- Rihona - 

 

The girls and I left the classroom. Once we were far enough to ensure Ryu wouldn't hear us, Niko threw me a question.

"What was that about?"

She was, without a doubt, talking about that blunder from earlier. Even though I had decided to get closer to Ryu after the whole thing with Fukuda was over, I failed to say anything meaningful to him.

"I... This isn't easy..." I replied, my gaze plummeted to the ground as if imitating my mood.

Niko let out a sigh. "I know, I know. We've all been there, right?"

Nakajima and Miyazawa nodded. The latter rested supported her elbow with one hand and put the other over her chin.

"Just like back then, you have to relax first, then you will be able to talk. The question is, how do we achieve that?"

"I got it, I got it!" said Nakajima, hopping in place, "we..."

 

 

"... are all going to hang out!"

"Huh?" Ryu uttered, confused due to what Nakajima had just said.

What she planned was to hang out as a group first, and then, at some point, they would make an opening for me to spend time with Ryu alone. I wasn't going to ask him out or something like that just yet, but the idea was for me to get used to being alone with him in somewhat romantic situations. 

As she explained her plan, we ran into Sugihara, who happened to be free today. Kowasugi and Tanaka had already made plans, so all that was left was to invite Ryu. Not like Nakajima was giving him much of a choice, though.

Having processed her words, Ryu told us that he had no plans for the day. He looked at the five of us and asked where we would go.

"Hmm, well..." Nakajima nodded and waved her index finger. Next, she put both of her hands on Miyazawa's shoulders.

"Yeah, you tell him."

"Me? But I don't..."

"Come on, just tell him already."

Soon those two started arguing, trying to pin the responsibility of picking where we would go on the other. 

I'm pretty sure you two were the ones who came up with this plan, though...

Letting out a groan, Sugihara took a step forward and clapped his hands twice.

"Okay, okay, since you two can't make up your minds, we are going to the arcade and that's the end of it."

"Yay, win a prize from the crane game for me, okay?" Niko said.

"Sure."

"I will win something, too," Nakajima said, jumping into Miyazawa's arms, "what would you like, Michirun?"

Miyazawa pouted. "I'm not letting you off that easily."

"Ehhh?!"

 

 

Our group of six left school and headed to the arcade. Niko and Sugihara held hands all the way there, as did Nakajima and Miyazawa. Ryu must have noticed it too, because his cheeks turned red.

The arcade wasn't that far from the school, so after walking for some minutes we made it there.  Once inside, we were greeted by all sorts of sounds; machines playing upbeat jingles, videogame cabinets, and the buttons on said cabinets being pressed in a frenzy. From a nearby machine, I could hear a boy groaning while the screen in front of him showed a countdown. He shoved his hands in his pockets until he managed to scoop a coin.

Right, we need coins.

I turned back to my friends. Unlike me, who took a while to process all the noise, they were unfazed.

"Let's get some change, guys," said Niko.

"You don't seem bothered by all this noise," I said.

Hikaru smiled, "You should see this place on a busy day. Don't worry, you get used to it. The first time Michiru brought me here I almost went insane, but now I can only hear all those machines and people if I deliberately focus on them."

"Is that so..."

Other than her, I had the impression everyone else in this group was the type to spend a fair amount of time in this kind of place. As for me, the last time I was in an arcade was eight or so years ago, when Dad took me to one. 

After exchanging our money for coins, we were ready to enjoy what this place had to offer.

"Let's see," Sugihara looked around, "there!"

He pointed to the crane games. Some had stuffed toys inside them, while some had plastic spheres with smaller prizes in them. 

"Which one should I take on?" he asked Niko while stretching his arms. We got closer to the machines and Niko began looking through the various prizes.

"Oh, how about one of those?" Following Niko's finger led to a brown stuffed animal. A koala, to be precise. 

"I have always liked them."

"I wonder why," Ryu said.

"Shut up."

He received a light jab from Niko's elbow. After that, she got closer to the glass and pointed to another plushie. "That one is cute, too!"

"A sloth, huh? Hmm..."

As Sugihara calculated which toy he was more likely to get, Ryu covered his mouth and chortled. 

I turned to the machine next to the one with the koala and the sloth and found Hikaru taking a plastic ball from a machine and giving it to Michiru.

"That was fast!" I said.

"Huh? Ah, well, yeah. These are easy once you know the trick."

"Which is?"

"There's none. Just force your way forward with luck! Worst case, you can make sad puppy eyes at the manager, and he will rearrange the prizes for you."

While Nakajima reminded me of the sad reality we lived in, Miyazawa opened the ball. She picked up the keyring inside.

"Look, it's 'Sigma-X'," she said while holding it up to Nakajima.

"Eh? No way! Wow..."

Here eyes were glued to the black-and-silver hero. Seeing her fascination with it, Miyazawa extended her hand to her girlfriend.

"You can have it."

"Really?" she accepted the keyring with a smile. "Ah, then let me win something else for you."

Without missing a beat, Nakajima inserted a coin into the machine, gave a few flicks to the stick that controlled the crane, and pressed the button. A few seconds later, the claw grasped a plastic ball and dropped it into the chute. She handed it to Miyazawa, who promptly opened it.

"Oh, a 'Cherry Spark' phone strap!"

Miyazawa's eyes glistened as she stared at the prize she got, a phone strap depicting a magical girl dressed in red.

I have never seen her like this. She only drops her stoic face when embarrassed.

"See, Aoyagi-chan?" Nakajima said, "It's all about luck."

See walked up to a nearby capsule machine and inserted a coin. 

"Like this. Let's go!"

She picked up a golden capsule from the machine. "What did I tell you? Doesn't this look like a super-special prize?" 

After opening it, she quickly closed it again and stared at the machine.

"Who... who put this thing here?!"

She looked at the capsule, then at the machine, then at the capsule again. Then, she looked at Miyazawa.

"Michirun, can you come here real quick?" she beckoned her while shifting her eyes around.

Her girlfriend moved closer to her and then the two of them turned their backs to me while examining whatever was in that golden capsule.

"Well, what do you make of this?"

"They look nice, I suppose."

"Think they will fit...?"

"I'm not sure..." Miyazawa tilted her head, and then she and Nakajima put the capsule away and came back to where I was.

"Ahem, Aoyagi-chan..."

That reminded me of something. I was on a first-name basis with both Ryu and Niko, but not with Miyazawa and Nakajima.

"Erm, you can call me Rihona..."

They looked at each other with a smile. "Then, you can call us by our first names, right, Michiru?"

"Yeah."

"So, as I was saying, Rihona-chan, you didn't see me winning a golden capsule from this thing, okay?"

"Huh? Sure..."

I didn't understand what she was talking about, so I simply nodded.

Turning my attention back to Ryu and the others, I saw Sugihara holding a stuffed koala. He held it out to Niko, who accepted it with a smile.

"Aw, that's cute."

"Indeed."

Hikaru and Michiru rushed over to where Niko was, with me just behind them. As they gushed over the toy marsupial, Niko's gaze darted all over the arcade.

"I wanna play something too..." she said, then her eyes stopped on a certain game. Five holes were lined up, each of them had a dragon head poking out.

"I'm in the mood to smash some dragons, myself," Michiru said, raising her hand.

"You can go first, then."

The white-haired girl took out a coin and inserted it, after that, she picked up the hammer attached to the machine and waited for the game to begin.

As soon as the first dragon poked its head out of its cave, Michiru hit it with the hammer. Soon after that, a second dragon came out, only to meet the same fate as his predecessor. She kept that rhythm for a while, but as the game progressed, the dragons started popping out faster and faster, causing Michiru to miss a few of them. After a while, a buzzing sound marked the end of the game.

"280 points? Not bad, I guess," she commented upon seeing her score on the screen. According to Hikaru, Michiru had just broken her own record.

"My turn."

Taking up the hammer from Michiru, Niko started a new game. In the beginning, she did just as well as our friend, but as the dragons sped up, so did Niko's arm. She guided the hammer from side to side, making it look as if a blur was striking down whichever reptile dared show its face in front of her. 

It was hard to believe that this was the same girl who could barely keep her eyes open during morning classes. Her lips twisted to form an evil-looking grin as the onslaught continued.

Now I feel bad for those poor dragons...

However, my friends maintained their usual expressions as the plastic massacre unfolded in front of them.

"299 points? So close..."

Niko looked at the scoreboard with a pout. Her score was just one point short of breaking the current record.

"Eh? So all that violence wasn't enough to get the highest score?" I asked.

"Looks that way. I thought I would break my record this time, but..."

"Wait, do you mean...?"

"Yup," she crossed her arms and grinned, "I'm the one who set the current record at this machine."

Note to self: Do not anger Niko under any circumstance.

Continuing our journey through the arcade, we came upon a racing videogame, controlled by a steering wheel and pedals.

"This one is really fun," said Michiru.

"Yeah, give it a try, Akaishi-kun. You too, Rihona-chan."

Hikaru dragged Ryu and me and made us sit in the cabinets. 

"Eh? O-okay."

Ryu seemingly accepted his fate and put his hands on the steering wheel. "Let's see..."

He inserted a coin and navigated through the game's menu. I did the same and soon enough, the race began. 

I'm not sure of my skills with these kinds of games, considering I have only ever played with a regular controller, but what matters is having fun, right?

 

 

Ryu crossed the finish line. Or maybe I should say he finally crossed the finish line.

"I swear I'm not usually this bad," he said, "but look at you. You did well even though you had never played with a steering wheel."

I had somehow gotten second place. In fact, I was only overtaken by an AI-controlled car because I got distracted when Hikaru sneezed.

Our friends grouped around Ryu and teased him for his poor performance during the race, to which he shrugged and laughed.

Maybe Ryu was telling the truth and he truly didn't mind losing, but then, what is bothering him?

Even if I wanted to use my gift, I couldn't read his mind unless he wanted me to. Maybe Michiru and Hikaru would be able to tell what was going on with him since their gifts didn't seem to "target" people the same way mine did. The alternative was to just ask him directly, but I doubted it was going to be that easy to get a straight answer from him.

 

 

- Ryu -

 

I was beaten by Rihona at that video game, so what? It was just a game, it's fine as long as I had fun, right?

Those thoughts kept me company throughout the day. When I failed to win at a coin-flicking game, and when Nicole got a higher score than me in a rhythm game, I told myself that what was important was making memories that I could treasure for years to come. 

Just like how my time with her ended as nothing but a memory. Even if my relationship with her came to an end, I could still be glad that it happened. 

Of course, ending a relationship wasn't quite like losing in a videogame, which was probably why this coping mechanism failed to distract me from the void I felt in my heart.

I turned towards Rihona. In turn, she looked at me through her red-framed glasses and I wondered if she could fill the void Mari left in me.

Nicole and the others went off to play a 4-player game, leaving me and Rihona by ourselves. I looked at the two couples from afar and recalled the way Mari used to smile at me. At the same time, I imagined Rihona lovingly looking at me, although the real one was currently looking at me with concern rather than love. 

Was there a difference?

"Are you okay? You have looked out of it for a while now."

"Really? I said with a hand behind my head. "Even without using your gift, you can read me like a book."

"I wouldn't go that far, it's just that..."

"I get it, I get it. In any case, thanks for your concern."

I let out a sigh and continued. "Lately, I have been thinking about... someone from my past."

Mentioning my ex-girlfriend in front of my current crush didn't seem like a great idea, so I said something vague at the last moment.

"Anyway, maybe it's about time I started a new chapter of my life or something like that."

She kept looking at me without saying anything. I could feel myself becoming calm by focusing on her eyes, so I didn't speak any further. We would have remained like that for a long time if Rihona didn't get a message on her phone.

"Ah, it's from my friend."

So she does have friends other than Nicole, Nakajima, Miyazawa, and Kowasugi, I thought.

"You see, I met her the other day while I was buying some stuff, and we have been getting along really well."

"In that case, you should send a reply as soon as possible."

She nodded and began typing away. While that happened, I turned my attention toward my friends, who had just finished playing. 

"That was really close, Michiru."

"I won't lose next time, Niko."

"Tied at third place, huh?"

"Sugihara-kun, next time, let's aim to do better!"

"Yeah."

With that, our trip to the arcade came to an end. Since we lived in the same direction, Rihona and I walked home together. Neither of us said anything until we were in front of her house.

"I had fun today."

"Yeah, me too," I replied.

"Uhm..."

She opened her mouth, but no words came out of it. Then, she leaned forward and...

...

As if she had done something bad, she ran without looking back and entered her home.

What's the big deal? It was just a kiss on the cheek.

A kiss... A kiss on the cheek. Yes, she kissed my cheek.

She did? She...

Wait, what?

After that, I dragged myself home. Mom asked why I was giggling, but I couldn't control it enough to give her a proper reply. I simply headed to my room laughing like an idiot.