The group walked into the movie theater and started looking at what films were showing.
Himeji Mizuki: "Yoshii-kun, what kind of movie do you want to watch?"
Shimada Minami: "Today you can pick whatever movie you like, Akihisa."
Yoshii Akihisa looked over the options for a while, then turned to Saiki. "Hey Saiki, what kind of movie do you think we should watch?"
[Don't ask me. We're not even in the same group.]
"But Saiki, since it doesn't really matter, I think picking a longer one would be better."
[Can you even understand what I'm saying?]
"Yuuji, what kind of movie do you want to watch?"
A familiar voice came from behind Saiki and the others. It was Kirishima Shouko, along with Sakamoto Yuuji who was wearing handcuffs.
[This is way too familiar.]
Sakamoto Yuuji had sweat dripping down his forehead. "Can my wish actually come true…?"
Kirishima Shouko seemed to just be asking casually before speaking on her own. "Then let's watch Love and Peace."
Sakamoto Yuuji raised both hands in protest. "Are you kidding? That one's 7 hours and 4 minutes long. It's even longer than the last one!"
Kirishima Shouko held up two fingers calmly. "We'll watch two showings."
Sakamoto Yuuji "joyfully" flailed his arms and legs. "14 hours and 8 minutes. Who could sit through that?"
Kirishima Shouko pulled out the familiar stun gun, which crackled with "zzt zzt zzt" electricity and sparks. "If you get bored, you can just sleep next to me."
"That's basically just passing out from shock."
"It's fine. As long as we're together."
Saiki, Akihisa, and the others watched the scene calmly, completely ignoring Sakamoto Yuuji's muffled, twitching struggles of "Nono, no no moen..."
Kirishima Shouko walked toward the ticket counter holding the now-electrocuted-and-unconscious Sakamoto Yuuji, raising two fingers to the staff. "Two student tickets, two showings."
The staff member responded with practiced calm. "Got it. One student ticket, one unconscious student ticket, burning money for two showings, right?"
Himeji Mizuki and Shimada Minami watched the pair with moved expressions.
"So enviable. People who can express their feelings so openly."
"Really enviable."
Yoshii Akihisa looked at them speechlessly. "Let's just pick something shorter."
Saiki glanced at Shikimori beside him, who was also watching with an envious look. (Hey hey hey, don't turn into that kind of person, Shikimori-san.)
Izumi Yuu turned to Saiki and Shikimori. "Saiki-kun, Shikimori-san, what movie do you want to watch?"
"Hm, I'm fine with anything."
[I'm okay with whatever. Just pick what you like.]
Izumi Yuu looked helplessly at the two of them. "Today I'm the one inviting you both to watch a movie, so of course I want to think about what you'd enjoy. Don't hold back like you usually do for my sake. Choose what you actually want to see."
Saiki looked at Shikimori. [Shikimori-san, you pick the one you like.]
Shikimori met Saiki's eyes. "Really? Is that okay?"
[Yeah, no problem.]
(Doesn't matter what we watch anyway.)
[Just don't pick something like that 7-hour one from earlier.]
"Mm, okay. Then let's watch this one."
After looking around for a while, Shikimori pointed at a movie titled Gotham Nightmare.
Saiki took one glance. Yep, with that name and the big clown poster, it was definitely a horror movie.
Izumi Yuu: "Shikimori-san, do you know about this movie?"
"I do. It's been getting a lot of talk online lately."
Shikimori took out her phone and showed them information about the movie along with reviews from people who had seen it.
"Extremely well-made… accidentally left me with psychological trauma… the scariest movie I've seen this year, an absolute masterpiece. Highly recommended for horror fans."
Izumi Yuu took a look. "It looks pretty terrifying."
"Izumi-kun, are you okay with it?"
Shikimori asked Izumi with some concern. As for Saiki, there was no need to ask. In Shikimori's mind, Saiki wasn't afraid of anything.
Izumi: "I'm fine, don't worry. But Shikimori-san, aren't you scared?"
Shikimori smiled. "I'm scared, sure, but the scarier it is, the more I want to watch it." [Nekozaki said that when you're on a date with a guy, you have to watch a horror movie. It lets you show your vulnerable side. That way I might even get a chance to hold onto Saiki's arm.]
(Your drill sergeant really knows how to cause trouble.)
Izumi Yuu smiled. [So you do get scared after all. I'm actually fine with bloody movies, and since we're watching in a theater, nothing unlucky should happen. Plus Saiki-kun is here.]
In Izumi Yuu's heart, Saiki wasn't afraid of anything. A mere horror movie wouldn't affect him at all. He was only a little worried about Shikimori.
(Yare yare daze, you guys think way too highly of me. I'm generally not interested in movies like this. Once it's spoiled, I lose interest.)
(But horror movies? Nothing special about them. And I feel like Shikimori-san probably won't actually get scared, right?)
...
Saiki and the others sat in the front row of the theater, watching the big screen where an intense scene was playing. A blond, blue-eyed little boy was reading a book when a balloon suddenly floated over.
The little boy seemed very interested and chased after it with a smile, but the farther he went, the farther he got from the city until he walked straight into the woods and saw a red-and-white tent.
The scene grew darker. The dark red tent opened a gap, and the balloon floated inside. The little boy followed.
Inside, the little boy saw many red balloons floating around. A man dressed as a clown stood with his back to the boy.
Then the clown grabbed one of the drifting balloons and slowly turned around. He held the balloon out toward the little boy.
The little boy smiled and stepped forward, but after taking just one step, he seemed to notice something terrifying and froze in place.
Suddenly, a skull-faced ghost appeared on the balloon. Then every balloon around it showed the same ghost face. The clown burst into loud laughter at him.
(Hm, this level of horror movie is mostly jump-scare based. It's okay, I guess.)
Saiki glanced at Izumi Yuu sitting beside him. One of Izumi's hands was clutching his chest tightly while he kept muttering, gripping the armrest and struggling to hold back tears. [This is way too scary. What kind of movie is this? It's terrifying.]
(Didn't you say bloody stuff was fine? Though this doesn't even have any gore yet.)
Izumi Yuu covered his mouth. [No good, I feel like I'm gonna throw up.]
(That's a bit much, Izumi.)
At that moment the movie reached another high-tension moment. The blond, blue-eyed boy was running from the clown's pursuit. He looked left and right in a room, searching for something.
But unknown to him, the clown slowly poked his head through the window behind him, then smashed the glass and let out a loud "Hehehehehehehehe!!!" laugh.
Shikimori felt like enough time had passed and it was scary enough. Even she was starting to feel a little afraid. She was just about to reach for Saiki's hand to show her vulnerable side.
"Ah!!!!"