Yukinoshita Yukino was a serious and straightforward person. Once she had a question, she had no intention of leaving it buried inside her heart.
After a brief moment of consideration, she asked,
"Why did you give me this, Hanada-kun? Did you think I might like Pan-san in particular?"
"..."
Hanadasaki Ame's expression turned a little strange.
At this point, even if he had not known before, now he had no choice but to know.
"When I give gifts, I generally take practicality into account. With plush toys like these, the larger ones are more comfortable to hug."
"I see…"
Yukinoshita Yukino tried adjusting the way she held the panda plush, Pan-san. Whether it had been designed intentionally or not, it did indeed fit into her arms with remarkable comfort.
And just as she was experiencing that, Hanadasaki Ame held out another plush toy to her—this one shaped like an orange tabby cat.
Yukinoshita Yukino did not quite understand why. With one hand occupied by her shopping bag, she had no choice but to clamp Pan-san against herself with one arm and then awkwardly extend her free hand to take it.
"You definitely like cute cat-themed plushies too, don't you? The last time I saw you, you were staring quite intently at a cat illustration in a magazine. I could feel how sincerely you liked it."
Hanadasaki Ame said this softly.
"Yes…"
Yukinoshita Yukino nodded and did not refuse.
The very next second, Hanadasaki Ame handed her a whale-shaped plush toy as well.
Now she had to pinch the orange cat plush by the tail while also trying to hold on to it with her fingers.
"The stuffing is firm, and the fabric has just enough give. If you ever get angry, you can hit something with it a few times. It won't mind."
"..."
Yukinoshita Yukino fell silent.
Hanadasaki Ame then placed the last plush toy in his hand—a little dumpling-shaped one—on top of Panda Pan-san's head, and said with a smile,
"When cute things are paired with a cute girl, the overall level of cuteness doubles."
Yukinoshita Yukino found herself completely at a loss for words.
She understood now.
When Hanadasaki Ame spoke, he always shot the arrow first and drew the target afterward—no matter what happened, he would always find a way to justify it!
Then again, this was partly her own fault for asking unnecessary questions. If she had not been curious, he probably would not even have bothered making things up.
"I'm giving all of these to you. I'll go pick out a few more and then pay."
As he said that, Hanadasaki Ame turned and continued selecting plush toys.
Yukinoshita Yukino let out a faint, helpless sigh, then turned to the clerk standing nearby and watching with a smile.
"Could I please have a bag?"
"Of course."
The clerk immediately went to get one.
Only after she had put all the plush toys into an oversized plastic bag did Yukinoshita Yukino finally relax a little. Then she walked over to Hanadasaki Ame, who was still choosing plush toys, and asked calmly,
"Do you like plush toys that much?"
"Not particularly. It's just that the people I'm buying them for might."
Hanadasaki Ame replied while examining a sea turtle plush.
"Oh? Girls?"
Yukinoshita Yukino lifted a brow slightly and pressed the question.
"Yes."
Hanadasaki Ame nodded.
Yukinoshita Yukino's gaze cooled by the slightest degree, though her voice remained even.
"You really do know how to please girls, Hanada-kun."
"Mhm. It's good to know at least a little."
Hanadasaki Ame replied calmly, as though he had not noticed the deeper meaning in her words at all.
After choosing a few more plush toys, he went to pay. While doing so, he said to Yukinoshita Yukino,
"By the way, Yukinoshita-san, would you like to exchange contact information? If you get bored during vacation, you can message me. Though I may be too busy with the house renovations to go out much."
"Line is fine, right? Earlier, you said you were moving nearby—was that mainly to make commuting to school easier?"
As she spoke, Yukinoshita Yukino used her phone to add Hanadasaki Ame.
"That's one factor, yes. But the main reason is that I'm planning to build a private research institute and begin research into areas like electromagnetism. So I want to be as close to the school as possible to avoid wasting time."
Hanadasaki Ame explained simply.
Yukinoshita Yukino seemed more like the kind of literary girl who leaned toward the humanities, not someone suited to a place like his institute. So he did not even bother trying to invite her.
His research team could not afford to be padded out with useless extras.
"A research institute…"
Yukinoshita Yukino hesitated.
Hanadasaki Ame looked cute enough to belong among groups of girls. The last time she had seen him, he had been eating with a girl. Today, he was out buying gifts for girls, and now he was chatting her up—a beautiful girl he had only just met. Yet the moment the topic turned to hardcore research in physics, the entire tone of the conversation shifted drastically.
Was he messing with her!?
After thinking it over, she chose her words carefully and asked,
"I've heard that modern academic fields are becoming more and more specialized and increasingly deep, and electromagnetism is no exception. What direction, specifically, are you trying to research?"
"Hmm… probably the direction of using electromagnetism to interfere with human neural signals. It breaks down into two main areas: one is blocking the body's own neural signals, and the other is transmitting information precisely through electromagnetism to replace much of the body's nervous system."
This time, Hanadasaki Ame did not say he was researching superpowers. That sort of thing was reserved for members of his internal team. To outsiders, it was better to describe it in more respectable terms.
"That sounds impressive. It feels like the kind of thing that could be put into practical application very quickly. If there were real breakthroughs in the theory and technology, how would you intend to use it?"
As Yukinoshita Yukino asked, she picked up the bag of plush toys that had been given to her after checkout. She showed no sign of hurrying off, simply standing there continuing the conversation with Hanadasaki Ame.
Nearby, the clerk—who had originally been smiling while watching the fresh, energetic awkwardness of young people talking—was starting to lose her composure a little. How had this conversation suddenly gone in such an incomprehensible direction?
"The simpler application would be developing things like new hearing-assistance devices, allowing people with sensory impairments to experience the world more completely through this kind of technology. A more advanced application would be virtual reality. I believe the day when humanity roams freely through a fully virtual world is not far off."
Hanadasaki Ame spoke to her in detail about many of his ideas, sketching out a science-fiction future before her.
Yukinoshita Yukino, too, shifted gradually from cautious probing to genuine listening, imagining that world which still existed only in Hanadasaki Ame's vision.
He was absolutely not saying these strange and unconventional things merely to attract her attention.
He had thought deeply—very deeply—about all of it.
After they talked for quite a long while and eventually parted ways, Yukinoshita Yukino continued thinking about the things Hanadasaki Ame had said all the way back to her luxury apartment.
It was strange.
These were still only ideas, things that had not yet been realized and might never be—and yet they had given her an oddly undeniable sense of reality.
Until now, she had always believed that perhaps the world could be changed by correcting the weakness in people, by carrying her own righteousness and correctness through to the end.
But in Hanadasaki Ame, she had seen another possibility—
a more concrete way of changing the world.
The human heart was fickle. It could be weak, and it could grow. It could become strong, and it could collapse again.
But formulas and theorems written down in cold, precise strokes did not change so easily.
Science and technology would drive the course of an era forward with overwhelming force, crushing all obstacles in their path and bringing transformation into being!
She needed to reflect carefully on many of her old thoughts and reexamine her own ideals.
This exchange had benefited her tremendously.
…
Join here to read ahead.
In Star Rail, Ultra-Beast Armored — Have I Caught "Equilibrium"? l (Chapter 80)
Uma Musume, But I Only Have Five Years Left to Live (Chapter 175)
Zenless Zone Zero: I'm a Doctor, Not a Bangboo (Chapter 115)
Ben Tennyson Wants to Join the Justice League (Chapter 119)
TYPE-MOON: Redemption Beginning with the Holy Grail War (Chapter105)
Yu-Gi-Oh! — Transmigrated into the White Dragon Girl (Chapter100)
"Is this chat group even serious?" (Chapter79)
I, Lord Ravager, Utterly Loyal! (Chapter125)
Can Playing Games Save the World? 65
Crossover Anime Multiverse: The Demon Hunter of an Unnatural World 70
From Junkman to Wasteland 60
Weekly Refresh of Overpowered 31
I'm Grinding Proficiency Like 40
From Kiana, Lord Ravager, Onwa 73
Honkai: Is This Still the Prev 42
Elf: My Starter Pokémon Is Inc 55
Warhammer: My Primarch Is Remi 66
From Demon Slayer to Grand Ass 64
The Way the Umamusume Look at 63
Uma Musume, but My Cheat Power 55
Naruto: Weaving the Future, Be 45
Zenless Zone Zero, but Kamen R 31
Multiverse Crossover: The Perf 31
My Cyberpsycho Girlfriend 31
My patreon : patreon.com/queen_sin