You would think that on a relaxing trip nothing troublesome would arise. The most troublesome thing to happen would most probably be having forgotten your cellphone at home, or losing belongings in certain places. Maybe even getting lost while visiting a foreign place.

Even the most cautious people will lighten up and adopt a carefree attitude, dropping their guard while on vacation. So certain things are bound to happen. They can't be helped... what I'm trying to say is that Jun Ling forgot her purse at home.

Ai! Why didn't you remind us?!

"That's unreasonable! If you aren't aware about her forgetting her purse, how can I remind you about it?!"

Right... My bad. I asked something illogical.

If something isn't even in my memory banks to begin with, Ai definitely can't access it. It's like withdrawing money that hasn't been deposited, impossible.

Now why is this such a big deal? Well... her parents are huge worrywarts. Before we left in the taxi, her parents came out and said this, "Make sure you behave appropriately with that boy and remember to sms us every few hours ok? Keep safe and don't let that boy bring you to weird places. Stay where people can see you! Call us when you arrive at the hotel~"

'Weird places'... to say it to my face like that. It seems that her parents have a very poor view of me. My feelings are kind of hurt. Do I really come off as that sort of immoral person?

"Shun, what do we do?"

There's nothing that can be done honestly... She'll just have to use my cellphone to text her parents instead.

"Umm for now let's go to the hotel. You can use my phone to call your parents."

"Hnn." She nods in affirmation.

And so she led us towards the hotel. Ah, that's right. I said we planned to go on this vacation but it really was more of Jun Ling's idea.

"Shun, I know this is none of my business but... Don't you think you're walking too far apart from each other?"

I guess we are huh... Now that we're on an actual date, I don't really know what to do. Usually we're playing videogames in her room or playing basketball so we haven't done anything like this before.

"What the heck is up with that... A young couple should be walking hand in hand, giddy from excitement! Let me give you a little help~"

Suddenly Ai wrested control away from me and forced me to link hands with Jun Ling's before returning to the spectator seat and throwing me back into the pilot seat.

Both Jun Ling and I were surprised by this sudden development.

Our gazes met momentarily before we flicked our eyes away to look at whatever mundane thing to distract us from the fact we were holding hands.

Ai, are you trying to give me a heart attack?!

"Oh come on... you two have done even more extreme things while you were in the dream world together. This should be nothing."

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Exactly, the dream world. This is reality! It's on a whole different level! Not to mention she doesn't even remember everything that happened in the dream world.

"Regardless. Isn't the mood so much more romantic now?"

It is... Thanks for the assist.

"No problemo~ Consider me your wingwoman. Now go on!"

"So where did you want to go sightseeing?"

I asked because I was curious what plans Jun Ling had for us.

"The waterfront. Mom and dad gave us tickets to go on the cruise. And... that's the surprise! It's a three day cruise on the waterfront with accommodation!"

The water... front. Cruise. Three days on water. Water.

Nowadays I have a severe aversion to submerging myself in any body of water because of the shui gui incident. This fear has prevented me from even filling the bathtub with water. I only take showers now.

"Shun? Are you okay?"

"Yeah. Just a bit spooked by the thought of going near water again."

"Oh! It hadn't occured to me... You don't have to force yourself, we can do other fun stuff instead."

Her excitement visibly deflated. Like watching a sad puppy's ears droop from disappointment. I have to say something.

"Nah, it's fine. I'm not such a wimp that I absolutely have to avoid water."

My irrational fear of water is something I have to get over and forget soon. Otherwise I'll ruin the mood for Jun Ling. I can't ruin our vacation for something as silly as this.

"Let's go! You've been looking forward to the cruise so obviously we must go there."

She smiles as I say that and her excitement is renewed. Holding her hand, I can tell the spring is back in her steps.

Glancing at the scenery, I can see why this town is called the town of dreams. Buildings are well maintained, greenery is kempt, pavement's flat and the whole town in general is pleasant to walk around in.

The complete opposite of our town.

No. This is what the future of our town will look like.

"One day, our town will become as beautiful as this."

Ah. I said it outloud. So cheesy... I feel like crushing my own windpipe. I could, couldn't I? Or maybe I'll take a brick wall to my head to forget about this.

"Yeah, we'll make that happen." Unblinkingly, unwaveringly she locked eyes with me as she said that.

We. She said we. Thank the gods, Jun is just as cheesy as me. And unlike me, she's sincerely, unashamedly saying that. Hey, isn't the mood like really, really good right now? We've stopped walking in front of the pier and she's looking at me expectantly as if this is my cue for something... Is this the scene where I'm supposed to k-k-kiss her? She's closing her eyes...

...

I did it. The atmosphere has never been better... Good job for not screwing this up, me.

Shortly after, we enter the cruise ship and settle down in our cabin.

Currently, I'm relaxing on my bed and Jun is in the shower. I would have continued thinking about Jun in the shower but Ai chimed in.

"Good job, Mr Protagonist. I'm impressed you caught the hints she was dropping. You're not as dense as I thought."

Thanks... Wait a second... How dense did you think I was before?

"..." I could not see her but I'm pretty sure Ai had her hand on her chin, thinking hard right now.

Oi... Don't think so long about something to say! That makes it seem like you really thought I was a dumb person and you're trying to spare my feelings.

"Oh my~ You found out. You really are on top form today unlike other days. Good work, Zhang Shun."

Oi! Don't try to placate me with that sort of backhanded compliment... You really do look down on me, don't you?

"Heheh~ Jokes aside, you did a good job today, Zhang Shun. If you keep this up, world peace might be solved soon."

Oi! What kind of magical solution would be able to solve the issue of world peace that quickly?!

"By everyone going down to McGronalds."

Fast food huh... Not a bad idea to solve world peace. But wouldn't the queue be too long?

"... I didn't think that deeply about it."

I know, this is just meant to be a gag after all. So, I'm assuming you wanted McGronalds since you brought it up?

"You know me so well, Shun." I just know she has a big stupid grin on her face right now...

I mean you're literally living inside me with our hearts connected 24/7. It'd be harder to not know you that well. We still have a few hours till the ship leaves the harbour, going out should be fine.

"Jun, I'm headed out for McGronalds! Do you want anything?!" I yelled so Jun could hear me from within the shower.

"Bring me some takeout too! I want a kids meal with one of the new plush toys!"

She even wants the toy with her kids meal, so cute... I bet she's going to add the new toy to her collection on her bed after this trip. She really loves plushies. She even brought her favourite rhino plushy on this trip.

Welp. Time to head out.