Fool's Love

The sunset in the distance is burning like a flame.

I already had a hunch.If she suddenly says she likes me, I'll say yes, but not surprised.

——That is Megumin Sasaki.I don't know when it started, but when I unconsciously looked at Megumi Sasaki, I always met her eyes.

Immediately afterwards, she would pretend to be nonchalant and look away.Once or twice is fine, but it happens too often. At first I thought I had something dirty on my back, but slowly I realized it wasn't my problem.No matter how dull a person encounters this, he can vaguely understand what it means.

What's more, at the job that week, Sasaki actually asked me if I had time on the weekend, "I want to go to the movies." She said so.

I didn't think about it at the time, and the phrase "I have time" blurted out, and it took me a long time before I slowly recalled it.

Isn't it weird?I am a bad-spoken nerd, and Sasaki is even worse than me.

It just happened to be such Sasaki, and it happened to be her——she actually thought of asking me to watch a movie on weekends!

There must be something wrong with this.Having said that, it is not justified to regret and say "I'm sorry, I had other arrangements that day" now.

As for when she started paying more attention to me, I have no memory at all.

All I can think of is that when I painted her portrait earlier, she seemed to like it.On that day, Masumi and I invited her who happened to be alone.

I seem to be in a difficult situation.If you want to get rid of it, you can either take a step forward and confess to Masumi, or take a step back, waiting for Sasaki to express her thoughts in person one day—there are similar results before and after: If I confess to Masumi with 100% enthusiasm, There is at least a 50.00% chance of being rejected by him;

Or I'm 50.00% sure that Sasaki is really going to confess to me, and when it actually happens, I will definitely—[-]%—turn her down.

In other words, I am a cat in a box, no matter which direction I choose to go, there is a 50.00% chance of thunderstorms.

How should I choose?

——I choose not to choose, and leave my troubles to my future self.

-

Although I agreed to Sasaki's invitation to watch a movie, I didn't think about it at all during the period.

I like watching movies, any movie, except children's movies.Whatever Sasaki wanted to see, I just went with him and didn't think much about anything else.In contrast, trying to figure out her mind was the source of my anxiety.

Will she suddenly confess to me on the way out of the movie theater?

Just thinking about it makes my head start to sweat.When I looked in the mirror, I even thought about whether I should practice the gesture of rejection: what words should I use to say no?What is the best angle to bow to?

Before I actually went to the appointment on the weekend, I didn't feel relaxed about going to the movies at all.

It happened to be another sunny day.In the afternoon, which was too dry to squeeze out a drop of water, only the breath of summer soaked through the pores.

By the time we reached the strip, the headspace was just covered with clouds.Not crisp, sea-rippling clouds, but thick, freshly made quilts that hide the sun behind the clouds.The air was still stuffy.

I stood in front of the flower bed at the entrance of the cinema and waited for Sasaki.There are still about ten minutes before the appointed time. If you want to rehearse the steps of rejecting someone, this time is just right.

Strongly——no, it would be better to be more tactful.If it looks too cold and ruthless, it seems a little too cruel for girls... Just as I was thinking this way, a female voice came from a distance: "Yamagishi-san!"

I came back to reality from the state of thinking and looked up.

At that moment, I was terrified.

It's Sasaki.However, Sasaki is completely different from usual, maybe I am used to seeing her in school uniform, and I always have a rough image in my impression, and sometimes she looks rustic-but now, this person is trotting all the way in colorful clothes come over.

Sasaki was wearing a pair of pink checks with ruffles on the cuffs, white leather shoes on his feet, and a leather bag with small flower patterns on his shoulders.

It's not that girls can't go out dressed up, but it's Sasaki—and it's Sasaki, it's her—that dresses so well!

It may be rude to say this, but I was really scared at the time, and the alarm bells rang in my mind immediately.

Sasaki stopped in front of me, and smoothed his sweaty hair with both hands.

"Waiting for a long time. The movie is about to start. It's not too late. Let's go to the movie theater quickly?"

"What movie is it?"

"The Corridor of Horror."

Hmm, sounds like a horror movie.

……Um?Horror film?

Speaking of two men and women watching horror movies together, you will think of "that kind of plot", right?

However, if you are looking forward to a romantic experience, you can't come to me, I have no talent in this area——

I was thinking wildly, when I suddenly heard Sasaki calling me.She has already walked into the gate of the cinema.

I feel like a fish on a chopping block, and nothing unexpected happens in the future.Leave it to fate!I sighed in my heart, and followed with the mentality of a soldier before leaving.My hands were clenched into fists until a second before I sat down.

The originally dim top light was completely extinguished just before the movie started.

It was indeed a horror movie, but as for what it was, I don't remember it at all.My whole body was in a state of extreme tension, so that sweat kept coming out like a sauna.

Sasaki next to me may be a goblin more terrifying than the ghosts in the movies. If she makes any movement, I will be thrown to the verge of dying.

However, Sasaki did not move for a long time.

I didn't expect her to approach her with a frightened look like people say, but I expected it in my heart.

Now that she was sitting quietly, it only made my fear worse.Just like a balloon, the bigger it is blown, the more painful it will be when the fragments fly to the person after the explosion.

As for what I'm afraid of, the quieter Sasaki is now, the more explosive the future may be.

Having said that, this horror movie is really scary.When I looked at Sasaki from the corner of my eye, he seemed to be watching a commercial sloppy that was deliberately funny but not funny at all, with no expression on his face the whole time.On a certain level, her performance shocked me even more than the movie in front of me.

I was on tenterhooks until the last moment.Doubt came to a head when we parted—

We came out of the movie theater and Sasaki said "Let's get here today!" and said goodbye to me.

Deep in my inexplicable emotions, I waved my hands dully.The sunset in the distance is burning like a flame.