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Amami power walks down the sidewalk, his hand in his girlfriend's in turn. It's not that much further to the movie theater, really, they just need to make it the next few blocks or so. Which would be fine, really, there's just the little matter of, well… the circumstances.
"Oh, hey!!" someone says, and Amami can feel their gaze on him. When he turns, it looks to be a teenaged girl around Amami's age, alongside a guy who he presumes got dragged along to the concert earlier. "Is that Maizono Sayaka!?"
She's pointing at Amami's girlfriend. He bites back a sigh, steeling himself for what he has to do.
"My girlfriend?" Amami says, intentionally pitching his voice down a little. "She's perfect, but she's definitely not Maizono Sayaka."
Amami's pretty sure he feels her quietly laughing beside him, and he tries his best not to react. Not the time.
"No, but the hair's
just
right!" the girl says, trying to step closer. Amami moves himself quite purposefully between them. "Let me see!"
"Have you never heard of cosplay?" Amami says, putting an edge into his voice. Ugh, he hates this. Nasty. "Now, I'm gonna have to ask you to step off my girl."
The girl pouts, looking genuinely a little upset, and Rantaro's heart almost breaks on the spot. "I just want to see…"
"She's shy, " Amami says, "give us space, please."
Goddammit. His possessive straight guy act couldn't even make it three lines. He's so bad at this.
The girl starts creeping around Amami's side, and his girlfriend reacts by pulling them along, so suddenly Amami almost yelps. He complies, though, running alongside her, and they make it to a street crossing, at which point she taps the pedestrian traffic button.
"Bit of an anticlimax," she admits, quiet enough that only Amami can hear her voice, melodic even when it's quiet like this.
"Okay, I've got this," Amami says, taking them and leading them across the street the other way. There's not a lot of time before the light changes, so Amami really puts the pedal to the medal, and his girlfriend responds in kind. They manage to make it over just a few seconds before the light changes and cars start moving.
Okay. They're probably safe. Rantaro's shoulders untense as he leads them across the other crosswalk, more slowly than the last. "We can just wait to cross the other one," Rantaro says, "and then we'll be where we need to be."
"Whew!" Sayaka says, letting out a sigh of relief. "I almost tripped on the pavement there, Rantaro! I don't know what we would've done, then."
"I would've caught you," Rantaro says, a little softer. "I'll always be there when you need it. I told you that, didn't I?"
Sayaka hums, looking back over towards Rantaro once they've crossed. "I know you will, Rantaro, but you're not exactly psychic, are you?"
Rantaro scoffs, shaking his head as he hits the crossing button. "You were right. I should've waited for you to get changed. I just didn't want to be late, is all."
"No, I know," Sayaka says, smiling serenely at Rantaro, "but I didn't even mean that, really. I was just thinking more… you can't exactly be everywhere. You know what I mean?" Her free hand fidgets a little, and Rantaro takes the cue to let go of the hand he's holding. She smiles a bit more genuinely as she puts it in her pocket. There's only so much physical contact she can take, and Rantaro respects it, even if the lack of it makes him nervous on Tokyo's streets.
"That's true," Rantaro agrees, though the thought makes his stomach turn. "I… want to be, though."
Sayaka shakes her head, gesturing towards the light as it changes, before she starts to cross. Rantaro looks twice before they step onto the road and twice before they step off it. From there, they keep moving, towards the movie theater. It's just a couple of blocks out.
"Mmm… do you?" Sayaka asks, in that way that means she disagrees but is too polite to say it directly. Thankfully, Rantaro's plenty able to catch the meaning. "I think you'd be a little bit stifled staying around my side 24/7. You've got a dream, after all, don't you?"
That's what they call it, anyways, the thing they have in common. It's a bit of a misnomer, or at least Rantaro thinks so. It feels wrong to call reuniting with his sisters a dream, when it's more like waking up from a nightmare, but… he gets why Sayaka uses it. The fact that they both have things that, at the end of the day, they'd give absolutely anything for… it's a bit of a comfort, in a strange way. Rantaro always knows Sayaka will understand if he has to leave suddenly, cancel something, if he's unavailable for a while, and he extends the same courtesy to her, too.
Really, it makes the moments they get to spend together like this all the sweeter, at least in Rantaro's opinion. Sometimes, with Sayaka, he has to wonder. She's sweet - he loves her, he thinks - but she doesn't wear her heart on her sleeve, no matter how she looks. Sometimes Rantaro worries he's falling too hard, too fast, that Sayaka's reminding him he has something in his life to value more than her.
"I do," Rantaro says, his smile smaller, almost hesitant, "but that doesn't make you not important to me, Sayaka. You know I love spending time with you like this."
Sayaka smiles. "I love spending time with you, too, Rantaro. You're always so considerate of me, you know?"
Rantaro shakes his head. "I'm only as considerate as you deserve."
Sayaka's smile grows smaller, almost slipping off her face, which makes Rantaro worry. "Maybe you remind me that I deserve that, then," she says, quieter.
...Life as an idol… it's difficult, that much Rantaro knows. He's seen the ways it's taken a toll on Sayaka. It's her dream, and Rantaro would never tell her to quit, he just… wishes he could wave a hand and make her problems go away. Sometimes it even feels like he needs to. For now, though, he knows nodding is enough, his smile fading as he does.
"What movie did you say this was?" Sayaka asks, smile back on her face like it never even happened. "A romantic comedy, right?"
"That's right," Rantaro says, smiling again himself. They can talk about things another time.
Sayaka nods approvingly. "I hope you're ready for all my best method acting, then."
Sayaka and Rantaro go to the movies exclusively to watch romantic comedies about to go off air and lip sync the lines to each other while trying very hard not to laugh. It's extremely silly, but it's the sort of relaxation time they both crave after long weeks on tour or searching. It's enough to pretend you're the hero of a romcom and your life will get resolved in the course of 120 minutes, and more importantly, it's hilarious.
"I think the female lead has a mouth on her this time," Rantaro says, "are you sure you're ready for that?" He winks, grinning mischievously.
Sayaka giggles. "Well, as long as I'm not actually saying anything, it should be fine. It's not like they allow recording in the theater anyhow, right? Unless..." she gasps, "surely you weren't planning on recording me, Amami-kun? "
Rantaro groans, snapping his finger. "Oh, you've seen through my plans, effortlessly. How'd you do it, Maizono-san? "
"Oh, well you see, " Sayaka waves a finger as she walks, "there's this thing about me, Amami-kun…"
Rantaro makes a show of thinking, hmmm ing to himself with brows furrowed and a hand to his chin. "Could it be, Maizono-san, that you can see into the future?"
Sayaka makes a tut tut sound. "Not quite!"
"Well, it's got to be something. " Rantaro snaps his finger, like he's trying to pry it from his brain. "Oh, oh! Is it that you just have really good intuition?"
Sayaka shakes her head. "Mmm… no. Couldn't be."
"Well, it can't be that you're psychic, " Rantaro rolls his eyes, though he's starting to grin through his character. Whoops.
" Well… " Sayaka giggles. "About that, Amami-kun…"
Rantaro tries to gasp, but just ends up laughing instead. "I blew it." Goddammit. This is the worst thing that's happened to him.
"I didn't even get to the finisher!" Sayaka says, still laughing, if quietly. "How are you supposed to figure it out now, Rantaro?"
Rantaro shakes his head sadly as he starts up the steps to the movie theater. "I might just have to live in ignorance."
Sayaka starts to reply, but stops when she realizes how close they are to the ticketer. Someone working their job is probably fine, but with something like this she doesn't usually take chances. Her voice is the thing people recognize most, after all.
Well, Rantaro doesn't mind, regardless. He's more than happy to buy tickets, to pick out the snacks (and reluctantly let Sayaka pay), and find them a seat, just before the movie starts showing. That part is easy, though, since the theater's empty. For all intents and purposes, they're the only ones in the world right now.
...And really, when Sayaka's there with him, that's everything Rantaro could ask for.