Tale of Discovery

Chapter 251: Date with Yoshino (1/2)

Upon entering the class with Origami, practically every pair of eyes in the room locks onto us as shocked looks appear on quite a few students' faces.

"Oh my god, is that" a male student close to us says in a disbelieving tone.

"I never thought that the day I would see the super genius like this would come!" some guy a few desks away exclaims.

"How shameless," a girl sitting close to him remarks.

A little confused by their reactions, I furrow my brows as I glance over at Origami before a realization dawns upon me - I forgot to have her change back into her school uniform.

Knowing that this is troublesome, I decide that I need to inform Origami we need to leave class, but before I can do so, a high-pitched voice reverberates in the air, "Origami Tobiichi, what are you wearing?!"

Looking over at the source of the voice, I find a flushed Tamar with a rebuking look on her face.

Origami seems to have realized the situation as she casts a glance at me, but I decide to leave the explaining to her, after all, I'm certain that she's smart enough to come up with some excuse.

Seeing that I'm not planning to aid her, Origami gazes at Tamae for a few seconds before saying, "I dressed up like this for Shido."

Shit.

"You what?!" Tamae exclaims as the blush on her cheeks grows.

"Wait, teacher," I say while raising my arms, "It's not what it looks like."

"I expect a proper explanation," Tamae says after recollecting herself while fixing her glasses.

Well, of course, you would. How problematic. I could make use of Indoctrination to deal with this matter, but that will surely cause a commotion of sorts. After all, a teacher not saying anything to her student wearing a nurse uniform to class would be strange.

Leaving that aside, I could take this chance to get a grip on Tamae's character too. Exactly how naive is this young-looking teacher?

"You see," I begin, "I had grazed my hand earlier today, and she wanted to fix it up for me. However, for some odd reason, she said that she would only do it in a nurse uniform.

"Fortunately, there was one in the nurse room that fit her just fine. After that, she began to change into it, but the moment she was done changing, the bell rang. As such, we rushed to class because that's more important than anything else."

As proof of my claims, I use Organic Constructs to sharpen the tip of my left hand's index finger and swiftly scratch my right hand which is still being held by Origami.

Naturally, to others, my speed is imperceptible, so they don't notice anything.

"Woah, he's really bleeding!" a male student suddenly yells.

Hearing his words, Tamae's expression changes as she glances at my right arm and hurriedly says, "Go get your hand treated! Quickly!"

"Alright, alright," I say before gently pulling my arm to break free from Origami's grasp, however, it didn't budge.

"Teacher, may I be the one to treat him?" Origami suddenly asks impassively.

"Eh? Ah, sure," Tamae responds in a baffled tone with an uncertain expression on her face.

Hearing this, I immediately lead Origami out of the class while Tohka's voice reaches my ears, "Hey, Shido! What happened?!"

---

"We're home!" Tohka exclaims the moment we step in through the front door.

Following that, Tohka heads to her room to get changed while I make my way to the living room.

There, I find Yoshino, who is dressed in a frilly purple dress, properly sitting on a sofa and watching TV.

Checking the channel out, I get perplexed upon noticing that it's a news channel.

Fortunately, it's not speaking about anything troubling, causing me to let out a sigh of relief before walking over to Yoshino.

"You're finally here," an odd voice reaches my ears as the rabbit puppet's mouth on Yoshino's hand moves.

"Yeah. Did you miss me?" I ask while smiling.

"I'm not sure about that," she responds before laughing in a rather peculiar manner despite her lips seemingly not moving at all.

"Well then, I will go get changed before we can get going, alright?"

"Sure, sure. It's bad to make a girl wait for long!~" she says.

Chuckling at her contrasting personality, I shake my head before turning around and heading over to my room.

--

"Where are we going, Shido?" Yoshino, no, 'Yoshinon' asks me.

"Do you have anywhere you would like to go?" I ask as I cast a glance at her.

"A mall wouldn't be bad," she responds.

"Alright," I say before muttering, "Kotori, you heard her."

"Yes, yes," a slightly irritated voice resounds within my ears.

Letting out a sigh, I patiently wait for her response as I take Yoshino's hand into mine and walk with her.

Honestly, I would rather not resort to using this earbud, but due to my geological knowledge of this city being rather bad, I am forced to do so.

"There is a good location not so far from your location. Follow my directions."

"Alright," I mutter before asking Yoshino, "Why a mall? Do you want me to pick you some cute clothes that could complement your cuteness?"

"As bold as ever," she responds, "But... Yoshie will leave that part to Shido."

Nodding my head as confirmation, I listen to Kotori's instructions while keeping a lookout for any abnormal happenings around us.

Soon after, we reach the mall that is named rather oddly - Pick a Look: Win a heart.

"Hey, Kotori," I mutter, "What is this mall exactly? Are you sure it's safe to enter?"

"Of course," she directly responds, "This mall belongs to Ratatoskr, so we can help you out properly."

As I thought Whatever, it's too late now.

"What a nice-looking mall," Yoshinon remarks.

"Indeed," I respond with a forced smile on my lips.

--

Entering the first that caught Yoshino's attention, I find myself standing in a clothing shop designated for children around Yoshino's physical age.

To my pleasant surprise, Yoshinon's persona breaks as a curious glint shimmers through Yoshino's eyes while she looks around the clothing shop.

A smile forms on my lips as I begin to look around as well before coming to halt as my sight sets on a set of white rabbit pajamas.

"I think I found something interesting," I say as I begin to walk toward the set of pajamas while gently dragging Yoshino along.

She seems to have noticed what I was focused on as she intently gazes at the set of pajamas before asking, "Are~ Shido. Are you planning to dress Yoshie up in that?"

"Yes," I bluntly respond while keenly observing her face.

"Well, it's not that bad," she remarks, "It for sure shows that you genuinely want to buy something cute."

Beaming a smile, I turn my head to search for the shop clerk, only to find a black-haired middle-aged woman walking over to us with a business smile plastered to her lips.

"How may I help you, dear customer?" she says once close enough.

"A set of these pajamas, please," I respond while pointing my finger at the white set of pajamas.

"Of course," she responds with a polite bow.

--

"Shido," a soft voice reaches my ears as I stand outside the dressing room while waiting for Yoshino to change into the rabbit pajamas.

"You're done changing?" I say before stepping forth and sliding the dressing room's curtain open, revealing a flushed Yoshino dressed in the white pajama with her hands linked.

She's not wearing the puppet

"You look absolutely adorable," I directly say as I crouch down to bring my face to her level.

"Really?"

"Undoubtedly. You're so cute that I'm having an awful time holding back from hugging you."

Hearing my words, the blush on Yoshino's face increases as she lowers her head before muttering, "It's fine to hug."

A wide grin forms on my lips as I swiftly close the distance between us and wrap my arms around her.

Unlike last night, Yoshino's body doesn't flinch as she simply hugs me back and presses her forehead against my right shoulder.

After a short while, I stop hugging her and move back a little before kissing her left cheek.

"Come on," I say while placing my palm atop her head which is covered by the rabbit pajamas' soft hoodie, "We've got a lot more places to go."