A Healthy Dose of Platonic Ambiguity

Maybe this would work?

Laying another shirt onto my bed, I placed it against a pair of black cargo pants. Stepping back and looking over the mess of outfits crowding the space, I switched the pants with a pair of jeans.

I don't have time for this, maybe I need to go for something more casual? If only Haruko had kept her backstory to herself, then I wouldn't be in this dilemma. Who knew she would be capable of feeling human emotions? A little while ago, I would've imagined gym shorts and a T-shirt to be sufficient. But now that Haruko had decided to masquerade as a real person, she was causing way too many problems.

I rummaged through my closet for a shirt with as much platonic ambiguity as possible.

For a friendly get-together, I wouldn't have thought to change out of my uniform. Haruko was the one who suggested heading home first; maybe she did think of this as a real date. At some point, you'd assume I'd learn to throw logic out the window when dealing with Haruko, but I couldn't help it. Eventually, I settled on jeans.

Haruko had planned to meet near Ikebukuro station, which didn't exactly help with my nerves, considering it was an overwhelmingly popular real date spot.

I spent the train ride tapping my foot like a sewing machine. I couldn't tell if it was anxiety for a vague date-like encounter with Haruko or excitement for the movie. I hadn't seen a movie since the incident in junior high, after all. I wonder what would've been the last film I watched? The train announced "Ikebukuro Station" and my brief reminiscing came to a close. I stepped off to the middle of the platform, leaning against a pillar.

I looked through my phone's map for the planned meetup spot when a hand tapped against my shoulder.

"Sorry, I'll—Oh. It's you."

Haruko stood pleasantly, which was in stark contrast to her clothing. Black. By that I mean: all black. Black skirt, black shirt, black socks, black boots, black belts, black bands, and probably black underpants. Did I mention the black backpack? With her entire outfit accented in silver studs and dangling loops of fabric, safe to say, it wasn't what I'd expected.

"Thought you'd stay in uniform," she said, leading the way out.

Damn, I hadn't even considered that as an option. Does that mean she expected me to treat the date casually? Am I the one who overstepped? It's possible she wanted to change because she hates uniforms; they make me feel like a slave to the system or something. Wouldn't surprise me.

In that case, did she think I thought it was a date because I thought she thought it was? I think. Blech, my brain hurts.

"Did you know the first movie theatre in the States opened in 1902, and the first one in Japan was a year later? Even though France got movies first, the Americans still beat us to it," Haruko said.

Why do you know that? I don't even know that and I spent two whole years movie-obsessed. I nodded along as best I could, unsure whether the random trivia was calming me down or adding to my unease.

To make matters worse, the uncertainty I'd felt while comforting Haruko had translated over to the current situation. I didn't know what to do or say. Luckily, Haruko's blathering continued up the station stairs. Surfacing into the heart of Ikebukuro, a sea of high schoolers filled my vision. It felt as if I'd drowned in trendy talk and fashionable outfits. I think I can see bubbles.

"Wow, look at all the people. Don't you just feel right at home?" Haruko's voice pierced into my thoughts.

"Not exactly."

She eyed me expectantly. "So, what would you normally pick?"

"What?"

"What what? Sweet or salty?"

Are you giving me questions out of nowhere now? "Probably salty."

"You see, that's the problem with modern society," she started, and then, without warning, slipped into the crowd, not so much as pausing to wait for me.

In my surprise, a trendy flock cut between us and I lost the sound of her voice in the mass of "like, really?" and "OMGs." I followed in the same direction and on the other side of the mob I spotted her down the street, oblivious to my struggles. I sprinted to catch up.

"At the end of it all, you've got a bunch of people getting asked questions their whole lives, so they only ever think of answering!" She finally glanced over at me. "Why are you panting?"

"I… Should I not answer?"

"See! You could have just as easily asked me what I preferred instead, or you could have changed the topic and avoided the question entirely. It's because we spend so much time in school trying to find an answer that will please one particular person."

What did I miss? "So, does it please you that I prefer salty?"

"What movie do you want to see?" she changed the topic.

Oh yeah, that was the other thing. I had no clue what movies were playing since I'd cut them out cold turkey. How was I supposed to know what I wanted to see?

"Uhm, anything good on?" I asked.

"Ooh! There's that animated superhero movie! I can show you first-hand the kinds of cool things they say. What's up with superhero movies anyways? There are way too many of them. It's too hard to keep up."

My eyes lit up. "I know, right? They keep showing up from Hollywood. And it's all American stuff too, I can only ever think of a couple Japanese superhero movies."

"Most Japanese superheroes were tokusatsu. And that just isn't popular anymore," she said.

"Woah. You know tokusatsu?" Admittedly, tokusatsu wasn't my area of expertise.

"Who do you think I am? I'm an all-knowing God, of course I do!"

What's going on? What's this odd feeling?

"I mean, sure. Either way, they're all TV shows instead of movies these days. Well, there was one movie a few years back," I said.

Aside from the God thing, was Haruko sort of acting… normal? And being conversational?

"Really? I don't keep up with that kind of thing. Actually, I avoid movies," she said.

I take it back. "You avoid movies?" Doesn't that, without a doubt, make this a real date? Plus, who the hell doesn't watch movies?

And why do you know so much movie trivia?!