Girl Next Door

Chapter Forty-Seven

Kyosuke waited at the gate to his house for Risa. The two of them were going on a date, and he both was excited and nervous. It was his eighteenth birthday, and to him the date was a sort of celebration.

After a few minutes Risa came out of the gate of her house, quite beautiful. She wore a pink cardigan over a white dress, and white shoes. Her long, wavy auburn hair made her all the more lovely. Kyosuke looked at his date in wonder.

"R-Risa," he said, practically taken away by her beauty.

"Hi, Kyosuke," said Risa, smiling gently.

"H-Hi," said Kyosuke with a sheepish smile, rubbing the back of his head.

"Um, how do I look?" asked Risa, holding the hem of her skirt.

"Oh, um, you look... great," said Kyosuke with his hands in his pockets, trying to look away.

"Tee-hee, thanks," replied Risa.

There was a brief moment of silence between the two.

"So, where do you want us to go?" Risa asked Kyosuke.

"Um, I was thinking about going to see a movie," replied Kyosuke.

"Okay, great," said Risa, smiling sweetly. "Let's go then."

"Okay," said Kyosuke, and the two of them started walking towards town.

When they got to the theater district, Kyosuke and Risa looked at the posters to see what movies they liked to watch.

"Hmmm... Let's see..." said Risa, squinting her eyes at one of the posters, one hand behind her back. "What do you wanna watch, Kyosuke?"

"Well, whichever one you want, I guess," replied Kyosuke, hesitant, for so long he had known Risa, he never did know what movies she liked to watch.

"Hmmm..." hummed Risa, checking out the posters again, until she came to a poster that was rather dark and creepy-looking. "Hey, how about this one?"

Kyosuke came up to the poster. "It looks like a horror movie."

"That's because it is," replied Risa cheerfully. "Can we watch it, Kyosuke?"

"Are you sure about this?" asked Kyosuke.

"Yeah," answered Risa with a smile.

"Looks pretty scary to me," said Kyosuke. "Not that I'm scared, but you--"

"Are you implying that I am not woman enough to watch this movie?" asked Risa, slightly glaring at Kyosuke with her closed fists on her hips.

"T-That's not what I meant," replied Kyosuke, holding his palms out to her.

"Come on, I haven't watched a decent horror movie in a long time," said Risa, now clasping her hands together beggingly. "Please?"

Kyosuke looked at her with compassion. "Oh, all right."

"Yay! Thanks," replied Risa cheerfully. "I'll go buy the popcorn, you go buy the tickets."

"No, I'll buy both," said Kyosuke with a smile.

"What? You sure?" asked Risa.

"Yeah, no problem," said Kyosuke. "I got the cash anyway, and after all, it is my birthday, and my job now is to make you happy."

"Okay," replied Risa, smiling at him. "Thanks."

After Kyosuke had bought the tickets and popcorn, he and Risa entered the cinema and sat near the back, for Kyosuke did not want Risa getting too scared of what they were watching.

"Ohh, this is so exciting," whispered Risa cheerfully as she hugged a large tub of popcorn to her chest.

Kyosuke smiled at her as he held onto his tub of popcorn, as they waited for the movie to start.

When the movie began, everything was calm, until the frightening parts came, and many of the viewers screamed each time it got scary. Risa was one of the screamers. She hugged onto Kyosuke's arm each time a segment of the movie got scary.

Kyosuke felt rather awkward every time Risa clung onto him, but was was also rather passionate about it, for he found this behavior cute of Risa. He smiled gently.

"So this is how girls enjoy horror movies?" thought Kyosuke. "Maybe I should bring Hinako along next time. Or maybe have another triple date with the guys. Haha, what fun would that be?"

When the movie was almost over, Risa screamed one more time at the climax, and clung one more time onto Kyosuke's arm. Then the lights went back on, and the credits rolled up.

"It's okay, Risa, it's over," said Kyosuke. "Told you it'd be scary."

"That... was... awesome!" said Risa, cheerfully. "Wanna watch it again?"

"Risa, we just saw it," replied Kyosuke. "Maybe some other time."

"Okay," said Risa. "Hey, where do you wanna go next?"

"Um, I don't know," said Kyosuke, rising from his seat and carrying the empty tub of popcorn.

"Come on, there must be another place you wanna go," said Risa, also standing up and carrying her tub.

The two then exited the theater, Kyosuke with his hands in his pockets and Risa with hers behind her back.

"Hmmm..." hummed Kyosuke. "I can't think of anything."

"Hey, how about the park?" asked Risa.

"The park...?" asked Kyosuke, curious.

"Come on, It's been years since you and I went to the park," replied Risa, smiling sweetly.

"Well... okay," said Kyosuke, smiling back.

"Yes!" said Risa cheerfully.

Later on, Kyosuke and Risa were walking their way to the park where the two of them used to visit as twelve-year-olds. As Kyosuke walked beside Risa, he was thinking of other things.

He wanted very, very much to hold Risa's hand, since there were so close to one another as they walked. He had second thoughts, however, as he remembered the last time he tried to grab hold of Risa's hand.

Then all of a sudden, he felt five, warm, soft fingers between his. He looked at his hand and saw Risa holding it. He gasped and turned to his date.

"If you want to hold hands, you should ask," said Risa, smiling warmly.

Kyosuke was so overwhelmed by the prospect of holding hands with Risa that he did not reply and was sweating profusely.