Sei woke up in the morning and washed up before going down to eat breakfast with Ozaki and the others. Apparently, the girls stayed up late from gossiping, so Kawakami and Tsumugi still looked sleepy.

Ozaki and Inaba weren't much better since they watched a horror movie together on the television last night.

As for himself, he also stayed up late, but not until past 1 AM. He mostly pulled an all-nighter because of games. Without it, he would naturally go to sleep sooner than later.

He was taking food to his plate from the buffet stand when he found Reita groggily pick up a plate. It was clear he didn't have much sleep either.

"Did you stay up late, Reita?"

Reita turned to answer, but when he saw Sei's face, Sei's figure at the hot spring last night appeared again in his head. The plate slipped from his hand. Fortunately, it was still above the table.

Sei continued picking up a side dish, "I thought you'd sleep early from all the nose-bleed. If your heat tolerance was low, you shouldn't have stayed in the hot spring that long."

Reita wasn't responding, probably still half-awake, so Sei went back to his table to place his food before getting his drink.

Touya was there with Daichi, a bit better than Reita, but they weren't fully awake either.

"You guys too?"

The both of them looked at him, "We also what?" Touya asked.

"Staying up late. I thought you'd both at least rest properly."

Touya and Daichi looked at each other, tacitly knowing what caused each other's sleepless night.

"Yeah…Shouldn't have gotten into the hot spring last night." Daichi laughed ironically.

He didn't regret it though. And he was damn sure now that Touya and Reita also didn't.

"I thought it's supposed to be good for our health. Maybe just for some people." Sei wondered as he grabbed his glass of water, "Sorry, I'll go by myself next time."

He walked back to his table.

Touya and Daichi, "…"

Their conscience felt stabbed for some reason.

Once they all have entered the bus, the teacher announced that there was a change to the day's rundown.

Instead of going to the Fukuoka Castle as per schedule, they were going to the Marine World instead. The Fukuoka Castle was closed because it was going to be used for a formal event. Because of the sudden arrangement, their tickets to the Marine World were subsidized by the other party as compensation.

The students cheered from the news. They weren't that enthusiastic with the initial schedule, but now that they were going to play, everyone's excitement blew up on the bus. The teachers also didn't seem to mind since they could still make an educational trip out of it. Not to mention it was free and their money for the previous trip was reimbursed.

When they reached the site, the teachers told them to gather per class in the open area and wait. The teacher who was in charge of the trip approach a tall, suited man who was wearing black sunglasses.

After 15 minutes, the tickets were distributed. The teacher in charge told them that they could explore freely, but they were not allowed to leave the area before lunch. After lunch, they would go to the seaside park together and leave around 6 PM to have dinner at a restaurant booked by the other party.

"Wow…Does that mean today's activities are fully paid for by those people who rented Fukuoka Castle?" Ozaki was shocked, "They must be a billionaire at the very least."

"Or an aristocrat." Kawakami chimed in.

"They're very generous with their compensation even though we're just high schoolers. They should be good people." Tsumugi added.

Sei saw the others have started moving to enter the building, "Time to go, Ozaki."

"Right, let's go, guys!"

Before entering, Kawakami pulled them for a group picture. Inside, she and Tsumugi wanted to take pictures everywhere, so Sei became their unofficial photographer. Turns out Inaba has some interest in aquatic animals, so he babbled the most among them. Ozaki has a wide range of interests. He was as hyper as ever.

"Oh! You take good photos Kurosaki-kun!" Kawakami was satisfied with the results.

They were currently standing in front of the panoramic water tank. Inside, they could see all kinds of fishes swimming around in leisure. The room was dark, only using the mesmerizing blue glow from the water tank as its lighting.

When they saw 2 dolphins were swimming closer to them, Kawakami hurriedly asked for another picture. Inaba and Ozaki joined in.

"There's going to be a show here in 20 minutes. Do you guys want to wait for it?" Tsumugi asked.

They all agreed, so they stayed there with some other groups who also wanted to watch it.

Sei stood in front of the glass as he looked inside in thought. Sharks and stingrays swam past him and several fishes played around near him. A moment later, the small sardines gathered and swirled around together, creating an astonishing sight.

"Sei."

He turned to the voice calling him and saw Reita with his phone up. Sei walked closer to look. Reita showed him the photo, "It's good, right?"

Sei nodded in agreement.

The show started 20 minutes later. It was a live show for the visitors to communicate with the divers inside the tank and play around with the fish. The host gave explanations for the fish that were interacting with the divers. They also told them the names of the sharks, dolphins, and other fishes that they saw earlier.

After the show ended, they continued their exploration. By lunch, they ate in a restaurant there which also have tanks inside for them to watch while eating. A turtle passed by once, making Sei have to take another round of pictures for Kawakami and Tsumugi before continuing eating his food.

Tsumugi wanted to watch the dolphin show, but unfortunately, the next one was when they needed to go to the next location.

As per told, they assembled back outside after lunch and went to the seaside park together using the bus.

In here, Kawakami and Tsumugi separated themselves to go with their female group of friends. Ozaki was suggesting renting a bike to cycle around when a hand grabbed Sei's shoulder.

"I believe Sei can go with us for now, right?" Touya asked with a smile.

"Oh, sure!" Ozaki didn't mind, "Then, see you later Kurosaki. Let's go, Inaba. The one to arrive last will pay for the bikes!"

Ozaki suddenly ran. Inaba was caught off guard and quickly chased him, "Hey! That's cheating!!"

Sei watched them go helplessly. How could their energy level didn't drop since morning? It only increased.

Touya showed him a brochure, "There's a petting zoo here. I'm thinking of going there."

Sei's eyes brightened and nodded. He wanted to go there too since arriving here, "Reita and Daichi?"

"We're here."

Reita and Daichi arrived together. As the 4 of them were leaving, Sei glanced at the suited man who gave them the tickets earlier in the day. He was standing a distance away from them, looking in their direction. With his height and attire, it was impossible not to notice him.

Sei keenly felt their eyes meet.

Once they arrived at the petting zoo, it was Sei's turn to take pictures non-stop. Of course, without him in it. He made sure to capture all the furry animals' cuteness into his phone as he patted them. Every time he caught a good one, his lips unconsciously curled in satisfaction.

He didn't have any problem with aquatic animals, but he preferred land animals more. Especially those with fluffy furs.

While he was in his own world, the other three were also taking pictures with their phones although the subject of interest was completely different.

They were passing by the monkeys when Sei suddenly chuckled and commented in a small voice, "That one looks like Sugiura."

He took a picture of it and sent it to Sugiura along with his comment. He and Sugiura surprisingly got along well in the past weeks. They also texted frequently talking about random topics.

Unexpectedly, Sugiura immediately replied, saying that it didn't look like him at all before sending a picture of a wolf.

Sei didn't bother with him anymore. He continued taking another one that reminded him of Ozaki, sending it to their group chat with the other groupmates. Not long after, the others agreed and trolled Ozaki.

His phone was snatched away.

"Come on, don't text while walking. You're going to cause inconvenience to other people." Touya confiscated his phone.

"But…" Sei looked at Daichi and Reita asking for help.

Instead of backing him up as usual, Daichi draped his arm on Touya and gave his phone to Sei with a smile similar to Touya's, "You can take pictures with mine instead."

Reita, his last hope, bumped another person himself even before he could say anything.

Sei, "…"

He walked away in defeat. Behind him, Touya and Daichi stared at Sei's phone thoughtfully.