Chapter 41 – Arcade fun
Third person POV
September came, and it is now summer break from school. Hoshi and his friends are looking forward for a fun and memorable summer vacation. Sha was looking forward, too, and he only have PE summer classes for students who didn't passed the PE exam last month. Mariya still has duties at the hospital. She had heard what had happened at Yamatokoriyama, and she was relieved that her younger brother and his friends are alright. So, on the first day of their two-month long vacation, Hoshi decided to go to the arcade in one of the city's malls. He also invited his friends, including Sha to play with him. And then, they did so and meet up with him at the said mall.
"Hey, Hoshi-kun," Taro greeted him.
"Hi," Bokuto added.
Saki was wearing black and white casual clothes while Sha wears normal clothes like that of a typical salaryman, but without the suit and tie.
"Hey, guys," Hoshi greeted back. "How are you all?"
"We're fine," Saki replied positively.
"I'll do a summer PE class this afternoon." Sha folded his arms while nodding his head, "so, I had some time until 2 in the afternoon."
This makes Hoshi and others excited because they get to spend time with their likable and nice PE teacher from school.
"Let's play, shall we?" Hoshi said to them with a smile.
"Yeah!" shouted one of his friends in excitement.
"Let's do this!" Saki added.
And so, all of them entered the mall and went to an arcade in the second floor next to a boutique shop and across the corridor from a Mexican restaurant. There they saw how busy it was. The sounds of the gaming machines buzzed around in the huge room. This also includes the sound of tokens hitting the dispenser slot after people put money in it and pressed a button for the amount. It must have been busy during the summer holidays.
"Let's exchange some our money for tokens," Hoshi said to them.
They agreed because that is how it works in an arcade, and they and Hoshi went inside to exchange some of their money for tokens.
And then, they get 500 yen from their wallets each since the cost of a token is 25 yen each. This translated to 20 tokens for each of them, giving them room to either try new games or keep on playing the usual ones. Hoshi's favorite arcade games are Drop the Ball game and claw machine. Saki's favorite is dancefloor. Taro and Bokuto had something in common, and that is tabletop games. Sha was new to this so he will try to play some of them. And so, they all split up and spent their tokens sparingly. Hoshi teaches Sha how to play his favorites. Sha did so and enjoyed the Drop the Ball game more than the claw machine. In the claw machine, he was frustrated to get what he wanted. But, in the end, he gets a small, stuffed animal in the form of an elephant and a black pen with a slim chance to get it with a few tokens.
"Thanks, this is so much fun." Sha embraced his prizes from the claw machines.
"You're welcome, sensei," Hoshi replied back with a smile.
Within him, Kuro nods in approval, as he considered Sha as his new ally and friend.
Meanwhile, Taro and Bokuto are up against each other in a tabletop game.
"I win!" Taro said to him.
"No way!" shouted Bokuto in disbelief.
Even his ninja skills couldn't beat Taro at all.
Saki, at the same time, dances a lot at the dancefloor, trying her best to align with the moves being shown on the screen.
All of them have a lot of fun for next few hours.