Work Text:
Chuuya stood and stared at the bright screen. A rainbow of bright colours were flashing all around her and loud bells were ringing, the shrill screams of kids and games noises faded intoone another into the background. And yet with all these distractions around her, Chuuya's whole focus was on the blinding leaderboard in front of her. The background was a deep blue and the lettering a bright white, making it easy enough to read. What made Chuuya stop and stare was realising her nickname, Woof, had dropped to second place this week.
She had pranced into the arcade happy as can be earlier this afternoon. She was still in her uniform, the skirt rolled up and sicks brought down to let her cool down as much as possible. The weather was getting far too warm for their stuffy woollen uniform.
She decided to skip prep classes that night. As if she didn't make the same decision most nights. But what was the point of wasting her hours away there when she got perfect grades regardless? Paul wouldn't notice, and well if he did, Chuuya would come up with some excuse.
She didn't see any of her usual friends around at first so she simply went to exchange some of her money into game tokens instead. The token desk was right beside the new bowling area that had opened up recently, heavy balls thudded on the wooden flooring and pins rattled as they were knocked over each other. Chuuya placed her head in her hand on the desk while waiting for the clerk to count out her tokens.
She should get everyone together next week so they could rent out a lane for the hour. Chuuya was confident she could win everyone over and make them play with her.
The cloth bag of tokens rattled as it was dropped in front of her. Her eyes rolled to the unimpressed clerk.
“You need to study more miss, not waste all your money here.”
He was an old man, sitting tiredly on the chair behind the desk.
“Yeah yeah, and then you wouldn't have a roof over your head.”She replied back, a smile growing. She was sure he was the owner but he had never mentioned it to her before.
He scoffed. “Shoo now, go make new records.”
Chuuya waved him goodbye. She looked over again at the bowling alley and the prices for a lane. She could probably round up four or five other friends, and if they all split the costs it wouldn't be too expensive for her.
She took her phone out. It was old, beat up and the paint chipped off in most areas. It was also an obnoxious bright pink. Chuuya hated it, Paul just thought she couldn't take a joke. Once Chuuya had even taken a dark black nail polish and covered the whole phone's outer plastic in it. It didn't last very long and Chuuya decided the pink wasn't too bad, compared to the chipping black paint job. Her little dog charm bounced as she flipped open her phone. The screen lit up and Chuuya quickly drafted a message for Yuan. She was definitely the best bet.
She sent out the message and a warning appeared from her provider telling her she only had a few more credits left before she had to top up her phone again. She groaned. Why did everything need so much money? She clicked her phone shut and pocketed it again. She was sure she could cry to her older brother about it. He wouldn't let her go out without the ability to call if there was ever an issue.
She made her way over to the farthest corner of the arcade, in the very back where the DDR machines were lined up. There was already a crowd there. As there always was. Chuuya reached up on her tippy toes to see over the crowd. All four machines were busy and players were busy slamming and stomping their feet down on the platform. Hitting nearly every beat as perfects to the fast-paced songs. Chuuya watched for a bit and contemplated leaving her token on the ledge to save herself a place but looking at the rows of tokens there already, she didn't deem it worth the time. She wasn't fast enough after school let out to get in before the rush of all the other students.
She decided to come back to the game later on when the energy died down a little, she wasn't in any rush anyway. And she could wait for either Yuan or Shirase to turn up and it would be more fun playing with them either way. So she turned away from the gathered crowd and talented players and stalked off to some shooting games.
She met with Shirase, and later Yuan joined them after she managed to slip her mother's gaze. They were both in the uniforms as well, Yuan even had her school bag with her. Full of fun and brightly coloured charms hanging off every zipper and loop. She jingled as she walked as usual. They played a few games, Yuan beat everyone at air hockey and Shirase got his arm stuck in a vending machine, as per. Chuuya loved how simple life was with her friends.
They looped back around to the DDR machines. The crowd had cleared, and only a few people were waiting their turn. It wad overall much more manageable than before. They only had to wait a few more minutes before two of them could play together.
Yuan stepped up with Chuuya to the platform and Shirase leaned his elbows on the railing from below. They selected the duo mode and scrolled right down to their favourite song, jacking up the difficulty and speed as far as it could go.
They played loudly, feet stomping and voices yelling. Chuuyas' hair flung everywhere and her sleeves started to slip down her elbows. Yuan had forgotten to take her tie off and it was slapping her face with every harsh jerk. They laughed and shouted and Shirase stuck a foot in somewhere trying to trip Yuan up. The song came to an end and Chuuya had a massive smile on her face. Their scores showed up and no one was surprised to see Chuuya titled as the winner.
It was definitely a new personal best. She leaned up against the railing and crossed her arms. Yuan was giving out to Shirase about his sabotage. She was certain she would have beaten Chuuya this time if it want for him.
Chuuya laughed along with them. The screen then flashed to the weekly leaderboard and Chuuya's smile dropped.
She squinted again. Making sure her eyes weren't deceiving her, she put her pointer finger to her name on the screen, Woof, not a very creative name, but she did like dogs and her full name didn't fit.
She drew a straight line across to her score. Then looked above it. And yes, someone had scored higher than her in her favourite song. She looked back at the long list of names. Miau was staring back at her. What the fuck? Miau ? Was that, a plau on her own nickname? She was gonna find this Miau and challenge them if it was the last thing she did.
Chuuya did not challenge the player. In fact, she gave up rather quickly.
She had wandered around the arcade for a few minutes, dragging both her unwilling friends behind her. They complained loudly the whole time and had managed to steer Chuuya into the food court somehow. She pursed her lips at them but couldn't stay annoyed when her stomach growled loud enough be heard over the game machines. She had skipped lunch today to have some extra money for tonight so she was definitely hungry enough to be swayed by the smell of greasy cheap food.
They sat around a small table, once their food had been ordered and paid for.
“I just don't get-” Chuuya swallowed around a big bite. “How they could beat me.”
She took another mouthful. “Like honestly,” she spoke in between chews. “Come on, I have such a high score. No one has beaten me in months.” she dropped her food and took a big slurp from her paper cup. The cold drink after the ho food bit her teethe and she clamped them shut.
Chuuya was simply a competitive person by nature. How else would she get what she wanted if she didn't fight for it? Her grades were the best in the class, she excelled in sports and other after-school activities and she always fought to get the last dumpling when Paul ordered take-out. You wouldn't get anywhere if you weren't willing to fight tooth and nail for it. So it made sense that she was annoyed about the new record holder, she had worked for months making her way up the ranks and had been delighted when she finally held onto the top position for more than a few weeks. She even broke her personal best today!
Just how good was that person. Chuuya had no idea how to find them. She could ask around, but she doubted anyone knew who the id belonged to. She glared at her cup of coke. Not even the cold drink made her feel any better.
She needed to beat the new score. That was the only way to fix this. Be damned Miau . Chuuya would show them exactly who was the superior player.
Yuan saw the darkening in her friend's expression and quickly suggested taking a break from DDR to play some other games. They finished up their meals in relative peace. Chuuya only yelled out about the injustices of the scoreboard another four times. They tidied up their trays and left them in the bins. Chuuya took her coke with her. Holding it but the rim and swirling around the ice inside.
Shirase suggested the basketball hoops and they clamoured around the game. They went head to head on three empty lanes, shooting one ball after another, until the timer stopped. Once again Chuuya was giggling with her friends, mood lifter, but then was interrupted by the leader board flashing up at the end. There it was. That stupid name again. On the basketballs too? Chuuya didn't even hold any record for the game. Shirase was usually the best shooter out of the three. Even he had been outmatched by this mysterious Miau . Chuuya scowled.
They moved on to another game, and then another and then one more. Every game they played had a new record sitting at the top of the leader board. All with the same nickname that Chuuya assumed must be mocking his own. This was a personal attack. She was sure of it.
Yuan tried placating her but Shirase just edged her on. Stating how obviously this random person was picking a fight with her.
Chuuya’s pride swelled up again. She would find this player no matter however long it took her.
After asking around with other players and staff she ran through all the things she learned, there has indeed been a new regular that the staff had recognised.
There were hordes of school kids around, all looking young and similar, but there was definitely a student with a fancy private school uniform wandering around playing games the last month. Chuuya was told it was a girl. With brown hair and brown eyes, the standard really. Chuuya would get nowhere with this description.
He was hoping the preppy uniform would make an appearance and she could spot the other girl that way. She slurped her now watered-down drink.
She was waiting on her two friends to finish playing a round of Tekken, she leaned against the machine, the game's music and her friends yelling mixing into the background. Her eyes zeroed into the Mario Kart booth right in front of her. The player had just finished the race and was entering their name. There it was. The infamous Miau . Chuuya left her drink on the counter and strode over.
“Oi,” She took the unsuspecting victim by the back of her collar, grabbing short brown hair in the way.
The girl's hands reached up and a put-out face looked up at Chuuya.
She scowled.
“It's you.” Chuuya lifted her arm higher and the girl stood from the seat, hovering lightly over the leather.
“Me? Who am I?” the girl widened her brown eyes and smiled brightly.
“Please let go of my collar. My dad won't like it if it's all wrinkled.” She scrunched her nose cutely. And winked an eye.
Chuuya let go and she fell back to her seat.
“You're the player Miau arent you?”
“Oho, I am indeed! Has word of my remarkable skills finally spread around?”
She clapped giddily.
“You see I must show all these other people how amazing I am at these simple games. I'm doing them a favour really, showing them how much better I am.”
Whatever Chuuya was hoping to find when she confronted Miau it definitely was not this.
“Huh?” she hiked up her shirt sleeves again and leaned into the girl's face.
Hands gripped Chuuya's arms and she felt herself be pulled back. Yuan's pink hair came into her peripheral and Shirase took a step in front of Chuuya.
“Hey hey hey, what's going on here?”
“Oh you have more friends?” the girl's eyes twinkled.
“That's her, Miau , the player.”
“Oh shit, you're the one picking a fight with Chuuya?” Shirase asked.
The girl tilted her head.
“I was just sitting here playing Mario Kart when your one came up to me. I can hardly be picking a fight when I'm minding my own business.” She pouted.
“Yeah right, what's with all your records, you making fun of my id or something?” Chuuya wasn't having any of it.
The girl was pretty, unbelievably so but she was also far too annoying.
“Oh you're the little dog?” She scrunched her nose again. “I really don't care for dogs.”
“You- you!” Chuuya's temper was rising and the girl just smiled behind a small hand.
“I don’t see what the big deal is. I just so happen to be better than you.”
Chuuya's face flushed. Oh, she was annoying all right and condescending and an absolute prick.
“I demand a match! I'll beat you for sure.”
“Oh, you think you can?”
Yuan gripped tighter onto Chuuya's arms.
The girl smiled with closed eyes.
“You're on little puppy.”
They waited silently in the queue for DDR machines. Chuuya had her arms crossed and her feet tapping the floor impatiently. The other girl stood silently and relaxed. Hands in her trouser pockets.
She wore her uniform as well. It was a nice one too. Chuuya didn't recognise the school crest and wondered if she was just visiting the area. She wore smart loafers and straight black trousers. A light-coloured sweater vest over a crisp white shirt. Everything about her seemed put together and refined. Chuuya suddenly hated her even more. Her hair was the only exception. A big messy nest at the top of her head, cut to her chin. Guess she wasn't perfect.
Chuuya looked down rather scruffy sneakers. At least Chuuya had some character.
Their turn came and they stood up to the platform. The girl took the left side and Chuuya took the right. Good , this was her preferred side. They pressed start at the same time and Chuuya eyed her opponent. She could do this. She could win her pride and her legacy back. Easily.
The girl looked over and their eyes met.
“How about we make things a little more interesting?”
“Oh?” cChuuya raised an eyebrow. The bright lights were flashing and the sample song was looping on their screens.
“Whoever loses, has to follow one command of the winner, like a dog.” she smiled.
Chuuya smirked. “Oh absolutely. Get ready to lose.”
And the girl laughed.
They selected their song. Chuuya's favourite, the one which the other girl held the top score for. The game started, the countdown flashing brightly and they were off. They stepped in sync, hitting continuous perfects and increasing their combo with every arrow.
Chuuya looked over to his partner just once during the game, hitting perfects even so. The girl seemed to move lazily and slowly, Chuuya had no idea how she even managed to keep up with the timing. She looked back at her own screen and gritted her teeth. She wouldn't lose.
She lost.
The girl leaned back on the railing and crossed her arms. A small smile played on her lips. Her hair was even wilder than before but there wasn't a single wrinkle in her clothes regardless. Chuuya glowered at the screen showing the bright and bold second place icon. She whipped her head around.
“You cheated.”
“I most certainly did not.”
“You definitely did, I hit all perfects.”
“How can you even cheat at DDR? Don't be daft.”
“I want a rematch.” Chuuya was winded and her feet were sore and it was getting late, Paul would be calling her soon.
“I want a rematch right now.”
She pulled her hair up out of her face and loosened her school tie.
“Hmmm but then, if we play again, whoever loses has to be the other dog for life!” the girl was far too giddy for this late into the day.
Chuuya scoffed. “Just you wait, I’ll have you carrying my school bag around and getting me drinks.”
“I'm sure you will,” the girl winked and slotted her last token into the machine setting the game up again.
Chuuya hastily slid her own token in too.
She was infuriating. She was taller than her, played DDR somehow better than her and was all high and lofty. Chuuya wanted to kick her in the shins but she knew the other girl would just make a joke about Chuuya only being able to reach her shins. Her laugh was condescending and she wiggled her fingers in her face constantly. Chuuya's face was bright red..
She tightened her ponytail and the next song began.
Chuuya kneeled on the ground, and head to the floor. Her life was over. The bright foot pads blinked at her. The girl was definitely laughing in the back, but Chuuya could barely hear it over his own inner turmoil. How could she be beaten again? Their points were so close too, just a few numbers off. Her head hung low.
“Ahah! I win again! Are you ready to accept defeat yet? If you do best of three who knows what my requests will be?” the girl giggled and Chuuya bemoaned her fate.
“Come on now! I'm in the mood for some ice cream, you'll buy it for me of course won't you.” she tugged at Chuuya's arm and got her to stand up.
“My name is Dazai, make sure to get me two scoops.” she smiled.