5 Prelude 5/6

[He understood that without love there is no revenge.] -???

-*-*-

Ibara and I went for a small walk in direction of the zoo. We took a little above ten minutes to finally reach the facility, but we stopped when we saw the huge queue of people, the majority of family there had kids who were way too much excited to see animals in a cage.

"Wow! That's a big amount of visitors for a zoo's opening." I said, looking for some things in y back pocket.

"Indeed, if I knew that such a thing would happen, I would not have chosen to bring you here, I apologize." Ibara replied, turning and making a motion to bow, but before she could finish her action, I took out two tickets from my pocket, and put them in front of her, successfully stopping her bow before she could even do it.

"That's-"

"Two premiums tickets! I got a few contacts, who helped me. With this, we should be able to bypass the queue and immediately go on with our date!" I replied.

Ibara's eyes widened before regaining her calm expression, which was ornated with an even more beautiful smile.

"Thank you Eizen."

"Let's go, we should be able to see a few enclosures before having to eat." I said, ending the conversation.

We then walked toward the counter, walking beside the queue.

It seems like a lot of people was not bothered researching to see if tickets could be brought in advance, allowing them to skip the line. That's why I always prepare myself for what's coming.

Reaching the counter, I showed them to the second ticket clerk who was currently fiddling with her phone, ignoring the annoyance grunts of her colleague who was currently dealing with a seemingly annoying family.

Noticing Ibara and I's presence, she quickly put her phone in her pocket and looked at us with a smile.

"Hello, how can I help you today?" She asked, her eyes going from Ibara behind me and me.

I took the tickets and gave them to her.

"Hello. It seems like I have premium tickets, which would make us avoid going through an annoying queue like the people besides."

She took them and wrote something on the paper in front of her before cutting them in half and giving us badges.

"Here you go. With those badges, you will have a discount of ten percent on everything inside. We hope that you will enjoy our zoo!" She said, lightly bowing at the end of her sentence.

A few seconds later, Ibara and I were looking at the zoo's map as we were looking for where to go first.

"I want to see the pandas." She said, showing the panda's icon on the map.

"Why not, they sure are cute." I replied, folding the map and putting it in my pocket.

We immediately began to walk toward the enclosure, taking all our time.

Unlike those without premium tickets, we can stay until the zoo closes, but I doubt Ibara's father appreciates.

We walked past a few people, mainly families with overexcited kids as they were bouncing almost everywhere.

Finally reaching the pandas, Ibara's and I were looking at them with smiles as the sight of seeing such cute animal always is soothing.

"Look there Ibara." I called her, getting her attention.

Looking at where I was pointing to, she read the sign aloud.

"Bamboo sticks, try feeding the pandas...?"

"Wants to try?"

"Hm..." She was musing the thought, looking at the sticks.

"It will be fun, I promise!" I said, which seems to convince her as she turned her head toward me and finally agreed.

"You are right... We are here to have fun."

Hearing that, I gave her a wider smile and went buying a bamboo.

We moved toward the area where we could safely feed the pandas and looked for one which was near enough.

Lifting our head, we saw one which was looking back at us, or more precisely, the bamboo in my hand.

"This one seems quite interested, here you go." I said to the green-haired girl beside me, handling the bamboo.

Taking it with her two hands, she extended it toward the panda, but he seems a little too far.

Hanging from his wooden platform, the guy didn't seem to want to make any effort as he was simply looking at it and sometimes opening and closing its maw.

"I can't reach it!" Ibara said, trying her best to approach the panda with the stick.

"It's a lazy one..." I said, looking at the cute but lazy fellow.

Looking back at Ibara who was getting tired, I had a solution.

"Ibara, ride me!"

"Wh-wh-what? We sho-should not be doing 'th-that' until ma-marriage!" She replied, and dropped the bamboo, thankfully I grabbed it before it could fall inside the enclosure.

"I mean sit on my shoulders, you would be able to reach this guy."

Her face was even redder than before once she realized that she thought of something lewd alone.

Chuckling at her, I knelt in front of her and made a motion for her to sit on my shoulder.

"So? You coming?"

It seems to shook her out of her initial shock as she moved and sat on my right shoulder and grabbed my left shoulder for support.

"I am ready Eizen."

Hearing that, I got up and grabbed her two feet as I didn't want her to fall. I felt her grip becoming stronger as she fought to stay balanced.

Thankfully, a few seconds later we were completely stable and ready for the operation 'feed-the-panda'.

Giving her the bamboo with my left and, I bent over the barrier and with the use of my sense of balance more than perfect, Ibara didn't even felt any discomfort to the fact that she was defying gravity.

The few people here were looking at us strangely but surely assigned our youthfulness as the cause of our actions.

The stick finally reached the panda's mouth and it seems to be pretty happy with itself. It did not move from the day and still got feed in the end!

Ibara seems to be quite happy as she finally let the panda completely grab the stick.

Seeing that she was done, I took a step back and helped her get off my shoulder.

"Should we go eat now?" I ask her, to which I simply received a happy nod, accompanied by a stunning smile.

We took a few minutes to find the perfect place but finally stopped at the classic McDonald.

It was around 12:30 and I was purchasing the food while Ibara was looking for where we would sit.

While I was waiting for the food, I received a message from my 'private' phone.

Opening it once I was sure that nobody was actively looking at me, I read the message received.

[Did you have an answer about our proposition?]

It has been quite a while since I heard about them. I didn't think that they would have been annihilated as such a thing would have set the underworld into quite the chaos.

I replied shortly. [Yes. However, if you want my cooperation, I want to meet your boss.]

The guy did not reply for a few minutes, but the answer was what I wanted to see.

[We will set a meeting, we will re-contact you later.]

I closed the phone and put it back in the pocket inside my jacket, a smile on my face.

"Mister, here's your order." The employee's voice immediately drew me out of my thought before I could have my flashback.

Taking the plate filled with food with one hand, I started to move toward the terrace but a few seconds later, a familiar blonde-head stopped me by stepping in front of me.

"Katsura~ what a great coincidence." I said, my usual smile greeting her.

"What are you doing here Eizen?" She asked, her arms crossed.

"No poaching I promise." I replied, my smile widened while her frown only deepened.

"With who ar-" Before she could end her sentence, she was cut by Ibara's voice who was coming from behind her, and in front of me.

"Eizen. Do you need help with carrying the food?" Ibara asked disregarding Katsura and going toward me.

"No, don't worry. I can carry that quite easily." To illustrate my words, I moved the plate and thus made all the food above which were initially perfectly balanced shift but even though one's would have made all the thing fall, I can make them regain their balance quite easily.

My quirk is quite useful for a juggling show. How many circuses would want to hire me? They would fight for me.

"Who is your... friend?" Ibara asked me, unsure. I noticed the glare that Katsura was giving her. Ibara didn't seem to care about the glare, as she was seemingly nervous about something else.

"Oh right! Ibara, I present you Katsura Bakugou, a classmate and childhood friend. Katsura, she is Ibara Shiozaki, my friend."

Katsura seems to calm a little at my words, but her glare toward Ibara was still there, completely contrasting with the calm demeanor of Ibara.

"And what the fuck could you be doing there?" Katsura asked, turning her head toward me.

Before I could answer, Ibara opened her mouth and answered for me.

"We are on a date." To illustrate her words, she moved closer to me and put her arm around mine.

It seems like this is her limit as I could notice her body's temperature soar to unprecedented levels.

In front of us, I could almost hear explosions as Katsura's body was slightly trembling and her glare morphed to the one I saw in the tiger's enclosure when a sheep was brought inside.

'If I don't defuse the situation right now, it will become quite dangerous.' I thought, seeing that Ibara was not giving Katsura any ground, and was glaring back. Quite unusual coming from the calm and gentle girl I know.

"Well..." I started and immediately gained their attention.