Volume 2, Chapter 4: To The Arcade!

*****

Many weeks had passed and we already took our exams. Aside from Ryu, Masa, and I, Yuu, and Take were struggling at the exams. Especially Math, Literature, Science, English, and History. They kept complaining about how hard it was yet we made it seem to them like it wasn't that much of a big deal. I just chuckled at what they said and hoping to myself that me, Ryu, and Masa's teaching helped Yuu and Take to reach the grade that they need, the 90% grade.

Its sunday today and right now I'm lying on the bed, thinking about what I should do for today. Just as about I was thinking that, Ryu suddenly messaged me on MILE

"Hey man, its been a while since we had gone to an arcade, how about we go there right now? Exams are already over so going to an arcade would be a good refresher! What do you say?"

That's true...its been a while since Ryu and I had gone to an arcade. We played a lot back when we were in middle school, but we stopped playing in our last year of middle school. We started to devote ourselves to studying at that point so we could enter into this school, Shiri Houdou High

"Yeah, sure. Lets meet up in the usual place, how does 9 AM sound?"

"The usual place? Ohhh, that place. Alright then, I'll go ahead and prepare now, see you later, Shun!"

"Yeah, see you later"

After going back and forth with our message, I decided to also prepare as well, its 8 AM already, but plenty enough for me to get things ready. I quickly got up and made my way downstairs to eat breakfast and take a shower afterwards

*****

...

Its almost 9 AM, but I arrived just in time.

...

...and Ryu isnt here

"That guy..."

...Just as I was about to call him, he suddenly showed up

"Shuuuun!"

"Its about time you showed up"

"Phew! Glad I made it in time!"

Ryu was sprinting while shouting my name in the distance. He caught his breath afterwards

"Uwa- those clothes!"

"Hmm? These are my casual clothes. Is there something wrong?"

"No...nothing...nevermind that"

I hate to admit it, but this guy made his casual clothes more appealing to the eyes of other people! I guess this is one of the perks when you have a good looking body and a good looking face.

...

I looked around and saw girls looking at Ryu. He can't handle a lot of women, but he's the one who's making himself more appealing to them...*sigh*...

We took a bus and had gone to the arcade, the one where we used to play together when we were in middle school. I was getting kinda nostalgic as Ryu kept retelling me about the games that we played together...

*****

...

"Finally, we're here man!"

"Yeah...it still hasn't changed that much though"

"Well its only been a year since we stopped going to this place, so its obvious that there won't be much of a change"

"That's true..."

We entered into the arcade and saw a lot of people inside. There were also new machines that Ryu and I haven't seen before. We looked around the new machines and saw someone with a familiar face

"Oh! Masato!"

"Ah, Shun! Browny! What a coincidence bumping into you guys!"

"I didn't know you play in this arcade, Masa. I was also surprised seeing you here!"

"Ah, well, this arcade has newer game machines than the ones we have in our area. I always come here every weekends to play. Do you guys also play here in the weekends?"

"Ah, No, since the exams were over, Ryu invited me to go to this arcade. Its been a year since we came to this place, so I agreed, for a nice change of pace"

"I see...hey, Shun, since you're here to play and all, how about we play that game over there?"

"That game...?"

I looked at where he was pointing at...only to see that one arcade machine...

Oh...I know that game...

"Sure, Masa. What about you, Ryu?"

"I want to play that dance machine over there, but it seems that there's still a lot of people playing it"

"Then come with us for the time being, it shouldn't take that long"

"Yeah sure, I'll do that for now"

We headed over to the game machine where Masa was pointing at earlier. I sat down on the left side while Masa sat down opposite to me. I looked down at the controls to see if something had changed...

...

...but its still the same as it was back then

"I'm surprised they still have this kind of arcade machine here"

"Like I told ya Shun, there won't be much change in just a year's time here"

"Yeah, I know..."

"Are you ready, Shun? I won't lose to you this time! Not to this game!"

"Sure, I won't be holding back either, Masa!"

Ryu kept watching behind me, holding back his smirk, while I was picking out a character at the battle character selection. He also played this game with me countless times before but he never won against me. He was fairly good at this game, but he always messes up his character's combos...probably because he doesn't have a main in this game...he just randomly picks one, but surprisingly, he does well to any of them

...except for the combos...

The character selection showed up, and I immediately went for the character on the furthest right

"Thats...! Shun, You really aren't holding back at Masato at all, are you?"

He whispered to me

"Didn't I told him that earlier? Of course I'm keeping my promise"

"You're right but, using that character means you're going to do that combo, right?"

"I might, or might not, but I still know how to do that combo, after all, I've been trying to master it since you and I have been playing this game"

"Alright then...Its been a while since I've seen you do that combo on that character, so this should be worth watching!"

After we're done choosing our characters, Masa was surprised at the character that I ended up choosing

"? Poncho? You're going to use Poncho?"

"Yeah, is there something wrong with me using it?"

"No! Not at all! I'm just surprised! You really are full of surprises, Shun! I should've expected you using Poncho of all the available characters in here!"

"Same goes for you too, Masa, General Brute has complicated moves, but is really strong if you're able to pull it off, I'm guessing that you already mastered him since you're using him against me"

"I don't want to admit it but I'm still struggling on some moves the General Brute has. Moreover, Poncho is ten times harder than General Brute though! It literally has 10 star difficulty on techniques rated on it! If you're using him, then that means...you've already mastered him?!"

"Nah, I wouldn't say that, I just want to use Poncho, that's all"

I smirked off as I said that

"Hmm...I don't believe you, but we'll see!"

While Masa was picking a location for our battle to take place, a crowd started gathering around us

"Hey look! Thorn's about to challenge another player!"

"He's also using General Brute this time, one of the characters with complex moves. This should be interesting!"

Oh? Masa is Thorn? I didn't knew that. Thorn is the third best player in this game too. I haven't played with Thorn up until now...

...to think that Masa, of all people, was Thorn...I was a bit surprised, but couldn't help myself from getting excited 

"And what about this guy? What's he using against Thorn?"

"He's using Poncho apparently"

"Eh?! Poncho?! Isn't that the most difficult character in the game?!"

"Yeah, I was also surprised when I saw him choose Poncho without any hesitation just now. He literally went just straight for it"

"Almost no players use Poncho right? Its hard to use Poncho after all"

"Only newbies use Poncho nowadays due to its cute, funny appearance, but veterans never really use Poncho"

Poncho's design had like a two mushroom on top of his head while having a cut opened stomach. If I were to describe his appearance, he certainly looks like a mutated mushroom...

"So you're telling me, this guy is an amateur?"

"I for one wouldn't say that for now, you should never judge a book by its cover after all"

The guy behind me clearly gets it, I didn't chose Poncho because I just wanted to, rather, this is my main character for this game

"Your kinda right...but its to be expected right? Even I can only pull off basic attacks from Poncho"

"He must be a newbie if he's picking Poncho, but who knows? We'll see once the battle starts"

It was only common for them to be surprised since even when Ryu and I were still in Middle School, almost no one uses Poncho. Its almost like, Poncho never really existed in the game. Because of that, nobody really knows how strong Poncho is. He might be the hardest character to use in the game, but...

"I'm not going down without putting up a fight, Shun! You better be ready for that!"

"Same here, Masa, bring it on!"

We were given ten seconds before the battle starts...

...

After ten seconds were passed, the battle had begun 

"I'm about to do something that nobody has ever seen yet, Shun! Take this!"

Masa's General Brute holds 2 weapons, a sword, and a gun. The sword is more effective when used at melee range. Although General Brute's sword has a long range attack, his sword deals more damage when used in close combat. General Brute's gun on the other hand, is more effective the farther his opponent is from him, and vice versa, his gun would only deal little to no damage at all

The one that Masa used on me just now was the sword's long range attack, sword wave. It was a long range attack where General Brute unleashes a single slash in a straight line that can deal 25% of the opponent's HP. It is indeed rare to see someone pull off one of the General Brute's complex moves but, as Masa said earlier, he can't do all of General Brute's moves, I was also starting to see that while I was in a guard stance to take the damage. The sword wave's long range attack has three continuous sword slash that can deal 75% damage to the opponent's HP, yet Masa can only do 1 strike at most. Although one strike is still powerful and could be deadly to Poncho, its only if I only knew basic attacks and nothing else...

"Looks like its my turn now!"

I started my counterattack with one of Poncho's hardest moves, the unfair tornado

"...Eh?"

Poncho blocked General Brute's sword wave by using unfair tornado. Unfair tornado ate up the sword wave, while dealing damage to General Brute as well

"Huh? What just happened? Hey Shun, what did you do just now?! You blocked my sword wave that easily!"

"Oh that? That was one of Poncho's moves, unfair tornado"

"U-U-Unfair tornado?! You can use that move?!"

"Yeah. It really isn't that hard once you get used to it"

The people around me couldn't believe what they were seeing

"Dude...is this guy for real...?"

"What even was that...?"

"Was Poncho really this broken?"

Some of the people even started thinking that I might be cheating in some way, since they never saw Poncho's techniques be used by a player before...

the confused Masa couldn't also believe to what I said just now

"You're really saying that?! Its one of the hardest moves you know! It took 50% of my HP!"

"Hardest moves means higher damage right? You should've expected that"

"How could I?! Its the first time Ive seen someone used Poncho's unfair tornado against me!"

"Well you better brace yourself for the second time! Masa!"

"I've seen it once, I won't fail the second time!"

So, I used another unfair tornado against Masa

"I told you, I've seen it before, so I know now what to do!"

but this time, Masa avoided it by jumping...which is...

...

...The worst thing that you could do...

"Ah...you're dead"

"...What?"

As Masa's General Brute jumped off to avoid Poncho's tornado, the tornado sucked General Brute in and that ended up with me winning round 1 easily

...

"HUUUH?! WHAT WAS THAT?!"

"You had just activated unfair tornado's passive, Masa"

"Huh?! Passive?! That move had a passive?!"

"Dude! he just two shot Thorns! with just that move!"

"I'm now convinced that this guy is for real"

Although there were more people who thinks that I'm cheating, there were also people who are getting caught on to something...

"Yeah, Poncho's unfair tornado had a passive where if an opponent jumped over it, they would instantly get sucked in and it'll be a win for the user"

"What?! That's just unfair!"

"I mean...its called 'Unfair Tornado' for a reason..."

"Aghh! I'm gonna have my revenge in the second round now that I know how Poncho's unfair tornado work! I won't lose this time!"

Poncho's unfair tornado had 2 descriptions. The first one was that its tornado can absorb anything except water type moves. Water type moves disperses the tornado, hence losing its momentum over time, that's also the only type that Poncho's unfair tornado is weak against. Fire type moves on the other hand, enhances the tornado's attack power from 50% to a 100% literally killing the opponent. Its basically the weakness of all characters who uses fire moves. You can also only use unfair tornado 3 times for the whole battle

Unfair tornado's second description was about its passive. Its passive sucks the opponent who chooses to avoid the tornado by jumping over it, resulting a loss for them afterwards. Although its passive becomes useless if more people know how to counter it, its still powerful if they don't.

Second round has begun and I finally let out my last unfair tornado. This time, Masa used his gun to fire at the tornado

"Oh? Bullet Dispel?"

"Shocked huh? I almost forgot General Brute has this move too"

"Same here, its been a while since I've seen that move"

"Now that you've seen it, there's no way you're going to release more unfair tornado's now, would you?"

"Yeah, you're just going to dispel it anyways"

Plus, I can only use it 3 times for the whole battle. I assume he didn't know that, so that was a good reason to not use it

"I don't know how many moves you've learned, but you'll be vulnerable once I got close to you enough!"

Masa started charging at me with full speed, I've seen it coming already because back in middle school, many players used to battle me at close range. Although it seems to be the most logical thing to do, Poncho also has a move for close range enemies

*Bam*

Poncho uppercut General Brute, sending him upwards

"Huh?! Did you just uppercut me?! Just when I was about to strike?!"

"Oh, I'm not done yet"

While smirking, I used Poncho's 2 moves, uppercut and whirlpool. Uppercut for the start of the sequence, and whirlpool for the finishing blow, uppercut and whirlpool in my opinion, were the best moves that is perfect for close combat enemies. It deals endless physical damage against the opponent and has been one of my favorite moves ever since

"An uppercut and an endless strike against the opponent?! It didn't even gave me time to recover!"

"That's Poncho's two other moves, uppercut and whirlpool. I've combined those two moves for the best results. Its perfect for close combat enemies"

"'Perfect' ?! That's beyond perfect! I had never seen a move where the opponent doesn't even get a chance to land a single attack, not to mention, it even came from Poncho, of all characters!"

"Are you starting to see now how powerful Poncho is, Masa?"

"How couldn't I?! I also want to play Poncho now since I've now seen what he can do! Teach me how to use Poncho next time, Shun!"

"I'm not sure if I'll be able to teach you all Poncho's moves but, sure, I'll teach you"

And just like that, round 2 was over and I was declared as the winner. There was no need for round 3 since I've won against Masa consecutively. After we were done playing, the people around us were amazed by us

"No way, that guy beat Thorn?! The third best player?!"

"He also used some of Poncho's hardest moves! I'm surprised he can pull all of them!"

"He even combined two hardest moves which I had never seen before!"

"Man! Their battle really makes me want to use Poncho right now!"

But there were some people whom I think recognized me using Poncho a year ago

"Isn't there someone like him who was also using Poncho?"

"Now that you think about it, I think so...there were two of them who always comes together, but only one of them always uses Poncho..."

"By any chance...is he...?"

...

Uh oh...

"Nah! ain't no way that's him! that guy disappeared a long time ago!"

"Haha, yeah! Imagine if that was him tho"

"No way in hell!"

Phew...somehow, nobody recognized me...

...until...

"Unfair tornado, uppercut, and whirlpool...its been a while since I've seen someone used that move, It was exactly a year ago before he stopped coming to this place..."

In the crowd, there was one person who was walking towards our direction, it was a cute little girl who has bright pink hair, bright pink eyes, fairly skinned, good looking waist, and good looking legs to top it all off. The other people start calling her by her IGN (In game name) 

"Oh! Guys! That's Maria! The second best player!"

"Maria chan?! She's here?! I thought she doesn't come on weekends"

"She might had some free time so she might had decided to come here!"

"That might be true but, Sunday? of all days?"

Masa also looked to where the noise was coming from

"Wait...Maria? THE MARIA?!"

"Nice to see you again, Thorn. You're still unlively as ever.

"Tsk...not you again..."

The girl then look towards me...

"And as for you..."

"...?"

She pointed her finger at me

"You...You're Giddeus, aren't you?"

The crowd went silent for a moment

...

"Eh?! Giddeus?! That guy's the number one best player?!"

"I can't believe it!"

"But if you think about it, no wonder this guy can use Poncho too well!"

Trying not to gather too much attention, I tried to escape my way out of it...

"I-I think you're mistaking me for someone else-"

"No. I know Giddeus too well...I know you..."

I gulped down as I tried once more

"...don't you think its just a coincidence?"

"It might be a coincidence but, so far, only Giddeus and few other players managed to pull off Poncho's hardest moves. If he's really Giddeus, then he should be able to pull off what the other players can't"

"Only Giddeus can do..?"

Only I can do...?

...

"Don't tell me...!"

"Yeah, that special move. We'll see if he's really Giddeus with that move!"

"No way...Shun, you're Giddeus?!"

I doubt Masa would believe me if I made another lie...

"*Sigh*...I am. Its been a while since someone called me that"

"I didn't expected this...you really are full of surprises!"

"Ahaha...I didn't mean to..."

Maria, who was already ready to play, called me over

"Hey, Giddeus! Care to play with me just like the old times? The loser has to buy the winner a drink! How's that sound?"

Like the old times...huh?

I thought this girl had forgotten me...but somehow, she didn't...no wonder she knew I was Giddeus...

"That kind of punishment? Aren't you getting tired of it already?"

"S-Shut up! I'm better than I was before you know! I won't gonna lose this time!"

"Yeah, yeah, sure, pinky. Say that again once you're done playing against Shun here"

Looks like Masa was confident that I would win, no doubt...

"What did you just called me?!"

"I wouldn't mind playing with you but, can you make it so that the loser has to buy the winner three drinks instead?"

"Eh? I don't mind but, why three drinks though?"

"For my best friend here, Ryu, and my other friend here, Masa. I don't want to be the only one who gets a drink, so I thought maybe you could extend the punishment to three drinks"

"I appreciate that you're also getting one for me Shun but, do you really want to give this annoying browny a drink too?"

"Hey! That's mean, Masato! I've been quiet ever since you guys started playing!"

That is strange...I never heard Ryu talk even once while, and after we were playing...

...although he was hiding his smug face throughout the entire game...

"Oh were you now? You were so annoying that I could even hear your breathing while I was playing!"

"Just how strong can your ear can hear?!"

"Yeah sure, but don't think you've already won now, Giddeus!"

"I'm not gonna hold back either, Maria!"

After my sudden reunion with Maria ended, we started going back to the machine where I played earlier. I still chose Poncho because Maria told me to, while she chose Commander Lucy against me

"Oh? Commander Lucy? I was sure that you would choose water type character against me"

"I told you, I've changed! You're now seeing Maria 2.0!"

"Is it really worth to be calling yourself 'Maria 2.0' ? You only changed your battling style"

"Oh shut up! You're going to see just how strong Commander Lucy is!"

I know how strong she is, but against Poncho? Commander Lucy has always been Ryu's favorite character in the game. Although he uses a lot of characters, he always uses Commander Lucy whenever we play together. That's why I knew how to counter Commander Lucy easily

Since Commander Lucy is a long range character, the player needs to distance themselves against the opponent. Although Commander Lucy is vulnerable when cornered, her deadly shots make up for it

Maria started off by using one of the Commander Lucy's moves, Deathly Rainbow. Deathly Rainbow is a 50/50 move where the opponent either gets their HP go down by 50% or kills them instantly, resulting the opponent's death. Commander Lucy can only use Deathly Rainbow once per round

"Oh! Deathly rainbow! I've used that before! You also know how to counter it right, Shun?"

Ryu was nostalgic to see deathly rainbow once more. I can't blame him because he's always been using that move many times against me, he had fun whenever deathly rainbow always instantly kills me...

...Because of those endless deaths against him, I've finally found a way to counter it

I've used Poncho's another move, reflector to reflect Commander Lucy's deathly rainbow back to her. The 50/50 rule of deathly rainbow activated and this time, it instantly killed Commander Lucy

...

"...What...?"

"Something wrong?"

I said, with a smug on my face

"What just happened?!"

"That was one of Poncho's move, Reflector"

"No way! I've never seen Poncho had a move like that before!"

"Of course you haven't. Poncho's reflector only works against long range type characters after all, since you've been always using close range types, there wasn't really an opportunity for me to use it"

"Seriously?...Poncho was this broken?"

"If you think that's broken then lemme show you what I can do in the next round!"

"Are you talking about Poncho's special move? You know Poncho can only do that when he's in close range to the opponent right? That's why I used Commander Lucy against you!"

"You're right about that, but you'll see"

It is true that in order for Poncho's special move to work, you need to be in close range to the opponent, killing them in one hit...

...so before round 2 starts, I closed my eyes, cleared out the noise around me, and emptied my mind. I breathe in and out, and opened my eyes, I became more relaxed and focused than I was before

"...? Hey, browny, isn't Shun a little bit different just now?"

"Oh, Yeah, whenever he's in that state, he's ready to do Poncho's special move"

"Special move...that special move that only he can do?! Can he still do that?"

"Of course he can, he's Giddeus after all!"

Maria was hesitating whether or not she should use deathly rainbow again, which she can't anymore, but one thing she didn't know was Poncho's move, reflector, can only be used once per whole battle. I took that time to quickly got close to her using poncho step and Poncho's special move or also known as 12 consecutive punches. Its a close range combo where once you're within enemy's range, you'll be able to kill them instantly within 12 strikes

"!- That's too fast! you already closed the gap?!"

"Now, if you let me do the honors-"

"No- wait!-"

I did that just now and quickly killed Commander Lucy before Maria could even react

...

"What in the..."

It took Maria a few seconds before she could comprehend to what had just happened

"...just how did you managed to closed in on the gap that quick?!"

"I used Poncho step to get closer to you and then use Poncho's special move to finish you off-"

"DON'T MAKE IT SOUND SO EASY!"

"-Eh? You're that mad?"

"Of course I am! I had seen that move many times before yet I still couldn't find a way to counter that!"

"I see...I feel bad for you for once"

I said, as I smirked at her

"Its sounds like you're looking down at me for some reason"

"? Its probably just your imagination"

I am...I am looking down on you, 'Second' best player...

After second round was finally over, I was declared as the winner over Maria

"Poncho's poncho step and his special move...there's no doubt, he is Giddeus!"

"The legend is back! After a year of disappearance!"

"To think that he can still beat Maria after being inactive for a year...he's really good! A god at it!"

"THE PONCHO GOD!"

No, please, don't call me that, that makes me wanna cringe...

I just stood awkwardly while people around us kept talking about me. I was a bit embarrassed hearing them calling my name but I held it all in

There were some people who asked me a few tips and tricks on how to use Poncho, and my suggestions on how they'll be able to use him effectively, I answered them one by one as Masa, Ryu, and Maria waited for me to finish...

*****

After for a few minutes, Masa and I were seating at the arcade's food area while waiting for Maria to get our drinks. Ryu on the other hand, is playing the dance machine since there's no one who's playing it right now

"Here you go! Three drinks as promised!"

"Thanks, I really thought you'd only go and buy one to be honest"

"Don't be stupid! You know that I always keep my promises, even though I hate losing all the time!"

"I know, I know, sorry about that"

"Still, I didn't know pinky here knew Shun"

"Hey! I have a name you know! Its Maria Kaneko!"

"Eh? You use your first name as your IGN?"

"Yeah, something wrong with it?"

"There's nothing wrong with it, but its kinda uncommon to use your real name as IGN nowadays"

"Some also considered it to be taboo too"

"Really? I haven't really thought of that. Anyways, what's yours?"

"I'm Shun Amagasa, and this is Masato Fujioka. A friend and a classmate of mine. We're also in our first year of high school for this year"

"I see, and that guy?"

"That's Ryuuto Ito, my best friend. We're also in the same class this year"

"I see, I see. Alright then, I'll be heading off to one of those claw machines over there, You two should join me after you're done drinking. See ya!"

Maria left, leaving me and Masa behind...

"Wait, so pinky knew you before as Giddeus, but not your real name?"

"Well she never really asked me about it, so I didn't bother to tell her"

"No wonder..."

Ryu suddenly called me in to join him

"Hey! Shun! Lets play that song that we used to play together!"

"Oh! You mean that song? Sure, lets do it!"

I was excited to play that song ever since Ryu and I stopped doing it. That's why I was eager to hop on and start the game

It was a kind of song that you don't like hearing at the start, but it grows on you as you kept hearing and hearing it, I'm pretty sure some of you can relate to that

...

"Uwa- you're starting the game on Insane mode already?"

"You should be able to do it, right? After all we always played this kind of difficulty before!"

"That's true but, shouldn't we warm up first?"

"Oh don't worry about that! I've already got plenty of warm ups before I invited you!"

"Dude, I was talking about myself too you know"

We played the song on the hardest difficulty mode. At first, Masa was the only one who was watching at us, but as soon as we got halfway into the song, a lot of people suddenly started watching us

"What the- what's with this crowd?!"

While Masa noticed the people forming a crowd, Ryu and I didn't pay attention and still kept going to finish the song

...

After were done playing the song, the people around us started clapping. Masa he also clapped at us because he felt the need to as he was the only one in the crowd who wasn't doing it. The dance machine showed our final score where I only got 15,000 score whereas Ryu got a total of 25,000. Basically the highest score that you can get on that song if you're able to play it without breaking any combos

"Look at that! He got the highest score!"

"Seriously?! That was also in Insane mode too!"

"As expected of the Dancing Maestro!"

Dancing Maestro? people really call Ryu by that?

It also seemed like Ryu was still well known here...

"I didn't know people used to call you by that name, Ryu"

"Neither did I, but hey! I did it Shun! The highest score!"

"Yeah, but isn't it normal for you? You've always played any types of songs without breaking any combos though"

"Its been a year so felt like all of this is new to me, I'm really glad that this game was still here too...its kind of sentimental to me"

"I see, that makes sense. that's the game where you shine the most after all"

"Fufufu! Exactly!"

"I didn't knew browny was this good at this game. I should be calling you dancing freak from now on"

"Actually, don't. Calling me browny is better than you calling me dancing freak!"

Ryu and I quickly hopped off after we were done playing and had gone back to the food area along with Masa. We talked more about different types of games while also discussing back more about Poncho's every type of move in the game...

*****

...

*Shivers*

Somehow, I felt some shivers down my spine...

"What's up, Shun? Something happened?"

"I felt like someone was watching me just now"

"Eh? Who?"

"I don't know!"

It really felt like it was! but after a few minutes, that feeling disappeared...

"I was really upset that you guys didn't even come with me to the claw machine!"

"Our bad, Ryu invited me to play and after that we were kind of exhausted. We had to take a break for a while and by the time had gone by, we already forgot"

"Yeah pinky, its not like you'll be tired over playing a simple crane game"

"Stop calling me pinky!"

"Now, now, Maria san, what matters the most is that we all had fun together, right?"

"Huh? Who are you?"

"Hey! That's mean!"

"Ah sorry, I forgot, you're Ito kun right?"

"That's 'san' to you, Maria"

"Do I need to? We're in the same year after all"

Ryu, Masa, and I were shocked to hear what Maria had just said

"Are you sure you're not in middle school, pinky? You look like one to me"

"I told you to stop calling me that! And yeah! I'm a high school student! Got a problem with that?!"

"Stop lying to us, pinky. You look 12 years old to me at least"

"I'm 15 already!"

"..."

"..."

"..."

...

"Huh? Seriously?!" Ryu, Masa, and I said that in unison

"Why do you guys so shocked to hear that?!"

I mean, we were surprised to hear all of that of course since her appearance at all really wasn't giving high school girl aura. I thought she was lying at first, but I don't think she is if she's pushing it this far...

"Nah, she's definitely lying about her age, Shun"

"And I keep telling you, I'm not!"

Masa and Maria kept arguing about something while Ryu and I kept talking about how I could avoid breaking combos the next time we would play...

Masa and Maria took the opposite bus since they live in the opposite direction while Ryu and I took a bus that was headed in our direction

"I wonder which school Maria san goes to?"

"Oh yeah, we didn't ask about that..."

"Imagine if she were going to the same school as us, haha!"

"..."

...why do I felt like Ryu was foreshadowing just now?

...

Ryu talked more about the strategies that he knew in the game while I've kept listening to him as we waited for the bus to reach our destination...

*****

End of Chapter 4