Chapter 16: Chapter 14: Illusive Date III

“Hmm… interesting, two cards of the arcana have already shown themselves,” Lily mused to herself as within her hands were cards with the back facing towards her. 

 

In the middle back of those cards, the numbers written were “VI” and “X.” 

 

“Lovers and fortune… I see; the game is progressing faster than I thought,” Lily uttered as she dismissed the cards, vanishing into thin air. 

 

“Well, this situation might be in part of the irregular that is somewhere on the board. It irks me to no end that I can only smell a faint scent of it, but it should be about time for Lilith’s move.” 

 

“And… it should also be about time I moved my own piece. While not extremely rare as Lilith’s, she is still a valuable piece after all.” 

 

***

 

 “Ahh mou… I lost again…!” Alisa cutely grumbled. 

 

“Now now, you told me not to hold back so I didn’t.” 

 

“But…! That doesn’t mean you had to beat like that, I couldn’t even hit you.” 

 

“Sorry, then want to have another round?” 

 

“Sure! I won’t lose this time.” 

 

“Sure you won’t,” I sarcastically said as I swiped the red card on both machines we were using; we were currently playing a fighting game.  

 

After finishing the crane game, Alisa and I went to various games inside the arcade. Still, because many of them were either filled up or crowded, we went with the game with fewer people playing. 

 

Which turned out to be the fighting game machines in the corner of the arcade.

 

“I didn’t know you were good at this,” Alisa uttered as we both tapped away on the buttons handling our joysticks, moving our chosen characters on the screen. 

 

“I’m not actually good at this, I’m just barely decent.” 

 

“If you’re decent then what does that make me?” 

 

“I didn’t mean to say you were bad, it’s just that you’re new to these kinds of games that’s all, a few more rounds and I’m sure you’ll be able to beat me black and blue… and you hit me.” 

 

“I did it!” 

 

“But I’m not going to lose,” I confidently voiced as I tapped a single button. 

The next moment, my character hit hers, losing the last of her HP at the end of the round. 

 

“Aww… but this is fun.” 

 

“Do you want to play another game? We’ve spent quite a while on this fighting game so it should be less crowded at the other machines if people left.” 

 

“Yeah, let’s….” Nodding to each other, we both stood up, and Alisa started to walk around while I followed suit. 

 

Finding a game we could play together was a hassle, or so I assumed as I watched Alisa curiously glance at every machine that came into her view. 

 

But then she suddenly stops in her tracks as she encounters a coin pusher; her hesitation is visible on her face. “Hey, do you want to try that one?” 

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“Hm… I’m not sure.” 

 

“We have a lot of time, so we might as well go for it.” 

 

“But I don’t have any coins.” 

 

“Hm… wait, I think I might have some.” 

 

Since this arcade works by tapping a card you load money into, the old-school arcade tokens aren’t in use anymore in this country for some reason. 

 

From a glance, the coins in the coin pusher look like fake money, but looking closer at it, it’s a bunch of silver coins and some gold ones mixed in. There could easily be ten or twenty dollars inside the thing. 

 

“Oh, I have some,” I voiced as I looked inside my green coin pouch in my bag. 

Inside said coin pouch were a couple of gold coins worth three dollars along with five pieces of silver coins worth 20 cents each. 

 

Confirming the contents, I took out all the silver coins I could and handed them to Alisa, “Here.” 

 

“Thanks,” Alisa replied as she accepted the coins and walked in front of the coin pusher. 

 

Alisa inserts the first coin, and then it falls inside. We watched as the first coin did nothing to help push the massive pile of coins to the edge. 

 

“Again,” Alisa uttered as she put in the remaining coins. 

The first four coins did absolutely nothing, as I expected. 

Slightly frustrated, Alisa turned around and handed me the last silver coin. “You try it, maybe you’re lucky.” 

 

“Sure,” I replied as I accepted the coin back and walked in front of the coin pusher. 

Without any particular thought in mind, I put it in the coin, and in the few moments as both of our eyes were on the falling coin, it had happened. 

 

“Oh, they fell,” I mentioned as the pile of coins on edge waiting to be dropped into the prize hole had been pushed out. 

 

“You did it, Iven…!” Alisa excitedly spoke. 

 

“I did…” I crouched down and opened the small prize door. “You can have most of it, I’ll only take what my coin pouch could hold, is that fine with you?” 

 

“Yeah, it is.” 

 

Free money, I guess… 

 

***

As we continued to enjoy what the arcade had to offer, we encountered a photobooth machine. “Hooh, Iven let’s take a picture here…!” 

 

“You sure?” I was a bit surprised. 

 

Photobooths are essentially a staple of any arcade date anywhere; they caught my eye earlier. Still, I didn’t know how to bring it up without sounding weird. 

 

“Yeah, these things are fun…! Let’s go…!”

 

“Woah-“ Alisa then proceeded to drag me inside.  

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