No, he wouldn't have had it any other way. This was perfect just as it was. Tenderness could be nice, but this unhindered joy was such a scarce commodity on its own! There was her warmth against his back, the feeling of her holding on so tight and the way that laughter sounded as it danced away in the wind-- all of these things were perfect additions to his own little hoard, and he laughed right along with her.

Getting to share that experience was more than enough for him.

They zipped along at that speed for a while longer, whipping past all these new sights. Those were all their own adventures for another day. They were already pretty booked up right now. Eventually they started getting closer to more familiar parts of town, and Kai gradually eased them back to the casual riding experience they'd had before. Kai glanced over his shoulder briefly, a twinkle in his eye.

"Y'good?"

It was extremely satisfying to hear all that joy linger even as they switched gears. Getting her all loosened up and comfy was a very good side effect. Kai chuckled.

"Well, pretty sure I've got another promise to keep," he explained as the slipped back into the commuter pace. They'd definitely taken the scenic tour to get there, but they weren't too far off. Here came the botanical garden... there went the botanical garden!

That energy was pretty infectious enough even without the bouncing. He wasn't really the bouncy-sort himself, but, hey. This might have gotten him going.

"Bin~go~"

He'd been there to help with the exhibits, but technically Kai still hadn't been to the zoo as a visitor. It seemed like a pretty good day for it? "If you're interested in that destination."

It was a little bit surprising that she was this enthusiastic about it, but Kai appreciated it. "We'll see if they got 'em!" He actually still wasn't 100% sure on that point. "It'll be nice to check up on the other critters either way."

They'd find out soon enough! It didn't take long to park at their destination. Kai leaned back a bit, taking his helmet off so he could give her a proper flash of a grin.

"Here we are."

"Mhmm," Kai hummed as he slid off the bike. Oh no. Look at that poof. His was probably just as much of a nest, but it didn't have the advantage of being cute. Fueled by this, that grin of his took on a more dangerous playful edge. "Good thing you're not paying by the mile, huh?"

His hand was already halfway through a tidying ruffle of her hair before Kai realized once again what he was doing. He'd gotten so used to it with Shinji! "Ah-- sorry, sorry," he apologized as he moved instead to pop his helmet into the storage. "It's a habit."

These were admittedly somewhat new habits. He'd been very earnest back then! Things just... changed, sometimes.

He just shook his head in turn. He really didn't want to actually take her money for just doing whatever the hell he wanted to do. That seemed weird, but that was an argument for later. Kai was more than content to keep up this light going for now. "How sneaky of you," Kai chuckled, putting the helmets away.

All ready to go, Kai beckoned towards her to follow him to the entrance with some pep in his step. "Let's see what we can find."

"Hmm... maybe! I didn't get a chance to explore much when I was here either." Too much labor to worry about and babies to look after in the downtime. Who knew what secrets were in store.

"Guess we'll find out!" Let him just sneakily pay for two whole entries with his phone there, gently ushering Kyoko along. "Even if not, it'll be nice to see how all the kids are doing."

Wow, what a truly mysterious phenomenon. Pay it no attention.

"Ha. Well, maybe they're not all mine. That'd be a whole lot of mouths to feed."

There was a quick wrinkle of his nose. Of course that's where it would have been going. "Yeah, I'll take cool uncle any day. Works out better for all of us."

That was a one way ticket to ruining their lives though. Let's not.

"Absolutely," Kai confessed without a single moment of hesitation. He was in fact extremely biased. "We're gonna go find Gojira first."

This way, giggles, in the general direction of very large lizards.

Kai laughed at that, waving a hand in front of his face. "Nah. Not all of 'em. Gojira hung out at our place when the renovating was goin' on, so I'm biased."

"Pretty much," Kai chuckled. He'd been slipping his hand in his pocket, pulling out that familiar little pouch of dragon snacks. "Ready to spoil on the fly and everything."