By then, Takina was slightly out of breath. Chisato was a fast runner, and Takina had to give it her all not to fall behind. Meanwhile, Chisato hadn’t even broken a sweat. It was proof of Chisato’s extraordinary abilities in a setting completely unrelated to their secret work.
“Two minutes left…”
Chisato’s brow furrowed.
“We can make it…!”
“It’s not as if our lives are on the line.”
“Man, Takina, you still don’t get it. Listen, watching a movie in a movie theater is like—”
“Sixth floor, Chisato.”
“Okay, I’ll tell you later!”
Chisato jumped out of the elevator as soon as the door opened and made a beeline for the ticket machine. Then she…didn’t head to the screening room, instead going to the counter.
“What are you doing, Chisato…?”
“Popcorn and drinks!”
She was dead set on getting refreshments, and nothing could change her mind. She quickly ordered a “set for two” that turned out to be two massive buckets of popcorn in two different flavors.
“I got us cola and oolong tea. Take your pick. Then there’s salted popcorn and caramel popcorn. We can share! Oh, and the salted one is actually made with a butter sauce. How awesome is that?!”
“Let’s go.”
The mellow smells of caramel and butter wafted from the big buckets, mixing in the air and producing an aroma so tempting it was as if the epitome of everything humans could ever want now sat in their hands. The girls hurried to the screening room, the delightful scent of popcorn trailing them as they went.
The lights were already lowered, but the movie hadn’t started yet—they were showing a commercial for a wedding venue in the nearby Kameido area.
“Notice the difference, Takina? From the moment you walk in. That distinct silence, thanks to some serious soundproofing… Well, not right this very moment, but still.”
“You mean because of the very loud commercial playing?”
“Anyway, it’s perfect here, sound-wise. When the only noises you hear are the ones you make yourself, it feels so special, like you’re outside of time and space!”
Takina could see her point. She did register that there was something unusual about the soundscape, but not in a bad way. She could hear hushed conversations among the sparse audience, the munching of popcorn, the light tapping of ice cubes against the sides of the cups… All those little sounds seemed exaggerated because of the lack of ambient noise.
“Aaand the seats! Don’t you get excited sitting in a seat made purely for the enjoyment of movies? Ours are over there… Wait, what?”
Two familiar faces sat in the direction Chisato was pointing.
“Look who decided to show up,” said Mizuki, who was sitting in the row behind Chisato and Takina’s with Mika and Kurumi.
“But…why?! You said you’d only go to the movies with a guy!”
“Oh, I did say that, didn’t I?” Mizuki laughed. She was holding a can of beer in one hand. “But I was watching this show on TV with a hot actor I like, and he said this movie’s good. If I met him by chance, I’d want to have something to talk about, you know? So here I am.”
“…But your chances of meeting him are abysmally low,” said Takina.
“Shush. The moment you stop believing in miracles, you’ve lost your youth.”
Takina didn’t feel like talking to Mizuki anymore. She looked over at Kurumi.
“You’re wondering why I’m here? Well, I shut down any pirated movie sites that had this movie today, so the only way I could watch it was by coming to the theater.”
“Oh, you did what I asked you to! Thanks!” Chisato said with a wink.
She and Takina sat down… Chisato, though, impatiently turned around to talk to her friends at the back, kneeling on her seat like a little kid.
“If I’d known Forty-Nine Golden Days was a splatter movie, I’d have watched it earlier, but it’s hard to tell from the title. It makes it sound more like some old-timey drama,” said Kurumi.
Chisato giggled and cracked a sly smile.
“You didn’t realize the title is a play on words?”
“Doesn’t it just refer to the plot? A guy who should by all accounts be dead uses the forty-nine days until his spirit leaves his body to slaughter as many people as he can? What else is there to it?”
“You didn’t think very hard about it, huh? Think again about how the title is written. Forty-nine isn’t written in Arabic numerals but with the Japanese characters for four, ten, and nine. Now what does it look like?”
Kurumi gazed at the ceiling, thinking for a few moments about those characters: 四, 十, and 九.
“Ah! Ten looks like a plus sign. Four plus nine is thirteen. And the Japanese character for ‘golden’ is also used in the word for Friday. So it’s ‘Friday the thirteenth’!”
“Bingo! It’s a Japanese spin on American cult horror films.”
“Interesting,” said Takina, who also hadn’t sussed out this connection.
“And why are you here, Teach?”
“I didn’t want to be the only one left out.”
Takina smiled at Mika’s guileless response.
The advertisements ended and the previews began. Takina tapped Chisato to stop her chatting with the others.
“Chisato, the trailers are starting.”
“Oh, already? Let’s see… Huh, they made a sequel?! Seriously?!”
The grown-ups behind Chisato shushed her. She hurriedly covered her mouth and sank into her seat.
“You should watch the movie at home if you wanna talk through it.”
“Don’t you know it’s normal to react loudly in movie theaters abroad?”
“This is Japan.”
“True.”
“And it isn’t particularly easy for us to go overseas.”
“No, we have to go someday. We’ll watch a movie in a theater in some other country and make a huge racket. I’m sure it’ll be a good time!”
“Wait, so which one is it: Do you go to the movies to make a racket or to quietly focus on the film?”
“Either or. Both are fun. I also like to watch movies at home!”
Chisato was greedy, spoiled, and self-focused… She acted childishly, yet she’d surprise people on occasion with a very philosophical take on things… To Takina, Chisato Nishikigi was a profoundly strange person.
“Okay, not long now… Takina, you should know that besides the sound, the seats, and the popcorn, there’s another factor that makes watching movies in theaters so special.”
“The big screen?”
“Oh… That’s an obvious one. Yeah, there’s that, but there’s another thing that trumps the rest. And that’s…the time you spend in the theater. Think about it! The two hours here are two hours reserved solely for watching a movie. Isn’t that a luxury in this day and age?”
She was right—in modern times, it was hard to get two whole hours to focus on a single activity. In the movie theater, you’d have your phone switched off, you’d make sure you wouldn’t need the restroom, and you’d have two hours free of interruptions… It really was a luxury.
“That’s why movies you see in a theater become lasting memories, and you enjoy them more than if you just watched them at home. The special environment and having good company make it even more fun. It’s definitely going to stick with you! And going to a café or a restaurant after to discuss it with friends is just as fun!”
“Really?”
“Trust me! You’ll see for yourself. Something to look forward to… Oh, this trailer looks kinda interesting… It’s coming out next month, huh? Takina, let’s go see that one together!”
“I was more interested in the trailer before this one.”
“Let’s see both!”
“…Okay, if you want,” Takina easily agreed, surprising herself. Suddenly feeling self-conscious and needing a distraction, she helped herself to one of the drinks Chisato bought for them. It was the cola.
Both the LycoReco staff and the café’s customers were always indulging Chisato’s whims. That much was obvious to Takina… But it only occurred to her then that perhaps she was already one of them. When she was having her coffee at the café the other day, she mused that the only thing bitter at the café was the coffee, while the people were anything but—and she was one of those people, wasn’t she?
“Oooh, finally!”
The previews were over, and the room fell silent as the movie was about to start. Out of the corner of her eye, Takina saw Chisato quietly clapping her hands, holding them close to her chest. She could see Chisato’s smile as clearly in the darkness as if a spotlight had been shining on her. With that smile still on her face, Chisato suddenly turned toward Takina.
“It’s starting!”
No one could see this smile radiating happiness like a sunflower in summer and not smile back. Takina fought to remain expressionless, but she couldn’t help grinning a little.
“Yes…,” she said.
She and Chisato turned toward the screen.
And so the story began.