My wife believes me; how could I be a cuckold?

Eriko Miyajima nodded, and then began to tidy up very efficiently.

She quickly tidied up the picnic mat and trash. All she had to do was return the picnic mat and throw away the trash.

After dealing with all of this, the two followed the navigation on their phones and headed to the movie theater.

The movie theater where Yuta Yamada chose was located in a department store very close to Shinjuku Central Park.

Although it's Saturday, there aren't many people in the mall because it's between 1 and 2 pm, the lowest time for foot traffic.

Fortunately, both Makoto Asano and Eriko Miyajima are not the type of people who really enjoy crowds, so this kind of environment is just right for them.

When they arrived at the movie theater and finished checking their tickets before entering the theater, Makoto Asano realized that it was actually a very special private cinema.

Of course, it's not the kind of private cinema that gives you a small room and fills it with hidden cameras.

Or rather, it would be more appropriate to call this place a home theater rather than a private theater.

Like any other cinema, this movie theater has several large screening rooms, each containing about a dozen open-plan private boxes.

The private rooms are spaced far apart and each room has a separate sofa and table. Each sofa can seat about two to three people.

After a quick glance, Makoto Asano realized that this was the kind of theater specifically designed for families, allowing families or couples to watch movies together undisturbed.

It must be said that this design really helps to improve the movie-watching experience.

Because the number of private boxes is limited, the number of people in each screening room for each movie will not exceed thirty.

Therefore, during the movie screening, apart from the sound of the movie itself, there will be virtually no noise from other people.

Moreover, because the audience cannot see what is happening inside each box, they can completely relax and immerse themselves in the movie, maximizing their viewing comfort and experience.

However, with such good conditions, the price naturally won't be cheap.

Makoto Asano searched on his phone and found that the ticket price for this movie was as high as 6000 yen, and it was a very old romantic tragedy.

After showing the price to Eriko Miyajima, she muttered a soft complaint: "Yuta, really, he's wasting money again."

"Yes, it's a pity that Yuta-kun can't come today, which is a good thing for me."

Makoto Asano responded with a smile, his strange tone leaving one wondering what he was referring to.

Eriko Miyajima also sensed the implication in those words, but before she could figure it out, Makoto Asano, who was standing at the entrance of the screening room, chuckled and whispered, "Yuta really knows how to buy things. Watching a movie in a place like this makes it feel like we've become a couple."

Eriko Miyajima blushed slightly: "Asano-kun, please stop making jokes like that."

Upon hearing this, Makoto Asano simply smiled and did not refute the statement. Instead, he silently extended his right hand toward Eriko Miyajima, who was standing behind him.

Seeing Eriko Miyajima looking at him with a puzzled expression, he explained, "The lights aren't on inside, it's a bit dark. I'll hold your hand so you don't fall."

Perhaps finding his words reasonable, Eriko Miyajima nodded after hesitating for less than a second and then placed her hand in Makoto Asano's.

The moment he took that hand, Makoto Asano felt as if he had grasped a delicate and warm sensation.

Eriko Miyajima looked up at him and noticed that the corners of his mouth were almost turned up to the maximum.

It's just friends holding hands, is it really necessary to be so happy?

Thinking this, Eriko Miyajima lowered her eyes and let him lead her by the hand as they searched for their private box in the dimly lit screening room.

They walked very slowly, with surprisingly uniform strides, as if they were deliberately prolonging what was originally a short journey.

However, the screening room itself was not very big, and there weren't many private rooms inside, so the two quickly found their own private room and went inside.

For some reason, after entering the private room, Eriko Miyajima felt a sense of loss.

However, soon another strange feeling replaced it and took over her heart.

After sitting on the sofa, Makoto Asano didn't let go of her hand; instead, he gripped it even tighter, so tightly that it even hurt her a little.

Eriko Miyajima subconsciously tried to pull her hand away twice, but she couldn't break free from Makoto Asano's large hand.

She looked up and saw that the other person was staring intently at the empty movie screen in front of them, as if they hadn't even noticed her.

Perhaps the dim lighting affected their judgment, or perhaps they simply believed that Makoto Asano didn't have any bad intentions.

After hesitating for a second or two, Eriko Miyajima stopped struggling and let Makoto Asano continue to hold her hand.

No one knows what she's thinking right now, perhaps not even herself.

Only the faint blush on her cheeks hinted at her current mood.

The two of them didn't say a word, just sat quietly in the box, waiting for the movie to start.

Soon, it was two o'clock, and the tragic love movie that Yuta Yamada had carefully selected began.

However, Eriko Miyajima didn't hear a single line of dialogue until the movie ended.

She simply stared blankly at the somewhat handsome profile of Asano Makoto beside her, using the faint light reflected from the movie screen, without saying a word.

Chapter 63 Great Fortune and Great Misfortune

After watching the movie, it was 3:30 pm.

However, after the movie ended, Makoto Asano did not leave immediately. Instead, he stayed in the box for a while until most of the people in the movie theater had left before he got up and led Eriko Miyajima out of the screening room.

At that moment, Eriko Miyajima suddenly hesitated and asked, "Asano-kun, the movie is over, aren't you going to let go?"

Although the statement contained an implication, it did not carry much of a rejection.

So Makoto Asano just smiled and said softly, "There are a lot of people around. If we don't hold hands, we'll easily get separated. Besides, aren't we friends? It's normal for friends to hold hands, right?"

Actually, there aren't many people here right now.

You know, Shinjuku is a world-famous nightlife city, so where would anyone come from in the middle of the afternoon?

So Makoto Asano said that just to give Eriko Miyajima an excuse to accept that he could continue holding her hand.

As he expected, after hearing this, Eriko Miyajima hesitated for a moment, but in the end, she silently let him continue to lead her forward.

The two walked hand in hand in silence down the street.

To an uninformed person, the two looked like a young couple in the throes of new love, too shy to even speak after holding hands.

However, it wasn't good to remain silent all the time, so Asano Makoto started talking about the movie he had just watched as he walked, wanting to chat with Miyajima Eriko for a bit.

But for some reason, Eriko Miyajima, who was following behind him, was not very interested. She just nodded from time to time and kept saying perfunctory words such as "uh-huh," "yes," and "right."

After several unsuccessful attempts to start a conversation, Makoto Asano decided to ignore her.

Since the favorability rating hasn't dropped, it means there's not a big problem.

According to the original plan, the two were supposed to drive home after watching the movie.

However, on his way to the parking lot, Makoto Asano suddenly saw a road sign placed by the roadside that read: Garden Shrine, turn right 100 meters ahead.

Upon seeing the road sign, Makoto Asano's eyes lit up, and he suggested to Eriko Miyajima that they go up and take a look.

After thinking for a moment, Eriko Miyajima nodded and accepted Makoto Asano's suggestion.

She thought of going to the shrine to draw a fortune stick to predict her friendship with Makoto Asano, hoping to dispel the messy thoughts in her mind.

The two walked hand in hand through the approach and the two torii gates, and entered the Garden Shrine.

However, once inside, the two discovered that this Garden Shrine only cared about marital harmony, having children, marriage, and love, so they could only ask for fortune slips related to love and marriage.

Generally speaking, only couples or spouses would visit such a shrine together. Given Asano Makoto and Miyajima Eriko's current "friends" relationship, it would be inappropriate for them to come here.

Since she hadn't had a proper chance to explore Tokyo, Eriko Miyajima naturally didn't know what this shrine was for.

The same goes for Makoto Asano.

He had no idea what this place was for, nor did he have any other thoughts.

The reason he suggested coming here was simply because Eriko Miyajima didn't seem to be in a good mood, and since it was still early, he wanted to bring her here to cheer her up.

However, in order to avoid causing any strange misunderstandings for Eriko Miyajima, he still offered an awkward explanation.

"I didn't know this was a love shrine. I just happened to see the sign and thought I'd come in to take a look... If you don't like it, Eriko, let's just go home."

"It's alright, Asano-kun, I know. But since we're already here, let's go get a fortune slip. I'd also like to see what our future holds for Yuta and me."

Because Makoto Asano really didn't have any strange ideas, his words were sincere, and there was no sign of him putting on an act.

So Eriko Miyajima, who already trusted him, didn't say much, but just smiled and comforted him.

However, although Eriko Miyajima said she wanted to see her and Yuta Yamada's future fortune, when she actually drew a fortune stick, she silently recited Makoto Asano's name.

Since she couldn't get a friendship fortune slip right now, she figured she might as well get a love fortune slip instead.

If her romantic prospects with Makoto Asano are very bad or ominous, it means she won't make the same mistake in this matter in the future.

After praying devoutly to the shrine for a while, Eriko Miyajima opened her eyes.

With a slightly uneasy feeling, she pulled a slip of paper from the box in front of her, took a deep breath, and slowly opened it.

[Great fortune: A match made in heaven, destined to grow old together, congratulations!]

Upon seeing the contents of the fortune slip, Eriko Miyajima's pupils constricted, and her heart seemed to stop for a moment.

Although the fortune she drew was very auspicious, this was the last thing she wanted at the time, and she was unwilling to believe the result.

Unconvinced, she closed her eyes again and prepared to draw a second fortune stick.

This time, however, the name she silently murmured in her heart was Yuta Yamada.

In Japanese belief, fortune slips are messages from gods and Buddhas, and one should not draw them repeatedly.

For example, if you open a fortune stick and find it to be an inauspicious one, you might want to spend money to try a few more times until you get a lucky one. This is absolutely not the right thing to do.

Otherwise, if everyone just keeps smoking, they can get the result they want.

Therefore, generally speaking, a divination slip is only effective the first time it is used on the same person; the results of subsequent attempts are naturally invalid.

This is precisely why Eriko Miyajima did not continue silently reciting Makoto Asano's name this time, but instead chose Yuta Yamada.

Soon, the devout worship ended, and Eriko Miyajima drew her second love fortune slip, then slowly unfolded it.

[Great Evil]