Cosmic Love

A Dart in Both of Our Hearts

     I knew there were some pretty insane arcades in Musutafu's commercial district, but how the hell did I miss this? Staring upwards at the massive neon sign above the door to the arcade, Hado was bewildered. Guys really go to these kinds of places to hang out? Not just a café or something? "S-so, you guys go here often?" Togata chuckled at her question, a confident smile plastered across his face.

     "Nope! This is all of our first times coming here! I kind of just assumed Matt or Tamaki would have a plan for this since I'm not good at that kind of thing..." At this, Matther snapped towards Togata with an urgent expression.

     "Togata, you're telling me you didn't think any of this out? Not the price, time, nothing? What if I had to-" Matthew quickly cut himself off, choking on his words for a moment. His astonishment was something to behold, none of the others had ever seen him so expressive over something so minor.

     "I mean, you really have the least to worry about between all of us. You don't have family or a curfew to answer to do you?" Though his words sounded harsh, there was no hint of malice in his tone. Matthew's eyes widened for a moment, before softening and looking to the floor.

     "A-ah... I guess you're right Togata, sorry about that... I-" Matthew choked on his words again, his tone shifting as he hunched his shoulders in embarrassment. Hado and Amajiki both noticed his demeanor and shared a concerned glance, but decided to not press it any further.

     "No worries man, now let's have some fun!" Togata grabbed Matthew's wrist and hurriedly pulled him towards the doors of the arcade. Hado turned to Amajiki, who was motionless. She was unsure what was wrong with him, but didn't want to lose track of the other two. She wanted to be alone with Matthew, not Amajiki after all.

     "C'mon Amajiki, we'll fall behind if we don't hurry up. There's no point in coming here if we don't go in." Amajiki looked back at her with quivering lips.

     "S-sorry, I'm not good with crowded places like arcades."

     "That's alright, you can just stick with me or the others if you want. Let's hurry before we lose the other two, 'kay?"

     "A-alright... Thanks Hado."

     "Anytime, Amajiki. Before we head in though, I wanted to ask you about something."

     "Is it about Matthew?"

     "Yeah... You noticed it too, right?"

     "Mhm. I... don't know what got into him. He usually isn't like that, we've hung out as a group almost every day since school started and Togata and I have never seen him like that."

     "Weird, do you think it has something to do with something back home?"

     "M-maybe. I don't really like speculating about it though. It's probably something pretty personal, it'd be rude to think about too much."

     "You're right. Let's just forget about it for now and head inside. No point in standing out here discussing it."

     "Y-yeah, let's go..." With that, the two entered the arcade to see it completely... empty? The only people in there were Togata, Matthew, and a few employees scattered about. "It's...completely empty? What kind of arcade has such a flashy sign for such little business?" Togata saw the pair enter and rushed over to them, slightly out of breath. Matthew was attached to Time Crisis 7 and had no idea they had even followed them in.

     "You guys wouldn't believe it! I knew all of the arcades around this area were kind of dead around right now, but we have this whole place to ourselves! It's usually packed on weekends, so I still have yet to get in and check out all of the games." Togata's eyes were shining more than usual, Hado still unimpressed. Perhaps it's just a guy thing to get excited over video games. I don't get it, but good for them.