Unreliable weather forecasts
"Naoki, let's go to that shop first."
After arriving at the shopping center, the first destination of this trip, Nino couldn't wait to take him shopping.
"Okay."
However, it seemed that because the shopping center was busy, many people's eyes were focused on Ren's face, making him feel uncomfortable and wanted to wear his glasses.
Just as he was about to make a move, he remembered that he was Naoki today and he wasn't wearing his glasses.
Besides, even if he wears glasses, it is impossible for him to wear it, after all, his current identity is not Ren.
Ren is still not used to Naoki's identity.
"By the way, Naoki, do you have any recommendations on clothes? I don't know what clothes to buy."
Arriving at the shop, Nino pretended to choose clothes while intentionally or unintentionally bringing up the topic.
"…"
Ren wanted to say something to differentiate himself from his previous self, but after thinking for a long time, he realized that he couldn't say anything.
Since he had absolutely no knowledge about clothing styles, there was no way he would just talk about it casually.
"Not yet."
So, he could only give this answer.
In order to differentiate it from the previous simple answer, he also deliberately added the word "temporary" in front of it to indicate the special nature of the identity.
"Is it true?" Nino didn't care that Ren didn't answer, and of course changed the topic, "Naoki, what kind of clothes do you like to see girls wearing? I just used it as a reference."
"Skirt?" Ren said hesitantly.
Maybe it was because he saw too much, the more he looked at it, the more he felt that the school uniform skirt was more pleasing to the eye and much better than those gaudy clothes.
Nino looked down at what she was currently wearing, a light brown T-shirt and black wide trousers, no skirt.
In fact, her original plan was to wear a skirt today, but considering that it would rain at night, it would be troublesome to wear a skirt, so she had to give up.
If she had known this, she would not have changed her mind.
In particular, Nino felt angry when she thought about how she had carefully chosen from the few pants she had when choosing clothes in the morning because she knew it would rain.
Why was she so good at such details? Why not just keep wearing skirts?
After all, it wasn't like she had never done that before.
The more she thought about it, the angrier she got.
It was decided that whenever she met Naoki from now on, Nino would always wear a skirt unless she had no choice.
Thinking like this, Nino's mood calmed down a little.
"Naoki, do you think this dress looks good?"
After finding out that Ren liked skirts, Nino picked up a light blue pleated skirt and asked him what he thought.
"Not bad," Ren answered plainly.
"Then do you need me to wear it and show it to you?"
After comparing herself, Nino then asked.
"No need."
Ren didn't really like the dress she was holding, so there was no need to bother Nino to put it on especially for him to see.
"Good."
Nino returned the clothes to her hands.
Anyway, she already knew that the other party liked skirts, so it didn't matter even if she was rejected now.
Moreover, she didn't like this dress very much, so she just took one to test it.
"Let's go there and take a look."
After looking around the shop, Nino suggested.
"Sure."
Agreeing, Ren followed her and walked over.
Then for the next while he accompanied Nino to look at clothes at the shopping center.
But what confused him was that Nino just looked at it, tried it on occasionally, but didn't buy it, which was really strange.
Ren who was shopping with a girl for the first time, couldn't understand this behavior.
But seeing that Nino was very interested, he didn't say anything and just continued walking with her in silence.
After all, he was an Esper, so he wouldn't feel tired at all, and he could spend the whole day shopping with her.
······
3 pm.
"Where should we go next?"
After leaving the restaurant, Nino started thinking about next destination.
Because they accidentally spent a long time shopping in the shopping mall, they ate lunch later, which caused their original plan to be slightly changed.
"Is raining."
While she was still thinking about where to go next, Ren reminded her.
"Eh?"
Hearing this, Nino immediately regained her senses and looked up at the sky.
"It's really raining..."
Looking at the raindrops falling in the sky, Nino sighed helplessly.
Didn't the weather forecast say it would only rain at night?
Why does it start to rain in the afternoon?
This way, the plan she painstakingly made would be wasted.
"Because it's raining, let's go back."
Turning to look at the silent Ren, Nino said reluctantly.
She still wanted to stay with him longer, but it was raining, what could she do?
She couldn't just pretend she didn't bring an umbrella and wait for the rain to stop with him.
Nino didn't think this was a wise choice.
This is not a wilderness, taxis are easy to get, not to mention umbrellas which can be bought everywhere.
So, why not take the initiative to take off the umbrella, walk in the rain holding the umbrella, and go home together.
"Okay," Ren agreed.
Although he also wanted to walk outside for a while, hanging out in the rain was not something ordinary people did.
"Naoki, I brought an umbrella. Let's use it together."
Seeing that his hands were empty, Nino took out the umbrella she had prepared from her bag.
"Thank You."
Because Ren didn't bring a bag, he couldn't pretend to bring an umbrella, then use his superpower to get the umbrella out of the bag, so he could only buy or borrow the umbrella.
"You don't need to tell me this," said Nino, looking into his eyes.
"Why?" He was a little confused.
"Because I am your number one fan, and I would love to be able to help you in a place like this."
"…"
"Of course, if you feel uncomfortable, you can say 'thanks for your hard work'. I'd rather you say this to me than thank you." Nino continued, "Even though this phrase isn't used here."
"Thank you for your hard work," Ren complied.
"It's not difficult."
After answering with a smile, Nino opened the umbrella and held it between the two of them.
Since she was shorter, she had to hold umbrella as high as possible so she wouldn't get caught in the rain.
"Let me do it."
Ren noticed Nino's movements and took the umbrella directly from her hand. At the same time, he activated his superpower, [Gale] to throw away any rainwater that might fall on him to prevent him from being hit by the rain.
"Um."
Seeing him holding an umbrella for her, the smile on Nino's face couldn't disappear for long.