Bring Me Up

Chapter 2 Part 4

I stayed a bit behind Minato. It was a long time since I walked with someone like this.

"What movie do you want to watch?" A voice came from the person in front of me.

"Don't care. I don't even know what is playing right now."

I swear. It's not that I didn't like movies, but I also didn't have the habit of going to the cinemas either.

"Then let's watch something that I choose?"

"Whatever you want."

Since she already figured out my secret, then she should probably choose the movie? At the same time, I knew that not a lot of people go to the movies with people like her.

"What to pick…"

Like this, we approached the cinema, a complex of a whole of eleven rooms. There were posters of new movies outside, and through them it was possible to understand what the movies were about.

"Okay, let's go for this one, Idzono-kun." Minato pointed at a poster of a foreign CG cartoon. When we got closer and checked the show schedule on the electronic panel, it turned out that there were twenty more minutes until the start. I bought two tickets, and Minato got some popcorn and a leaflet.

"There is still time before the show starts, we'll have the time to reach it a hundred times."

Minato wasn't nervous, she wasn't worried or something like that, but she was somehow strangely inspired. She seemed like a five or a six-year old girl who is joyfully looking forward to something new.

But I had a lump in my throat. It's lousy when a person who knows your secret, doesn't threaten you, but also doesn't leave you alone. This is much worse than going to a horror movie, where you don't know when some monster will pop up on the screen.

"It's fun, right?" Is she talking about the movie or about herself?

We took our places in the dimly lit room. I sat on the left with Minato on the right.

"Here, take this drink, Idzono-kun. You're not against c.o.ke right?"

Minato put a paper cup in the armrest holder. The lights turned off and the start of the show was announced. After a short video, which asked for the adherence to the etiquette rules, the movie commenced.

***

The authors succeeded. The movie wasn't bad. The plot, the graphics, the music, and the voiceover were all successful.

"Good story…" Minato said and rubbed her eyes.

And I? I couldn't squeeze out the tears. Yeah, nice scenes. Yeah, tearful scenes. I really thought so. I thought it a lot while watching. But the tears didn't flow. It's not that I was trying to show off or look strong – the tears just didn't flow. Even when everyone around were crying, I stayed indifferent. When I realized this, I was always filled with a feeling of emptiness. I walked past the cleaning lady and left the movie theatre.

The administrator, waiting at the exit, was watching the audience throwing out their garbage, making a whole mountain.

"So this is it?"

"Yes."

"I'm going home."

"Do you want to go to the game centre?"

I was dumbfounded but agreed.

"Sure…"

She still wouldn't let me go.

I didn't go to play very often, but I knew where to go. It was necessary to go a little back towards the station. The first floor of the centre was filled with crane machines, the video machines were on the second.

"Idzono-kun, get me a plush toy." Because of the loud music, I couldn't hear her clearly.

"Can you be more precise? Do you want anything specific?"

We looked at a bunch of stuffed toys that were hung behind a plastic barrier. Two hundred yen for one try. Five hundred for three.

"It's a normal thing to get a girl a toy in the game centre. Or is this something unusual for you?"

"I don't play crane."

"What? You fell in my eyes. Look, what do you think? That keychain."

Minato pointed at a small plush chibi-dog, hanging on a chain. Its head and body were the same size. The claw that was supposed to be used to grab the toy by the ring was lowering from the top.

"I probably won't get it."

"Come on. If you won't try – you won't get it for sure."

"Then you try. Here's a thousand yen."

Hideo Noguchi stuck his head out of my purse and was transferred into Minato's hand.

"You're so cold," Minato complained, exchanged the money and put a token into the machine. Light music played, and the claw began to move.

To my surprise, Minato pulled out two prizes for five hundred yen.

"Here, one for you. It's as if they're from the same set."

A well-made and a pleasant-to-touch toy dog appeared in my hand. On her back was a zipper, which I unzipped, but there was nothing inside.

"And what goes inside?"

"Mmm… I don't know. Maybe a cellphone."

"It's not very comfortable. I mean, so you put inside, and what next?"

"Oh, well yeah…"

The dog was small, my finger could only fit halfway into the pocket on its back.

"Let's attach them to our mobile phones."

"I'll think about it." And I walked out of the place. Minato followed me.

I couldn't think of what to talk to about, so I was silent. Minato supported me on that. We just walked, and took a train at the nearby station.

I tried to steal a bit, and Minato didn't notice. She probably only saw when I was getting rid of the wallets. It was good that this time I threw them into a mailbox instead of a garbage can. Regardless of my wishes, the train continued on its way, and we got off after a few stations.

Edited by: Akshaythedon