"What's the show time?" Rudy asked.
"For which movie? Currently, two movies are airing here. One is the second part of 'The Chronicles of Karnia', and the other is 'Twinlight'."
"How many screenings do you have?"
"We plan to have five, but since this theater has just opened, we don't have enough equipment, so only one screening is active," she said calmly. "If you plan to watch Karnia, then its showtime is 12:15, and Twinlight's showtime is 15:45."
Rudy turned to Reina and asked, "Which one do you want to see?"
"I haven't watched the first part of Karnia, so I don't think we will understand anything. As for the Twinlight, judging by the poster, I believe it's a romance movie." After a brief pause, she said:
"I am okay with anything. Which one do you want to watch?"
"Well, I haven't watched the first part of Karnia either, but the show time of Twinlight is around 4 PM, and it will be past evening by the time we get out," Rudy responded.
"Then let's watch Karnia. We will watch the first part later sometime."
"Alright."
Rudy turned to the ticket window and said, "Two tickets for Karnia, please."
"Do you have any seats in mind?" she asked.
'I might try to flirt with Reina inside, so it's best to get a corner seat,' Rudy uttered inwardly.
"Which seats are available?"
"All, actually."
"Oh? No one booked any seats online?"
"We haven't enabled online booking yet. And as for the viewers, we don't have that many yet."
'Well, this theater had become one of the best in the city later on. And the tickets were always fully booked, regardless of what movie was airing. Since it's close to my university, many students and couples came here to pass the time.
I also used to come with Elise every week, although it was hard to convince her since she didn't like to skip the lectures. Seriously, I lived the best moment of my life when I was in university. But now, everything has changed.'
Rudy reminisced with a distant smile on his face.
"Excuse me, Sir. What seats?"
"Give two reclining seats in the back corner, please."
Rudy gave her the money in cash and bought two tickets.
"Oh, by the way, I forgot to mention that there will be no screening if there are less than ten viewers by the showtime," she said with a smile on her face.
'That was obviously on purpose!'
"Will we get a refund if there--"
Before Rudy could even ask the question properly, the lady at the ticket window interrupted him and said, "There is no refund."
"Yeah. Figured." Rudy let out a weary sigh and looked at Reina, who seemed conflicted.
'It's our first date, and I don't want it to be shitty. Reina will have a terrible experience otherwise. Let's go all out!'
Rudy took out Maria's card from his wallet and said, "I will buy all the tickets."
"Wha...t?"
"Oh, did I stutter?"
"No..."
"Then get to work" RUdy clapped his hands and said, "Come on!"
Sure, Rudy could have booked only 10 tickets to keep the show running, but he didn't want anyone to disturb their fun time.
The lady began to press the keys repeatedly, followed by the mechanical sound of the tickets coming out from the machine.
A few minutes later, the lady was finally done and gave all the tickets to Rudy. And he took them and threw them in the dustbin on the side.
"You do know that they will ask for the tickets while entering, right?" the lady asked.
Rudy shrugged his shoulders and said, "No one else is going to come anyway. Now swipe the card and be done with it."
After paying for the tickets, Rudy turned to Reina and said, "It's still 11:03 AM. Let's go eat something in the meantime. I know a good restaurant nearby."
"Okay."
Rudy and Reina walked away while the lady watched them and muttered: "I wish I had a boyfriend like that."
After reaching the restaurant, Rudy and Reina had some light lunch and drank milkshakes-- that reminded Rudy of the blood moon milkshake, which also reminded him of Rias and Jane.
'All I want is...'
"Rudy, do you think we will be home by evening?" Reina asked.
"Why do you ask? Do you have to do something?"
"No. But today is the payday of the workers at the pool, and I don't think I should let Alice handle that. It's my job, so..."
"Can't you give them tomorrow?" Rudy wondered. "I have worked many part-time jobs in my past life, and yeah, I used to get annoyed whenever they delayed the payment by a day or two. How about I go and handle everything?"
"What will you do?"
"Arrange money?"
"Oh, I have already done all that, and the envelopes are in my drawer with the names of the workers written on them. I just wanted to be the person who gave them the pay, but I guess it's fine."
Rudy's ears twitched as he heard a commotion in the distance. He looked at the source and saw a pale pink-haired girl trying to run away from a restaurant without paying the bill.
"..."
"What's wrong?" Reina asked curiously.
"Nothing. Some weirdo was leaving the restaurant without paying, and now she is apparently threatening the guards that she will hurt them," he said with a soft scoff.
"Shouldn't you go and help them?"
"Why?"
"Because... you have superpowers?"
"Hey, I am not a superhero who saves people, okay? Listen, with or without me, in a world with superheroes or without superheroes, crimes always happen. It won't make a difference if I am there to stop or not.
They need to learn to save and deal with them by themselves. And incidents like this always happen. No need to worry about it. Besides, I am on a date with my lovely girlfriend, and I don't want any distractions."
After leaving the restaurant, they rushed to the theater and made it on the showtime before the movie could start.
