"Of course."
Faced with her invitation, Ren agreed without hesitation.
In the evening, he didn't have much work to do. He usually went for walks, occasionally did video calls with Chika to learn how to make table games, or practiced making meat buns.
Moreover, Miku made an appointment to meet him tomorrow to give him a gift, so he still didn't have anything to do this evening.
"That's great." Asumi said with a smile. "Coincidentally, I haven't been to the mall in a long time. This time I want to go for a stroll."
"Don't you have work this afternoon?"
Ren knew her usual work situation quite well.
"I'll take a break this afternoon. I'm not made of iron, so I still feel tired." Asumi complained to herself.
"Um."
"Kouhai-kun, do you have anything to buy?" Asumi asked. "With such a big discount, if there's anything you want to buy, you can take advantage of this time to buy it."
"Nothing."
Ren shook his head.
Every time he went to places like convenience stores and supermarkets, he restocked his house with consumables like bread, or bought snacks for Gabriel.
He hadn't bought many other items.
"Well, then let's buy everyday necessities like tissues for the house. It's a shame not to buy more with such a big discount."
Asumi was busy in the kitchen thinking about what she would buy at the mall in the evening.
"I just bought the ingredients a few days ago, and I still have plenty. I'll buy less in the evening and buy more long-lasting snacks..."
Seeing that she didn't intend to talk to him anymore, Ren sat in front of the table and used this time to think about what kind of board game he should make.
Honestly, although he learned some production methods from Chika, he still didn't know what kind of table game to make.
Creativity, in particular, is really not within his expertise.
As a result, his progress in making table games is slow.
He could only use his spare time to think about what plans could be turned into table games.
Time passed and it was already noon.
After Ren finished teaching Asumi, they had lunch together, and they hurried to the mall with the brochure.
"Does this count as a date?"
On the way, Asumi looked at him, gazing at his side profile and asking this question.
"It should be considered."
Based on his previous dating experiences with Miku and Gabriel, Ren could still judge what a date was.
"It turns out Kouhai-kun agreed to come to the mall with me just for the purpose of dating me..." Asumi seemed to have discovered a terrible secret, and teasingly said, "There is no other choice, I'm your senior, such a thing is not allowed."
After hearing her words, Ren thought and didn't say anything for a long time.
Just when Asumi thought she had said something wrong, Ren continued: "But didn't you take the initiative to invite me out this afternoon?"
"In that case, you should be the one who wants to date me, senpai."
According to the logic she had just said, the fact was what he said.
Asumi found amusement in his words and asked with a thin smile, "You're right, I want to date you. Is there a problem with that?"
"No."
Ren shook his head.
"Isn't that enough?" Asumi said without beating around the bush, with a thin smile on her face. "Kouhai-kun, why were you silent for so long earlier? Thinking about how to answer. Is that what I said?"
"Yes."
Ren admitted.
After a while, he added, "I'm not good at speaking, so it takes some time to understand and organize my language."
"No wonder."
Asumi could immediately understand that when they had chatted before, Ren always paused before continuing to speak.
"Kouhai-kun, can I understand this as one of your quirks?"
"What's funny?"
Although Ren had heard her say this word for a long time, he still didn't understand what she meant.
"You can understand it as funny things about someone, like self-promotion, slogans, habits, personalities, even identities, all of which can be funny points." Asumi explained.
"Identity... Asumi-chan the fairy maid? Is that your joke, senpai?"
Speaking of identity, Ren remembered another identity of Asumi.
"Don't mention that name!!!"
Asumi suddenly blushed and hurriedly emphasized to him, "I'm your senior. If you want to call me senior, you can't mention that name!"
It was embarrassing enough to be called this name by him.
If this name is heard by someone else, it could be considered social death.
"Oh." Ren agreed.
"Really..."
Asumi decided to ignore it for now.
At least she had to wait until her face stopped blushing before she could continue talking to him.
So, the two of them didn't say anything else on the way to the mall, just walking in silence.
"Here it is, this is the mall."
Upon reaching the entrance of the shopping center, Asumi first touched her cheek to make sure it wasn't hot anymore.
"There are so many people."
Seeing the crowd heading towards the mall, Ren sighed.
"Besides, it just opened, and there's a big discount, so it would be strange if there were fewer people." Asumi replied to his doubts. "And it's still during the summer vacation, and there are a lot of students with nothing to do."
"I see."
Ren expressed his understanding.
Besides, he was also a student with nothing to do during the summer vacation.
"Don't stand here foolishly, let's go in quickly." Asumi urged.
"Yes."
Just as Ren was about to go with her, he suddenly remembered something.
So, he stopped.
"What's wrong with you?"
Asumi noticed Ren suddenly stopping.
Then, Ren reached out his left hand to her: "There are too many people, don't get separated."