"Ellen, sorry I'm a little late."
Hearing Wise's voice, Ellen calmly and quickly slipped her phone into her pocket.
"It's fine. I just got here myself." Ellen wasn't angry; she had indeed just arrived, and there were still a few minutes before their scheduled meeting time.
"So, where do you want to go first, Ellen?"
"Well..." Ellen thought for a moment. As she looked around, her gaze fell upon a particular storefront. If she remembered correctly, that was the place the internet mentioned...
Seeing her stare intently, Wise followed her line of sight. "Hmm? Are you interested in that place?" Due to the angle, he couldn't see the full name on the sign, only making out that the last word was probably 'Shop'?
"No, that's for last... ah! Anyway, never mind that. Let's go this way." Ellen almost answered Wise's question instinctively but then seemed to remember something. A light blush crept onto her face as she took his hand and led him in the opposite direction.
Not long after they left, three girls emerged from the shrubbery behind them.
"See! I told you there was a reason 'Little Fish' turned down our invitation to hang out. She already had a date with her boyfriend!" Ruby said with absolute certainty, looking at the retreating figures. Beside her, Lynn nodded in agreement.
"Exactly. And it's that handsome manager, Wise. The moment I found out they knew each other, I suspected something was up. Now we know for sure."
Only Mona seemed hesitant. "Ruby, it might not be a boyfriend. Maybe they're just normal friends."
"What? Mona, are you serious?" Ruby gestured dramatically towards the hand-in-hand couple in the distance, then pointed to the shop Ellen had been staring at earlier. "Do you think normal friends hold hands while shopping and say about that kind of place, 'that's where we're going later'?"
Following Ruby's finger, they could now clearly see the full name of the shop: 'Couples' Hotel'.
"Well, you have a point. But since we've confirmed their relationship, should we really keep following them?"
"This isn't 'following,' Mona. We're just happening to take the same route as Ellen and her friend during our own outing," Ruby said, already striding forward. Her pace was erratic, and she kept darting behind cover, trying not to be seen, which only made her look all the more suspicious.
"Oh, Ruby... Lynn, I guess we should go with her. Hmm? What are you doing?" Mona finally noticed Lynn was busy typing something on her phone. Seeing Mona approach, Lynn generously turned the screen towards her.
"Nothing much. Just posting a little something to celebrate our good friend finding a boyfriend."
Just as Lynn said, the post featured a photo of Ellen and Wise from behind, with the caption: 'My bestie found a boyfriend before me, and he's so handsome! What do I do?'
"Ah, this..."
"Done. Let's go catch up," Lynn said, putting her phone away and leading Mona after Ruby.
At that same moment, Ellen seemed to sense something. She stopped mid-stride and turned her head with a puzzled expression, just in time to see three heads fail to duck back into hiding.
"What's wrong?" Wise asked.
"No, it's nothing." Ellen shook her head. Though she had no idea why her three best friends were following them, this was a date with Wise. It was best not to call them out and ruin the atmosphere. I should probably stick to the plan from online and go to places we might both find interesting.
Following Wise's suggestion, they went to a nearby candy street, which seemed to pique Ellen's interest. However, they had barely begun to explore when Wise bought a large amount of candy, handed it to Ellen, and then made an excuse to leave.
The 'best friend squad' trailing them immediately split up. One of them followed Wise, while the other two stayed behind to watch Ellen. They saw her take out her phone after Wise left, munching on sweets while looking at something.
Meanwhile, Mona, the one sent to follow Wise, suddenly returned.
"What happened? Weren't you supposed to follow him?" Ruby and Lynn asked, confused.
Mona looked helpless. "I tried my best, but he just vanished as soon as I started following him."
Mona was telling the truth, and her friends didn't doubt her. They just found the situation extremely odd.
"Something's not right. This is very strange. It's supposed to be a date, yet he leaves his girlfriend here alone and just disappears," Ruby said, her brow furrowed as she analyzed the situation.
Lynn was more direct. "Maybe he's a player who scheduled dates with two girls here at the same time, so he's running back and forth between them."
"Ha, Lynn, don't be ridiculous. How could something like that even be possible?"
Indeed, dating two girls at once seemed unlikely. But dating six girls at once, however, was entirely possible.
On the other side of the carnival, Wise had already returned to Corin's side, bringing her a model toy of a construction machine. She seemed thrilled with the gift, but she was more concerned about whether Wise was feeling better, given how long he had been gone.
Wise was about to reassure her when he received a sudden alert from Fairy.
"Warning: Target Nekomata is about to complete her tour of the aquarium."
Forced by the alert, Wise had no choice but to cut his time with Corin short. After a brief stroll, he headed towards Nekomata.
But his marathon was far from over. No sooner had he met up with Nekomata and led her out of the aquarium than he received another notification: Rina's final match in the gaming tournament was about to start. Missing it would be a disaster. He had to quickly settle Nekomata in a nearby cat café. The idea of taking a Cat-person to a cat café felt strange, but it was a necessary move.
He rushed to Rina's location, arriving just in time to watch her final match and celebrate with her afterward. Because she had been so engrossed in the game, she hadn't noticed he'd been gone for a long time.
But it was clear Wise couldn't stop. To give every girl a proper date experience today, he had to keep running.
No matter how perilous the road ahead, don't stop!
So, after spending some time with Rina, he rushed off again, this time to Anby, who was on the verge of winning the hamburger-eating contest. The other contestants were on the verge of throwing up, but she was still eating with a look of pure bliss.
-------
Enjoying the story? Support the author and get access to early chapters by joining my Patreon!
Find me at My : pat*eon*com/RuneA
I, Herta's Fiancé, the Universe's Number One Male Fist (114 Chapter (Simulpub-Full) )
Zenless Zone Zero: I'm a Succubus in Sixth Street (250 Chapter)
Reborn in Type-Moon, My Sister is Aoko Aozaki (225 Chapter)
MyGO!! A Story Voiced by Me (90 Chapter)
BLEACH: Blade of Purification (100 Chapter)
Konoha: Starting the Game as Yoriichi (270 Chapter)
My Real Job is Spying on Konoha, but I'm Also its Hokage (98 Chapter)
The Pinnacle of the Navy! Starting from Being Captured by Garp (120 Chapter)
Watching Yu-Gi-Oh! short videos is making the veteran players lose...(59 Chapter)
Uma Musume : The Trainer Who Just Wants to Live (160 Chapter)
Zenless Zone Zero The Random Kamen Rider (120 Chapter)
Genshin Impact: It All Began With Me Being Stepped On by Arlecchino (80 Chapter)
Naruto: I Can Synthesize Summoning Beasts (50 Chapter)
Demon Slayer: The Great Swordsman's System, Disciple of Yoriichi (80 Chapter)
My Wife is a General, but I'm an Emanator of Abundance! (90 Chapter)
Type-Moon: My Nine-Fold Path (80 Chapter)
Uma Musume: They're Peeking at My Diary, and All of Tracen is Panickin (65 Chapter)
The Wild History of Type-Moon world (50 Chapter)
Reborn in Conan, But I Refuse to Be the Bad Guy (60 Chapter)
Ruan Mei is begging me to go back? But there's no going back anymore (60 Chapter)
Just a Slacker at Tracen Academy (50 Chapter)
If there's a particular novel you're enjoying on Patron, please give it a 'like' so I know to focus on it.