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❝𝘪 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘭 𝘴𝘰 𝘩𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘴𝘤𝘩𝘰𝘰𝘭 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘪 𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘬 𝘢𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶, 𝘪 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘪𝘯 𝘢 𝘤𝘳𝘰𝘸𝘥 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘩𝘪𝘥𝘦 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘺𝘰𝘶.❞
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"There to your left, also to your right." Togame cooed. "Your health bar is really low."
"I know." I mumbled as I rapidly pulled the trigger. Pointing the gun toward the screen, aiming for my target's heads.
"Again, your health bar is dropping."
"I know." I said with a hint of
annoyance.
"Are you gonna die?"
"Just watch." I uttered, giving myself the time to scoop another spoonful of the melting ice cream Togame was holding out for me.
Just as I shoved it into my mouth, the screen rolled into a final level. Straightening my posture, I gripped the gun firmly, forcing my full attention to the game.
"Over to your left." He said again.
I sighed. Regretting for a moment that I brought him with me. But then again, he stood next to me, holding up my ice cream for me. I swore he had been holding it up for eight minutes straight. My arm would have gone sore if it was me.
"Almost there and...YES!"
I Jumped back in joy as I watched my scoreboard cover up the whole screen.
"Hah!" I turned to look at Togame. "See, I won."
He let out a soft chuckle.
"So, now what's next?" My eyes scanned along the arcade machines that softly glowed against the neon lighting.
"Look at that plushie!" I remarked as we scurried over to a side where the claw machines were lined up. "The design, plus it's so small."
I glued my eyes to the cream-coloured plushie. Was it a cat? Bunny? Dog? Maybe a hybrid of it all. But it has this devilish smile. It looked like it would terrorise the whole town. So cute.
"Shall I win it for you?" Togame offered, investigating the machine. "You want that one right?" He pointed at the plushie.
A laughter escaped my lips. "Don't be ridiculous, I can do it too."
"Nah, here let me." Before I could protest more, he put aside my jacket and bag, after that, he slid in his coin. A childish music rang from the machine.
The claw shifted in sync along with the joystick as Togame carefully stirred it toward the target. My eyes glinted, watching the claw recede down, grabbing the toy but then it dropped back down.
"Here, let me do it." I tried taking over but the boy insisted on winning it.
So, I let him. As time rolled on, I observed Togame. His eyes narrowed in concentration until they melted in frustration. I counted the amount of time the boy had picked up the toy before he eventually dropped it again. It was eleven times in total.
"I swear I almost got it." He said beneath his breath.
"You're wasting your money, let me do it." I gently pulled him back and stepped forward. "How about I win a plushie for you?"
He blinked, a slender finger pointing toward his chest. "For me? Really?"
"Who else?"
"What's this sudden niceness."
"I am nice...well sometimes."
A half smile etched onto his face. "I'm waiting."
"So, which one do you want?"
"The otter one." He replied. "It's cute."
Judging by the place where the otter plushie was placed, my chances of grabbing it were dangerously low. And I don't want to embarrass myself by failing repeatedly after sounding so confident.
I raised one brow. "Do you like otters?"
He nodded. "Hmm. I find them the cute truth to be told."
"Ah well, that's unexpected. Togame Jo likes otters." Digging into my pocket with a grin, I pulled out my phone and showed him an otter video I had saved. "What do you think? Adorable, right?"
He nodded again. "Yes, they are."
"Yeah, what an adorable sweet little rapist of the sea."
He shot me a puzzled look. "Rapist? What do you mean?"
"You didn't know?" A mischievous smile tugged across my face. "Otters rape baby seals, then drowned them before they carry their corpse around like a trophy...dark isn't it?"
He chuckled again. "Are you kidding me?"
"Nope, google it, go on." I challenged, leaning my palms against the controller board.
"Hmm." He opened his phone, proceeding to do just what I told him to. His eyes ran along the short information he read before it shifted to me. A faint sign of disappointment sculpted his features. "Oh."
I cackled. "You're so cute like that."
I bet he fought the urge to roll back his eyes.
"That's sad, poor baby seal."
"So, you still want the otter?"
"The seal would do fine."
The seal had been placed in such a way that it was tightly sandwiched between two other toys.
"You know, seals rapes penguins."
"Oh...about the dolphin?"
"Dolphins are absolute jerks, you know."
"You sure do have fun telling me all this."
"Anyway, this is the animal kingdom we are talking about, we can't expect everything to be normal. So dolphin it is!"
I began moving the claw, watching as it stretched down toward the penguin. I won on the first try.
I grabbed the dolphin plushie and tossed it to Togame, who looked amused.
"You're welcome, darling." I said.
After I won myself the cream-coloured one I wanted badly. The two of us began roaming around the Arcade, searching for the next activity to indulge ourselves in while the repetitive humdrum of arcade game music kept us company. There weren't as many people as I expected as we passed the children's playground.
"Hold on, is that Choji?" I asked.
The small beige-haired boy was busy dunking a basketball into the hoop. He does a little clapping and jumping every time he scores.
Ball still in hand, Choji turned toward us, beaming as he skipped toward us.
"It's [Last name]-Chan!" He greeted me. "How have you been?!"
"Hello, Tomiyama." I gave him a little wave. "I didn't expect to see you here."
"So am I, especially with Kame-chan. Oh, Kame-chan, I thought you said you weren't coming?" He looked at the taller boy with a question.
Togame laughed softly. "Sorry, sorry, I got a change of heart. So...it's just you?"
Choji nodded. "Yeah but I scored really good, you should have seen." He began bouncing the ball repeatedly against the floor.
"So you two were supposed to go together?" I exchanged a glance between them.
"Yeah, yeah, but Kame-chan bailed on me." Choji pouted.
I knitted my brows at the dark-haired boy, giving him a stern look. "How could you?"
A sheepish lop-sided grin appeared on his face as he avoided my eyes. "No, that's not true, I already told him beforehand."
"Also, why are you holding a dolphin toy?" Choji continued.
"Well, look at that." I announced, pointing at the arcade boxing machine. "I'm gonna try those."
I walked over to the machine, Togame calmly followed while Choji reached there before us. Inserting the coin, the punching bag swung down promptly with a loud click. I took a breath before pummelling my fist against the bag and watched my score grow until it turned to a number that satisfied me enough. A giggle escaped my lips.
"Oh, Oh my turn now." Choji was leaping back and forth, hand up in the air.
I inserted another coin. "Come try-"
It happened all too fast. Choji was too fast. I found myself sitting on the floor, cupping my nose, trying to stop the flow of blood. Tears brimmed my eyes while my nose stung. It was my most painful physical experience.
"TOMIYAMAWHATWASTHAT?!" I shouted at him.
I felt Togame crouching next to me. "Choji! You have to be more careful!"
The smaller boy's eyes widened as he circled and examined me. "[Last name]-chan, I'm so sorry! I promise it was an accident."
As I tried recalling what had just happened, I recollected Choji dashing before me. Then he jumped, raising his arm to punch the bag. His elbow had jammed toward my nose.
"[Last name]-chan, please say something!" He pleaded.
I sighed. "Please, Tomiyama, be more careful next time."
Choji quickly nodded. "I swear I'll be more careful!"
"Anyone has a handkerchief or tissues?" Togame asked and I shook my head.
Everything was a mess. The blood had sprayed all over my shirt. And most vexing of all was that it splattered to my plushie as well.
Togame had shoved a handkerchief or some piece of clothing to my nose. I took it from his hand and began wiping off the blood on my face.
My eyes trailed over to the taller boy and I gasped. "Togame, why aren't you wearing a shirt?!"
He stood there next to me with his torso bared, showing his lean build along with toned abs. I quickly averted my eyes and realised the piece of clothing I was holding was the shirt he had worn underneath his sweatshirt. To make it all worst, he was just staring at me blankly.
Embarrassment heated my cheek. I sent a prayer, thanking there was no one nearby to see our current situation. I promptly jumped to my feet, excused myself to the washroom and disappeared even before they could utter a single word.
Inside the washroom, I turned on the tap and splashed water onto my face, washing off the dry blood. After I was done cleaning myself up, I scrutinised Togame's bloody t-shirt with a grave expression. First, I was hit. Second, my nose bled. Third, he used his T-shirt. Fourth, he stood shirtless next to me, inside a damn public space! Of course, I was grateful he was there for me. He had been kind enough to use his shirt. But I can't shove off the feeling on how much of a disaster everything had been.
I stepped out of the washroom with Togame's shirt tucked between my arm and chest. The boy had put on his sweatshirt. The smaller boy dragged the taller boy around, showing him different games they could play. Watching them from my side, I wondered how close these two boys were. How long have they known each other? Growing up, Togame had always been the quiet type. The kid who was always in the background. He played with other kids, but he never formed a true relationship with anyone. They always grew bored of him.
I never did.
When he was seven, it was the first time he began showing his strength while brawling with other children. Our peers avoided him like a pestilence, either fearing they might provoke him or labelled him as a future delinquent whom they believed their time was too precious for someone like that.
But now, he changed. He became part of something more. He had friends. He socialised easily. He was in a group with connections. And I wondered if it was because of Tomiyama Choji, who was always calling for Togame Jo.
I smiled. I was happy for him but yet I knew something about him was still off. He wasn't content. There was something disturbing him underneath his demeanour.
As I approached them, Togame turned to me, beaming. "Does it still hurt?" He leaned close to me that I had to recline my back a little. "It doesn't look broken."
I gave him a thumbs up. "I'm fine, very much. And your shirt...umm, thank you, I'll wash it and return it to you soon."
"I'm really sorry [Last name]-chan." Choji repeated, dropping his shoulder.
"It's alright, really!"
"You wanna go home?" Togame offered, giving me a rather warm look.
"Hell, nah!" I refused. "I just got here, say what, I bet I can defeat you in every game here!"
"Is that a challenge?" He grinned.
And I did. I beat the boys in every game we tried.
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third pov.
No, they did not let her win. And absolutely no, they didn't go easy on her. Yet one by one, in a row, she won every game. Togame doesn't mind it. He usually hated losing but he didn't mind when it was [Name]. Meanwhile, Choji on the other hand looked frustrated as ever. He couldn't stop pouting. He couldn't stop glaring at the screen. He couldn't stop complaining. Only when [Name] told him about the sweets that were in her grocery bag Tomiyama was able to reclaim his friendly self.
"I feel like I forgot something." [Name] said, her [coloured] eyes glued on the screen. She moved her joystick while continuously jamming a button. Togame's avatar had no chance against hers.
The boy thought for a while. "Maybe, it's not important?"
"Yeah."
"Also, where is Choji?"
[Name] tipped her head to the side. "Saw him going to the children's playground."
When it was time for them to leave, Choji was nowhere to be seen. So, they went past the security and into the children's playground, believing he might still be there. At such an hour, there were no children in sight. The place looked eerie with its colourful decoration, its twisty and messy slides along with a large ball pit in the middle.
Togame climbed inside the ball pit and half of his legs shrank within the sea of balls. "He sometimes hides in places like this and waits for me to find him."
[Name] jumped onto the pit and began the search for Choji as they both dug through the multi-coloured balls while calling out for his name.
"Ah, by the way, Togame." She spoke.
"Hmm?"
"You came here only because I was going?"
"What do you mean?"
"You bailed out on Choji."
Togame sighed. "I told you, I informed him beforehand." He then faked a look of annoyance. "Also, don't be ridiculous, I just thought seeing you angry and frustrated over a game would make my day."
[Name] jumped and tackled Togame down by his back. Holding him there in an attempt to drown him.
They found Choji dozing off inside one of the slides. After waking him up, [Name] remembered what she had forgotten.
"My plushie!" She hasn't seen it ever since her nose bled.
The three of them eventually found themselves searching every corner and side, asking for staff and passersby if they had seen it. But to their disappointment no one did. [Name] was convinced someone had already stolen.
With that, Choji went home by himself, saying his parents were ringing his phone up. Meanwhile, Togame walked the girl home. [Name] surfed through her phone for another plushie that was identical to the one from the claw machine but couldn't find any. She sighed.
Togame held up the dolphin. "You can have this."
She frowned at him with a glare. "No, stupid, I gave it to you, and you can't just return it back!"
On his way back home, Togame saw a janitor coming out from the arcade. He didn't recall seeing him before. He decided to ask him about the lost soft toy.
The old man's face lit up in recognition."Yes, I've seen it!"
"Really? Can you tell me more?"
The man's face dropped. "Sorry lad, the toy had blood on it so it really creeped me out. I had put it in the trash can, and by now someone would have already emptied that can into a larger one." He pointed at a dark alleyway. "That's where it would be. I'm really sorry son, I didn't know."
Togame waved his hand in dismission. "It's alright, thank you for your help."
"I wish I could tell which bins it is but it wasn't me who emptied it. As you see, all the staff had gone home and I don't even know who did it."
"No problem."
As he walked over to the alleyway, the elderly man called again. "Those trash cans are shared by many in this neighbourhood, it's gonna be a hustle and disgusting task to find the plushie back!"
Togame nodded. "It's alright."
"Why are you so keen on finding the toy when you could just buy a new one...maybe it belongs to your girlfriend?" The old man laughed.
A faint smile appeared on the younger boy's face. "Something like that."
Togame bought a pair of gloves and a mask from a nearby store. After that, he pulled up his sleeves and used his phone as a flashlight to illuminate the dark path. He counted and there were ten large trash cans in total. He started from the nearest, spilling and digging through the content while the stench of death and decaying slipped past his mask.
If only the plushie wasn't so small.
He knew tonight was going to be a long night and he would need a long bath after this.
But he knew too that it would be worth it.
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remember when togame tackled sakura by the waist and grinned at him? that's what taylor swift meant by 'he looks up, grinning like a devil'