Dinner's On Me
Megumi had no right to feel jealous, Hajime knew that. And yet, a small part of his heart made him feel guilty about what Natsumi did. Sure it was just a piece of popcorn but it was a first for Hajime to have a girl feed him like that. To be fair, he blushed a little bit, but it went unnoticed due to the darkness of the cinema. Even though Megumi was just a friend, he didn't want her to misunderstand anything... for some odd reason.
He fought the urge to turn around since that would unravel Megumi's lack of stalking skills. Since he knew right from the get-go that Megumi was following him, it made it all the more difficult for him to act oblivious to that fact. A disaster would befall both parties, the stalker and the ones being stalked, if Megumi knew that her actions were already given away.
The three focused on the movie.
Apparently, the movie was an up-and-coming romantic comedy about a certain shopkeeper set in a fantasy world. Somehow, the girl of interest managed to drag him into adventuring with her and he decided to go through with it. As it turned out, the shopkeeper was actually the number one adventurer who wanted to spend his life idly by with the perfect cover of a shopkeeper. But that didn't stop him from accumulating treasure troves upon treasure troves of legendary weapons, relics, tomes, and the like since other adventurers who knew of his identity traded items upon items with him. With all the overpowered equipment and the experience he had as the number one adventurer, the adventure went by smoothly, and he easily defeated the toughest of foes as if he was breaking a toothpick between his teeth. Even though it was packed with action scenes, the focus was on the romantic comedy part since he was too overpowered, to begin with.
In the end, the girl of interest found out that the shopkeeper actually lost his parents when a huge organization murdered them in cold blood, and that after he got his revenge, he decided to become a shopkeeper since he told himself he wasn't worthy to become an adventurer. The girl of interest then reminded him of their days adventuring together and he finally found peace within himself, marrying the girl of interest as they moved to the countryside. The last scene displayed was of the shopkeeper and the girl of interest setting up shop as they welcomed the day behind their shop
When the lights turned back on, and the credits rolled down on the screen, Hajime heard a sniffle from behind him and he couldn't help but smile in response. Natsumi seemed please as well, she fully enjoyed the storyline of the movie, and Hajime did as well.
"Dinner?" Natsumi pointed her index finger up as she grabbed Hajime's hand with her other, gripping his wrist tightly just in case he tried to struggle. "On me," She bashfully continued in a slightly coquettish manner.
"I uh... I think I should head home," Hajime subconsciously jerked his thumb towards Megumi. Fortunately, she didn't see it. She was too focused on following Hajime and Natsumi that she didn't even realize she was already found out a long time ago.
As Hajime and Natsumi exited the cinema, Megumi immediately removed her disguise and continued the tail. She still wasn't exhausted after all that following around. One couldn't tell if she was doing it out of jealousy, or she was simply going through with it out of enjoyment. But then again, her purpose was unchanged— to catch Hajime red-handed so she could interrupt the date and cut its time in half... or was her purpose to interrupt the date first and then catching Hajime red-handed is just secondary?
It should be mentioned that everything that was happening to Hajime right now was all a first for him, and that's why, as usual, he didn't know how to react to certain situations. When Natsumi happily invited her over for dinner, he didn't know how to vehemently reject her offer since that might offend her. Cutting someone's joy a little too short is not something that Hajime could do to anyone, even to his enemies. In the end, he couldn't utter another word as Natsumi led him to one of the nearest fast-food restaurants— a staple dinner after watching a movie.
The thought might have flown over Hajime's head but everyone who experienced a date or two could tell that Natsumi planned this date. If Hajime fell for the 'I have a free ticket' tactic, then it should be obvious that he'd fall to the 'dinner is on me' tactic. Natsumi didn't give him time to recover... and everything was going as planned, so smoothly in fact that Natsumi gave herself a little pat on the back. For her first date, it sure was a success.
"Hajime," Megumi muttered underneath her breath as she sat a few tables away from them, sipping her float in one go, giving her the unavoidable brain freeze.
While all those were happening, Franz was also watching over the two groups, wondering why Hajime was with a different girl. "Isn't he the young miss's love interest? Perhaps I was wrong? Wait, is young miss playing the role of a homewrecker? Or is Hajime two-timing?" Franz wrote on his notepad while glancing at Hajime and Megumi from time to time. Once again, he concluded that his knowledge when it comes to teenage romance was as shallow as a puddle. He resolved himself once more to watch a few more romcom series once his shift finishes for the day.
"Thank you so much for accompanying me today, Hajime. I had fun. I enjoyed the movie." She said, looking down as she tried to act cute and embarrassed.
Kudos to Hajime for not seeing the clear signs though. He was hungry, and there was food in front of him so there was only one thing for him to do. At least he didn't forget to respond when Natsumi conversed with him. "I also enjoyed the movie," He genuinely said since he really enjoyed it. The writing and the script were phenomenal... or maybe Hajime just doesn't have that much experience with movies so he found a cliche romcom enjoyable.
Clench!
Megumi mercilessly crushed the paper cup on her palms, causing her float to spill all over the place and attracting everyone's unneeded attention... including Hajime and Natsumi's, much to her dismay.