Although the game coins can be stored for later use, considering that this place is not close to Soubu High School and his home, he probably won't have many opportunities to come here in the future, so Asakura casually found a few coin-operated machines and spent all the game coins in his hand.
As a result, one of them directly hit the 777 jackpot, spitting out a pile of prize tickets that could be taken to the front desk to exchange for prizes.
Asakura, who unexpectedly obtained a large pile of prize tickets, generously gave half to Gotō Hitori and took the girl to the front desk to exchange for prizes.
Asakura exchanged for a guitar that looked very high-end—the front desk clerk in charge of exchanging prizes stared at the strawberry on Asakura's neck for a long time before taking the prize out of the display case.
Then Asakura gave it to Hitori.
The girl's previous guitar broke during her performance on the Founders' Festival stage. Not only the strings, but also the body of the guitar had many problems due to its age. After Asakura's confirmation, she hadn't bought a new one yet—it seemed the girl was struggling with how to ask her old father for more allowance to buy a guitar, so she had been delaying it for two days.
But now, she didn't need to ask; it was solved directly in one step.
Gotō Hitori also seemed to like the guitar very much. After slightly tuning it, she played a piece of currently popular music in front of the game center, attracting a lot of attention.
Afterward, the girl seemed to feel that her behavior after being overwhelmed by surprise was too eye-catching, so she immediately pulled Asakura away and ran.
"What do you want to eat for lunch?"
Asakura asked the girl as they ran.
At this time, the girl, who had been holding Asakura's hand and running ahead, was already panting because she lacked exercise. Asakura took the initiative and overtook her, running ahead and leading the way.
"Barbecue..."
The girl answered subconsciously at first, but then immediately remembered the guide she had seen yesterday and corrected herself, "Ah, no, we'll eat whatever Asakura wants to eat."
"Then let's go eat barbecue!"
Asakura decided happily, "Is JoJoen okay?"
"Mmm."
The girl nodded.
So Asakura led the girl to look for a barbecue restaurant on the street again.
"That... your hand..."
Gotō Hitori said softly, wanting to remind Asakura that their hands were still holding each other.
"Do you dislike it?"
"No, I don't dislike it! Umm."
"Then that means you like it."
So Asakura continued to hold the girl's soft and tender little hand with peace of mind.
In fact, he could feel the calluses on the girl's fingertips and the pads of her fingers, which had hardened from practicing guitar for a long time, so it could only be considered eighty percent tender. But even so, he didn't feel uncomfortable. On the contrary, being able to feel the girl's efforts from Hitori's hand gave him a sense of security as if he was holding her life.
"Dualism?!"
Holding the guitar case, Gotō Hitori looked at the back of the boy in front of her with some bewilderment, suddenly feeling a strange sense of security, 'So Asakura-kun's back looks so broad.'
Although she didn't dislike being held by the other party, she actually wanted to let go just now because she was holding the guitar with her other hand, so she wanted to free up one hand to reach into her tracksuit pocket.
Inside her pocket was a necklace with a platinum snake pendant. The necklace itself was silver, and the eyes of the platinum snake were inlaid with two very small rubies, making it look shiny and very beautiful.
This was also the reward she had spotted at the front desk at first glance, thinking it was super suitable for Asakura. The girl also relied on her incredibly strong willpower to overcome her social anxiety to a certain extent, using fragmented words and sign language to desperately communicate and exchange with another front desk staff member for the prize.
But now that her hand was being held, she couldn't take out the gift to give to him. It seemed she had to wait until later or simply the next date to give it.
The girl sighed secretly in her heart, while inexplicably feeling relieved...
The barbecue for lunch was delicious.
Although Asakura wasn't good at cooking, he was surprisingly good at grilling meat.
If he could travel to a web novel from twenty years ago, he might be able to attract mythical beasts with his barbecue skills.
On the contrary, Gotō Hitori, while muttering 'at least in terms of girl power' or something, tried hard to show off her barbecue skills, but because she was too nervous, the meat she grilled was either just scalded or overcooked.
Q: Why didn't Asakura say much during the barbecue?
A: Because he was still chewing the well-done steak that Gotō Hitori grilled.
After lunch, the two walked leisurely on the street.
Except for Gotō Hitori sometimes being startled like a timid cat, everything else was fine. It finally felt a bit like a date.
"Next..."
Asakura rubbed his cheeks, which were slightly sore from chewing too much—fortunately, the lactic acid produced by the masseter muscle seemed to be less than other muscles, otherwise it might be troublesome to even eat tomorrow—while casually thinking about the next itinerary.
"Next... we're going to the cinema to watch a movie."
The girl said as if she was reciting something, "That... the recently released... famous art-house romance movie..."
"Let me ask, just in case..."
Asakura said curiously, "Hitori, do you watch romance art-house movies at home too?"
"No, I don't watch them much..."
Gotō Hitori shook her head again, answering honestly.
"Then let's not go to the cinema."
Asakura shook his head decisively.
"Huh? But, but..."
Gotō Hitori looked a little flustered.
"Hitori, that impromptu solo at the game center just now... you didn't really enjoy playing, did you?"
Asakura asked.
"Umm..."
The girl's eyes darted around guiltily, as if her thoughts had been exposed.
"In that case, the next stop is decided..."
Asakura said without hesitation, "We'll go to STARRY to rent a practice room. Now that we have a new guitar, let's go play to our heart's content! Miss Starry also has professional equipment to better tune the intonation."
"But..."
But the girl still looked hesitant.
"Hitori, forget everything you've read about dates..."
Asakura raised his index finger at the girl, saying solemnly, "Remember, there is only one iron rule for dates!"
The girl looked at his finger, and Asakura felt that she was about to become cross-eyed: "What?"
"That is happiness!"
He said loudly, "The only thing needed for a date is happiness. An unhappy date is as meaningless as the nitrogen in a bag of potato chips!"
Then he looked at the girl again: "So now, do you want to go watch a boring romance movie, or go to STARRY?"
"I..."
The girl looked at Asakura with a confused gaze, and after a moment, something seemed to appear in her eyes, so she said, "I want to play the guitar! Asakura-kun! I want to play the guitar!"
Asakura revealed a smile of approval.