This didn’t sound like it would be hard, but for someone who was a novice, it might as well have sounded impossible. How was it that according to Amasa he needed to impress this girl? She already seemed quite positive to him as it were. Though it apparently wasn’t the case according to her.

“I have to apologize.” He said as classes ended for the day. “I still don’t know my way around here. So perhaps you could yet again be the one deciding our path?”

“Hehe, that’s fine with me.” She smiled, happy to be in control. “Since you’re a boy, maybe I’ll try something that might interest you more than shopping.”

“Really!?” That got him excited. The thought of having to shop again struck him with dread. He’d much rather not ever have to deal with something that boring ever again. “Oh boy, I can’t wait.”

Right before they were about to leave, the pair ran into a certain somebody who was looking for him. Chisa.

“Oh, hi.” She said, nervous upon seeing that he was not alone. “I guess you’re busy again today.”

“Correct, I was going to spend a nice day out with Fukuna here.”

“Yeah.” Fukuna followed up. “We were going to enjoy a nice day… Alone together.” He sensed a bit of animosity coming from her as she said that. It was as if a hint was being given out silently from her. Chisa sensed that same vibe as well. Which is why she didn’t dare ask to join them this time around.

“Anyway, the two of us are going to get going now.”

“Okay, you two have fun now.” She bid them farewell with her head hung down. In her mind, perhaps he really did realize how big of a loser she was. After all, who would want to hang out with her when a girl like Fukuna was interested in him. “I’ll see you tomorrow then.” With that, they separated.

“She seemed to be sad.” He commented as they exited the school. “I didn’t think I was that special of a person.”

“It’s not that.” Fukuna knew what was up with that girl. Even though she didn’t hate Chisa in any manner, she was wary of her. Mainly more due to her inadvertently getting in the way, rather than any nefarious means. At least, she assumed it was inadvertent give that girl gave up this time around. “Anyway, don’t worry about her. She has her own life to live.”

“Well, where are we going?” He asked, using that conversation piece as a way to get his mind off of that topic. Though it did little for him, internally. “You know of my nature, so pretty much everything is going to be new.”

“Of course I do.” She replied, not worried of anyone listening in on them, for now the pair were finally alone in a situation that didn’t involve life or death. “Which is why I wanted to take you to this totally cool place. But it’s a secret until we get there.” Not that her saying what it was would’ve helped him. The word would be foreign and she didn’t want to have to explain without showing it off first.

So she walked him to their destination instead. All the while, hyping things up as if it was the most exciting and best thing ever. The former would be difficult to achieve, seeing as the boy had grown used to living life on the edge as it were. Which included the debacle from last week. “Here we are now!” She threw up her hands to present the location she brought them. Since they were still on the outside, it looked like a normal building to him. Though there were dozens of people heading inside, so it appeared to be quite popular.

“Uh, what is this?” He said, confused as the boy read the sign. “What does the word, arcade, mean?”

“A totally fun place of course.” She answered. Of course, there was more to her words than just that. “Obviously I know they don’t exist where you’re from, but there’s tons of fun games here. Surely your world’s not so boring you don’t know what that is.”

“Astounding. I never imagined a place of business could solely run off of the enjoyment of others.” He was in awe to realize that this was what the building provided for the people.

“Heheh, well as long as they can pay for the machines.” She said, yanking him inside. “Now come on, I bet there’s something here you’ll love.” They entered, where he was greeted with the warmth a tons of people being confined in a small space. Something he was used with, at least the heat in terms of having to wear armor all the time.

“All these bright colors from these boxes. I cannot believe that something could produce these sorts of things without magic.” He commented as they walked up to a free arcade machine. “What game is this suppose to be.”

“Ooh, that’s ‘Departed or Living’, it’s a pretty fun fighting game.” That wasn’t the only thing it was known for, but he could figure that one out on his own.

“A fighting game? Why wouldn’t one just fight people for entertainment instead of doing it in a fake manner?” He asked. If any of the knights wished to battle him for sport, he was always up for the task. Of course, they’d never push themselves hard to cause injury seeing as that would be a problem for army numbers.

“Tahiko, you need to realize that fighting like you do isn’t socially acceptable.” She told him. “Now come on, let’s pay for this and we can fight each other.” Fukuna had a fully loaded card to swipe to pay instead of using coins. It was useful since she and her friends would frequent this spot a lot.

“I suppose it would be impossible for the two of us to fight for real.” He said as they got themselves into position. “In a real fight, I would destroy you.” Unfortunately for him, this was not a real life fight between them. It was in a video game, one that he had never played before since he had never even knew they existed until today.

So basically, he got his butt kicked by her from a lack of understanding of what any of the buttons in front of him did.

“Haha, yes!” She did a fist pump in celebration of beating him for the dozenth time. Fukuna was quite enjoying using her years of experience taking out a noob at the game. “Take that!”

“None of this makes any sense to me.” He scratched his head in confusion. “So when I press a button, they do something, but for some reason it’s not intuitive at all. Not to mention you seemed to be much faster than me.”

“Don’t worry, I’m sure after some time you’ll get used to it.” She patted him on the back. “Is this fun though?”

“Yeah, I am having a fun time with the game. Though whoever made it certainly has some weird tastes.” This kind of game was normal in terms of fighting. However, he couldn’t help but notice the woman’s busts moving about as if it were real life. Not to mention all of the costumes they had that revealed skirts and bras as they flipped around during combat.

“I thought that maybe a boy might like them.” She responded. “Or maybe… You prefer the real deal?”

“I do prefer real fighting over this.” He missed the point and assumed she meant the core gameplay. “But you’re right I can’t do that normally around here, so this will have to do.”

“You certainly fit the dense bill of a boy.” She responded, disappointed in his ability to understand subtle statements due to the language barrier. His translation magic can’t help him with that. “But maybe that’s fine. I shouldn’t be rushing into things so soon.”

“It would be wise for us to become proper friends first.” He said. What? Did he truly understand her advances after all. “Amasa told me that the only reason you liked me was because I saved your life.” Perhaps not after all. “And in a sense, I agree with her. But, today I’ve really been enjoying my time with you. I think that makes it worth it, even if the reason isn’t the best. So I hope you feel the same way about me.”

“Of course I do.” She giggled, overjoyed at taking another step. “You might not get things sometimes, but it’s honestly refreshing to be with someone like you.” It wasn’t a bad feeling at all hanging out with a boy who wasn’t trying to impress her all the time with whatever they were doing. Tahiko only seemed to live his life doing whatever came naturally.

“I’m sure there’s tons of others games to play here, yes?” He changed the subject as the people around them cheered from their games. It reminded him that there was more to games than just fighting. “I would love it if you could show me around, and show me what this world can truly offer.”

“Now that, is something I can definitely do.” And so the two played at the arcade for the rest of the day.