I push the kid!

Chapter 18. Two People Go Together

On November 29th, at eight o'clock in the evening, Taku Makimura finished his part-time job at the pet shop and prepared to leave the store.

"Makino!" Ogura Tomoki came out of the small room and called him, "Tomorrow..."

"I'll come tomorrow," said Taku Makimura.

"That's not what I'm talking about."

"Ok?"

"Tomorrow, can you go out with me for a walk tomorrow? The store doesn't have to be open for now." She said this as if she had made up her mind.

Makimura Taku looked at her. She looked away as if she couldn't bear it anymore. Then she mustered up the courage to look up and asked, "Is it okay?"

Most of the small animals in the store were asleep, but a few cats meowed restlessly.

Makimura Taku hesitated for a moment and said, "Forget it."

"Why forget it?"

"I don't really want to go out with others lately." He touched his earlobe with a slight smile on his face, "Sorry."

Ogura Tomoki stared at him blankly until he left without looking back. Darkness seeped in from the gap in the door that was open for half a second, and the surroundings suddenly fell into silence.

On December 4th, at six o'clock in the evening, Taku Makimura folded his umbrella and walked into the pet shop.

"Coming."

"Ah."

"Is it raining heavily outside?"

"I had originally planned not to come."

"Thank you for your hard work."

"That doesn't sound like encouragement." He spun the water off the umbrella at the door and put it in a small basket specially for storage.

"Would you like some coffee?"

"how much is it?"

"Of course it's free."

"I want one."

Tomoki Ogura poured about three quarters of the coffee he had just brewed from the teapot into the cup.

"There's milk, sugar, and more. They're all here."

"Thank you."

"'Five Hundred Miles'?"

"Can you play 'Date'?"

"Date?" She was stunned. "Are you hinting that you'd go out on a date with me if it doesn't rain tomorrow? Although the weather forecast says tomorrow's weather will be good, I think it would be better to go out on a date when the sun is out. What do you think?"

"Yes, yes." Makimura Taku sipped his coffee. "So can you play some songs, Ms. Ogura? Or you can play your favorite songs, I don't care."

"Go here."

"Thanks for your hard work."

Two minutes later, the prelude of "Date" came on, and they sat at the counter, drinking coffee, listening to music and playing with the cat.

When the coffee was almost finished, they left their seats to trim and bathe their pets. After that, they sorted out the pet supplies that had arrived in the evening, which took quite a while.

"I'm so tired." After finishing the work, Tomoki Ogura complained loudly.

"Aren't I the one doing most of the work?" Taku Makimura asked her back.

"is it?"

"no?"

"The two thousand per hour wage is not in vain!"

"That's true."

They both smiled as if relaxed, and when they looked away, heavy rain was falling outside the window.

Around 7:40, Ogura Yuki, who was sitting on a stool brushing the cat's fur, suddenly asked him, "Um, can we have dinner together tomorrow?"

Makimura Taku looked at her, and she raised four fingers of her right hand to emphasize: "It's really just a meal!"

"I know."

"So, is it okay?"

Makimura Taku was a little hesitant.

Ogura Yuki lectured him angrily: "What a nagging mother! Have you not gotten over the trauma of your broken heart?"

"What?"

"Did a female star dump you and you're just too embarrassed to admit it to me?" She grumbled as she squinted at a corner, "I'm not stupid, I can guess a little bit."

"Not at all."

"Did you dump her?"

"How can it be."

"What's the girl's name?"

"Who?"

"Your ex-girlfriend."

"Sakura Ayane."

"Who told you to say voice actor?"

“There’s really no such thing as an ex-girlfriend.”

"The super beautiful girl with you." Ogura Yuki glared at him, "Do you understand now?"

"Hoshino Ai."

"Hoshino Ai..." she repeated.

Makimura Taku said, "What's the point of asking this?"

"Just curious."

"Satisfied you."

"I'm still not satisfied," Ogura Yuki shook his head, "Can you have dinner with me tomorrow?"

Makimura Taku looked at her, and she stared back at him motionlessly. Although her eyes were not as good as Hoshino Ai's, they were much more beautiful than those of ordinary people.

"Then let's do it at noon." Makimura Taku sighed.

"Twelve o'clock noon. Come to my shop first," Ogura Yuki replied excitedly, "I'll be waiting for you, and we'll go out together then."

"Ok."

"That's a deal!"

The rain had eased a little at 8:30, so Taku Makimura waited until then to go back. Before leaving, Tomoki Ogura told him that there was no overtime pay, and he joked that he had entered a shady shop.

The next day was cloudy, so to be on the safe side, Taku Makimura took an umbrella before going to the pet shop. Tomoki Ogura was already waiting at the door.

She changed into a white inner lining today, with a beige shawl made of chiffon on the outside, and a light blue high-waisted denim skirt underneath, revealing her slender legs. Below that were very short white cotton socks, matched with a pair of white Converse canvas shoes.

"Aren't we too late?" As Taku Makimura approached, Tomoki Ogura complained.

"We arrived two minutes early."

"You let a girl wait for you here for more than half an hour?"

"I'm sorry," said Makimura Taku, "but why are you here so early?"

"Wait for you." She turned her face away.

Makimura Taku looked at her profile and asked after a while, "Where are you going?"

"I want to eat ice cream."

"Have you eaten yet?"

"I didn't even have breakfast."

"Why don't you eat?"

"A little excited." She lowered her voice.

Makimura Taku didn't hear clearly, but he didn't plan to ask any more questions.

"It's up to you," he said.

The two went to an ice cream shop first. Apart from convenience stores that sold this kind of stuff, there was only one specialized store left. He and Hoshino Ai had been there shortly after they arrived.

"Two servings of mocha ice cream with coffee jelly, please." Ogura Yuki ordered to the waiter.

"Okay, two servings of coffee jelly mocha ice cream." The clerk wrote it down on the computer.

"I don't want it." Makimura Taku interrupted her.

"You don't like it?" asked Ogura Yuki.

"I have to eat later, so I'll forget it."

"Change it to one serving?" The clerk looked at them.

"Thank you for the trouble." Makimura Taku nodded to her.

Ogura Tomoki didn't say anything.

It took less than five minutes to finish the ice cream. Tomoki Ogura ate very quickly, as if he was completing a time-limited challenge that depended on his life.

Taku Makimura looked at her as she stuffed the empty plastic cup into the trash can, as if an enemy lived there.

"Where are we going to eat later?" Makimura Taku asked her.

"Have a big meal."