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Chapter 75: Chapter 8

December 20th (Sunday) – Ayase Saki

Yomiuri Shiori-san dragged me to the small locker room. I really think her shift is gonna start soon, so should she really be spending this much time with me? She opened up her locker and took out her bag, followed by a white envelope, which she offered to me.

"Here you go."

"Huh?"

I reluctantly accepted the envelope. "What\'s this?"

"It\'s your birthday present!"

A present that fits into a small envelope? Maybe it\'s some kind of coupon or a gift card? Her body language made it seem like she expected me to open the envelope, so I did so, taking out a piece of paper. It turned out to be tickets for a movie. Although I didn\'t recognize the title. The screening was scheduled for… 8:50 pm. The date was what surprised me the most.

"Wait. This is for today, right?"

"Exactly. Go watch that with Junior-kun, won\'t ya?"

"With… Asamura-kun…?"

I mean, she did buy two tickets. But even if she suddenly gives these two to me…

"You should have enough time after you finish your dinner, right?"

"…Well, I guess we do."

Needless to say, Yomiuri-san had already questioned me about my plans for today, and she found out that Asamura-kun and I made plans to eat dinner together. I hadn\'t gotten the exact details from Asamura-kun yet, but the plan was for us to leave work at 6 pm since his reservation is at 6:30. Even if we take our time eating dinner, we should be able to make it to the movie theater just in time. Also, all we did was tell her about the time we\'re gonna leave work, so how did she manage to guess our schedule perfectly to then buy tickets like this? I feel like playing hide and seek with her is impossible. And she even surprised me with movie tickets as a birthday present… Is it really okay for me to accept these?

"Um… Thank you very much."

"Izz fine, izz fine! Even if I gave ya something proper, you\'d probably just see me as a clingy senior with heavy presents, so this much is nothing…"

"No, I would never—"

I don\'t think I would ever feel that way, to be honest.

"It happens a lot. Pretty rare, though."

"Which is it?"

Is it rare or not? I can\'t tell.

"They\'re gonna expire today anyway, so at least take them with you. You don\'t have to use them. But I should probably tell you—" Yomiuri-san started grinning. "That movie… Junior-kun really wants to watch it."

My eyes shot wide open.

"I made sure of it beforehand. So I\'m sure he\'ll be happy."

"Urgh…"

Will he really be happy? I began thinking, especially about what had been on my mind the past few days—Relating to Asamura-kun\'s birthday. Although I managed to give him a good present, I didn\'t do it with any kind of surprise. And here I am, cursing my past self for not considering that important. But with these tickets, I could maybe surprise him.

"Hee, hee, hee. Feeling motivated now? I bet you\'re looking forward to it now!"

"Erm, well… I might as well, yes."

I wonder if Yomiuri-san caught on to Asamura-kun\'s and mine relationship, and now she\'s secretly trying to support us?

"Um, why are you going this far…?"

The reason my momentum dropped towards the end of the sentence was that I realized I was probably just imagining things my way in my head. Plus, Asamura-kun called her the personification of a creepy middle-aged man, but looking at her beautiful appearance with long black hair, if she turned out to be my rival in love, then I don\'t think I could win against her…

"Why? Because I wanna have some juicy spoilers talk with you two! All the other critics were praising the living hell out of it, so I wanna have a discussion about it."

"Huh? Is it a difficult movie to understand or something?"

"Not at all! …I think. Well, that\'s why I want you to watch it. I\'ve already watched it myself."

Yomiuri-san\'s gaze was serious, so it didn\'t seem like she was teasing me—then again, she teases me all the time, so I can\'t be too sure—but she was probably genuine about this. And personally, I feel like it\'d be a waste not to watch it after getting the tickets as a present.

"I understand. I\'ll make sure to enjoy it with Asamura-kun." I gave her my thanks and accepted my birthday present.

We left work and headed to the fashion building near the train station. The 6th floor was basically full of restaurants and other food stalls. And Asamura-kun took me to a western restaurant on that floor. I was happy that it turned out like a pleasant place, but something still felt off. It didn\'t seem like the kind of place Asamura-kun would frequent. Why did he choose this place? I asked him, and the response he gave was—

"I was told that the beef stew here is especially good."

I was baffled. Beef stew is one of my favorite dishes. And according to him, he asked Mom about that. Since the present itself had no element of surprise to it, he wanted to pull off a proper surprise in a different way. And as he said, my heart skipped a beat. I was really happy. But at the same time, I started sulking. I couldn\'t surprise him, and yet he made me this happy.

An employee brought us the menu. The omurice and the curry both looked delicious. Especially the cream-topped pudding with caramel sauce poured over it… Wait, no. I\'m not here to eat sweets.

"This all looks delicious… Can I order this?"

In the end, I wanted to try the beef stew. When I looked at the side dishes it came with and the price, it was the one thing I wanted. And the stew that arrived in front of me was even more amazing than I had expected. Why does beef stew from restaurants always look better than the one we make at home? I\'ve had this question for ages now. Asamura-kun attempted to give me an answer.

"Maybe there\'s a difference with the meat?"

"Probably. That would explain a lot… I\'d like to try making this myself."

Maybe it was just a difference in procedure after all? A feeling of displeasure rose within my chest that stabbed my heart. Past memories I had locked away came flashing back in my head. When I was much younger, we would often eat at a private restaurant near our house. I still can\'t forget the taste of the beef stew they served. I couldn\'t believe that something so delicious could exist in this world. That is true, and that I realize. But… I don\'t think this feeling is just related to the food itself.

My mother has gotten married again, this time to Asamura-kun\'s father—Taichi-san, who turned out to be a kind person who could make Mom happy. Last Halloween, when Mom took time off work, she said this:

\'With Taichi-san, I\'ve started to think I could take a few more breaks.\'

When I heard that, I was relieved from the bottom of my heart. Right now, Mom can take time off. It\'s different from how it was before. That wasn\'t the case years ago. When my father just up and left, she couldn\'t rely on our family, so she did her best to raise me on her own, even cooking food for me every day. Even as a child, I understood how hard it must be for her, so around the time I got into middle school, I began learning how to cook to lessen her burden. I have no complaints about Mom\'s food. It\'s as delicious as ever.

But even so, there were foods she couldn\'t make simply because she was so busy. Things that take a lot of time to prepare. These kinds of dishes simply didn\'t fit our lifestyle. My father was a show-off, so he always took us to fancy-looking restaurants. But since he was too much of a show-off, he always scolded us about our manners. It may have not been so bad if that was simply the kind of family I was born into.

However, we went to places like this maybe twice a year, so even if you expect a young girl in grade school to show perfect manners, it\'ll just make her too nervous to even enjoy the taste. I was too terrified to even make a sound, because my father would then scream my name and scold me. To me, dining out was like a ritual where failure was not allowed.

On the day the divorce went through, Mom did seem a bit exhausted, but she also seemed refreshed. And that\'s when she took me to a simple western restaurant in the neighborhood, not some luxurious restaurant with a stiff atmosphere. I ordered orange juice, which I gulped down wildly after burning my tongue from the beef stew. The corners of my mouth were drenched with sauce, and Mom wiped it away with a smile.

Since all the other customers were also families with children, it felt like we were all one big family, going out to eat. And the beef stew I ate on that day… was ready-made and boiled, always ready for the next customer. The soft sensation of the meat was made with the customers in mind. Inside the meat, the juices felt like they could melt anybody\'s frozen heart. It filled my mouth with the taste of relief and peace.

"Anyway, this is your present."

I was pulled back to reality. Asamura-kun handed me a small bag with my present inside. I did ask for simple usable soap, but it turned out to be aromatic soap with a relaxing effect, one that smelled like pleasant herbs. I could tell that Asamura-kun put a lot of thought into it. I\'m going to use this while taking a bath after taking off my armament. Having a relaxing and healing effect is perfect for that time. It felt like he was telling me that it was okay to relax.

Could I really? Could I really rest more? Up to this point, it\'s always just been Mom and I—Always, always. But I can\'t openly show these emotions.

"So…um, I\'m really happy about all of this… That\'s why, if you\'re okay with it…" I showed him the tickets I got from Yomiuri-san.

The tickets for the movie Asamura-kun supposedly wanted to see. And his expression told me enough. It made me happy that I had tried to surprise him. Thank you very much, Yomiuri-san.

The idea of watching a movie always had something special to it compared to other entertainment. Despite the fact that there are other people all around, it feels like that place exists simply for you. Or maybe it allows you to fully immerse yourself. Not too close but not too far, simply experiencing the same thing together—I\'ve never experienced that before.

As for the movie itself, it was pretty interesting—but also very scary. The female protagonist was betrayed by her classmates over and over. She was involved in accidents, and doubted by everyone, and every time she tried to reach for help, she was cruelly rejected. After she died in an accident, she traveled back in time, only to once again taste the same despair. By the time the male protagonist appeared, her heart was already frozen and broken to pieces.

The boy declared himself to be from the future and trying to avoid this endless spiral… but since the girl had been hurt too many times, she didn\'t believe that he truly wanted to help her. Since she had been betrayed so much, the girl saw everybody around her as an enemy. The reason I realized that this may have been influenced by Andersen\'s "The Snow Queen" is probably because Asamura-kun had told me about it before. Basically, the scar the girl carried in her heart was like the piece of the devil\'s mirror that stabbed Kai in the eye and heart, whereas the boy who came from 10,000 years in the future to help her would be Gerda. The fact that the gender roles were reversed was probably in the mind of modern themes.

Before I had even realized it, I was glued to the screen. The time the boy and girl spent together was a mere two weeks right before the summer break. In this short time, there\'s no way the boy could manage to melt the girl\'s frozen heart—is what I would have thought a year ago.

The scene of the climax arrived. On the screen, the boy was embracing the girl.

\'I\'ll save you from this place. That\'s why, just let it all out.\'

Upon hearing those words, the girl returned the boy\'s embrace with all her might. Normally, I would never show such a weakness, especially not in public. But… I think it\'s because Asamura-kun is right next to me. I should be alone, and yet I\'m not. It\'s the magic of the cinema. Feeling a presence next to me, I was probably allowed to feel this relief.

—I can\'t.

I tried my best to hold it in but failed. A warm and wet sensation ran down my cheek. The ending song started playing, and even after the credits started rolling, I found myself unable to move. Right before the lights came on, I finally managed to wring my voice out of my throat.

"Can I head to the toilet for a moment?" I asked but didn\'t wait for a response, and I hastily stormed inside the toilet.

I checked my makeup in the mirror. As expected, the foundation under my eye had suffered a casualty. If I had known this would happen, I would have prepared stronger makeup. Realizing my blunder, I sighed. To think I would actually cry like that. I was surprised at myself, only to then realize I hadn\'t cried for the longest time.

I opened up my pouch to fix my makeup, only for my hand to stop. I looked at myself in the mirror once again. It was a bit messy, but not so much that I absolutely had to fix it. I mean, we\'re just going to head home after this, right? It\'s dark outside, and we won\'t be looking at each other\'s faces much, either. When I looked at the area around my eye, I was reminded of the Snow Queen. In that movie, tears were what melted the piece of the devil\'s mirror. And thus, the boy\'s heart began to regain its warmth.

…Maybe I don\'t have to fix it. We\'re just going home, and Asamura-kun is right by my side. At least for now, I don\'t need any armament.