Chapter 230: Shinjuku 1
It might not have been explained before, but Sakurasou and Suimei were located in Shinjuku, but it was located on the edge side of Shinjuku, not in the center part of Shinjuku.
The location they would go on a date might not be that far since it was still in the same area, but they still needed a vehicle to go there since it would take too long if they were walking.
Most Japanese don't have a hobby of going somewhere by using a private vehicle, and they mostly use a public vehicle such as a train to go anywhere.
Still, regardless, Shishio decided to ask Roberta to drive them to East Shinjuku. After all, he had a private vehicle and a maid, rather than going to East Shinjuku by train, which was practically crowded, it was better to use a car which was very comfortable, right?
Lastly, Shishio also felt worried since Roberta was practically free, which made him wonder whether she felt bored when she stayed at Sakurasou or the free-range. He had asked whether she wanted to do something, but she shook her head and told him that serving him was her duty, so she wanted to focus on her duty and spent her time to serve him since it was her happiness, which made him a bit helpless by her devotion sometimes.
If possible, Shishio wanted to spend more time with Roberta, but inside Sakurasou, it might be a bit hard, so he wondered whether he should move to his apartment. Even if he couldn't stay every day, it might be good to stay at his apartment on the weekend or something. After all, he had to admit that the facilities on Sakurasou were quite old, but it was normal since the rent was very cheap. But what troubled him the most was that he needed to live with many people, which was quite hard to keep his privacy sometimes.
Still, Shishio could solve that problem later since he was going on a date with Shiina now. As for their destination, they went to the Isetan Department store, a very famous department store in Shinjuku. While talking to each other, they quickly arrived, and as they were about to start their date, Roberta left before telling him to call her anytime if he needed something.
Shishio nodded and looked at Roberta, who left slowly, seemingly a bit jealous when he was on a date with Shiina. Looking at Roberta, he thought that he should take Roberta on a date in the future.
"Shishio?"
Hearing his name being called softy, Shishio looked at Shiina with a smile and said, "Shall we go now?"
"Um." Shiina nodded with a bright smile. She then looked at Shishio's hand for a moment, seemingly hesitant.
Even though Shiina's actions might be incomprehensible sometimes, Shishio knew what this girl wanted to do. He then gently held her hand and asked, "Satisfied?"
"Um." Shiina was a bit shy for some reason that she couldn't understand. Nevertheless, she held his hand tightly since it was a rare chance that they could hold each other's hands. "Do you have somewhere that you want to visit, Shishio?"
"How about you? Do you have a place that you want to visit?" Shishio asked.
"No." Shiina shook her head and said, "As long as I can be with Shishio, I am happy."
"....."
Shishio looked at Shiina and had to admit that even if this girl had one or two quirks, she was adorable and beautiful. So he thought for a moment and said, "How about we visit a cat cafe?"
"Cat cafe?" Shiina tilted her head and didn't seem to understand what a cat cafe was, but she could tell that there would be many cats there.
---
As Shishio and Shiina went to the cat cafe, Ritsu and Misaki went to East Shinjuku to search for Shishio and Shiina. Since Misaki had money, she directly called a taxi to go there. However, Shinjuku was huge, so it might be a bit impossible to follow them if there was no lead.
"Ricchan, do you know where they are?" Misaki asked.
Ritsu, who got a headache after reading her book inside the taxi, rubbed her temple a bit and said, "I'm not sure." Even though she wanted to follow both Shishio and Shiina, she felt quite guilty when she thought about it, so she said, "Senpai, I don't think it is good to follow them. How about we go to buy a book or something?"
"Ricchan! Those kinds of thoughts are bad! If you want to do something, then do it! Don't hesitate!" Misaki said without hesitation, then took out her phone directly.
Ritsu was dumbfounded by Misaki's words and knew that, unlike Misaki and Shiina, she had always shown hesitation in her action, and it might also be the reason why she lost the place where she took it for granted. Holding her book, she wasn't in the mood to read and started to reflect on herself. She knew that he had a girlfriend, but it was the first time for someone to give her such a special feeling. She knew that she should give up, but she was unwilling.
"Ah, Roberta-san, can you tell me where both Shishio and Mashiro-chan go?" Misaki asked over the phone.
"Huh?" Ritsu awakened from her thought when she heard Misaki's words. She was dumbfounded and looked at Misaki with an incomprehensible expression since she didn't expect Misaki to ask Roberta directly.
After confirming where Shishio and Shiina went on a date, Misaki hung up the phone and quickly said to the driver. "Quickly go to the Isetan department store!"
"..."
Looking at how excited Misaki was, Ritsu couldn't say anything since, in truth, she also wanted to follow Shishio and Shiina, especially when she knew both of them might go to the love hotel. Even though she knew that they might not do something weird, as a girl, it would be strange if she didn't feel anything when the guy she had a crush on would go to the love hotel with another girl.
However, neither of them knew at this moment that they might encounter someone unexpected on their trip.
---
Sorata also wanted to go to East Shinjuku. If possible, he wanted to follow both Misaki and Ritsu, but they had left, and he was late to ask them.
Even though Sorata might not be so close with Ritsu, his relationship with Misaki was quite alright. Even though Misaki was a bit unique, Misaki was very amiable, especially to someone living in Sakurasou.
While thinking about what to do, Sorata was moving back and forth and couldn't make up his decision whether he should follow Shishio and Shiina or not. 'What should I do?' He was in a dilemma until his name was called.
"Ah, Kanda-kun, are you going to East Shinjuku?"
"Ah, Shiro-san!" Sorata looked at Shiro-san in surprise. His relationship with Shiro-san was good since Shiro-san was quite gentle. If Shiro-san was a beautiful older woman, he would be even happier, but he knew that Shiro-san was a guy and masochist one at that. "Are you going somewhere, Shiro-san?"
"Yes, I'm going to East Shinjuku. Do you want to go with me?" Shiro-san asked.
"Eh? Is that alright?" Sorata was surprised, but he was more than happy to go with Shiro-san.
"Of course! Let's go! I have called the taxi," Shiro-san said and wondered what kind of development he would see when he put a lot of elements into this outing. He was sure that it would be very messy, but he wanted to see it!
---
Siamese, British Shorthair, Calico, Snowshoe, Norwegian Forest Cat, Persian, Scottish Fold, etc., there were various cats in this cat cafe.
Shishio, with "Language Mastery," could talk with a cat and understood them, but he mostly ignored them since their conversation was stupid.
The IQ of animals was low.
Even though there were some animals with quite a good IQ, such as a chimpanzee, Shishio hadn't met it, so he didn't know what kind of conversation chimpanzees usually had.
Shishio looked at the group of cats and tried to control them by giving them a simple order using "Hypnosis Mastery," and as expected, it was successful. Still, he didn't feel surprised since he had done it before by mixing his abilities and trying that combination, but it wasn't the time to test his power since he needed to focus on his date.
Anyway, Shishio was at the paradise of cats. He was surrounded by a lot of cats, who were playing with him, acting very spoiled. He felt like if he invited Yukishita here, that girl might not want to go home and would be happy to be here, but he knew that he shouldn't think of other girls during a date, so he quickly focussed on Shiina again.
Shiina, who was beside him, also played together. After all, it was quite rare for her to see so many cute cats together. "Nyaa..." She tried to pet the cat, but the cat hissed before walking away from her.
"...."
Shishio looked at Shiina speechlessly and thought that this girl was bad with a cat. "Mashiro, do you want me to teach you how to pet a cat?"
"Um." Shiina nodded without hesitation.
Shishio then moved behind Shiina, holding her right hand gently, and said, "Let me show you."
Shiina's face was red, and she nodded gently, letting him hold her hand, teaching her how to pet a cat.
"Cats are different from each other. They have different personalities, which is why they have their own way to pet them," Shishio said.
Shiina looked at the cat whose expression was so comfortable when it was patted by Shishio and couldn't help but feel slightly jealous. "Shishio, I want you to pet me too."
"...Um." Shishio was speechless, but he also petted her head gently.
Shiina showed a comfortable expression and had to admit his patting was the best.
After playing for a while, they rested on the sofa nearby while drinking ice chocolate and hot milk coffee. There weren't many menus on the cat cafe since its main attraction was to pet a cat, so the food and the beverage were only secondary.
Shishio checked the photos of the cats he had taken since he had promised Yukinoshita to take a cat picture. He was quite satisfied with the result, but suddenly Shiina asked him something.
"Shishio, are we lovers?" Shiina asked.
Shishio stopped and looked at Shiina, who was looking at him, staring at his eyes without looking away. "Right, yesterday, I promised to tell you what our relationship is." He didn't answer for a while, but then he asked, "Mashiro, do you know what a lover is?" He needed to ask this question first since he knew Shiina's head was quite different from ordinary people.
"It's like a boyfriend and girlfriend, right?" Shiina pouted, looking quite displeased when she thought that Shishio thought of her as stupid.
Shishio chuckled and felt quite amused by Shiina's reaction.
"Don't laugh..." Shiina pouted again.
"Sorry, sorry." Shishio apologized.
"You know, we have kissed, and we have slept together, but you haven't said anything about what our relationship is," Shiina said and felt a bit displeased. When she saw Shishio introduce Saki as his lover to everyone, she felt her chest tightened, and she felt uncomfortable, which was why she wanted to know what she was to him.
Shishio, with a Scottish Fold cat on his lap, caressed it gently, looking at the cat, and said with a gentle expression, "You're right. I might not really want to name our relationship."
"...Why is that?" Shiina asked while looking at Shishio in confusion.
"There's no doubt that we're going out as lovers, but I don't think those words should define us." Shishio caressed the cat fur gently and said, "For example, spending time together like this. It might be something very special to us now, but someday, this could be ordinary. I don't know if that'll be when we're in university or beyond that, but the relationship we have now and the one that we will have in the future, while "lovers" can be a good name for both. I don't think that they're the same." He then looked at Shiina, who couldn't look away from him, and said, "If we continue to stay together forever, surely our relationship will keep on changing. So wouldn't it be fine to not just name it, and for us to simply "Mashiro and I"?"
"....."
Shiina's eyes were red before she moved closer to him, hugging his arm tightly, and snuggled into his body. "Let's be together forever, alright?"
"It might be impossible to be forever," Shishio said.
"Huh?" Shiina was dumbfounded, and her eyes were dull at that moment.
Shishio smiled and gently swept her bangs. "But if it is until death, then it might be possible, or rather, I won't let you go until death parts us even if you want to."
Shiina's face was so red, and her heart was racing, but even so, she just loved this feeling when they were sitting next to each other, enjoying each other's warmth.
Right now, Shiina just wanted the time to stop so she could be with him forever. Still, she knew even though he was so perfect, she knew that he was hiding something, a deep hollow that he hid so deeply that it made her sometimes, wondering how he could show such a sincere smile and stay gentle all the time, which was why she was going to help him.
'I'll help you, Shishio.'
On this trip, Shiina had made up her mind to save Shishio.