NOVEL NEXT “How much longer are you planning to keep your mouth shut? This goes against the whole idea of having fun that you mentioned.”
“…”
“I already apologized for teasing you, so what more do you want? If people don’t speak, then you can’t know what they’re thinking, Mika.”
“A few words of apology aren’t going to bring back the dignity I lost…”
In my other hand, which isn’t holding Hina’s, I have a paper bag. Its contents are a souvenir I received for successfully escaping a room without hints… but.
“Haah, Mika. Seriously… ahem, no one’s going to lose their dignity just because they like a character from Momo Friends. Overreacting is just not a good look.”
“Do you even realize how much worse it is when Hina-chan says it instead of someone else?!”
So here’s what happened. One of the souvenirs was a collaboration good between the escape room cafe and Momo Friends, and I found myself at a critical crossroads.
Should I get the wave cat keychain with a detective hat or the Peroro cushion that’s looking through a magnifying glass?
It was an incredibly merciless choice, and I couldn’t decide between the two. Why is the world so cruel, saddling me with this inhuman dilemma? I just can’t comprehend.
Why? I can’t even explain it myself. I suppose it just happened because I was hanging out with Hifumi.
That doesn’t mean I developed a fondness for Peroro. After all, he hardly compares to someone like Hifumi who has such unique tastes… let’s just say the barrier to entry was quite high.
To begin with, what I really prefer is the wave cat. Honestly, that wave cat is just way too cute.
But if you ask why I was debating between the two, the answer is simple; it’s because of Hifumi. I’m not even that obsessed with Momo Friends to the degree Hifumi is, so I figured maybe it would be better to receive the Peroro cushion and gift it to her instead.
While the wave cat keychain might just be a nice-to-have, I had to think about how valuable that cushion, which you could hardly get your hands on, would be for Hifumi. It was impossible not to worry about it.
Anyway, of all times, Hina was right there with me.
Of all things, she happened to see me struggling seriously over those two choices.
That misunderstanding led Hina to think that I liked Peroro seriously, which was the catalyst for all of this.
“But still, didn’t you get both in the end?”
“…I appreciate that, but there was no need to tease me that much!”
Seems like Hina’s started to feel more comfortable with me since she casually asked, “Do you like stuff like that…?” Of course, hearing that made me erupt into a flurry of normal reactions one would have about their tastes.
Seeing that, Hina teased me once more, which hit my mental state hard…
In the end, Hina used her chance to pick a souvenir and chose the wave cat keychain to gift it to me, so I suppose things turned out well. Even though I was complaining, I didn’t let go of Hina’s hand.
“By the way, you must be quite something if getting that ugly cushion makes your mood last for weeks. I’ve got quite a friend, huh… not really surprising.”
“…Eh? Hina-chan, what do you mean by that?!”
“I just meant your social skills are extraordinary. There wasn’t any deeper meaning behind those words.”
“Aha, that certainly seems like a loaded statement.”
“Um, Mika. Are you seriously doubting me right now? Me, who passed my share of the souvenir to you…?”
Sorry! I messed up, Hina! So can we drop that topic already!!!
*
For lunch, we simply stopped by a soba shop. Hina went for warm soba while I stuck to cold buckwheat noodles.
Even though the weather wasn’t that hot yet, after eating cold buckwheat noodles, I felt refreshed.
That meant it was time to keep up the momentum and move on to the next course.
Up until then, I had been underestimating Hina in many ways.
I had a preconception that she wouldn’t be that interested in shopping, so I figured our shopping trip wouldn’t last longer than an hour.
Three hours passed, and my precious time was consumed by shopping with Hina.
The scariest thing was that the bags weren’t even that heavy. I’m not saying it’s because I didn’t feel the weight—it’s more like we hardly bought anything at all.
Even though I owned a card that could practically yell, ‘give me everything from here to there,’ we hardly purchased anything.
I kept saying how annoying this all was, but whenever I saw an outfit I liked, my eyes lit up, and when Hina handed me some clothes saying, ‘try this on,’ I couldn’t help but wonder, ‘do these kinds of clothes actually suit me…’ and I diligently tried them on.
When I used to go shopping with Hifumi, I’d usually spend all day in the fitting rooms, but being on the other side of it felt… quite nice, to be honest. Though I wonder how Hina felt about having to go in and out of the fitting rooms so often when she seemed to enjoy herself a bit.
All in all, after poking around clothing and cosmetics for three hours, we managed to fill just one shopping bag each. Half of what was in Hina’s bag were things I ended up buying for her. Noticing how unaccustomed she was to spending on herself, I decided to use my own money for her a few times, and after that, she started buying things on her own.
“Mika. I never thought I’d say this, but I had quite a fun time with you today. It was a good feeling. I even want to go out again like this sometime.”
Wow, for Hina to say something like that is a bit surprising. I’m relieved that she enjoyed our time together so much.
“But I don’t have the luxury to enjoy time like this regularly. I know you’re busy too, but Gehenna and Trinity are fundamentally different. In Gehenna, if I take a day off, the next day brings triple the problems.”
…Is it that serious? No wonder Hina never seems to have any downtime. At this point, the biggest happiness she could find is probably escaping Gehenna or retiring.
“…But, do you think it would be okay to leave some time for a little fun like this every now and then?”
“Ahaha! Of course, it would! Yes, if we execute our plans successfully, Hina-chan will have more free time too. So when that happens, I hope you use that extra time for yourself☆”
“I’ll think about it. It does sound a bit annoying…”
Ah, Hina really is the type that needs someone to drag her along to have fun. I think the key to dealing with a friend who enjoys pulling away despite having a great time is to just not give them any options in the first place.
“Ahaha, next time we meet, bringing that senior administrator friend of yours wouldn’t hurt. And by the way…”
At what point did Hina start thinking today’s meeting was coming to an end?
“I thought this was the end?”
“Of course not. We haven’t even had our final showdown yet!”
“…Were you serious? Fine, I’ll accept any challenge.”
“Huh? No, no, I don’t mean to actually fight. If we do that on a day like today, it’ll just ruin our outfits! Hina-chan, what I was referring to was over there.”
“Over there, as in the arcade?”
“Ahaha! Honestly, I do want to show Hina-chan what I can do in a proper fight, but let’s settle it over there first.”
Well, I’m not planning to mess around violently with fighting games or anything. I have to admit that Hina’s brains will likely help her improve quickly, but it’s still quite unfair at this point.
Leading Hina into the arcade, I immediately withdrew plenty of cash, exchanged it for coins, and handed some over to her. After all, the best part of the arcade is inserting coins into the video games.
The first game that caught Hina’s eye was one similar to Time Crisis. It used a controller shaped like a handgun, and you could find a game like this in just about every arcade you visit.
“Oh, so that’s why they call coins a matter of life and death. It’s quite fitting.”
Surprisingly, Hina managed to stick around until the first boss before losing a life. Since I had given her plenty of coins, Hina quickly resumed her game and astonishingly made it to the third boss without being hit. After using another coin there, she cleared the game without taking damage even once.
…What’s this? Pure talent?
“Mika, let’s do this again. I’m confident I can avoid hits this time.”
“Ahaha, I really think you can avoid them, Hina-chan. But there are still tons of other games we should try!”
There’s something that can’t be missed in an arcade, and that’s air hockey. However, a one-puck game wouldn’t suffice to determine a victor between Hina and me.
Fortunately, Kivotos seemed to have taken that into account, as there was a bizarre variant with a wider table where you played with three pucks at the same time.
It was an intense duel. I couldn’t go all out because I had to control my strength, and thanks to Hina getting more accustomed over time, our scores remained neck and neck from a certain point on.
Thwack! Clack! Thwack!
As three pucks wildly bounced around the table, people started gathering to watch us as Hina and I tied in a thrilling showdown.
Suddenly, as the paths of the three pucks overlapped perfectly, two of them collided and scored past Hina’s defenses. One puck simply stopped right in the center of the table, as if declaring the end of the match.
“…So I’ve won.”
“Yeah, I guess so. It’s unfortunate, but it can’t be helped!”
However, it seemed the table didn’t account for such scenarios, and only Hina’s score went up. I decided against arguing about it being a draw or anything. Well, as long as it was fun, right?
“So can we consider this victory mine?”
“…Huh? That’s absolutely not the case. It’s best two out of three! Next, we’re going with that one☆”
The second essential arcade game is basketball.
This machine runs for up to four quarters of 50 seconds each, counting three points for each basket. You have to exceed scores of 50, 150, and 300 for the next quarter, and four balls are always in play.
Since I had plenty of experience, I figured it’d be good to allow Hina a practice round to get a feel for it. While I could easily shoot and score holding one ball in each hand, I thought that wouldn’t be fair—I’d stick to throwing them one at a time.
Hina, who initially struggled to get a basket, fell deep into thought before starting to throw the ball carefully, learning the feeling of making a basket. Once she caught on, every shot started sinking, and her speed increased.
291 points.
If not for her initial mishaps, she could have comfortably made it into the fourth quarter. It’s clear this match isn’t going to be easy.
“I’ve got the hang of this. You don’t need to practice, Mika?”
“Thanks for the concern, but not really necessary. Let’s get started!”
Since becoming Mika, I’ve been extra careful about controlling my strength, but this game relies less on that. It’s about repeatedly getting the trajectory right and putting the ball in the hoop without mistakes. A person good at basketball would naturally score, but not being so doesn’t mean you can’t score here either.
Clunk!
The balls began to drop. I unfortunately missed my first shot as it bounced off the rim. Although I expressed confidence in my earlier statement, perhaps I should have practiced a bit more.
Fortunately, with my next shot, I started nailing every single one as they went right through the hoop. Hina initially had a lead, but by the end of the first quarter, I found myself leading 144 to 141.
From that point on, we both found our pace and were putting up 50 points per quarter. But with that same rhythm, the scores weren’t going to close without any mistakes.
“Alright, that makes it 1-1☆”
“…I started too slow. I could win if we did it again.”
“Ahaha! I had a slip-up too, so even in that regard, I’d still win. I didn’t resort to any tricks.”
Honestly, throwing one ball in each hand might score easily, but it looks silly. It’s an unfair way to play.
“What do you want the final game to be?”
At Hina’s question, I fell into contemplation over what games we should face off in.
Fighting games are out of the question. Racing games? A bit ambiguous there.
Actually, most arcade games I know require cooperation, like shooting games such as 194x or puzzle games like Bubble Bobble or Metal Slug.
Honestly, unlike Hina, who seems to want to win purely for the thrill, I really don’t want to lose. I didn’t show it, but I got a bit choked up when I lost to that game’s unfair ruling earlier.
If I lose to a devil in a game, the Michael inside me might just start howling…
“Hina-chan, let’s save our duel for next time.”
“Huh?”
“I don’t think we need to determine a winner on such a pleasant day. Time-wise, this next game will likely be our last, and personally, there’s a game I want to play, but it’s a cooperative one☆”
“…That’s a bit unsettling, but fine. I don’t mind.”
“Ahaha, anyway, you’d be more interested in fighting me some other time, right? Let’s settle that the next time we meet!”
“Got it, I’ll definitely remember that.”
…Something about this feels like I just dug my own grave, or is it just my imagination?
Oh well. Thankfully, Hina didn’t pull a scared? on me. Otherwise, she’d have dragged me straight into a fighting game.
Anyway, welcome, Sorasaki Hina. To my Bubble Bobble…!