Chapter Text
At long last, the weekend has arrived. The two perfect days where students and workers alike could relax and enjoy some time for themselves. It's also a good time for family outings, especially ones that spend a lot of time away because of said work. That was the case with Chiaki Nanami and her parents who decided to take a breath of fresh air, and spend some family time at an amusement park some ways home.
It's a large one at that too, filled with many games, rides, and happy smiles all throughout.
"H-huh...?"
It's a shame that Chiaki didn't feel well at that moment. Sitting all alone on a bench surrounded by these taunting smiles, eyes wide, staring in horror at the quivering phone in her hands. How did it end up like this?
It all happened about ten minutes ago...
"Huh?" The gamer noticed a familiar object being held by some little kid. "Is that...?"
Her parents stopped. They were walking beside her. "What is it, Chiaki?" Her father asked.
"Um, wait a minute." She said back. walking to the little boy and his small family while her parents waited, she asked, "H-Hey, Where did you get this plush?"
"Oh, this?" The boy looked at the plush of a pinkish round mascot wearing a teal cap with cat ears. The boy's parents noticed the same color of Chiaki's jacket and surmised that she's probably a fan of whatever this cat thing is.
"This was from a stand somewhere back there." The boy's father unfolded a small map of the park, showing how grand the park was, and pointed at a place. "And this here, is where we are, I think."
Chiaki nodded her head "I see, I see..." She turned to her parents and saw them nodding.
"If you really set your eyes on something, there's not much we can do about it." Her father said.
"Once you're done, make sure to call us so you can meet us later, okay?" Her mother added. "And take care of yourself!"
"I will!"
Smiling at her parents' approval, she thanked the two families and made her way towards her next objective.
She followed the general direction of the destination in a straight line. Whether it's moving through crowds, walking on benches, or jumping gaps, nothing could stand in her way. She moved forward treating this entire thing as an adventure of its own. Then again, this was Chiaki, of course she'll take it as a fun little adventure. After many minutes of walking and jumping, she looked around at the assigned area until she saw something. From the corner of her eye, she spotted a plush identical to that of the one with the boy sitting on a small shelf in a counter among other toys. Target acquired, she thought.
She made a beeline straight to the stand running at max speed (actually, she just walked really fast) with every step making her more excited. It was embarrassing for someone like Chiaki, who was pretty much the mascot's biggest fan, to not have a plush - of all things - of this adorable game character. She had her favorite jacket but a plush was a big necessity.
She approached the man behind the stand and asked, "Excuse me! How much is that?"
"That would be 3,000 Yen. It's the last one in stock, that's why the price is doubl-"
"Sold!" She excitedly gave the exact amount without a second thought, even after that inflated price, and the man simply smiled and gave her the prize. Mission complete! she thought, feeling all jittery.
She bid farewell and walked away with the new toy in hand. She was very happy about the plush and glad that she made it before it was too late. She walked to a nearby bench and admired her new round friend from every angle and hugged it really close. She opened her phone and briefly put on her hoodie to look at herself at the camera holding her mascot close to her face. "See? We're matching!" She giggled at herself afterwards.
Chiaki pulled off her hoodie as it was time to make the call to her parents. She opened her contacts, selected the number, hit the call button, and then put it to her ear as it started to ring. After a while, she heard a click.
"Hello? Who is it?"
"Hey-" Wait a minute. That didn't sound like her mom or dad.
"Oh, it's you. Did you forget something or what?" This female voice wasn't her mother, but she did recognize it as another woman she made a deal with to buy an old console some time ago.
"S-sorry wrong person, bye!" And without waiting for a response she quickly closed the call. She pressed the phone to her forehead and sighed afterwards in embarrassment. I was so excited I called the wrong person! She shook her head embarrassingly with rosey cheeks and made another call, this time making sure she got the right number. She put the phone to her ear and waited...
*beeep*
...
*beeep*
...
*be- click!*
"I'm sorry, but you do not have enough credit. Please-" *click!*
...
She called again.
"I'm sorry, but you do not have-" *click!*
She called a third time, then a fourth and a fifth with the same robotic voice note playing over and over again. This was... not good. Not good at all.
Are you... kidding me? Her eyes widened and pupils shrunk, her smile forked and broke, her hands shook in disbelief, and her optimism was as good as gone. After all that work on this adventure for the plush, to obtain said plush, to her wasting the last of her credits on a misplaced call? She raised her eyes and looked around as a horrible sense of dread overtook all positive emotions as she came to the realization:
She was lost.
She was all alone in this giant, colorful amusement park, surrounded by strangers from all directions, far away from her parents or any living being she could recognize. All these happy faces, floating around a fearful little girl with a broken smile. Her mentality just can't handle it.
But wait, it's not that bad, right? She's not alone. She has her plush. She has her handheld and games. This fear of hers could do nothing against her games. As long as she could play her games, she was going to be okay. Nothing in the world matters with a game in her hand. And so, she put her Katty plush in her backpack and pulled out a-
Wait a minute. This was a family trip for just Chiaki and her parents. There are rides and games everywhere, none of them were on a screen. She did it all by herself too, after hearing about the trip her parents invited her to, she consciously did not bring any handhelds with her.
Well- Don't panic. This was also accounted for, right? This was fine as well. While she didn't bring a handheld, she did prepare a safety net in case a long time of waiting was involved: her phone. It was a regular flip phone with a single game on it - the snake game - but she still found it fun and could spend hours upon hours lost in the-
twenty-three percent. She forgot to charge it. She was so engrossed in her games that she forgot to charge her last hope. She could spend hours on the game, but her phone cannot. The problem was that she didn't know how long she would wait until something happened. What if her parents called her after she ran out of battery? What if she gets so lost she worries her parents to no end and ruins the trip for everyone? She couldn't risk anything at this point. How did it end up like this?
She was alone. She was closed off from everyone else. The colorful world lost all its color, and the shapes walking around were just that: shapes. She tried her best to calm her shivering as much as she could. Her entire body was tense, staring at the ground trying to distract herself. She poked through her pockets, maybe she had something to fiddle her hands with, maybe she had a wireless controller in her bag or a piece of trash, or anything. but no matter how much she looked, it was to no avail. There was nothing else she could do. She had lost all sense of time and place. She tried so hard to suppress an outburst that she didn't even notice the voice calling her name over and over and the hand that was shaking her firmly, Not until...
"Eh? Hinata?"
That voice turned out to be Hajime Hinata, her best friend and gaming partner from high school - more specifically, Hope's Peak Academy, wearing something more casual.
When things get too chaotic or if she just wants some normalcy, Hajime is the one she goes to. Of course, not all the time, as he's what you'd call a "reserve course student" with his own busy schedule. His branch meant he was someone without talent.
Yet out of all her friends and classmates, she was glad he was the one who found her.
"S-sorry! I didn't mean to scare you like that." He stuttered, his heart still beating fast.
"N-no, it's okay, it's my fault! I shouldn't have turned this fast." same with her but even more so. They stared at each other waiting for the other to say something.
"S-so..." He and Nanami looked away and took a deep breath to regain their composure. "What were you doing there all alone? You looked like you were having a hard time. Were you waiting for someone?"
"Ah, well... No, not really. I was just... I got lost.” She gave up. “From my parents" She was embarrassed again, but for a different reason.
"You...got lost?"
"I-It wasn't on purpose! I just...strayed away to buy this plush, but I didn't know how to get back. It was the last one too." She showed him the mascot. He commented on her matching outfit which made Nanami feel better, and then she continued. "I used my phone to call my mom, but I accidently called the client I bought my new Itari from and doing that, I used up the last of my credits."
"So you couldn't call your parents so you sat on this bench and... had a breakdown?"
"That's the gist of it, yeah." She looked down at the ground and spoke in a soft voice. "I dunno if I told you this but, unless it's a gaming convention, I really don't like crowds. I just can't handle being all alone in a place like this, especially if I don't know the place and I'm surrounded by strangers and not a single familiar face around me. I didn't even bring any games for this family trip. It was really, really bad that you, well, found me like that." she shivered at that terrible feeling and frowned. "Sorry, for letting you see me like this. I really am."
"No! No, not at all, Don't worry about it!" He waved his hands frantically which got a smile from his friend. She seemed to be taking solace in his company. "I'm glad I could help."
"Well, what about you? Did you come here alone?" she asked, tilting her head.
"Technically, yeah." Hajime rubbed the back of his head. "You see, my parents had a day off this weekend, something they have once every two weeks, so they invited me to spend some time with them at the amusement park. Of course, I accepted as I haven't been to one in a long time." He explained. "But on the way, my parents got a call to work overtime today, which was really unfortunate. Since we weren't that far off from the park, they apologized and told me they'd drop me at the park while they went to work. Even when I refused and told them to postpone the trip, they still insisted, and that's how I came here. Alone."
Chiaki lowered her head and was fiddling with her fingers. "I-I see..." So both of them found themselves in the same predicament...
"Hey, actually..." Hajime opened his phone "Why don't you use my phone to call your parents? You could ask them about where they are, or where you are."
"Huh? Really?" Of course! if she couldn't gather the willpower to ask a stranger, then she could ask a friend instead! And what a closer friend than the one and only Hinata! Hope was beginning to bloom in this dire situation. "You don't mind?"
"Of course not. You've helped me a lot, so let me help you this time." She smiled at his remark and opened the contacts list on her phone and double-checked the correct number, and was about to give it to him until the most, ABSOLUTELY UNEXPECTED thing happened.
A bird suddenly swept down, grabbed the reserve student's phone, and flew back up onto its nest above a nearby lamp. The two were dumbfounded. They blinked at this stupidly comical event trying to process exactly what happened.
...
...
"What..."
"Just happened?" Hinata looked up at the bird's nest consisting of not only wooden sticks, but also toys, electronics, and whatever trash it could find. He snapped out of his trance and stood up, angrily shouting at the bird to give back his phone, only for the bird to dismissively kick some sticks into his mouth. Chiaki however felt immense dread, like the whole world weighing down on her. Prickles crawled on her back and her stomach churned. It was almost nauseating.
Sighing, Hinata gave up. He accepted the fact that the phone may very well be lost forever. He turned back and saw his friend fall back into this horrible state and patted her on the back to comfort her.
"H-Hey, it's okay. You're not alone! You don't have to be sad, alright?" He's really trying here. Then a light bulb appeared over his head. "Hey, I have an idea. Why don't we hang out here?" He asked and got Nanami's attention.
"Huh? Hang out?" her voice quivered and she tilted her head.
"You know, since we're already here and all, we could take our time and enjoy ourselves in the park. Wouldn't that make you feel better?" He added confidently, but more from a place of concern. He did gloss over the fact that 'hang out' has another meaning in a context like this, but it wasn’t that important. "I don't think your parents are heartless, either. They can always call you back if they're worried, right?"
She blinked when she realized it. He had a point there. There's no way her parents wouldn't check up on her after not hearing from her for so long. Sooner or later, they will call, and she will tell them everything.
Besides, hanging with Hinata doesn't sound bad in the slightest.
She tried her best to put on a smile and stood up. She readied her bag and dusted her skirt. "Let's go, then."
"Yeah, let's." Smiling, he stood up and started walking away with Nanami by his side to go adventuring, this time together, to relieve Nanami's stress and just overall have a good time. That's why they came here in the first place.
Just when they were about to walk between the crowds, Hajime felt some tiny fingers slither between his, and intertwined until the gaps were softly closed. He looked at the holder who tried to keep a faint smile through her anxiety, and deliberately avoided eye contact. He felt his hand trembling along with the smaller one, and he understood that this was her way to cope and seek comfort. Because of that, he tightened his grip a little with a slight wave of his thumb to get her attention, and when she looked at him, he gave her a soft smile which was quite a rare sight coming from his troubled self. This caused her to let out a silent gasp and her cheeks blushing a bright pink, and she looked away flustered.
Throughout their trip, Hinata would note that Nanami was being more touchy unlike their time at school, opting to go for handholding and other physical gestures whenever she could, and would only let go when it's time to play. On one hand, it could be seen as cute. On the other, it came from a frightened girl who was looking for safety and a way to distract herself from her predicament, and he knew it, so he promised he’d keep her close.
Knowing she’s got the support of her best friend was helping her deal with this problem, warmed her heart, and helped keep herself together.
They went on and played simple minigames for now to raise Nanami's morale. Hajime would play first and Chiaki would follow. He gave her space and encouraged her to not shy away from showing off her skills and she tried her best, with a few misses here and there. She would get praised by those around her for her near-perfect performance and win many prizes, but she'd turn them down wanting to give others a chance. And also one plush for the day is enough. There was one prize that wasn't turned down, however...
"Well done, pal! You've won yourself a little something!" The man behind the stand announced. For once, Hajime has actually scored well in a game and won himself a little something. As for what it is, the points were barely above the threshold so he only won a small plush. "Say, which small prize would you like?"
Hinata didn't expect a choice, so he quickly looked about trying to settle for one as quickly as possible.
"I got it!"
"T-Take that!"
Both voices rang out at the same time with the reluctant duo pointing in the same direction. "You two sure are synced up, aren't you?" The man chuckled and went to pick up the prize and hand it over to the winner: A white rabbit plush wearing a magical girl outfit. It even comes with its own stick attached!
Hinata smiled and accepted the plush - despite the fact that he pointed at the one behind it - and thanked the stand owner before walking away with his friend.
"Umm... That wasn't what I was expecting. I pointed at the one behind it." Chiaki mentioned.
"I-I chose that one too! so, I have no idea how I got this instead." He quickly said back
"It's still cute, though. Congrats." Hinata just thanked Nanami, clearly slightly disappointed in his prize.
And that's when she got a bright idea. "Hey, I have an idea." She stopped at the side of the path and her friend followed close, wondering what she wanted. "Since you're not too happy about the prize... Why don't we trade?"
"Trade?"
"Yup," she took out something from her bag "You give me your Usami, and I'll give you my Katty." She brandished her own plush of the lovable mascot.
"Usami? You gave it a name?"
"She's from an old obscure anime from a very long time ago and got an equally obscure video game that's also very rare. Her full name is Magical Miracle Girl*Usami, AKA Usami." she explained. She wanted to go on and tell him she owned that game and other fun facts but decided to keep it for later.
"I see... But, are you sure? I mean, getting that plush is what got you lost in the first place." he tried to convince her "You also told me it was the last they had. Are you really sure?" She wouldn't just give away something like this, would she?
Chiaki shook her head. "It's fine. It's not the last one in existence. I'll find another one eventually, maybe even better than this one." She smiled again, one with more joy than the last at this opportunity. "It could also be a nice souvenir, and as a proper token of our friendship, so we could cherish those memories of our time here together. That's something my teacher said once. B-but also for myself..." she murmured that last part barely loud enough for him to hear.
Hinata could see his partner hiding her flustered cheeks behind her little plush, which he admitted he found cute. Well, with how important memories were in their conversations, and one of the main reasons he started to look past talent, there was really no way he would decline an offer like that.
"Alright, I accept." He gave her a reassuring smile.
She smiled back. "Thanks." Was all she could say softly before bringing herself forward to declare the trade. "Then we shall trade just like Poketmon! We'll trade them at the same time, one hand gives and the other one takes. Deal?"
"Deal." And so, they went forward and initiated the trade. After the count of three, they each traded their plushies at the same time, and now Chiaki held the plush of Usami, and Hajime kept the plush of Katty. Though Chiaki put the two plushies in her backpack to ease up on their traveling, and to give the mascot a little friend in the bag.
With their new toys in tow, they continued their journey, and brought themselves some cotton candy to commemorate this most memorable event.
After walking for a while making small talk, Nanami felt vibrations in her jacket's pockets. She took the phone out in a panic and answered the call, as it was her mother who was worried sick after a long time with no communication.
She told her mother an abridged version of the story, obviously omitting her breakdown for getting lost. After telling her that she's "with a friend" and some back and forth, her parents agreed to let their daughter be with her friend and set up a meeting time for the evening, before wishing them good luck and a thank you for her friend before closing the line.
"Did you hear that, Hinata? I finally know how my parents are doing, and they’re letting me hang out some more!" She rejoiced, feeling a huge weight off her shoulders.
"Your parents sound quite laid back." He smiled.
"Hm! Hm!" she nodded "Even if my talent sounds pretty lame, they're still kinda supportive. You know, when they're around. Which I don't mind very much."
Hinata scratched his head. "I could say the same about mine, though my father spends more time outside."
"Hmm..." wanting to finish this conversation, the gamer eagerly called "Now that that's done, I'm ready for the bigger rides now! We should now go before we get too hungry!"
She was practically dragging him at this point, but Hinata didn't mind that at all. Now with her parents’ worries put to rest, they could pretty much go and do whatever they want. Holding hands once more, they proceeded to the next phase of their trip.
It was clear to Hajime how much that call mattered to Nanami, as she seemed much more at ease than... well, she was feeling better with him around, she just doesn't have anything to worry about anymore. Seeing Nanami happy gives Hinata a warm feeling in his chest. He's just glad he could help.
To prepare themselves for the big attraction, they decided to play something a little more active, more move-y, and what better way than Competitive Bumper Cars. As the name suggests, it's a game set in a big arena for ten cars to ride around, and each car has to bump into another to rack up points. The one with the most points wins…! Nothing, really. Nothing besides a few claps and cheers. And bragging rights if that’s what you’re going for.
"Hang on!" Was the last thing Chiaki said to Hajime before (hypothetically) revving up and blasting off. He was starting to doubt himself if it was a good idea or not to let Chiaki be the one to drive, as she expertly drove around and racking up point after point, as screams of fun and laughter filled the arena, and her spiky-haired partner was holding on to dear life. At the end of the game, everyone congratulated the duo for the new highscore (well, most of the praise went to the crazy driver) While her dizzy partner had to be helped out of the car after that very bumpy ride. They traded some comments about the gamer's excitement playing the game while she dragged him away on to the next big one.
The Great Rollercoaster was their next destination. It was a very large and very fast roller coaster which was voted as one of the more popular attractions in this park. They waited at the line for a bit, and when their time came up, they sat in one of the front seats and prepared themselves, physically and mentally.
"It’s starting!” Hajime said after the coaster began slowly moving forward and rising upwards on the track, and then releasing all that speed at the drop. The ride didn't end there, as what followed were side paths, inverted paths, loops, twists, loops with twisting, inverted side paths, all happening at exhilarating speeds. They were very excited by the time they got off and needed some to calm themselves down.
After that, they were wondering where else to go until they walked by the funhouse. They looked at it, and were hit by a severe case of déjà vu giving them a waring chill down their spines, both horrified by a terrible feeling (one even more so.) Both their bellies grumbled at the same time and they realized just how hungry they were. They looked at each other and nodded, feeling a weird mutual connection to whatever it was, and then walked away to have some food as it somehow felt forever since they tasted anything.
It didn't take all that long. Chiaki insisted on treating her saviour for coming to her rescue when she needed it the most. They sat down and had a little chat about how their day had been so far, about the attractions they played, etc. They were enjoying themselves so much that bystanders would think they were a couple on a date. Too bad they were too dense to pick up on this.
Hajime did note how happy Chiaki was compared to when they started, which made him happy knowing that he’s being helpful to her for once.
After finishing their food, and with the amount of time left before the ultimate gamer meets her parents again, there were two choices: either play more minigames until the time is up, or go on one last attraction, one that was long, but also calming and simple. There was really one correct choice for this, and one she was thinking about it for a while now:
The Ferris Wheel.
"C'mon, let's go in!" she exclaimed somewhat energetically when their cabin arrived and opened its doors.
She was the first to get inside and took a seat on the right, with Hinata taking the opposite. "You seem awfully excited."
She hummed back. She took off her cat bag and sat it next to her as the doors closed and the wheel turned for the next passengers. The two stretched and got themselves comfortable for the long ride. Minutes of silence passed as the cabin slowly rose higher and higher away from the ground.