Just Loving You Chapter 14

Yumi – Our Time

「The ones we bought yesterday, let’s wear the matching ones」

When I said that, Risa went,

「Eh…? It’s e-embarra.s.sing you know」

Her face turned red like a tomato and I reflexively smiled at how cute it was. Risa was the one who wanted it to be matching in the first place.

I was slowly getting to know more about Risa. Every time it happened, it felt like our hearts got closer and closer.

Inside the moving bus, my hand was nonchalantly held in Risa’s left hand. Peek. Peeking at Risa, I could see her wearing the same light blue shirt as me.

Her hand was a bit moist so I adorably thought that “Risa also gets nervous sometimes.” Our first 「date」. My bewitched head was sweetly imagining things like a ball of cotton candy.

Our bus guide’s “we will soon be arriving at Churaumi Aquarium” brought me back to reality. Shortly, the large building was right in front of our view.

I held out my hands that were temporarily separated from Risa’s as we got off the bus. I saw her sakura-colored face for an instant as she purposefully looked away. It seemed that she was still a bit hesitant as she clumsily grasped back. It was soft and warm; Risa’s temperature was clearly transmitted to me. Even though I was calm, continuing to touch her made my chest receive a p.r.i.c.kling pain.

The dark building that was br.i.m.m.i.n.g with people made the warmth from Risa’s right hand feel rea.s.suring. For some reason, a belief that we wouldn’t ever be separated welled up from inside of my body.

「Whoa… so pretty…」

Risa’s eyes sparkled as she laid her gaze on the large crowd of sardines. True to what Risa had said, looking at it, it was like a giant kaleidoscope, a mythical existence that cast a silver light. Unintentionally, I leaked out a deep breath full of awe.

「You’re right. It’s really pretty.」

「It’s kind of, just like a Kaleidoscope.」

「Me too, I also think so.」

I reflexively looked at her. What I saw was Risa gently smiling. It was so pretty and cute that the surrounding chatter faded away and before I’d noticed, I was charmed. As I thought that that smile would only be shown to me, I couldn’t resist and my cheeks slackened.

The main attraction of this aquarium was the whale shark. That figure, leisurely swimming inside the gigantic fish tank, was like the king of the sea.

「It’s kind of cool.」

「Yeah.」

「I want to take a picture.」

「Should we also take a picture together with it?」

Now that I thought about it, I don’t think we had a photo of just us together. As I thought that Risa may have also wanted a photo of us together, a smile naturally surfaced on my face.

Risa got a person from our surroundings to take our picture and we positioned ourselves to be at the ends of the photo. The flash was lit and when we looked at the result, there was a whale shark swimming in between, as if connecting us. I received the photo from Risa’s phone and set it as my wallpaper.

As for the souvenir, we bought matching key chains. I was perplexed by the sudden change of the distance between us, but was many times happier. When we returned to the bus, we were already holding hands as if it was the natural thing to do. Even though the bus was going to another tourist spot, I talked to Risa about the aquarium and the beach after this. Before I noticed, it was about time for lunch. These speedy 30 minutes were a first; just thinking about the growing 「first times」with Risa, I couldn’t stop my heart from beating faster.