Qiluo woke up on Saturday morning before the early sunlight could even reach the curtains.
Normally, Qiluo would never get up this early, but through Star-trail's senses, she could tell that Yuki Kurokawa was already changing her clothes.
Of course, for the sake of privacy, Star-trail's vision had been turned off.
First, it was a dark maxi skirt paired with a light gray knit cardigan. She stood in front of the mirror for a moment before changing into a second outfit: a white shirt and jeans. After putting it on and spinning around in front of the mirror, she decided against it. Ultimately, she chose a blue knit sweater paired with a white maxi skirt.
Star-trail watched as Kurokawa finalized her outfit and stared blankly into the mirror.
It looks quite nice. What is she still thinking about?
Then, she moved, turning around to grab Star-trail, who was sitting on the cabinet. “Star-trail, you should come too.”
Wait, what does you two hanging out have to do with me?
Actually, it kind of does. Star-trail flew helplessly alongside Yuki Kurokawa.
Leaving at this hour, it would take about half an hour by train to reach the station. Factoring in the walking distance, she would arrive at the destination around eight-twenty.
She always arrived more than forty minutes early for every appointment. This wasn't an exam; there was no need to be that early.
For Yuki Kurokawa, being on time was being late; being early was being on time.
At exactly eight o'clock, Qiluo pushed open her apartment door.
The sleeves of her light jacket were a bit long, so she rolled them up twice to her wrists and found a seat near the doors on the train.
The carriage wasn't very crowded, mostly filled with early-rising weekend commuters and elderly people dragging shopping carts.
Leaning against the handrail next to the door, she saw her own face reflected in the train window and realized she was smiling.
She reached up to touch the corner of her mouth. It's just a trip to the aquarium, there's no need to grin like this.
On the other side, Yuki Kurokawa touched her phone screen to check the time every few dozen seconds, terrified that someone would notice she was waiting for someone.
Every time she finished checking, she would flip the phone over and hold it screen-down in her palm, occasionally standing on her tiptoes to peer toward the station exit.
Qiluo had to quicken her pace. The moment she got off the train, she jogged toward Kurokawa's location. As she drew near, she quietly stopped and smoothed out the wrinkles in her clothes caused by running.
She couldn't let Kurokawa see her in a flustered rush. Presenting her best self to her friends was Qiluo's golden rule.
Although she had already seen Kurokawa's outfit through Star-trail's eyes, she still had to feign surprise as she walked out of the station exit.
Kurokawa wore a beige crossbody bag across her chest. As Qiluo drew closer, she could see a pair of tiny pearl studs in her earlobes. Her hair was down, with an extra lock draped over her shoulder compared to usual, the ends curling in a barely noticeable wave.
Her lips were coated with a thin layer of light pink gloss, shimmering subtly in the morning light.
At the same time, just as Qiluo Tian Gong spotted Yuki Kurokawa, Kurokawa also saw Qiluo exiting the station.
The moment she saw her, she breathed a sigh of relief. This was her first time seeing Qiluo in casual clothes.
This must be the first time Tian Gong is seeing me in casual wear too... I wonder what she thinks of it.
“Have you been waiting long?” Qiluo walked up to her quickly.
“No,” Yuki Kurokawa said, turning around. The tote bag in her hand swayed gently with the movement.
Her gaze landed on Qiluo's face first, darted downward, and finally rested on Qiluo's shoes. “I just got here. Let's go.”
Walking beside Tian Gong brought her a sense of peace. Her eyes drifted from Qiluo's face to the station's billboard, and then back to her face, like a camera struggling to find focus.
She suddenly didn't know what to do with her hands. Usually, she was either holding her bento box or clutching her schoolbag straps.
Today, she was only carrying a lightweight tote bag. Having her hands free like this actually made her feel awkward.
She shifted the bag to her left hand, then back to her right, and finally let it hang from her wrist. She lowered her fingers to gently grasp the edge of her skirt, a gesture identical to how she clutched her pleated skirt at school.
“Hmm? What's wrong, Kurokawa? Is there something on my face?”
Noticing Kurokawa's nervousness, Qiluo broke eye contact with Star-trail.
“No... I was just thinking, this is my first time seeing you in casual clothes, Tian Gong,” Yuki shook her head quickly.
“Heh, it's also my first time seeing you in casual clothes, Kurokawa! And you look beautiful! You're even wearing earrings~ I bet you wore them specifically for our trip to the aquarium!”
A total lie. Not only have I seen your casual clothes, but I've also seen you in your pajamas and even wrapped in a bathrobe.
Hearing the compliment, the corners of Kurokawa's mouth slowly curved upward.
There was a short queue at the entrance of the aquarium. The weekend morning crowd consisted mostly of families, with a few children running around the guardrails while queuing before being scooped back up by their parents.
Yuki Kurokawa stood half a step ahead of Qiluo. She pulled out two digital ticket QR codes from her bag and scanned them at the self-service machine to exchange them for physical tickets.
When she handed one of them to Qiluo, her finger pressed lightly against the ticket's surface, as if performing a solemn handover ceremony.
“The deep-sea exhibit is on the second floor, and the jellyfish wall is on the third. We can start wherever you like.”
“Which one do you want to see more?”
“...The jellyfish,” Yuki Kurokawa replied a bit faster than before, then added, “I saw a picture of deep-sea bioluminescent jellyfish in a book last time and thought they were beautiful. But pictures are static. I've never actually seen them swimming in the dark.”
“Then let's go to the jellyfish wall first. We'll work our way down from the top and end at the deep-sea exhibit.” Qiluo slipped her ticket into her pocket and naturally headed toward the aquarium entrance.
Once inside the aquarium, the indoor lighting suddenly dimmed.
Deep blue tanks lined both sides of the corridor. The ambient lights were dimmed to the lowest setting, leaving only the illumination from the tanks to cast shimmering water patterns onto the floor, making it feel as if they were walking on the deep ocean floor.
The air was filled with a faint scent of disinfectant mixed with the sweet aroma of popcorn.
Yuki Kurokawa walked beside Qiluo, her pace much slower than usual.
Qiluo pulled a bottle of mineral water from her bag, took a sip, and felt that coming here today was definitely the right choice.
Just now, Kurokawa had let out a soft “Ah!” when she saw a school of orange clownfish poking their heads out of an anemone, as if she had discovered some incredible secret.
Her voice was very quiet, but Qiluo caught it.
Putting aside her family circumstances, Kurokawa was actually just an ordinary high school girl. She was simply bad at socializing.
I'm sorry, Mr. and Mrs. Kurokawa. Your good daughter is about to have her desires awakened by an outsider like me—desires of youth, of course!
Rate on N.U.
