"So, where are we headed, Takina?"

The "workday" (3 hours long) had just ended and Takina and Chisato were now on their way to… well, Chisato's been trying to figure out where exactly they're going for a while now.

"I told you, it's a surprise."

"C"mon! Why can't you just tell me already?"

"Just wait until we get there."

"You're so mean…"

A sense of skepticism began to grow in the back of Takina's mind as she watched a mischievous smile begin to form on Chisato's face.

"Something up?"

"Oh? It's nothing~"

Takina didn't buy that for a second. She closed her eyes, giving a sigh and beginning to speak in a dismissive tone.

"You say that, but you're definitely planning something, aren't you? I've known you for long enough to- eh?!"

Takina was almost immediately cut off when she felt fingers begin to intertwine with hers. She looked down at her hand being held in Chisato's. She felt a hot blush forming on her face as she cupped her cheek in her free hand, mumbling out objections.

"Chisato… We're in public…"

"Yep! And you're my girlfriend!"

She didn't even have to look up to figure out the fact that Chisato wore the same jolly smile she always had when seeing Takina's face this red.

"That doesn't mean that we have to flaunt our relationship everywhere we go…"

"Hmph. Well, I beg to differ. I think that everyone should know about how awesome we are, and more importantly, how awesome we are together."

Takina decided not to further provoke Chisato save for a quiet grumble.

"Well in any case, we're almost there."

"Eh? Almost where-"

When Chisato lifted her gaze, her entire face lit up and she squeezed takina's hand in both of hers as she snapped her body to face Takina, saying:

"It's an aquarium!"

Takina resisted the urge to sigh as she watched as Chisato seemingly held onto her hand for dear life, jumping up and down so fast that she almost became a blur.

"Ohmygod! You actually brought me here? You know, I thought that the aquarium back in Japan was pretty nice, but a Hawaiian aquarium's gotta be on a whole 'nother level!"

Eventually, as they reached the entrance, Chisato's hyperactivity began to fade, though her smile was in no way smaller than it was before.

"Still, I'm happy that you're being this thoughtful, Takina."

Takina raised an eyebrow.

"What do you mean by that?"

Chisato's eyes went wide before going narrow as she began to pout.

"What, you don't remember our first date?"

After receiving no response save for a slightly confused head tilt, Chisato sighed as she began to shake her head.

"I can't believe this… Remember? Back when you had no fashion sense and I practically had to drag you everywhere we went?"

That's when a look of recognition flashed across Takina's face along with a light blush.

"That's not… We weren't even dating at the time, so…"

Chisato opened her mouth, appearing to think to herself for a few moments before she flashed a toothy grin at Takina.

"Still a date~ Unless you want this to be our first?"

"Yeah. That's what I was thinking."

Chisato wasn't quite sure what to say at that, so for once, she said nothing. She began to look around the lavishly decorated exterior of the aquarium. She glanced at an octopus poster here, a starfish there, until her gaze finally settled on…

"Hey, Takina! Look!"

Takina spun around, her vision tracing the path that Chisato's finger was pointing at until settling on…

"A fish? Are you surprised at seeing a giant picture of a fish in an aquarium, Chisato?"

"We should do the thing!"

Takina was slightly confused.

"Hah? 'The Thing'?"

Chisato quickly nodded several times.

"Yeah, you know."

Quickly looking around herself to establish that there was no one within arm's length, Chisato stuck her palms together in front of herself, sticking her arms out and pointing her fingers forward as she kicked one leg out behind herself while balancing on the other. She did this all while saying in the most energetic voice she could muster:

"Sakana!"

Takina stared at Chisato, wondering why she ever fell in love with this girl.

"It can't be helped, can it?"

Takina made her way to Chisato before putting her hands above her head, saying:

"Jinyagaku!"

*snap*

"What the-"

Takina's reluctant smile turned to bewilderment as she saw Chisato give her a cheeky grin from behind her phone.

"Say cheese~"

"Chisato!"

Chisato laughed as Takina stormed over, quickly holding her phone behind her to prevent Takina from reaching it.

"Come on, Takina. You sure you want to make a scene here?"

Takina looked around, noting the large number of people in the building before giving a sigh and looking off to the side, kicking her foot against the ground.

"Cheater."

"Hm?"

Chisato smiled at Takina's indignant expression before pointing at the front desk of the aquarium.

"Well, Takina? Let's head up and-"

Takina heard Chisato's voice cut out as in one motion, she grabbed Chisato's hand and intertwined her fingers with Chisato's, holding on tightly. She saw Chisato's face heat up as she leaned so close to Chisato's ear that she was practically kissing it, saying:

"I guess that I can play dirty too."

When Takina saw Chisato finally look her in the eye, a cheeky grin appeared on Takina's face as she saw that Chisato's face had flushed bright red. Chisato simply shoved her free hand in her pocket and began to walk towards the desk, Takina following beside her. Chisato wasn't looking at Takina, directing it instead to the floor as she mumbled out:

"Guess that even you can be aggressive sometimes, huh?"

Takina, having witnessed this whole display, smiled to herself as she saw Chisato became immediately distracted by the fish that were on display by the front desk.

###

"Oh my god! Look at this one, Takina!"

For the past 2 hours, Chisato had dragged Takina from exhibit to exhibit, never spending more than a minute or two at each one, not that Takina minded watching her bound from fish to fish, marvelling at them as if it was her first time seeing water. Eventually, they'd made their way around the whole aquarium twice and on their 4th run, Chisato found herself attracted to some sort of odd lizards.

"Hey, Takina, come see!"

Takina got up off of the bench she was watching from and made her way to Chisato, looking through the glass.

"It looks like a lizard."

Chisato shook her head while clicking her tongue.

"Ah, ah, ah. It's an axolotl. Those feathery gills on each side of its head are what it uses to breathe. They eat worms, insects, small fish, and just about anything else that can fit inside their mouth and swallow whole, including other salamanders!"

"You're just reading off of the information plaque, aren't you?"

Chisato's only response was a smile and a peace sign, eliciting an eye roll from Takina.

"Wanna look at the glow-in-the-dark jellyfish, Takina?"

"For the third time, it's fluorescent jellyfish."

"Eh? Who's reading off of the information plaque now?"

Takina gave a sigh, but couldn't help but smile as she watched Chisato practically skipping her way to the jellyfish.

###

"Chisato, it's been an hour. Are you absolutely sure that you want to spend more than 25 percent of our time petting the same stingray?"

Chisato narrowed her eyes at Takina for a moment before turning away, sticking her nose in the air.

"I'll have you know that Flapper and I have grown very attached. I can't just leave him alone here!"

"You named it?"

Takina watched as Chisato seemingly completely ignored her. After a few more moments of watching, Takina pushed herself up off of her chair and walked up to the stingray, crouching down beside Chisato and beginning to pet the stingray as well. Immediately, the stingray gravitated towards Takina and before long, it had drifted over so far that Chisato couldn't even reach it.

"You stole Flapper!"

Needless to say, Chisato was not pleased. Takina, on the other hand, simply smiled as she began to lead Flapper further and further along the edge of the glass.

###

"We're finally at the gift shop!"

Chisato quickly forgave Takina for the stingray theft after Takina promised to buy her anything she wanted from the gift shop. Takina, for her part, seemed to be slightly tired.

"All that talk about not wanting to leave Flapper alone, yet the moment I offered, you practically sprinted here. I don't see why people fall for these places. They're clearly just thinly-veiled tourist traps anyway-"

"Takina, look!"

Takina opened her eyes and stopped her mini-rant to see Chisato holding up a mug with eels dotted all over it and another with fish. Takina sighed at this, her voice slightly more subdued than it had been previously.

"I said 'one item', Chisato."

Immediately, a pout formed on Chisato's face as she stepped closer to Takina to the point where they were only inches apart.

"Come on! Don't you want something matching? Please?"

Takina went red, turning away as her voice began to grow in power.

"Like I said, 'one item' is all you're-"

The moment that Takina turned back to look at Chisato, she was bombarded by the most powerful, most devastating sight she had ever seen. More than Chisato's usual expressions, heck, even more than gunfire, this sight almost sent a bullet through Takina's heart. What was this sight?

Puppy-dog eyes?

Slowly, Takina drew herself up to her full height, taking a deep breath as she took the items and marched over to the cash register..

That's ridiculous. What kind of person would resort to a tactic like that to get what they want? I don't know where these are from, so I'll just ask where to put them back and be on my way.

Takina's eyes had almost as she walked over to the register, seemingly functioning on autopilot as she set the mugs on the table, saying:

"I'll take your entire stock."

Chisato burst out in uproarious laughter as she yelled:

"That's way too much!"

###

"So, how'd you like our date, Chisato?"

By the time the 2 of them had left the aquarium, the sky was already starting to go dark. Chisato started swinging the bag holding the matching mugs they had gotten back and forth.

"It was super fun! The fish were super cute and we got our first matching stuff! We should totally do stuff like that more often. What about you?"

Takina looked surprised for a moment.

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"You know. How'd you like our date?"

"Wasn't I the escort, though?"

"Your enjoyment is important too, you know."

Takina put her fingers to her chin, closing her eyes in thought before speaking in a neutral tone.

"Mm. It was pretty fun, though once we started looking at the fish, I guess…"

Takina hesitated for a moment before looking off to the side and getting a little bit quieter as she said:

"It felt a little bit less like a date and more like we were just friends hanging out, y'know?"

There was a moment of silence and Takina's nerves began to kick in as she rushed to clarify her position, turning to face Chisato.

"Ah, but it was still fun, so I don't really mi- mmph!"

Takina's eyes went wide as she felt Chisato nearly tackle her to the ground, planting a massive kiss right on her lips and hugging her from the waist. Takina's eyes darted from side to side, but after several moments of trying to speak, she eventually just gave up and closed her eyes, wrapping her arms around the back of Chisato's neck and reciprocating the kiss in full. After what felt like several hours, they broke apart for a breath only for Chisato to dive right back in and continue right where they had left off. Sometime during this, they had found their way to a bench and Chisato had found herself almost pinning Takina against the bottom of it. Eventually, they separated (if you count a few inches as separation), still breathing heavily and sweating from their display of passion.

"Ehehe… That was a little embarrassing, huh?"

Sitting with her hands placed flat on the bench at her sides, Takina noticed that Chisato's face had a light pink tinge across it, though she figured that her own face was probably at least ten times redder than Chisato's.

You're saying it's embarrassing?

"So, Takina…"

Takina felt something close on top of her hand before looking down and seeing that Chisato had placed her hand on top of Takina's. Takina stayed still for a moment before slowly turning the hand that Chisato was holding over, sliding her fingers in between Chisato's. Doing the same, Chisato then abruptly stood up, nearly yanking Takina off the bench as she did so.

"Gah! What was that for?"

Chisato gave a giggle as she watched Takina make a feeble attempt at dusting herself off with her free hand.

"Well, we've gotta go buy another futon, right?"

"Oh… right."

Chisato raised an eyebrow at Takina's sullen expression before a devious grin appeared on her face.

"Wait, don't tell me… Are you disappointed?"

Takina said nothing, merely turning pink and looking away.

"Did you really want to keep sharing a futon that badly? I mean, if you want to, it's not like I'm going to refuse-"

"We're buying another futon!"

Chisato let out another laugh at Takina's bright-red face before they headed off to the nearest store, neither of them letting go of the other's hand once.