Chapter 114 Chapter 114 Aquarium Appointment (Part 1)...
After the draw, Atobe briefly exchanged greetings with his old rivals, Tezuka, Sanada and others, and then quickly left the venue with Karasu.
As he walked out of the teaching building, he looked up and saw a beautiful girl leaning against the trunk of a big tree not far away. The sunlight penetrated the tree canopy and sprinkled on her body, like bright stars decorating the hem of her skirt fluttering in the wind, making her even more dazzling.
Atobe's eyebrows curved subconsciously, and a smile naturally appeared on his face. He turned to Hua and said a few words, asking him to take the bus back first. Then he walked over with his long legs and asked softly, "Have you been waiting for a long time?"
Yuyin, who was relaxing and absorbing the natural world, felt his presence almost immediately. She stood up straight, smoothed the corner of her clothes, and shook her head. "It wasn't long." She asked with great interest, "Have you guys drawn the lottery? What are the results?"
Atobe hooked up the amulet binding rope and smiled, "Very good."
As the team recommended by the host city Tokyo, Hyotei will not have a bye in the first round. In order to ensure fairness, the organizers have arranged the teams that qualify as first place in each region in different groups to ensure that they will not meet in the first round and be eliminated early.
Atobe drew the sixth spot, and his first-round opponent is Echigodaira Second Junior High School in Niigata Prefecture. It will not be difficult for him to win, and then in the second round he will face Makinofuji Academy in Hyogo, which advanced by a bye.
Makuhito is a veteran team in the national competition and has won the national championship for many years. In last year's competition, it also won the runner-up in the Kansai Conference and the national competition. It sounds as if its glory is still there. From this perspective, it seems that the group it faces in the second round is not a good one.
However, Keigo Atobe had long realized that Makinofuji's glory days were gone, and that it was now just a facade. After the seniors who had led the team to victory in previous years went on to higher education, Makinofuji fell into decline. Now, only their captain Kadowaki Satoru could barely catch Atobe's eye.
But he was just barely worthy of attention. At the drawing ceremony, when he heard Kadowaki Satoru shamelessly mocking Tezuka, Atobe retorted without any hesitation. You have to know that Tezuka was his recognized opponent, and he was not someone who could be stepped on by just any cat or dog.
What really caught Atobe's attention was Shitenhoji, Hyotei's potential third-round opponent. Shitenhoji, the champions of the Kansai Tournament for the past two years and a top-four team in the national tournament, was drawn in the first-round group, receiving a bye. In other words, barring an unexpected upset, Hyotei's third-round opponent would undoubtedly be Shitenhoji.
In general, although this draw position is not as lucky as the group that Makinoto got last year, where he was directly promoted to the semi-finals, it is still much better than the death group that Atobe would have drawn in the past.
Although Keigo Atobe was unwilling to admit that he had bad luck, he felt from the bottom of his heart that this grouping was better than the previous ones. He thought that it was the effect of the lucky amulet that Tamane made for him sincerely, and he naturally felt sweeter in his heart.
"That's good," Yuyin didn't get the meaning behind his words. She was simply happy that Hyotei had a good group result. "By the way, what are we going to do for the rest of the day? Should we go back to training?"
"No, there's no training today," Atobe smiled and shook his head. "We've been practicing for a week now, and it's time to take a break and let those guys relax. Let's give them a day off today."
In fact, Oshitari and Taketo have been nagging in Atobe's ear for several days, asking when they could have a day off, because otherwise, their summer vacation was even more hellish than their usual one where they had to attend classes and participate in club activities at the same time. The other teammates around them were either silent and only followed Atobe's orders, or obedient kids, or hardworking and ambitious students or underclassmen who were rebellious, so Oshitari had no way to unify public opinion to protest to Atobe.
Finally, Atobe's ears were too bothered by the noise, so he looked up the date of the draw on the calendar. It was exactly one week before the opening of the national competition, so he arranged to take a day off today.
Yuyin was stunned for a moment when she heard that today was a holiday. Atobe hadn't told her in advance. She thought that after the lottery was over, they would immediately take a helicopter back to Karuizawa. She quickly asked, "So, what are the plans for today?"
Atobe put his index finger in front of his mouth, made a secret gesture, and a mysterious smile appeared on his face: "You will know in a moment."
*
“So beautiful…”
Saionji Kyon lay outside the thick glass window of the aquarium, gazing at the colorful coral reefs inside and the large number of colorful marine fish that flexibly shuttled among them, and couldn't help but sigh from the bottom of her heart.
What Atobe called a secret arrangement was that the two of them would visit Tokyo's largest aquarium today - the Touto Aquarium located on the seaside of Tokyo Bay.
Atobe Keigo coughed lightly. "I originally wanted to take you... and the guys from the tennis club on a cruise to the South Pacific islands during the holiday, but the last time I saw you on the yacht, you were a little seasick. I'm not sure if you can get used to my cruise ship. Besides, we can't go out for the next two weeks until the national competition is over, so I had to take you to the aquarium first."
"Thank you, Jingwu," Yuyin turned around and looked at him with a smile, "I've wanted to visit the aquarium for a long time, but I never found the right time or opportunity to make it happen."
Since the summer vacation of fifth grade, she has been suffering from a "strange disease" that causes her to fall into a coma on time every year, which has caused all her originally planned travel itineraries to be ruined. Because of this problem, she has not been able to make friends with people of the same age, and naturally there is no one to accompany her to the aquarium.
"Hey, Yuyin, as long as you like it."
Atobe put his fist to his lips to hide his somewhat uncomfortable look, "Didn't Iri Inu say that we should go somewhere cooler in the summer? What a coincidence."
He couldn't tell Yuyin that he had abused his authority as the student council president, so he looked through the willingness questionnaire filled out by students of the school during a previous club research activity. Yuyin's form listed the aquarium as the place she most wanted to visit in the summer, in addition to the fireworks display and the beach. However, the fireworks display was only held on weekend nights during the summer temple fairs, and it was not appropriate to go to the beach now. After much thought, Atobe finally chose the aquarium.
Of course, in order to get rid of the 1,800-degree light bulbs in the tennis club, Tobe kept today's date plan hidden in his heart and told no one. He even gave the tennis club a day off early for this purpose.
The Touto Aquarium is the largest aquarium and oceanarium in the island nation. The main body is divided into three parts: an indoor hall, a separate dolphin performance hall, and a surrounding outdoor amusement park. The amusement park has a huge two-wheeled Ferris wheel and a high-rise observation tower. Such a complete facility naturally requires a huge investment. It is said that the Suzuki Group invested at least 80 billion yen in it.
Apart from the fact that the investor was Suzuki Sonoko's family, which made Keigo Atobe a little dissatisfied, all other conditions of the Toudou Aquarium were impeccable, so when choosing the specific aquarium location for the date, Atobe chose it at first sight.
The two started from the entrance and followed the instructions all the way inside the aisle. The aquarium also equipped with a special tour guide to give explanations. The interior of the museum was divided into different areas according to different ecosystems. Each area had its own theme, and you could enjoy the underwater scenery of the seven oceans without leaving your home.
At the edge of the dim corridor, only the dark blue continuous water tank emits a faint fluorescent light. Countless colorful marine creatures shuttle through it. Coupled with the soothing music playing on the nearby radio, it is indeed an excellent place for a date.
The only regret is probably that in order to protect the eyes of marine creatures, tourists are not allowed to take photos in the aquarium on their own, not even through the glass. When Yuyin first found out about this, she felt a little regretful. However, seeing that she liked these scenes, Atobe specially consulted the staff for her. She learned that the aquarium has its own infrared camera. If there is a box scene that she particularly likes, she can write down the specific location name and tell the staff. Before leaving, she can pay to receive the corresponding high-definition color photos.
When Atobe heard this, he immediately waved his hand and asked for a complete set of photos from all the shooting locations. After all, as long as it was a matter of money, it was not a problem for him.
Yuyin was concentrating on looking at the water tank. While looking at the aquarium, Jibei would occasionally look at her sideways. Seeing that she looked happy and much more relaxed than before, Jibei was also happy. Even though the tennis club was busy with training, he still noticed carefully that since the kidnapping case in the exchange match, Yuyin had been very nervous and did not dare to relax at all. Her eyes never left him, as if in the blink of an eye, he, a living person, would suddenly disappear when she was not paying attention.
Although Atobe was happy that she was always paying attention to him, he also understood that this situation was a sequelae of the previous kidnapping case and was not something he should be happy about.
After all, before, Ji Bei always thought that there was no need to hire a personal bodyguard. He was in danger many times because he was affected by the accident. The target of the perpetrator was not him. However, this kidnapping case sounded the alarm for him, and also made Yuyin, who accepted the mission from all sides and was now responsible for protecting him, extremely nervous.
Seeing that it had been several days since the incident and Yuyin had not yet adjusted to her normal state, Atobe thought of taking her out to relax, which led to this trip to the aquarium.
Feeling her breath and soft laughter beside his ears, Keigo Atobe discovered for the first time that the simplest joy and happiness was just holding hands with another person. Seeing her happy, he was satisfied. For a moment, he just hoped that this journey could be longer.
However, no matter how long the journey is, it will eventually be completed. The two of them walked and stopped, and completed the tour of the first level area in less than an hour.
"Giant kelp looks like this," Yuyin said, still musing over some of the surprising and rare sights. "I wonder what it tastes like..."
When Atobe heard this, he quickly said, "If you're curious, I'll ask Yamaoki to prepare this for lunch tomorrow."
The so-called preparation, of course, is to have giant kelp grown in California airlifted in. Although many countries and even East Asia have introduced it for cultivation, since the giant kelp they just viewed was marked as originating from California, Jibe will naturally restore it perfectly.
Yuyin quickly waved her hands, not knowing whether to laugh or cry: "That's not necessary."
After spending so much time together, she naturally understood Tobe's personality better. He was totally capable of doing things like air-transporting food, so it would be better not to add to the workload of the already busy housekeeper Yamamoto.
Atobe shrugged his shoulders and remained noncommittal, not saying whether it would be airlifted or not, but then Yuyin's attention was immediately diverted.
As the two walked into the second floor, they were greeted with an even bigger surprise.
"Penguins! It's a penguin!" Yuyin was as happy as a three-year-old child. She pulled Atobe a few steps and ran to the promotional poster, "Keigo, look, there are penguins!"
Girls have no resistance to penguins, those chubby, cute creatures that walk with a wobbly gait.
Atobe Keigo wasn't angry at being dragged along, and didn't forget to explain to her, "Yeah, after the Toudou Aquarium closed for expansion last time, they converted the second floor into an Antarctic ecological zone. There's a dedicated indoor penguin pavilion. As long as the number of people doesn't exceed the limit that day, you can line up to enter, put on special protective clothing, and have face-to-face close contact with the penguins. You can even feed them yourself."
For this date, Atobe had done a lot of preparation in advance and knew the travel strategies for each area very well.
When Yuyin heard this, her eyes lit up: "What are we waiting for? Let's go in quickly!"
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The author has something to say: I swear, I just wanted them to enjoy a sweet time together, but it was the aquarium that took action first!
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