55 Chapter – 50 Shinjuku Shopping Mall: Panic Attack!
Arcade, Shinjuku Shopping Mall
After completing the ten rounds of Whack-a-Mole which Nova won, the two teenagers moved to the Air Hockey table for a game of Air Hockey.
"Alright firstly, I will explain all the rules of Air Hockey to you…" said Nova, and began to give a detailed explanation of all the rules of Air Hockey to Iris. Once the rules were explained, they played a 5-point game which Nova easily won, but in that time, Iris had gotten a basic idea of Air Hockey and how to play it, so the two of them started the next match with a 21 points set, and unexpectedly, the 21-point Air Hockey match was won by Iris, which greatly surprised her.
She couldn't help but mutter, "Huh? I won?" This was the first time she was playing Air Hockey, therefore, Iris hadn't expected to win at all, yet for some reason she won.
Nova asked with a sigh, "Look at you, so shocked, shouldn't you be happy that you won?"
"Uhh… yes… I suppose…" nodded Iris, smiling briefly.
Noting Iris' smile, Nova nodded, "Yes, that's what I am talking about…" and then led her to the Bowling Alley.
The two spent some time in the Bowling Alley where he taught her Bowling, and how fun it can be… after that they moved to various racing Game Machines. When it came to racing games, Iris was undefeatable, no matter how many different versions of Racing Games they played, Nova couldn't win a single race, which wasn't surprising considering she digs vintage bikes and vintage cars.
'Hmm… I wonder how Iris–a countryside girl–developed an interest in vintage bikes and cars…'
Anyway, after the racing games, Nova and Iris went to the pool ball. Initially, they played a few one-on-one games during which Nova taught her how to play.
Holding the Cue stick with both his hands, Nova observed Iris trying to hit the cue ball for a straight shot toward the top-right pocket, then shook his head, "The angle is not right… you will miss the shot…"
Iris raised her head and looked at him with pursed lips, a little dissatisfied for breaking her concentration.
Nova smiled and after carefully putting the cue stick in his hands aside, he went toward her, positioned himself behind her, and leaned closer. Resting his left hand on her head, he put his right hand atop her. With his left hand, he adjusted the direction she was looking in, then bringing his face beside hers, he whispered, "Lean forward a little…"
Feeling Nova so close, Iris' heartbeat quickened and her cheeks flushed, despite feeling abashed, she obediently followed his instructions, and leaned forward slightly.
"Good," Nova praised Iris with a satisfied smile, then he put his free hand atop her right hand, and spoke, "Now take a closer look at the Cue ball…"
Iris suppressed the embarrassment, then as per Nova's instruction, she once again looked at the Cue ball, and was immediately surprised, "!!!"
Nova questioned, "Do you see it?"
Iris nodded lightly, "Yes…" She had gotten a better angle.
With his objective complete, Nova released Iris and pulled himself backward, then instructed her, "Alright then… hit the cue ball with appropriate strength…"
Iris followed Nova's instruction and hit the cue ball which struck the striped 7-ball and sent it straight to the top-right corner pocket. Seeing that the shot worked, Iris got up excitedly and pumped her fist, "It worked!"
Before Nova could praise Iris, suddenly, three boys one with tanned skin, a burly build, and blonde hair, the second with a very slim body along with brown hair covering his eyes, and the last a fatso with glasses arrived beside the Pool ball while clapping, Clap! Clap! Clap! Clap! Clap! Clap!
Nova and Iris looked in the direction of the three boys with a frown, "Huh? Who are you guys?"
The slim boy with hair covering his eyes spoke in somewhat broken English, "Oh, we were just watching from not too far away… that was an amazing shot Nee-san…"
Iris tilted her head as she too replied in English "Was it?" She didn't really think that it was 'that' impressive, she is only a beginner, and in her opinion, Nova's shots are much more impressive.
With his eyes focused on Iris' bust, the fatso on the right licked his lips lustfully, and nodded, "It was…"
At this time, the boy with tanned skin, a burly build, and blonde hair looked up and down on her body and spoke in somewhat broken English, "Nee-san… how about it, do you want to play with us? We can teach you better skills and make you a pro at using multiple sticks at the same time…"
"..." Iris didn't say anything in response. She had obviously felt the other party's lustful intentions toward her and had no intention of entertaining it, so she turned to Nova.
Honestly, Nova was looking at the three typical examples of NTR hentai protagonists with an amused expression. He had never expected that he would encounter such a situation, and couldn't help but think to himself, 'Are they here to make their moves on Iris in order to NTR me?' Shaking his head, Nova coldly spoke, "Fuck off…"
"What?" Such a cold reply was not what either of the three of them expected from the twerp they hadn't paid much attention to up until now. Although dissatisfied by the twerp's rood manners, they did not intend to leave so easily, after all, catching a beauty like the grey-haired foreigner before them is once in a lifetime opportunity for them! So, the one at the center pondered for a moment, and spoke, "How about we make a bet?"
Nova shook his head, "Not interested, now fuck off…"
"Why you brat?!" the fatso almost cursed and wanted to jump on him, but he was held back by the third guy.
Seeing that the brat wasn't eager to listen to them, the leader of NTR hentai protagonists tried to speak to Iris, "It'll be interesting Nee-san… just a pool ball game with some small bets… come on, it'll be fun."
Iris shrugged, "It's up to Nova to decide…"
The trio turned their gaze back to Nova and tried to convince him, but before any words could escape their lips, their eyes became blank as their bodies stiffened for a moment. Next, with synchronized movements, they performed dogeza in front of Nova and Iris as an apology for their audacity to disturb them, before quietly exiting the arcade.
Watching the trio leave, Iris couldn't help but ask, "What did you instruct them to do?"
"Oh, I just instructed them to fuck each other to death…" answered Nova with a bright smile.
Iris was takenaback, "Huh?" and asked, "That… That's terrible… I mean I know they are terrible people, but isn't death, that too in such a cruel manner a little too much for them?"
Nova shrugged, "It has nothing to do with them being trash or not, I could care less about the life and death of a few irrelevant humans… I would have ignored them and wouldn't have ordered them to kill themselves if they were only looking at you, but they made the mistake of attempting to have their way with you.
While you may not have accepted it, the fact that you belong to me was already set in stone the moment I made my decision to make you mine, now it's just a matter of time. As such anyone else trying to make their move on you is unforgivable in my eyes."
Iris pursed her lips. She was a little speechless and did not know how to respond.
Nova quickly changed the topic, "Anyway, now that the annoyances are gone, let's get back to the game…"
Iris nodded with a sigh, "Al… alright…" and the two of them focused their attention back on the pool ball as Nova continued to teach her.
Once Iris got the hang of playing, the two of them decided to play a few two-on-two games against other (decent) people in the Arcade. Their due lost the first few games, but as Iris rapidly improved through the games, they started to win, and pretty soon their duo was thrashing all the other teams that came to challenge them.
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After winning a few pool ball games, Nova and Iris decided to take a short break and refresh themselves. The two of them purchased smoothies from the café to fill up their stomachs; and while taking small sips of smoothies from the straw, they were walking around the arcade watching others.
Twirling the paper glass in his hand, Nova asked Iris, "So, what do you think?"
With the straw still between her lips, Iris looked at Nova with a confused expression, "?"
"I was asking if you enjoyed the date so far?" asked Nova.
"Oh…" muttered Iris as she removed the straw from her mouth, then nodded with a light smile, "Yes… it's been a long time since I had this much fun… thanks for this date, Nova."
Nova's eyes widened, as he asked, "Huh? So, you accept that it was a date?"
"Well…" mumbled Iris and trailed off. She did not give a direct answer, she just smiled with reddened cheeks which was enough of an answer for now.
While it may not have been too obvious, slowly and steadily the defenses in Iris' heart had started to collapse. At least, the first wall had many cracks in it through all the games they played together. From initially feeling uncomfortable around Nova due to the incident on the Local Train, to the moment she excitedly high-fived him as they won their first pool ball game, it's safe to say that the purpose of the date was being accomplished as per his plan.
Nova grinned, and without pressuring Iris too much, he spoke, "Well, then… let's try DDR now… you will love it…"
"Umm…" nodded Iris as they made their way toward the DDR machine.
On their way, they passed by a few claw machines that had stuffed animals and dolls inside them. Looking at the Claw machines, and the stuffed toys as well as the dolls inside them, Iris had a complicated expression, the smile on her face had disappeared as she pursed her lips.
Noting the sudden change in her expression, Nova couldn't help but question, "What's the matter?" Based on her expression, he could tell that she wasn't interested in the soft toys and dolls inside the Claw Machine, but asked just in case, "Do you like that kind of stuff?" To him, Iris did not appear to be the kind of girl who would be interested in such stuff.
And exactly as Nova had guessed, Iris shook her head as she answered him in a flat and emotionless tone, "NO!"
While he had expected such an answer, her tone was somewhat unexpected, and looked at her with concern.
Iris felt Nova's concerned gaze. She shifted her eyes from the Claw Machine to the ground, and while twirling the glass of smoothy in her hand, she spoke in a voice filled with anger and hatred, "I detest dolls and soft toys…"
Just when Nova was about to ask the reason, suddenly, an English nursery rhyme started to sound throughout the Arcade. No! The rhyme wasn't just playing throughout the Arcade but throughout the Shinjuku Mall! And it was being played through the announcement speakers no less.
Row, row, row your boat,
Gently down the stream.
Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily,
Life is but a dream.
"Huh? Isn't that a popular nursery rhyme?" mumbled Nova a little confused.
It wasn't just him, even the other humans in the Arcade also appeared confused and looked around doubtfully as they murmured things in confusion.
Someone in the crowd asked doubtfully, "Is it a special event? Or is it a drunk at work case?"
This person's question made sense because it's kind of odd for such a thing to suddenly happen in the middle of the day. So, unless it's a surprise special event, or it's a drunk-at-work-case, it didn't make any sense.
But another person's counterargument went against the first person's doubts, "But the voice is clearly that of a young child! How could it be a drunk-at-work-case?"
"Don't tell me a child somehow drank Sake?" someone else muttered doubtfully.
Row, row, row your boat,
Gently down the stream.
If you see a crocodile,
Don't forget to scream!
But not caring about other's confusion, the person singing the nursery rhyme continued to sing.
Nova tried to confirm things from the staff at the Arcade, but they did not know anything either. They even attempted to contact the Announcement Room, but no one there picked up the line, and this alerted Nova a little.
"What do you think about the situation, Iris?" Nova asked Iris her opinion on the matter as he turned toward her, but noticed her trembling, "Wha–? Iris!"
"Iris?" Nova called out the girl's name, however, his words did not reach her. She seemed to be terrified of something the color of her face was drained, her body trembled in dread as she gripped her shoulders tightly and her breathing became rough, Haah… Haah... She seemed to be having a panic attack.
Row, row, row your boat,
Gently to the shore.
If you see a lion there,
Don't forget to roar!
Nova held her face with both of his hands and called out her name while peering into her eyes, "Iris!?"
"Iris?"
"Iris, look at me!"
"Iris, are you listening to me?" But his words simply did not reach her and her eyes became dazed as she started to lose consciousness due to hyperventilating.
The other human folks in the surroundings also looked at Iris in worry and gave suggestions, "Give her oxygen!"
"Use CPR!"
"Don't be an idiot, there is no need for CPR, what the girl needs is fresh air, and calm down her breathing, let her breathe into a paper bag, that'll help her!"
"Unhook her bra so that she can freely take deeper breaths!"
Someone provided Nova with a paper bag, which he gave to Iris so that she could breathe into it in order to regulate her breathing.
As for unhooking her bra, Nova pondered for a moment, then unhooked it through her dress so that she would feel less restricted and have more room to expand her lungs. After that, he enveloped the girl in a hug and gently caressed her back, "It's alright… It's going to be alright… take slow and deeper breaths…"
Enveloped in Nova's warmth, and having her back caressed while being assured, Iris' rugged breathing started to return to normal, and her eyes started to regain focus. Realizing that she was recovering, Nova tried to release her from the hug, but she did not allow him to break, "Please… please don't go!"
"Alright… don't worry, I am here… I won't ever go away, I promise," promised Nova and continued to caress her back. It seemed that at this moment, she wanted to desperately hold on to him in fear of losing him, and Nova understood that everything that happened to Iris was related to the nursery rhyme being sung from the announcement room somewhere located in the mall.
"Umm…" nodded Iris as she buried her face in Nova's shoulders.
While Nova had a lot of questions for her, he knew that currently, it was not the right time, and decided to question her later, for now, they might have to deal with whatever was troubling her, that is, the source of that nursery rhyme.
Row, row, row your boat,
Watch the water flow.
Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily,
Off the stream we go.
Soon, the nursery rhyme being sung through the speakers stopped and Iris' breathing also returned to normal. Just when Nova wanted to release her, suddenly, Nova felt a trace of magic behind him, and then the smell of blood permeated through the air.
Looking at all the blood that splattered in all directions, someone in the crowd exclaimed in panic, "Ahhhhhhh… what the hell, she… she killed him!"
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