Tsuna rubbed his still-itchy nose, subtly glancing at the temperature displayed on his phone screen. It was just around 18℃ early in the morning.
"Someone must be cursing me in their heart."
"…"
Shouko raised an eyebrow at his words, her expression clearly saying, "I'd be crazy to believe you."
But before she could overthink it, the next second, Tsuna's warm palm had already covered her hand.
"Let's go. This is our first official date, so why overthink it?"
Tsuna squeezed her palm, and with a gentle pull, led her out of the parking lot's concrete squares.
After a dozen steps, they stood outside the aquarium's massive glass curtain wall, squinting at the dazzling sunlight.
The uniquely shaped building, from a distance, resembled a giant seashell battered by ocean waves. Its surface was covered in varying shades of blue, subtly reflecting the light under the summer sun.
"So… so many people…"
Shouko involuntarily shrank her shoulders, looking at the long, winding queue at the entrance, and hesitantly asked:
"Doesn't it open at nine? Are we considered late…?"
A prominent electronic screen above them displayed the time, "09:21," and scrolled real-time ticket information and precautions.
She squeezed the reserved paper ticket in her pocket, took a breath, and pulled Tsuna to join the end of the queue.
In front of them were a few children wearing cartoon hats with their parents, and behind them, people quickly lined up as well.
The noise gradually grew louder, and the unique scent of sunscreen faintly mingled in the air.
"Shouko…" In the queue, Tsuna tugged on Shouko's hand. "Did you really look closely at those two tickets?"
"Yes, why? Is something wrong?"
Facing Shouko's face full of question marks, Tsuna tightened his grip and, with practiced ease, led her around the queue.
"Let's go. I bought VIP tickets, which have an exclusive channel," he explained casually.
"??" Shouko's question marks doubled.
As they walked directly toward the nearly empty ticket gate in the distance, they naturally attracted several envious and resentful glances.
The tickets were checked and clipped in one smooth motion, and Shouko also received two limited-edition couple penguin pendants from the staff member at the gate.
After thanking him, Shouko put the pendants into her bag and, somewhat flustered, walked to the metal turnstile with the green light.
Mimicking the person in front of her, she aligned the QR code portion of her ticket stub with the scanning area.
With a soft "beep," the green light flashed, and the turnstile bar loosened.
She tried pushing it, and the bar rotated open. She quickly slipped through, and immediately, the soft "click" of the bar closing behind her, along with Tsuna's scanning sound, followed.
Tsuna tightened his grip on Shouko's hand. "Let's go."
With just one step past the threshold, the surrounding air seemed to be instantly replaced.
A cool, damp sensation, imbued with the essence of the deep sea, rushed toward them and engulfed them completely.
The scorching sun and the noisy queue outside felt as if they had been separated by an invisible glass door.
Before them was a suddenly darkened environment, with only a few guiding signs and deep blue, faint light.
A colossal, strangely shaped archway stood at the front of the passage, from which came the low sound of circulating water and blurry, shifting light and shadows.
---
"So boring~"
Yuzuru lay spread-eagled on the tatami in the living room, her legs kicking the air intermittently, like a beached fish.
She stretched out her complaints, and even Hachiko, lying beside her, turned its head away with an "I can't bear to watch" expression.
"Xiao Lijian is busy, Sen Shujian is also busy. I should have secretly followed my sister to the aquarium."
The complaints abruptly ceased after a while.
Hachiko's formerly perked ears twitched as it tried to discern whether this silence meant she was plotting something again or if she had truly fallen asleep from exhaustion.
A soft, confused "mm-woo" sound involuntarily escaped its nose.
Just then, before it could tilt its head to check for breath, Yuzuru sprang up with a "whoosh"!
Her bright, sparkling eyes, as if equipped with a locator, precisely targeted Hachiko's fluffy, round face.
"Let's go, let's go! Hachiko, to the park for a walk!"
Before her words even finished, Yuzuru leapt off the tatami with a "swoosh."
In the blink of an eye, she ran out of the living room, leaving only her lingering voice and the "pat-pat-pat" of footsteps echoing behind her.
Hachiko slowly got up, shook its fur, and by the time it reached the entrance, Yuzuru already had the leash, a plastic bag for poop, and a small shovel in her hand.
Although the latter two items had not been used much in recent years, she still subconsciously brought them, just in case.
Seeing her bend down to tie her shoelaces, Hachiko skillfully picked up the leash clip. With a nimble flick of its head, the leash slid perfectly into its collar. The entire movement was fluid, as if it were just waiting for its "owner" to say "go."
The famous Miyamura once commented, "Sometimes it's hard to tell if Yuzuru is walking Hachiko or if Hachiko is taking care of Yuzuru."
"I'm leaving!" Yuzuru opened the door, shouted back at the empty house, and then, holding Hachiko's leash, headed for the park.
"Click…"
---
The overhead lights in the passage diffused a hazy blue world, as schools of fish with glowing trails silently swept past.
Just as a silver fish shadow swam past above Shouko's cheek, she looked up, her face bathed in blue light, and curiously turned to the person beside her.
"Tsuna, Tsuna, what does 'planting strawberries' mean?"
"…" Tsuna did not explain immediately, but looked at her with a slightly exasperated expression. "Didn't you secretly search for it on your phone just now?"
Not flustered at all by having her little secret exposed, Shouko stuck out the tip of her tongue, rolled her eyes, and continued digging for answers.
"Oh, no. I meant…"
Mimicking the tone of the comments she had read, she lowered her voice mysteriously.
"The 'experts' online all said that 'planting strawberries' is like putting an exclusive anti-counterfeit stamp on your boyfriend's neck, so that all those girls who want to get close automatically retreat!"
By the end, her eyes could not help but light up.
"Tsuna, is this anti-counterfeit… really that effective?"
"Fake!"
Tsuna shook his head without hesitation. A large shadow cast by the silhouette of a giant manta ray slowly drifted across the arched ceiling above.
"'Planting strawberries' can even lead to directly kicking the bucket."
Shouko did not believe him at all. Instead, she felt a bit eager to try, having unlocked a new intimate action.
She thought about planting a few on Tsuna tonight to see, and if it were not for all the tourists and surveillance here, she would have wanted to try it right now.
"Please wipe your drool, Shouko, and put away those unhealthy thoughts in your mind, okay?"
Tsuna raised his hand and ruffled her head. Seeing her dazed expression, he did not even need to think to guess what kind of messy thoughts she was having.
"…"