Twelfth Period: Arcade and... ?

After finishing our ice cream, Char and I were back to being at a loose end.

“Ah, that was delicious! Where should we go next?” Char looked at me with expectant eyes, but I honestly had no plan for what came next.

“Let’s see...”

“Atsuto-kun, we can go to a place you usually hang out, too.”

I had a place in mind for that. I didn’t know if Char would enjoy it, though...

“Then, how about here?” I asked, pointing to the place behind me.

“Ah, is that an arcade?!” Char’s voice was excited as she pointed at the large building in front of us.

This was the place I often went to when I was bored.

“Is this okay?”

“Of course! I’ve always wanted to go to one!” Char’s blue eyes sparkled with curiosity.

“Good. Then let’s go in!”

—And so, we entered the arcade.

“Wow! This is amazing! It’s huge!” Char bounced happily, looking at the area lined with countless crane game machines.

“What do you want to play?”

“I want to check out the crane games first!”

“Then let’s walk around and look!”

Just as we started walking,

“Ah, Atsuto-kun!” Char suddenly stopped in front of a certain crane game machine.

“Look, look! There are so many Kuma-Kuro bears! So cute!” The machine was packed with key-chain-sized plushies of the popular Japanese character, Kuma-Kuro.

“Oh? You know Kuma-Kuro?”

“My sister loves them!”

“They are cute, right? With those innocent eyes.”

“Yeah, I love them too! But they’re trapped in such a small space... I have to rescue all of them!” Char put a hundred-yen coin into the machine with a serious expression.

A pop song started playing as the coin was sucked in.

“I press this first, right?”

“That’s right! You line up the horizontal position.” Char cautiously pressed the ‘up’ button, moving the arm. She was aiming for the red Kuma-Kuro.

“H-How is it?”

“Oh, that looks good!” Char let out a long breath, then slowly pressed the ‘right’ button. When she took her hand off the button, the arm slowly descended... but—

—Swoosh.

“Huh, why?!” Char screamed as the arm swung uselessly.

The arm returned to its starting position without catching any of the Kuma-Kuro bears.

“Ugh... But I feel like I can get it if I try one more time!”

“But these kinds of games are how you fall into the money pit... Ah!” I tried to warn her, but Char immediately put in the next hundred-yen coin.

Char operated the arm with a serious expression again, but—Swoosh.—The arm missed again, and Char let out a sad “Ugh...”

She seemed to be aiming for the red Kuma-Kuro, but with this position—

“Can I try for a second?”

“Y-Yeah! You have to rescue the Kuma-Kuro...” She looked at me with teary eyes. This was a huge responsibility...

I switched places with Char and put a hundred-yen coin into the machine.

“Sensei, there’s actually a trick to crane games.” You can often get the prize easily with techniques like ‘hooking’ or ‘pushing’ rather than trying to grab the item itself.

With this arrangement, the best strategy was—pushing!

“Wow, Atsuto-kun! That’s amazing!” I aimed for the green Kuma-Kuro. Pushed by the open arm, the Kuma-Kuro rolled toward the prize hole.

But the green Kuma-Kuro stopped right near the hole.

“Ah!”

“Hmm, that was close! I thought you had it!” Char looked at the missed Kuma-Kuro with a regretful look.

“Damn it! I’ll try one more time!”

“I think Atsuto-kun is falling into the pit now!”

“That’s the fun of crane games!”

“You’re just admitting it now?!”

I put in the second hundred-yen coin and tried again. Horizontal adjustment was okay. Next, the vertical adjustment.

“Ehh! A little more to the right!”

“No, I think this is good...! And you can’t change the horizontal now!”

“Then you have to make up for it with the vertical! Ah, there! Right there!”

“That’s definitely too soon! A little lower... Ow!”

“Ouch!” Char and I bumped heads.

We were so focused on the adjustment that we hadn’t noticed how close our faces were.

““Aah—!”” I hit the button at the wrong time when we bumped heads, and the arm went down in a completely different spot. Ugh, my hundred yen...

“S-Sorry! I got too close!”

“I’m sorry too. I-I’ll get it right next time!” We bowed to each other repeatedly.

Just as I took out the next hundred-yen coin from my wallet.

“...Hmm?! Eh?! Look, Atsuto-kun!” Char’s eyes widened in surprise, and she pointed at the machine.

“Hmm? O-Oh!” The arm was on its way up, and somehow, a red Kuma-Kuro was caught on it. And a green Kuma-Kuro was tangled in the red one’s arm.

““Ooooh...!”” The two Kuma-Kuro bears clung to the arm, barely maintaining their balance.

The arm stopped over the prize hole.

—Clunk!

“We-We got it...!”

“Yay! That’s amazing, Atsuto-kun!” I thought I had completely failed, but we got it. And two of them!

Char jumped up and down in delight, as if she had won herself, and then hugged me.

“W-Wait, I can’t breathe...!”

“I’m just so happy!” Char smiled, breaking the hug, and held up the Kuma-Kuro bears for me to see.

“Thank you for rescuing me, Kuma!” Char said, mimicking a voice and shaking the green Kuma-Kuro as if it were talking.

“Umm...”

“Thank you for rescuing me, Kuma!” Char repeated the same thing when I froze.

She wanted me to do the same, right...?

“W-We finally got out, Kuma!” I took the red Kuma-Kuro from the prize slot and mimicked her.

“Let’s rescue all our other friends, Kuma!”

“All of them?! That might be a little difficult...”

“Your ending word is wrong, Kuma?”

“Y-You’re strict, Kuma... Wait, do Kuma-Kuro bears talk?”

“Kufufu... I don’t know...” We both burst out laughing, holding our Kuma-Kuro bears.

“I was just kidding about all of them! Ah, Kuma-Kuro is so cute...” Char looked at the green Kuma-Kuro’s innocent eyes, her face soft with happiness.

She really loves Kuma-Kuro. It was a lucky win, but the result was perfect.

“I won that for you, Sensei, so you can have it. And this one, too.” I offered the red Kuma-Kuro as well, and Char let out a small “Eh,” blinking her clear eyes.

“F-For me? But Atsuto-kun won this one.” Char looked away sheepishly.

But I won it for her from the start. Because—

“Today’s your birthday, right, Sensei?”

“—Eh.” Char gasped, completely taken aback, and stared at me with wide eyes.

“You mentioned it on the first day, didn’t you? That your birthday is April eleventh.” Char had said it during her self-introduction on the first English class. I remembered it because I thought, ‘Oh, it’s coming up soon.’

“Y-You remembered...” Char’s eyes welled up as she whispered to herself.

“I’m sorry it’s just a prize from an arcade!”

“No, not at all!” Char shook her head vigorously and hugged the two Kuma-Kuro bears lovingly.

“Thank you, Atsuto-kun... I’m really, really happy... I’ll treasure them!” Char wiped a tear from her eye and smiled radiantly.

She looked at the Kuma-Kuro bears happily, as if she had received a present from Santa Claus, even though they were just arcade prizes.

I was unexpectedly moved by her bright, summer-sun smile.

“Ah! But since there are two, one is for Atsuto-kun!” Char offered the red Kuma-Kuro to me.

“Eh? But I was going to give you both of them...”

“Let’s make them matching! ...Is that okay?”

“N-No, matching is fine!” I was a little embarrassed, but I accepted the Kuma-Kuro, defeated by Char’s puppy-dog eyes.

“Hehe, they’re matching...” Char smiled, immediately hanging the Kuma-Kuro on her phone case.

“Alright! Let’s win a bunch more! I’m aiming for... that huge one!” Char ran excitedly toward another machine.

I never thought coming to the arcade, where I usually came alone, could be so much fun with Char.

＊＊＊＊＊

After that, at another crane game.

“Wow! Atsuto-kun, I got it! I got it!”

“Seriously?! Whoa, that’s huge!” She won a giant plushie.

“Sensei, over there, a zombie! Left! Ah, from the right, too!”

“Left? Right?! Which one to fire first!?”

“Eh?! S-Sorry, what did you say...?”

“Nooooo—!” They played a zombie shooting game.

“S-Sensei! That’s a hit! The trifecta! It’s the trifecta!”

“Trifecta...? Whoa! The coins won’t stop coming out!” Char unexpectedly showed a talent for the horse racing game.

After playing everything Char was interested in, we left the arcade.

“Mmm, that was fun, fun!” Char stretched contentedly as she walked beside me. The plastic bag holding the giant plushie she’d just won swung from her arm.

“That’s amazing! I’ve never won one that big!”

“Maybe I have a talent for this?!”

“You definitely do! ...We’ll hope for better in the zombie shooting game next time.”

“Muu, I would have survived if Atsuto-kun could understand my English...”

“I apologize for that...”

As we talked, our steps naturally led us toward the station.

Since it was Friday, the station area was still bustling, but many people were heading into the ticket gates to go home.

“Fwaaah...”

“Are you okay?”

“...Ah, yeah! I’m just getting a little sleepy, maybe? Did we play too much?” Char smiled at me, her cheeks faintly flushed, trying to hide a big yawn.

Seeing Char like that, I swallowed the words that were on the tip of my tongue.

—I want to be with Char for a little longer.

I’d never felt this way before. I’d hung out with Char a few times now, but being with her was so much more fun than hanging out alone—and that time was about to end.

Thinking about that made me feel a little lonely.

“...And, we’re here!” I arrived at the station while walking with a slightly sentimental feeling.

“Ah! Atsuto-kun’s train is coming soon!”

“Eh, ah, yeah! You’re right!” I covered up my feelings and forced a cheerful voice.

“Be careful on your way home, Atsuto-kun! I’ll text you!”

“Yes, you too, Sensei, be careful!” Char waved and turned her back to me.

At that moment.

“S-Sensei!”

“Eh?” Char turned back, blinking at me in confusion.

I don’t know why. I don’t know, but—I instinctively grabbed Char’s right hand.

“Atsuto-kun...?”

“Ah, umm, well...” Ugh, come on! But since I grabbed her hand, I had to say it, right?

“I-I just! I-I want to hang out with you a little more!” My voice trembled from the nervousness.

I cautiously glanced at Char. But she just blinked at me curiously.

Ah, I knew it. She probably wants to go home and sleep. She said she was sleepy...

Just as I thought that—

“Really?! I was thinking I wanted to hang out with you more, too!” Char squeezed my hand tightly, giving me a genuine smile.

“Eh, really?”

“Really! You kept walking toward the station, so I thought, ‘I guess the fun is over for today...’!”

It seemed I was the one who was being too considerate.

“Alright, what should we do now!” Char asked, her cheerful voice blowing away the previous awkwardness.

“Let’s see... Ah.” I was running through ideas, but one problem popped up.

“Did you think of something?”

“No, I just realized I’m still in my uniform...” I could think of plenty of places to hang out, but no shops would let me in at this hour in a school uniform.

“Hmm. You’re right about that... I know!” Char pondered for a moment, then hit her palm with her fist, as if an idea had struck her.

“Then just come to my place! I live alone, so no one else is there!”