Holding Hands

The cinema is usually one of my favorite places to be on a Saturday afternoon – I can’t even remember just how many movies I have seen in this place – but right now I am relieved to be able to leave the giant building. The automatic doors open when I come close enough and I burst through the opening, welcoming the warmth and most importantly the light of the sun.

Using one of my hands to cover my eyes, I take a moment to catch my breath. After sitting in the dark for so long, my eyes need some time to get used to the harsh sunlight.

The plaza in front of me is filled with hundreds of people. This isn’t that surprising to me, since this is the first weekend in ages with warm and dry weather. Some of the people are walking around the shops and stalls that surround the plaza, while others are either enjoying lunch at one of the several cafés and terraces or entering the cinema that I just came out of.

I spread my arms wide and close my eyes, letting the sunlight warm me up. “Ah, it’s great to be alive!”

I feel a tap on my shoulder. “Mou, don’t suddenly run away like that, Kairi.”

Recognizing the voice, I open my eyes and nudge the small girl’s side. “You’re one to talk, Ryu. Since you’re here already, you must have been in a rush yourself as well.”

The girl turns away from me and crosses her arms. “Umu, I just wanted to make sure you wouldn’t do anything stupid. You have the tendency to trip over practically anything, after all.”

I circle around the girl and face her with a smirk on my face. “Hmm? Are you sure that’s the reason?”

She looks away from me. “Of course, what other reason would there be?”

Two hands suddenly embrace Ryu’s tiny body from behind. “How about an army of living dolls coming after you?!”

“U-UMU?!” Ryu jumps and is doing everything she can to escape from the arms holding her into place.

“Hahaha, calm down already, it’s me.”

Ryu looks over her shoulder and finds Yumeo’s smiling face. “Yumeo?! Don’t scare me like that. Wasn’t that movie already bad enough?”

Of course, I already knew it was Yumeo, but I wasn’t planning to ruin the surprise. I giggle, looking at Ryu pummeling Yumeo with her small fists. “Oh, so that means that you were scared during the movie. That must be the reason why you ran from that place almost as fast as me.”

Ryu shakes her head. “I was NOT scared!"

Yumeo pokes Ryu in the back. “Oh, then can you explain why you sat through the entire movie with closed eyes, while holding my hand? Hmm, I guess hearing only the sounds of the movie might be even scarier than seeing it too.”

The words cause Ryu’s face to turns a dark shade of red. “M-Mou, just admit that you were just as scared. Your hand was shaking the entire time!”

Hearing that they were holding hands during the movie makes me feel a bit jealous. Ruby was using her hands to eat popcorn the entire time.

Yumeo shrugs. “I never said I wasn’t. That movie gave me the chills! Those must have been the scariest dolls I’ve ever seen! Seeing something like that on television is already bad enough, but to see it on that huge screen…”

“I know, right!” I start shaking, just remembering the terrifying sounds and movements of the dolls with minds of their own. “Ah, this might cause me to have nightmares later! I am so glad that we decided to go now. My heart wouldn’t have been able to take it if we would have gone to see the movie in the evening. Walking home in the dark would have been terrible.”

“Why did you even choose that movie, Kairi! I thought you hated horror movies.” Ryu stands in front of me with crossed arms, looking really angry, as if she’s blaming me for scaring her.

I scratch my head. “Well, the movie’s called ‘Not even death can separate us’, so I was certain it would be a romantic movie. How could I know that it was a movie about someone trying to bring back his deceased loved one and creating an entire army of living dead in the shape of dolls in the process!”

Ryu turns away from me, looking quite displeased. “Mou, at least read the summary before buying the tickets!”

I laugh wryly. “Hehe, I guess I will keep that in mind for next time.”

Ryu suddenly points my way. “You’d better take responsibility!”

Her words cause me to take a step back. “R-Responsibility? How?”

“Umu, we’ll of course never let you choose the movie again for our dates. And…” She seems to be thinking about something.

“You’ll have to treat us to a drink!” Yumeo cries out happily, finishing Ryu’s sentence for her.

“Eh?!”

“U-Umu, I wasn’t done thinking y—mmph?!” Yumeo clasps a hand over Ryu’s mouth.

“So, what do you say?” Yumeo asks me with a smile. “I would think that’s the least you could do for scaring us like that.”

“You only say that because you want a free drink!” I whine, getting my wallet and counting the coins and notes in there. I guess I have enough to buy everyone a simple drink. I have to keep enough to buy lunch as well, after all. “Oh well, I guess I’ll play along…”

“Yay!” Yumeo lets Ryu go and pumps her fist into the air.

The tiny blonde looks mighty pissed. “M-Mou, what’s the big idea?”

I pat Ryu on the shoulder. “It’s alright. It’s been a while since I treated you, anyway.”

“But…” Ryu seems to have trouble accepting this chain of events. She might be feeling guilty for starting it, even though Yumeo came up with the treating part.

“Then how about you girls treating me to a drink next time? We’d be even again.” I finish my sentence with a wink.

“Umu.” She nods, still not completely satisfied.

“So, where’s Ruby?”

“She told me she wanted to see the credits of the movie and to go on ahead, so she should be coming out any minute now,” Yumeo says, turning around. “Ah, there she is.”

I look to where Yumeo is pointing, and find Ruby exiting the cinema. As always, she’s wearing tomboyish clothes – a pair of jeans filled with holes, a simple blouse and a jacket – and her cute red ponytail flutters in the wind. As soon as the sunlight hits her, she puts on her sunglasses.

“Ruby!” I run towards her and jump when I’m close enough, planning to embrace my girlfriend tightly and to whine to her about Yumeo’s evil plan, but she sidesteps at the last moment and I land of the ground hard.

“Oh…”

I quickly push myself off of the ground and see her looking at me with a confused expression on your face. “W-Why did you dodge!”

“Hehe, my body must have moved at its own. I guess it’s because I was thinking back to those amazing action scenes in the movie. The way that girl moved was amazing.” She uses her hand to brush some dirt off of my dress. “Are you alright?”

I sigh. “Yeah, even though I wanted to hug you…”

She pokes me at the forehead and walks past me. “Hehe, maybe when we’re at home. Let’s go, Ryu and Yu are waiting for us. Oh…” She suddenly stops and turns around. “Thanks for taking me to that awesome movie. I loved it.”

Oh yeah, that’s right. Ruby loves horror and action movies more than anything. At least this means that someone enjoyed herself. “Y-You’re welcome?”

“So, did you choose that movie for me?” Ruby asks, titling her head. “I know that you absolutely hate horror movies, after all. I saw you shaking the entire time.”

For a moment, I think about trying to look good and telling her that I did everything for her –
and thus lying to her – but Ruby is the type who hates people who lie to her. “Nope, I thought it would be a romantic movie…”

Ruby stares at me for a moment and then starts laughing hard. “That’s Kairi for you. Things never get boring with you around.” She takes off her sunglasses to wipe away the tear that has formed in her amethyst eye before putting them back on. “Well, I guess that I lucked out then.”

I give Ruby a gentle push. “You sure did, since you’re the only one of our group who loves that stuff. Anyway, let’s go cool down at the fountain for a bit. I saw Ryu and Yu going that way already.”

As we make our way over to the center of the plaza, I can’t help but see several couples in the area, all of them holding each other’s hands. This makes me first look at my own empty hand and then at Ruby, who is walking in front of me. We are a couple as well, so why are we walking behind each other? It feels so distant for some reason.

Gathering some courage, I increase my pace. We’re on a double date with our friends, so we should be able to do stuff like this as well, right? I am about to take hold of Ruby’s hand with my own, when my right foot hits something and I plunge forward. “Ah?!”

“Kairi?” Before I hit the floor, Ruby somehow managed to grab my hand to keep me from falling. That girl really has amazing reflexes; that must be the reason why she’s so good at kendo. She pulls me up and sighs. “You silly goose, be careful already. How many times are you planning on falling on a single day?”

I stick out my tongue. “I’m sorry, I wasn’t paying attention.”

“Really, you’re such a klutz…” As she says this, Ruby looks at our locked hands and gasps, her cheeks showing some red on them. She pulls back her hand right away and coughs. “Anyway, let’s go.”

Well, I guess I got my way, but not in the way I intended to…

Ruby and I make our way through the masses and reach our destination – the giant fountain in the middle of the plaza. I sit down next to Ryu on one of the small benches surrounding the fountain. The sound of the streaming water behind me is really soothing somehow. “So, where’s Yumeo?”

Ryu points towards the other side of the plaza. “Umu, she’s arranging a table at that café over there for our lunch. Couldn’t she just have waited until you guys showed up. She’s so impatient…”

I lean against Ryu’s shoulder with my own. “Oh, were you feeling lonely?”

“Of course not.” Ryu pushes me away. “I just don’t like waiting by myself when there are so many people around.”

“Isn’t that the same?”

“Mou!”

“Date, date, date!” I sing happily, ignoring Ryu who’s still trying to deny my words.

Ruby sits down next to me and pats me on the shoulder. “Calm it down already, Miss Energetic.”

I flash Ruby one of my biggest smiles. “Why? I’ve been looking forward to this date for a long time! I wonder what I should order for lunch. Maybe a big strawberry sundae for the both of us? We could use the same straw and feed each other with our spoons. Wouldn’t that be romantic?”

Ruby shakes her head. “Nah, I don’t like sweet stuff. I might go for something spicy after seeing that hot movie.”

“Eh…” This once again proves that Ruby really isn’t the romantic type of girl.

“I’ve managed to reserve a table!” Yumeo comes running, waving at us energetically. “Let’s go, it’s really busy over there.”

“Oh, let’s go! I’m starving.” Ruby stands up and briskly walks away.

“W-Wait up!” I quickly follow after her and grab her hand. “Let’s go together.”

“Wha?” Ruby pulls back her hand in one swift motion. “W-What are you doing? Are you crazy?”

I tilt my head. “Holding hands?”

“Why?” Ruby asks, holding the hand I just grabbed in her other hand.

“Because it’s something couples do?” Feeling headstrong. I try to grab her hand again, but she manages to evade my advances.

Ruby shakes her head. “No way, everyone’s looking at us.”

“Eh? Why does that matter?”

“Because it’s embarrassing! I won’t do it!” She points towards our two friends. “See? They’re not holding hands either.”

I follow her line of sight and see Ryu walking ahead of Yumeo. “No.”

Yumeo tries to reach Ryu with her hand. “Aw, please. It’s only for a moment. Everyone’s doing it.”

“No!” Ryu increases her pace and walks right past me.

“But you held my hand during the movie…” says Yumeo, stopping next to me.

“Umu, that was different.”

In some ways, Ryu and Ruby are the same; they can both be really shy and stubborn. I wonder why holding hands is so embarrassing for them. Don’t they want to show their relationships to the outside world? I sigh and turn back to Ruby, only to find that she’s not there anymore. “Ah, she escaped!” Looking around, I find her heading towards the café. “Jeez, what a difficult girlfriend…”

I slump my shoulders, when I suddenly feel my hand being taken by another hand. “Yumeo?”

She comes close to me and starts whispering in my ear. “Having the same problem, eh? Well, if they don't want to do it, then we'll just hold hands, right?”

“Eh?”

The blue-haired girl winks at me and raises her voice. “With so many people around we don’t want to get separated, huh? Might be best to hold hands for now.”

Understanding her intentions, I tighten my grip on her hand. We start walking, hand in hand, laughing all the way.

“So, what are you going to take for lunch, Kairi?”

“Well, I wanted to share a strawberry sundae with Ruby, but she wants something spicy, so now I don’t know.” Just like Yumeo, I voice the words a little bit louder than I usually do. “What about you?”

“I’ll probably go for something sweet as well.” Yumeo muses, squeezing my hand. “Your hand sure is soft, Kairi.”

My cheeks start burning. That wasn’t in the plan!

“E-Eh¬?! I a—?!” I am suddenly pulled away from Yumeo by a strong hand.

Ruby holds my hand tightly with her own. “Jeez, what are you doing holding Yu’s hand?”

“Huh?” I blush at the contact.

Ruby sighs and starts pulling me along. “I don’t want you to trip or to get lost in the crowds, and I can’t have you bothering Yu either. That’s the only reason why I’m doing this, okay? Don’t forget!”

“I guess…” I smile and give her hand a tight squeeze. Yeah, this feels amazing.

While I’m still a bit in shock, I see Ryu taking hold of Yumeo’s hand and pulling her forward. “Umu, don’t misunderstand. You guys are taking way too long, and I don’t want our reserved table to be given away.”

Yumeo giggles as she lets herself get pulled along. “Aw, you’re so cute.”

“Shut up!”