"You've got to be kidding me," Megurine Luka muttered in dismay. "How did things end up this way?"
"What's wrong with it?" Hatsune Miku asked cheerfully as she tossed a popcorn kennel into her mouth and offering some to Luka. "Here, say ‘aah!'"
The two girls were at the movie theater on a date; there was a movie that Miku had been looking forward to seeing and Luka couldn't bring herself to refuse when Miku had invited her. She knew nothing about the movie itself but thought its title was interesting enough to tickle her curiosity. However, after seeing the movie poster, she was really starting to wonder if going to see "The Princess of Enbizaka" was a good idea; there was no way a movie with a pair of blood-stained scissors on the movie poster was going to be a cheerful film.
Miku had bought tickets ahead of time so the two didn't have to stand in line; however, upon walking into the room where "The Princess of Enbizaka" was showing and settling into their seats, Luka had noticed two girls also walking in and gave a start. "Hey Miku, look over there! Isn't that Haku and Neru?"
"Hey, you're right!" Miku had exclaimed. "You think they're also on a date?" It wasn't a secret that Yowane Haku and Akita Neru were going out; the two were often holding hands when together, which normally wouldn't mean much except that Neru, Miss Loner herself, was part of the hand-holding equation. Miku had also pressed Haku and Haku, unable to keep any secrets from her cousin, had fully admitted it. Not that Miku minded; the two girls were polar opposites, but Haku seemed quite happy with the sharp-tongued girl and Neru was always a little friendlier when Haku was around.
"Come to think of it, Haku did mention she was going out today," Miku had mused. "Well, what a coincidence! We can catch up with them later and talk about the movie!"
"Maybe we should leave the talking after our date is finished. We wouldn't want to derail their date, do we? I would prefer not having Neru giving me the evil eye all afternoon."
"True." The two girls had settled back into their seats until Miku began pulling at Luka's shoulders excitedly. Luka had nearly jumped out of her seat when she saw who it was. "You've got to be kidding me..."
There were two figures, both of them girls; one had shoulder-length green hair and happily humming while gripping the hand of the second taller blond-haired girl. "Come on, let's sit over there!" Nakajima Gumi said as she tugged Masuda Lily over to a row of seats below Luka and Miku's position.
"Geez, Gumi, slow down a little, alright?" Lily laughed, making sure that the tray of drinks she was carrying was still secure. "The movie doesn't start for another ten minutes."
"Yeah, but a lot can happen in ten minutes! Good seats can disappear in ten minutes!"
"What are those two doing here?" Luka whispered. "Don't tell me..."
"They're on a date as well?" Miku guessed, leaning forward to get a look. "Oh wow...I had a feeling Gumi-chan was seeing someone, but I never thought it would be Lily-senpai!"
"Lily was seeing someone and she kept it a secret from me?" Luka sounded indignant. "The nerve of her! And after she took such sadistic pleasure in grilling me about you when we started going out...!"
"Now, now," Miku said soothingly. "You could always ask her about it later! Just sit down and enjoy the..." Her voice trailed off as her eyes widened. "Ah..." Miku's mouth opened and closed, but no words would come out.
"Miku? What's wrong?"
Miku still couldn't say anything and had to resort to pointing. Luka's eyes followed the direction Miku pointed out and her eyes soon began to bug out as well. "No...you can't be...I don't...what?!"
--------------------
"Come on, Miki-nee!" Kagamine Rin called out to her date. "It's going to start soon!"
Furukawa Miki hurried over to where Rin was already seated, a bright smile on her face as she took a seat next to the younger girl. "How long till it starts?" she asked curiously as she took a large sip of her soda.
Rin glanced at her watch. "It should start in about five minutes."
"What kind of movie is it anyways?" Miki asked curiously.
"It's a story about forbidden mad love!" Rin said excitedly. "Miku-nee kept saying how much she wanted to see it, so I thought I'd check it out as well. The story seems to be quite good, so it should be a good movie!"
"But why did the ticket seller have to check if we were fifteen?" Miki asked.
"Don't worry about it! Just sit tight and enjoy!" Rin scooted a little closer to Miki and leaned her head on the older girl's shoulder. Miki seemed to accept that and put her arm around Rin's shoulder to pull her closer.
Rin grinned to herself, pleased with how the date was turning out. She was fully aware that "The Princess of Enbizaka" was going to be a rather dark movie; she was also aware that Miki wasn't exactly the bravest person in the world. If things went as planned, Miki would spend the rest of the day clinging to Rin's side, a thought that made the younger girl shiver with pleasure. As the lights began to dim, Rin's smile only widened.
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Neru hated when she had to turn off her phone, but Haku always insisted that she do so whenever they went to the movie theaters. "We...we shouldn't bother the other people watching the movie..." Haku would always say. "Neru-chan, please put it away..." Normally Neru would have said something along the lines of "If they have a problem with me, they can kiss my ass," but Haku's begging expression was a formidable weapon. Now, Neru's fingers drummed against her thighs impatiently as the lights went completely dark and the movie trailers began, her eyes periodically shifting over to her bag where her cell phone now lay dormant.
"N-Neru-chan..."
"Hm?" Neru felt Haku's hands grope around in the dark and, upon finding Neru's left hand, immediately grabbed a hold of it and squeezed. Neru winced a little at the force being applied, but she allowed Haku to hold on; she could practically feel the older girl's pleading eyes boring into her.
"I...I'm scared..."
"The movie hasn't even started yet."
"I know, but...but..." There was a slight pause and when Haku spoke up again, her voice was barely a whisper. "Please don't let go."
"I won't," Neru reassured her. She leaned forward and gave Haku a quick kiss on the lips. She heard a small muffled gasp and felt Haku's death grip on her hand relax ever so slightly. Neru leaned back, satisfied that Haku seemed a little less frightened.
‘Though really, what the hell was I thinking when I picked this movie for our date? Oh right, because it was either this or watch a movie where some dumb teenage girl angsts about being caught in a love triangle between some pansy vampire and goofy-looking werewolf...' Neru was never going to be caught dead going to see one of those movies and she thanked the gods that Haku wasn't a fan of such stuff either.
Though the idea of Haku clinging onto her throughout the movie wasn't so bad...
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"What are those two doing here?" Luka hissed at Miku, ignoring the trailer for a new movie about some countess who kidnapped girls to be part of her harem.
"It might be a date," Miku muttered back as she noticed the two girls snuggling against each other. "When did those two start going out?"
"That's not the point! This is an R-15 movie! Should they even be watching this?"
"Rin-chan turned fifteen a few weeks ago, remember? Miki's sixteen, so the two of them should be fine...barely." Miku shook her head and chuckled. "Oh, Rin-chan, you thought you could keep this a secret from me, huh?"
"So how did eight of us end up watching the same movie?" Luka demanded. "Don't tell me it was a coincidence, it stopped being one the moment Lily and Gumi walked in!"
"Maybe the movie really is that good? I'll admit, I haven't seen any of the reviews, but it does have quite an interesting story! Also, the only other big movie out is that one paranormal romance film. You know, the one whose commercial made you bang your head on the wall?"
Luka shuddered. "Don't remind me."
Miku turned back toward the movie screen and her eyes widened. "Luka-nee! Next time we go on a date, we should go see that movie! When does it come out?"
Luka looked up just in time for a brief image of the countess pinning some girl up against a wall and forcing a kiss on the struggling maiden. Her face heated up in an instant and she shook her head violently. "No! Absolutely not!"
"Aw..."
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"Maybe we should go see that movie next time we go on a date," Lily remarked as soon as the first trailer ended.
"Are you saying that just because the countess looks kind of like you?" Gumi teased.
"She does? I was just thinking she looked kind of like Luka..."
As the second trailer started up, Lily noticed two girls in the front, one of them with a large white ribbon on her head and the other with a very familiar-looking ahoge that seemed to have a life of its own. "Hey, Gumi-chan? Isn't that Miki-chan and Rin-chan down there?"
Gumi nearly shot out of her seat as she began scanning the lower levels. "Where?!"
"Over there." Lily pointed the two girls out for her girlfriend. "Looks like a date."
"A date? No way; they're probably just hanging out together and..." The green-haired girl's voice trailed off as she saw Rin give Miki a small peck on the cheek. "Alright, it's probably a date."
There was a gleam in Lily's eyes and her grin widened. "Let's follow them later!"
"No!" Gumi nearly shouted, causing a few startled individuals to look in their direction. Her face red in embarrassment, she lowered her voice to a fierce whisper. "We are not following those two today!"
"But you had no problem following Miku-chan and Luka on their first date..."
"The difference between this and that is that I wasn't on a date that time! I don't want to spend the rest of this date tailing Miki-chan! Besides..." Gumi put on a pouting expression. "Didn't you promise me we would head to the arcade later?"
"Yeah, but..." Lily looked back and forth from the two younger girls and Gumi before giving a sigh of defeat. "Alright, you win. Though I'm really curious..."
Gumi gave her girlfriend a grateful smile. "Thanks. I'll make it up to you later, okay?"
"I guess that's something to look forward to..." Lily grinned.
--------------------
Miku was in a state of bliss at the moment; the movie's story was so far quite solid, the characters were well-developed, and the setting was immersive. But best of all was the fact that Luka was more than a little spooked and clinging to Miku. The pink-haired girl did not fare as well as Miku did when it came to horror movies and "The Princess of Enbizaka" was proving to be doing quite a number on her nerves.
One of the movie's characters, the man the princess was engaged to marry, had just discovered a secret room beneath the castle where the princess lived. The only source of light he had was his lantern and the bloodstains in the room gave the place a very ominous feel. A loud crack caused Luka's grip on Miku's shoulders to suddenly tighten, slightly relaxed when it turned out the cracking sound was caused by a couple of loose pebbles, then tightened once again when Luka noticed something in the background creeping up on the unsuspecting man.
‘This kind of hurts...but it's also kind of nice...' Miku thought dreamily as she reached into the popcorn bucket once more. She offered some to Luka, who seemed quite grateful to have something to distract her from the movie, no matter how small.
Miku also took this chance to see how the other girls were doing. Haku, unsurprisingly, was cowering in her seat and looked as though she really wished she could just drag Neru out of her seat and sit her on her lap like a teddy bear, while Neru herself seemed to be sitting a little straighter than usual, her eyes transfixed on the screen; Miki and Rin seemed to be in a similar position as Luka and Miku, with the older girl shivering and gripping Rin's arm nervously. As for Lily and Gumi, both of them seemed to holding each other's hand as they watched the movie. The teal-haired girl had to giggle a little at how alike their predicaments were.
The current scene was the main character, a servant at the castle, talking to the titular princess. Miku felt Luka's grip relax when the older girl felt that this wasn't a scene that would throw any horrors in her face. ‘Luka-nee can be so cute sometimes...'
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A teenage boy who also happened to be a thief that hated nobility was flirting with the servant girl protagonist, but Neru wasn't really paying attention to what they were saying; it was sort of hard to pay attention to anything with her face nearly plastered between Haku's breasts. "Haku...what are you doing?"
"I...I'm scared, Neru..."
"I feel for you, but I can't breathe like this, as nice as it feels..."
"But...but..."
Neru gave a sigh; even though she was the younger half of the couple, she sometimes felt like the older one due to Haku's lack of self-confidence. She pulled herself out of Haku's grasp and wrapped one of her arms around the older girl's body, pulling her close. "I'll hold onto you, alright? If you're scared, just know I'm here for you."
Haku gave Neru a grateful smile. "Thanks..."
"It's nothing," Neru said, trying to sound casual though she couldn't help but smile back. Despite what others thought, Neru did have the capacity to care for others; it just so happened that Haku was the person who saw that side of hers the most. Such was the privilege of being Akita Neru's girlfriend.
‘Wait a minute, that person up front looks familiar...' Neru's felt her blood suddenly go cold when she realized that the person who was looking over her shoulder at them was none other than Masuda Lily. Lily was wearing a rather surprised expression at seeing Neru and Haku there, an expression that suddenly split into a wide Cheshire Cat grin. Even worse, Neru realized that Lily wasn't alone; Gumi was there as well, though it didn't seem like that green-haired girl had noticed her.
‘Oh hell, she's not going to keep quiet about this, is she?' Neru thought in dismay.
--------------------
The movie was at its climax now and the audience was so quiet that they may have very well been dummies set up in the seats. The princess had been revealed to be in love with the servant girl and had been killing anyone who had wronged the servant girl or looked at her with desire; she had murdered an older servant that had insulted the servant girl, another princess for spitting in the girl's face, a nobleman who had attempted to grope her, and a noblewoman who had asked how much it would cost to buy the servant girl from her. It was pretty clear at this point the princess was not mentally stable.
The thief had attempted to convince the servant girl to run away with him. "The princess you serve is a monster!" he told her. "If you stay with her, you'll be in constant danger! Come with me! The two of us can -!" He never had a chance to finish his sentence, for the princess suddenly attacked him in a moment that elicited quite a few screams from the audience. The princess stabbed him with a pair of scissors, her face expressionless but the fury and sadistic pleasure of killing a rival clear in her eyes.
The poor servant girl tried to run, but the princess was too fast; she lunged at the protagonist and pinned her to the ground, gently caressing the servant girl's face with the still bloody scissors. "Why do you run from me?" she whispered. "You belong to me and me alone. I have killed all those who wronged you and those who would take you from me. The two of us will be together forever now..."
It was then that the big reveal of the movie came; the princess's body began to convulse and large spider legs sprouted out. Rin felt Miki stiffen up next to her and trying to stifle a shriek, something she couldn't blame her for; the transformation scene was quite graphic with blood and ribbons of torn flesh where the horrifyingly realistic-looking spider legs sprouted out of like nightmarish blossoms. Some of the other people in the audience weren't as lucky; she heard several girls and guys let out cries of fear, one of them sounding suspiciously like Gumi and another like Haku.
‘Oh wow...this is awesome...'
The princess, now revealed as a jorougumo, dragged the poor servant girl into her chambers where she promptly began spinning her threads around the girl's limb, binding her more securely than any manmade rope could. "We're going to be a family," the princess crooned. "I will plant my young into you and we will have many children..."
"Oh god, they're not really going to show it, are they?" Miki whispered in horror.
"Probably not...R-15 movies aren't allowed to do that, right?" No sooner had Rin given her little comforting answer did the scene fade out with the princess's spider-like claws gripping the servant girl's kimono. As the scene fully faded to black, there was the sound of ripping cloth and the servant girl's panicked screams.
"Whew..." Miki breathed a sigh of relief. However, her uneasy smile was soon wiped away by the scene that came afterwards. She opened her mouth but only a dry frail squeak could be heard. Rin herself didn't have such an extreme reaction, but she couldn't help but feel a bit impressed at the guts of the movie director.
‘Ooh, that's going to cause a few nightmares...'
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Lily sucked out the last remaining drops of liquid in her soda cup; she had gulped down quite a bit of soda during the climax in order to calm her nerves. However, she knew enough about horror movies to know that just because the climax was over didn't mean the movie was done with the audience yet; she could feel Gumi also bracing herself for the final scare that horror movies always reserved just before the credits started to roll.
The final scene of the movie was that of the servant girl bound in spider silk in the deepest depths of the castle. What was truly horrifying though was the fact that the girl was clearly pregnant and traumatized; the fact that the background music was similar to the sound of many spider legs rustling in unison did not make things better.
‘I'm going to have to persuade Gumi-chan to switch around our plans a little...' Lily thought, thankful the two of them only got soda and no popcorn; the two of them originally planned to grab a bite to eat after the movie, but the sight of the servant girl pregnant with god knows how much little baby spiders was enough to kill her appetite for the moment. Gumi had also gone completely silent and still; judging from her face expression, Lily bet that she too was considering going to the arcade first before the café.
"They'll be born soon..." the princess whispered as she stroked the sobbing servant girl's hair. "Do you hear that, my daughters? You'll have more little sisters soon..." No sooner had she said this, a chorus of gruesome chittering filled the air as the camera pulled back to reveal several gigantic spiders crawling all over the webbed up room. Some of them looked no different from regular spiders while others looked like human infants with spider legs sprouting out of where human limbs would normally be.
‘...Yeah, lunch is going to have to wait.'
--------------------
"Ah, that was a great movie!" Miku exclaimed as she stretched her arms. Luka had hurriedly dragged Miku out as soon as the lights came out; she didn't want to be confronted by the other girls and end up in an embarrassing situation.
"I don't' want to see any spiders for a long time..." Luka mumbled, still looking a little sick. "I'm heading to the bathroom, so wait for me, alright?"
"Got it!" Miku beamed. Luka hurried off, praying that she wouldn't have to wait in line.
As soon as she got back, the first thing she noticed was Miku grinning up at her while keeping her hands behind her back. "Guess what, Luka-nee?"
"What is it?"
"Look what I got you!" Miku pulled out the object she was hiding and presented it to the older girl with a big grin on her face. In her hand was a blue octopus plush toy with two pairs of puppy-like eyes and a cheerful smile on its face.
"You got this for me?" Luka took the octopus and marveled at its softness. "Thanks..."
"Ehehehe..." Miku laughed sheepishly. "I saw it in one of those claw machine games and thought to myself: ‘Luka-nee would definitely like one of those!'"
"It's pretty cute..." Luka agreed. "Though not quite as cute as you," she added quickly.
"Aw, Luka-nee, you're making me blush! So where do you want to go now?"
"How about we stop by Kinokuniya first?"
"Fine by me!" Miku said as she looped her arms around Luka's. "Come on, Luka-nee! We still have a couple of hours before we have to go home!"
--------------------
"Thank god it's over..." Haku muttered as she stumbled out of the theater.
"You okay?" Neru asked as her fingers flew across the keypad of her cellphone; she was already browsing a forum dedicated to discussing "The Princess of Enbizaka" and had already angered at least three posters with her rather colorful opinions on their opinions.
"I think I'm going to have nightmares for a while..."
"I didn't think it was that bad," Neru remarked. "At least it wasn't a stupid slasher movie filled with stupid teenagers with mush for brains..." ‘Like some of the dingbats on this site...'
"Neru..." The younger girl felt Haku reach over and take her free hand. "...Thanks for watching this with me..."
Neru couldn't help but blush. "Well, I was the one who suggested we watch this, so shouldn't I be thanking you for accompanying me?"
"But you held me so I wouldn't get scared..."
"Well, you are my girlfriend..." Later during the day, Neru would still be trying to figure out how such a cheesy line came out so easily. "What should we do now?"
"How about taking a walk in the park?" Haku suggested. "Getting some exercise wouldn't be too bad..."
Neru shrugged. "Fine with me." ‘Besides, as long as I'm with you, I'm happy...ah hell, I'm turning into a sap...'
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"Well, who would've thought Neru-chan would be here as well!" Lily said as she casually tossed her soda cup into the trash.
"Neru-chan?" Gumi asked in disbelief. "You're kidding me. First Miki-chan and Rin-chan, now her? Is this movie really the ‘must-see-on-a-date' movie of the season?"
"It was either that or the movie with the vampire and werewolf," Lily replied. "The bad movie with the vampire and werewolf."
"Well, to be fair, it is the sort of movie people going on a date would go see!" Gumi shot back. "...Though Neru-chan wouldn't be one of those people..." she was forced to admit.
"Hehehe, I'm going to have so much fun with Neru-chan the next time I see her!" Lily cackled. "Or maybe I should grill Haku for details..."
"Never mind those two! Let's head to the arcade!" Gumi exclaimed, practically bouncing in excitement. "Ooh, look over there! They have a new cooperative first-person shooting game and a new fighting game as well! Come on, come on!" With that, Gumi barreled toward the game center like a green bullet.
"Slow down, Gumi-chan!" Lily said. Still, the thought of two new games was enough to also propel the blonde-haired girl after her date. As she passed by the crane machine, she made a mental note to win something for Gumi. ‘Now what would serve as a good reminder of our first date?' she wondered as she took her place next to Gumi as the shooting game started up.
--------------------
"That was fun!" Rin said as she and Miki stepped outside of the movie theater. She was in a great mood; the movie had been good and her plan to have Miki snuggle against her throughout the movie had worked like a charm. ‘This date could end right now and it would still be a huge success!'
"It...it was definitely an interesting movie," Miki laughed nervously. "Though, next time we go see a movie, could we see a happier one?"
"Sure! Any of the movie trailers interest you?"
"That one about a girl going into a fantasy world seemed pretty cool; let's go see that one when it comes out!"
Rin searched her memory for the trailer Miki was talking about. "Oh, that one? It won't come out for several months though..."
"That's okay! Just promise me we'll go see it when it comes out!" Miki's face suddenly brightened. "Oh, wait here, alright?" She ran off, a red blur amongst the sea of people walking away from the theater.
Rin took the chance to look at the posters of upcoming movies. ‘Hm, we have one about the end of the world, one about that perverted countess, one about a haunted house...ooh, this was the one Miki-nee was talking about!'
Her thoughts were suddenly interrupted by the feeling of cold steel pressed against her cheeks. She turned to see Miki holding a can of soda with a very pleased grin on her face. "Here you go! Orange for you, cherry for me!" She promptly popped open her own can and began chugging the drink down. "Ah, so good!"
Rin laughed. "Let's sit down and drink, okay? There's an empty bench over there."
As soon as the two girls sat down, Miki turned to Rin excitedly. "Hey, did you know that Miku-chan was watching the same movie as us?"
Rin promptly spat out her drink. "Wha-wha-what?!"
"Miku-chan was there! She waved at me as she was leaving the theater! Isn't that such a cool coincidence?"
Rin was not sharing Miki's enthusiasm; her face seemed to drain and a look of horror came to her face as she pictured Miku's enthusiastic expression and rapid-fire questions about her date. There was no doubt in Rin's mind that an interrogation from Miku awaited her the next time they met up. "Oh no..." she moaned. "School is going to suck..."