In this chapter: With the tour over the boys get to check out the other available activities they missed out on earlier. Seijuuro gets his chance for lazer tag. Makoto learns something about Aiichiro he wasn't expecting.
Chapter 7: Challenges
The boys followed the group back to the area where they had been through the Pirate's Cove Maze earlier in the night. Since there weren't any children around anymore the staff gave what people were still hanging around at this hour permission to use the equipment otherwise normally reserved for children. A group of girls took this opportunity to climb into one of the two inflatable bouncers, the one shaped like a giant pumpkin. Seijuuro looked over at the one shaped like an old stage coach.
"Anyone up for reliving our childhood?" he asked the group.
"Why not. It could be fun," Makoto stated.
"I'll pass Rin," commented.
"But sempai, this chance might not come up again and soon we would be too big to fit in there," Nitori complained.
"Don't care. Besides someone needs to watch the stuff."
"Forget him. Just leave him inside and come have fun with Tachibana and your Captain."
All three boys took off their shoes and left them with Rin and the bag and climbed inside. They noticed there were colored spots on the floor. The man in charge of the bouncer told them it was for playing the game twister and the spinner was attached to the outside wall. Rin got roped into calling out the colors and which foot or hand to put where so the others could play the game. After the other three managed to fall all over themselves they started wrestling and trying to knock each other over while bouncing. Soon the one left outside was getting bored and demanded the others grow up and come out of the thing. Makoto felt bad for leaving Rin outside alone for so long so he climbed up the wall that led to the slide which served as the exit.
When he got to the bottom of the slide he gazed up at the stars. He was involved in his star gazing, Makoto hadn't realized Seijuuro was about to come down the slide. The Samezuka Captain was so busy telling Nitori to hurry up and follow him and he wasn't expecting anywhere to still be on the slide, he started to slide down without looking where he was going. Seijuuro slammed into Makoto and because of the wall at the bottom and the whole thing being bouncy they ended up getting jackets and body parts all tangled up. Rin climbed up to the landing platform to help his friends. Meanwhile, a spider dropped down in front of Nitori scaring him and causing him to rush up the climbing wall.
"Nitori you fool wait!" Rin cried too late.
Ai was already too far over the edge to stop himself from going down the slide. All four boys ended up piled on top of each other and struggling to break free. The girls, who had by now finished in the pumpkin bouncer, were getting their shoes back on. Seeing the boys flailing around at the bottom of the stage coach bouncer's slide was hysterical and they couldn't help themselves from laughing at their misfortune. Once they could control themselves the girls went over and helped the boys separate. They probably could have managed on their own if Rin wasn't so busy trying to strangle Nitori while Makoto was trying to pull them apart. Seijuuro was too focused on yelling at the lot of them.
After the boys got over their embarrassment they figured a game of lazer tag would help them save face (and their manliness). Since most people were interested in dancing in front of the DJ booth the four boys got the lazer tag zone to themselves. It was Rin and Seijuuro versus Makoto and Ai. The man in charge put the sensors that were more of a giant circular strap with a few lights on it, over each players head.
Then he handed out the guns. Both Captains did rock-paper-scissors to decide which team would have to run over and start out at the far side of the field. Makoto lost so he and Nitori ran for cover behind the hay bales on the opposite end of the filed. The man started the countdown to the start of the match.
Fifteen minutes later the match was over. Seijuuro and Rin had won. It wasn't surprising given Makoto and Ai had never worked together before and anything with an air of violence (real or imagined) wasn't their strong suit. Captain Mikoshiba had run around all over the place flushing his opponents out from their cover while Rin picked them off from a distance.
Initial hits made the guns give off the warning 'medic, medic' to alert the player they were taking damage. 'Man down, man down' signaled the loss of life. Each player was given 5 lives. After each 'death' the operator had to reactivate the sensors and a few second later an electronic voice would say 'ready to engage'. The sound effects were louder than Nitori or Makoto would have liked.
With the lazer tag game over the winners had decided that the losers should have to do something as punishment. It was agreed that Makoto and Ai would have to run through the Pirate Maze again. No one else was using it so they got the staffers to agree to let the boys run through while Rin and Seijuuro timed them. The man at the gate signaled the start of time and let the two competitors in. All of the pirates were still there still trying to scare the runners. Seijuuro got it into his head that he should cheer for Makoto since they were both Captain rank and Rin should cheer for Ai since he was Rin's roommate.
"Swim, swim, swim, swim, Makoto!" Seijuuro cheered.
"Swim? Captain they're running not swimming."
"So what, it's the only Iwatobi cheer I know. Besides it should be what he's used to hearing for encouragement. Come on, cheer for your roommate like you do at competitions," Seijuuro ordered.
'I don't cheer for anyone at meets. I'm not even in the stands to do so,' Rin thought to himself. 'He should know that.'
Rin did the Samezuka cheer anyway. He made a mental note to explain to the workers they are all on swim teams when this was all over so they don't think the boys are crazy.
This time Makoto went into too many dead ends and he was still winded from lazer tag. Ai beat him by a full five seconds. Both runners sat on some hay bales to take a rest. Captain Mikoshiba went over to join the people dancing as Rin spoke with the pirates from the maze. Soon Ai and Makoto joined Seijuuro. Sometime later they wandered over back into the village so they could warm near the bon fire and to see the last performance by the fire breather before heading home.
On the way back to the ticket building Ai proclaimed "Tonight was awesome. Can we go somewhere like this again next weekend?"
"Nitori-kun, are you the kind of person who enjoys being scared?" Makoto questioned.
"He definitely is," Rin confirmed.
"He's always watching scary movies in our room, freaks out through the whole thing, and then watches another one."
"Speaking of scary movies did you guys know there was movie screening room in this building?" Seijuuro asked.
Makoto and Rin looked at each other than at Mikoshiba.
"There is?" they both exclaimed at the same time.
"Apparently," Seijuuro pointed out while showing them the door none of them noticed on the way in.
"It was listed on the flyer," a security guard informed them.
"All night streaming of the same movie. It's almost over now and this is the last run."
Ai complained about the missed opportunity. He glanced in and noticed it was one he hadn't seen before which made him more disappointed. Rin told him he knew the name of the movie and promised to help him find it later so he could watch it back at the Samezuka dorms.
