Floccinaucinihilipilification

Ostentatious

Ostentatious.

[ˌästənˈtāSHəs]

(AHS-ten-TAY-shus)

ADJECTIVE

Characterized by vulgar or pretentious display; designed to impress or attract notice.

• • •

     7:55 Saturday morning found me reading, as usual, in the public library four blocks away from the high school Shirou and I attended. We had agreed to meet here at 8:00, at which point Shirou would explain to me his plans for the day. I did not expect him to arrive early, or even on time, but I had been here for two hours anyway, reading in the peace and quiet. The library was my favorite place to be, largely due to the multitudes of shelves housing hundreds of wondrous stories just waiting to be read. Within the hour and fifty-five minutes I had been here, I had completed two of the books I had been reading previously as well as five more that I had started just today, and I had made my way through 13% of another when Shirou arrived.

     I glanced up when I heard his footsteps approaching, eyebrows raised in surprise.

     "You're early."

     "Ah... no?" he replied, glancing at his watch. "Oh, well by five minutes, I guess. Not that it matters much, I bet you've been here for at least an hour already."

     "A hour and fifty-five minutes. Fifty-six, now." I corrected.

     "So why are you so surprised that I'm early? If only by five minutes," he asked.

     "I'm more surprised by the fact that I'm surprised in the first place than I am that you surprised me," I told him, making his face screw up in confusion for a moment.

     "I would ask you to explain that, but I know your explanation would probably be more confusing than what you said in the first place, so I won't bother," he decided wisely.

     "For you, that is most likely true. Will you now enlighten me as to what our activities today will consist of?"

     "Yeah, sure. We'll go and see a movie first of all, called Hidden Figures. It's supposed to be really good, although I haven't seen it yet. And I assume you haven't either, since you practically never look up from your books."

     "You assume correctly. Continue."

     "It starts at 9, so that should take us to around 11 something. After that we'll go to Painted Pots, the place on the walking mall where you can make and/or paint your own pottery and stuff. Then we'll go roller skating at that one place near the church - I can't remember the name."

     "I cannot help you, seeing as I wasn't previously aware this town even had any such thing," I said dryly.

     He laughed. "Of course not. You probably haven't even wondered."

     "Indeed I haven't," I confirmed.

     "Anyway, after that we can go and get coffee at the Firefly Cafe near the park," he finished. "All together that should take up most of the day."

     "I see. Shall we get going then? I assume we're walking, so we will have to leave within the next ten minutes to get to the movie on time"

Shirou glanced at his watch. "You're probably right."

     "Of course I am."

     "As usual," he grinned. "Let's go." He started walking towards the exit, so I quickly checked out several books and followed him.