*:･ﾟYou Bet I Stare ･ﾟ:*

CHAPTER 15 - my girlfriend

KOU
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Mitsuba and I eventually arrive at this large arcade that my brother used to take me to all the time. I haven't been in a while, but I knew that that would make it extra fun since they probably have some new things that they didn't have when I was younger. I open the door for Mitsuba and he walks inside, "Why thank you, kind sir—" He says to me as I follow him inside. We both look around in absolute awe. "Are you sure this place is affordable..? I only brought like.." Mitsuba digs in his pocket, taking out a pink wallet with little bunnies all over it. I then watch him count his money before feeling around for my own wallet, "17 dollars and some change.." He looks up at me as I dig in my wallet. "I think I have like—50 or 60 bucks to spare." I watched Mitsubas eyebrows raise, then he smiles. "Are you good at any of the games that are here?" He follows me as I lead him to the area that you exchange money for tokens, "I guess I'm pretty mediocre, but I'm not awful."

We eventually have our bucket full of tokens, and I was playing pinball as Mitsuba watched. This was probably the only game I was pretty good at. I eventually had the high score topped, and people were starting to gather all around us. I was too focused on the game to realize it, but people were watching me as the points racked up by the dozens. My token bucket was eventually halfway gone, so I was content with my high score. "Did you see that, Sousuke! Highest score yet!" I look over at where he was originally standing, but he wasn't there. "Sousuke?" I then look around as I try and look for him. There's no way he ditched me here, right? I continue to walk around the large arcade as I look for Mitsuba, mostly looking for his pink hair. I assumed that it would make him stand out since not many people had hair the color of his, but it was actually much harder than I thought because of all the bright colorful lights from all the arcade machines.

I eventually find Mitsuba twisting the knob of a gacha machine, crouching on the ground as he opened the capsule he just got. He eventually pulled out a little sea animal keychain, but I could tell he was disappointed. I walk over to him and look down at him on the ground, "Did you not get the one that you wanted?" He looks up at me, making a quick flushed expression before looking back down at the keychain and shaking his head. I then crouch down beside him and he holds up the key holder that he had in his palms. "No.. I've been trying to get the penguin, but so far I've only gotten a pufferfish and this random shark looking thing." My eyes meet his before I look at the shark key holder he got. "It's a hammerhead shark, you silly." I hold my hand out for it and he places it in my palm. "Hammerheads are pretty neat!" He looks at me as I hold it in my hand. "Maybe I can keep this one, so I can have it to remember today—" I look at him, smiling widely. "The first time coming to the arcade with my best friend."

For some reason, saying the words "best friend" to refer to Mitsuba hurt me and felt sour when rolling off my tongue. I was beginning to feel like we had a much deeper connection than that of best friends; like we were almost secret lovers with a relationship that was something that was only known between the two of us. I already knew that he wasn't ready to take things seriously with me just yet, but I kept wanting to ask him about it—just to reassure myself that he didn't silently change his mind.

Mitsuba had a smile on his face as he looked at me, "Yeah—best friends." He looked away for a moment before looking back at me. "Do you think you could use some of your good luck to get me a penguin from the gacha machine?" I felt the smile on my face grow a bit before nodding, "Why not, I can give it a shot." I stand up with Mitsuba and put 2 of my tokens into the machine before cranking the knob. I retrieve the little capsule that comes rolling out before handing it to Mitsuba, who was standing right beside me with a hopeful look on his face. He then opens it with his eyes closed before opening the little bag that the key holder was in.

A crab.

Mitsuba looks at me and gives me a little playful shove, smiling. "I thought you were meant to be a good luck charm, you idiot." He gives the crab to me and I smile along with him. "Ah—I'm only a lucky charm when it comes to pinball, I'm afraid." I hook the crab key holder to a belt loop on my pants before doing the same with the shark that Mitsuba gave me. "One last time should bring the penguin to me!" I watch as Mitsu puts 2 more tokens in the machine, cranking it per usual, and retrieving his capsule. He then hands it to me, putting his hands over his eyes. "You open it.. maybe the good luck is only valid when you're opening it or something." I crack the capsule open, "Moment of truth—" I use my fingers to open the unsealed end of the tiny plastic bag that the key holder was being kept in. My hand then opening my fingers up, revealing none other than..

A penguin!

"You can uncover your eyes now." I look at Sousuke as he uncovers his eyes, a huge smile coming on his face as he takes the key holder from me. "See? I just knew you were some sort of valid lucky charm! Even if you don't necessarily look the part." I chuckle softly as my head shakes, "Yeah right, I wouldn't be too sure about that."

Mitsuba and I continued to hang out around the arcade, taking turns to watch each other try and win prizes or beat high scores. Spoiler, Sousuke is insanely good at claw machines and Galaga. I was beginning to feel myself hoping that Mitsubas mind would be changed by the end of the day, but I felt terrible about all of this at the same time. I didn't want it to feel like the whole purpose of this outing was to get him to like me enough to finally agree to making things between us final.

After some more time in the arcade, we stopped and got some lunch—this was when we were really able to sit down and talk so we could get to know each other better. For starters, I had no idea he was older than me by a year. 17 to be exact. I was older than both Yokoo and Satou, so I was used to being the oldest out of my friend group. Well, besides Yashiro and Hanako—but there's no telling how old he would be if he was alive.