The girls grab their snacks, and Ann accidently goads Makoto back into the movie

When the girls made it back to their bench, sure enough, Makoto’s ice cream was melted within the wrapper. A moment of silence for the fallen Buchimaru later, Makoto threw it and the plate of nachos away.

“Okay, I’ll be right back,” Makoto said, motioning to the concessions area. “You still want the nachos?”

Ann raised a finger to her chin, thinking about it for a moment. She didn’t really know. She hadn’t particularly wanted the nachos, choosing them more so because she was feeling peckish and felt rushed. “I’ll come with you,” Ann said. “I think I might want to change my mind.” Makoto nodded, leading the way towards the concessions line. Ann followed right behind.

The line flowed steady. The girls were midway through it when Makoto started to feel fidgety. It didn’t go unnoticed to Ann. “You feeling okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine,” Makoto said with a small smile. She felt like everyone was staring at her, suddenly feeling self-conscious. At first, she thought it was in her head, cautioning a glance behind her, but when she did, her eyes locked with the young couple behind her, who suddenly looked anywhere but toward her, the man snickering, while the girl covered her mouth, trying to stifle a giggle. Makoto felt a light brush return to her cheeks, spinning her head forward. That settled it for her. It wasn’t just in her head. People were staring at her. They probably all saw what happened, Makoto thought with a groan. She practically felt their eyes burning a hole in the back of her dress, surely noticing she wasn’t wearing her leggings anymore. Awkwardly, Makoto reached her hands behind herself, tugging on the back of her dress, willing it to be longer without any success. Instead, all she really helped to do was strain the wet fabric even more. Makoto returned her hands to her front, hoping the line would clear faster. She tried to put her unwanted attention out of her head.

When they reached the point with the ice cream cooler, Makoto eagerly opened it, hoping the Buchimaru ice creams hadn’t sold out yet. She beamed when she saw a few toward the bottom of the cooler. She leaned into the cooler, stretching out her arm to reach it, while being sure to use the other one to keep her dress down. When she finally grabbed her snack, she pulled it out to show Ann. “See, I told you they still had some.”

“That’s great, Mako-chan!”

Makoto heard the couple behind her snicker some more, swearing the girl cooed about how adorable she was. Makoto ignored the comments as best she could, refusing to let what happened rain on her parade. It only took another minute or two for them to reach the counter from there. The cashier’s face practically lit up seeing her.

“Another one? Wow, you must really like Buchimaru, aye,” he said. Behind her, she heard the man cough a few times, but she almost swore she heard a “you don’t know the half of it” thrown in there between coughs accompanied by more giggling. Makoto’s cheeks grew warmer. Had she heard that right? Immediately, Makoto grew paranoid. They hadn’t seen her Buchimaru panties, did they? She had made sure she held her dress down when she reached into the cooler. There was no way they knew. She shook it out of her head, writing it off as her imagination.

“What can I say? He’s just so cute,” Makoto said, making small talk. Her eyes went over to Ann, not noticing his eyes dropping to her chest as she did so. “Do you still want those nachos or did something else catch your eye?”

“Yeah, that works for me,” Ann spoke up bubbly.

“One order of the nachos, please,” Makoto requested, looking back at the cashier.

“With extra cheese,” Ann insisted.

The cashier’s eyes turned to Ann, and he sighed, but got to work anyways. Soon enough, he rang them up and gave Makoto the total. It wasn’t until she reached into her dress’s small pocket that she realized she had already used all the cash she brought with her. That was fine, she’d just have to use her card. Instinctively, she reached for her purse to find nothing. She didn’t have it with her. “I don’t have my purse,” Makoto said, shocked, double checking herself.

The cashier cleared his throat, suddenly seeming a lot less personable. “Your total is 1,600 yen,” he prompted again. “That isn’t a problem, right?” Makoto wished she could turn invisible right then and there. This was humiliating. Why hadn’t she checked for her money first?

“It’s no problem,” Ann said, passing him her card. “I’ve got us covered.” Makoto heard more laughter behind her, eyes dropping to her feet. Ann paid, offering Makoto her ice cream, and pulled her along back to the bench with the rest of their stuff.

“I’m so sorry,” Makoto said. “I promise I’ll pay you back.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Ann insisted. “I don’t mind.”

But I do, Makoto thought with a slight pout. “Thank you,” Makoto sighed. “I thought I had my purse. I know I brought it with me.”

“You probably left it in the theater,” Ann offered, throwing a small handful of popcorn in her mouth. “You were pretty scared when you rushed out there.”

“I, that, that was just because my,” Makoto took a furtive glance around them before continuing. “Because my bra fell off,” Makoto said, voice conspiratorially low. “That had nothing to do with the movie.”

“Oh yeah,” Ann said, lifting an eyebrow. “So, you’re saying that before your bra fell off-”

“_Ann! _Not so loud...”

“That you weren’t afraid.”

“Not unafraid… only a little afraid,” Makoto argued. “I didn’t have time to prepare myself before the movie started was all.”

“Right,” Ann said, snickering.

“It’s true!”

“I believe you,” Ann’s smile told Makoto that she didn’t.

“The movie should only be about half over,” Makoto said. “We can always go back in… I need to go back in later anyways.” Makoto tried to sound nonchalant, but on the inside, she was praying Ann wouldn’t check her bluff.

“Sure, if you think you’re feeling up for it now,” Ann said. “Lead the way, my queen.” Makoto **** a brave face, kicking herself mentally, wondering why she couldn’t just let the issue lay. “But remember, just like before, I’ll be here to protect you from any big, scary ghosts.”

“Won’t be necessary,” Makoto said, getting up.

“Well, my offer still stands,” Ann said, following her lead.

Each step closer to the theater they got, the more Makoto felt her dread grow, hoping Ann would change her mind or something. When they got in front of the doors to the theater, Makoto had given up hope, until she reached for the door.

“Makoto, wait,” Ann said, and Makoto’s heart leapt. Maybe Ann changed her mind?

“Yes?”

“We still need to take our picture!”

Makoto deflated. “Um, what?”

“Remember, we were going to take a picture with all of our goodies. We can’t do that in there! Let’s do it now.”

“Okay, but how?” Neither of them had a free hand between all their snacks to hold the phone. Ann already seemed to have that handled, calling over a random person. In a flash, their picture was taken, and the person was on their way. Ann flicked through the pictures quickly, showing them to her but without giving her too much time to look them over before ushering her back into the theater. If she had, Makoto may have had a better idea how apparent her nipples were through her dress.

As soon as the door opened, Makoto heard the suspenseful music playing and tensed up.

“Let’s go,” Ann whispered, walking ahead of her.

Makoto gulped, but followed behind. In the dark room, it was hard to see, and instead of heading back to their previous seats, Ann jumped into the first available ones she found.

“Why are we sitting over here,” Makoto whispered, taking the seat next to her.

“I couldn’t see where we were before,” Ann replied. “We’ll just have to go over there and get your stuff after the movie is over.”

Makoto was about to try to guide Ann toward their actual seats, but at that time the music thundered, spooking her. Instead, Makoto tried to shut out her surroundings, focusing instead on her ice cream, opening it up and admiring the adorable design. Hopefully the movie would end soon.