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Ruby had known Mari long enough to realize that Mari liked to destroy expectations. Whatever you imagined her doing, she’d do the exact opposite. Still, Ruby felt a little bit surprised when Mari said that she was taking Ruby somewhere, even though it was Mari’s birthday.
“My birthday present is seeing the surprise on your face,” Mari said, laughing at herself in the back of her limousine. Ruby was looking out of the tinted windows as they passed by various cities and landmarks. Ruby knew the geography of Uchiura very well, but after a while, the landscape started to get a little less familiar. Mari seemed determined to keep the birthday surprise a surprise, because any pleas from Ruby for a hint were stiffly denied.
After what seemed like years of driving, Mari’s driver finally slowed to a stop in an empty parking lot. At first, it seemed like little more than an empty parking lot...but when Mari opened the doors and pulled Ruby out with her, Ruby finally saw their destination clearly: an amusement park. The ferris wheel was stretching into the sky, along with several roller coasters. Just looking at it made Ruby dizzy.
As exciting as the park looked, Ruby had some questions. “M-Mari-chan...why is nobody else here? Is the park closed?”
“Closed to the public,” Mari corrected. She pulled a key out of her purse, leading Ruby to the entrance. “Surprise! I rented out the park for the whole day! It'll be just us and the workers. Isn't that romantic?”
Ruby was waiting for Mari to say it was a joke, then turn around and walk back to the limo. However, it wasn't a joke. Mari put the key in the lock of the gates, and it turned. Sure enough, the park was deserted, but other than that, everything seemed normal. Music was playing, vendors were making cotton candy, and Ruby could smell popcorn in the air. Usually, Ruby would have been embarrassed by such a grand gesture, but her mind had already went somewhere else.
She had to win Mari a prize.
Mari seemed perfectly content with giving Ruby a gift as a gift to herself, but Ruby wouldn’t stand for it. Mari was always spoiling Ruby. For once, Ruby would be the one spoiling Mari, even if it was just with a big teddy bear from a shooting game.
“This park has everything you can imagine,” Mari said, locking the gate behind her. The limo had already driven away; they really would be there for the whole day. “You name it, we’ll do it. So-”
“Wh-where are the games?” Ruby said. Mari’s eyebrows shot up. “Like...the ones with the prizes and stuff.”
“Ah, the games? I thought you would have went straight for some rides, Ruby-chan. Don’t worry. There’s plenty of games. How about we test your strength?”
Ruby had been under the impression that Mari would be manning all of the equipment herself somehow, but all of the booths and rides she saw had a worker standing at them. It was just like Mari to go all out.
The first booth they went to was indeed a strength test. It was the game that Dia had always insisted was rigged, but her and Ruby always gave it a couple of whacks anyway. However, Ruby went up to the game with a new sense of determination. The racks of prizes behind the worker were perfect for Mari. There were small ones for the weaker contenders, but Ruby’s goal was to get Mari one of the larger plushies: particularly, a huge, bright yellow star.
“You can have the first go, Ruby-chan,” Mari said. She seemed all too excited to watch Ruby take her turn, which was a little intimidating, even if Mari didn’t mean for it to be. Regardless, Ruby took the hammer from the operator and stared down the big button she was supposed to hit. She tightened her grip, raised the hammer over her head, then shut her eyes and slammed it down.
Closing her eyes wasn’t a good idea, apparently, because the hammer just barely hit the edge of the button, and the meter barely went up. The operator made an odd snorting noise, while Mari outright giggled. Ruby shot her a look. “I’ll go again.”
“Right on, Ruby-chan! Do your best,” Mari cheered. Ruby raised the hammer above her head again, that time keeping her eyes open. When she dropped it the second time, the meter barely moved again...and that time, she had hit the button square on its face. She clearly just wasn’t very strong. “It’s okay! Give it another go.”
“Okay. H-here goes!”
Ruby looked at the big star on the rack, then imagined Mari cuddling it hard. She imagined Mari smiling and giving kisses upon kisses out of happiness, all because Ruby had gotten her that prize. With her goal in mind, Ruby lifted the hammer for the third time, and slammed it down with all her might...
The meter moved a little bit higher.
“You’ve earned yourself a small prize,” the operator said. There was pity in his voice, and Ruby hated it. Mari clapping her hands was a nice consolation, though. “Go ahead and take your pick.”
There was a bucket of little toys and mini-plushies that Ruby knew wouldn’t do as a nice birthday gift. Still, she picked up a rubbery dinosaur figure and held it in her palm. Just as she was about to turn around and ask Mari where some other, less strength-based games were, she heard a loud clanging noise.
She turned around just in time to see the meter dropping down from the very top, where Mari had hit the bell.
“Mari-chan?! You-you hit the top!” So the game isn’t rigged.
“Wow! I didn’t expect that,” Mari squealed. She had the sleeves of her blouse rolled up, but there were no other signs of an effort. “I get one of the huge prizes, right? Well, give Ruby-chan that big puppy plush! She’s earned it!”
Ruby looked down at the puny t-rex in her hand and compared it to the huge stuffed Dalmatian that was being handed to her. Did I really earn it...?
The next game was a shooting game, which was unfortunately a competition. Ruby fretted over competing with Mari, but Mari brushed it off. “Don’t worry. I’m no sore loser,” Mari insisted, even though that was the last of Ruby’s worries (plus, Mari was a sore loser).
The goal was simple: shoot a target with a water gun until you won. It was an easy race. Almost too easy. The booth they were at didn’t have the big star as a prize, but it did have a Hello Kitty plush. That was just cutesy enough for Mari to like it.
Ruby picked up her gun as Mari tried to twirl hers. Once Ruby had gotten somewhat settled, the operator, that time a woman, gave a countdown.
“Three...two...one...go!”
Ruby felt for the trigger, but couldn’t find it. I just had my finger against it, didn’t I?! Oh, no, that was something else! She fumbled and fumbled, only getting more nervous as she watched Mari’s steady hand shoot at her target. The moment she found it and shooted out a tiny spurt of water, the gun stopped shooting...because Mari had won.
“Woo! Good game, Ruby-chan,” Mari said, ruffling Ruby’s hair. “What prize do you want?”
“But...you won.”
“I’m not a sore winner, either, so I’m giving my prize to you,” Mari said. Ruby hated when she was pitied, but...Mari made it look so endearing. Plus, there was a prize that Ruby herself was eyeing...
“Can I have the blow-up sword?”
The operator handed Ruby a folded piece of plastic. Ruby blew it up, then sealed the cap. She smiled and playfully hit Mari on the head with it. “So cruel of you to beat up the birthday girl,” Mari said. Ruby was quickly reminded of her task. She had to win Mari a gift... “C’mon, Ruby-chan. Let’s go get on the wheel!”
“Wait! Isn’t there one more game we can play before we start getting on rides? Just one more? Pretty please?”
Mari thought for a moment, spinning her chair around to look at the park. Ruby was glad it was empty. At least she wasn’t being embarrassed in front of a crowd. “I can think of one more game...”
I have to win this one. Fishing is in my blood! Right?
Ruby looked down at the pool of water in front of her that had fake, brightly-colored fish floating around in it. She studied it hard. She wasn’t sure what she was looking for, but she decided to be thorough. All of these fish...it can’t be that hard to get one, even for me! The gift that Ruby was aiming for at that game was a big pink dolphin. It was more suited for Kanan, but there was no doubt Mari would enjoy it, too.
“Those fish won’t catch themselves,” Mari joked, poking Ruby in the side with a fishing net. Ruby took hold of it, then looked at Mari holding her own. Ruby was far from competitive, but she had to make sure she did better than Mari. There was no operator for that game, so Mari explained the rules herself. “You have to get the hook on the end of your line into the fish’s mouth. Then, you bring it up and see what’s on the bottom. If it has a one on the bottom, you get a small prize. Two is a medium prize. Three is a big prize!”
Three, three, three. I need a three! “Okay. Sounds easy.”
“Okay! On your mark...get set...go!” The beginning was a little anticlimactic, with her and Mari shuffling around and shaking their lines around the fish. Finally, Mari hooked one and yanked it upwards, dropping it in her palm. She flipped it over, and Ruby froze, looking over to see the number...a one. “Aw, darn! What a bust. Get a good one for the both of us, Ruby-chan!”
As if she wasn’t already under enough pressure! Ruby nodded, continuing to swish around her line. She caught a couple fish, but wiggled her line to get them off, not feeling confident that they had threes beneath them. Finally, she picked up a fish, one that was painted with a pink-and-purple gradient, that just felt right. She reeled it in, then flipped it over...
It also had a one.
“Seriously?” Mari whined. “Do any of these things have threes? Both of us getting a one...what are the odds?!” So much for not being a sore loser, Mari-chan, Ruby thought. It brought a smile to her face, but not enough to make her forget that she had failed to do her duty as a girlfriend. “Let’s get our prizes! You should get another t-rex, Ruby-chan. The one you have now looks lonely. He needs a husband!”
So, Ruby had two little dinosaurs and a Dalmatian and a blow-up sword in her hands, while Mari had nothing...and Mari’s smile was still as bright as ever.
Mari’s smile only got brighter as they got closer to the ferris wheel. There was an operator there, who seemed a lot less joyful than the other ones about working at an empty park. Still, he helped Ruby and Mari board, letting Ruby leave her bigger gifts down at the base.
As they climbed higher, Ruby tried to force herself to look excited, but it was hard, especially when Mari knew her so well. “Hey, are you alright? You’re not upset about the games, are you?”
“Not exactly,” Ruby said. She paused, looking out at the amusement park. The view was actually a lot prettier when there weren’t huge crowds of people. “It’s just...do you remember the big star at the strength test booth?”
“Oh, yeah! That was cute.”
“And the Hello Kitty at the shooting game?”
“Adorable!”
“And the pink dolphin?”
“Yup!”
“I wanted to get all of those for you,” Ruby said, her voice barely a whisper. “But I couldn’t. And to top it all off, I got all of the prizes that you deserve!”
Mari’s face seemed unusually somber. The cart of the ferris wheel slid to the top before pausing, giving them an even better look at the fairgrounds. From there, they could see the sea, too. Mari looked out at it, then laughed a little bit. “You’re so brave, Ruby-chan. I admire you!”
“Wh-what...?”
Ruby had expected a flurry of teasing to start in order to lighten the mood, but when Mari turned to Ruby, she seemed deadly serious. “Through all those booths, you were trying your hardest to get a gift just for me?”
“Of course. It’s your birthday.” Did she forget?
“That’s not what I mean. I mean that you kept losing, but you were trying anyway. Some people would have gave up right away! But you kept on going. That’s my Ruby-chan,” Mari said, throwing her arms around Ruby’s shoulders. Ruby sank into her grip without thinking, her cheeks heating up. “Don’t worry about getting me a prize, okay? Besides, there’s a bunch of booths that are unattended. I could just go steal one if I wanted!” Ruby wanted to point out that Mari was super rich and could have just bought whatever she wanted, but Ruby was too relieved to factcheck. “The only gift I want is to sit, right here, and look at the sky with you. We can worry about plushies later. Sounds like a plan?”
Ruby looked down at the base of the ferris wheel. Her Dalmatian and sword were big enough that she could see their outlines, even from the very top of the wheel. She’d keep them in her room and use them as inspiration to keep working as hard as she could, as long as she made Mari proud. “Alright. Sounds like a plan.”