Chapter 1133: Interlude · Arcueid's Date (Part 2)

How exactly should a date be defined? Even Shinji wasn't entirely sure.

From his perspective, a date was simply when a boy and a girl went out together, had fun, and deepened their relationship. Just that simple.

By that definition, everything Shinji had been doing with Arcueid lately would count as a date.

A man and a woman, far from home, running all over the place. Though they claimed to be hunting vampires and searching for items to curb Arcueid's bloodlust, vampires — those monsters lurking in the shadows of humanity — weren't exactly easy to find.

Aside from a few notorious ones with fixed territories and significant influence, finding two or three small fries in a month was considered lucky. Most of the time, when they weren't hunting, the two of them were simply having fun. The only difference was in where and how they played — sometimes in the real world, sometimes in spirit worlds, just sightseeing, and sometimes even causing a bit of trouble.

Since they weren't in familiar places like the Clock Tower, or Fuyuki, Shinji had loosened up considerably. He found that he could somewhat understand the mindset of that odd relative of Zelretch, as causing a bit of chaos in unfamiliar places was indeed quite enjoyable, even if it didn't mean much in the long run.

However, since Arcueid had formally suggested going on a date, they couldn't just stick to such a broad, casual definition. It had to be more formal, and more structured.

The problem was that Shinji didn't know what counted as formal or structured. After thinking it over, he could only fall back on the rules he'd picked up from various anime.

"It's said that there are three must-visit spots for a date, known as the Big Three Date Spots — the aquarium, the amusement park, and the cinema. This city happens to have all three. Where would you like to go first?"

Standing at the taxi stand outside the hotel, Shinji looked at the map while asking Arcueid. After a moment of thought, she replied:

"We've already been to an amusement park with the others before. Let's go to the aquarium first."

"Alright, the aquarium it is."

To be fair, the aquarium was a great place. You could see all sorts of aquatic creatures you wouldn't normally encounter, and the dim, quiet environment made it easy to lose track of time, especially for couples.

Even with both him and Arcueid having superhuman endurance, Shinji figured they could at least spend the entire morning there.

However, not even an hour had passed before the two of them walked out of the aquarium.

It wasn't because the aquarium was too small, but because —

"It's so boring, Shinji. This huge building is just full of water and fish. Nothing is interesting about it. If we want to see fish, we could just go to the ocean — it's way bigger."

Well, for someone like Arcueid, who was practically a goddess of the Earth, it wasn't surprising.

Shinji sighed helplessly. "I did warn you, but I should still apologize. I'm sorry for boring you."

"It's okay, it's okay. I was the one who wanted to try going on a date. You're just accompanying me."

Arcueid said, surprisingly understanding at this moment.

"So, where should we go next? The cinema, perhaps?"

"You're already bored, but you still want to continue?"

"Of course. The date isn't over yet. You promised to spend the whole day with me."

"Right, then let's head out. Hopefully, there's a good movie playing today."

There was a cinema not far from the aquarium, about a ten-minute walk away.

Along the way — or rather, at this very moment — people around them kept casting glances in their direction. As mentioned before, Arcueid was undeniably a stunning beauty.

Just as Shinji noticed this, Arcueid suddenly leaned in closer.

"What's wrong?"

"Their stares feel kind of strange."

"Aren't you usually not bothered by that?"

"I started minding it after you mentioned it. Hey, Shinji, if something happens, will you protect me?"

Are you sure it's me protecting you and not the other way around? Shinji thought to himself. With your strength, you could crush me with one hand without even needing that mind-melding, two-way destruction technique.

But of course, in this situation, there was no way Shinji could say such mood-killing words. Instead, he bent slightly, took her hand, and said in a low voice:

"Princess, please allow me, as your knight, to protect you."

"Oh! From today onwards, I have a knight."

The pure white princess cheered, and thus, the Azure Knight was born.

Throughout the entire world of mystery, countless people had speculated about how the princess of True Ancestors met her knight and formed a contract, but no one could have guessed that it would happen in such a playful way.

Of course, playful or not, the Azure Knight would always fulfill his promise, whether during their dates or later, when helping suppress her bloodlust.

But that was all in the future. For now, both the princess and her knight focused on the cinema in front of them.

"We're here. It's been a while since I've been to a place like this. The last time was when a Conan movie was showing."

Since transmigrating, Shinji could count the number of times he'd gone to the cinema on one hand. Partly because he wasn't that interested in movies, and partly because the Matou family had its home theater system, so he could watch whatever he wanted whenever he wanted.

"So, this is a cinema."

It was Arcueid's first time visiting a cinema, but her enthusiasm wasn't particularly high, likely due to the aquarium's underwhelming experience.

Still, since they were already here, they might as well give it a try.

"Alright, let's head in. If you don't like it, we can go somewhere else afterward."

"Ah, it's not that I don't like it, it's just—"

Arcueid sighed.

Her slumped shoulders seemed to say, 'This isn't that fun.'

"Well, let's buy the tickets then. What should we watch? Let's see… everything showing now is either 'Love, Love, and Love'... What is this?"

Arcueid preferred more direct sensory stimulation, so she'd probably enjoy an action-packed blockbuster or a suspenseful horror movie. Her gaming preferences leaned in that direction too.

But romance? Last time, Shinji had tried getting her to play a dating simulator, and she'd given up in less than ten minutes.

"Uh, maybe we should try somewhere else? All the movies here are romance films, and it's a bit too narrow."

At that moment, the lady at the ticket counter couldn't help but chime in:

"Young man, you brought such a beautiful girlfriend to the cinema. If you're not watching a romance movie, what else are you going to watch?"

"So, romance movies are what you're supposed to watch on a date, huh." Arcueid nodded thoughtfully.

"In that case, I'll just pick one. Let's go with this one."

Just looking at the promotional poster, it was obvious that the movie wasn't going to be good. Everything about it screamed low budget.

"..."

Shinji silently pulled out his wallet, silently paid for the tickets, silently bought popcorn and soda, and silently presented their entry tickets.

— It was a failure.

Even bringing Arcueid to the cinema seemed to bore her to death.