We planned to go to the mall today just like old times. Except our two friends weren't here. They probably had some stuff to do. Like for example, go on a date...somewhere...like the mall... Oh crap. They might actually try to tail us while they're on a date! I need to be mindful of my surroundings...

Within the large building filled with many shops, commonly known as a mall, we stood looking around and thinking of what we should do first. This was the first time I've ever been on a date so I really had no idea what to do.

I then took a glance at Naomi. She looked quite excited as she was scanning through all the shops available. I couldn't really blame her since it was over three years ago that she'd been here.

"Where'd you wanna go first?" I asked her.

"I think I wanna watch a movie first." She calmly suggested.

Accordingly, we both took the escalator to the second floor and walked towards the movie center. But before we bought food for when we went in, we first chose what to watch, of course.

Looking through the selection of movies to watch, there were nothing but romance movies to choose from. Is God trying to get me to make a move on her or something? Nah that's impossible. But I guess doing that is inevitable.

I looked at her, trying to keep myself from blushing about the selection of movies being only romance and drama.

"So... Which do you want us to watch?"

"Um..." She stared downwards, trying to hide her blushing face as much as possible. Then she slowly raised her hand and pointed towards a certain movie that I was somewhat planning to watch. Of course I was also thinking of going alone but that's gonna be too awkward with all the other people going to watch with their girl/boyfriend.

"I want to watch this." She said softly. The movie she chose was an animated one. Huh, I didn't think she'd actually choose that since she's not really that much of a fan of anime.

"Alright, it's settled then."

I then went to buy the tickets and choose our seats while she went to buy snacks. I got our tickets pretty quickly and went to where Naomi was. She was still in line waiting for her turn.

After buying snacks, it was already a few minutes before the movie began so we quickly went in and looked for our seats. But damn this place was huge. I guess they really took the amount of people going to watch into consideration before they built this place.

Then as we found and took our seats, I placed the small bucket of popcorn in the holders that were connected to the armrests. The popcorn was flavored cheese since Naomi really liked it. For me though, I would've wanted sour cream fries.

Also, about the movie that we were going to watch. I might actually bawl my eyes out if I get too invested. I don't know about Naomi though. I've only read a few series of novels with her but those were mostly to my tastes and not hers. Really, why did she choose this and not something she'd actually like?

Then I felt something climb up by spine as I was sitting down. I felt chills even though it wasn't that cold in here. Or am I just feeling some sort of presentiment is going to happen? No, I'm probably just being paranoid. It's not like all the time that my suspicions were correct.

After the movie ended, I was at my limit. Holy shit when did I become so much of a loser, crying to a fictional love story between a normal, caring boy and a suicidal girl with a seemingly incurable disease learning there was actually someone worth living for. But let's not talk about the ending. That'll be spoilers.

I tried suppressing my wimpy tears and looked at Naomi. Never did I think I'd get to see this sort of sight in my whole life. She was crying. Was it really that sad? Not that I have anything to say.

"Naomi, are you okay?" I asked, trying to not let my voice crack.

She just looked at me, tears flowing, gently smiled and nodded. "Yup! Never felt better!"

I let out a laugh at her reply, thinking of how stupid we looked, crying just because of some piece of animation and story. She also laughed along with me.

Minutes passed and we finally regained our composure. After leaving the theater, we continued chatting about the movie. It was mostly about us discussing how it was written and visualized into movie form.

"I never would've thought you actually liked this type of stuff."

"Ufufu. It was because of you. When I was still in the US, I missed those times we read novels and watched some anime together so I thought I could actually try getting into the community!"

I looked at her in surprise mixed with delight. Wait, really? I thought.

"Wait, really?"

"Yup! I didn't think that there was so many genres in the medium but I soon found what I really liked most!"

"Then what's your favori—!?"

The ground trembled as if the Earth was suddenly shook by an unknown force. This wasn't the normal earthquake you'd encounter. It was as if something made the ground shake by force.

"What was that?!" 

Naomi was equally surprised as I am. She quickly got close and put her guard up since the ground shaking so suddenly was likely the work of some madman testing out his/her strength.

"Let's go! Before the building collapses!" I quickly and impulsively carried her, which absolutely surprised her.

The people around us were following the usual rule of duck, cover and hold. But I wasn't having any of that and quickly activated a skill that I had. If this world was still the magicless planet that it was five years ago, I would've likely followed suit with what everyone else was doing. But now that I was given a power that was supposed to be used, and took advantage of it.

With the most basic skill, namely ⟨Physical Enhancement⟩, I started booking it. The building was surely going to collapse and everything would fall like meteors if I wait any longer. Naomi's safety needed to be put first before everything else.

"Wait! We can't leave everyone else!"

I didn't listen and quickly jumped down to the ground floor. I really didn't care what would've happened to others if Naomi would be safe if I exploited them. Protecting her was an absolute rule I put on myself since the beginning.