"This one is a Siamese... this one is a British Shorthair... Ah, what a cute Ragdoll, meow~"
Perhaps mesmerized by the cats, Yukinoshita seemed to have forgotten that Mori Shinra was still with her. Upon seeing a Ragdoll that had completely stolen her heart, the girl squatted down and, while tentatively reaching out to touch it, let out an explosively cute 'meow~' sound.
Mori Shinra, on the other hand, chose to follow her previous advice, taking out his phone to diligently hone his photography skills. Not taking photos, but recording a video—the kind that includes audio.
Fortunately, he wasn't bad-looking, and it was obvious he was with her. Otherwise, for his practice of only filming people and not the pets at a cat and dog expo, he would have been hauled off as a pervert to eat katsudon.
Seeing her so engrossed in petting the cat, Shinra's hands also started to itch. Holding his recording phone, he walked over, squatted down beside her, and reached out to pet the kitten's head.
Noticing a hand suddenly appear beside her, Yukinoshita very warily pulled her own hand back and shifted her gaze from the cat to the person next to her. After realizing it was him, she first breathed a sigh of relief, then noticed he was holding up his phone, pointed at her.
Yukinoshita Yukino froze, only then belatedly realizing that her entire cat-petting session had been recorded by this guy.
The first to react were the tips of her ears, which then gradually spread to her entire ear, followed by her cheeks, neck, and even her whole body felt a shade redder.
The girl shot up with a swoosh. The movement was so fast and large that even the kitten near her was startled.
"Not going to pet it anymore?" Shinra asked 'kindly'.
Yukinoshita didn't speak, simply striding towards the exit of the exhibition area.
Shinra unhurriedly pressed pause on the recording, uploaded the video to the cloud, and then quickly followed.
Noticing he was following, Yukinoshita's pace quickened, her stride widened, and in the end, she was practically jogging. Unfortunately, stamina was not her strong suit. After walking through three exhibition areas and exhausting most of her energy, she finally stopped as if resigned to her fate.
"Want to go back and have another look?" Shinra asked cheekily.
Yukinoshita clenched her fists, wanting to punch this guy, but considering the video was still in his hands, she decided to endure it for now.
Having thought it through, she showed him an unprecedentedly beautiful smile. "Can you delete it?"
Shinra returned an equally brilliant smile. "Of course... not."
Deleting it was impossible. He would never delete it in this lifetime.
If the first half of the video, with her meowing at the cat, was a rare treasure, then the second half, with her 'color-changing' performance, could be selected as a timeless classic.
He believed Yukinoshita Haruno would be willing to pay any price for this video.
Yukinoshita gritted her teeth, her voice softening. "The heat released during the solidification process of cement is about 50 to 70 degrees Celsius. In other words, before a person is sunk into Tokyo Bay, they've already been cooked."
Hey, don't say such terrifying things in such a gentle tone!
"Even so, I won't delete it," Shinra said, as stubborn as a blackhead on a face that hasn't been washed for months.
Seeing him so obstinate, Yukinoshita could only sigh and begin to ponder just how many pounds of apples were needed to produce enough cyanide, and after making it into a snack, how she could get him to eat it.
Just kidding. Murder didn't need to be that troublesome.
She pinched the bridge of her nose, a headache coming on. "You should know that this violates my portrait rights, right?"
"You were the one who told me to practice my skills more," Shinra said, clearly having prepared his excuse long ago.
But I didn't tell you to practice like this!
Yukinoshita pursed her lips and finally decided that after she won their bet in the upcoming exam, she would use that one condition to order him to delete the video.
"So, are we going back to the cat exhibition area?"
"Let's head back."
Yukinoshita had had her fill of petting. Plus, being filmed in such an embarrassing moment had made her feel as if the sky had fallen, so she naturally had no mood to pet any more cats.
"Is there anywhere you want to go?" she asked.
Shinra had been following her since they arrived and hadn't mentioned any exhibition area he wanted to visit. She thought that since they came out together, she couldn't just think about herself.
Of course, she would never admit that she was actually planning to get her revenge on the spot by taking out her phone while he was engrossed in petting a small animal.
Unfortunately, Shinra had no exhibition area he wanted to visit. He had already reaped the best reward from this expo; the other cats and dogs were clearly no longer on his mind.
Seeing her plan fall through, Yukinoshita didn't insist, but in the end, she couldn't help but make one request. "Can I see the video?"
"Of course," Shinra said, generously handing over his phone.
Watching her cat-obsessed self on the screen, an evil thought inevitably appeared in her mind.
When the word 'Delete' appeared on the screen, just as her finger was about to press down, Shinra whispered eerily in her ear, "I've saved it to the cloud."
Tch...
Yukinoshita expressionlessly handed the phone back to him. The video, naturally, had not been deleted by her.
As retaliation, and a retaliation of helpless rage, Yukinoshita decided to cancel the bento she had previously promised to make for him.
After informing the party concerned of this notice, the party concerned expressed his understanding and acceptance, and regretfully stated that he would be sharing the said video with a lady named Yukinoshita Haruno, who he believed would surely be willing to treat him to a sumptuous dinner.
Despicable!
Yukinoshita had never thought that she would one day be caught in such a bind due to a moment of carelessness. Now, the enemy was strong and she was weak. As the saying goes, when you're under someone else's roof, you have to bow your head.
In the end, Yukinoshita Yukino paid the price of three bentos and re-signed a humiliating 'no-proliferation of video' treaty with Mori Shinra.
After meeting up with Haruno again, she asked with a beaming smile, "Yo, did you have fun?"
"It was fun / It was not fun," two voices sounded simultaneously without precedence.
Haruno immediately got the gist. She walked over to Shinra and nudged his waist with her elbow. "Got a video?"
Whoa~ a connoisseur.
Feeling the burning gaze beside him, Shinra replied with a righteous expression, "No."
Yukino satisfactorily withdrew her gaze and used her body to separate her sister from him. "Sister, stop fooling around. Let's go home. I'm a little tired."
"Alright..." Haruno's tone was slightly disappointed.
But as Yukino turned around, Haruno secretly mouthed a message to Shinra.
—Send it to me.