Episode 30 – Boys go to the arcade together

“Woohoo Let’s go have fun on Sunday!”

Sato-san’s lighthearted invitation led to Saara going to hang out with Nagase-san.
When I nodded at the eye contact from Saara, she said she would chat with me later.
Then we’ll have separate lunches on Sunday.

The same day, I was approached by Seiichi and Shun.
Maybe influenced by Saara and the others, I thought it would be nice to spend my day off with my friends too, so I gave them the OK.
This change of heart is probably due to the fact that Saara gave me a push.

However, I’m not the kind of guy who would go out in the city with a bunch of guys to pick out clothes for each other, and the only thing I usually go out in the city for is cooking food, so it’s even stranger.
I was reminded once again that I’m usually pretty dead. ……

“Really, Sora doesn’t play outside at all?”
“You’re very fit for an indoor …… type, aren’t you?”
“Working out is a hobby that I can do at home, I guess. For reference, what kind of places do you two usually play?”

The two designated a place where the fancy enclosure flickers and the sound mixes with the noise and you can’t tell what’s going on in the end.
A place that would certainly be perfect for this uneven duo to play.

It is a game arcade.

“I haven’t been here much. How long has it been, …… six years?”
“Six years in an arcade is a hell of a long time. ……”
“As you know, I play a lot of home video games.”

I really don’t like the idea of paying for a long time while I’m not playing well.
I’m the type of person who wants to play slowly until I can clear the game.

That said, it would be interesting to play games on a huge display in an environment like this, or games that are only available here.
There are games of titles that I don’t know at all.

“Oh, so we get to see Iida-kun’s precious first time playing in an arcade.”
“Don’t get your hopes up.”

I said that but I was looking forward to the opportunity, which is something I don’t often get when I’m on my own.
Especially the ones with unique controllers sound interesting.

“Okay, let’s try some drumming, which I don’t usually do.”
“Oh! There he is!”
“How do you think Iida-kun’s playing is going to turn out?”

I was greeted by their voices, and began to play.
I honestly had no idea what was going on around here, so I chose a song at random.
The song chosen was an unfamiliar song with a medium difficulty level.

“You’ve got a lot of talent to play this on your first try!”

I sigh at the sound of Seiichi’s voice, and set up my bachi.
The red one is the center and the blue one is the outside. …… It’s surprisingly difficult.
I have no problem getting the rhythm. I can play fine sixteenth notes.
But if it’s my first time playing, I don’t know the music itself, so it’s hard to grasp whether the half-open rhythm is a quarter note or a dotted eighth note. ……

The screen showed the result of my play.

“…… hmmm, B? This is fun, I can see why people are into this.”
“I know, right!”
“I didn’t know the song, but it’s a good one.”
“”—Ha!?””

At my one word, both of them shouted at the same time.

“……W-what is it?”
“You don’t know this song? It’s really famous!”
“No, it’s not that, it’s that you don’t know it, but you played it!”

Apparently, they were surprised that I was playing a song I didn’t know rather than playing it for the first time.
The two of them looked at each other as if something had occurred to them.

“….Then, how about we play this together?”

Shun chose an old ani-song, based on a very famous manga.
I nodded, as I knew it was indeed, and Shun put in his own money and held the second player’s bee.

I checked the play screen, which was divided into upper and lower sections, and began playing along with Shun.
It was much easier than the previous one, but more surprising than that.

“……. …….”

Shun, playing in the bottom half, is incredibly good.
While my numbers were broken after twenty or so, Shun’s numbers were already over a hundred.

Shun finished his play with such a play, making no mistakes until the end.
I got an A, and Shun got three ……S in a row that looked narrow. It said zero mistakes.

“I did it, I cleared …… for the first time!”

Next to my surprised face, Shun was shaking his fist in happiness for some reason.

“No, no, you’re not even close to being insanely good! Shun had such special skills. ……!”
“That’s what happens when you keep doing what you love. I thought you had good reflexes, but you have a great sense of style!”
“Come to think of it, your first clear was ……”

Shun looked at Seiichi and Seiichi averted his gaze.

“…………..Hmmm, I can’t do this kind of thing at all.”
“If you get two stars or so, it’s already a bit suspicious,”

Seriously, this one is more surprising …….

We then went around playing various games.
Seiichi seemed to like everything. He played an old vertical shooter and laughed when he was beaten instantly, and he laughed even when he was near the bottom in a racing game.
He seems to like to play games that he is not very good at, but he enjoys them enough to play them.
At home, he plays RPGs exclusively.

On the other hand, Shun’s play is superb.
Basically, he was good at everything he did, and Seiichi and I were completely absorbed in the gallery from the start.
Watching a good player is really interesting, isn’t it?

Next, Shun chose a fighting game.
He was in the middle of clearing the story mode smoothly when an intruder entered the game.
Shun’s stamina, which until then had been almost completely exhausted against the CPU, was slowly being whittled away.
He managed to get one win, but the next game was the final round with a combo at once.

“I went to the trouble of picking an opponent who wasn’t even a good match for me, and this ……! This opponent is halfway good ……!”

Shun marveled, and at the same time, he turned his shoulders, took a deep breath and straightened his posture.
The seriousness of the play took my breath away.

He was scraping and scraping,…… and in the end, he beat his opponent in a close game just in time.
Having said that, I’m not sure how much I would have liked to have seen this happen.
I’d definitely have been completely outplayed. ……

While Shun was nonchalantly bowing to the screen after his victory, Seiichi was happy to take Shun’s place, saying “Yessss!”
I could only watch, but I was too nervous to hold my breath.
Wow, Shun, your image has changed a lot in just one day.

“Geez! I never thought I would lose in this Series IV!”

Even in the store, where the sound of the cabinet was rattling, the voice of the opponent could be heard clearly.
The opponent’s voice was that of a girl.

Immediately after that voice, a face appeared as if peering in our direction, and we all raised our voices together.

“Sato-san?”

It was Suzuka Sato, a member of our class.

The fact that Sato-san is here means …… that, of course, this is the case.

“Eh? Ah! So…… Iida-kun!”
“Really, that’s a great coincidence,…….”

Behind Sato-san, Saara and Nagase-san came out.