Until the Batteries Run Out

Yoji had had an extremely unsuccessful night at the club and therefore he was returning to his apartment alone, drunk and grumpy. He forced himself to climb the stairs and took a hold of the handrail every now and then, cursing the miserable night and his miserable destiny.

When he reached the floor where the four's apartments were, he had to lean to walls and, when required, the doors, to make sure to keep himself from falling over.

"Oh, wow, Aya, when did you get so good at that?"

Yoji sharpened his hearing. The voice was undoubtedly Ken's but it certainly came from behind Aya's door. Yoji thought for a while and made some quick conclusions.

"Ew," he grimaced and backed away from the door a little.

"That's amazing!"

That was another voice. Not Ken's nor Aya's, but. . .

"Jesus Christ, Omi . . .!" Yoji murmured and backed away from the door even more. His teammates apparently had some filthy little secrets he had known nothing about. It made Yoji feel bad. Why hadn't they asked him to join in?

"Revenge is sweet," the thought and took one of his hairpins. (Yes. How else do you think he can make his hair look so pretty? Except for the hairsprays and stuff, of course.) He put the pin in to Aya's lock and determinately started to tinker with it. After a moment, a satisfying 'klick!' was heard and Yoji placed his had on the doorknob. He took a deep breath and slammed the door open.

"Your secret is revealed, you mischievous little bugs!"

Yoji stood at the door staring at the three, who sat on Aya's bed staring at Yoji with surprised looks on their faces.

There was a deep silence. Then, there was a beep.

The three assassins sitting on the bed turned their eyes to Aya's hands and yelped simultaneously: "Crap!" Then they turned to stare at Yoji again, this time threatening looks on their faces.

"What?" Yoji asked, totally clueless.

"He was about to break the records!" Omi enlightened, crossing his arms and throwing one more mean look at Yoji.

"The records?" What the hell were these three doing?

"He only needed to have 1000 points more and it'd have been a new record!" Ken grunted.

"Thousand points?" I'm not sure if I want to know.

"In Tetris," Aya sighed and raised his hand so Yoji could see he was holding a Gameboy.

"Oh . . . " So it was nothing but a game of Tetris, then? Pity, in a way. . .

"So . . . What's the current high-score?"

"49 526, by Omi," Ken informed.

"That's pretty well," Yoji had to admit. "But you know, I'm the unofficial master of Tetris and can break any record, anytime," he added.

"Really?" Aya sounded suspicious. How could anyone, especially Yoji, beat his or Omi's incredible skills in the game of Tetris?

"Really. Give that gadget here and I'll show you."

Aya doubted for a moment longer, but handed the Gameboy to Yoji. He was curious to see if Yoji could really make it to the High Score List and if so, how high. The game required some state of logic, anyway, and sometimes Yoji Kudou and logic just didn't seem to match.

"So, what do I have to do to start a new game?"

Aya, Ken and Omi sighed. This was about to become very interesting.
~* Two Hours Later *~
"Yoji?"

"Huh?"

"Get out."

Yoji had found a comfortable position on Aya's bed. He hadn't lifted his gaze from the game screen in past few hours and was not attempting to do so in a long time. Not now, when he was about to reach unbelievable 600 000 points.

"I'm tired and you've invaded my bed. Get. Out," Aya stood next to his own bed, pointing at the door. Omi and Ken were both asleep on the floor. They had gotten tired of watching Yoji's invincible Tetris playing soon after he had reached 50 000 and decided to have a nap while waiting Yoji's final score. Aya, however, had no intention on sleeping in anywhere else than his own bed and at the moment, it was quite impossible.

"Consider this as a sleepover and sleep over a chair or something," Yoji advised, eyes fixed on the game.

"If I'd consider this as a sleepover I'd consider myself as the host and therefore, I'd have the right to sleep in a proper bed."

"A good host lets his guests sleep comfortably," Yoji protested.

"I'm not a good host. Now, get out of my bed and after that out of this apartment and continue that game of yours in somewhere else," Aya snarled and tugged the covers on his bed so, that Yoji was sent flying down to the floor.

"Ow, ow, ow!" Yoji whined when hitting the floorboards. Except, that it wasn't because he'd have been hurt. No, he was afraid that something had happened to the Gameboy. After a quick look he saw it was perfectly fine, sighed for relief and resumed to the game.

"I'm turning off the lights," Aya informed and hit the switch.

A faint light lit up next to the bed and the beeping of the addictive gaming machine continued.

Aya sighed. "Yoji?"

"Yeah?"

"You have a flashlight?"

"You betcha."

Aya groaned and buried his head under his pillow. "Just . . . Just leave, when you're finished, okay?"

"Sure."

And so, the irritating peeping kept making its way to Aya's ears until the batteries of the Gameboy ran out, leaving Yoji alone in the dark, cursing the miserable evening and his miserable destiny.

= = = = =

Yes, now it's proven. Playing too much Tetris may cause serious addiction and it can affect one's writing. Now, if you excuse me, I'm off to play some more.