“I can’t believe I’m really doing this.” Nishiki complained as they entered the movie theater together. The place was crowded with many people clamoring to buy tickets to the new movie. He couldn’t believe how popular and hyped this film was going to be. As much as it confused him, the man did try to maintain perspective that he simply wasn’t part of the target audience. “I look really out of place here.” Unsurprisingly as this was a shojo film. Most of the people here were teenage girls with some likely in college as well.

“What’s wrong, shouldn’t this be like heaven for men like you?” Tenha responded.

“What!? I’m not a pervert.” He quickly denied any potential enjoyment he might have gotten from seeing so many young cute girls. “And I’m only here because of you.” Though it may not seem better in the public eye. To most, the young fox girl might appear to be even younger than the high schoolers surrounding them. Even if there was nothing wrong with it considering their ages.

“Whatever. At least we don’t have to worry about the line.” Thankfully, she already won their tickets to this movie. So all that needed to be taken care of was showing it to the booth and grabbing some snacks along the way.

“Are you sure you should be getting it that big?” He asked as she ordered an extra large soda. “I saw the running time’s going to be nearly two hours.”

“Bah.” She brushed his concerns off as she already began sipping her drink. “Fox spirits don’t use the bathroom.” He had no reason to not believe her, so he dropped that subject. “Now, let’s go get some good seats.”

“That’s not how it works.” He pulled on her collar, preventing her from rushing inside the theater. “We already got assigned spots.” It looked like they’d be sitting right up the back for this movie. No wonder these were the ones being given out so freely the day before. That wasn’t so bad for him though. Nishiki didn’t want to have to be surrounded by a ton of people. Not to mention that less people would see Tenha and think she was strange.

The truth of the matter was she only had one outfit in her wardrobe. That would be the one that made her appear like a shrine priestess or something in that vein. While it was accurate to who she truly was, that still made the girl stand out compared to everyone else wearing modern clothing. And if she stood out, then so would he as her companion. “Can you see the movie fine from here?”

“Of course I can.” They got to their seats, which were further away from the screen than he remembered the back being. Had these theaters gotten larger since the last time he went to one? “Even if we were 100 kilometers away, I’d still be able to watch no problem.” While it was a bit of an exaggeration from her end. Tenha was correct in that her otherworldly eyesight allowed her to be able to view many things from great distances without challenge.

“Good.” He replied and took a good munch of his popcorn. Nishiki couldn’t see the film as well as her. Not that it mattered to him, as the man wasn’t interested in any of the visuals or plot of this film. This was simply going to become a two hour time waster.

That said, it wasn’t like he could ignore what was happening on the big screen. Apparently this film’s plot revolved around a high school girl. No surprises there. Even he could’ve guessed that despite not even hearing of the manga it was adapted from. The premise was her developing relationship with a boy who seemed to be her age. However, the twist was he was no ordinary teenage boy. Instead, the boy turned out to be a fox spirit from another world.

He ended up becoming the girl’s servant due to various circumstances. Despite being rather cold towards her initially. As the plot progressed, the pair became closer and closer romantically.

That was weird, he thought. What were the odds that Tenha would want to watch a film that had eerie similarities to their own life? Then again, she was the one who watched the trailer in full. He hadn’t paid any mind to it when it ran on the television until she pointed it out. So perhaps that was the reason?

He turned his head to look at her. It was only to gauge her interest in the movie she wanted to go to so badly. A part of him hoped she’d be disappointed so they could leave early. However, that clearly wasn’t the case as her eyes were glued to the screen, intently watching every detail of the cinematography. Whatever enjoyment she was supposed to be getting out of it was foreign to him. At least until she whispered something to herself he wasn’t supposed to hear.

“Fufufu, that guy’s so dreamy…” That answered it for him. She only wanted to watch so she could see the fox boy on screen. While it was obviously fiction for people like him, she would feel attracted to a boy that was similar to her in race. Wait a second, was that also why all these other teen girls were watching this movie?

As he stared at her longer, her too distracted by the fox boy on screen to noticed. Nishiki felt his chest tighten and heart grown heavy. In response to realizing the changes in his body, he turned back to watching the movie. What was this? Did he feel a bit… Jealous? That can’t be it. There’s no way he’d be jealous of Tenha finding some other guy attractive.

Surely this couldn’t be it. If there was something he had never once felt before, it would be jealousy and envy. There were never any times where he looked at something one had and wished he had it himself. Mostly because he had been pretty well off growing up. Though in high school he never dated any girls, but it wasn’t a big deal because he wasn’t interested in anyone at the time.

That trend would continue going through college and even now during his work life. But he was single because he chose to be! Yes, that was totally the only reason for his lack of experience. It was also the reason why he wasn’t interested in this romantic film as well. “Hey…” As he was thinking, Tenha prodded him in the arm to grab his attention.

“What?” He didn’t mind the distraction in the sense that he didn’t care for the story. Though that didn’t mean he wanted her to talk to him while this was running.

“How much longer until this movie’s done?”

“Looks like…” He checked his watch to see how much time had passed. “Looks like we’re in the last act. Probably about another 20 or so minutes.”

“Ah, I see…” He didn’t know why she would care about how much time was left. Tenha was the one who wanted to watch the movie and seemed to be enjoying it. Maybe it was just the bitter feeling of not wanting it to end. But eventually things have to end, and finally the film’s credits were rolling.

“We should wait for the crowd to filter out.” He commented. The man shook his cup to reveal it being empty. Her was also empty as well as he grabbed all their trash to properly dispose of.

“How about we don’t!?”

“Huh?” Before he was able to react, she grabbed his free arm and dragged the man out of his seat. Given her immense strength, he had no chance. Of course, he didn’t want to show the crowd how strong she was compared to him. For some reason, she didn’t care about how they looked as they walked. So he had to pretend that he was letting it happen as Nishiki nervously waved to onlookers.

“I’m just going to stop by the toi… Err, the bathroom real quick.” Now it was clear to him as they got out to free space what her problem was. Tenha tried to be subtle with her crossing legs, but it was plain to everyone that she needed to relieve herself after a long movie. “It was kind of hot in that theater, so I need to wash my face.” Not wanting to seem like a fool about what she said to him earlier. The girl continued to put on the act that fox spirits don’t need to use the toilet.

“Whatever, just go.” He said as she tried to not make a mess on the floor beneath them. “I’ll just wait for you in front of the theater.” With permission, she quickly dashed away from him towards the nearest restroom. Nishiki sighed and went outside to wait for her. He assumed this would be the end of their day together, but that couldn’t possibly be further from the truth.