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Kenma knew he should have just preordered when he had a normal amount of sleep and then done the smart move, known simply as ‘click the ship to the house button.’
But, he’d mistakenly tapped on the wrong option for ordering and now he was in front of ‘ Your Gamer Is In Another Castle’ where he’d have to probably bump into some middle-aged man and make awkward dialogue.
Everyone probably thought he was a lost tourist of the city, standing in front of the store and sidewalk shopping strip like he had no idea as to where he was. The streets buzzed with a familiar load of cars, each getting swept up in the noise. Passerbys having different conversations but each one intertwining enough to make Kenma think he was in a bad game of telephone.
Eventually he couldn’t deal with autumn’s shifting cold breeze, the atmosphere and general look becoming more cold and clouded. Wringing his hand around the handle, he yanked it enough that it opened without much fuss.
He’d only been inside the actual shop a couple of times so he didn’t exactly have the best grasp on the layout, but that would prove irrelevant once he’d actually enter the store. They’d gone some serious renovations, having switched to plastic shelves instead of the rusting metal, the stained and almost moldy gray replaced with a cleaner deep brown, lights giving a more homey feeling rather than an actual musty castle, and an extremely cute cashier in the center of the room.
“Hey! Welcome to Your Gamer Is In Another Castle! That might be the case but all your favorite games are right here!!” He’d heard as soon as he had taken everything in, each ending sentence going up another octave, making his attention targeted on the voice entirely. Shoving both hands into his navy blue coat that went all the way to the back of his knees, he made his way to the front (or in this case, smack in the middle) desk.
The worker huffed out a chuckle into his hand, making Kenma wish he’d seen the full smile in effect. “S-Sorry, I’m legally bound to say that, but it’s so ridiculous I kinda like it?”
Kenma huffed out a quiet laugh to himself, not sure if it was to kill unwanted tension before it actually started manifesting or if he actually thought it was funny. “No worries.”
“So.” The worker began, placing both hands on the exterior castle designed desk, coming back up with a regal smile on his face. “How can I help you today?”
If you separated the ensemble, Kenma wouldn’t have anything to fret over. It was just the combining of the welcoming smile, warm glow, excited tone, and imperfectionless complexion that threw the gamer for a loop. “I’m, uh, here to pick up a game?” His voice failed him at the last second, so it sounded more like a question than the fact of the matter.
“You sure about that?” he asked, still smiling just as large. Kenma didn’t say anything and did what he did best, observe. “I’m just kidding!” He barked, slightly hitting Kenma on the arm. “What’s the name under?”
He paused for a moment, slightly taken aback. He didn’t want to sound modest or conceited, but most people, especially gamers, knew who he was. “Kozume Kenma.”
“Cool cool!” was all he said while bending down, and his height was so miniature there was fully protected by the pretend castle desk as he squatted to grab the game. Coming back up, he read the game out loud then waited for Kenma to confirm or deny if it was correct. “ The Last of Us? ”
It took him a moment to tell the worker that it was correct, as he was so consumed with the way ‘ Hinata’s’ (as the name tag said) warm hair fell and attempted to cover his vision before he pushed the strands away. “Yeah, that’s it.”
As he was handing over the case, he said something that made Kenma almost fumble with it. “That’s that game about the androids in Chicago, right?”
D-Did he mean ‘Detroit: Become Human?’ was the first thought, followed up by How does someone at a video game store not know this?! “Well, actually-“ he started, fully prepared to retort it, until he looked up from the game. His amber eyes were so vibrant and bright, whole expression practically the same, and Kenma didn’t have it in him to dull any of the pleasant factors. “... Yeah, you’re right.”
Doing a slight jump in the air, fist still in the air from landing, his face was scrunched up and the game was definitely not blushing in front of the retailer and absolutely wasn’t trying to hide the non-existent blush in his coat’s collar. “I knew it! That game and another one about a zombie apocalypse have been on my list, but I sorta forget the title.”
Oh yeah did you forget the title , he thought to himself, instead just nodded before turning to leave. However, he heard the voice call back after him, like a siren’s song drawing him in even more each time he heard it. “Can-Would you be interested in hearing more of our hot ticket games?”
He weighed his options: go into the open, possibly raining, world and drive home to play his game on a livestream or he could waste a few more minutes and listen to the pleasant voice with the accepting smile, even though he didn’t have the heart to correct him on his errors.
Hinata continued as soon as Kenma came back around, grabbing three different games from a display case. He pulled out the game most people have heard of, that being Nintendo’s newest Pokémon game. “Okay, so this takes place innnnnnn…” his faces smushed again, trying to figure out how to say the words on the back. “Galar! Which is based on Ireland!”
It’s based on Great Britain, but close enough…. I guess. “Right.”
“I’ve heard mixed reviews, but I mean how bad can a Pokémon game be right?” He stopped before almost splitting the game in two. “Did you play Sun and Moon?! Because I remember thinking my headphones broke when that weird haunted supermarket music was on!!”
He had in fact played Moon on his stream, to which people got upset when he said he wasn’t doing a challenge, but instead a regular casual playthrough. He nodded in solidarity, almost turning off the live playthrough when he thought there was a technical difficulty, but stopped when the chat flowed in with reassurance that it was just the game.
“Anyways, should we move onto the next game?” He said, although he was already reaching for a blue slim box. After Kenma shrugged his shoulders, Hinata kept going. “So, this is the newest Kingdom Hearts game. I don’t know much except that it took a long time to come out.”
“Yeah, it took a while to say the least.”
“I’m not even going to attempt to explain what it’s about because all I know is ‘Mickey Mouse’ and ‘Heartless’.”
Waving his hands in the air, purchased game flinging around in the bag hanging from his wrist. “No worries, I’ve played them and I’m still kinda confused.”
“Oh, so you’ve played?” He started, hands cupping his face on top the counter. “Who’s your favorite character?”
That was a hard one. He’d liked a lot of the characters, seeing as it was one of the reasons he continued the series, eager to see where Sora and the rest of the cast ended up. So instead of rationally thinking, he just spit out the first thing that came to mind. “Axel.”
“Annnnddd why do you like him?” He asked, looking extremely interested for someone who didn’t know the franchise.
“I really like redheads.” The motion processed for him far too late, getting jetlagged in his haze of feeling like he was on Cloud 9. As Hinata started blushed, turning his face in an attempt to hide it, did Kenma internally curse himself because how the hell did this happen?!
After a short burst of giggles, cheeks more hued than his vibrant hair, did Hinata nod along. “In that case I’ll have to see what makes Axel and gingers most appealing to you.”
Was he flirting back?!
“Lastly, we have an older game, but still relatively new.” It was another Nintendo Switch game, but one that was popular around release time compared to now. “I think this is a more open world Zelda game compared to the other ones, correct me if I’m wrong?” I won’t correct you because if you even become the slightest bit dejected I’ll eject myself into the afterlife.
“No, that’s right.”
“Sweet!.... hm.” The last part made Kenma get a growing pit in his stomach, almost like the other was dissecting him only with eyes and swift flips up and down, coy smile replacing the once whole someone.
“W-What?” He asked, concern building and seeping out of him.
“Nothing, you just look like...really pretty like Zelda is all.” His eyes became slant, posture slanted against the counter.
Not really knowing how to respond, and with a familiar flushed face resurfacing, Kenma tried to take the compliment the best he could. “I’m honored you think I look like royalty.”
“Nooo! Not the princess Link, I mean the hero of time!”
He was now snickering, caving in on himself, only tuff of his hair being visible from where Kenma was standing. Only when he didn’t hear a follow-up, ‘ Kidding!’, ‘I’m just joking!’, or something combination of the two did he realize.
He’s not joking. He really thinks the protagonist is named Zelda.
Normally, when this weird phenomenon happens, he corrects them right away and is aggravated that it happened in the first place. But with the bubbly ginger, he couldn’t fester up the same bundle of emotions.
It seemed almost peaceful and cute that he was oblivious that he knew so few about the games he was trying to sell. Though it did make him want to buy the games he already had, so maybe his hirers had seen the unbroken into tactic and invested in it working.
Eventually he himself started giving into the laughter filling the empty store, which continued for who knew how long. After a wiped tear from Hinata, he coughed out the remaining chuckles lodged in his throat. “You probably have better things to do today than listen to me give sales pitches. P-Plus you just got that new game you must be dying to play!”
He couldn’t help but feel a little saddened at the idea of leaving him alone in the store, knowing that he had to edit videos for the week. “Yeah, I suppose.”
“Don’t look so blue! You can always come back and tell me updates on the games you’re playing.” And how could he say no to a face that was asking him to visit again?
As they said their goodbyes, Kenma was exiting the door when he heard one final salute. “See you later, Hero of Time!”
Kenma couldn’t wait until he got home, so instead he got inside his car, opened the website and made a quick purchase for in-store pickup, hoping that maybe this next time he could muster up the courage to tell him his facts were wrong as well as give the other his number.