Sunday's weather was very nice, and Murakami Yuu's mood was also very good.
He got up early, tidied up the house in general, and used the vacuum cleaner to thoroughly clean all the dust from the floors.
After visiting Totsuka Reita's cat café and being healed by those soft little cuties, Murakami Yuu had been thinking about getting two cats himself - to alleviate the loneliness of living alone. After all, taking a few puffs of cat when idle was quite healing for the heart.
Today he finally had time to put this idea into action. Right now, he was preparing the welcoming work. After all, newly purchased cats would need an adjustment period for their new home. It wouldn't be good to let the new little ones coming home see a messy place.
He finished cleaning in about half an hour. Having worked up a sweat, Murakami Yuu went into the bathroom for a quick shower. When he came out, he received a call from Kiso Yukina.
"Yuu, good morning."
The girl's voice on the other end was soft and sweet.
"Good morning, Yukina."
Murakami Yuu walked into the kitchen, switched his phone to speaker mode and placed it on the counter, then turned to get two eggs from the refrigerator.
"Did you just wake up?"
"Eh, was it that obvious?"
"It's pretty obvious - your tone is several degrees lower than usual."
Murakami Yuu glanced at the time on his phone - it was 7:30.
"Should we push back our meeting time? You sound like you didn't get enough sleep."
"No, no need."
Kiso Yukina quickly denied it. Since she had just woken up, she hadn't thought that much and wasn't being as careful as usual.
"It's just my personal morning grumpiness. I'll be fine once I'm more awake. I'm really looking forward to today's pet store visit - we absolutely can't push it back!"
Murakami Yuu smiled in agreement, while taking out a rectangular non-stick pan and pouring in the beaten and seasoned egg mixture. He was planning to make tamagoyaki for breakfast.
Hearing the sounds on his end, Kiso Yukina realized Murakami Yuu was making breakfast and stopped disturbing him. After briefly confirming the meeting place and time with him, she ended the call.
...
Two hours later.
Kiso Yukina, carefully dressed up, escaped from the train station. Her eyes now held a weariness that hadn't been there when she left home. Her steps were somewhat unsteady. The root cause of these symptoms was the enclosed train car that was packed like a sardine can.
With so many people going out to play on the weekend, it was inevitable that the cars would be so crowded.
Kiso Yukina had taken the women-only car, but was still squeezed quite miserably. Being in there, even turning around was an impossible luxury. She could only passively remain fixed among the crowd, gradually losing stamina and spirit as the train swayed.
It wouldn't do to lose energy before the date even started.
Kiso Yukina rubbed the area between her eyebrows and walked toward the agreed meeting place.
Murakami Yuu stood in the shade of a row of shrubs by the roadside greenery. He spotted Kiso Yukina's figure from afar. She always had that unique quality that distinguished her from ordinary people - like a third color tone in a black and white photograph, particularly prominent and eye-catching in the crowd.
However, her complexion didn't look very good right now. Beneath her carefully applied makeup was a subtle sense of fatigue.
Murakami Yuu proactively walked forward, using the cover of the crowd to approach her from the side, then gently touched her cheek with an iced green tea he'd bought beforehand.
Kiso Yukina instantly showed a startled expression, but upon seeing it was Murakami Yuu, she sighed in relief and patted her chest. Then with hands on her hips, she expressed her dissatisfaction.
"Yuu, that's so mean! Would anyone normally put such a cold drink on a girl's face as a greeting?"
"Not really, I just simply wanted to play a little prank."
Murakami Yuu could tell Kiso Yukina wasn't angry and smiled without remorse. He handed the tea drink to Kiso Yukina, thoughtfully loosening the bottle cap a bit.
"Actually, I just escaped from the train car myself. I can sympathize with your experience, so drink some of this. The coldness might help restore some of your energy."
"Thank you."
Kiso Yukina accepted it, pinched the area between her eyebrows with her hand, and took small sips.
The cold liquid went down her throat into her body, lowering her body temperature while magically dispelling the stuffy feeling from being squeezed in the elevator earlier. Though only to a small degree, it still helped a lot - she wasn't as tired anymore.
Murakami Yuu wasn't quite sure of her current condition, so he pointed to a café nearby.
"Want to go rest there for a bit?"
"No need, no need. I'm already much better. Today's purpose for coming out isn't to drink coffee, but to pick up some kitties to go to Yuu's house, right?"
"You don't need to force yourself. We have plenty of time today."
"It's really okay. Ever since you showed me that photo of the cute little one last time, I've been holding back. Today I can finally get my wish - let's not waste any more time. Let's go!"
Kiso Yukina made a fist with one hand in a cheering gesture. Seeing this, Murakami Yuu didn't say anything more. He took the drink from her hand, and the two headed toward the pet store he had researched online beforehand that had very good reviews.
Since the shop wasn't on a main road but wasn't too far from the train station either, after some discussion, they decided to walk there slowly.
It was also at this time that Murakami Yuu could carefully savor the unexpected feeling Kiso Yukina had given him when they first met today.
She wore a pure white long-sleeved shirt on top, deliberately styled in a loose, casual way and tucked into a black high-waisted skirt below. On her legs, she rarely wore thin black tights. The light reflected off them creating an intoxicating black halo. The solemn and serious feel of the black and white combination was given a different feeling by her.
If the skirt were changed to fitted pants, she would look like a new OL in the workplace.
Thinking this, Murakami Yuu couldn't help but take a few more looks.
Looking at me like that - is what I'm wearing today really that strange?
Noticing his gaze, Kiso Yukina crossed her hands in front of her chest, her fingers unconsciously starting to fidget - a sign of her lack of confidence.
This outfit wasn't her usual style, but fashion magazines said dressing this way could attract the gaze of accompanying males and was a very eye-catching way to dress. In some cases, it might even arouse feelings of conquest and achievement in the other party.
She didn't quite understand what conquest and achievement meant, but as long as she could attract Murakami Yuu's gaze, that was enough.
However, judging from the current situation, while she had achieved her goal of attracting his gaze, why did it feel like there was some different meaning in that gaze?
Kiso Yukina looked down at the ground, the girl walking beside Murakami Yuu lost in thought.
Without warning, her body fell into his embrace, the reason being Murakami Yuu's hand placed on her shoulder.
Eh? What happened?
Kiso Yukina's face instantly turned crimson.
"Some people really have no manners."
Murakami Yuu said lightly.
Hearing this, Kiso Yukina looked ahead and saw a bicycle weaving through the pedestrians on the sidewalk, swaying left and right, nearly hitting people several times. She immediately understood, but somehow also felt a bit disappointed.
Murakami Yuu's hand released from her shoulder. Kiso Yukina straightened up, but the next moment, the hand she had placed in front of her chest was gently grasped by him. She looked at him somewhat unexpectedly.
"There are more pedestrians on the streets on weekends. This way we won't get separated."
Murakami Yuu laid down an excuse for his action.
In fact, only near the train station exit was there a large crowd. The number of pedestrians on normal streets was far from enough to scatter them apart. But naturally, Kiso Yukina wouldn't choose to expose this.
"Mm."
Kiso Yukina's voice was barely audible. Her soft hand held in his palm changed position, her fingers finding the matching gaps with pinpoint accuracy, slowly sliding in, then gripping slightly tighter. She explained:
"This way it's not easy to get scattered by the crowd."
"That's true."
Murakami Yuu smiled and moved even closer to her.
Kiso Yukina lowered her face, her heart beating fast. Her brown pupils were shining at this moment - like stars.
...