Chapter 4 - The Trick to the Crane Game is to Pull it in Close (4/?)

teach her how it was done. It was an orthodox crane type where Button 1 moved it to the side and Button 2 moved it forward. He told her that she had to stop the crane above the prize to grab it, that targeting the center of gravity was best, and to go for a spot that was not too thick but not too thin since it responded to pressure.

But…

"Okay. I'll give it a shot."

The machine cost two hundred yen a try, but he inserted a five hundred yen coin which was worth three games.

Ange stared at the prize beyond the glass with as serious a look as when she wielded her great sword. Mutsuki had paid for three game's worth to make sure she was convinced, but…

"…Here."

Whirrrr.

"…There!"

Whirrr.

Whir-whir-whir-whir-whir.

"…"

"…"

"…? Is that all?"

"Yeah, you failed your first try."

The claws had grabbed the prize at a good spot, but they had risen back up without lifting the target in the slightest. Then they moved back above the prize hole.

"What the hell!? What a piece of junk!"

"I told it wasn't easy, didn't I?"

He smiled bitterly at the angry girl because he had expected this to happen.

Prize games generally had two types of machines: the lure machines that drew in customers with their magnificent prizes and the opened machines that drew in customers with the ability to actually win something.

Mutsuki had looked into it because his sister Mutsumi was really into the Lazy Bear series, but the cushion was a new product. That meant it would be in one of the lure machines. The machine was only meant to show off the prizes, so it would be made so no one could actually win them.

There would be days when it was set up to be possible, but a weekday like today was hopeless. Based on Ange's game, the claws were too loose. Even one hundred games would not be enough to get it.

"Grrr…"

Oblivious to that world of adults, Ange furrowed her brow and glared at the machine as she reached for the buttons again.

Three games would never satisfy her, so Mutsuki inserted another five hundred yen, increasing the "remaining plays" light to "4". In the meantime, he started looking for another solution.

Fortunately, he quickly found what he was looking for. It was the machine he had worked himself to death conquering after Mutsumi had begged him.

"…"

"…"

"Ahhhhhhh! There's no way you can get it! Is this thing rigged!?"

After using up all of her plays and only moving the cushion a little over two millimeters, the girl shouted loud enough for the employees to here.

"As I said, it's really hard."

Mutsuki returned to her with a smile.

"This isn't just hard. It's made so you can't win!"

"And you lost from the moment you didn't realize that."

"…"

"Here."

He handed his prize to the girl whose adorable face was twisted in anger.

Ange was shocked to have something a few sizes larger than the cushion pressed against her chest. Her eyes opened wide when she realized what it was. The shape was a little different, but it was the same character as what she had wanted.

It was a Lazy Bear body pillow. He had worked his ass off winning one two weeks before for Mutsumi…and then had won another for his jealous older sister. And then a third time for Chiaki when she sulked.

He was so accustomed to it that he had won this one after only two tries. It was not a difficult thing on one of the opened machines.

"You can have it. It's not a cushion, but it's pretty much the same, right?"

"~~ I-I don't need…"

"You don't want it?"

"…"

She never said she did, but she refused to let go of it.

She quickly grew silent, so he headed to the service counter to get a bag.

When he turned his back, he barely picked up a voice saying "…nk you", but he pretended not to hear it and continued to the counter.

However, he could not keep up his gentlemanly act, so he peeked back toward her after turning the corner and asking an employee for a prize bag.

Ange remained entirely motionless for a while, but…

"~~"

He saw her squeeze the pillow just once.

Afterwards, they enjoyed themselves in the normal game section.

With the fighting, puzzle, mahjong, and quiz games that were only buttons and a screen, she could only tell "something is happening on the screen" since she did not know the rules. On the other hand, she quite liked the games that required moving one's body.

Take the shooting games for example:

"Wah! Wah! This is really gory! Take this and this and this and this!"

"Wow, perfect accuracy. That's amazing for your first time."

"Why you-! Take this! …H-huh? What the hell!? Why did I die when I was never hit once!?"

"As I've already explained several times, your life goes down whenever you shoot a hostage. You can't just shoot everything that moves."

"Grr…"

Or the rhythm games:

"Ah ha ha ha ha. This is so easy."

"No misses is pretty amazing for a first attempt."

"Heh heh. Well, if I actually try a little, you should expect this."

"…"

"But there's someone with three times my score in the high scores."

"That's because you're hitting the buttons without paying attention to the rhythm. You won't get a good score that way."

Or the punching machine:

"What does a punch strength of 'E' mean?"

"That's an error. Try hitting it again."

"If you say so… Deryah!"

"…"

"What? Now it's not even showing the 'E'."

"The pole is stuck inside the machine. I'll go call an employee."

Perhaps due to her personality, she found something to complain about with everything.

"C'mon, Mutsuki! Let's play this one next!"

"S-sure."

Still, she seemed to be enjoying herself as she kept tugging on his sleeve.

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I hope you like it.