Double Date (Sort of)

"Why are we here again?" Skull asked Mask once more as they exited the train and headed into the heart of Inkopolis Square.

"I already told youuuuu. I'm meeting someoneeee."

"I know. But why do I have to go with you?"

"It's a secrettttt meetingggg. You need to makeeee sure no one we knowwwww sees meeeeee."

Well, that explained the outfit. Instead of his signature gas mask, the cyan inkling wore a black beanie to cover his hair and a plain white surgical mask to hide his mouth and nose. Skull wasn't sure what exactly made the outfit sneaky, but it sure as hell worked considering he didn't even recognize Mask when he went to the train station to meet him.

"Then why me? People recognize me way too easily."

As they headed towards their destination, he could already hear inklings all around them whispering and murmuring some stuff along the lines of S4 and turf war while pointing fingers at him. He was used to it by now, but that didn't make it any less odd.

"That'sssss the pointtttt. You draw attention awayyyy from meeee." He drawled as they entered the Shoal, a popular arcade and hangout place for the youth of today. The place was packed with inklings and jellyfish, all preoccupied with whatever arcade machine was in front of them. Some weren't even using the machines, a number of inklings simply brought their own handhelds and were currently taking up more space than necessary on the now unavailable couches. Luckily, everyone in the area was too focused on their games to pay attention to the two S rankers.

"Where is sheeee?" Mask muttered under his breath as they walked deeper into the arcade. This place had a large variety of machines, from Guitar Hero to Air Hockey. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say this place had almost everything. Mask eventually noticed two inklings near a claw machine and headed straight towards them. One of them perked up when she saw Mask and ran towards him.

"Masky!" The inkling with a bobble hat and short blue hair glomped the cyan inkling, who let out a wheeze at the sudden impact.

"Heyyyy, not nowwwww Bobble." He weakly tried to pry her off of him, to no avail.

Skull couldn't see well thanks to the dim lighting of the area, but he now realized that the two inklings were from the Blue Team who had bested all of the S4 over a year ago. Bobble, who was currently still attached to Mask, and Headphones, who was looking awkwardly at the duo.

Bobble eventually let go of Mask, who breathed in a much needed gasp of air. He then noticed Headphones and looked at her with narrowed eyes.

"Bobble, didn't I sayyyyy to not tell anyoneeee about this?"

"She didn't." Headphones sighed. "In fact, she didn't tell anyone that she was going to Inkopolis Square in the first place. We had to cancel training to look for her."

"Of courseeeee you did." Mask groaned. "Well, at leasttttt you're not as annoyinggggg as the otherrrr ones."

"Thanks?"

Mask turned to Skull, who was still patiently standing in the same place.

"We're gonna playyyyy some games nearrrr the back so no one seesssss us. Stay near the entranceeee until we come outtttt."

Skull shrugged. "Ok."

He turned around and left the two where they were, intending to check out the games near the entrance when he felt a tap on his shoulder.

"Hey, mind if I tag along?" Headphones asked, already trailing behind him. "I get the feeling that Mask doesn't want me with them, and I want to give those two their privacy."