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It was a lazy evening at the arcade. That wasn’t really Misako’s thing, but Kyoko had had a bad day and deserved a treat. Besides, Misako liked watching her play. Not the game - a video game needed a damn good hook to get her interested - but Kyoko herself.
She was so… cooperative. Sensitive, maybe? When the game told her to be scared, her eyes flew wide. When the powerup music played, she got a big smile. She never failed to be dismayed when the hero’s girlfriend was kidnapped, and was always filled with determination to rescue her. And yet, when the game was over, Kyoko easily let go and regained her normal, cheerful shape.
Bloop.
Soft. That was the word. Like a jellyfish, but cute. (Were jellyfishes cute?)
Misako started out leaning on the arcade cabinet, passing up periodic offers to join, occasionally glancing at the screen but mostly enjoying its eerie light on Kyoko’s face. As the game got harder, her eyebrows lowered and her mouth twisted into a fierce little moue. Her long fingers tapped and pattered, decisively stabbing out Frogladiators’s intricate inputs, like some weird hybrid of a waterstrider and a pistol shrimp.
(Little known fact: Misako had a passing interest in marine biology.)
Over time, Misako slid up next to her friend, setting a hand on the console and leaning over her shoulder. It felt nice to be alongside Kyoko, looking in the same direction. She didn’t think much about it.
Kyoko was in rare form today - she’d come with four quarters to spend (a self-imposed limit), but she was still on her first as she pummeled the Porcine Prince in the game’s penultimate punchup. Misako couldn’t bring herself to care about the quest of the frogladiators, but Kyoko’s rampage through the game had a touch of drama to it.
“You’re on a roll! Are you setting some kind of record?”
“Nah. Game’s easy.”
Misako inspected the forces closing in around Kyoko’s frogman and almost winced when one took off a quarter of her health. “I’d die in two seconds.”
“Probably.” Kyoko was so far in the zone that she didn’t even smirk, so Misako didn’t take it personally.
Instead, she shifted closer. It wasn’t conscious - more like sinking into a chair, or being a stingray gliding carelessly over the sand. Misako settled her chin on Kyoko’s shoulder and lightly wrapped her arms around her waist. Without breaking focus, Kyoko squirmed a little to give her a better chinrest.
She was so warm.
Misako forgot all about frogs and pigs. She just breathed the soft scent of Kyoko’s skin and hair, felt her heartbeat through her arms, marveled at the rock-hard butt pressing into her legs. Something inside of Misako that was always clenched into a fist, always ready to swing, slowly unknotted. It would spring right back - just like Kyoko was a jellyfish, she was a trilobite - but for now, it was nice to feel soft.
“C’mon, c’mon…” Kyoko pleaded, hammering buttons as her poor warrior struggled to his feet.
Misako closed her eyes and smiled.
I want to spend the rest of my life with this whiny little goofbag.
She was so relaxed, the thought didn’t even scare her. Here, wrapped around Kyoko, with a Merv Double in her belly and a Cream Dream sorbet in her future, she was in heaven. The only thing that could make it better was having Kunio around, too, but there was no need to get greedy. She’d see him soon enough, and that would be a different heaven.
When did life get so amazing?
Finally, Kyoko lost. The Kune Kune King’s traitorous advisor was too much for her. Instead of dropping in another quarter, she relaxed and dropped her head back, letting Misako hold her up. It was no trouble; they were both used to bodily swinging classmates around as weapons, after all.
“Hey, Misako?”
“Mm?”
“I love you.”
In that dreamy moment, Misako could only think of one reply. “Me too,” she said. “I mean, you too. I mean–” It was still strangely difficult to say. “Love you.”
Kyoko giggled.
Misako could have stayed there forever, but apparently her classmate Kaitsu was waiting for his turn at Frogladiators . “Hey! One side!”
This being River City, he punctuated his yell with a snap kick. The girls rolled apart to let the kick pass between them, then spun in a roundhouse and sweep, Kyoko high, Misako low, flipping him headfirst into the tiles. Scattered around the arcade, Malhar, Seirai, and Mel dropped their games in progress and closed in.
Well, that was more like it. Why settle for a beat-em-up on a screen? Alongside her dear Kyoko, Misako destroyed them all with a dopey smile on her face.