Matsuri's not so bad...

"Yaaaargh! I demand a do-over. Another round, c'mon!" Matsuri thrashed about in devastation of losing to me yet again.

"Hey, hey. Okay, just chill." I decided not to put up too much resistance to her petulant ranting this time around. After breathing out a heavy sigh, seeing Matsuri dig into her pockets again for more loose change does make me reconsider, however. "Are you sure you can afford to keep this up? How about we just call it quits and say it's a draw? I could even say you won, if you're that desperate..."

"No way! Even if you don't go back on our deal, where's the fun in claiming my prize if not in victory? After all..." Matsuri clenched her teeth as she slid another coin in the arcade machine "its an all-expenses-paid date with Taniguchi-senpai on the line." She says with a somewhat unhinged look on her face, and she fires the light-gun to select a two-player game.

I suppose I should explain our current situation a little more – the part about Matsuri going a little crazy while playing an arcade game is completely par for the course, though – Matsuri ended up following me on my way home from school and intruded on my wandering-about-with-no-destination-in-mind time and wouldn't leave me alone. Eventually I gave in to her hanging around me like an annoying insect and decided I would pay her back by kicking her butt at the only arcade game I have a surprising talent for: Hands of the Dead VI. After trouncing her scores a few times in a row, I decided we would play one last game, but this time, make it interesting. I said that if she could beat me, I would take her out on a date – such was my confidence. We went back and forth on some specifics, decided I would pay for the date also and then I proceeded to beat her again. Credit to her though, she was only a few hundred points behind me that time, but since then, Matsuri has been feverishly sticking her own money into the game and kept me playing. Our supposed last game was almost an hour ago at this point.

"Speaking of expenses, I don't want you draining all your money on this, Matsuri." I say nonchalantly while lining up a double headshot zombie kill.

"I have plenty of money from my part-time job, don't worry about it." Matsuri who hadn't blinked in a while had a bead of sweat dripping down the side of her head.

"You better not be cat-fishing people again, it's too dangerous." I said with a hint of resignation.

"No. I'm not. Don't distract me right now." Her glare was fixed on the screen as grotesque zombies clawed at the boat our characters were on from beneath the water's surface, as yet more jumped down from verandas and balconies, only to have their rotten flesh splattered mid-air and their green fluids obstruct the camera.

Whenever I play this game with Yuzu, she always gets queasy, not to mention how she would tremble in fear knowing that the big slimy zombie rises from the water with a chainsaw after this part. Yuzu, for as gyaru as she is doesn't handle gross things all that well and this is certainly past her limit. Matsuri, on the other hand, is completely unfazed and loves this kind of creepy monster stuff. This isn't to say that I, myself, am all that into it, but I don't mind it and sometimes like the atmosphere of horror games and movies. When I think about it like that, it's not so bad to have Matsuri around for these types of things.

If I were to give what goes on in her mind any thought, I have the feeling its full of nothing but perverted pranks and ways to snoop in on Yuzu and Mei. Right now, though, she's shooting zombies with me, because she wants to go on a date with me. I don't get the sense that she is up to no good or thinking about someone else, all her focus is with me right now and I'm having a good time... huh.

By comparison, when I'm with Yuzu, I often feel like I'm treading on eggshells. I have to watch what I say, how close I am with her and how we look together, it often weighs heavy on my heart. Our friendship is so dear to me that I know I can never venture some deeper feelings with her and must forever leave them unspoken in order to preserve what we have. Yuzu gets what I want to give her from Mei, that is an end of it.

"No!!!" Matsuri calls out in despair "That was my last life. I just can never shoot his stupid vomit projectiles fast enough and shoot his dumb chainsaw at the same time. You're some sort of freak, Taniguchi-senpai." Her previous rabid animal expression has turned more forlorn and dejected.

"Umm... thank you?" I was running low on energy to fight her freak comment and my thoughts had taken some of the strength out of my shoulders, although I could play that off as arm ache from the light-gun.

"But I can't..." Matsuri spoke softly "I can't give up now, I really want to go on a proper date with Taniguchi-senpai. Just me and you, you know." Her usual overly affection and teasing persona was nowhere to be found.

Matsuri, who would typically have such sharp and conniving eyes instead looked truly defeated, like some sort of athlete who had spent years training but missed out on gold by the smallest fraction. Whatever she tried, it wasn't enough to win. I don't think I've ever seen Matsuri try so hard and be so earnest like this before. Surprisingly, she is the type of person to tirelessly work hard for her friends' happiness but can only ever lie, cheat and steal for her own. For once though, even if it was something as silly as an arcade game, Matsuri really gave her all for herself. Looking back at her burnt-out face, even I think she looks pretty cute having put in her best effort. She really is a good kid at the end of the day, at times like this, I'm happy to have her around.

"Hey, Matsuri, how about we forget our deal and do it like this instead:" Matsuri uses whatever energy remained in her body to turn her face towards mine "The film version of this of this game comes out in the cinema next weekend – that's kind of why I thought to go play it – why don't we just go see it together?" I holster my gun away to further signal I'm done playing.

"What? We just go see it?" Matsuri seemed to be waiting for a catch, another bet of some kind.

"Yes, let's. No games or wagers." I give her my best smile to perk her up.

"Huh, that doesn't even make sense..." Matsuri seemed to not grasp that people can just hang out because they want to.

"Exactly. Or, rather," I clear my throat "want to go on a date with me?" I fail to grasp that I just asked that as plainly as I did. Before I know it, Matsuri has thrown her arms around me.

"Taniguchi-senpai, I though you'd never ask!" Her energy levels had been set back to max.

"You tried your best, I figured even you deserve a reward from time to time, that's all. It's not like I could ask Yuzu to go and see it with me anyway." I try and play it off coolly.

"I hear ya. As much as it would be fun to hear Yuzu's screams, you and I can have our own fun, Taniguchi-senpai." I feel Matsuri squeeze me tighter as she schemes something in her mind.

"Yeah, yeah. Don't get your hopes up." This felt incredibly pointless to say.

"Eeeep! I'm so excited Taniguchi-senpai, we can finally be the getting-over-YOU-zu duo." The what duo? Well, whatever. I let that comment pass. Deep down, I understood what she meant. Instead, I stroked Matsuri's hair – who still hadn't let go of me.

"Fine. I'm looking forwards to it as well, Matsuri...-chan." I really am glad to have Matsuri around... sometimes.