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⋆꙳•̩̩͙❅*̩̩͙‧͙ ‧͙*̩̩͙❆ ͙͛ ˚₊⋆
The cafe was a bit cluttered for it being 2pm, small groups of people were scattered at the tables. Sayuki didn’t mind, it was cozy inside away from the winter breeze, besides it was a comfort place for her. Everyone's face was flushed, but they were thawing slowly. Had they all eaten lunches an hour before, Takeshi, Shingo, and Mako ordered a variety of snacks to celebrate her birthday along with her, the plates being all crowded on the table. Sayuki however ordered her usual cup of coffee and hayashi rice.
“Here, I even brought a little candle for you,” Mako exclaimed with excitement in her eyes as she pulled one out and placed it in the purin that’s next to Sayuki’s dish. “Did you guys get me a birthday hat too?” she asked sarcastically. Takeshi sprung to life and quickly pulled a polka dot one out of his pocket. “Yeah we did” he said while chuckling, but his faces drops as he realized that it’s scrunched up and worn from being in his pocket, it even looks like it when through the wash the way it was faded.
“Way to go Takeshi! What did you pull that out of your ass?” Shingo said coarsely. “No!” His face turned a bit red from embarrassment as he stumbled for an excuse or a comeback. Mako tried to hold in her laugh but Sayuki burst with laughter that had everyone in the cafe basically turn their heads. They all erupted together then and Takeshi was able to laugh along too. It took a moment for everyone to catch their breaths, and laughs turned into a chuckle.
“Guys please that’s so great I wasn’t even gonna wear that hat but I think I should just for the fun of it.” She put her hand out diagonally so Takeshi can hand it to her. The elastic thread is a little fuzzed around the sides but it stretches over her head without snapping. A little smile showed on her face and she bit into her last bits of food. “Shingo, your lighter.” Mako ordered, he dug in his pocket for his Zippo and handed it to her. Sayuki sighed and looked as Mako lights the candle with joy in her eyes. Mako started singing happy birthday and then the other two joined in. Sayuki just sits there, a little embarrassed but she tried not to show it. In her heart she felt light, it felt really nice for them to celebrate with her. Birthdays didn’t feel very special to her anymore.
She got pulled out of her thoughts as they stopped singing and it was her cue to make a wish. Her mind was a little blank for a moment, “Make a wish!” Mako pushes the plate a little closer to her, as much as it could on the table. “Or I’ll make it for you” Shingo buts in jokingly. Sayuki shot him a playful glare, and she blew out the candle without thinking twice. They all clapped and celebrated, and she took the candle out of the dessert. Taking a small bite out of it, she was delighted with the sweetness. “Thank you guys,” she said softly and they all replied in their own ways.
They finished up their food and paid at the register. Putting on their heavy winter coats they were ready for the cold outdoors again. “Alright, where to next?” Shingo asks the birthday girl, tugging on the birthday hat on her head. She swats at his hand and he reacted with a small “ow” when she hit his hand.
“Its arcade time,” she says with almost a devilish smile on her face, “And I’m gonna kick everyones ass in skee ball.”
Takeshi scoffs “Yeah right.”
“You have not seen her play, I promise you it won’t end well for you Takeshi,” Mako interjected. Sayuki nodded and opened the door to the outside.
The cold wind hit her face and everyone followed suit behind. Passing by their cars that were street-parked, just a few stores down was a brightly colored arcade. The neon sign enticed them all. The big glass windows made the colorful game cabinets sparkle and you could see some unattended children running around joyfully with tickets in their hands. She opened the door and the warmth from inside wafted over her. They all look around at the place, “Oh my god I need to play those ones!” Mako half-shouts over the loud noises in the place. She was definitely talking about the pin ball machines, her eyes starry from the lights. Takeshi locks eyes with the claw machine, “Oh my god…” and Shingo rolls his eyes. “Lets get our tokens first guys.”
The token machine was very old looking but it still surprisingly worked. Everyone dug in their wallets for some cash and fed the machine. It dispensed brightly colored tokens that matched the carpet, everyone getting their own cups to hold them. “You’re on with the skee ball challenge Sayuki, I’m finally gonna win against you!” Shingo challenged, he lost so many times to her it wasn’t even funny. “And I’m not gonna go easy on you even if it is your birthday.” His snarky attitude had her excited, its been a long time since they played against each other.
“I need to see this,” Takeshi said with a grin on his face. They all weaved through the machines to the skee ball in the back, only two machines were there and it seemed like just the set up for the two of them. “You got this Sayuki!!” Mako cheered. They fed the machine some tokens and the balls clacked together as the fell down the side. “Okay ready?” Sayuki asks as she looks over at Shingo. He nodded and they both picked up a ball. They both threw it at the same time, Sayuki with more clear cut precision, the ball landing in the 100 score on the first try. Mako and Takeshi both looked in awe as she does it once more. “Holy shit!” Takeshi exclaims in amazement. Shingo manages to get a 100 score too. “C’mon, C’mon” he whispers to himself as he nervously chucks the ball to almost hit the top of the plastic shielding. “You always do that Shingo,” she says as she throws her last ball and it scores a 50, “You always get nervous at the end and never end up making that shot.” He huffed at her, “I was just warming up.”
“Wow Shingo, not as tough as you think you are?” Takeshi said with a cocky smile. Shingo short him a glare, “How about you do it then?”
“I’m afraid that I’m not the one that challenged her,” he bantered back.
“Again!” Sayuki shouts and puts in more tokens, it startles Shingo but he follows her lead. The tokens clunked and the start button blinked again. They threw the balls at the same time again, rolling along like thunder and bouncing up to the board. Shingo whaled when he got two 100s in a row but only scored a 10 at the last shot. “DAMMIT!” he yelled in frustration. “Hey there’s kids around!” Mako shushed him. They payed a few more times and Sayuki kept beating him, her tickets almost being twice as many as his total.
“Damn Shingo-”
“Shut it, I know I lost”
“Now now guys lets be cool,” Mako tries to intervene, “You can win somewhere else Shingo!”
It sounded more backhanded than usual, but he just shook his head and walked away. “He’ll accept defeat and gamble all his coins away at the money pusher, he’s done this since we were kids” Sayuki reassures Mako. She folds the tickets up with a smile. “Anyone else want to challenge me?” She shakes her coins. They both shook their heads no and laughed, “I’ll be at the claw machine” Takeshi says and scurries off.
“Wanna play pinball with me?” Mako questioned the birthday girl.
“Always” she replied.
They made their way over to the pinball machines and played beside each other. The old machines clacked and counted up the points on an analog scoreboard. They laughed together and Sayuki felt that light feeling again in her chest.
“You’re so good at this game!” she complimented Mako.
“You’re killer at skee ball, don’t get discouraged at this,” she hit the ball right into the barrier and it dinged and hit a double point bonus. She laughed loudly “YES!!!” She beat the high score! “That’s awesome Mako!”
Sayuki glanced over at the money pusher machine and saw Shingo banging on the machine. Curiously she walked over. He looked up at her “This damn thing made my last token stuck!” She laughed, “Here, let me help you gambler” She slid the token into the machine and it bounced the stuck one down to the pusher. His eyes lit up as it had a chain reaction of tokens falling as he won some tickets. It was mesmerizing. “Thanks man,” he said as he punched her arm lightly. “Don’t want you being a sour puss on my birthday,” she bantered.
“Guys look!” Takeshi ran over to them with a pink rabbit stuffed animal, a big childish smile on his face. “Wasted all your tokens on that?” they both ask. He nodded, uncaring to their comment. Mako walks over with a load of tickets in her hand and they all are stunned. “I won the jackpot at the fish wheel over there” a small smile on her face. They all laughed together, as they usually do, it was a great birthday for Sayuki.
⋆꙳•̩̩͙❅*̩̩͙‧͙ ‧͙*̩̩͙❆ ͙͛ ˚₊⋆