The azure sea, but a lonely, fulfilled life.

Staring—(?_? )

(￣～￣)——chewing

The man and the fish stared at each other. Although Hachiman couldn't see its eyes, he understood something from the frequency of its chewing.

It seems quite satisfied with its colleagues, which is a rare sight indeed. It's amazing to see a senior colleague in the workplace who appreciates his juniors so much in real life. If it could speak, it would surely be full of praise for its colleagues!

Enjoying his own joke with great interest, Hachiman reached out, preparing to touch the manta ray's white belly through the glass.

"Hachiman, look, it's a hammerhead shark."

His finger was stopped in mid-air. Looking in the direction the other person was pointing, he saw several sharks with heads like hammers chasing other aquatic creatures.

As omnivorous creatures, hammerhead sharks eat 90% of their diet of various seaweeds, so they are just playing around.

"And over there, there are clownfish and pufferfish."

Hearing the other person's cheerful and excited voice, Hachiman's gaze followed her as she looked at the animals, while he also glanced at the girl's appearance out of the corner of his eye.

Chisa placed her hand on the glass, her mouth slightly open. When she noticed a creature she recognized, her eyes would light up with excitement and nostalgia, and she would slowly recount some relevant information about that creature.

"So the reason why the clownfish got this name is because the stripes on its body are similar to the clown's face paint in Chinese Peking Opera and the face painting of Western clowns. People named it clownfish in order to deepen their impression of it."

She watched the small, yellow-and-white striped fish darting back and forth among the corals and murmured to herself, "But they're not ugly at all, are they?"

Chisa turned to look at Hachiman, wanting to ask for his opinion. When their eyes met, she realized that he had been watching her for some time.

Stunned, amidst the bustling crowd, time seemed to have been paused, everything around them frozen in place, as if a photograph was being taken, everyone tacitly remaining still.

Hachiman gazed at the girl before him, and after a moment he slowly looked away. The light hanging high above reflected in the seascape, casting indigo shadows on the two of them.

"Yes, it's beautiful," he said softly.

At that moment, the sound of her heartbeat resonated clearly in Chisa's ears. Her face flushed red, and she reached out to grab her carefully styled hair, trying to hide her unspoken feelings in the darkness. Finally, she gently punched his shoulder as the water rippled.

He always hits a straight shot in unexpected places, which makes him too difficult to defend against.

Feeling a slight push on his shoulder, Hachiman was puzzled. He agreed with the other person's words, so why was he punched?

He tilted his head slightly, the shadow obscuring half of his face, and a click sounded as someone took a picture of the seascape.

The photographer was careless; he forgot that he should turn off the flash in the dim light, and the momentary bright light revealed his neck, which was a skin tone that was completely different from his face.

"Let's go check out the next place."

The girl's soft voice rang out. She closed her eyes when the flash went off, so she didn't realize that she might not be the only one whose mind was racing.

"okay."

Hachiman, who was completely at the mercy of her arrangements, followed her footsteps, watching her hands sway gently as she walked, his gaze somewhat unfocused.

As the saying goes, serious people have a unique temperament. Just now, he was quietly listening to the other person tell him about little things. When the fish's tail swept across the water, he was attracted by the eloquent Chisa. She was full of the confidence that he lacked. At that moment, she became a treasure in his eyes.

Her chuunibyou fantasies vanished the moment she looked at him, and she felt embarrassed afterward. Hachiman lowered his head slightly; if he were in his own room, he probably would have been rolling around on the bed by now.

Honestly, after all this time, there's still no progress.

-

After passing through the seascape tunnel, the two arrived at a spacious exhibition hall. The scenery was still surrounded by glass, but this time the creatures in the glass were mostly rare items that they hadn't seen before.

Hachiman stood in front of a glass window, staring at the empty land made of sand inside, and looked up at the sign next to him.

Garden Eel

Is it a type of eel? But I can't see anything about it.

"what happened?"

To calm down a bit, Chisa went to see the seals alone after entering the exhibition hall. Two chubby seals were shoving each other like balls, which looked very cute.

Once the romantic atmosphere faded from her mind, she turned to look for Hachiman and saw him bending over, staring at something. So she walked over and asked him.

"Is this garden eel not yet on its shift?"

Hachiman turned his head and pointed at the glass counter as he spoke.

"Animals don't have working hours." Chisa walked to his side helplessly, looked at the glass, and exclaimed, "Aren't they already working?"

Upon hearing this, Hachiman turned his head back and, sure enough, saw a slender, red-skinned eel waving its body, its eyes fixed on Chisa's location.

"Do eels like pretty girls too?" He was a little speechless. He had been standing there for two or three minutes and the eel hadn't paid any attention to him. As soon as Chisa arrived, she started dancing. What a lecherous eel.

What are you muttering about?

Chisa lowered her head and looked at the little creature in the glass. In just one minute, four more garden eels emerged from the sand, but none of them moved their bodies. They were just watching the garden eel that was dancing.

"Nothing, just a little curious." Hachiman looked at the red garden eel that was still dancing. "Do you think eels can appreciate human appearances?"

"Did you get infected by Iori and the others and your brain is damaged? How could an eel possibly appreciate the appearance of another species?" Chisa tapped his head with a chopstick, but there was no sound. It seemed that it wasn't hollow yet.

"That makes sense." It seems he was overthinking it. After all, how could an eel possibly fall for a pretty human girl? Besides, according to the information on the sign next to them, these garden eels are all still babies, not even adults yet.

A minor liking pretty older women? This isn't some little potato brat, how could that be?

"Want to go see some other animals?"

He turned his head to look at Qian Sha. At such close range, he finally smelled the fragrance under each strand of her hair. It wasn't the chestnut scent he had expected, but a woody sandalwood aroma.

"Okay, is there any animal you'd like to see, Hachiman?" Chisa took her phone out of her pocket, held it horizontally, and pointed it at the display stand. "Wait a minute, I'd like to take a picture to remember this moment."

"Which animals would you like to see?"

Hachiman lowered his head and pondered. He didn't really have any animals he wanted to see, but he was quite eager to see Kamakura. He wondered if that guy would miss his special seat after he left.

"Speaking of which, Chisa, didn't you want to see that celebrity animal?"

He remembered that her name was Tao Tao, a dolphin with a quirky appearance.

"It's not time yet." Chisa took a picture of the garden eel and nodded with satisfaction. Just then, she noticed a shoe in the lower right corner of the photo. It seemed that she had accidentally included a part of the eel in the picture.

However, she didn't pay much attention to it, since it was just a shoe, and it was located in the lower right corner where the layer was not obvious, so it wouldn't block the main subject.

"The interaction with the celebrity dolphins is at 10 o'clock. It's 9:35 now, so there are 25 minutes left."

Chisa put her phone back in her pocket and turned her gaze to the bright doorway not far away. Stepping out of this door would take her to the outdoor area.

"In that case, let's go check out the next place first."

As he spoke, Hachiman walked toward the door, deliberately slowing his pace to wait for Chisa to catch up.

As the two were about to leave the exhibition hall, Hachiman glanced back at the garden eel's display case. Sure enough, the red garden eel had lost its spirit after Chisa left and was resting on the sand.

He turned around, his expression unchanged. The world truly has many amazing places!

-

The two left the exhibition hall and walked to the outdoor area, where they stood on a wooden bridge surrounded by seawater.

The wooden planks creaked underfoot as the two arrived at the first viewing spot, where the main attraction was a group of creatures they had seen earlier: seals.

Here you can choose whether or not to take a boat to get up close. The two of them figured they had already paid for the tickets, so saving a little bit didn't seem to make much difference. So they paid for a boat together.

Sitting on the boat, with safety buckles fastened to their chests, Hachiman and Chisa exchanged a glance. The boat slowly started moving, heading towards the rocky reef where the seals were resting. These creatures, raised by humans and long since domesticated, were not very wary. As they approached, Hachiman and Chisa reached out and stroked the seals' bodies.

The adult seal's skin looked a bit rough from being exposed to the wind and sun, and it felt like touching a piece of leather. As for the pup seal, he didn't get to touch it; the adult seal was very well watched. However, Chisa did manage to touch it.

Slightly envious, he noticed the sparkling starlight in the other person's eyes and knew that the feel must be good.

"Would you like to touch it, Hachiman?"

"never mind."

Faced with her invitation, Hachiman thought about it and then declined, realizing it was too early to force her.

After passing the first viewpoint, the second viewpoint is the dolphin's territory. They constantly emerge from the seabed, leap and fly, and then dive back into the water, splashing water all over them.

Because they wore special raincoats provided by the staff before setting off, neither of their clothes got very wet. However, a mischievous little guy flicked his fishtail, and the water he flicked out got wet in Hachiman's hair.

Hachiman silently touched his wet hair. Just as Chisa was about to offer some words of comfort, the dolphin reappeared. It had a huge head and was staring at him with its bright black eyes. It opened its mouth and spat out a fish that fell onto the surface of the sea.

The dolphin grabbed the dead fish with its teeth, threw it, and it hit him in the face again with a thud.

"..."

"Well, how about we go look at some other animals instead?" Chisa said with an awkward smile, handing the fish back to the dolphin. They didn't have anything to put the fish in, and it had already been inside the dolphin's stomach, so it didn't seem right no matter how you looked at it.

The dolphin blinked, and after Hachiman shook his head, it tossed the fish into the air, caught it in its mouth, swallowed it, and then disappeared into the sea.

After confirming that the sightseeing boat had stopped moving, the staff took them to the nearest viewing point. As soon as they got ashore, Chisa went to a nearby convenience store and bought a towel, which she handed to Hachiman.

They were from the same boat, yet she was unharmed while he was soaked to the bone.

Hachiman hastily wiped his forehead, then prepared to fold the towel and hug it to his chest. Although he had never bought a towel at the aquarium, he knew it wouldn't be cheap. He figured he should reuse it a few more times before throwing it away.

Seeing that his hair was still dripping wet even after he had casually wiped it, Chisa sighed, tapped the back of his hand with two fingers, took the towel, and looked up at him.

"Squat down."

"There's no need for that, a quick wipe will do."

"No, you might catch a cold."

Chisa stubbornly pressed his head down, wrapped it with a towel in both hands, and gently rubbed it.

The other person's gentle movements made Hachiman's body stiffen slightly, and the time he spent waiting for the other person to remove the towel felt like an eternity.

At the next viewpoint, they saw otters and a flock of penguins. Through the glass window, the penguins swarmed around Hachiman as soon as they saw him. Chisa watched this scene in surprise, a slight smile playing on her lips, wondering if the penguins mistook Hachiman for one of their own kind from somewhere else.

"So, are you happy to see your own kind?" she asked teasingly.

"This is no joke." Hachiman stared at her with dead fish eyes, giving her a look of utter disbelief. "I'm not a penguin."

“But they seem to think of you as one of their own.” Chisa pointed to the penguins by the window who were imitating Hachiman’s movements. Watching their awkward actions, she almost laughed so hard she couldn’t straighten up.

“I’m not one of you. Besides, if I were a penguin, I would be the most unique one. The most unique one is the most precious one, so I would definitely be an emperor penguin.”

Hachiman squatted down and talked to the penguin, who was only as tall as his calves. The penguin didn't understand him, so it tilted its head and chirped.

The scene of a person talking to a penguin was unheard of. In order to preserve this memorable moment, Chisa took out her phone and secretly took another picture.

"The show featuring the famous animal star, dolphin 'Tao Tao,' will begin in five minutes. Interested visitors are requested to proceed to the dolphinarium in an orderly fashion."

A female staff member's voice came over the loudspeaker, announcing that their main purpose for being there was finally about to begin.

Taking leave, Ciallo～(∠?ω)⌒☆

I never expected that I would have to take leave today, even though I said yesterday that I couldn't take leave so early. However, this time it's not because of writer's block. It's mainly because when I was writing tonight, I suddenly realized that updating late at night might make it hard to get traffic.

Then I thought about how I have a day off tomorrow, so I decided to take a break tonight, get a few hours of sleep, and get up early to catch up on today's update. I'll post it around 11 or 12 noon. Tomorrow's update will be posted in the afternoon and around 6 or 7 pm, which will coincide with everyone's get off work or school hours. That way, I might attract new readers to this book!

Of course, it's possible that I'm just daydreaming, but everyone needs to have dreams! I also want to be a salted fish that can turn its life around!

So goodnight (|3?[▓▓], if you haven't slept yet except for essential reasons, go to sleep early and don't harm your health. As for those who are still working the night shift and see this leave request letter...

Come on, how about a Red Bull? (o ωo ) You drink it, I'll drink as I please.