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“You know most people go on dates after they confess their feelings, right?” Ritsu asked.
Teru fought the urge to shoot him a look at that statement; best not to get on your crush’s brother’s bad side. Besides, Teru needed to tell somebody his plans for the next day, and Ritsu seemed like the best option. The two young espers had met up at MobDonald’s on Teru’s request, talking over respective orders of fries and Coke.
Well, it was supposed to just be the two of them. Shou had tagged along with Ritsu for some reason. No matter, so long as Shou could keep the conversation in question secret from the Kageyama brother not present.
“It’s not really a date,” Teru explained, “I just want to treat your brother to a nice afternoon before I break out my confession. First a movie, then grabbing a bite to eat afterwards. I mean, yeah I guess it looks date-like, but at least he’d know I can treat him to a nice date if he accepts my feelings!”
Ritsu took a sip of his Coke, while Shou watched the conversation play out, gobbling fries one at a time at such a quick pace that Teru was amazed he wasn’t choking.
“Okay, fair enough, I guess,” Ritsu said, “So what movie were you planning on taking my brother to? Not some cheesy rom-com crap, I hope. Shige’s not a fan. Horror movies don’t really get much of a reaction from him these days, either, but I think that’s got more to do with his job experience.”
“I’ve figured that part out. I know your brother likes action movies, and there’s one that just came out this past weekend: Action Ramrod in Hard Pumping."
"What was that title?!" Shou exclaimed through a mouthful of fries.
"I know, I know, but I skimmed a plot summary, it really does sound like a real action movie. Plus, I’ve heard him talk about how much he liked the director’s other series, Single Fist Guy .”
“Okay, good, you at least know what kind of movies he likes. Good start.”
“Can you make sure he’s available tomorrow? I know it’s going to be Saturday, so of course school’s not an issue, but I just want to be sure nothing gets in the way.”
“Pretty sure Reigen gave him the day off, and I can easily do whatever chores we might have tomorrow.” Ritsu took another sip, then leaned forward in his seat, “Just remember, Hanazawa…”
“Finally, the shovel speech!” Shou commented, “I was waiting for this!”
“Not exactly what you’re thinking,” Ritsu told his friend, before turning his attention back to Teru, “Look, I trust my big brother around you, and I trust you around him. Don’t make me regret that. Even if he turns you down, make sure he has a good time.”
“You can count on me, little brother,” Teru promised. Admittedly he was extremely unsure if Shigeo Kageyama would accept his feelings or not, but he could at least expect everything before the confession to be a piece of cake.
—
Teru tapped his foot as he stood outside the movie theater. This was it, the culmination of months of barely holding back his powerful feelings for Mob. Oh sure, he’d frequently commented how amazing, powerful, cool, even handsome Mob was, but Teru was constantly holding his tongue on just how strong his feelings had grown since the two boys had first met. At first it had been out of denial, as Teru didn’t think he was gay (turns out he wasn’t; he was actually bi), and then it had been out of wanting to preserve their friendship.
But frankly, given some of the situations their psychic social circle ended up getting into, it was probably best to confess to Mob sooner rather than later.
And there was the boy of the hour approaching right now. Teru looked over to see Mob crossing a nearby street to reach the theater, hurrying before the walk signal switched.
“Kageyama!” Teru called over, waving at Mob. His friend rushed over, and the small smile he had was barely noticeable, but to Teru it was dazzling all the same.
“Good afternoon, Hanazawa-kun,” Mob greeted, before reaching into his hoodie pocket “Um, do you want me to cover the tickets or—“
“What? No, no, no, it’s my treat! Just put your wallet back, I’ve got it all figured out.”
"If you say so. You said we were going to see Action Ramrod ?"
"Yeah, you've been avoiding spoilers, right?"
"Of course."
"Good, I only looked at a quick summary yesterday; I like going in as blind as possible for movies."
Teru led Mob over to the box office, whipping out a credit card and handing it over to the cashier.
"Two for Action Ramrod, my good man," Teru said, trying to look as cool as possible. The cashier gave Teru a blank stare.
"...kid, this movie's rated R15," the cashier sighed.
Teru froze in place.
Perhaps he’d been going in a little too blind.
"Well...how old do you think we look?" Teru asked, hardening the look on his face. All that time spent as a "shadow leader" for the delinquents of Black Vinegar Middle School had to amount to some kind of intimidation skills, right?
"Fourteen," the clerk said, without hesitation, "Your companion looks probably younger."
Ah, right. A seasoned customer service worker wasn't that easily scared.
Teru looked through the other movie showtimes. There was a rom-com (Ritsu had already shot that idea down), a very cheap-looking horror movie (again, Ritsu had said that wouldn’t work, though Teru would have to consider that for a potential “bad movie night”), a cartoon meant for smaller children (God no, that would be a mood killer)...
“So nothing’s going to make you…look the other way?” Teru asked, reaching in his wallet. He had withdrawn a few ¥5000 notes earlier; for once, he was thankful his absentee parents didn’t pay much attention to how he spent his money.
“No.” the cashier refused, “Either buy a ticket for something else or get out of here before I call the police.”
Teru scowled as he put his wallet away, before he felt a tap on his shoulder.
“Hanazawa-kun?” Mob whispered (oh, he was leaning dangerously close to Teru’s face), “Why don’t we just call Reigen-shishou—”
“No!” Teru yelped, before clearing his throat, “I mean, he’s a very busy man, we can’t bug him for something silly like this.”
—
“All right, Serizawa,” Reigen announced, “You’re about to bear witness to one of my most spectacular feats as the Greatest Psychic of the 21st Century…”
Reigen whipped out a large plastic bag of marshmallows.
“I’m going to eat this entire bagful of marshmallows at once!”
It had very clearly been a slow day so far.
“Um, isn’t that…dangerous?” Serizawa asked, “Couldn’t you choke?” He took a sip of the tea in front of him
“Please, you’d be surprised how much I can fit in my mouth.”
Serizawa immediately spat out his tea.
—
“You’re right,” Mob said, “He’s probably very busy.”
Teru immediately racked his brain for another idea. Clearly sneaking past the cashier would be a problem, if buying the tickets was out of the question. He had seen movies and TV shows where two small children would hide under a trenchcoat and hat to pretend to be an adult, but…well, as young as both he and Mob looked, their combined heights (5’ 2” and nearly 5’ 3”) would look even more suspicious.
There was one other idea, though…
“Kageyama-kun,” Teru said, leading mob away from the box office, “There’s something I’ve been working on. You know how easily I can copy other espers’ abilities, right?”
“Of course,” Mob answered, “You’re an amazingly fast learner. I think that’s one of your biggest strengths.”
Oh, Teru had not been expecting a compliment like that. After his brain briefly short-circuited, he got back to the topic at hand.
“Well,” Teru continued, trying not to let his voice crack, “I’ve been trying to copy Shimazaki’s teleportation. I’m not perfect at it yet, but I think I could easily get us into the theater…”
“What?!” Mob shouted. Teru gently shushed him, and Mob repeated with a much quieter “What?”
“Like I said, I can teleport us past the cashier,” Teru explained.
“But what if they ask for our tickets? We’d be…um, is it stealing or just trespassing?”
“You know how much the film industry makes every year? Trust me, they’re not gonna go bankrupt without our ticket money. And anyway, I can just teleport past the ushers right into the theater itself. Back row, so no one will notice.”
“If you’re sure this will work,” Mob pondered, “Then I trust you.”
Teru beamed at that. Being trusted by Mob for anything was enough to make him happy.
“There’s one thing,” Teru continued, “And I understand if you have any issues with it, but, in order to get both of us in safely…”
Teru gulped. He hadn’t anticipated going this far already.
“You…” he stammered, “You’re going to have to hold my ha—”
“Okay.”
Teru felt the warmth of Mob’s hand gently grabbing onto his own. Teru glanced away, too excited and embarrassed to keep eye contact.
(Perhaps if he had, he’d notice Mob was turning a similar shade of pink as he was)
“Right,” Teru stated, “Okay, here we go.”
—
In just a second, the bright sunshine of the early afternoon was replaced with darkness. The boys were standing in front of the back row of seats, and the movie projected on screen…
…was definitely not an action film.
On screen, a generically attractive actress was babbling about her love woes to a swishy stereotype of a gay man, while both were digging into respective pints of ice cream. Mob immediately looked more bored than usual as he glanced up at the screen.
“I think I missed,” Teru whispered, “Let me try that again, okay?”
“Okay. Mom’s seen enough of these kinds of movies, I could tell you exactly how this one’s going to end.”
—
Another theater. This time there were significantly more theatergoers reacting wildly to the film projected in front of them.
And this was another miss.
The scene in question showed a woman in rather cheap-looking monster makeup lunging at a young man. Both Teru and Mob’s attention was immediately drawn to the poor attempt at hiding the wires being used to lift her up.
“I feel insulted on behalf of all spirits now,” Mob said.
“Right, let’s do this again.”
—
This time, a theater of screeching children reacting to the cartoon playing in front of them. Several of the kids were running around in the aisles and the floor was stickier than usual with spilled pop and candy.
“No.” both boys stated, at the same time.
—
This theater was relatively empty. Trailers were playing on the screen, and Teru flopped into the nearest seat.
“Please,” he muttered, “Please tell me I got this one right.”
“Are you okay, Hanazawa-kun?” Mob asked, leaning down to look into the blond boy’s face.
“I-I’m fine!” Teru stammered, not expecting his would-be date to get this close, “Just getting a little exhausted. I’m still figuring this out, after all.”
“It’s okay. Just take a breather, all right?”
“But I don’t know if I got the right—”
“Please, rest.”
Teru couldn’t say no to that.
“You’re right. You’re right about so many things, Kageyama-kun.”
Mob sat next to Teru, and glanced up at the screen.
“Looks like the movie’s starting,” he commented. As the production company logos faded away, the opening credits began to roll over a scene of a countdown timer on a bomb. Frantic shouting from several characters as a beefy-musclebound character approached the bomb
“CUT THE RED WIRE!” a character shouted.
The beefy man took one look at the bomb and yanked all the wires out. The bomb was silent, and the characters around him cheered. The title flashed on screen:
Action Ramrod in Hard Pumping
Teru breathed a sigh of relief.
“See?” Mob whispered to him, “It’s fine.” He placed a reassuring hand on Teru’s shoulder.
Teru didn’t even bother to point out that Mob kept his hand there for the entirety of the next scene.
—
The movie had been…disappointing.
Most of the dialogue was stilted and contrived, the protagonist, Action Ramrod, had the personality of a piece of cardboard, and…well, it turns out the movie had been rated R15 for good reason. In addition to the (dubious CGI) blood and gore, there had been an overly long, overly awkward love scene between Ramrod and a generically pretty young woman that Teru couldn’t even remember the name of. Teru had forced himself not to look in Mob’s direction at all during that entire scene as he sweated profusely.
So there the two boys were, seated at a casual dining restaurant a block away from the theater. Teru took a sip of his cola before sighing.
“I’m…really sorry, Kageyama,” he said, “I thought you’d enjoy that movie more.”
“It’s okay,” Mob said, “At least you didn’t waste your money on it.”
“No, I just exhausted myself trying to pull off something with my powers that I’m not even good at yet.”
“But you got to the right theater in the end.”
“Doesn’t matter if you had a lousy time…” Teru mumbled, “Ritsu can go ahead and kick my ass for this.”
Apparently, his mumbling wasn’t as quiet as he thought.
“I didn’t have a lousy time,” Mob said, “I was with you, after all.”
Teru flushed upon hearing this.
“You don’t have to worry so much about making me happy,” Mob continued, “Just being with you is enough.”
“Because…we’re friends, right?”
Mob glanced away at that moment.
“Kageyama-kun?” Teru asked, “Did I say something wrong?”
“I…” Mob answered, his hands fidgeting on the table in front of him, “...yes I do like having you as a friend, but…is it wrong that I…want something more? If you’re not interested in boys, that’s fine, but…I feel like I have to tell you that.”
Teru felt as if something popped in his brain. He suddenly chuckled to himself.
“I spent all this time trying to think of the perfect outing for you,” he said, in between laughs, “I got so nervous, I even talked to your brother for support! And not only did the movie turn out to be a total dud, but you’re the one confessing to me!”
“Are you upset?”
Teru gently reached for one of Mob’s hands, giving a gentle squeeze.
“Not even a little,” Teru answered.