Chapter 53, Izu Specialties
Zhuo's hometown is on the Izu Peninsula, located in the eastern part of Shizuoka Prefecture, Honshu, Japan, and south of Tokyo.

It only takes about an hour to get from Tokyo to the Izu Peninsula by Shinkansen, or you can take the Odoriko from Shinjuku directly to Shimoda, the southernmost point of the Izu Peninsula.

Zhuo's hometown is right there, and the journey is not far.

Utsunomiya Shuo was waiting at the tram stop at the moment. There were three suitcases of different sizes and colors beside him, but all of them were his.

At the beginning of summer, the heat is oppressive.

A little boy about five or six years old was making a lot of noise next to him. He only quieted down after being scolded by his father. From their conversation, it seemed that they were going to visit Tokyo Disneyland.

The three-no loli here is wearing a white long-sleeved shirt and her hair is tied into a ponytail at the back of her head, but her hair is very long and still falls to her waistline.

There are also beige loose jeans and sneakers.

There was no expression on her delicate white face. Although her petite figure made her look cool and cute, she exuded an extremely cold aura from head to toe, making people afraid to approach her.

The little boy next to her stared at her secretly, drooling without wiping it off, until the father next to her noticed and turned the boy's head away. Then he stared at the petite Ling in a daze for a while.

As expected, Ling's attractive appearance can attract people of all ages.

She stood in various subway stations, without any deliberate behavior to attract attention. She just stood there simply, with her hands hanging naturally, holding the handle of a suitcase, staring at something in a daze.

Zero didn't move at all, like a work of art made of ice, and his skin was as white as a work of art.

Almost everyone's eyes were cast on her vaguely, but no one dared to get close, as if they were intimidated by the aura around her.

Zero paid no attention to this and just stared at the suitcase in a daze.

After a few minutes, Zero looked up at the train arrival table above the subway station, thought for a while, then raised his head and looked at Utsunomiya Shuo with his watery blue eyes.

Zhuo was also looking at her.

There was silence for a while.

"Thank you for coming to see me off." Utsunomiya Shuo avoided her sight and said while staring at Zero's toes.

"You're welcome."

"Aren't you going back to Russia for the summer?"

"No return."

"Stay in Tokyo?"

"should be."

Zhuo nodded, looked away and stopped talking.

After a while,

"Are there clothes in here?" Ling asked suddenly.

Zhuo didn't expect Ling to take the initiative to talk to her. To be honest, except for the situation in the apartment building, this was the first time that Ling took the initiative to talk to him outside.

And they talked about some topics that were meaningless.

"That's how it is. How did you know?" Zhuo glanced at the two boxes beside him, and then looked at the third box that Ling was carrying.

The three boxes were all filled with his clothes.

"The clothes in the living room are gone." Ling said lightly.

She was referring to the mountain of clothes piled up in the corner of the living room.

It took several days of intermittent work to pack them all into boxes.

"Oh, like this."

Having stood for a while, Zhuo pulled the suitcase in front of him and sat on it.

"Are you planning to take it back to wash?" Ling asked, looking at his face.

"Well... although it is true, it would be embarrassing for me if you said it directly." What's more, this is outside.

Zhuo indeed planned to do so.

Although Zhuo usually takes clothes to the laundry room downstairs for cleaning after changing them, he rarely puts them away after taking them back. He just piles them together in the living room and searches for them when he needs them. After a long time, they are bound to get dirty.

So I just took them all home, washed them thoroughly and dried them in the sun.

"You can ask me for help." Ling lowered his head slightly and stared at the suitcase under Zhuo's butt.

"Thank you very much, but you underestimate me. I'm just a lazy guy, not a cripple."

The time waiting for the bus was too boring, Zhuo kicked the ground aimlessly, and the suitcase began to spin in circles.

"What I mean is that you can just give the clothes to me and you don't have to take them back." Ling said lightly.

"Uh... that's even more unnecessary. I've already troubled you enough, and you even came along to help me pull the box."

All in all, Zero has been working as Utsunomiya Shuo's breeder for over a month... If we count from the first conversation between the two in the alley, it would be even longer... Although nothing thrilling has happened in the meantime, they can now talk to each other like this.

After spending so many days together, Zhuo no longer hesitated to be polite to Ling on small matters;
And Ling was also happy that Zhuo was becoming more and more dependent on her.

All in all, it's a good place.

"By the way, I will probably bring gifts when I come back. Do you want anything?" Zhuo asked while sitting on the suitcase.

Ling's gaze kept following Zhuo.

"I don't need it, and I don't want anything." Zero said lightly.

"Ah~ I'm telling you..." Zhuo sighed, "...you won't be cute like this, you know?"

Otherwise, you will definitely think that the other person is impolite and looks down on you.

In Neon, it is normal to bring back souvenirs when you return home, and the right thing to do is to accept them generously.

"I know." Zero said calmly.

"..." Zhuo rolled his eyes, "You have to name one, but it can't be too expensive, otherwise I can't afford it."

Ling blinked her beautiful eyes and looked at him puzzledly, as if she couldn't understand why Zhuo insisted on giving her something.

Zhuo saw that she was silent and just glanced at her casually while playing with the suitcase, and he knew what this girl was thinking.

"It's a good idea to reciprocate, big sister! I've received so much care from you, I should at least show some appreciation, right?"

"Okay then. Izu's souvenirs will do."

"...Actually...the local specialty is seafood."

Regarding this point, Zhuo also felt a little embarrassed. The Izu Peninsula is surrounded by the sea on three sides, and the local specialty is really seafood.

But in Neon, seafood is really nothing new, because they have it for every meal.

"Then just buy some. I'll accept them as long as they're from you," Ling said calmly.

"...That's a bit presumptuous again. You better be careful." Zhuo muttered with a crooked mouth.

He knew Zero could hear it.

Everything was pleasant when he was getting along with Zero. Maybe one day, he could really live the life of a fourth-level disabled landlord, and leave everything to Zero.

But there is one thing,
Some of Ling's words were too straightforward, giving people a seductive feeling...but she didn't mean that at all.

This made Zhuo very difficult, and he had to seal his heart with cement repeatedly before he could talk to her properly.

Ling probably also realized the ambiguity of his words and added: "...Then let's buy some local handicrafts."

Upon hearing this, Zhuo thought carefully about his hometown. There must be some ordinary handicrafts, but those were the result of mass production by machines and could be bought elsewhere.

As for Izu's unique...

"...Is the Izu dancer okay?"

　Thanks to Brother Rigel Gardner for the 100-point tip.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)