Work Text:
Nozomi laid down on her bed, her eyes looking up, following the glowing screen in her hand. It was late, and it wasn’t remotely healthy, but she could stay up for a little bit longer. Just a little. Her sleep schedule could take the hit. Probably. She didn’t have the morning shift anyways, and…
This is much more important to her. No, wait, he’s much more important to her. Mmh, no, that isn’t it- agh, nevermind- now her chest feels all weird and tingly. But…
He’s working late. Again. He really shouldn’t do that, and well… might as well keep him company, right?
Actually, is she distracting him?
<noob sensei>
<Hm?>
<are you working on anything important?”
<Just a lot of boring paperwork. The usual.>
<heh>
<guess i can continue talking to you>
<want to call?>
Her hands started to shake and grip loosen; not by much, but why is it even doing tha-
Bzzzt~
The phone falls from her hands from the sudden unexpected vibration, landing flat on her face with a sudden smack. Ouch- she wasn’t expecting that…
Picking up her phone (this time with a tighter grip), she taps the button to answer the call, quickly switching the mode to speaker, and sets her phone next to her pillow, while also swapping her laying position to her side.
“Whew, eager to call, weren’t you?~”
“...You were the one who asked to call.”
“Pahya~, I wasn’t the one who immediately rang up when asked, y’know?”
An audible sigh is heard from the other end, with Nozomi simply grinning in return. He can’t hear it, but he can surely feel its presence, even through the phone. He should have known what was in store for him when he decided to dial her, heh.
Though, she wished Sensei was here right now. It’s always more fun to see his actual reaction, just always more fun when she’s with him. With him…
…Huh.
“Hey, Sensei, are you free this weekend?”
“And why do you ask?”
“D-Dunno. Curious. I wanna play, y’know… I’ve been working all week… Doin’ Highlander things. Running the trains. Inspections and stuff. Officer duties. You know the ones.”
“Wow, sounded like a lot… alright, I’ll see if I can make some time in my schedule.”
“Whuh-!? Wait, you don’t need to do all of that! If you’re busy, then-”
“No, it’s alright. It’s mostly just work similar to what I’m doing now. Either way, it’s been a while since we last hung out, right? If you’ve been working all week, too… How does the arcade sound? We could walk around Kivotos afterwards too– if you want, that is.”
It sounds great, but… she doesn’t want to ruin his schedule if it’s already planned. Yet, he’s already offering to make time for her. For her. No, she doesn’t want to inconvenience him more.
…Does he do the same for other students? Or just for her?
Other students and Sensei… She doesn’t like that thought. She can’t find the reason for it. Specifically she means not him being a teacher to other girls, no. That’s perfectly fine. It’s something else…
Them hanging out with him. Spending time with him. She doesn’t know why, but it claws at her heart thinking about it. It’s a weird combination. Nervousness, anger, fear, anxiety… She’s even felt the same way watching Hikari and Sensei play recently. She wasn’t like that before, so why now? In the beginning he only used to come whenever she called for help from trouble: either self-inflicted or out of her control, and yet, talking to him… teasing him… being teased by him…
It hurts. Just a little. Why does it hurt?
She puts her hands to her chest. Can he hear it beat? It sounds so loud to her, a rhythmic thumping, over and over.
Up until now, she didn’t really care about all of this, but recently…
…
If he’s making time just to spend it with her, then…
…He better be ready for this.
The tall figure in the distance is easy to recognize, especially in Kivotos. Dark gray dress pants, a clean white dress shirt, with an accompanying black tie, with a blue lanyard tucked into the shirt pocket. Black hair, though a tad messy for his business-y appearance, with bangs to the sides, with a part near the middle, but a bit to the right. Brown eyes– a bit tired looking, but attentive nonetheless, looking around for something. Or someone. Ah, they’re looking over here…?
“Nozomi! There you are, haha… took a while to find you. Right on time too.”
Well, she’s been checking her phone, and truthfully, it’s like… one minute past when they were supposed to meet. Sure, that would be perfectly fine if it was anyone else. But it’s Sensei. Sensei gets special treatment. And it’s not just because he’s an adult and a teacher, nor because he’s meant to be a role model for others. She doesn’t give a crap about all of that. She teases Sensei because he’s…
Well, Nozomi doesn’t actually know the answer for that question. Or maybe she’s too afraid to admit it. She’ll roll with the former.
“‘Right on time?’ Jeez, you sure know how to leave a girl waiting, don’t you? Being late yet saying you’re on time… this is SCHALE’s Sensei?” Nozomi paints a mocking expression on her face, stepping forward to get a good look at his mug.
He looks down at his watch, only to see the time being now two minutes off. He lets out a breath of frustration, before looking up, only to see Nozomi desperately trying to stifle her laughter, her hand over her mouth.
“Pfft-... Pahyahya!~ Noob sensei, can’t even get to somewhere on time~”
Mocking Sensei has to be a pastime in and of itself, really. Today’s going to be such a fun day- choosing the arcade was such a mistake on his part. She can imagine it already- the endless teasing as she wins and wins… Sure, it means getting a little competitive, but it’ll all be worth it.
She opened her eyes, only to see Sensei holding out his hand, motioning with his head “Let’s go”. His hand.
He wants her to hold his hand. And Nozomi grabs it, interlocking their fingers. They’re surprisingly big, but they grasp just tight enough to not let go. Not that she’s small or anything- he’s got an advantage, being an adult and all. But it feels like it when they’re together like this. Is this a date? No, it can’t be… they’re just playing and hanging out, like usual! But it’s only her and Sensei, and… he asked to go together. No, it can’t be… Yet, every time they hang out, it was at SCHALE with Hikari (Maybe next time just nozomi and sensei?), or for an actual reason, like the train inspection, or the new mascot Shupo…
Yet, this is just…
To spend time together.
…Did it get hotter? She’s been standing in the sun for a while, waiting for Sensei beforehand… Is her hand sweating? Maybe his hands are just really warm. Eh? Mentioned that her face is red… did she forget to put on sunscreen…?
No, she’s inside the arcade now… it’s cooler, but her face still feels warm…crap, hopefully she doesn’t have a sunburn. Truth be told, she got there and waited for like, thirty minutes before they were supposed to meet. It was a precaution- she was going to tease him either way, y’know? Even if he got there on time. Ah, maybe she should have come more prepared? But she checked multiple times she was ready for today… She even chose her clothes the night before.
Inside the arcade, the bright neon lights flash and transform into different bright hues, contrasting with the darkness pulsing in and out of the corners with the constant color changing, dimming and illuminating of the lights. The music blaring out of individual machines, sound effects coming out randomly all around them- either it be a blaring KO with accompanying voices of defeat and cheer, or one the blasting of those safari shooters with terrible, inaccurate controls. Wonder how those things even stay in business inside Kivotos- especially after you've gotten used to your own weapon.
Nozomi tugs at Sensei’s arm, with something having caught her eye. With her other hand, she points towards an arcade game, set up in a row of four chairs so multiple people can play and compete. What type of game?
A racing game.
“Alright then. You’re on, Nozomi!”
Truthfully, whatever characters, car, map, or whatever they choose doesn’t matter. She could start from last. Nothing is beating the fastest conductor in Kivotos. Nothing.
It’s a total blow out. Overtake some random NPC, hit them into a wall, whatever. All of it doesn’t matter. Sensei's all the way in first place, but that was on purpose. What would be fun without a little teasing? Well, she would if she wasn’t completely and totally dialed in. She wasn’t just going to beat Sensei. No, she was going to set a record time with the disadvantage she gave herself at the beginning.
By the time she crosses the finish line, the game times out and ends before Sensei–or any npc, that is–can even reach it.
She looks over at Sensei, both the impression of shock and awe on his face, and…
She puts a hand on her hip while bending slightly forwards towards him, sticking her finger out and twirling it in a circle, a wide grin covering her face.
“All that confidence at the start for what, huh? Pahya!~”
Sensei sighs, admitting defeat again- something he should have done along ago, really~
Totals: Nozomi: 3, and Sensei: 0!
E-Eh? He’s smiling at her now? Did something get on her face? No, there’s nothing… Why's he doing that? Nozomi turns around. She still won, but she imagined her victory to not make her… heart begin beating so fast. She had that in the bag from the get-go, so why’s it doing that?
“Ah, why don’t we do that?”
Nozomi’s vision follows Sensei’s pointing index finger to see… a photobooth? She had never used one, but… she would like to have something to remember today. It would look really nice, maybe she could find a spot to put it on her bulletin board, or tape it to her tablet, and remember today…
Alright. She’ll do it!
Spending the credits in order to get access, she pushes the black curtain out of the way, motioning Sensei to hop inside. She’s looking around, and–
“Oh… you’re too short for the camera. Wait a second.”
“Huh–!?”
Sure, she expected to be a bit too short for the camera. What she was not expecting was for Sensei to scoop her up, his arms securing under her legs and back to ensure she appears in the photo. And it looked terrible! She’s all scrambling, surprised, her face is covered with her hands, and where you can see it, it’s all… red. Tch. How unfair.
She looks up at Sensei, only to see him looking down at her smiling. That big, stupid, idiotic grin that fills his face whenever something makes him really happy, a type of smile that makes you want to smile like an idiot too. Hmph. His face looks better when he’s the one being teased, not her.
“Stop pouting all over the place… You were too short, so I had to fix that. I didn’t want to waste your credits for a bad photo, y’know.”
“Well, you failed! It looks terrible!”
“Are you sure?” He picks up the photo and holds it up, more into the light. “Personally, I think it’s very cute. Oh right, you don’t understand cute things.”
“Cute?! What’s so cute about it?!”
“That thing there,” he points, “with green twin tails and yellow eyes, with a halo and tail.” He smiles at her, her face getting even more flustered than before. Nozomi quickly turns her head away from his grin- why did he say that?!
On second thought, she taps his side and hands him the photo- she doesn’t like it anyways. Heck, looks like she’s almost falling over in it. He plucks the photo from her fingers, and takes out his phone, only to push it into his case carefully. A transparent case, for all of the world to see. He brings it around to her face, only continuing to smirk, and Nozomi goes red again. Probably from embarrassment, or maybe because he’s laughing, smiling, and oh so happy with her, and she likes that stupid grin more than she thought.
Her eyes drift back at his, only to see them staring fondly down at his hands, into the photo stored safely on the back of his phone, smiling all the while. Sensei tucks a stray hair back behind his ear, rubbing the back of his own neck. Maybe he’s a little embarrassed too, because now they’re both painted red.
“I’m almost out of credits… only twelve left.”
“Heh, almost all of them spent on losing, huh?”
“I don’t play arcade games that often…”
“Aren’t you just admitting you’re a total newbie then?”
Sensei flashes her a look of annoyance- he makes it too easy for her, really.
His eyes push past her, however, past the vivid lights of the arcade, past the fighting games, the roulettes (why do they even have gambling for kids here?), locked onto a machine out of sight. Turning over, she sees what he’s staring at. A claw machine. Seriously? You lost so much that you wanna attempt a claw machine, Sensei?
It’s hard for her to hold back giggling as she watches him walk up to it.
Four creds to play. He has at most three attempts- not even close to enough for a chance to win at a game already rigged from the start.
Eh? He’s swiping in his credits? He does know the odds are stacked against him, right…?
The claw moves. It drops. It picks a plushie up. A dog plushie, shaking as it’s slowly grabbed and picked up slightly off the ground… before slipping out of the metal grip and falling back into the pile of other animals.
…Another attempt? Yet this time, he’s going for something else… Does he think that the claw has better chances with different plushies? This time, it moves above a grey lump- no, wait, it’s a seal. Far too fat then it should be, all plumped up. Probably so it looks “cuter”, right? Either way, it doesn’t help as it’s not even picked up by the machine at all. Doesn’t even get off the ground this time.
Wow. Sensei’s a noob at everything, huh? Though… It's almost adorable, watching him try his hardest. He’s probably going to put whatever plush he gets next to all of his other ‘cute’ things. If he even gets anything, that is… fufu~ Even the machine is mocking him, with all of its lights and flashy colors, singing a catchy yet annoying tune that would be hard to get out of your head. It’s one of those songs you would randomly find humming to yourself every once in a while, not even realizing.
Oh, that’s the last of his creds he just swiped in. Wow… he looks totally serious now. She didn’t mean to get him that competitive, especially at a claw machine. Jeez, it’s even making her feel anxious… just felt her heart skip a beat. Sensei’s hands pushed the joycon carefully with precision, even if they were a bit too big then the machine expected, positioning itself over a small bunny rabbit with big and dumb droopy ears. He presses the drop button, and takes his hands off, taking two steps back.
It grabs it and hooks by the ear. The claw swings with momentum- truthfully it’s not much, but seemingly precarious enough to drop the prize prematurely as it slowly progresses to drop off its payload.
The bunny falls, and
"Pfft... Sensei, you do remember I'm not that into 'cute' things?"
He keeps his hands outstretched, holding out the bunny plushie, though now a little defeated.
"Well... I wanted to give you something. I just had a lot of fun today because of you, and-"
"Pahya!!~ Alright, alright. I see what you're doing, Sensei. Though... you know you're supposed to give stuff like that to people you really like, right?"
Right?
Nozomi lays in her bed, staring at the new intruder slouched next to her pillow. A bunny plushie. Why did she even take it? She doesn’t like plushies. Well, not that she hates them. She just doesn’t love them. Well, she didn’t understand the Shupo plushie from the higher ups, but… this is different.
Maybe it’s because he got it for her?
N-No, that can’t be… It’s just something Sensei did in thanks. That’s all.
There’s nothing special to it. It’s just a plushie, and not anything else.
…
<noob sensei, are you there?>
<Nope.>
<very funny>
<so um, do you want to hang out again next week?>