Chapter 2 ♥

"Why are we hereee!!!" I drawled over the sound of cicadas singing. Yuuma and I were sprawled out wide on the tatami mat. The sliding wooden door was opened to the max to let in some air. The warm summer breeze swept in and we sighed. We paused for a second looking at the ceiling and then we giggled like children because apparently we decided sighing at the same time was laughable.

"So warm..so bored." I fanned myself with my limp hand. I sat up all of a sudden. "Let's go somewhere."

He looked up from his old manga. "Ojisan's grocer?"

"Yeah." I answered, not really focusing. The heat was making me dizzy. "On second thoughts, let's go to the next town. With shopping malls and air conditioner. Maybe watch some movie."

He frowned, setting his manga down. "We can't. I mean you can't. Mother forbids you to step out of this house. Especially today. She'll be home early."

"I'll be fine. She won't notice." I fiddled with the red amulet on my wrist. Mother had been a little paranoid yesterday, what with her throwing quite a fit when she learnt we sneaked out. It was a 5 minutes walk to Ojisan's so I didn't know why she was the picture of a dragon ready to breathe fire down our neck.

Grandpa used to say Mother was a bit protective of us especially me because when she was small, she was 'led somewhere by a nice ojisan'. That was as far as Grandpa would talk about before he gave us cough drops to change the topic.

I groaned as another wave of warm breeze blew over me. I was determined to get out of this house. I went into my room and changed my clothes. Then I peeked guiltily at Grandpa who was deep asleep on his rocking chair. I lifted the potted Bonsai plant beside his walking cane and pulled out some emergency money from beneath. I gave Grandpa a nice deep bow while holding his money tightly in my hands. Sorry, grampy! This is an emergency.

"Eiko. You're going to be in deeeeep trouble." Yuuma slurred as he remained glued onto the tatami floor while I passed by.

I stopped in tracks and poked my head out. "Won't Mother be more furious if she knows you just let me go like that?"

Yuuma's hands frozed on his manga. I didn't see him breathe. He was obviously weighing his options carefully.

"Well, that was just my thoughts. I'm off to catch the bus to town then." I walked away and slipped into my shoes while he scrambled to his feet and followed from behind.

"Sneaky little --"

I waited for him as he bent to tie his shoelaces.

"So what do you want to watch?" I beamed at him.

He stood up and said deadpanly, "Godzilla."

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We slipped into the movie hall and sat down in our designated seats. I sighed in blissful happiness. Yuuma, on the other hand, started breaking down.

"I can't believe I let you talk me into this!" He had his palms covering his face while he spoke with his animated shrilly voice.

"Relax, relax. Everything will be fine." I patted his arm as a tiny reassurance. "It's your favourite Godzilla remember?"

He thought for a second. "You're right. I'm going to take a selfie to commemorate."

Yuuma checked his cell phone and switched it off before slipping it into his back pocket. A lady passed in front of us and I gave way. By sheer accident, she tripped over Yuuma's long legs and spilled her soda all over him. Thankfully, we were able to change seats while they figured out how to clean the mess.

After much apologizing with plenty of awkwardness and a visit to the toilet to clean up, Yuuma returned to his seat and murmured, "This is a really a bad omen."

"What?" I asked while I picked the most caramel-coated popcorn and popped it into my mouth.

"I mean, random stuff like this doesn't happen every time. Something's not right."

I nudged him slightly in the arm and snorted. "I think someone's overreacting."

Right on cue, I felt a miraculous rain of popcorns snaking down my neck followed by the sound of a kid squeeking in glee. After torrents of apologies exchanged and a visit to the toilet myself, I sat back down and refused to look at Yuuma. I didn't need to look to know he was smirking.

"I have nothing to say besides it's so much cooler in here so I'm not going to complain." I plastered a smile on my face and prayed nothing else was going to ruin my day. The movie hall quieted down. We faced the wide screen just as the advertisement finished and the movie started. Yuuma chanted, "It's starting, it's starting."

Thirty minutes into the movie, someone behind us made a comment about the ground shaking. I looked at Yuuma nervously and he was looking at me too but his was a look of pain. That was when I realised I was holding onto his hands too tightly. He gave me a what's the deal with that? look.

Someone else retorted that it was probably coming from the construction site next door as the management were planning to extend the mall. True enough, the vibration stopped a moment later and everyone breathed a little more easier. My grip loosened in relief. Yuuma shook his hand to get his blood flowing.

All of a sudden the ground shook again. This time it was fairly clear that this was no construction work. It was an earthquake. An earthquake of a pretty high magnitude.

I started hearing people screaming in fear. People were getting out of their seats and stumbling to find their way out. I dropped to the ground and covered my head. Someone yelled, Fire! Fire! A fire started out somewhere in the building. Yuuma tugged at my hand. He was already ready to make an exit and get us out of the hall. A crowd were flocking out of the door as they evacuated the building. The cinema was located on the highest floor and we were almost reaching the hall exit when I looked upwards and saw how close the ceiling was getting. That moment before impact, it registered to me that the roof was actually collapsing on us.

We were so dead.

 

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