Chapter 128: Chapter 127 - The Wrong Movie
Mina was excited.
Very excited.
Perhaps too excited.
That’s never good.
Since whenever Mina becomes excited, reality usually gets hurt.
Today wasn’t an exception.
She stood in front of the station entrance and checked her phone for the fifth time.
Then sixth.
Then seventh.
"Kuro is late."
"He is not."
Silence.
"He’s right on time."
Mina sighed.
She was on a date.
A date.
Surely not a date.
Or maybe she was just being paranoid.
Luckily, Kuro arrived before she could destroy her mind.
"I’m sorry for making you wait."
"You weren’t late."
"Why are you looking like that?"
"...No reason."
A lie.
A terrible lie.
Kuro believed her, though.
---
The plan for today was pretty simple.
Go to a movie.
To be more specific:
Love is Pure
The most popular romantic movie of the year.
The tale about two childhood friends who fall in love.
Romantic.
Heartfelt.
Delightful.
Perfect.
Mina chose it extremely carefully.
Very carefully.
Definitely not because she was hoping for a romantic moment.
Not at all.
---
The train stopped.
Both got inside.
There weren’t many passengers on board.
At first.
Then three stations passed by.
Passengers began entering.
Even more passengers.
And more of them.
It soon got crowded.
Very crowded.
Suddenly, Mina noticed she was standing closer to Kuro.
Not much.
Enough to be noticeable.
Her shoulder touched his arm.
Mina stopped moving.
Kuro seemed unaffected.
Life can be so unfair.
---
The train suddenly jerked.
Mina lost her balance.
Briefly.
Instinctively, she grabbed the nearest object.
The nearest object was Kuro’s hand.
Silence.
Mina glanced down.
Then immediately turned away.
Her cheeks turned red.
Kuro blinked.
"Are you alright?"
"Yes."
Neither of them moved for several seconds.
Then Mina let go of his hand.
Pretending nothing happened.
The plan worked perfectly.
Until her face stayed red.
---
Twenty minutes later.
They arrived at the cinema.
Mission accomplished.
Except...
Reality hates Mina.
---
The lobby of the theater was packed.
Every single wall covered in movie posters.
People everywhere.
Kuro checked the digital schedule.
Then frowned.
"Mina."
"Yes?"
"I don’t think we got the right ticket."
Mina went to him.
Checked the screen.
Then froze.
Utterly.
Absolutely.
Frozen.
The movie title on their tickets didn’t read:
Love is Pure
But
Sharkman 3: Blood Tide
Silence.
A long silence.
"What?"
Mina blinked.
Twice.
"What?"
She checked the booking app.
And immediately understood.
Yesterday she had booked the wrong movie.
That horror movie.
That awful horror movie.
Described online as:
"traumatizing."
---
Mina laughed nervously.
"But we can still get the other tickets."
Kuro checked the schedule once again.
"The romantic movie is sold out."
Silence.
The universe decided to be evil.
---
Five minutes later.
They went inside.
And Mina still thought everything will be fine.
How could she be scared when watching such a light-hearted comedy?
She got her answer around seven minutes into the movie.
Very terrified.
Horribly terrified.
Scared shitless.
Giant mutated Sharkman appeared out of nowhere.
Half shark.
Half human.
Pure nightmare.
The whole audience jumped.
Even Mina.
However—
Kuro reacted even harder.
Almost dropping his popcorn.
Mina blinked.
A realization slowly came to her.
"Kuro?"
He didn’t reply.
The Sharkman started screaming.
Kuro nearly jumped out of his skin.
Mina blinked once again.
Realizing the truth.
"Oh my god."
"No."
"You truly hate horror movies."
"No."
The sharkman reappeared.
Kuro nearly left his seat.
Mina bit her lip.
Trying hard not to laugh.
---
For the first time today.
Roles have switched.
Typically Mina is the emotional wreck.
But now—
Kuro was the victim.
Fantastic.
---
Halfway through the movie.
A particularly terrifying scene showed up.
The Sharkman came out of the water.
Screaming.
The audience screamed along.
Including Kuro.
Quietly.
But he did.
Mina will remember it.
Forever.
---
And another scene shocked everyone.
It happened abruptly.
A corpse appeared out of thin air.
Soundtrack blasted.
Jumpscare.
Audience jumped.
Kuro instinctively held Mina’s arm.
Silence.
They continued watching the movie.
Neither of them reacting immediately.
Until Kuro finally realized what happened.
He let her arm go.
"...I’m sorry."
"It’s okay."
Somehow.
Those words sounded incredibly warm.
Despite the fact that the movie wasn’t romantic at all.
---
Finally the horror part was over.
Credits scrolled.
Everyone survived.
Mostly.
Kuro looked exhausted.
Mina – entertained.
"I learned something today."
Kuro sighed.
"What?"
"That you suck at horror."
"I beg to differ."
"I disagree, but the facts are against me."
And there were a lot of them.
---
The trip back home happened during the evening.
Orange hues filled the sky.
Gentle breeze flowed through the streets.
The atmosphere grew softer.
Comfortable.
On the way to the station, they walked through a park.
The streets illuminated by little lamps.
Families and kids were walking around.
Laughing.
The movie seemed forgotten.
---
And then they stumbled upon a butterfly garden.
Mina stopped.
"Oh."
"What?"
She pointed at something.
A bunch of butterflies.
Landing on flowers.
Wings glowing under evening light.
Such a surreal view.
Mina smiled gently.
"They’re beautiful."
Kuro glanced at butterflies.
And then at Mina.
For a brief moment.
The evening grew strangely peaceful.
The kind of peace rarely seen here.
---
And then one of butterflies landed on Mina’s shoulder.
She giggled softly.
The second one followed.
Like in a movie.
A romantic movie.
The movie they were supposed to see.
Kuro found himself smiling gently.
Mina caught that.
Immediately looked away.
Her heart suddenly became difficult to control.
---
The return train was less crowded.
Fewer passengers.
City lights appeared through the windows.
Both of them sitting side by side.
Silent.
Warm.
No horrifying sharks.
No wrong tickets.
Just gentle rocking of the train.
Mina leaned back into her seat.
Tired.
Happily embarrassed.
---
"It wasn’t the day I planned."
Kuro nodded.
"Not even close."
Mina giggled.
"Sorry."
"For what?"
"For the movie."
Kuro thought about it for a second.
Then shook his head.
"It wasn’t bad."
Mina blinked.
"Not bad?"
"The company was good."
Dangerous silence.
Mina immediately faced the window.
Cheeks turning red.
Outside—blurry lights of the city.
Silence.
Inside the train.
Both of them remained silent.
For some reason.
Both of them hoped this ride will never end.
And for once.
That was enough.
It seemed as though today couldn’t get any worse; but, as fate would have it, one last complication arose before their day could conclude.
Upon leaving the station near their area, the two noticed that there was a small celebration happening at the park located just nearby.
Food stands.
Various games.
Festival lights.
Festival music.
Families and couples walking around the grounds.
Mina stopped immediately.
"Oh!"
Kuro caught onto what she saw.
"Is that the festival?"
She nodded once.
"It is smaller than the summer one."
"Do you want to go see it?"
A simple question.
But with the power to cause a reaction.
Mina’s heartbeat increased suddenly.
"...Just a bit."
This is why they ended up going to wander around at the festival.
Tried out snacks.
Joined a ring toss game.
Failed miserably.
Yet still won an award despite their poor performance simply because the stall owner sympathized with them.
Mina still carried the stuffed shark she won.
Quite ironically.
Especially considering the film.
"Looks like Sharkman followed you home."
"Don’t call me that!"
Kuro managed a laugh.
Uncommon occurrence.
Mina nearly dropped the stuffed animal.
---
Afterward, the two walked until they found themselves on the other side of the festival.
There stood a small Ferris wheel.
Certainly nothing grandiose or extravagant.
Simply a plain old attraction decorated with yellow lighting.
Unfortunately for Mina, she already looked away.
Too late.
Kuro already had his eyes set on it.
"Want to ride the Ferris wheel?"
"No!"
A pause.
"...Alright?"
Another brief pause.
"...Just a bit."
Five minutes later, they found themselves seated in a carriage.
As Mina had recently learned, refusing anything around Kuro was becoming increasingly difficult.
Strange development.
The small carriage began to rise, leaving the sounds of the festival behind.
The lights of the city stretched far in the distance.
For quite a long time, they said nothing.
Until everything became oddly tranquil.
Comfortable.
However, trouble arose once again.
The Ferris wheel came to a stop.
Mina blinked once.
"What is happening?"
From below, a voice rang out.
"Temporary maintenance check. It will start running soon!"
Silent.
Mina looked around the cabin.
Small cabin.
Really small cabin.
Meaning they were sitting much closer than normal.
Realization took some time.
But did arrive.
Mina instantly became conscious of the proximity between them.
Well, lack of it, actually.
---
At some point, the wind rocked the carriage ever so gently.
In an attempt to grab something, Mina accidentally held onto Kuro’s sleeve.
She froze.
Instantly.
"Sorry!"
"It’s fine."
Neither of them made any motions to move.
Nor seem eager to do so.
Looking down at the city lights from above, the carriage remained still.
Everything became silent.
But a peaceful sort of silence.
---
Then a butterfly flew in.
Mina blinked.
"A butterfly?"
Evidently, the insect had gotten into the carriage when they got in.
Flying around aimlessly, the butterfly eventually landed.
On Kuro’s head.
Silent.
Mina stared at him.
Another one then landed.
Right next to him.
On Kuro’s shoulder.
The young man looked confused.
"Why are they gathering here?"
She covered her mouth.
To hold back her laughter.
"They like you."
"They don’t usually behave this way."
"You must have been born as a flower reincarnated."
"It is unlikely."
Mina gave up trying.
She laughed.
Genuinely.
Bright and cheerful.
Her laugh, one that he rarely heard from her.
Kuro simply watched her for a second.
Then smiled.
Ever so slightly.
But that smile was enough.
Mina momentarily forgot how to breathe.
---
Eventually, the Ferris wheel started moving once again.
Descending down from the sky.
Not mentioning the stop or the butterflies or the comfortable silence.
Some moments require no explanations.
Upon arriving at the bottom, they both left the small attraction.
Festival lights shining brightly around them.
The evening breeze blowing gently.
Mina clutched the stuffed shark tighter.
"Today was quite strange."
"It definitely was."
"The movie was awful."
"It was."
"The Sharkman terrified me."
Kuro nodded.
"He truly did."
Mina laughed again.
But then looked over at him.
Just briefly.
Their romance movie plan was scrapped.
Watching a horror film.
Attending a festival.
Going to a Ferris wheel.
And ending up having a wonderful day.
As they walked home, Mina chuckled quietly to herself.
Sometimes the best days come from unexpected circumstances.
