There was only one thing I could say about the movie after it ended.
"That came out of nowhere..."
It was the kind of movie that suddenly drifted from romance into a supernatural battle story.
Wondering what the hell I had just watched, I looked at Marina, only to find her sweating coldly and looking panicked.
"I-It was..."
According to Marina, while I was ordering at the cafe, she had been searching for a movie to watch on my phone.
Originally, she had a different movie in mind, but apparently there wasn’t a theater showing it today.
So while searching on my phone, she ended up reading the review for the movie we’d just seen.
And then I came back with the food.
In other words, to put it simply, she’d fallen for a bait post.
"I-I’m sorry..."
Thinking I was disappointed, Marina lowered her head and apologized.
Her body was trembling a little, and it looked like she was holding back tears.
I put my hand on Marina’s head and let out a sigh.
"Haa... You really don’t know me at all, do you?"
"Huh...?"
"There’s no way I’d be disappointed over something like that. People make mistakes. And besides, I thought it was pretty entertaining, so don’t get too down on yourself."
Marina was new to dating, so she could make mistakes, and I wasn’t just being nice when I said the movie was pretty fun.
The shock of the sudden battle-story drift was a little much, sure, but I couldn’t deny that the power effects and action scenes were good.
"Really?"
"Of course. Do you really think I’d be the kind of guy to get disappointed over something this small?"
As I slowly stroked Marina’s head and asked that, she shook her head hard.
"No, no."
"Right?"
"Yeah!"
Relieved, her expression softened into a smile.
*******
As the sun gradually set and the moon began to rise, we headed to a park on higher ground for our final stop.
"This is where we first met, right?"
"Yeah. Even if it was in virtual space."
This park was where I had first met Marina while returning from grocery shopping with Mana in the virtual space.
Of course, if I wanted to be exact, it had been in an alley, but let’s just not count that.
"You were kind of mean back then."
"Hey! What’s that supposed to mean!"
As I told the truth, Marina’s fist flew toward me.
I took her light complaining in stride and recalled the first time we met.
"You were seriously prickly."
"I said stop saying that!"
Only after Marina’s attacks started getting more serious did I finally apologize.
"Sorry, sorry."
"You’re really... mean."
Marina puffed out her cheeks and grumbled.
I pressed her cheeks and let the air out.
"Mmm..."
"What are you getting sulky for? You know that’s really cute, right?"
"Stop saying stuff like that!"
And then she hit me again.
"Tch... That actually hurts a little."
"It doesn’t hurt at all."
Marina turned her head away, clearly still sulking.
But she also stayed pressed right up against me, as if she hated the idea of moving away, and it was absurdly cute.
So cute.
"If I said that out loud, she’d get even more sulky, wouldn’t she?"
I kept the word cute to myself and patted Marina’s head as I apologized.
"I’m really sorry. I won’t do it again."
"...It’s not like that."
"Huh?"
"It’s not like I’m upset or anything. I’ll forgive you."
Marina said it like she had no choice.
Her face was turned away, so I couldn’t really see her expression, but her ears were a little red, so at the very least I could tell she was embarrassed.
"Ahaha, okay. Thanks."
Laughing at Marina’s reaction, I rubbed her head even more vigorously, and she pulled my hand away, saying not to treat her like a kid.
"...Ahem."
Then she looked at my hand with a slightly disappointed expression and spoke up.
"I-If you’re going to pat me, then maybe a little slower..."
She leaned her head toward me as she said that, and it was obvious what she wanted, so I decided to indulge her.
When I started stroking her head again, she smiled faintly, and she really did look like a cat.
I almost thought I could hear a purring sound from somewhere.
"Should we sit over there for a bit?"
I pointed to a bench we’d passed on the way.
We’d walked a lot, and I wanted to sit down for a while, so it was a simple suggestion.
"Yeah. I was just thinking I wanted to rest a little."
Marina understood what I meant and nodded.
So we sat down close together on the bench and looked up at the sky.
We hadn’t said a word, but somehow we were doing the exact same thing at the same time, which felt strangely nice.
"The stars are pretty."
"Are they?"
I felt a little bad for Marina, but the stars in the real world were hidden behind clouds, so they looked hazy and I couldn’t really say they were pretty.
"I think the moon is more beautiful than the stars."
Just then, the moon overhead was a full moon, lighting up the park on the high ground, where there were no streetlights around.
It wasn’t especially bright, just enough to make the surroundings visible, but even that helped create the quiet atmosphere, so it wasn’t bad.
"...Huh?"
While I was thinking that, I felt a gaze and turned to the side, only to find Marina staring blankly at my face.
No, more precisely, her face was red, and her eyes were shaking violently.
"Marina? What’s wrong? Are you sick?"
Worried about her, I asked, and she carefully parted her trembling lips.
"N-No... y-you... saying things like that..."
"Huh? Was there something wrong with what I said?"
I thought about whether there was anything strange about my words, but I couldn’t really think of anything...
Wait.
"Ah."
One fact suddenly came to mind.
The true story about a Japanese person saying "I LOVE YOU" as "The moon is beautiful, isn’t it?"
Honestly, I didn’t know whether that story was true or false, but that wasn’t the important part.
What mattered right now was that I had said it while the two of us were alone, on a date, no less.
And Marina, hearing my words, was visibly flustered.
She kept opening and closing her lips, as if choosing her words carefully, and it was obvious she was trying to come up with a reply to what I’d said.
"T-That is! I mean, what I was trying to say was—"
Just as I was about to correct myself so Marina wouldn’t misunderstand, I heard footsteps.
Step, step
At that sound, Marina and I forgot what had just happened and blinked at each other.
There had definitely been no one here before we arrived.
It was possible someone else had come by, but it was far too late for anyone to be out at this hour.
Not to mention there hadn’t been a single sign of anyone nearby.
In other words, the owner of those footsteps had appeared out of nowhere.
From a place that had been empty just moments ago.
"Those footsteps..."
"No way."
One thought I’d been turning over in my head.
This was a world created by Eden.
Then that meant the owner of those footsteps might be the owner of Eden.
As soon as that thought reached me, someone’s voice rang out.
"Mm... huh?"
"Huh?"
A young girl’s voice came from near us.
Marina and I turned at the same time toward the source, and sure enough, there was a young girl there.
"Whoa. A little girl?"
"At this hour?"
The fact that a little girl was here so late at night was suspicious enough, but what was even more suspicious was this.
"Doesn’t she feel kind of familiar?"
There was a strange sense of familiarity coming from the girl in front of us.
And judging by her clothes, she wasn’t dressed normally either.
Almost like a shrine maiden.
"...?"
The girl tilted her head and looked at us, then suddenly ran over and pointed at me.
"Uncle!"
"Huh?"
"Ah?"
At that one word, Marina and I both tilted our heads.
"H-Hey. Little lady? Uncle...? Are you mistaking me for someone else?"
"No! Hihakieta Hai uncle!"
A child I’d never seen before was calling me uncle and saying my name perfectly.
I was blinking in confusion, trying to figure out what the hell was going on, when the girl’s pointing finger shifted to the side.
"And... big sister!"
"Eh? Me?"
"Yep!"
When Marina pointed to herself with a face full of questions, the girl nodded hard.
"Arus Marina big sister!"
Once again, the girl correctly said Marina’s name just like she had mine, then looked at us both with a bright smile.
"Uh, hey there, little lady?"
"No!"
"Huh?"
"I’m not a little lady!"
Apparently unhappy with my way of addressing her, the girl shook her head and folded her arms.
"Rio’s name is Rio! Sonogami Rio!"
"So, Sonogami...?"
"...What!?"
We couldn’t help being shocked when we heard the girl’s name.
Sonogami Rio.
Sonogami.
Whose surname was that?
"Sonogami Rinne..."
The girl who had appeared before us in the role of Shido’s childhood friend.
Sonogami was Rinne’s surname.
"W-Wait! You said your last name was Sonogami, right...?"
"Yep! Rio is Sonogami Rio!"
"Th-Then... do you know Rinne...?"
When Marina asked in a trembling voice, Rio nodded.
"Rinne! I want to meet her! Rinne is Rio’s mama!"
"W-Whaaat――!??"
Rio’s statement was enough to shock us.
But that wasn’t the end of the shocking revelations.
"And! Itsuka Shido! Shido is Rinne’s papa!"
"......"
With that statement, our thoughts came to a complete stop.
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