Chapter Text
Shou pressed the fire button as he navigated the pixelated ship on the screen through another spray of bullets. It was, as expected of someone who shot actual guns and had dodged sprays of all sorts of projectiles on a daily basis, nearly pinpoint accurate.
And it was a real annoying side effect of being a soldier if you asked him. Took the highs that came with being on the top of the leaderboard after so many attempts and coins going down the drain away.
The ship slammed against the walls of the tight corridor, each hit causing the screen to flash red until it stopped with a ‘GAME OVER’.
“You could’ve gone out in a cooler way,” a voice from behind said.
Sheesh, he thought he’d be alone this time! What kind of people came around on a random Wednesday at 2 PM to a dingy little hole in the wall arcade like this anyway?
Then again, his wallet was getting lighter by the second so a break might be the best call here.
Shou turned around with a smirk. “Dunno, it’s looking’ like my high score’s gonna be cool for a long time.”
The voice behind him belonged to a man who looked no older than he was. He was tall and had scruffy hair barely held back by a white sweatband. He was almost completely cast in darkness, the dim light above and the screeching distant lights from the arcade machines shining a mess of highlights across his shocked face.
It’s like looking in a mi-
“Sure, whatever. Big talkers don’t last longer than small ice cubes.”
“Come on, then! Show me what you got!” Shou said in what he was sure was perfect English.
“Okay,” the guy said in English as well.
Shou shrugged and stepped back to let the guy through.
He had to admit, this guy was good at the game. They both stayed completely silent as the heart pumping music and sounds of shots flying everywhere blared out of the machine. It was nearly empty in this place too, so unless Shou decided to play dirty and tried talking this guy up, the only thing that guy had to worry about was the game.
But realistically, he knew the only person that had the slightest chance of beating him by this point was Sarah.
…and shit, he still owed her money right now.
She hadn’t brought it up yet but it kept popping up in his head like it couldn't take a hint to stop. He bet she had some sort of suspicion at some point that he kept "forgetting" to give it back because he dumped it all into arcade games. Bringing it up’ll add that bit of tiny, insignificant more pressure that could tip the delicate balance that came with fighting against the Space Mafia. Hell, he only forgot because of the non-stop blows recently. They’ve all come too close for comfort to losing each other.
He couldn’t be the reason the team fell apart. Him from even a year ago would gawk at the thought, probably would’ve said “tch, you’re here for the pay until you hit it big at the olympics, remember? What’re ya getting attached to your coworkers like that for?”
He knew he was in deep shit even when he began training as a member of Blue SWAT. If he thought about it for longer than three seconds, which by this point he had, it pissed him off. It had back then because he had power in knowing the truth of what the Earth was facing and that he was a part in stopping it but so helpless in how those facts shattered everything as the web that was the Space Mafia grew larger.
Now it still pissed him off because… because… there were two many reasons to list. There were too many crimes to tie back to the Space Mafia that they would pay for in full soon! It had to be so that guys like the one in front of him could continue only having to deal with whatever he had to without the horrors of the universe included. Then again, he didn’t even know the guy’s name and that guy didn’t know his or that he was legally a dead man walking. They were just having a fleeting rivalry over a shoot-em-up game.
“Shit!” the guy yelled as the screen flashed a red Game Over once more. Shaking his head, he then turned and reached his hand out. “I take it back. You got more than a little luck going for you.”
Shou blinked for a split second before reaching his own hand out to quickly shake it. “Aw man, you’re just gonna surrender just like that? Kinda honoured b-”
“Who said that was a surrender? I’m outta spare cash now but,” he said, making a fist with the hand he just shook Shou’s with and punching the air, “I’ll be back to bust this icecap wide open!”
Shou laughed and walked up the short set of rusted metal stairs.
Once he got out of the arcade, went through the maze of alleys and back onto a main road, he stopped at the corner of two larger buildings. He could’ve sworn he saw Sarah and Sumire in the sea of people up ahead to his right, happy and alive like everyone else in it.
It made the chill of the shade run deeper, or maybe it was just getting colder out.
He turned left.
Might take a bit longer to get back to the base, but a detour’s all he needed to warm back up.