When it came to arcade games I used to play them often, my mother would take bonuses she would earn from working overtime and spend it all on pampering me before she left to visit my father, Yamada was a master at arcade for some odd reason, she was getting close to beating the high score of a game somewhat similar to Galaxia, a pixelated 2d space-themed shooter, and she almost looked as if she was barely trying while stamping out all the enemies.
I rested my cheek on my palm, my eyebrow raised.
"Yamada, how are you so good at this?"
"My dad used to take me to an arcade when I was younger, about 13 give or take, I got really good at one of the games, and this one is really similar to the one I got good at."
"I'm not sure if I should be embarrassed or impressed for being out performed by you, considering I used to go to arcades all the time."
I heard a loud noise from the arcade machine she was playing and a loud robotic voice that announced 'New high score!' Yamada turned around and shrugged, she had just beaten the high score of 74,000, the new high score was now 160,210, she had absolutely crushed the previous record in the span of 30 minutes, even if you consider how recently the arcade was made, it was still nonetheless impressive.
"Read my score and weep, hotshot."
"Wah Wah, anyways nice job."
"And thank you for your emotional support, it may have looked easy to you but I was trying really hard."
She looked back at the machine, she hadn't put in her name yet to correlate her name to the score, so I waited for her to type her Initials in.
Yamada's hand was hovering over the joystick, she hadn't moved it.
"Sato, can you close your eyes real quick?"
I was confused, why was she asking this of me?
Yamada–still hovering over the joystick, turned her head to the right so that her ear was facing me, waiting for my reply.
"Uh- ok?"
I closed my eyes, I was enveloped in pitch black as I barely heard Yamada moving the joystick over the shouts and excited giggles of the other people in close vicinity of us, this place had gotten popular among teens, and quite quickly too.
"Alright I'm done, open your eyes."
I opened my eyes to be met with the Initials "SM" on the screen, but that wasn't right. Her initials would be "YH", what was she doing?
That's when I realized she had put my initials onto her high score, instead of her own, Yamada seemed to sense that I had recognized that and a mischievous grin spread across her face, her finger was just above the button that would have engraved those initials into the high score forever.
"What are you doing! stop, don't press I-"
Her grin widened as she slammed her whole hand down on the button, it was no use anymore, she was beyond the point of return, all her hard work had been ruined, Yamada slowly raised her hand away from the button, her palm red from where she had rammed her hand into the button.
"Why did you do that?!"
"Why not? It's not like it was your high score was it?"
"No, but regardless it was an impressive feat and you just threw all the glory to me!"
Yamada whispered under her breath, pouting.
"Well I mean, I think you deserve it…"
"Eh, what was that?"
"N-nothing, don't worry about it."
Even though I managed to hear what she had said, I decided not to press her about it, god only knows how that will go.
"Well anyways, we have been here for a while, anything else you want to do before we head home?"
Yamada closed her eyes and crossed her arms in deep contemplation. She was obviously at a loss of what else to do, we had both had lots of fun today but we were both exhausted from this whole experience.
"Nothing comes to mind, but next weekend we need to play some video games together!"
"Alright, let's sit outside for a bit, I need some fresh air."
*****
We were outside the arcade sitting on a bench, me and Yamada were sitting on opposite sides, we both knew we had to part ways soon but we were trying to delay the inevitable, Yamada was scrolling through her phone, watching a video about a game review.
I stood up, might as well leave now, I need to get back home before my mom starts to worry.
"Eh? Hey where are you going?"
"I need to leave, my moms going to start worrying soon If i don't get back before 5."
"Oh…"
"What? Is there something you wanted to tell me?"
"No it's nothing, I'll catch you tomorrow."
"See you around, Pizza girl."
Yamada clearly caught off guard with the sudden nickname I gave her, broke into a coughing fit before looking up at me, her face deep red, she wasn't able to speak, every time she tried she would just hack up her lungs again.
As I walked away, I heard her hoarse voice one last time before I started sprinting my way back home.
"Masaichi, you Idiot…"