River of Stars

Chapter 6 - Friendship

After Takagi's birthday, Nishikata's days went back to the same routine he had been following. He and Takagi would study at the library some days of the week to review the subjects. However, as October neared its end, the subjects started to get harder. It was the period when teachers also started to give school projects. Nishikata and Takagi started staying in the library more frequently, he knew his failure was guaranteed if he let things pile up. He had begun to do the things he enjoyed less often. He used to play video games every day at night, now there were days he wouldn't do it, and every time he did, he didn't play as long as before.

Even so, this new schedule was, for now, bearable to him. He could still watch anime and read manga and play his video games, just a little less. He could also still hang out with Takagi from time to time, and with his friends, though not as much as before.

As a matter of fact, he was right now going to the mall to meet up with his friends. They had agreed to meet up to go to the arcade, and this time Nishikata had agreed to go with them, since he had been declining for the past few weeks. He was excited, since it had been a while since they had gone somewhere to hang out together. As he entered the mall and went to the arcade, he saw two boys the same age as him. One was tall and thin, with glasses in front of his eyes, Takao. The other, short and chubby, with half closed eyes, Kimura. Nishikata went up to them.

"Hey guys" he said, approaching the arcade entrance.

"Oy, Nishikata" greeted Takao.

"Hey Nishikata, any news from Hamaguchi?" Kimura asked

"No" responded Nishikata "He should be here soon"

"And let me guess..." Takao began with an annoyed tone "Nakai won't be coming, right?" he said.

"No, he said he promised he'd take Mano-San to the aquarium today", Nishikata replied.

"Well, that's to be expected, we'd need a miracle to get a day with both Nakai and Nishikata away from their girlfriends", Takao added.

Nishikata felt the blood going up to his cheeks, but tried to keep his cool "W-What are you even talking about?"

"You know very well that I'm talking about Takagi-San" he said in a mocking tone "Ever since you started to study like crazy for no reason, you've been on dates with her at every moment you're not in front of a book."

"Dude, you've been awfully close ever since summer vacation, are you sure you guys aren't dating?" Kimura said.

"She's not my girlfriend!" Nishikata said angrily "And we're not going on dates, we're having contests, I'm trying to get back at her!"

"Ooooh, yeah, of course you are" Takao said with sarcasm.

"It's true!" Nishikata said, blushing.

After chatting for a while more, they all went to see what prizes they could get with the arcade points. Nishikata and Takao were focused mostly on toys and action figures, while Kimura looked with desire at the candies and snacks.

At that moment, a voice came out of the arcade "Hey guys" and along came a tall boy, with spiky reddened hair, Hamaguchi. The group greeted him and all of them went into the arcade to play their first game.

They walked around the arcade and looked at the various options. In the end the group chose to play air hockey first, and Nishikata was feeling like shutting Takao's mouth about their discussion, so he went against him. Not only that, but Nishikata proposed a contest to him, possibly out of habit from hanging out with Takagi.

"Let's make this game a bit more interesting Takao" he said with a smirk "The winner gets to spend up to half of the loser's arcade points at the end of the day"