## Chapter 246 – Extra 9 – Aquarium Date With Aquamarine
***
The day after finishing a special and unusual date with Sena, and returning to the hideout.
Perhaps because he was half-forced to wake up early to go to the Comic Festival,
he didn’t wake up until after 9 AM today.
“Ugh… Ugh…”
In fact, he had been half-conscious for the past 30 minutes,
but the cozy and soft blanket simply wouldn’t let him go.
He wondered if it was okay to keep sleeping like this before a date,
but thankfully, Aquamarine, his date for today, was still asleep as well.
“Ah… I’m thirsty…”
After tossing and turning for a while, Si-yoon scratched his messy hair and slightly swollen face,
and only after another 30 minutes did he kick off the blanket and get up.
Then, he mumbled to himself about being thirsty several times,
and, still not fully awake, he staggered up, opened the door, and went out to the living room.
“Haaam…!”
“Ugh…”
Si-yoon, coming down the left staircase, staggered towards the water purifier in front of the kitchen,
and Aquamarine, who happened to wake up at the same time, walked towards the refrigerator next to the purifier, dozing off.
– Thud –
“Ouch…!”
“Wh-What was that…?”
Both of them weren’t fully awake and weren’t looking ahead,
so Aquamarine bumped her head into Si-yoon’s chest.
“Ugh… Master…?”
She gently rubbed her head where she bumped it and looked up,
and saw Si-yoon’s face, who was cluelessly looking around, wondering what was going on.
“Oh, it’s Aquamarine… You surprised me.”
Only then did Si-yoon realize that it was Aquamarine who had bumped into him,
and he apologized and opened the refrigerator to take out the sparkling water she was looking for.
“Come to think of it… Aquamarine, you don’t have any plans to go somewhere early in the morning?
Everyone else seems to be preparing and leaving early in the morning.”
The two of them sat on the sofa to wake up and shared the sparkling water,
and began to talk about the schedule for today’s date.
“The date location is very close from here.
It’s not close enough to walk… but it’ll take about 20 minutes by car.”
“20 minutes by car… That’s really close, isn’t it?”
Aquamarine showed him a site she had saved on her tablet in advance,
and told him that the place they would be going on a date was an aquarium not far from the hideout.
“An aquarium… I don’t think I’ve ever been there even when I was a kid.”
“I don’t remember it well now, but… I think I went there once when I was very young.”
Holding hands with her father, who raised her alone when she was young,
walking around the aquarium together and looking at countless marine creatures, a memory from the past.
She also knew that her father had fallen ill from the shock of losing his daughter after Aquamarine became a test subject,
and that he had now passed away.
Her father’s face was now so faintly etched in her mind that it was hard to recall,
but whenever she recalled her precious memories at the aquarium, they would come to life so vividly.
That’s why, for Aquamarine… the aquarium held a very special meaning.
“The aquarium opens at 10 AM, so we can go in and look around first,
and then have lunch at a restaurant in the same shopping mall building.”
The aquarium that the two were planning to go to was located inside a large shopping mall,
and in addition to the aquarium, there were also various shopping facilities and restaurants.
“I’m fully awake now… Shall we start getting ready then?”
***
Si-yoon enjoyed a leisurely shower and came out dressed neatly and tidily.
“Hmm… It must cost a fortune to build an aquarium like this.”
While searching online again for the aquarium photos that Aquamarine had shown him,
he waited, wondering what she would look like when she appeared.
“Master! Did you wait long?”
Aquamarine came out wearing a skirt that was quite daringly short, long stockings that went up to her thighs,
a sweater in calm colors, and a white coat.
Her sky-blue hair was often tied in pigtails after becoming a Slave,
but today, she let it down in a comfortable, straight style, just like when they first met.
“Ah… I just came out and was looking at my phone for a bit.”
Saying that he hadn’t waited long, Si-yoon put the smartphone he was looking at back in his pocket,
took Aquamarine’s hand, and sat in the driver’s seat of the car.
“You said it’s about 20 minutes from here, so we’ll be there soon.”
“The rush hour is long over, too!”
After making sure that Aquamarine was sitting comfortably in the passenger seat,
he turned on the navigation to guide them to the aquarium, started the engine, and began to drive.
“By the way… Is it okay to just go to the aquarium?
We have two whole days to spend alone together starting today.”
Even if they went to an aquarium that was a bit further away, there would be plenty of time,
and Si-yoon was willing to accommodate her as much as possible, even if it meant a tiring schedule.
“I didn’t grow up in a wealthy family since I was young…,
and after becoming a Hero Magical Girl, I couldn’t find a hobby I liked like Seraphina.”
Si-yoon’s females each had something they liked to do or a hobby.
For example, Do-hwa and Lumi had a hobby of working out to keep their bodies in shape,
Ji-woo liked games, Chae-ryeong liked naps, and Sena liked to enjoy subculture.
However, Aquamarine only occasionally helped Ji-woo with housework or watched videos,
and didn’t really have a hobby or something she particularly liked.
“So… I was wondering how to decide on a date location,
and then I suddenly remembered going to the aquarium when I was young.”
Since they were going to spend a time that was more precious than ever for her,
she thought they should be together in a place where she could recall her most precious memories.
Although it wasn’t about going to a faraway place and making thrilling experiences,
this date at the aquarium would remain as another precious memory for her.
“Of course, I don’t know when we’ll have time to be alone together again with Master…,
but I’m not disappointed because I’ll always be with you and make memories together in the future.”
They were already living together in the hideout and making many good memories,
and she thought that there would be another time when they could be alone together again someday.
It was a thought that was typical of Aquamarine, who had a gentle, calm, and steadfast heart.
***
After chatting about various things in the car on the way to their destination,
Si-yoon and Aquamarine arrived at the large shopping mall where the aquarium was located in the blink of an eye.
After parking the car in the underground parking lot and entering the shopping mall,
they could see that the large and wide indoor space was densely packed with stores selling all kinds of goods.
“Wow… There are so many people.”
Aquamarine couldn’t close her mouth and looked around,
looking at the numerous people walking around the shopping mall and the flashy stores.
It seemed like she had never been to such a large shopping mall or department store before.
“We’re going to get lost like this. We have to hold hands tightly, okay?”
“Ah! Yes!”
Si-yoon took the hand of Aquamarine, who was half-lost in the wondrous and magnificent scenery,
and stepped onto the escalator to go up to where the aquarium was located.
As they went up one floor and then another, they saw a sign with the English word ‘Aquarium’ written on it,
and after walking a little in the direction of the sign, they saw the entrance to the aquarium they were looking for.
“Woooow…!”
Along with the dolphin and turtle-shaped character signboards that could be said to be the mascots of the aquarium,
the appearance of the inside of the aquarium was projected on a large screen.
The scene of hundreds and thousands of marine creatures swimming all at once
made her make an innocent expression as if she had become a child.
“She’s really excited. I didn’t need to ask if it would be okay to go to the aquarium.”
Watching Aquamarine’s already excited appearance with a pleased smile,
Si-yoon bought the tickets and then took her hand again and entered the aquarium in earnest.
“Look at this!”
Aquamarine, who had jumped in with excited steps, pointed to the tropical fish first.
Inside the cylindrical tank, there were small corals and rocks,
and dozens of tropical fish were swimming energetically between them.
“The patterns are so colorful… They’d stand out even in the sea.”
Numerous kinds of tropical fish and freshwater fish that are rarely seen in everyday life,
and even turtles and seahorses the size of a palm.
At the beginning of the aquarium, cute and small creatures were placed first.
“I have to take a picture of this… and this…!”
Aquamarine was having fun looking around like an innocent child,
putting her face up to the aquarium or taking countless photos with her smartphone.
“They say this is the underwater tunnel from here.”
After passing through a place where hundreds of kinds of small marine creatures lived,
a transparent tunnel that made it feel as if you were walking through the sea greeted them.
In the water that filled the transparent tunnel, there were creatures that were a bit larger than what they had just seen,
and exuded a mysterious and charismatic aura.
“It’s really… beautiful.”
Looking at Aquamarine, who was leaning against the underwater tunnel and looking at him with a bright smile,
Si-yoon felt as if he had seen a beautiful mermaid.
Perhaps it was because the color of her hair resembled the deep blue light of the underwater tunnel.
“The jellyfish… are so big!”
The moment a jellyfish gracefully swimming above Si-yoon’s head passed by,
the two’s gazes were stolen by the jellyfish.
“There’s a shark! There are sharks too!”
“I feel like… I’ve become a child.”
Then, when Aquamarine ran to see the shark that was visible beyond,
Si-yoon chuckled and belatedly turned around and followed her as she ran.
