"Elf asked her earlier. Ruri has to take her little sister out to play..."
Halfway through speaking, Sora suddenly had a faint realization in his heart.
Perhaps the second half of the sentence is the main point.
"Everything was fine last night, it's just that the subway station was a bit creepy..."
Sora gathered his thoughts and softly recounted the experience of staying over last night.
"You had the exact same nightmare?" Mahiru pursed her beautiful lips, her delicate eyebrows gently furrowing.
"It does sound a bit unbelievable, but a single instance doesn't prove there's a deeper underlying cause. Perhaps it was just an accidental dream synchronization."
"My thoughts are the same as Mahiru's." Sora gave a light nod.
"What you think about during the day, you dream about at night. Maybe we just scared ourselves, or maybe we really did encounter some sort of supernatural phenomenon... The specific situation is still unclear. We'll have to see what happens when we sleep tonight. If we don't continue having the same nightmare, that would naturally be for the best."
Mahiru looked up. Her caramel-colored eyes sparkled in the sunlight as she earnestly instructed:
"Sora-kun, remember to send me a message when you wake up tomorrow morning."
"Okay."
"..."
Chatting along the way, the three quickly arrived at the main gate of the zoo and lined up to get their tickets checked.
After entering the zoo, staff members at the entrance were handing out zoo maps and a stamp rally booklet for the various zones.
"It seems many tourist spots have stamp rally activities." Yamada Elf curiously flipped through the stamp rally booklet in her hand.
"I wonder when this trend started."
"I feel like they've been around since I was a kid." Sora said casually.
"I came to this zoo when I was little. After collecting stamps from all the pavilions, you can get a free souvenir, usually a plushie of a star animal from the zoo."
"A plushie?" Mahiru's eyes quietly brightened.
"The first pavilion is the aquarium, and there are penguins inside... Let's walk through in order."
"Follow me."
Sora was the only one who had been to the zoo before, so he naturally took on the responsibility of being the tour guide.
A moment later.
The three arrived at the penguin pavilion. Looking around, it was packed with a sea of tourists.
"To think there are this many people?" Yamada Elf's eyes widened, unable to resist complaining.
"Could the entire population of Tokyo have run off to the zoo?"
"This is how zoos are. The number of tourists on holidays is always super high... Stick close to me and don't get lost."
Sora led the two girls first to the stamp rally point in the corner.
After getting the stamp, the three continued to line up. After a good while, they finally saw the penguins.
Little black and white penguins, chubby white emperor penguins... There were quite a few, about twenty or so, but they all stood there like wooden chickens, looking listless.
"What gives? Why aren't those penguins moving at all?" Yamada Elf was a bit disappointed.
"Could they be staff members in disguise?"
Penguins are so tiny. Even if the staff knew bone-shrinking techniques, they wouldn't be able to fit inside!
"They probably just ate." Sora explained from the side.
"Animals in nature usually stay still to wait for their food to digest after eating."
"It seems that to see a real flock of penguins, we really have to go to Antarctica." Yamada Elf tilted up her small face, looking over expectantly.
"Does Sora want to go play in Antarctica together?"
Hearing this, Angel-sama pursed her pink lips and didn't speak. She just gently fiddled with the stray hair by her ear, her gaze quietly glancing at Sora.
"It's best not to go to Antarctica to see penguins." Sora's tone was grim.
"Your rose-tinted glasses will shatter completely."
"Eh, why?"
"On satellite maps, Antarctica isn't completely white with snow and ice. The areas where penguins are active appear yellow." Sora lowered his voice.
"Penguins are birds, and they have the same cloacal structure as birds..."
"What?" Yamada Elf's eyes widened in shock.
"Penguins are actually birds?"
This is common knowledge, alright! What's with that shocked expression!
"Penguins do indeed belong to the bird class." Mahiru's voice was gentle.
"Because penguins lay eggs, while mammals give birth to live young."
"I think I saw that somewhere, but I can't remember clearly..." Yamada Elf tilted her head, her golden hair sliding down her shoulder.
"Sora, continue explaining why we shouldn't go to Antarctica?"
"It's very simple. Birds with cloacal structures can only squirt." Sora complained in a low voice.
"And penguins aren't very smart; they have no concept of hygiene. They eat and poop at the same time. With thousands of penguins gathered together, they can even dye their entire active area a different color, leaving no place to step..."
"That's enough! Stop talking!" Yamada Elf hurriedly raised her hands to cover her ears.
"I never want to go to Antarctica to play ever again!"
Leaving the penguin pavilion, Sora led the two girls to continue wandering along the route.
Capybaras, kangaroos, giraffes—at every zone they visited, Angel-sama and Elf would take photos and collect stamps.
As time quietly slipped by, the temperature gradually became hotter.
Sora was just about to raise his hand to wipe the fine sweat from his forehead when a slender, jade-like hand suddenly reached over:
"Sora-kun, a tissue. Wiping sweat with your hand will leave it feeling sticky."
"Thank you."
Sora casually expressed his thanks and reached out to take the tissue Angel-sama handed him.
Before long, a cool breeze carrying a fragrance gently wafted over from the side.
Turning his head to look, he saw Angel-sama holding a small round fan from who knows where, gently fanning him from the side.
Tissues for when your forehead sweats, a fan for when it's hot—you're too thoroughly prepared, aren't you!
"The weather is gradually getting hotter, so I specially brought a fan when we came out." Noticing Sora's subtle gaze, Mahiru, holding a plain white round fan embroidered with cherry blossoms, gently fanned him while speaking in a gentle voice.
"It would be dangerous if you got heatstroke."
Under the bright sunlight, Angel-sama's skin was snow-white, her gaze gentle, and her long flaxen hair fluttered gently in the clear breeze, as if her whole being was sparkling.
Their eyes met.
Sora's heartbeat involuntarily accelerated quietly. He quickly averted his gaze, looking down at the tissue in his hand, a bad premonition welling up in his heart.
Oh no.
If this continues, I'm really going to be raised into a useless person!
"It's only May, no one should be getting heatstroke." Sora complained while walking forward.
A refreshing, cool breeze carrying a faint fragrance blew over from time to time, taking away the heat. Sora felt a bit bad and said in a low voice:
"Don't just fan me all the time, Mahiru, fan yourself for a bit."
"It's okay." Mahiru pursed her moist pink lips, her voice soft.
"I'm quite sensitive to the cold in winter, but I'm not afraid of the heat."
"..."
Hearing this, a question suddenly popped into Sora's mind.
Since she isn't afraid of the heat in the summer, why did Angel-sama specifically bring a fan when we went out?
Could it be that she prepared it specifically for me?
Just after walking a short distance, startled cries suddenly echoed from ahead:
"A child fell over the fence!"
"Oh no, that gorilla is walking over!"
"The child's father jumped down after him!"
"..."
"It seems there's been an accident ahead." Loving to watch a spectacle is human nature. Yamada Elf hurriedly urged, "Let's quickly go over and see what's going on."
The three hurried forward and finally saw the source of the commotion. A child had actually fallen into the gorilla enclosure, and a silverback gorilla, two meters tall and exuding an imposing presence, was standing right in front of the child.
The child's father, his face full of anxiety, had directly climbed over the railing and jumped down. Spreading his arms, he yelled and shouted, attempting to protect his child.
"Oh no." A worried gasp from a tourist nearby sounded.
"That's a provocative behavior, that gorilla is angry!"
The next second.
The entire world's pause button was abruptly pressed.
Time Stop... activated!