Following Rio’s suggestion, the trio set out to the arcade near the station.
Yui bestowed upon Yuuki “the honor of tagging behind”, so while she and Rio walked shoulder to shoulder, he followed closely behind, in true stalker fashion.
Yuuki saw no reason to complain. The objective was for those two to have a good time, after all. The problem was that they drew so many eyes, he was afraid he’d actually get labeled as a stalker. It felt like every guy snuck in a passing glance or two.
“I still can’t believe I heard the word ‘arcade’ come out of your mouth.”
“R-Really?”
“You don’t seem like the arcade going type, is all.”
Yuuki listened in on their conversation, his ears pricked. He wanted to figure out why there was this weird metaphorical distance between the two.
At first Yui would ask questions like “what did you have for breakfast” or “where’d you get those clothes” which Rio would answer but then they just... stopped.
Yuuki was under the impression that women could blabber on and on and on without an end in sight, and yet there it was, pure silence.
Maybe I should get the ball rolling again.
He recalled the anime movie Mina had roped him into watching yesterday afternoon.
“‘Silence, boy!’ or ‘You’re… beautiful.’ Which quote do you think is more memorable?”
Yui shot him a quick glance before turning back just as quickly, as if telling him to zip it.
He then started hearing bits and pieces of conversation again, Yui doing most of the talking while Rio just kind of listened.
Eventually, awkward step after awkward step, they made it to ekimae-dori. The pedestrian traffic instantly shot up and so did the number of shops.
On their way to the arcade, Yuuki saw a video game demo playing.
In a second attempt at getting the ball rolling, he pointed at the monitor. “Look, it’s the game you’re so good at.” The game on screen just happened to be the one Yui got ow... played the other day. She shot Yuuki a glare, then proceeded to ignore him. “Look, it’s the game you love so much.” He rephrased, only to be shot an even nastier glare and, once again, ignored. It was as if she wanted to avoid any mention of the incident.
She’s still not over it.
“The game Yui loves so much...” Rio, however, appeared to show interest, abruptly stopping to gaze at the monitor.
Yui begrudgingly halted her stride and, as if to divert the topic, said, “You don’t strike me as much of a gamer, Rio.”
“I-I don’t really mind video games but they’re just that-- games.”
“Get a load of Ms. Cool over here.”
Why are we putting on airs, just say you want to play together or something.
Yui urged her on, ending the topic just like that.
As they came upon a building with a bookshop further down ekimae-dori, Yui stopped. “Ah, almost forgot.” She said. “Mind if I drop by here?”
“Not at all, go ahead.”
Seeing Rio nod, Yui rushed headfirst into the building. She immediately went up the elevator by the entrance, to the second floor comic book corner.
Yui then took out a manga from a neat stack right in front of the entrance. It was a relatively popular shounen series that had an anime adaption. Even Yuuki knew about it.
“New volume’s out, huh. You a fan?”
“’Course. Fades are the cutest.”
“How... basic.”
“Silence, cool guy who turned out to be a ghoul guy.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Ohoho.” Yui laughed, holding her palm below her mouth. She then turned toward Rio, who was staring at the manga stack. “Rio you... don’t seem like much of a manga person, either. Novel reader, maybe.”
“W-Well, manga are for children.”
Say you’d like to try reading one, come on.
Yuuki couldn’t take it anymore, so he whispered, “Tell her you’d like to try reading one.”
“Re-Reading? I, err...”
As she struggled to get an answer out, Yui started to get suspicious. “What are you two whispering about, hmm?”
“Just translating for Rio.”
“Mm-hmm. Can’t decipher untranslated Yui-nese?”
More like I’m trying to translate Rio-nese into something more honest.
Though Yui-nese would’ve definitely benefited from a translation. God knows it would’ve made Yuuki’s life a whole lot easier.
“I also see you’ve taken to calling her Rio. How nice. How very, very nice.” Yui gave each of them a narrow-eyed look.
Rio awkwardly drifted her gaze for a bit, only to shoot an accusatory glare Yuuki’s way. For whatever reason, he was made out to be the bad guy.
Yui paid for her stuff and left the bookshop. She became even less talkative, leading to another reign of silence.
Surely but awkwardly, they arrived at the arcade.
It was one of the larger arcades in the area, its building two stories tall.
Yuuki never really came here by himself but Keitarou’d bring up quite often. It was a rather popular spot among students.
They were bombarded with noise from all sides the second they set foot inside: bassy game tracks, sound effects, coins clinking.
Rio, the suggestor, darted her eyes about all suspect like. She didn’t seem very accustomed to the environment, yet she took charge regardless, staggering forth. Yuuki and Yui followed.
“It’s been too long.” Yui looked around, excitement in her voice. She appeared to have eased up a little, her face softening, her gait light.
“Ah.” Rio, leading with a serious look on her face meanwhile, abruptly stopped.
Following her gaze revealed a couple of picture booths. This was Rio’s chance to get her picture taken with Yui.
Knowing Yui, she’ll definitely be like “Let’s go take our picture together, Rio. What’s that? You want to join us too, Yuuki? Oh, alright.” Yuuki thought, asking, “Yui, how would you like to--”
“Not interested. Nope.”