Chapter 21

  Silva avoided looking at the time. She already knew she had arrived much too early and was not sure how to proceed. Just standing in one spot didn’t seem like the worst idea, but…

  It felt like everyone was watching and judging her. Silva couldn’t bear it. But hiding her presence also didn’t seem appropriate.

  What if Mika came and couldn’t find her?

  That would be awful!

  Silva already felt like she had not done enough. She didn’t need to add more to the pile of her shortcomings.

  The attempt at making herself presentable had been a serious hurdle. Silva had tried everything she could to improve her looks and still felt it was not enough.

  Not only that, but she had to redo most of her make-up. Silva realised it was too much and had to tone it down after being done...

  Ultimately, Silva decided to head for the nearby benches and sit down. From there, she would have an unobstructed view of the whole square. She would see when Mika arrived.

  Silva did not have to wait for long. To her surprise, she saw her friend rushing towards the spot she had stood in just a minute ago. This called for another check of the time to see if she had not made a mistake. It was barely over 2 am, while the agreed time was an hour ter. So, that could not be the case.

  Watching her friend march with determined steps, Silva realised that it would be hard to see her from the cinema entrance, which was the spot where they had agreed to meet each other. The pn was to start their outing with a movie, but now that they both had already been on the site, they would have to figure out something else to do till the movie started.

  Silva gathered her courage as she stood up and headed towards Mika. She nervously tried to fix her hair and almost ughed when she noticed that Mika turned to face the nearby window and started to do the same. It was a relief her friend was feeling the pressure, too.

  After they both fixed their hair, Silva began waiting for her friend to notice her as she slowed her approach.

  But it did not happen as Mika started to fix up her clothes next. From where Silva was watching her friend, it did not seem that there was anything worth fixing. But Mika obviously disagreed as she started to straighten the coat creases that only she could see.

  In fact, she was so absorbed by her undertaking that Silva managed to approach close enough to touch her without her friend's notice. For a moment, she considered how to proceed. She did not want to startle Mika, as she had already gotten a few reprimands because of accidentally doing that. But at this point, it did not seem like she could avoid it.

  Silva softly coughed, and to her amusement, her friend jumped straight into the air. When Mika nded, she slowly turned to face Silva, revealing that her friend had also made ample preparations.

  Mika had make-up, which she usually didn’t, or at least did to a lesser extent. She sported a new hairdo with a single braid hugging her hairline on the left, while on the right, her hair was falling freely, and both of these styles were joined together in a ponytail at the back.

  Silva could not tell what Mika was wearing under her overcoat, but it was either a dress or a skirt. Whatever it was, her friend was not afraid to show off her legs, as the yellow fabric barely reached Mika’s knees.

  “Hi, I see you also came early.” Silva greeted her friend, who was scanning her in return.

  “Oh, yeah, hi!” Mika betedly returned her greeting. “I could not wait… That is, I thought you may come early.”

  “You were right. I could not calm down, so here I am.” Silva purposefully smiled as her friend seemed to enjoy them.

  “And you decided to dress up too…” Mika observed. “I kind of expected that maybe you wouldn’t.” Seeing Silva start fidgeting, she corrected herself straight away. “I mean, I am happy that you did! You look great! I mean, from what I can tell with the jacket on! Uh… Should we head inside? So that I could see it all, I mean, the clothes you picked. See the clothes.”

  “Thank you. You look good yourself, I mean, from what I can tell.” Silva decided to tease her friend. “But we are too early for the movie.”

  “Ah, well, we can get the tickets and go to the cafe inside, or we can go for a walk if you want!”

  It was a bit too chilly, so both agreed to get their tickets and head for the cafe to warm themselves up.

  “You really do look good,” Mika commented as they sat at the table with their orders. They had decided to have a light snack, and Mika had gotten a coffee, mentioning her ck of sleep st night.

  “You too.” Silva returned, and she meant it. Under the overcoat, Mika wore a brown jacket with a light yellow dress under it, accentuating her comparably bigger chest. The cut was a bit too low, naturally drawing the eyesight down. “So what is the pn?”

  “To chat here and then the movie?” Mika airily answered.

  “No, I meant, you know, is that all? We could have chatted and watched a movie at your home too. It seemed that you had something more in mind. Was I wrong?” Silva wondered.

  “N-not really wrong.” Mika stammered. “We came to have fun. You know, we are both single, and we don’t get much of a chance to do this. I thought it would be nice.”

  “Still no luck with that ‘can’t tell’, huh?” Silva remembered her friend not answering about her love life.

  But instead of answering, Mika gave a hollow ugh and quickly drank her coffee. When she finished, she checked her surroundings and changed the topic.

  “Anyway! I think I had some luck with that ‘meditation’ stuff. Yesterday, after getting back from the retives. I did experience a little of what you told us about. Only for a moment, and now I know why your expnations were so vague. It really was a mysterious feeling. I did not ‘see’ the streams inside me, but…” Mika did not finish.

  Her friend’s success pleased Silva. It meant that she was not going crazy. Or crazier. Depending on from which viewpoint you looked.

  “Is that why you couldn’t sleep?” Silva made a connection, but Mika reacted to it somewhat strangely.

  “No, I was… Yes, that must have been it. No other reason.”

  They spent the rest of the time until the movie discussing how Mika could progress. Silva tried her best to expin how she immersed herself in her inner world while Mika listened with rapt attention. She was barely blinking while she watched Silva talk.

  When Silva finally remembered that they had come here to have fun, it was already time to go to the movie.

  “Sorry, I got a bit carried away…” She apologised. This was a topic they could have discussed another time.

  “It’s fine, it was really fun,” it did not seem that Mika minded it. Both of them were now holding popcorn and a drink.

  “What is the movie about?”

  “You did not look it up?”

  “No. Didn’t you?”

  “No… Steven suggested it… I may have made a mistake.”

  “I have a bad feeling about it, too. What was the name again? I’ll look it up.” Silva pulled out her phone.

  “Me and my family’s secrets.” Mika looked at the ticket.

  “Oh, oh no…”

  “H-how bad is it?”

  “Well, the movie has a good rating…”

  “But?”

  “Mika, I-I am not very good with horror.” Silva felt like tearing up and saw Mika’s face become a tone paler.

  “Maybe we can trade the tickets? We don’t have to watch the movie,” Mika suggested, but when they checked if you could, they were politely refused.

  “How bad could it be?” Silva asked, not wanting to throw away the ticket. It was not exactly cheap, and her wallet was already strained.

  “I-I’ll be there with you, so you don’t have to worry!” Mika cimed with baseless confidence.

  When they got to their seats, the whole audience seemed to be full of anticipation. Silva heard stray phrases talking about how this was one of the greatest and scariest movies to come out in years.

  As the lights dimmed, Silva’s uneasiness grew. She tried to keep a calm facade. To her dismay, it took only fifteen minutes into the movie for her to not be able to keep it up. She grabbed her friend’s hand, which elected a gasp from Mika.

  Silva apologised to Mika for scaring her but did not let go of her hand, squeezing it even tighter. It did help, though it did not allow her to enjoy her snacks, which y in her p, forgotten.

  By the midway of the movie, Silva decided that the popcorn was a hindrance, so she put it on the ground. She gnced at Mika, who seemed to be taken by the movie.

  Silva did not share the interest but did not want to leave and interrupt her friend's watching experience. Instead, she decided to lightly nuzzle closer to Mika.

  When the music got too intense, Silva turned sideways and slid one hand over her friend as she pushed her face into Mika’s nape. It was the closest safe pce she could find.

  The ragged breath of her friend only reinforced her unwillingness to see the movie. Even Mika was scared, and Silva pressed tighter.

  At least her friend’s smell was soothing. It lessened the trepidation she felt down a little. Still, she did not let go until the movie ended.

  When both of them exited the cinema, Silva could tell that Mika was out of it as she responded to everything with a dey, going even so far as making Silva pull her friend behind her.

  “I-it was worse than I thought.” Silva summarised.

  “Yesh.”

  “Sorry…I bothered you during the movie.”

  “Ish fine.”

  “So, was it any good?” Even if Silva herself hated it. At least Mika seemed to watch the whole movie.

  “Very good.” Mika’s face seemed to radiate satisfaction as she nodded.

  “I did not know you were into horror.” Silva let go of her friend as she seemed to regain her usual demeanour.

  “Hmm?”

  “I was too scared to even look at the screen, but you seemed to be absorbed by the movie. Which part did you enjoy the most?”

  “Movie?” Mika tilted her head.

  “I know you enjoyed it, but why?”

  “Oh, the movie!” Mika cpped her hands together. “What was it about again?”

  “Uh, never mind, maybe it’s better for me to not know.” Silva withdrew. It was better to not know what made that horror movie good. She would rather sleep at night.

  “Sorry, my head is kind of a mess now. Where were we?”

  “I guess we go and grab something to eat now,” Silva remembered that she had not eaten anything during the movie, and so had not Mika. By now, she was getting hungry, and Mika had said that the pce she had reserved the table had very delicious food.

  They had to walk for a bit to get to the restaurant, and it had gotten much colder outside. Mika was still light-headed, so Silva once again grabbed her hand and started to pull her along.

  Mika did not protest, though her movements were still stiff. Silva did not bme her. The movie had been rather long, and some stiffness was understandable.

  Unfortunately, Silva did not know the exact address of the pce, so she nudged Mika to start leading her, which her friend promptly did. Mika seemed to be very content with holding hands, as she did not let go.

  Not that Silva minded, but it was still embarrassing, even though she hadn’t minded it just a moment ago.

  It was very different when Mika was the one to pull her along. Silva almost objected, but in the end, her friend’s enthusiasm did not allow it.

  They arrived a bit early. The table was reserved for 7 pm, but the table happened to be free, so they were quickly seated.

  Silva didn’t have experience going out to eat - mostly due to her family situation. So, she let Mika talk to the staff. Her friend had also promised to pay for the dinner, which Silva was thankful for. She had initially refused, but upon Mika’s insistence, she had given in.

  The restaurant had a nice ambience despite it being almost full. People here were formal and talked in hushed tones. Quiet cssical music could be heard from time to time when the conversations died down. The lighting was subdued, and it smelled of a good meal.

  Silva now felt even more embarrassed. The ck of experience with settings like these made itself known. Her limbs always seemed to be in the wrong pce. And it didn’t help that most of the people here were couples.

  But Mika remained unphased as she studied the menu and soon made an order.

  The situation didn’t improve upon her getting the menu. Si was not sure of what to pick, and Mika seemed to know the menu already. She simply let Mika make the choice.

  But her friend's familiarity with the many raised a question. With whom had she come here before?

  Silva hesitated, not knowing how to present the question, as she was unsure if she would like the answer, but… She really wanted to know.

  “Um, so you have been here before?” Silva asked, hoping her voice did not betray her nervousness.

  “Hmm? Yup, as I said, this pce has a good chief. My father says he is the best in the city, but to be fair, this is the only pce he takes us, so I can’t compare. And I am sure he actually has not tried any other pce for years.” Mika expined.

  A wave of relief washed over Silva, only for her to fall into confusion about the reason she felt the relief.

  This confusion was soon forgotten as they restarted their chat about nothing in particur as they waited for their food.

  Curiously, Mika did not mention the movie at all, being more inclined to talk about the usual stuff. That is - about Steven’s shenanigans, school and the news that tely haunted them.

  Soon, their order arrived. Mika had mentioned the name of the dish, but it was something of a tongue twister.

  What mattered was that it was a meat dish and tasted good, which it did. Mika herself ate some kind of salmon dish with pasta.

  “The atmosphere here is very romantic.” Silva casually mentioned. There was even a candle on the table. The following noise of cutlery falling took her by surprise.

  “Ah, um, ha-ha, you think so?” Mika faltered. She had dropped her fork and was now fishing it out of her pte.

  “Yeah, it’s nice. I would not mind coming here again if I find someone to come with.” Silva remarked, and in front of her, Mika suddenly withered. Silva hurried to take back her words. “I-I did not mean anything by that. I’ll definitely come again with you. I just thought that this pce is really suited to couples.” She expined.

  This, however, did not seem to improve Mika’s mood. Her expression did become more determined, though.

  “I know what you mean.” Mika betedly agreed. “Say, mind if I accompany you to your home afterwards. I had something to expin.”

  “That’s… Ominous…” Silva gave a questioning look, hoping that Mika would tell more.

  “Don’t get me wrong, I would not say it is something unpleasant... Just something I have to get off my chest.”

  Her words did not ease Silva, who was still worried about the topic, but she decided to believe in her friend. She would listen to her no matter what she had to say.

  Enkiari