Novel Bin
Chapter 196
Chapter 196
It took about an hour to get from Setagaya, where we live, to Tokyo Disneyland in Chiba.
We had to transfer several times on the subway, and since it was in a suburban area of Chiba, it felt like it took even longer to get there.
When we all went to the beach during summer vacation, I never thought I’d end up coming here, but somehow this became my first visit.
And with Rika, who had feelings for me.
“Wow! Ryu-chan! Look over there! It’s Donald Duck!”
As soon as we got our all-day passes and entered the park, Rika was bouncing around with excitement.
I followed her with a wry smile.
It felt more like I was a guardian rather than a date, but if Rika was happy, that was fine.
Honestly, it’s normal to visit amusement parks less as you get older.
Without family, friends, or a romantic partner, there’s no reason to come here alone. It was even more distant for me, a former graduate student in my past life.“Ryu-chan! Ryu-chan! Let’s buy headbands first!”
“What? Wait a minute!”
Dragged by Rika, I was startled to see her picking up character headbands in the souvenir shop.
The headbands modeled after the park’s most iconic mascot, the black mouse, definitely wouldn’t suit me.
But while I was bewildered, Rika finished paying for the headbands and returned with a big smile.
“Here! Since I bought it, you have to wear it!”
“……”
I held the headband that Rika handed me and hesitated.
A man who has grown to be 190 cm tall, wearing such cute and adorable headbands?
I could be sure that it would attract a lot of attention.
But whether she knew my dilemma or not, Rika, wearing a similar headband with a red polka-dot ribbon, looked up at me with expectant eyes.
“……”
There were those eyes again.
In the end, I couldn’t resist anymore and put on the headband.
“Wow! It looks great!”
Only then did Rika smile and clap.
“R-Really?”
I had no choice but to respond to Rika’s reaction with an awkward smile.
In the meantime, Rika came next to me and suddenly linked arms.
Mmmph!
The sensation of her chest, which was above average for her age, was poison to a man.
When I tried to pull my arm away because of an odd embarrassment, Rika tightened her grip as if she wouldn’t let go.
When I glanced down, Rika, who met my eyes, giggled and said,
“I won’t let go today.”
Seeing her expression, I knew she wouldn’t give up, so I quietly gave up trying to escape her grip.
Crunch!
“Miss?”
“Yes? What is it?”
“The cup in your hand is crushed.”
“Oh my, look at me. Ohohohoho.”
Saionji Kumiko awkwardly laughed and wiped the drink off her hand with a handkerchief at Minami’s pointed remark.
“So that fox—I mean, who did you say Kishimoto Rika was again?”
“Ah, I looked into it yesterday.”
Minami answered while reciting the information she had written down in a notebook found in her brother’s study.
“Real name Kishimoto Rika, born December 10, 2000, currently 16 years old. She used to be a reader model for a fashion magazine but is currently on a temporary break. Her father is a famous manga artist who serializes under the pen name Kishimoto Musashi, and her mother, Kishimoto Maria, is a part-time French instructor at Waseda University and an active professional cosplayer. Originally from Shizuoka, she moved to Tokyo earlier this year.”
“Hmm. Any special notes?”
“At school, she’s known as one of Kim Yu-seong’s girls. Probably because she sticks to him like glue every day.”
“I see, so that’s how it is.”
Minami swallowed nervously at her master’s scary demeanor and asked,
“If you really don’t like the date, should I do something about it?”
“No, it’s fine. After all, this will be their last date, so let them enjoy it to the fullest. She seems to be Yu-seong’s favorite friend, so she deserves at least one last memory.”
“…Understood.”
As Minami took a step back, Kumiko looked at Rika’s back as she walked away arm-in-arm with Yu-seong and thought,
‘Just for today, I’ll let you have him by your side. But Yu-seong is my man.’
It was an emotion she felt for the first time and couldn’t define, but in reality, what Kumiko felt for Rika was ‘jealousy.’
Unlike herself, a third-year student who had limited time to see Yu-seong, Rika, a second-year in the same class, could spend all day with him.
The thought that Rika might know things about Yu-seong that she didn’t irritated her, but being a child of a prestigious family, Kumiko knew how to restrain herself.
And more than anything, her trust in Yu-seong was greater, so she decided to just watch today and not do anything to Rika.
There are many rides that come to mind when you think of amusement parks.
Merry-go-round, bumper cars, gyro drop, roller coasters, haunted house, Ferris wheel, etc.
But what makes Tokyo Disneyland unique is that each area has a specific theme, not just the familiar attractions.
Movies and cartoons.
Thanks to that, there were plenty of great sights and activities wherever we went.
Of course, it was natural that I was completely swayed by Rika’s whims in the process.
“Wow! The roller coaster was so much fun!”
In my past life, I had acrophobia and rarely rode thrill rides like the gyro drop or roller coasters, but maybe because I was in Kim Yu-seong’s body, I didn’t feel scared at all; it was just fun.
I could hear people who rode the same roller coaster whispering as they passed by, but I pretended not to notice and asked Rika,
“So, what do you want to ride next?”
“How about the haunted house over there? The people who rode next to us earlier said it’s really scary!”
Growl!
But suddenly, the sound of her stomach growling stopped Rika’s lively voice.
I pretended not to hear it and said,
“Should we get lunch first?”
Rika blushed and nodded, seemingly embarrassed.
We decided to have a late lunch together, but since it was our first time here, we didn’t know where to go.
While I was looking at the park map for restaurant locations, Rika, fiddling with her phone, tugged at my sleeve and said,
“Ryu-chan, I searched and found that there’s a really good family restaurant nearby.”
“Really? Then should we go there?”
“Yeah! I’ll lead the way!”
Rika confidently took the lead, making bold promises.
She looked so confident that she seemed reliable.
‘Well, a current high school girl would probably know more about good restaurants than an old guy like me.’
After following Rika for about 10 minutes, we finally arrived at the family restaurant, only to be disappointed.
“What? There’s a one-hour wait?”
“Yes. I’m sorry, but there’s no space, so you’ll have to wait a long time.”
The mistake was not realizing it was an SNS hot spot from the start.
It was already crowded at Tokyo Disneyland, and on a weekend afternoon, it was natural for it to be packed.
“What should we do?”
As Rika anxiously shuffled her feet, the staff member who was attending us suddenly received a message on their walkie-talkie and changed their expression.
“Sir, you’re in luck. A table just opened up. I’ll guide you there.”
“Really? Wow!”
Rika smiled brightly in delight.
Seeing her so happy made me feel proud, too, but as we followed the staff inside, I couldn’t shake the uneasy feeling.
‘If there was a one-hour wait, there must have been other customers ahead of us. Why are we being seated first?’
Something… something felt off.
I looked around just in case.
But all I saw were passersby, no one suspicious.
‘Am I being too sensitive…?’
I shook my head to clear my mind and sat across from Rika at a window seat as the staff guided us.
“Phew, that was close.”
“Yeah.”
The two people disguised as foreigners quickly adjusted their wigs and sunglasses and watched from a distance as the pair sat at the perfect window seat for surveillance.
“But why did you suddenly help, miss? If we’d left them alone, there might have been trouble between them.”
Kumiko crossed her arms and turned her head with a huff.
“I just did it for Yu-seong’s sake. It’s not like I felt sorry for that fox or anything.”
Seeing Kumiko, Minami thought,Nôv(el)B\\jnn
‘Ah, this person is a tsundere.’