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"We've got to get into the Spooky Season Spirit!" Chie declared at the beginning of the month. "Thirty-one night, thirty-one horror movies!"
Yosuke shook his head. "We talked about this, we're not hosting a movie night every night! There's no way we can keep up. Once a week is plenty." Chie pouted until he conceded, "And we can eat a hot pot beforehand."
Naoto was tempted to argue, but the pleased look on Akihiko's face was enough to let her agree, albeit tentatively. "C'mon, Naoto, that's the best part about doing this now! We've got boyfriends now, so if it's just too scary, we use them to hide!" Chie nudged her side
Naoto nearly began to argue about how hiding from ghosts was futile, but she couldn't help but be thrilled at the idea of having another excuse to bury herself in Akihiko's chest. She looked up at him and squeaked, "My protector?"
He chuckled. "A prince needs a knight."
To Chie's dismay, the first movie of "Spooky Season" proved to not be spooky at all: "The Cabin in the Woods". "Dang it! The cover had looked so promising!"
"You didn't research it ahead of time?" Yosuke poked her side. She jabbed him back.
"I didn't want to get spoiled! Guess I'll have to take some risks with the next one," she thought, rubbing her chin.
On their walk back, Naoto was slightly shaken, but mostly bubbling as she held Akihiko's hand. "I never expected to enjoy a horror film so much! It was much more akin to a meta-commentary on various sub-genres of horror, now that I think about it. I'm sure that there's much that I missed. I'd be curious about the online discourse on the film - " She jumped at the slam! of a dumpster in an alley. She took a few deep breaths and Akihiko squeezed her hand.
"I'm sure there is. I'll do some checking tomorrow during class," he said with a grin.
She rolled her eyes. "Despite what you may believe, tax law can be fascinating, and has proven essential in making major arrests in the past, such as -"
"Al Capone, yes, dear. Everybody knows how Al Capone got nabbed. I'm less concerned about gangsters, and more concerned about what you were able to glean from their apartment." He nudged her with his elbow. "They moved in together. That's huge. Getting an excuse to peek in on their home life is more why I agreed to the movie nights more than anything."
Naoto furrowed her brow. "That...fair. That makes sense. I suppose..." She put a finger to her chin. "It made sense? The decor, I mean." Their living room had mostly been dedicated to movies. A modest TV had been surrounded by two shelves stuffed to the brim with DVDs, and Chie's action movie posters decorated the walls. She had been pleased to see that none of Yosuke's old posters were on display, otherwise, that could be a sign of potential conflict. Old speakers had been rigged up to a receiver as well, and the wall space above the couch dedicated to rows of his CDs.
"The floor was covered with practice mats," he pointed out. "Would Chie actually try and train with him?"
Naoto chuckled. "She's confessed that he's not quite as sturdy as you, Akihiko, so she doesn't risk it. It's probably for the best, to ensure no more noses are broken."
He sighed. "She didn't break it, they just bleed sometimes. Not even a bear has broken my nose."
"But I speculate Shinjiro has?" she quipped without missing a beat.
Reluctantly, he laughed and ran his hand through his hair. "Once. Just the once. Ugh, you don't let anything slip past you."
"I try not to." Her voice softened. "I suppose...it probably should have shocked me more when they just decided that he'd move in with her right once he was admitted to college. But Chie's explanation made sense. They've known each other for years. They deserve to give it a try...'We're going all-in,' she said. Do you have reasons to be concerned?"
He took a deep breath. "If I remember correctly, Yukari and Mitsuru were the first ones to do it, and I was in Portugal at the time, but honestly I was more worried about the guff Mitsuru was getting from the Board. Fuuka and Shinji weren't too far afterward, and that...yeah. He can be such an ass, but again...I'd been gone for a while. He'd softened, and she became so much more vocal. Stern, too. When I was over there one time, he tried to get all pissy and quiet and she just shot him this look and said, 'I can read your mind, but it's a bad time for you if I start doing it regularly,' and he just caved. It was...amazing. She wasn't the little girl lost in Tartarus anymore, she was a grown woman." He scratched the back of his neck.
"But maybe that was never a fair way for me to think of her. She survived being trapped in Tartarus for eight days, eight consecutive Dark Hours." He swallowed. "Aigis and Minato I guess...always made sense. She's been his shield ever since she met him." He raised an eyebrow. "Did I ever tell you that Junpei and I tried to flirt with her? Like, before we knew who she was and all."
"You have not. I can only imagine what it takes to woo her." Naoto didn't feel like her question was properly answered, but she let him divert to a more comfortable tale of his hubris.
"Spoilers: It requires blue hair, at the very least. No speedos, that's for sure." He began the tale of "Operation Babe Hunt," and Naoto listened intently, hoping he'd crack. I won't miss it, I guarantee that much.
The only hint as to the next week's film they had received was a text-based request from Chie. "Can you bring wine, Akihiko? Something red, like what they'd drink in America, or Italy!"
When Akihiko and Naoto arrived at the SatoMura apartment (Akihiko's term, to which Naoto only groaned), Naoto realized she couldn't continue her investigation any further, as they had decorated for the occasion. Dark curtains hung over the windows, skulls decorated the shelves, and strings of dark purple lights were strung along the ceiling. The table had candles in addition to the hotpot - tall, dripping candles with battery-operated flickering lights. "Enter, if you daaarree!" Chie greeted and ushered them in. She had painted her face white with black eyeliner, which, would be sure to startle Naoto out of the corner of her eyes when the lights went off. Chie tugged on her pointy hat. "I figured it out! The problem last time wasn't just the movie, it was the atmosphere! We needed to amp up the aesthetics!"
"I even wired up some more speakers so we can have surround sound!" Yosuke called from the kitchen as he sliced mushrooms. Unlike Chie, Yosuke simply had a cat-eared headband on, with whiskers and a black nose painted on his face.
"Baaaabe, I said scary!" Chie whined. "How is a cat scary?"
He barely suppressed a smirk. "A grown man dressed as a cat is scary. Plus, we're gonna eat here in a few minutes, I didn't want to smudge paint everywhere!"
"Oh...oh that's a good call," Chie said thoughtfully, pursing her white lips together. "Oh well, that's why we have more makeup."
As they sat around the boiling pot of broth, Akihiko asked, "So, what's the flick tonight?"
Chie smirked and ran into the living room to retrieve it. "Da da da daaaa!" She held out the DVD case. "'The Rite!'"
Haunted eyes loomed out of the shape of a cross on the cover of the DVD, and Naoto's stomach turned. "Is this...an exorcism movie?" Her hands already started to sweat. She had expected a ghost movie, she had prepared for a ghost movie, or at the very least, a proper slasher film, but demonic possessions? She was out of her depth. She turned to Akihiko. "What do you know about Catholicism?"
He pulled a bottle opener out of his pocket and started to uncork the wine. "Honestly, it depends on what region of the world you're in. I know their stance on demons is 'anti', fairly universally." He popped the cork out of the wine. "Hanamura, you got any glasses for this?"
"Yep!" He opened a cupboard and retrieved four glasses. "Actually got a pretty decent deal on them at my dad's store, even with the employee discount. Proper red wine glasses, 'cause like the shape helps aerate it."
As Akihiko poured the blood-red beverage, it dawned on Naoto. "Oh, that's why you requested it. It's like...communion."
Chie chucked. "Exactly! Babe, are we ready to eat yet?"
"Hold your horses!" He grabbed two cutting boards out of the refrigerator, one filled with meats, the other vegetables, and added the mushrooms to the vegetables before taking them over to the table. "Just make sure you eat an equal amount of vegetables. You'll get sick of you don't get your vitamins."
Chie stuck her tongue out. "Grapes have vitamins!" She sipped her wine and coughed. "Oh, god, potent!" She wiped her mouth on the back of her hand, smearing white paint on it. "No wonder they use it to get rid of demons."
"No, they don't!" Yosuke teased as he grabbed a strip of pork with his chopsticks. "They don't, do they?"
"I think that's what holy water's for instead," Akihiko explained as he took a sip. "Wine's more for like, general bad-doings of your own."
"It's a punishment?" Chie asked. "I could see that."
"Hey!" Akihiko chided. "Communion wine is generally cheap as hell. This isn't that bad. I promise, it'll grow on you."
"It's supposed to symbolize the blood of Jesus Christ," Naoto recalled. "As a sign of forgiveness. It seems a rather morbid sign, in my opinion."
After Yosuke took a sip he rubbed his mouth. "I've got a feeling this is gonna stain the hell out of my mouth."
"It's for spooookiiinneess!" Chie teased as she poked his side.
The movie was slow to start with, which Naoto appreciated, only grabbing onto Akihiko once when a cyclist was hit by a van and died slowly as the priest gave her last rites. She was able to relax a bit again until the elder priest introduced the pregnant, possessed woman. Then, Akihiko pulled her closer into his side. Curious that he initiated it. She looked over to Yosuke and Chie, Chie basically on his lap at this point, and Yosuke oblivious to the smears of paint covering his clothes. Chie recoiled at the explanation that the woman was raped by her father, and Yosuke kissed the top of her head. Almost immediately afterward, Akihiko squeezed Naoto's arm. Ah. This...this is intriguing.
The signs of Rosarita's possession made the girls respond erratically. Chie decried ever being touched by a man again at certain points, only to be jumping into Yosuke's arms again. As three nails emerged from the possessed woman's mouth, Naoto squeezed Akihiko as hard as she could, and almost scolded him for not holding her tighter, when she noticed Chie had completely abandoned Yosuke for the most illuminated part of the room. Naoto swallowed hard, feeling as if there was a scraping in her throat as well, but the only thing that kept her from joining Chie was the thought, That's it. I've figured it out.
At first, the puzzle had proven helpful for Naoto to maintain her composure, but it had required her to watch the others more than she wanted to. Now that her task was complete, she could freely bury herself in his expansive chest at the slightest provocation, and cover her ears until the mother and the fetus had long passed and their blood was no longer on the screen.
She knew Father Lucas would torment her dreams that night, but she'd take that over the feeling of missing something that had nagged her this entire week. As they left the apartment, Akihiko wrapped his arm around her shoulders so she could walk as close to him as possible.
"I think it's another swing and a miss on this one. I don't know if it's quite a 'horror' film," Akihiko said, bathed in streetlights.
"It w-was certainly scary," Naoto argued. "I'd be compelled to acquire a rosary if my ignorance on the r-religion wouldn't make it disrespectful."
"Hey, I have a rosary! An elderly lady on the outskirts of Guadalajara gave it to me after I helped her fix her fence and get her goats penned back up. I think she mumbled something slightly racist about godless Japanese needing all the help they can get as I was leaving but it felt, like, wrong to throw it away just for that." He furrowed his brow. "Does that imply I'm afraid of the Judeo-Christian God's retribution?"
"I think we have both seen enough to know that caution is always valid," she replied, shivering a bit at the chill in the air. He rubbed her arm. That was enough to get her back on course.
"If I may, I'd like to shift from 'religious horror' to 'mystery', and one that I've solved," she said. "And it's about you. You've been a bit evasive lately, and I know why now."
"You miiight be overworking those little grey cells a bit, dear."
She shook her head adamantly. "You never quite answered why you were so interested in Yosuke and Chie's shared living arrangements, or why your friends' arrangements seemed to be on your mind. I was about to chalk it up to fatigue, but slight discomfort showed anytime this week when Chie or Yosuke talked about it." She tapped the corner of her eye. "Slight creases near your eyes, a forced neutral expression, and diversions. You love to divert with a story of your past travels." She looked up at him to see if he was following.
"Fair enough," he said as he peeked down at her. "I will say that those are things that I have been known to do, but are you accusing me of being a prude? Of looking down on them for cohabitation before marriage?"
"Never. That'd be ridiculous. It's why it took me time to piece it together. My first big clue was browsing through social media...Fuuka posted on movie night last week. I didn't realize...I didn't know that Shinjiro's accident was on October 4th."
"An accident he survived," he pushed back.
"An accident that shaped his and your lives tremendously. It makes sense to reflect on dates of such significance. It...would prime you to think about your friends, your past...and most importantly, how you compare with Yosuke Hanamura."
He snorted, an attempt at being derisive, but failed to convince. "Connect a few more dots for me, Holmes."
I've almost got him. "Yosuke has always had issues with not measuring up, or being afraid to fail, but he has made incredible strides since being with Chie. They've elected to take a major risk together, and it seems to be going well for them. He's a kind, caring, and considerate partner for Chie. Despite your respect for him, the idea that you're being one-upped in boyfriend performance is unacceptable for a competitive person like you."
He sighed. "Dammit. I would have gotten away with it too if Chie had picked a properly scary movie, right?"
Naoto smiled as she shivered. "Not forever, that's for certain. Why? I'm certain the simplest explanation isn't why -"
He squeezed her tighter. "I'm not - fuck. I'm not thinking we should move in together, not now. Not that I would be opposed to, I mean it would be fine, it's -"
"It's not now, yes, that's clear," she cut in before he could get trapped in an unwinnable argument with himself.
"Right. It's...'all-in'. Yosuke used that phrase, too. Moving in together made sense for their 'all-in'. And I...I want to make sure I'm showing you that. I mean, I believe it, with all my damn heart, but, am I actually showing you that?"
She stopped; he turned and studied her.
"Do you think I have doubts?" she asked. She didn't mean it to, but it stung him. His lips twitched.
"No, but...do I really know? Or am I seeing what I wanna see?"
Fair enough. "Well, maybe the problem is...is you don't know what I look like doubting you, because that hasn't happened. Even when I was...distant, it was because I thought you deserved someone more like you. Chie. I doubted my right to be with you, but I never doubted you'd be there if I needed you."
He looked at her, part disbelief, part wonder. He tried to speak, but his voice cracked, so he looked down and to the side. Even in the yellow streetlight, red was starting to fill his cheeks.
She wanted to give him the moment, to let him exist in the feeling and resonate deep inside of him, but she could hear clattering as the wind picked up. Telephone lines on the poles, tree branches on buildings, or demons against their victim's door, she didn't know, but she wasn't keen to figure it out. Her whole body was shaking.
"I'm like, your liege lord, right?" she squeaked. "Escort me home? Post haste?"
The plea pulled him back to reality, and when he heard the clattering, he smiled. "'Course." He turned and bent his knees, pointing to his back. She hadn't necessarily meant "steed", but knights tended to have horses, and her legs were feeling shaky, so she didn't argue. She hopped on his back, wrapping her arms around his neck. His forearms slipped under her knees.
"W-wait," she stammered. "How does this keep a demon away?"
"It keeps us away from demons," he explained. "By running away!" He took off, quicker than she thought possible from a dead start an with an extra body's weight. The sudden jolt made her squeal.