game start!

Still, mumbled objections aside, lips quirked into a subtle smile. It took everything to not embarrass herself by grinning wide at being able to spend time together, the fearis haired teenager opting to coolly nod in return before navigating throughout the shadowed enclosure in search of blinding sunlight. It didn’t take nary a minute at all for eyes to adjust as she’d spent less time in the darkened building and so rather than have to deal with a prolonged wait was she capable of posing her suggestion.

“W - well .. I don’t know if it’s something you’d be interested in, but there’s a party store near here. We could check it out?” Not fully confident in this being the optimal way in which to spend their time together, after the incident at the mall involving a horrific reptilian creature she was hesitant to go there again quite so soon. “Checking out what they have at this time of year would be something. Unless you have a better idea?”

A bright neon sign catches her eye, and the older girl remembers that there's a new game store that opened just down the street from the arcade. Speaking as a professional LPer, she really should check out its offerings, and maybe find a game or two to queue up for after she finishes her current playthrough.

Still, she doesn't think Kido would be a big fan of that idea. She had entered the arcade to pull Takane away from video games, after all. Maybe Takane can check out the store some other time.

"We could go to the mall," she thinks out loud, then realizes her mistake a second too late. Frightening memories of an encounter with a snakelike boy come to mind, and she shakes her head. "Now that I think about it... Forget about that idea." That boy had recovered after being dunked in the river, but Takane wouldn't put it past him to try and pull some new kind of trick. Perhaps it would be a good idea to avoid the mall for a while.

Learning. Honestly, it was his worst skill. While he didn’t know a decent amount of knowledge that most knew, it didn’t bring about a sense of self teaching, and with the constant activities his friends occupied themselves with, it was about time he, too, engrossed himself with what his companions knew, even if it resulted in questions upon questions.

With controller in hand and a look of confusion plastered to his face with a hint of his confidence dropping every time a racer passed him in their uniquely designed cars, he decided that he wished to be granted a tip or two. Or four. "Takane, what do I press to go faster?"

Still, it's not like it can be helped now. Konoha's already selected this course, and she's got a feeling that he wouldn't quit now if she suggested it. The first lap comes to an end as she whizzes past the starting line; she's in sixth place, and if she wants to win this race, she needs to get Konoha's questions out of the way so she can focus. "Press A to go faster," she instructs the younger boy, watching him out of the corner of her eye. "Then if you press Z, you can use the item you picked up." Her instructions finished, the older girl turns her full attention back to the game.

The lack of hesitance in accepting the offered change seemed to solidify the truth behind what had been said. She refrained on commenting on such, preferring to simply wait for the inevitable defeat that was sure to come. Hands finding a place in the comfort of her sweatshirt’s pockets, she shifted her weight to one leg, chin tucked down as the role of the spectator was played with an obvious lack of exuberance. Not one understanding of the appeal of video games, it made the wait a rather boring one; how she was so close to a fanatic like Takane was a complete mystery.

Rather patient in general, it didn’t make this all that trifling. Even more so considering the short span of time that it took for the expected failure to happen. Long since prepared for what she was to say afterwards, the words were voiced with ease.

Her words are a complete lie, and she knows it. Something about the game has drawn her back to this console time and again, spurring her on to run faster and dodge every obstacle. It's partly a desire to beat the game once and for all--she's never taken defeat well, and this game is no exception--but she needs to know why the protagonist of Headphone Actor is running. Sure, she wants to escape the end of the world. That's obvious. But the cutscenes sprinkled throughout the game leave her wondering about a lot of things: what's on the other side of the hill? Why is the girl so intent on reaching her destination? Why does she hear her own voice through her headphones?

Takane has several questions about the game, but it looks like she'll have to wait until tomorrow to find out the answers. The look Kido is giving her brooks no room for argument: they are leaving this arcade, come hell or high water. She supposes that leaving now wouldn't be so bad. She's out of change, anyway, and she hasn't spent any quality time with her friend since Headphone Actor hit the arcade a couple of weeks ago.

"Hanging out sounds good," she nods. Picking up her bag once more, she reluctantly turns her back on the game. Its chiptune melody follows her as she trails behind Kido; they wind their way through the arcade, passing countless buzzing and flashing machines. Finally, the two girls emerge from the darkened interior of the arcade; temporarily blinded by the sun's brightness, she squints for a moment until the outside world comes into focus.

Bumping into her was a grand opportunity. With an immediate ‘owwie’ voicing her distress and pain from the bump, it was no sooner put aside for talking to the one before her, “I was going to play, but watching you is a lot more fun.” Taking the other’s hand within her own, she seemed to beam with enthusiasm, something that the person she was talking to most likely didn’t have appearance wise, "I’m not very good at video games at all.. ~ Can you teach me how to play this game?"

However, the other girl cheerily takes Takane's hand in hers and enthusiastically asks if she can learn how to play. She's definitely talking to Takane. She's even being so friendly that Takane can't find it within herself to send the girl away with a few unfriendly words, like she does to almost everyone else.

"I'm warning you, I'm not much of a teacher," she shrugs, pulling her hand away. "Still, if you really wanna play, I guess I can teach you."

Sadly, Headphone Actor is only a one-player game, so she's forced to vacate her position. Moving to the side, she gestures to the machine, indicating that the other girl should step up.

An intervention was clearly in order.

The other’s tendency to make home at the arcade on most days made it no more difficult to find her than spying the sun in the sky, her habits learned through the friendship they’d maintained for quite awhile now. As predicted she was there and the faint traces of a frown became present upon Kido’s lips. An end to this neurotic behavior needed to be brought before it could develop into something truly debilitating.

Moving forward to step up to the challenge, doing so had only aided in making the collision that happened possible. The older questioning any possible intentions relating to the game rather than apologizing for the accident made this all the more rebarbative.

"But thanks, Kido," she says after a moment. "I'll stop after this round." Until tomorrow, she adds. If she has any say in the matter, after a few more goes at this machine, Headphone Actor won't know what hit it. The coins are inserted, the familiar opening monologue plays, and her hands dance across the joystick and buttons, making the familiar run to the hill on the outskirts of the town.

Dodging left and right, the pixelated girl on the screen nimbly avoids hordes of people. The digitally distorted voice in her headphones chimes in from time to time, reminding her of the amount of time she has left; evading each obstacle, she's doing just fine, until--

A murder of crows flies across the screen, effectively blocking every obstacle from sight. Unable to see through the flurry of black feathers, Takane's hand slips on the joystick, and the girl onscreen veers offcourse and smashes straight into a telephone pole. "GAME OVER", the machine flashes, almost smugly.