I'm going to keep this AN short, but I hope everyone can be as stoked for this story as I am! And I'll give the 411 on why I take forever to post anything at the bottom of this chapter. :D
Oh yeah! And I don't own anything in this story, from -man to all that great copywrited material I'm bound to mention.
This story is rated T+ for language. If you guys think it's too strong I'll bump this up to M. D:
In a world were the claw machine is a sacred and holy object of mass production built to regulate the flow of quarters, a young man named Yuu Kanda conquers them all with no remorse, using his reflexes of a viper and fierceness of a drag Queen…. His only weapons a coin pouch named Mugen, and his icy glares scaring off any gawking observers.
"The authorities are gonna get you man, they don't take kindly to your kind of folk."
Kanda grunted and shot the nth icy glare of the day to the male commenting stranger passing by on the boardwalk, signaling he didn't give a fuck and they were just jealous of the skills he spent many moons mastering.
After deeming all the machines sufficiently cleared of stuffed toys and cheap jewelry his idiotic peers called "bling-blang" and "swag" Kanda returned to headquarters.
…. Headquarters was sadly just hero-speak for "Tiedoll's basement he'd filled with all his claw machine winnings".
"Yuu, my boy! Where have you been? Pawpaw has been so worried, you know daddy-bear loves you and wants you to stay off the scary streets!" Stuck in the overbearing grip of Tiedoll's loving arms all Kanda could do was snarl and wriggle until the crazy old man got the memo. "Let me… goddaamnit old man! I can't become a crackwhore overnight or whatever the hell you think I'm doing, fuck!" Tiedoll however just continued his coddling and blubbering about drugs and prostitutes however, so still trying to get out of Tiedoll's arms, he decided to go all middle school on the man- preparing a rad speech about drugs and sex. "because drugs make your eyeballs fall out and stuff and sex will give me aids instantly, therefore I'd never get involved with street people. Yeaahhhurrggg." Nail'd it. With that, the man's arms finally let up, and he held Kanda's shoulders for a heart to heart discussion, "Yuu, my darling boy, you need a better sex-ed class." followed by a pat on the back and a sniffle, "but get a good night's rest my boy, you have school tomorrow!"
"Aurgh."
Kanda could not wait to move out of this crazy old man's house.
The final bell rang enthusiastically and students were already flooding out of the building like a broken dam as Kanda gathered his belongings, along with another student who had distracting white hair.
"What is an old man like you doing in highschool?" Karma being the uneven whore she is slapped Kanda in the face. "I'm not an ol-hey, I've seen you before!"
"No you haven-"
"Yes I have, you're always playing the claw machines at the boardwalk."
"I've never been." A battle of the poker faces was about to happen, Kanda could feel it.
"Quit playing stupid, I know I've seen yo-"
"Get the fucking clue Steven, I haven't been," finger quotes, "to the boardwalk." Scratch that, no poker faces.
"My name's Allen, and ooooh." the kid seemed like he had just been hit by a bus of realization that the other student had made a Blue's Clues reference. That was an awesome show, he should really watch it again some day and took a mental note to do so.
"Don't do it." Allen was slightly shocked, "Can you read my mind?" Kanda looked at him like he was the biggest idiot in the school, "No, what the- actually I don't want to know." he frowned, and began heading out of the classroom with his school bag only to be stopped by whatever-his-name-is asking for his name. "Kanda." and with that, he walked out zero fucks given.
He tried his best to keep up the attitude he left school with going strong at the boardwalk, but the classmate he met before leaving was being dead set on observing his claw machine genius -sitting on the closest bench with his eyes peering into Kanda's soul searching for the secret behind his skill. He was getting tired of it, and he was getting a bit concerned about the odds of this kid being a stalker and only the dreaded confrontation could confirm it.
"Kid."
"Hm?" He perked up at being vaguely mentioned, hoping for who-knows-what to be said to him.
"Are you stalking me?" with the way the kid froze up for a second before laughing, not helping his case whatsoever. Finally he spoke up, "As if, but I was wondering…." trailing off a little, Kanda looked at him unamused and not convinced. "Could you teach me how you play the claw machines so well?" It was a crazy request but a kid could dream, right?
"Obviously no, weirdo. I'm going home, and don't follow me or I'll call the cops on your ass."
Allen just smiled and waved goodbye.
"See you tomorrow Kanda!"
Kanda just walked faster.
He had made a terrible mistake.
So what does everyone think of this story so far?
And I have made a terrible mistake too, although not in the "I regret speaking to Allen Walker" way. D: I'm %100 sure at least one typo will get past my radar in this pilot, I also accidentally uploaded this once without adding in the right page breaks and felt super stupid, so I swiftly deleted it and now the right story exists nbd. But claw machines are so srs guys, omg. If you haven't caught on that the introduction was a gross exaggeration yet, it was. Don't let that bring you down though, if you're looking for fresh reads you're clicking the right story.
And I, uh, really hope I can update this story in a reasonable time window…. I'm super apologetic to anyone waiting for a wrap-up on The Panda Exhibit, all your reviews warm my soul and make me think I can pull off writing after all. It's not that I'm slow writer and that's why I take forever to turn anything out, I write all my stories with great gusto! But my keyboard is totally bunk (like a lot of vital keys are broken) and it's a real motivation killer that makes me a bit (a lot) reluctant to get any writing done because plucking random characters from the on-screen keyboard is brutal.