Chapter 17: Chapter 5- Just a Normal Day

Today was a free day for us, so I decided to sleep in a bit, or at least that’s what I attempted to do. Unfortunately, I am used to waking up extremely early, so my body got used to it.

I looked at my smart watch, which was placed at the side of my bed charging, and looked at the time: 5:55 am.

Some say it’s a sign that significant change is imminent, well, that’s if I want to get all metaphysical.

As I was about to put the watch down, I saw a red speech bubble next to the Yudell icon—a private message, I supposed.

Tapping on the app, I see it’s from Fukami, and it was sent 9 hours ago.

R48393722-4: I know this is short notice. Kaneko-kun, but do you want to hang out tomorrow? Matsukura-kun invited me, and I think it would be a good bonding experience as classmates. Sent yesterday at 9:55 p.m.

That sounds like a very crowded place, and I still heavily dislike those. However she still took time out of her day to invite me, so maybe I can stay for a bit and then make up some excuse for why I have to leave.

I sent back a message agreeing to the plan and rolled over onto my back. As someone who wants peace and quiet, I am ironically putting myself in situations that bring about the opposite of that.

Another message came in—was it Fukami? No, it can’t be because replying that quickly is weird. I believe you should wait at least two minutes before responding to a message, even if you already have your device in your hand.

Still, I checked it out, and it wasn’t from her. Interesting enough, I realized that I had been added to a group chat.

D598142412-4: Fukami-chan just told us that she invited you to our hangout. All I have to say is, don’t get any "smart ideas" when you see her outside of her school uniform.

E419420495-4: Exactly. I personally set this up so I can make my move on her.

I replied to the messages with a "???"

That was the only reasonable response I could send, given the situation I am in.

An instant reply came back.

E41942095-4: This is Matsukura. By the way, you dingus, we got your number from Fukami -chan.

D598142412-4: Hisoka here, I just thought it was funny if we spooked you for a bit.

M9192189-4 (me): Well, I am neither spooked nor laughing. 

I think I may punch the both of them for sending this stupidity to my inbox.

E41942095-4: Stop complaining and meet us in front of the school’s entertainment area for 11 a.m.

Sighing, I sent Okay and pulled the sheets over my head.

*

As I approached the meeting place in a leisurely manner, Fukami observed the area before waving at me, "Kaneko-kun, I am glad that you decided to join us."

I can see why Matsukura was concerned about inviting me as well; Fukami wore a casual dress that highlighted all her noticeable assets, from her large bosoms to her equally impressive ass. If I were genuinely interested in relationships, I would’ve tossed my hat in the ring.

"Thanks for having me; are we all set to go?"

Hisoka grinned while saying, "Yeah, we are, so let’s get to it."

He then placed his arm around Matsukura’s skinny neck and proudly said, "The movie we picked out is badass."

Yeah, I highly doubt what he considers badass and what I consider will be the same thing. However, I noticed that there is a lack of Takanawa in the group; maybe he is just busy right now.

"Ok, guys, let’s get a move on," said Fukami as she began her match.

I can see why I was invited at the last minute; she most likely felt a bit weird going out with two men, but adding a third one makes no sense.

As the four of us began to walk, I placed my hands in my pockets and exhaled.

Fukami turned her attention towards me and asked, "How are you enjoying things so far?"

"Well, despite some things, I’m just only finding out. It has been an okay experience; I’m silently hoping that nothing too extreme happens."

"I am glad to hear that."

Matsukura gave me the stink eye as if I were forcing Fukami to speak to me.

Sigh. I could never understand people when it came to these silly things.

Feeling a bit bad, I directed the conversation to Matsukura by asking, "Where did you get your shirt from? I like it."

The shirt is a floral themed with the lightest shade of purple, something a person would wear for vacation. I’m not sure if I would wear something like that considering I prefer darker colors.

Fukami finally publicly acknowledged the shirt as well, complimenting him on it.

“You really like it?!” squealed Matsukura, who couldn’t contain his excitement.

Hisoka gave me a thumb up when he noticed my attempt and fell back so he could walk next to me, leaving Fukami and Matsukura to chat about shirts. I mean, it’s not the most interesting topic, but it’s still a conversation none the less.

Please don’t tell me that I'd have to act like a wing man for the rest of the day, that seems like a full time job to which I’m not getting paid one red cent

I gave a side-eye to Hisoka, who seemed a bit anxious when it came to them speaking. Does he have a crush on her as well?

After a bit, we were in front of the ticket booth. Well, today is only half off all movie tickets, so whoever set this up picked an excellent day.

The only downside is that the place may be crowded and tickets may be sold out.

Fukami leaned in closer to the counter of the booth and said, "Four tickets to the 12 p.m. showing of Darkest Night, please."

The cashier looked at his computer screen and replied, "My apologies, but we only have tickets for the 1:30 pm showing."

Sigh, one of them should have secured tickets a lot earlier but there’s no used mentally complaining about it now.

I checked my watch and noted the time was 11:25 am, which means we would have a lot of time to burn.

Hisoka kicked the booth, the cashier sat in and complained, "This is a pain, but we’ll take the tickets."

Not like we have a choice on the matter.

After the transaction was made, we walked around for a bit. We were clearly unsure what to do with the extra time on our hands. I would prepare not to spend the entirety of it wandering about aimlessly.

As if the universe had decided to grant us a time killer, Fukami pointed at a sign that read "Game’s World."

"We can spend the extra time in there until the movie starts."

Hisoka and Matsukura seemed on board with the idea because they loved any type of digital game.

Once again, I wasn’t too excited but still went along with the plan. Does that make me the stick in the mud of this group?

*

Game’s World turned out to be a massive arcade with a sea of various modern anD-Classic games; my expectations were blown straight out of the water.

Fukami seemed dazzled by the bright lights and sounds that emanated from the wide selection that was laid out right in front of us.

Hisoka was basically like a kid in a candy store, and Matsukura had to hold him by the leash. It closely resembled a child trying to take hold of a German shepherd.

Our main objective will be to secure arcade tokens and just have an overall blast. It’s been a while since I entered an arcade, so I am a bit eager.

After each of us got tokens, Fukami broke off with Matsukura, and I was left with Hisoka. Still, I have no idea how he managed to convince her to do so, but all power to him.

I approached the first game, which was a variation of whack-a-mole. It was swapped out for an alligator head. So, "whack-a-gator" would be the appropriate name for it.

After popping in two of the three tokens, the game commenced, and I grabbed the soft padded mallet in my right hand. I began my brutal assault on the game.

 Smash Smash Smash

I was hitting all of them with relative ease considering that the tempo changed frequently and even if all the heads popped out at the same time.

Hisoka looked on and replied, "I bet that you’ll miss one eventually."

I brought the mallet down on a gator’s head while replying, "I highly doubt that, but you’re on."

"Put some tickets on the line right now," demanded Hisoka.

"Why would I do that when you don’t have any?" I asked.

A devious smile appeared on Hisoka as he pulled out a zip-lock bag filled with burnt orange tickets.

"Fine, you’re now."

The game continued, and so did my streak.

Hisoka sighed and said, "Looks like I am about to lose."

After a few moments, the game was done, and the machine spat out 30 burnt orange tickets, which was the arcade’s currency at the prize counter, Hisoka gave me 30 more tickets, which I won from him. Sneaky Guy played it safe by not giving an amount prior to me accepting the bet.. Still, I would like to get a decent prize from behind the counter, so I wonder how I can go about doing that in the shortest amount of time.

Hisoka went to meet Matsukura for a bit. I’m not sure that is a good thing considering we would want to give him and Fukami more alone time to see if he can seal the deal or at least make her see him in a different light.

I must have spent like 25 minutes alone playing no-ticket games because they were the most fun for some reason.

After a bit, I decided to catch up with the others, and Hisoka was shooting basketballs in a mini hop while Matsukura was assisting him by gathering the rebounds.

I’m surprised that he isn’t chatting up Fukami right now; maybe he realized that he was getting nowhere and just decided to enjoy himself.

From what I can see, they have a large haul of tickets, which is impressive considering how much time we have been in here; if you add Hisoka’s tickets to the haul, they will have enough for a great prize at least.

Shifting my attention to the left, I noticed Fukami was trying her hand at one of those driving simulators. I observed her posture and overall handling of the equipment. She seems very much like an expert.

"Fukami-san, do you already know how to drive?"

As she turned the steering wheel anti-clockwise, she replied, "My dad is a driving instructor, so he taught me the ins and outs, but I have to wait until I am old enough for my actual driver’s license."

"That’s cool. I may think about learning eventually."

My mother is hesitant about teaching me for some reason, and my dad isn’t here anymore.

She gave a slight smile and replied, "Well, my dad is the best teacher I know, so during vacation days you can always try with him."

As I was about to answer, I was cut off by Hisoka shouting, "Oh yeah, and that’s a high score!"

I turned to him in annoyance as other customers stared at him—talk about awkwardness.

Embarrassment instantly appeared on Matsukura’s face as Hisoka celebrated his newest life achievement by flexing.

The competitive nature of him knows no bounds and that will allow him to be a troublesome person if you were to compete against him.

With the world of confidence right now, Hisoka strutted towards me with a bold demand.

"Play against me right now.”

He didn’t even say please or anything along those lines, it almost feels as if he is pointing a gun to my head right now with his finger brushing against the trigger.

"Pardon me?”

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He then pointed to the air hockey table in a self-assured manner.

Oh, I see he’s trying to get back his tickets that he lost. It’s obvious that it won’t be that easy.

I scratched the back of my head and replied, "You have an intense look in your eyes, Hisoka, and frankly, it frightens me quite a bit."

Fukami clasped her hands together and replied, "Oh that match sounds fun. I wonder who will win."

There is a look of concern in Matsukura’s eyes when he heard those words from Hisoka.

"Kaneko I would decline if I were you. I've known Hisoka since we were kids, and air hockey is one thing he excels at. He has even entered competitions for it."

Well, there you have it, folks. This is the first time in my life that I am learning about air hockey competitions, and Hisoka is using his overwhelming skill advantage to win against a rookie such as myself. Woe is me.

In an attempt to avoid experiencing his veteran skills I declared, "I don’t think I want to play anything that doesn’t offer any tickets."

Hisoka puffed up his chest while confidently replying, "Then let’s bet all our tickets on this one game."

Spoken like a true gambling idiot. And that was very anticlimactic, considering that I was hoping to avoid playing against him. Still I will take up his challenge because deep in my heart I know that defeating him wouldn’t be an issue.

I reluctantly shuffled my feet towards the table and put in the required number of tokens.

Well, today, we play on my dime.

The game commences, and Hisoka is the first one to serve. With sudden swiftness, he hit the neon green puck with the paddle with such speed and strength that I didn’t even have time to react.

I’ll admit that I didn’t account for this level of speed during the game so I’m caught off guard a bit.

The score is now 0-1.

It’s my turn. I must equalize this. I hit the puck to the left and tried to bank shot it into the goal, but Hisoka easily deflected it. He saw that move coming before I even made it.

Hisoka sent the puck back with so much force that I hesitated and didn’t block it, due to the painful thought of the puck hitting my fingers.

The score is now 0-2.

Starting to sweat now, I hit the puck once again at Hisoka, who blocked it with ease and bounced it off the wall and into the goal.

The score is now 0-3.

Things aren’t looking pretty at all. Scoring once would result in a personal victory for me seeing that a comeback is looking pretty iffy.

I returned the puck by bouncing it off the wall, catching him a bit by surprise due to me attempting the same thing twice in a row, but it hit the edge of the goal and was immediately sent flying back out.

It seems that the universe rejected my attempted goal.

I could hear the few students who looked on snickering at me. My pride and ego are now wounded; around a minute later, the score was now 0-8.

My current feeling is utter despair at my unbeatable enemy. In sports terms, the stage is the 2014 World Cup. I am Brazil, and Hisoka is Germany.

It’s my turn to serve. Taking a deep breath, I channeled the power of several gods into this one play.

I bank shot it off the wall, and Hisoka easily countered it, sending it back with more force. Not so fast!

With relative ease I returned the puck when, suddenly, I caught a cramp in my hand. What are the odds of this?

Hisoka is about to hit the puck, and I had to quickly switch hands; otherwise, it's game over.

He noticed the opening and went for gold, but with the speed of Hermes, I immediately switched hands, grabbing the paddle, and in return, sending the puck back to a stunned Hisoka as I scored.

Victory! I wanted to remove my hoodie and run around the place to mimic an elated soccer player after scoring a hard-earned goal, but I didn’t due to fear of being kicked out of the place for public indecency.

The score is now 1-8. Right now, I still believe in a miracle comeback and that recent goal has put a new battery in my back.

To my not surprise shortly after, Hisoka put the final nail in the coffin.

The final score is 1-9 in favor of the veteran.

It is a sound and utter defeat, as I wallow at the thoughts of my lost tickets.

Hisoka curiously approached me and loudly said, "What the hell was the reaction time!  Your left hand was nowhere near the paddle as I was about to hit the puck back."

"I’ll chalk it up to adrenaline; after all, the game was very intense."

That movement took a lot out of me to preform so adrenaline is the correct way to describe the situation.

Hardheartedly laughing at me Hisoka waved his freshly won tickets in front of my face. "I can’t believe you lost 9-1."

With nothing left to do, I will fall back on the most plausible thing, that being complaining about his unfair advantage.

"You were technically an air hockey pro, so cut me some slack,"

Matsukura replied, "I tried to warn you, Kaneko-san."

Why yes, you did, and I still went through with it; clearly, the fault is mine.

Hisoka was clearly feeling good about himself because he immediately asked Matsukura to put all his tickets on the line.

The thing about gambling is that there’s always a rush when you win, and the loss always brings you back to earth from cloud nine.

Fukami excitedly said, "Well, that was certainly intense. Shall we look to leave?"

I stopped them and replied, "Let’s try one more thing," while pointing to the Dance Dance Revolution game.

Hisoka, who had a confident attitude, replied, "Are you that antsy for a rematch?"

I replied, "Fukami-san and Matsukura-san." while brushing off Hisoka’s attempt to crush me twice in one day. I would like to retain whatever is left of my pride after that level of defeat.

Matsukura paused and then pointed to himself replied, "Me?"

"Yes, it will be fun competing against her; after all, this is just for fun, right?" I said in an attempt to pressure him into playing.

"Unless you think that you aren’t good enough to beat Fukami, something like that is embarrassing considering that you call yourself a gamer."

Matsukura still hesitated a bit; I turned to Fukami and asked. "Doesn’t that sound fun Fukami -san?”

She readily agreed to the fact that it could be fun, swaying Matsukura’s decision from hesitation to complete agreement.

With one more look at her cute face, he finally caved and accepted my proposal.

The two of them approached the dance pads, and Matsukura put in the tokens.

He stood on the right, and Fukami stood on the left. The game then began. The sound of choice was a bit fast-paced.

Right step. Back step. Front step. Left step.

They continued dancing. Fukami looked to be enjoying herself while Matsukura would occasionally dart his eyes over to her, admiring her beauty. One can say that he is smitten by her, could it be lust or genuine attract towards her?

"Those two are really going at it."

Hisoka replied, "They sure are, but Matsukura is a whiz at this game, so he will win."

So I sense a heavy dose of confidence in his friend.

"I’ll bet on Fukami winning."

Hisoka howled loudly at my statement, "You don’t have any tickets left."

Reaching into my back pocket, I pulled out one ticket that I’d saved and offered to add 5000 yen to it so the proposed wagers could be of equal value and still allow the deal to entice Hisoka a bit more.

"I am betting this for all your tickets, inclusive of the ones Matsukura owns."

Hisoka nodded and replied, "Fine, you’re on, but don’t cry when Matsukura and I are spending your money."

Without thinking about the risk, he is still riding the high of his recent victory.

Observing the pair who continued dancing, I noted that they are in perfect sync, and their scores are remarkably close. Just a couple of fumbles caused Fukami to stumble behind a bit, but she caught up easily.

Matsukura attempted to widen the lead between them; however, if he started making little mistakes, that allowed her to lessen the lead even more.

Hisoka noticed it as well and shook his head.

I took the opportunity to say, "If you don’t win this, then your tickets are as good as gone."

Matsukura stumbled a bit when he heard that and said, "Huh?"

"Never mind him and focus," insisted Hisoka in an attempt to keep his race horse focused.

"I mean, you should really focus because he bet allllll your tickets. So your potential prizes are on the line.”

"HUH!?" exclaimed Matsukura as he heard this news while simultaneously missing a step at the same time.

It appears he is off his game, how unfortunate for them.

My dark horse in Fukami takes the lead for the first time, and now Matsukura is playing catch-up.

In a panic Hisoka walks next to him and tries to hype him up to win.

However, that will just add more pressure, which will cause him to mess up even more. The best course of action would be to leave him be.

After some time passed, they were both done.

The final score of the match is in favor of Fukami just by a small margin, even though he fell far behind during the last leg, he still managed to make it close.

Matsukura almost fell to his knees when I realized that I won the wager, and Hisoka wanted to throw up.

Sometimes you have to lose the battle to win the war, but at least I got my tickets back along with Hisoka and Matsukura’s. I should now have enough for something decent at the prize counter.

Hisoka turned to Matsukura who slowly got back to his feet, "How in the hell did you lose that?" Just four days ago, you set a new high score."

Matsukura scratched the tip of his nose and replied, "I was off my game a bit."

It was more than a bit—more like a lot. However, it is to be expected that he did go against someone he likes, so naturally he will want to allow her to win by taking it easy, and then he was blindsided by the reveal of the wager.

Fukami, who still panted due to just recently moving her body placed her hands on her waist, "Well, that was fun."

It appears that I barely scraped by on my wager, but it's still a win nonetheless.

Soon after, I moved towards the ticket counter machine and inserted the tickets. I could see tears welling up in both Matsukura and Hisoka’s eyes.

After I was done, the total came up to 600 tickets. So, I wonder which games they were playing that allowed them to rack up such a large harvest in such a short amount of time. It must have been quite a bit added to Hisoka’s previously won tickets.

At the prize counter, I selected a small rabbit key-chain due to it being in the price range, pretty pricey for a key chain, but it’s still a small memento of my victory.

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