Another Date and... Another spy?

Arata stood along side Matsu as they walked along the busy area. They pair were feeling a little nervous now that they had finally begun a real date. She was worried about impressing him. After all this time waiting for this moment to happen, the girl had a lot of pressure weighing her down.

Meanwhile, he was also anxious about what this was going to bring. By the end of today, Arata knew that he had to made a proper decision. There was no way he would leave Matsu with a vague answer. It was either he would know she was the one, or they'd have to suffer the pain of him breaking her heart. Nothing was going to stop him unless it killed him. The boy would have to literally get hit by a truck and get isekai'd for this to end any other way.

Dumb otaku references aside, he took one deep breath and finally spoke up.

"So, where are we going?" He asked.

"I love animals, so I was hoping the zoo was going to be good with you." She was more than willing to change up their plans if he wasn't willing. In fact, the girl had more than just a plan B. Matsu was prepared to handle the entire alphabet plus some numbers after that.

"The zoo sounds like a lot of fun to me." Unfortunately, her planning was pointless since he took the first option. Honestly, he would've been fine with pretty much anything between the two of them. What Arata was looking for was if Matsu really could be that girl he could envision himself spending time with. Someone that he'd enjoy going out with fairly often, especially with them turning into third years soon.

So he was going to focus on what made the two of them click. Though the back of his head still had the others in mind. After all, he had just regained his relationship with Ichiri yesterday, where they both knew where she stood. Still, he needed to eventually make up his mind or else everyone would be left hanging for no good reason.

Now the couple headed to the local zoo, holding hands all the way through. This was already different than the one he shared with Misei. While the girl was nice and he had plenty of fun, Arata could sense that she was holding back. On one hand, it was unfortunate since he was hoping for that girl to open up a little bit to him after her bold move of kissing him. On the other hand, he was a little relieved that they were both nervous and awkward on their first date. The boy wasn't one who knew how to handle himself on a date, so it was a good learning experience.

He put himself to work as they purchased their tickets to enter the zoo. Arata knew that girls preferred a boy that could assert themselves, so he was the one leading the way as they navigated the crowd to check on some of the beautiful creatures kept here. The boy was paying close attention to everything around them, but that also meant he had this odd feeling of being watched. Strange, since no one should be paying them any mind.

Then again, he was caught by the others when he was on that outing with Akiba. Did something like that happen again? Quickly, his head turned around to see if he could catch whatever was causing the hair on the back of his neck to stand.

"Is something wrong?" Matsu asked. His strange behavior wasn't missed on him, which really meant that he was standing out a bit too much. Since she usually paid no mind when the boy was feeling off. "Wait, is there someone we know?" She got a bit nervous about the thought of it, since the girl had wanted to this excursion to remain private.

"I don't know." He replied as they watched over the exhibit that held tigers. "But, I guess we shouldn't be too worried if that's the case. I'm going to tell them the truth about our when we get back to class anyway." Unlike with Misei, where everyone had to learn about their date through some weird circumstances that involved him having amnesia. Arata hoped that they wouldn't take issue if he told them about what happened this weekend. In fact, he already told Erina about his trip today anyway and nothing back happened.

"Heheh, penguins are so cute." Matsu made a face just as cute as she called the animals while they were over watching the exhibit. "The way they waddle is just so silly."

"But they can swim better than any of us." Arata pointed out as he read the fun facts set up in front of all the exhibits. "Kind of funny how special different species can be."

"It's like with plants." Indeed, the similarities were impossible for the pair to ignore. They both knew their gardening knowledge and flowers were kind of like animals when it came to each one separating itself from the others. "I can't wait for things to get warmer. The gardening club is ready to start planting again."

"And it looks like I'll be gardening for Hine again soon too." He missed doing that with the old lady. It had been so long, that this conversation brought back memories of what he had been doing last year with her. So many things had happened in his life that it felt like a distant memory of him chatting with her and only her.

"Ooh, ooh, look." She took his hand again. That was something he was starting to get used to, and it was something that the boy was enjoying too. "They have some cutouts of penguins, let's go get our pictures taken."

"Sounds like a lot of fun." He followed her as she went on ahead to ask someone to take their picture.

"They look like such a cute couple, don't they?" While on his way, Arata's ears picked up on some of the conversations people had among themselves. It brought a smile to his face to hear some of those people thinking that they were boyfriend and girlfriend. Maybe this is what his future was going to be with someone like Matsu by his side?

"Okay…" She spoke up as they took their positions through the opened parts of the faces for the penguins. "Say cheese!" They both smiled as the person took their photo. It came out wonderfully according to them, however at the same time Arata heard the click of another camera.

Now, that wasn't weird on its own. After all, there were dozens, if not hundreds, of people hanging around taking their own picture. It's just that this one sounded exactly the same as a real camera, not one that someone takes with their phones. More over, it sounded just like the one that Erina had. He shook his mind off of that thought. There was no way that girl could possibly have come here just to spy on him. Why would she care about his date enough to do something like that?

However, what Arata was unaware of was that was precisely what happened. Off in the distance where he wasn't paying close attention to, there the girl was with her camera as she took a snap of the pair sharing a penguin picture.

"…" Erina quietly stood, hidden away thanks to the crowd, as she stared at the picture she just took. It was of the couple who were standing behind the penguin cutouts, smiling. She zoomed in a bit towards Arata's face…

"I'm glad I'm not the only one playing spy here." A voice gave Erina a chill up her spine as she jumped up and turned to see who caught her. It was Hifumi, who was also adorn with an outfit that kept her hidden, while also appearing to be enjoying the day at the zoo.

"S-spy?" Erina put her camera behind her back as she nervously tried to come up with an excuse. "What makes you think that?"

"Well, I'm here because Arata's on a date too." After all, Sundays were typically reserved for a little bit of tea time with her grandmother and him. So when the boy told them he couldn't make it due to having a date, she just had to find and follow him. "You like him too, right? That's what I figured after the conversation we had before the train back then."

"O-o-of course not." Erina denied it hard as she took out her camera. "Actually, I'm in love with… Yogi. I'm just observing them so I can find out how to impress him."

"You're still on about that?" Hearing those words did make the librarian girl a little more confident in this race for Arata's heart. At least that would be one less competitor, but that feeling was soon dashed as she looked over to his date. "They're on the move, quick let's follow them.

Yes, the last time she did this filled the girl with shame. Though that was back when she was hit with the hard news of realizing that he was someone that had other people after his heart. However, she got over it… That was it, there was no reflection that perhaps he should have some personal space. Or the fact that they weren't dating, so there wasn't a good reason for her to be spying on him like this. "Good thing you got that camera."

"Why?" Asked Erina, who held tighter onto her tool in response.

"Just in case he does something stupid." Her glasses glared, which hid her eyes from view. "You need evidence for that kind of thing, right? Don't worry, we're not blackmailing him or anything." What she was actually looking for, was actually hoping for a bit of fan service from the boy. Like maybe some water gets on his clothes and he has to expose his shirtless body.

"Okay, I'll keep my lens at the ready."