บท 546: Momo: You can't run away again

Right in the morning, when everyone had woken up, they were still sluggish. One thing that made the trip quite tiring, but another thing was they must admit even on this trip, Shishio was as fierce as ever.

"Don't you have enough rest? Why do you seem so tired?"

Mea, Maiko, Momo, or two little girls looked at everyone with inexplicability.

"You don't understand." Nana shook her head.

"...."

They didn't know why, but somehow they felt annoyed by Nana's smug expression.

Futaba was silent and lay on the sofa with her eyes closed. "Have Shishio come back, Roberta-san?" She opened her eyes lightly and looked at Roberta, who seemed unfazed by the tough exercise last night. She looked at her body, wondering whether she should work out.

But...

Futaba must admit she was too lazy.

"He'll go back soon," Roberta answered calmly.

"I see..." Futaba nodded and continued to sleep, but soon, she opened her eyes again since she heard several footsteps.

"I am back."

Everyone looked up, and they saw Shishio was there. Kiriya was also there, but the one that attracted them most was the young woman beside them.

"I am going to join you all later. It's okay, right?" Mai asked with a smile.

What could they say?

They agreed without hesitation.

After eating breakfast, they prepared themselves before continuing their trip. They had set up their trip this time to the Shaboten Zoo. It was the place where Shiina, Keika, and Miya had been waiting to come since this was the place where they would be able to see the capybara hot spring.

"What's wrong?" Nanami looked at Shishio, who seemed to be in the middle of a thought. She could see that Shiina was excited, so shouldn't he be excited to be in the capybara hot spring?

"It's just that it is almost summer, so isn't it hot to dip in the hot spring?" Shishio asked.

"....."

Shiina opened her mouth wide and seemed to be in shock. She hesitated for a while before she gathered her courage. "So... we won't be able to see the capybara?"

"...."

Everyone stared at Shishio helplessly, rolling their eyes as if telling him everything was his fault.

Shishi also rolled his eyes since he was just saying something natural. After all, unlike a human, a capybara was full of fur. However, even without fur, as a human, he must admit the temperature was quite hot, so wouldn't the capybara feel like it was in the magma if it dared to dip into the hot spring?

Still, Shishio knew how to handle this.

Shiina, who was sad, felt her head being patted. She looked up and saw it was the person who had damped her mood. "Shishio?"

"Mashiro, do you care about the capybara?"

Shiina was stunned, but she quickly nodded. "I care about it." She had always wanted to see the capybara, so it was natural for her to care about the capybara. However, she had given up her dream to pet the capybara, so if she had to give up watching a group of capybara dip in the hot spring, she felt she would die somehow.

"Then, which one do you choose? Do you want to see them be tortured while bathing in the hot spring right under the hot sun or play happily together?"

"Play happily together," Shiina quickly said.

"I have heard that there should be a place where you can pet the capybara, so..."

"Let's go there!" Shiina's eyes shone brightly as if she had been revived.

Shishio then looked at everyone with a smug expression.

'It's easy, right?'

They could see such words came from his expression alone, and somehow they wanted to beat him. On the bed, of course.

With that said, they quickly set their trip to the Shaboten Zoo. The trip was smooth, and before long, they were about to reach the entrance. Still, they must admit this zoo was grander than the one they had seen in Tokyo.

Yet they didn't feel surprised, considering the difference in the land price between Tokyo and Izu was too huge.

Along the way, they could see many types of birds, such as pelicans and peacocks. They even saw a monkey.

Still, Shishio didn't tell them that this zoo was his.

Ritsu frowned and asked, "Do they even let loose a peacock?" She had heard that a peacock was an endangered species, yet the zoo let it loose like this. Wouldn't they feel afraid it might escape or be caught by someone?

"But the peacock is really graceful..." Mai said with a smile. She might only tell Shishio, but she liked to see animals. It was also the reason why she came to visit the aquarium last time, and it was also the reason why she loved his cock so much.

"..." Shishio.

After they arrived, they bought the tickets while talking about the peacock that they had seen along the way.

"What?" The staff was surprised and quickly took her walkie-talkie. "Quickly catch the peacock! It has run away again!"

"....." Everyone.

Shishio looked at everyone who was speechless and said, "Let's just enter."

They nodded since a new world was about to welcome them.

Shishio had always thought that a zoo was a smelly place. Yet it was normal for him to think so, considering how a group of animals caged in a small place could only put their shit in nearby places. Even if the staff wanted to clean the place up, it would take a while. What was even worse was the fact that there were too many people, which made it hard to breathe.

However, this place was different.

It was spacious, and the air felt fresh.

Everyone enjoyed all the animals and unique plants in this zoo, yet he wondered why this zoo would focus on the Cactus out of all the plants in this world.

"Shishio, you're familiar with flower language, right? What's the flower language of a cactus?" Saki asked. She still remembered their trip to Enoshima last time. She knew that he knew many flower languages, so she asked.

"The flower language of a cactus?" Shishio could see that everyone was looking at him. "Cactus has the meaning of a love of a mother."

"The love of a mother?" They were dumbfounded since it was so unexpected. The Cactus was full of thorns, so they couldn't see how it had the meaning of the love of the mother.

"It's a glochid, alright?" Shishio was speechless, then said, "Cactus is strong, enduring, and protective. You can see where the meaning comes from, right?"

When they heard it, they understood where its flower language came from. The glochid of the Cactus protected its inside like a mother that protected her child. Somehow their gazes toward the Cactus became gentler.

After they walked for a while, it was finally time they were able to see the main protagonist.

"It's the capybara!"

The capybara lay lazily on the hot spring filled with many oranges. The aromas of the oranges and the hot spring mixed, giving a pleasant aroma that spread everywhere.

Similar to the group of capybara, everyone had this relaxed expression on their faces.

"I want to take an orange bath somehow," Rui suddenly said.

They didn't deny it, but more than that, they decided to move to where they could pet the capybara.

Shiina squatted down with two capybaras on her armpits. She let out a satisfied sigh as if she could die in happiness anytime.

Shishio looked at everyone who played with the capybara before he sat on the bench nearby. The capybara was cute, but his girlfriends were cuter. Still, he looked at his side and wasn't sure what to say.

Momo sat by his side and didn't say anything. Instead, she just smiled as if she enjoyed this moment.

Shishio glanced at Momo, and he must admit she was a beautiful girl to the boot. Still, he had some regrets about her, wondering why he didn't meet her earlier. If he had met her earlier, many things wouldn't have happened.

Yet everything had happened, so there was nothing that they could do.

Momo was in her casual clothes, making her cuter than usual, yet even if she dressed like this, she still had a scrunchie on her wrist.

'Now that you've mentioned it, I've never seen her take off that scrunchie.'

Shishio had an idea of what was hidden behind that scrunchie, but if he opened his mouth, it would destroy the good mood in their surroundings. "You don't join them, Momo?"

"No, I am fine like this with you, Shishio-kun," Momo said.

"What's so fun about staying by my side?" Shishio asked speechlessly since neither of them talked to each other.

"Is that so?" Momo smiled and said, "But even if we don't do anything, as long as I stay by the side of someone I love, it's fun."

"..." Shishio was speechless by her sudden confession. He looked at everyone and saw they were still preoccupied with the capybara. "Even if I am like this?"

"Even if you're like this." Momo nodded without hesitation.

"You really don't have eyes to choose a man." Shishio had always thought Momo always had terrible taste in men. Even in the original story, she was in love with Natsuo, who wasn't that much different from her previous boyfriends.

Momo laughed happily when she heard those words. She then looked at him and asked, "So have you thought whether you accept my confession or not?"

"...You ask that now?" Shishio was speechless. Out of all the time, he wondered why she chose now.

"You haven't answered me, after all." Momo pouted, then said, "If you accept me, then we can do that..." She moved closer and whispered those words.

Shishio stood up and said, "When we go back, let's talk alone."

Looking at his back, Momo knew the answer she had been waiting for would come. She would be lying if she was nervous, but she must admit she anticipated his answer. She took a deep breath and decided to go all out later.