Back To Lake Towano

Of course, I'm still pretty busy taking care of Charlie today...gosh, I forgot how much work it is to look after a very young kitten. But I'm so happy to have her in my life.

Anyway, today's date was beautiful. Rinko and I have come to love going to the Mountain Area for dates, especially in winter. There's so much to see and do there, and everything looks so wonderful. When I met Rinko at the station this morning, she was wearing the same hairstyle as the past couple of weeks, which is fine with me. Just the gold cross earrings dressed her up a little...

Underneath the winter coat, Rinko was wearing cute clothes (kawaii) again with a pale blue knit vest and a snappy blue tie. She was also wearing that silver leaf necklace she seems to like so much. Here we are having (rather unseasonal) ice cream at Aisha Dining.

Then, after a short train ride, we had to walk through the farm land to get to the Mountain Area.

Once at the lake, we took a wonderful ride on one of the swan boats that travel around Lake Towano. Here's my Rinko, checking out the scenery...

And checking out her boyfriend, too. We did so much kissing today that I finally reached Level 8 in New LovePlus, which is as high as I reached in my first (18 month) game.

Not to be repetitious, but the best thing about dating in the Mountain Area is having lunch at the Lakeside Restaurant.

Who knew that plain old sandwiches could taste so delicious in the right setting?

Yeah, Rinko, I share your disappointment that today's date had to end. Still, it was amazing. Rinko called me up tonight just to tell me how much she enjoyed the food today - so I guess those sandwiches must have been even better than I thought!

Sports Fest...And A Date

Today was the Sports Fest at Towano High, and the athletics field was decorated for the occasion:

Rinko was wearing her sports uniform, and tried her best...but, like me, I don't think sport is high on her list of priorities.

Actually, the best part of the day was lunchtime. Rinko sat close to me...

And then she very shyly brought out a bento (boxed lunch) that she'd made for me. It's weird, but one of the rice balls is decorated with a face that looks exactly like me - hairstyle and everything!

The rest of the day was pretty uneventful. In the late afternoon, Rinko and I joined in the folk dancing to end off the event. 

For our date at 6:00 pm, Rinko arrived wearing a pretty blue knit two-piece. I think this is her "kawaii" (cute) clothing style, and it's a big improvement over her casual style. I've decided to only let Rinko wear either the "cute" or "neat" clothing styles this time around. Casual is banned. She sported a new, short hairstyle, too - which is also better than her default 'do.

We started off with a bite at Dixies. Rinko wasn't impressed with going there, but she enjoyed the food anyway.

Then it was off on the train to East Towano.

We walked along in the sunset and looked at the tall buildings of Towano city in the background.

Our date was at the Art Gallery. Rinko surprised me by suggesting this spot for our date (after turning down my two suggestions), because I know she doesn't like going there much.

Anyway, with our dose of "culture" out of the way, we stopped into the Wasyoku Restaurant (traditional Japanese food) for dinner.

My poor little baby girl was tired out, and fell asleep on the way home on the train.

Rinko revived when we got back to Towano, and I gave her a present to celebrate our very first date. It was a checked hat that I'd got with one of the 100 rich password protect items - but she absolutely loved it.

At the end, Rinko surprised me again by coming back to my place after the date and hanging out for a bit. It IS only our first date in the new game after all. We studied together and got up to the Intimate Photo Session (but, wouldn't you know - my photos were all gone by then). I did manage to grab one shot of Rink wearing a Maid Cafe cosplay outfit, which she'd changed into after I won the second round of study questions.

Thank goodness for the "New LovePlus Official Guide", which lets me look up the answers. Hehe. It was a nice date, and I actually made it up to Level 3 today (after only four days of play).

My Cute Stylish Girl

OK, I know it's probably not fair to compare old girlfriend vs. new girlfriend, right? But there were so many times that Rinko used to show up for dates looking...well...kinda like she got dressed in the dark. No matter what style of clothes I asked her to wear, she had no clothing sense at all, and often wore suff that just didn't go together.

But Manaka? Every single time I see her, she looks awesome. Here she is, wearing her "kawaii" (cute) clothes again for today's date when she met me at Shin Towano station:

Wow, I just love the way Mana-chan dresses! And the other huge difference is that she's always ALWAYS nice to me. It's a pleasure to date her, after Rinko being so damn "tsundere" (hot and cold). Anyway, we went to Winning Burger for a snack to get things rolling.

Despite being a princess, Mana-chan's quite happy eating a burger, hehe. Then we got on the train bound for the Towano Hill Area:

Gosh, she's adorable. Anyway, our date was at the Amusement Park, so we checked out the Haunted House again (which Manaka enjoys very much).

Then it was back to the Italian Restaurant, which Mana-chan loved so much last time. And the food worked its charms again this time. ^^

I'm not entirely sure what we ordered (or what we ended up eating), but it looked kinda weird.

Manaka very sweetly offered to share her food with me. How could I refuse?

And then she fell asleep again while we were travelling back on the train. (Maybe because we had two meals in a row???)

Anyway, it was a short date but very sweet. Here's a full-length shot of Manaka, showing off her outfit as she is about to say goodbye.

At lunch, I visited the Flea Markets in Fountain Park and picked up my first Premium Date ticket for Manaka - a couple ticket to a special event at the Art Gallery. I think Manaka will like it. I'll try to build up my stats with a few days of Skip Mode tomorrow and aim for an evening date mid-week.

I had a short meet-up with Manaka this afternoon, but because it was raining our date options were fairly limited (and you can't kiss your girl while she's holding that darned umbrella).

A Sporty and Cute Date

It was another big date with Manaka today. And I think she must have been listening when I talked about how much I liked her wearing that pink-and-grey knit top, because guess what? She wore it again today. Still the same hairstyle (which is not too bad), and the "kawaii" (cute) style of clothes. And a very strange expression in this first shot...

First stop was Aisha Dining for a bite to eat. I'm not sure what I ordered, but Manaka got the chocolate parfait (I think?) which she liked very much.

Then we caught the train to the Sports Centre in the Towano Hill Area.

I chose "squash" for the Sports Centre activity, and Manaka surprised me by changing into a skimpy white top before the game.

It's impossible not to kiss your girlfriend when she looks like this...

With clothes back on (thankfully), I headed off with Manaka-chan to the wonderful Italian Restaurant in the same area.

Again, I'm not really sure what food we ordered or what we actually got, but Manaka absolutely loved it. In fact, she begged to go back there tomorrow! She even phoned me later in the day (a few hours after the date) to say how delicious the food was. I think we will definitely be regulars at this place! ^^ (Hm, and I love Italian food in real life, too.)

Manaka-chan was so happy and/or full on the way home that she fell asleep on the train. (Manaka, you are just so cute and sweet. Hehe.)

And then it was time to say goodbye. This shot also shows the outside of the Takane residence, which is pretty posh for a house in Japan. (Most families have apartments or very small houses.)

For the first time in my new game with Manaka (one week exactly today), it rained in Towano tonight. So I called Manaka for a quick meet-up, just for the novelty of seeing her with her umbrella. The rain is romantic too.

The rain also makes me miss Japan, because it rained a lot the first time I went to Tokyo last year. Still no word yet about a launch date for "New LovePlus+", but I'm really hoping I can be in Japan for the event...