Love Advice From A Childhood Friend

Dating And Prolonged Time Out.
(Part 2)

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I bought some ice cream at the food court and ate it in my seat.
Most of the seats were occupied, probably because it was Sunday.

I’m afraid that if I look around at times like this, I might discover one or two people I know.

From the outside, it’s totally a date.
….No, it’s a practice, so it has to look like one….
Anyway, if someone I know finds me and asks, “What are you doing?” There is no other way of answering other than ‘going on a date’.

“….”

Hinagata was staring at the vanilla and chocolate mixed ice cream in the cup I’m holding in my hand.

“Want a bite?”

“Thank you.”

She seemed to be waiting for those words and quickly reached out a small plastic spoon, scooped out the ice cream and ate it.

She then licked the thin layer of lipstick off her lips.
.

I just noticed that you don’t usually wear any makeup, but you have some makeup on today.

Well, it’s just practice, so I guess they don’t want to wear all that makeup.

“Do you want some too, R-Ryunosuke?”

I took a bite out of Hinagata’s strawberry ice cream.

And then, Hinagata noticed something.

“Ryunosuke, get down!

“Ehh, what, why?”

“J-just do so.”

When she forced me to lower my head, I knew why.

There was her mother holding hands with Su-chan a short distance away.

They were looking around for a seat.

And then, My eyes met with Su-chan’s.

“Ah, Ryu-kun is here! Mom, mom! Shi-tan, Shitan, Shi-tan is here too!”

She pulled her mother’s hand and came over to me.

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“Why are you here….!”

Hinagata frowned angrily and questioned her mom.

“Because… if you’re not going to tell where you’re going, your mother won’t know where you are.
I’m not an esper.”

That’s true.

Or rather, it was a no-plan, so it’s unavoidable that we couldn’t tell where we were going.

“Ryu-kun, is the ice cream good?”

“It’s good.
Want some?”

“Sure.”

As I took a bite, Hinagata gave Su-chan a bite of her own ice cream as well.

“This is fine.”

“I don’t need shi-tan’s….
But it’s delicious.”

I’m glad she likes it.

“Hurry up and go away.”

“You don’t have to be so rude towards me.
You know?”

Ma’am, please stop directing the conversations in my direction.

“A-anyways, just go away.”

Hinagata tried to keep her away somehow.

“Now then, I’m going shopping! Ryu- kun, will you join?”

“He’s not joining!”

When Hinagaa kicked away Su-chan’s invitation, Su-chan got angry and started pouting.
Then she said “Shi-tan’s idiot!”

“Oh, I wonder if that’s what today is about.
Shiori.”

“I-it’s not.
….Hurry up and go away.”

“I’m sorry, Ryunosuke-kun.
It seems that your aunt and Suzuka have interrupted you.”

Let’s go, Aunt said, pulling Su-chan’s hand and leaving the food court.

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Hinagata let out a very big sigh.

Yeah, I know how you feel. 

“Didn’t you tell her you were going out?”

“I did, but I didn’t say where or with whom.”

I thought someone I knew might find us, but I didn’t expect my aunt and Su-chan to find us.

Somehow I felt uncomfortable and we left the food court.

“What should we do?”

I asked her what we should do, even though it was something a man should think about.

“I want to see a movie.”

It’s not the evening yet, so it’s perfect.

When I agreed, we headed to the attached movie theater and decided to watch the movie with the closest showing time.

We bought tickets for an action movie that had recently started airing a month or so ago.

We entered the theater, turned off my cell phone, and waited for the movie to start.

Had this been a romantic movie, there might have been some lovey-dovey couples holding hands. 

I was a little relieved to see that there didn’t seem to be any such element from the synopsis.

When I laid my arm on the hand rest, I felt something soft and warm.

Hmm?

“!?”

It was Hinaga’s hand.

“Whoa.
M-My bad ……!”

Nope, Hinagata shook her head, swaying her hair.

“It’s ….it’s fine.”

Really? Your face is so red, I can see it in the dim light.

“My elbow rest wasn’t …..over here.”

It’s hard to tell which is which …..No, if you look properly, it says.

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Once again, I said ” My bad” and put my hand down, and then she grabbed my sleeve.

“Ehh?”

“…..”

When I didn’t know what to do, Hinagata quickly released her hand from my sleeve.

She didn’t have anything to say, and I couldn’t read her expression well because she was looking kind of down.

Just now… What was that…?

It wasn’t boring, but that didn’t mean it was interesting enough to share with anyone.
But it was an interesting movie.

After that, Hinata didn’t put her hand on the arm rest.
I wonder if she was allowed to use it.

The movie credits rolled, and the lights came on in the theater.

People were leaving their seats, and as I was about to stand up, I felt my sleeve being grabbed again.

“What is it?”

“…..”

There were many strange pauses.

She seemed to be trying to tell me something, so I waited for her to say something without rushing her.

Her eyes moved to the right and left, as if she was lost, and then she took a small deep breath.

“Ryunosuke, you know….”

“Yes.”

As I waited again, the attendant came over to check the seats for any trash or forgotten items.

“It’s….
It’s nothing.”

“Really? For some reason, you sounded really upset.”

“Uh… Oh, I was just trying to tell you that I need to use the washroom.”

“Is that so?”

Uh, I see.
It must have been difficult for a girl to say she wanted to go to the bathroom.

Maybe Hinagata was thinking, you should have guessed.

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“Let’s head out of here.”

As if leading Hinagata, who was still pinching my sleeve, together we left the theater and parted ways in front of the restroom.

I vaguely thought back to what had just happened.

“Toilet was it?”

I wonder if Hinagata and I are the kind of people who have a hard time saying, ‘I need to go to the bathroom.’

If that was true, I would be somewhat shocked, but then again, what else could she have said?

If the attendant hadn’t come, I wonder what she would have said.

When I came out of the restroom, I joined Hinagata and we left the movie theater.

We chatted about our impressions of the movie, but the corner of my mind was filled with what had happened earlier and what had happened before the movie started.

It was almost six in the evening.

“Shall we go home? If we go home now, we’ll be just in time for dinner.”

Hinagata didn’t respond to the question.
We walked to the station and got on a train heading for the nearest station..

As we sat down, Hinagata began dozing off.

The lack of conversation didn’t seem to be because she was in a bad mood.

She might be sleepy.
Yesterday, she had to practice and play a game; today, she also had practice, albeit a light one, this morning.

Perhaps the speed of the train made her comfortable as she was resting her head on my shoulders.

The train started to slow down.
I felt sorry for her, but I had to wake her up soon.

“Hinagata, wake up.
We’re leaving now.”

I shook her shoulder, but she didn’t respond.

A hand reached out and grabbed my hand.

Hmm? Are you going to wake up……?

“Hinagata?”

You’re not responding, so you’re asleep…?

It doesn’t matter.
If we don’t get off now, the next stop will be a long way off–

While I was in a hurry, the door closed and the next arrival station was announced.