“Yeah, you got me,” Naoya admitted. He was good at social games like Werewolf, but when it came to machine games with simple inputs... “I had a feeling I’d get lucky today, but no dice, I guess,” he said as he bowed his head in defeat. He didn’t try to play off his failure—he was certain Koyuki would be disappointed. When he finally looked up, however, he found her grinning at him. “What?”
“No, it’s just... You were so confident and everything,” she replied with a quivering voice. Her shoulders shook as her smile grew wider—yes, she was laughing. At him. “So even you have weak points, huh? Doesn’t feel bad to have that knowledge in my back pocket.”
Naoya remained silent, prompting Koyuki to ask, “What’s up?”
“I was just thinking that I’m kinda glad I messed up now,” he answered.
“Quit being so weird, Sasahara,” Koyuki snapped. Still, she offered him another smile.
Naoya was pleased that her mood appeared to have brightened. Seeing her happy makes me happy, too, he thought to himself. He knew better than to voice his conclusion, though—it would only foul her good mood, so he kept it to himself.
“Stop smiling to yourself, already. It’s creepy. Are you gonna try again?”
“Guess I will, yeah...” Naoya checked his wallet, only to discover that he had no loose change. He looked around for an ATM, but was quickly interrupted by a familiar voice amid the din of arcade goers and electronic sounds. He turned to Koyuki and said, “I’m gonna go to an ATM real quick. Gimme a sec.”
“I’ll get this one, Sasahara. Don’t worry,” she replied.
“Nah, let me. I’ll be right back. Don’t go anywhere.”
Koyuki looked like she wanted to protest, but Naoya didn’t give her time to do so—he was gone before the words could leave her mouth.
His destination was not an ATM; in fact, he was headed deeper into the game center. It was an area with fewer crowds and an absence of staff. It was there that he found who he was looking for—Sakuya.
She was with a man—a young adult, by the looks of it—who was talking to her. Actually, it would be more accurate to say that he was hitting on her. Letting her go off on her own had been a bad idea. While he had been with Koyuki, she must have been stopped by this guy.
“Sorry to interrupt, but do you have some business with her?” Naoya called out. The moment the words had left his lips, Sakuya ran in his direction and latched onto his sleeve. It was an action not dissimilar to that of her sister, but he noted it wasn’t the time for such comparisons. He scrutinized the man and realized that he recognized him from somewhere. “You again? Didn’t you learn your lesson last time?”
“What? Oh shit! It’s you from before!” the man cried. It was the blonde delinquent with the piercings that had been hassling Koyuki before.
In a way, this guy was the Cupid responsible for Naoya and Koyuki’s relationship. Naoya never thought he’d see him again, and the man seemed equally as surprised—if not more so—by this coincidence.
Sakuya spoke up in a small voice, “Is this someone you know?”
“I guess you could say that. More importantly, you all right, Sakuya?”
“I’m fine, but you left Koyuki on her own. I will be docking points for that.”
“Fair point, but I couldn’t just leave you alone when I noticed you were in trouble,” he protested.
“I’m surprised you were so impatient. But that's not a bad thing,” she replied. Her face softened somewhat as he looked at her.
The man had been left with little to do while the two exchanged words. After a while, however, he finally decided to chime in. “Hah. Tryna play the hero when you’re just like me, huh?” he smiled mockingly and spat.
“Wha?” Naoya blurted out. The comment had legitimately caught him off guard.
The man pointed at Sakuya and said, “That’s the chick I was tryna pick up earlier, yeah? So after that, you ‘rescued’ her from my claws and snatched her up yourself. You’re welcome, buddy.”
“Wha?” Sakuya and Naoya both blurted out simultaneously.
Naoya pondered the man’s words for a moment before he finally understood. This moron thinks Sakuya’s actually Koyuki. To be fair, they did look similar, especially when it came to their distinctive silver hair. And the man hadn’t lied, per se—it was true that Naoya and Koyuki had grown closer because of that incident.
“You helped her out, but you definitely got something out of it, didn’t ‘cha? So you ain’t really in a position to give me some freakin’ holier-than-thou lecture.”
“That’s one way to look at it,” Naoya admitted. A growing sense of guilt started to brew within him. The man was right—Naoya had helped her, but had he really just “snatched her up” for himself? He would be no better than this loser, then.
“It’s 100 percent totally different,” a resolute voice stated from behind the man.
Everyone turned around and spotted Koyuki, a commanding air surrounding her. Her expression was grim, and her arms were crossed sternly. Coupled with her astoundingly good looks, it made for quite the intimidating presence.
“Wait, there’s two of ‘em? So the one I hit on wasn’t—”
“That’s right—it wasn’t her. It was me. If you can’t piece that together or even remember the girl you’re hitting on, you’re more of a braindead moron than you look. Honestly, that’s legitimately impressive,” Koyuki mocked.
“What the hell did you just—” the man spat, his face contorted with anger. In spite of his intimidating presence, she didn’t budge an inch.
“He sees me for who I really am,” she continued angrily. “He’s nice—he would never try to coerce women like you do. Please don’t lump him in the same category as you.”
“Oh, wow. You were scared shitless before, but now you’ve got a mouth on you? That’s just great,” the man grumbled before his hand darted out at Koyuki.
The attack didn’t quite hit its mark, however, as Naoya quickly intercepted. He grabbed the delinquent by his gaudy collar and shoved him up against a nearby wall. “I’m telling you this for your own safety. Do not lay a hand on her,” he threatened.
“W-Wow, buddy, you actually wanna throw down?” the man taunted shakily. His surprised expression—a momentary sign of weakness—was quickly covered by a cocky, daring smile.
Naoya knew that if the situation escalated, it would only result in the police being called, and he would end up getting in more trouble than this was worth. He could settle things on his own. He responded with a smile of his own and replied, “Yeah, I’ll throw down. I won’t be using my fists, though.”
“The hell are you talkin’ about?” the man asked with a confused expression.
Little did the man know, it wouldn’t be long before the only thing left on his face were the tears of utter despair.