READ NOVEL ONLINE Arc 1, Ch.15: My arm hurts, but worth it!
Maybe he noticed my staring, but he tilted his head and looked up at me. After a second, his eyes widened a bit.
“You’re taller than me”, he commented with a surprised tone and usual stiff face. He stopped himself, then awkwardly added another sentence. “I hadn’t noticed before.”
“Neither had I”, I answered quietly. I didn’t actually want him to know I had been staring down at him because of that but he looked uncomfortable blurting out his findings so I wanted to share a bit of it. With a good bit of willpower, I looked away from his upturned face to watch the queue in front of us.
The temptation of someone looking up at you with a completely clueless face is huge. The thing was that; one, we were in public and, two, I still wouldn’t risk it! System, I don’t believe you that much! Even if he’s listed as a love interest, I don’t believe that I could make him fall for me! As much as I can see our relationship progress thanks to the prompts and choices...
Maybe it was that thought that pissed the system off, since I got a huge red note jumping out right into my face. I nearly jumped back but managed to stop myself in the last moment, cursing inside my head.
[Hint: It is suggested that the host follows the prompts that will appear during the event.]
So I’m getting prompts today? Alright, sure. Also, good to know that this counts as an event.
I'm just going to do whatever the system tells me to and then see how things turn out…
For now, I should just focus on the movie, otherwise I’ll be all tense.
When we were next in line, Taizou carefully nudged me with his elbow to gain my attention. “You gave me one of the tickets, so let me pay for your snacks.”
Uh, welp, what should I-
[(Please choose what to say.)
- ”Alright.”
- “No, I’ll pay for mine.”
- “The tickets weren’t mine.”]
Ah, what the fuck! Not helpful this time! That’s all answers I could have thought up on my own and none of them sound good!
I didn’t have time to hesitate because Taizou was looking at me. I hummed to gain one more second and crossed my arms so I could fidget without it being too obvious.
“Uhm, the tickets weren’t mine, though. It’s not like I paid for them, so it’d feel unfair if you paid for my snacks now.”
Taizou frowned again and hummed in reply. I tried to suggest something else, totally without ulterior motives, I swear!
“How about you invite me the next time you get something for free, as well? We don’t need to calculate between friends, right?”
I knew my smile was crooked again but I wasn’t sure whether I was saying the best thing in this situation. Taizou was too hard for me to read. I was sorely missing my points bar…
I almost heaved a sigh in relief when the crease between his eyebrows lessened and he gave me a nod. “Okay.”
Aah! Cute! I couldn’t help it, his appearance of deliberating whether my solution was fine was just too cute! Mustn’t stare!
As we discussed, we ordered separately and each carried our stuff on our own.
Since it wasn’t too long until the movie would start and the room was open already, we went ahead to find our seats and settle down.
I was quite excited - I had been looking forward to the movie. Taizou was much calmer than me, making himself comfortable in his seat next to me. Since we had chosen a run in the early evening, the room was still very empty and thus quiet.
When the room darkened, I stared ahead with anticipation.
The movie was a psychological thriller with supernatural elements. The story wasn’t overly special but it was well made and I enjoyed it right from the start.
Just that the movie unexpectedly had a good amount of horror and jumpscares.
I had no problems with horror - I loved playing horror games - but when I saw something jump at the edge of my vision for the second time not even halfway into the movie and still in the build-up-phase, I looked to my right.
You don’t need to see a person’s face or the colour of it to judge that they’re scared out of their wits by the pure look of their body language.
That was a bit out of my expectations but from what I could tell with the other people in the cinema, he wasn’t the only tense one. I leaned over, whispering in order not to disturb anyone else.
“Are you fine?”
“...Yes.”
His voice was stiff. Usually, it was his face that was stiff and his voice was just monotone or cold, so I didn’t believe him at all.
“You can look away.”
“No, I’m okay. I’m watching.”
Obstinately refusing to take his eyes off the screen, Taizou jolted with another hiccup when a torn apart face jumped at the screen. I jolted along, though I enjoyed the little fright contrary to my friend.
The prompt in my face looked like it was lit up by a backlight, a nice touch so I could read in the darkness.
[Hold out your arm for him]
I had expected prompts to appear, so I wasn’t too surprised. It still took me a moment to understand the prompt’s intention, though.
When Risa got scared by a movie but didn’t want to stop watching, she’d often grab Daichi’s arm and just squeeze it with every jolt. I didn’t understand the use behind it, but maybe it was a I-suffer-so-suffer-with-me thing.
It was a rather intimate thing: the other person can tell when you're scared and you're holding onto them for a sense of safety, but the system had said I should do it and I was willing to try.
I shrugged to myself in the dark and held out my arm to Taizou with a visible head tilt.
Honestly, I’m pretty sure the only reason why that worked was that he didn’t have any friends to compare whether my behaviour was weird. My other friends would have looked at me rather weirdly if I had done that with them.
He just plainly grabbed my arm and nearly tore it out of my shoulder when he dragged it closer to his body. I wordlessly spent the rest of the movie in a very uncomfortable position and with an amusingly painful gauge at which scares he hated the most.
As it turned out, he was okay with the horror itself but really couldn’t deal with the jumpscares.
We both let out a breath when the credits rolled.
He, because it was over.
I, also because it was over. My whole arm felt bruised.
The people leaving the room alongside us were mostly pale and patting their chests, very few were like me and quite relaxed. Generally, we all looked like we had just gotten onto a rollercoaster. It was a fun and scary ride, but everyone was happy that it was over.
“The story was really good”, I hummed happily. “The twist was great!”
“It sure had some good jumpscares”, Taizou mumbled, rubbing his wrists.
...Yo, I think I should be the one to rub my arms and wrists, not you.
“Sorry for, uh…”
He gestured towards my arm and I gave a genuine smile. “It’s fine. As long as it helped.”
We followed the masses to the main room, glancing at the setting sun outside. At this time, the cinema was starting to fill up. People were starting to gather and I imagined feeling eyes following us. I frowned in discomfort.
“Wanna go outside?”, Taizou suggested first.
I agreed happily, pushing my way through the dense bunch of people and only breathing freely under the open sky.
[Suggest eating together.]
Well alright, I’ll play your game. We stood on the street for a moment, both of us looking up, before I glanced around. The restaurants and food stalls were brightly lit, customers walking in and out.
“Taizou, shall we eat something? Is there anything you like?” I tilted my head down into Taizou’s field of view. He blinked up at me in thought, then looked around on his own.
“Sushi?”, he muttered with an uncertain tone. Wah, expensive, but sure. Anything he likes.
“There’s one place that probably has sushi over there.”
I didn’t even try to suggest anything else, pointing right past him. His eyes followed my outstretched arm to a restaurant not too far away, a cozy little thing with bright decorations.
Taizou opened his mouth but shut it again, nodding mutely. He turned on his heel to walk and I did two larger steps to catch up with him. Now that I noticed I was taller than him, standing straight was funnily easy.
“Mizuki”, he said into the middle of nowhere.
I looked at him in confusion. “Hm?”
“It’s fine to call me by my first name.”
I slowed and so did he. I’m pretty sure I must have looked stupid with my mouth open, but… even the student council president didn’t call him by his first name. No one I knew did.
Taizou pursed his lips, not meeting my eye. “I’m not forcing you.”
Realizing that he was taking my silence as a rejection, I spoke up.
“Ah? No, not at all! Then… I’ll call you Mizuki? If you want to, call me Riku as well.”
He hesitated, then repeated my name. “Riku, then.”
I was grinning, I’m pretty sure. Broadly, I imagine, but my heart was jumping eagerly at the sound of my name on his tongue. I felt ticklish and skitterish. Of course I couldn’t start giggling stupidly in the middle of the street in public, but I sure felt like doing exactly that.
