This Warmth Of Yours

Chapter 10 - Lost Kids Agency

"Wow!! The movie was so...!" Rika twirled as she took out her phone. "The main actor and actress were so hot!! Do you think they're our age?"

Nami sighed, "They probably hired adults to play children again. Don't go dm-ing random celebrities this time, Rika." She turned towards Haru. "How was it?"

Haru smiled, "I liked it." Nami heaved a sigh of relief, "Thank god, a normal answer."

The trio sat on a bench in the middle of the mall, watching the abundance of couples stream in and out of the cinema. It was still Valentine's, after all. Rika glanced at Haru's bag as she took it off. "Hehe, get any confessions today?"

Haru jolted and desperately shook her head. "No... but I did receive friendship chocolates from Kana and Yuki."

Rika grinned, "Oooh, lucky~" She turned to Nami. "We should've done something like that!" Nami groaned, "Hell no, that's too much work."

"Not even for me?" Rika attempted to show off her puppy eyes. Nami sighed, "No! Unless humans start falling from the sky-"

Splat!

An enormously tall boy face-planted right in front of them. "Speak of the devil and he shall... face-plant?" Rika joked. Haru froze, recognising the familiar head of white in front of her. She rushed towards him, gently shaking his body. "Is he okay?" Rika asked.

Nami gasped, seemingly realising his identity as well. She grabbed Rika's hand and called out to Haru. "Haru, stay away from him! We should just go!"

"Huh, Nami, why?" Rika asked. She looked at him, her eyes widening. She broke out of Nami's grasp and forcefully pulled Haru away from him. Her gaze turned into a glare. "Did you follow us here?"

He slowly stood up, clutching his head. His build far towered over them. Rika's grasp on Haru's hand strengthened. "Follow you? Humble yourself, lady." He dusted his shirt, checking his phone for cracks. "Why would I be following some random chicks when my movie adaptation just released today? Also, I didn't trip on air or anything, I just wanted to test the floor out."

We didn't ask about that last part. It remained unspoken, but those were the words floating around in the trio's heads. They were sure it was unintentional, but that dispelled all the tension they were feeling. The fear poofed almost in an instant. "Eh, wait, what?" Rika asked. "Your movie?"

"Oh, Haru. It's you." He ignored her question, causing Rika to fume. "Hey! The only new movie airing today's the one by KoiFish, there's no way-"

He pulled up his phone and tweeted something on KoiFish's official handle, a notification going off on Rika's phone. "Oh my god, what the hell," Rika and Nami said simultaneously. Nami adjusted her glasses twice just to check if she was seeing things correctly. They quickly turned to Haru, wondering if she already knew.

Haru was so shocked she wasn't even blinking. "HARU'S BROKEN! COME BACK TO US!" Rika pleaded. Nami paused for a moment, pondering something that bugged her. "Wait, that doesn't make any sense. KoiFish's first ever novel was published 10 years ago. Like, when we were 7. Things just don't match up..."

His face darkened, "Don't even remind me about the shit I wrote back then. If cringe could kill I'd literally be a corpse by now. The usage of tropes I used back then without diversifying and changing it was straight up criminal. The only reason I could stomach watching the movie was because everyone worked really hard for this adaptation..." He put his phone away.

Nami hesitantly accepted his explanation, reminding herself that the first novel's writing did seem quite juvenile. Like, self insert guilty pleasure type of juvenile. She was still struggling to mask her shock, though. "You guys can tell the whole school or whatever, I don't care. I won't beat you up for threatening me with that anymore," he added. No, even if they did, 100% of people wouldn't have even believed them, Nami thought.