vermilion | chifuyu matsuno

one

it was quarter to eleven and it's time for chifuyu to finally clean up since the last screening was finished twenty minutes ago. chifuyu grabbed his cleaning tools, and made his way but as he was heading to the location, he heard someone crying – making him panic.

"holy shit it must be the ghost that my workmates told me about," he muttered to himself, feeling a little bit scared.

but even though it scared him, he couldn't do anything but continue walking. he needed to do his job because if he won't – how will he be able to provide for himself, specially now that he's currently in college, and is struggling a lot.

"no crying ghost would stop me," he whispered, and entered the theater but what chifuyu saw shocked him.

what he saw wasn't a ghost. it was an actual person with vermilion hair in the third row – crying her eyes out, not minding about who might see her, or if the popcorn sitting on her lap would get soggy because of the waterfalls that were flowing rapidly down her eyes.

the first thought that came into chifuyu's mind was 'how cute' but he decided to set it aside, and tried approaching the girl in a way that she wouldn't be creeped out.

"uhm, hey – miss...are you okay?" chifuyu mentally facepalmed himself for the question that came out from his mouth.

really chifu? you're gonna ask a crying girl if she's okay?

the girl looked up, revealing her puffy eyes, wet cheeks, and the snot on her nose.

chifuyu bites the inside of his mouth to stop himself from laughing upon seeing the girl. she was cute but the snot took chifuyu away.

"actually," the girl started, "i am not. i really thought that i...i...won't cry upon seeing the film because i've already read the manga and i already cried my heart out while reading this arc but," she took a shaky breath, trying to calm herself in order for her to speak, "but fucking hell...seeing that scene get animated hurts more."

was all she spoke and started sobbing again – and this time, her sobs were louder.

chifuyu couldn't help but smile upon hearing what the girl said. hearing her frustrated was such a cute sight to him. but as much as chifuyu wants to hear her complain, he had a job to do and so he started sweeping the mixture of popcorn, wrappers, and cups on the floor.

"and...and..." the girl spoke again.

"hmm?" chifuyu replied as he continued sweeping.

"his crow even fucking cried! it fucking cried! it was heartbroken!" the girl exclaimed before crying again.

chifuyu let out a soft chuckle before replying, "i actually can relate to your pain. i feel the same way whenever i read mangas and something similar happened. that frustration, that sadness."

"i know right..." she replied and the two of them went silent as chifuyu continued cleaning up, while she tried to calm herself.

aa chifuyu cleaned up, he would look at her from time to time, trying to discover if she also went to the same college as him or if she had someone pick her up since it was already so late.

"so, you also read mangas?" chifuyu heard her ask and he nodded.

"yeah, been reading since i was in middle school."

"you've read the manga of this movie?"

"yeah."

"that's cool. have you seen the movie?"

"oh no...i haven't. don't got the time, don't got the money."

"wait, really? i thought guys who work at the theater can watch it for free?"

"maybe on other theaters they do that, but we don't do that here."

"oh," she replied and chifuyu just nodded and smiled.

after a few minutes of continued silence, chifuyu saw the girl standing up before putting on her gray hoodie.

"well, i gotta go now."

"do you have someone to come pick you up?" chifuyu couldn't help but ask.

"nope. but i own a car, so...yeah."

chifu nodded, "alright."

the girl smiled a little at him before she finally made her way towards the exit.

"see you, cool theater guy."

chifuyu stopped what he was doing and looked at the girl with vermilion hair who just got out from the door.

"yeah, see you crying girl in third row."