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For the longest time, Aoyagi Toya had been obsessed with arcade games.
Any game was fine with him. Claw machines? He could grab five on accident. Shooter games? He was especially good at aiming for the head. Puyo Puyo? His hands moved at lightning speed when it came to making chains. It was a good past time to indulge himself in, giving him a chance to step away from all of the chaos and focus on a singular thing only.
So when a brand new twenty-four hour active arcade had opened just a good walking distance away, deep into the city, he couldn’t help but get excited about it.
“Hold up.” Shiraishi An stopped him as he got to the door of Weekend Garage, “Since its twenty-four hours, what time are you going home?”
Toya blinked. He really… hadn’t thought about it that much. Usually he’d think first, but he decided to dive right in when it came to these types of things. “Um, well…”
She sighed. “Just promise me you’ll text before midnight hits. You’re my friend and I don’t want to hear that you went home in the dead of night because you tried to win a crane game.”
“I will, I promise.” Toya reassured, “I’ll— I’ll even get you a plushie back.”
“M—maybe don’t! I have too many…”
As he walked off onto the streets, he checked the time— it was about six, but the sun was already morphing into a more deep, darker orange, clouds littering the sky. Already just minutes in and he could see the bright neon lights decorating the entrance.
Just from the looks and the amount of chatter reverberating from outside the building, Toya realized right there just how popular the arcade was, even if they just opened just a couple days ago. The effect it had on everyone was absolutely astounding— he saw couples walking out with two bags filled to the brim with different plushies, and one even hung around a woman’s neck. The line stretched.
Good thing that Toya had a way to avoid all this waiting. He went into his phone wallet and took out a ticket.
Fast pass.
Toya blinked rapidly as he swept past the line. He felt feverish— but in a brimming, healthy way. He scanned the ticket and indulged himself in the scenery of bright lights and game machines.
He said one thing, and one thing only:
“Amazing.”
After quickly grabbing a card to contain his points in, he stood at the front and scanned the area.
His eyes first landed on a standing shooting game. He walked over to it and pressed play.
Toya wasn’t sure how long he went for. Soon enough, he earned a hefty amount of points. It was like heaven.
The place had rows and rows of different machines, a food area, and a large space of bowling. The atmosphere was priceless.
After going through many games, he felt revived as he walked around, trying to scout a claw machine he liked.
Ooh, cute bears—!
“Oh— Aoyagi-kun?”
Toya turned. “Ah, Kusanagi. You’re here too.”
He blinked and his eyes widened in surprise. Nene was currently holding plastic bags full of staggering plushies, all stuffed haphazardly, making the bag stretch as she held tightly onto them. She looked like she’d been here for a while.
“Ah… how long have you been here for?” Toya asked, looking down at her bags.
Nene looked away, “I think almost two hours… I saw a post online and wanted to take a look…”
Toya smiled, “I had the same idea. I want that bear over there…”
He politely brushed past her as Nene followed in his trail. Toya took the joystick and gently shoved it in the direction he desired— a little to the left, forward… a few more adjustments. That should do it. He pressed the claw button and it slowly reached down, grasping the bear before rising up. It slipped out slightly, more and more before it finally fell into the prize slot. Toya pumped his fist.
Nene covered her mouth in surprise, “That— that’s amazing! That first try…!”
Toya took out the bear and rubbed its fluffy ears. “It’s really cute, isn’t it?”
Nene nodded. Soon after, her face fell. “Aoyagi-kun, if you don’t mind… Could I stick with you for a bit?”
Toya locked eyes with her. “Oh, I don’t mind.”
“Really?” Nene smiled, but she gazed at the entrance, “I was a little overwhelmed by how many people there were… since it had just opened…”
Toya nodded. “The line really did wrap around. Sure, I wouldn’t mind another rematch in Puyo Puyo, Kusanagi.”
A fire suddenly shone behind Nene’s eyes, “Right!”
They made their way to the Puyo Puyo machines together. In that short moment, Toya thought silently— he considered Nene to be a good friend of his, and truth be told, he admired her very much— she was good at video games and arcades. Toya liked that. She was polite. Toya also liked that. She had similar interests as him. Toya especially liked that.
Nene looked around for the machines. As she did, she thought— it had been some time since her and Toya had gotten a rematch, or had a legitimate session of gaming in a while. She would never forget her feelings in the first time, though. Toya was good. It felt nice that she had someone she could relate to in this department of interest.
…And he was also polite. Nene really liked that.
Mostly though, the main thing on their minds—?
I won’t lose!
It was heated, Nene couldn’t deny that. Her hands moved to the best of her ability.
From their previous match, she knew how fast Toya could be, and the last time, she was horribly beaten. Hopefully, her practice made her on par.
Her breath hitched as she saw Toya’s hands flying against the controls.
Crap. He’s fast
She pushed harder.
His screen was building, quickly, until all of his chains came breaking down— a six in a row, while Nene only had five. I’ll get the next one! She thought fiercely. The best way to really come down on your opponent is to be fast, but also to apply lots of pressure. Finally, she made an eight chain and watched them pop.
The face Toya had on was so priceless, it made Nene undeniably giggly. She read it as:
Oh, shoot.
As the game progressed, Toya was finally overwhelmed and ultimately, Nene won. She huffed and leaned back in her seat tiredly, “Even now it’s only by a hair that I beat you…” She mumbled, although really she was just trying to be humble.
Toya stared at the screen. “You practiced, didn’t you?”
She smiled weakly, “Yeah. After our match I was inspired.”
After a defeated Toya got out of his chair, they ended up roaming the large arcade for a couple of hours, though it felt unbelievably short, getting plushies and getting blinded by VR headsets. Nene had to admit— Toya was fun. Nobody around her was like him, and she laughed the hardest she had in a long time when they tried a zombie shooting game when Toya almost died because he reloaded his gun a second too late.
They both held overfilled plushie bags as they both decided to grab some ice cream and take a break.
As they waited in line, Toya asked, “Before this, you always went to our local one right? The ones with the mini claw machines?”
“Oh, yes.” Nene responded thoughtfully, “I got bored of it easily, I’m pretty sure.”
“I can’t say I don’t agree.” Toya admitted, “I got tired of the same stuffed animals.”
Nene nodded. “Now that this has opened…”
They fell silent after. Both of them already knew the rest, though.
Toya got coffee ice cream, with Nene getting a grapefruit popsicle as they sat down and took out their plushies.
“Hmm.” Toya hummed as he took out a panda— “I want to name this one ‘Puff.’”
So I’m not the only one who names their plushies, Nene thought in relief, thank goodness. “Well… I’ll name my panda ‘Pastry.’”
Toya smiled brightly, and put their bears together on the table, squishing them and taking a picture. “Puff Pastry.” Toya confirmed.
The name made Nene feel warm. “Yeah. Puff Pastry.”
They ate their treats in silence, staring at their pandas, which coincidentally, slightly matched poses— Nene’s panda was leaning a bit to the side, lining up with Toya’s, which was upright, eating a bamboo shoot and staring off to the side.
This was probably the only times that she got to breathe freely. She hoped Toya was having fun. Was he? A pit of worry began forming in her stomach. What if Toya didn’t want to be around her? She should’ve asked.
Her thoughts made her stop nibbling on her grapefruit popsicle, and she gazed into the void.
Ugh…
Toya blinked. “Kusanagi?”
She snapped back. “Hm?”
“Are you okay?”
Nene nodded faintly. “It’s— It’s nothing to worry about.” She didn’t want to bring down the peaceful mood her and Toya had at the moment.
Toya made eye contact with her for a moment before he got up with a small smile, hand extended to her,
“Let’s get more plushies from the claw machine.” He said, “I want to match with you.”
Toya felt a little woozy.
How many games have him and Nene played?
He felt a little bad after they got off of the Dance Dance Revolution pads— Nene looked winded, eyes tired and body slouching just a little, “Is it— it okay if we cash out now with our points?” She mumbled, still managing to be polite despite her state.
Toya nodded tiredly. “Sure. Sorry about that.”
“No, it’s okay, since it was fun!”
The two of them sauntered over to the prize section, where using their large abundance of points, they acquired a couple things: a bucket of candy, two matching plushies, a necklace, and finally, lots of Puyo Puyo keychains. They put it all into a large bag and Toya winced as he realized how much he was going to carry. “Maybe overstaying was a bad thing.” He admitted.
Nene glanced at his bags. “Ah… I can carry one for you.”
Toya looked frantic and apologetic, face suddenly reddenning, “N—no, it’s alright—“
“Really, it’s not a big deal—“
“You already have so much to carry, Kusanagi—“
“No!” Nene blushed, “No worries. It’ll just be for a few minutes until we… part ways.”
Toya’s gaze softened. “Alright, then.”
After some limping, they went back to the food court and sat down at a table exhaustively with their mountains of prizes. “What time did… I get here?”
Nene blinked. “You got here around… eight?”
“And— and what time is it now?” Toya’s eyes suddenly widened as he perked up.
Nene checked her phone. “It’s about to hit one AM.”
Nene stared at, and she saw that expression again plastered on Toya’s face, reading,
Oh, shoot.
“I think I have to go now…” Toya’s hands hurriedly rummaged through his bags. “I promised I’d be back before midnight. I’m really sorry, Kusanagi.”
“Oh, no that’s… okay.” Nene watched him get up.
Nene… you can do it, say something!
“W—wait, Aoyagi-kun!”
Toya was just about to leave when he turned his head to meet her eyes. Toya blinked, “Yes?”
“This was… fun.” Nene managed a weak smile.
It was as if all vigor and frantic energy Toya had for a moment just dissipated out of his muscles. He went back to their table with a sigh and placed his bags back down.
“I enjoyed it as well.” Toya couldn’t seem to meet her eyes, and he glanced away bashfully.
Nene’s own gaze lowered to her hands. “You know… is it okay if we exchange numbers? So we can keep doing this?”
Toya’s eyes brightened. “Sure. I’d love that.”
“Great. Here’s my number…”
As Toya read it over as he took out his own phone and went over to her side to see the number, Nene would never forget the sensation— it was a little childish, like an elementary school crush type feeling, but her heart rate sped up tremendously as Toya’s hand brushed against hers, his face dangerously close to hers. Nene refrained from losing her composure.
Toya smiled brightly. “Thank you, Kusanagi!”
“O—oh, it’s no problem!” Nene said quickly as Toya grabbed his bags and began leaving.
One more time, Nene—!
“See you soon!” She shouted.
Toya turned back as he was walking, and waved back to her with glistening eyes, “See you soon, Kusanagi!”
Nene watched him leave, and she felt limp. Her heart was racing.
This sensation was addicting…
“Just where have you freaking been, Toya—!?”
An bashed him on the head in her sleeping pajamas as Toya winced with the bags still in his hands. She glared, “You have no idea how worried I was. You didn’t even shoot a text. Seriously, stop doing that!”
“S—sorry.” Toya glanced away worriedly. “I found a— a friend there.”
Friend… hmm…
An sighed weakly. “Just… next time, tell me where you are.”
“Right…!”
He threw his bags onto his bed when he got into his room and crashed on top of them. Immediately, he took out his phone.
He saw Kusanagi Nene’s contact. He felt all tingly and a bit fuzzy as he sent a text—
Today was fun.
Not long after, Nene replied:
It really was.