Before I knew it two hours had passed. Everyone was satisfied; we cashed out.
“There’s a movie theater near here. Want to catch a movie, the four of us?”
“Oh — there’s actually one I want to see.”
“Which one?”
If Mio wanted to see it it was probably a romance movie that was currently popular. The kind of movie introverts and otaku like me would not normally see.
“Love Triangle.”
“Oh, I know it. Buzzing about it in my class too.”
“I was curious about that one.”
I hadn’t pinged on the title, but Reona and Riona were aware. We paid, left karaoke, and walked straight into the nearby movie theater. The screening was starting soon, so we’d timed it perfectly.
We bought tickets from the kiosk, queued at the concessions for drinks. Walked into the theater and settled into our reserved seats.
“Yeah, this place is heavily skewed couples.”
“Onii-chan-type guys do not come to movies like this.”
“That sounded like you were saying I can never get a girlfriend.”
“Do you think you actually can?”
”…Yeah, no.”
Sadly, people like me have age = no-girlfriend years as a permanent statistic. Looking at the surrounding normies, irritation began to rise. Pleae go ahead and explode, all of you, all at once.
“It’s fine. If Ryouya-kun ends up an unsold leftover, me and Riona will adopt him.”
“And Mio-chan too. Full set.”
“Hey — do not operate on the premise that I will be single forever.”
Also: do not casually draft Mio. At this trajectory it would be unsurprising if Mio actually became a Tsurugi family member by acclamation. We sat through the previews and ads, the lights dimmed, and the movie began.
The first act was about a plain high-school-girl protagonist accidentally making both members of a set of identical twin transfer students fall for her, and the love triangle that ensued.
In the middle, with both twins pursuing her, the protagonist agonizes — and ultimately picks the elder brother, at which point the twins’ relationship deteriorates.
The third act resolves it: they reconcile, the elder brother and protagonist get a happy ending. For me, that ending was not satisfying.
It’s the kind of ending opinions will split on, but I’d identified with the younger brother throughout, and that he ended up unrewarded was personally unsatisfying.
“That ending isn’t really my favorite either.”
“Didn’t feel that happy.”
Apparently Reona and Riona had the same reaction.
“Apparently it splits opinion, yeah — friends who saw it were completely divided.”
“Tracks.”
“Twins like Riona and me share a lot of preferences — probably DNA — so honestly this movie didn’t feel like fiction.”
“Definitely a twin thing.”