and Naruse almost forgot that she was actually more short-sighted than Morimi.

She went to look for the eye drops, and he and Hikaru Takikawa also wandered casually.

There are many customers in the shop, and most of them are women. The two walked together, very conspicuous, and Hikaru Takikawa smiled back at every glance that came his way, so he cast more and more eyes in this direction.

She enjoyed the feeling of attracting bees and butterflies, and Naruse next to her couldn't stand it, so she used the excuse of going to a certain shelf to take a look and temporarily separate from her.

Although there are still a lot of eyes following, it is much more convergent than just now.

Walking through the shelves, there is a dizzying variety of medicines, cosmetics and skincare products on both sides.

Naruse's knowledge of this kind of thing is basically equal to zero, so he doesn't feel anything when he looks at it.

Until he saw a lip balm.

Winter was approaching, the air was cold and dry, and in the last few winters, he had heard Naoko talk more than once about dry and cracked lips.

Naruse stopped, picked up the lip balm and looked at it for a while.

"—If you're going to buy lip balm, this one from Shiseido is easier to use."

The starfish, who had gone looking for eye drops, had come around this side for some time, staring at him and the lip balm in his hand, and then pointing to the other one in front of him.

"Yes."

Naruse walked over and picked up the kind of lip balm she recommended and looked at it. It's just that he doesn't have much experience, and he doesn't see much useful information from the outer packaging.

"Have starfish used it?"

"No, this lip balm is only available here, in Tokyo and in Osaka...... But I've read reviews on the Internet, and there are many people who recommend this lip balm. Starfish said.

"I see." Naruse nodded, looking at her gaze, also subconsciously focused on her lips.

Pink and bright, his gaze stayed a little longer.

“……”

Starfish quickly noticed, stunned, his face quickly turned red, pursed his lips and turned away, pretending to look at other items on the shelves.

Naruse was also stunned for a moment, his mouth opened, and then he also fell into silence.

Other sounds around him became blurred, and the air seemed to freeze.

Before this unspeakable emotion rolled over and precipitated more results, Naruse picked up the lip balm recommended by the starfish and walked to the other side.

"Thank you. Great help. ”

“……”

Looking away from the lotion that he hadn't remembered for a long time, Starfish looked at his back and bit his lip.

When Naruse finds Hikaru Takikawa again, she is holding a college student-aged girl in her left and right arms, and seems to be helping them choose cosmetics.

What kind of efficiency is this......

He didn't bother, but went to the counter to settle the bill for the lip balm in his hand.

Walking out of the drugstore, after waiting for a while, Takigawa Mitsutsu came out with the starfish.

"Did Harumi buy something too, what is it?"

"The lipstick I bought for Naoko."

"Oh."

Takigawa Hikaru responded, and after walking far away after a while, he suddenly remembered: "Why don't you remind me, I also want to bring something to Naoko." ”

Naruse glanced at her, "I'll be here tomorrow afternoon." ”

"Remember to remind me to come here."

"Hmm."

The starfish carried the bag in his hand and did not speak, but as soon as he met his gaze, he quickly looked away.

With Hikaru Takikawa next to him, Naruse could only pretend not to notice, "Do you have any other shops in particular that you would like to visit?" ”

"Nope." Hikaru Takikawa shook his head, "What about the starfish?" ”

"I don't have ...... either"

"Then let's just hang out."

So in the following time, the three of them walked around several shopping malls in Kawaramachi for a long time, occasionally stopping at them, but basically didn't buy anything.

When I left Kawaramachi, it was already nine o'clock at night.

Walking to the four bridges, Takikawa Hikaru looked down and stopped: "At this time, there are still people walking here." ”

The wind was blowing from the river, and she tightened her coat.

"It's a little cold...... However, it is still much warmer than the northeast. ”

Looking along the path by the river, Naruse was really a little tired from shopping just now, otherwise he would have wanted to go down and walk for a while.

"Let's go down and take a walk."

Hikaru Takikawa suddenly proposed, and smiled at Narose, who was looking at him, "Just walk for a while, cross the river at the bridge below, and go back from there." ”

Between the four and five bridges, there are two smaller bridges, and the nearest one is only one or two hundred meters.

"Let's go down then."

The three of them got off the bridge from the stairs next to the four intersections at the head of the bridge and walked in the direction of Gojo.

Passing through the dark bridge hole, a few people sat sparsely on the slope of the river. Some of them have young faces and look like college students.

The river is flowing loudly, and the lights of the restaurants on the other side are connected, which is very bright.

"In the summer, it seems that there will be a cool bed over there."

"Hmm."

Hikaru Takikawa imagined the excitement of another season, "Sure enough, it should be in the summer." ”

Naruse didn't squeak.

It's just that he doesn't squeak, and he won't dispel the thought that comes to her mind, "Next summer, let's do it again." ”

"Well, let's talk about it."

She glanced at him and smiled at his perfunctory expression.

"Spring Sea~"

"Hmm."

"Let's record what I just said."

“…… Stop it. ”

The three of them walked, and in a blink of an eye they were under the next bridge.

Starfish slowed down, but found that neither of them had any intention of going up here, so they had to speed up their pace to keep up.

They went up until they walked to the Matsubara Bridge below. After crossing the bridge, I went down to the embankment from the other side and walked towards the four bridges.

After so many big circles, when the three of them returned to the hotel, it was already more than half an hour later.

Hikaru Takikawa and Starfish did not go directly to the room, but under the leadership of the former, they got into Naruse's room.

"Do you want to wake up early tomorrow?"

"Breakfast at the hotel is only served until half past eight." Naruse said, "I should be able to get up." ”

"Then I'll get up early, too."

Takikawa Hikaru nodded, "They didn't leave for Kiyomizu Temple until 9:50, and until then, they stayed at the hotel over there." ”

After a day of playing, both of them were a little tired, and after sitting for a while, they had to go back to their rooms. Naruse delivered it to the door, closed the door and returned inside, only to find that Starfish's bag had fallen on the table.

It was full of things she bought at night, such as the bottle of eye drops for contact lenses.

Naruse was about to send it to her when there was a knock on the door.

When I opened the door, the starfish came by itself.

"My stuff ......"

She lowered her head and tried to take the bag from him, but she grabbed it.

Raising her gaze, Naruse was looking at her, wanting to speak and stopping.

“……”

Starfish subconsciously took a step back.

He pursed his lower lip and handed her the bag he had retrieved from the Devil's Messenger.

"I'm sorry."

Taking the bag, the starfish hurried away.

Closing the door, Naruse stood there for a moment, frowning.

(End of chapter)