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The ninth gachapon ball rolls out. It’s red.
“Another Hello Kitty?” Bachira grumbled. He reaches into his wallet to slot in another 500 yen.
Isagi snickers, peeking through the side of the machine to get a glimpse at the multicoloured capsules inside. “Looks like there’s still a couple more to go before we even have a chance of getting yellow.”
Isagi and Bachira had come to this mall in an attempt to get a birthday present for Chigiri. However, Bachira had gotten distracted from their main mission when he saw a huge row of gachapon machines lined up against a wall.
Isagi was dragged along as Bachira thoroughly inspected each and every machine, trying to look for one that caught his eye. Then, he saw it. Gleaming under the LED lights— a set of Sanrio PVC keychains, one of which being Pompompurin.
There are a couple rules in life. Facts that’ll never change, no matter how much time passes. One, the sky is blue. Two, the grass is green, and three, Bachira will do anything to get Pompompurin merch he doesn’t own.
(Isagi’s pretty sure those first two aren’t always true, but he wouldn’t know. He failed science. Not like it matters— he’s an athlete. He can figure out the student part later.)
Bachira was adamant that he’d spend only 1500 yen, maybe 2000 yen at most. “It’s Pompompurin, Isagi!” He said. “I mean, it looks like there’s a yellow capsule pretty close to the dispensing-thing. The next one’s gonna be Pompompurin. Have some faith in my intuition, Isagi!”
Thirty minutes and 4500 yen later, they still have yet to get that stupid, ugly yellow dog from this honest-to-god cursed machine.
“This next one is going to be the tenth one,” Isagi mumbled. “And I’m pretty sure it’s My Melody, not Pompompurin.”
Bachira grins, “Nuh-uh. This next one is it, I have a feeling.”
“You’ve had this feeling for nine consecutive rolls now.” Isagi rolls his eyes.
“Okay, but this time I’m actually right. I’m one-hundred-percent certain.”
Bachira spins the wheel.
It’s Hangyodon.
He sighs, and slots in another 500 yen.
“At least it’s not Cinnamoroll again?” Isagi picks up the turquoise-blue capsule, inspecting the little keychain wrapped inside. He puts it in his tote bag— now filled with countless colourful gachapon balls.
“I guess,” Bachira mumbles. He’s pretty sure Bachira’s not catholic, but he’s trying to make the sign of the cross anyways. He’s doing it incorrectly. “This next one’s it. I have God’s blessing.”
“Have you ever even attended church?”
“Nope.” The eleventh capsule rolls out. It’s Cinnamoroll.
Bachira picks up the light blue toy, pouting.
“Isagi,” Bachira grumbles, holding the capsule with a defeated look on his face. “You jinxed it.”
Bachira passes the ball to Isagi. “Four Cinnamorolls. At least she’s a popular character?” Isagi suggests.
“He’s a popular character. Personally I think Pompompurin should be ranked higher than him, but that’s just me and my unbiased opinion.” Bachira grunts, like he doesn’t have a giant plush of that godforsaken yellow dog resting at home on their shared bed.
Isagi’s not the type to get jealous, but seriously. Bachira ends up cuddling that dog instead of him every night. What does a 50cm Pompompurin stuffed plush have to offer that Isagi— a real, living, breathing person, mind you— can’t?
(Honestly, Isagi feels the slightest bit of satisfaction from Bachira’s struggles to get Pompompurin. Hopefully spending over 5500 yen on a PVC keychain is finally going to knock some sense into him and let Bachira realise how much better Isagi is compared to that stupid ass dog.)
Bachira slots in yet another 500 yen after fumbling around with his wallet for a bit. “This one’s gonna be it. That’s what Monster-chan’s telling me.”
A grey capsule rolls out. Fucking Kuromi.
“Looks like Monster-chan’s wrong.” Isagi says, amused.
Bachira huffs, “At least that’s a new one.”
“You know-“ Isagi puts the capsule in his bag- “you can always just get them second-hand, right? I’m pretty sure there’s actually a Lashinbang nearby, actually.”
“Okay, but that’s anime merch. I doubt there’s gonna be a lot of sanrio stuff, even less Pompompurin.” Bachira fumbles through his wallet.
“Then you can check Mini-so.”
“I already have everything from there. And they won’t have these specific keychains, Isagi!” Bachira finally finds another 500 yen coin hidden in the depths of his coin pouch, and slots it in. “Plus, it’s the adventure that counts, not the reward.”
“Not when the adventure has costed you this much.” Isagi mumbles.
Bachira giggles, and spins the machine again.
Another fucking Hello Kitty.
Bachira’s jaw drops.
“Again?” He holds the capsule in his hands, eyes wide. Isagi bites back a laugh. “This is the third fucking Hello Kitty.”
“I like Hello Kitty,” Isagi pointed out.
“You can keep her, then.” He tossed the capsule in Isagi’s direction. Isagi caught it and put her in his bag— which is starting to turn into a graveyard of abandoned sanrio keychains. He’s not sure what he’ll do with all the extras. Maybe he could sell them.
Bachira peers into the machine. “Okay, okay, next one has to be Pompompurin. We’ve gotten literally every other character in the set other than the twin stars.”
“Gambler’s fallacy,” Isagi says.
“Shut up.” Bachira rolls his eyes, though a smile creeps onto his face regardless. Bachira makes a happy little noise— “aha!”— when he finds what’s probably the last 500 yen coin in his wallet.
(Bachira carries a lot of 500 yen coins everywhere. Way more than the average person, Isagi’s noticed. It’s so he can play with random claw machines and, like today, gamble, when he stumbles upon wild gachapon machines out on the street. And because Isagi’s the best boyfriend ever, he makes sure he carries at least some 500 yen coins everywhere too.)
Bachira slots in the coin, rolls it, and out comes an orange, almost yellow capsule.
“Holy shit,” Bachira’s eyes widen, scrambling to pick up the capsule. “I think—“
It’s not Pompompurin. It’s another fucking Hello Kitty.
This time, Isagi fails to bite back his laugh. He cracks up, body shaking.
“But the capsule’s yellow!” Bachira says, eyes wide as he peels off the tape, hurriedly opening up the capsule. It is definitely Hello Kitty.
“I think they misprinted it,” Isagi snickers.
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Bachira groans. He tosses the gachapon ball into Isagi’s tote bag, and starts digging through his wallet to see if he has any more coins hidden deep within. Bachira tries to keep up his act of mock frustration, but a few giggles sneak through nonetheless.
Bachira closes his wallet, and glances at Isagi expectantly. “I’m out of 500 yen coins.”
Isagi rolls his eyes. “I think I’ve got a few, holdon.”
He finds three coins in his pocket. Not a lot, but it’ll do. He hands them over to Bachira, who utters a quiet thanks and slots the first one in.
“Okay. Y’know what they say— fifteenth time’s the charm!”
“Who’s they?” Isagi watched, amused, as Bachira spun the wheel for the nth time that afternoon.
“Everyone, Isagi,” Bachira laughs. “Haven’t you heard? The fifteenth try always works. Common sense.”
They hear the distinct clank of a capsule falling out of the machine, and Bachira reaches out to grab it. It’s My Melody.
“Y’know what. Isagi— shut up, stop laughing, this isn’t funny,” Bachira giggles. Hypocrite. “You give it a shot. Can’t you invite your luck over here? You guys are, like, best friends, right?”
“Okay, okay,” Isagi says, as Bachira shuffles out of the way, letting Isagi take over the spot in front of the machine.
Bachira sneaks a glance into the side of the machine. “The next one’s Pompompurin. It’s yellow.”
“I think you’re colourblind, Bachira. Pretty sure that’s green.”
“It’s yellow.” Bachira repeated.
“Whatever you say,” Isagi smiles. He slots in the coin, and spins the wheel.
Bachira watches from the side as the little capsules inside the machine shuffle about, and eventually, one of them drops out, landing with a quiet thud.
Isagi picks it up.
At last, Pompompurin.
“Dude.” Bachira snatches the capsule from Isagi’s grasp, holding it gently in his palms as if it were some kind of sacred artifact. “Why’d he pick you instead of me?” He frowned.
Isagi shrugs, leaning over Bachira’s shoulder to get a closer look at the 8000 yen keychain. “It was not worth it.”
“Yeah. Yeah, you’re right.” Bachira replies dejectedly. “But it was a fun adventure, wasn’t it?” He smiled.
“No.”
“Lame,” Bachira mumbles, as he ripped off the tape from the capsule. He took out the keychain. It wasn’t anything special— just Pompompurin eating some strawberry cake. The art was nice, sure, but it wasn’t anything groundbreaking.
There were thousands of Pompompurin keychains just like this one.
“It’s a memorable adventure, though,” Isagi hummed. Bachira passed the keychain to Isagi, letting him observe it. “Wouldn’t go through it again. But memorable, I guess.”
Isagi handed it back to Bachira, who immediately put the keychain on his tote bag. Bachira does a little twirl. “Pretty, right?”
“It’s cute,” Isagi says. “I know someone who’s cuter, though.”
Bachira rolls his eyes. “Don’t say that like you haven’t been bullying me for the past half hour.”
“Sorry,” he plants a kiss on Bachira’s cheek.
“Guilt tripper,” Bachira replies, but there’s no real hint of anger in his voice. He pulls Isagi back in for another kiss.
“Y’know, we still have to get Chigiri his birthday gift,” Bachira mutters. “And I don’t have the money left to pay for it…” He glances up at Isagi expectantly.
“Don’t you have a credit card?” Isagi raises a brow.
Bachira pauses.
“We can just give him the My Melody charms?” He suggested.
“Kunigami would kick us out.” Isagi deadpans.
Bachira has the audacity to laugh, “We can give him a Tiran charm, then.”
“Tiran isn’t in this set.”
“There’s a charm of him in that machine over there,” Bachira points towards it.
“Bachira-“
“It’s not an addiction,” Bachira says. Isagi rolls his eyes.
“Fine then, go give it a shot.”
(Bachira doesn’t end up getting Tiran. They get some random character neither of them recognise instead. With all their 500 yen coins used up, they return to their main quest of getting Chigiri his actual birthday gift.
When they pass by Lashinbang, Bachira spots the full set of Sanrio keychains they were just gambling for on sale for only 2500 yen. The look on his face is priceless.
“Pompompurin hates me,” Bachira whines. Isagi simply chuckles in response.)