Chapter 25

Interviews At The Arcade

"Tea???"

"Yeah?" She asked me, as we moved our feet around the dance platform on the floor, touching the arrow buttons in order as the arrows on the huge screen reeled up to the top.

Yeah! We got two good dancers on the floor!" The machine cried out (eh – I mean, the mechanical voice person - lol).

"What do you think is important between a couple?" I asked.

"Uh…. I think, heart, and communication." She blushed.

The crowd watching us having a little dancing competition were cheering us on continuously. Well, both Tea and I were at a tie at score, and I was finding it hard to keep up with her since I was getting exhausted. My body was getting weaker and weaker by the minute that I dropped to the floor.

"Thanks Tea, I-I think I'll go sit down now." I wheezed. My breathes were getting heavier and heavier by the minute I was finding it harder to breathe. And I didn't have asthma either. She stopped in the middle of her game; ignoring the sudden boos she got and helped me over. "Are you okay, Charybdis?"

"I'm okay, get on with your game, Tea, don't mind me, I'll be at Joey's." I said to her reassuringly, and then she shrugged and continued with her game.

I gathered up my jacket and pad and then moved over away from the dancing area. "So… um…. Joey… what do you think is the most important thing of love?" I asked him nervously, holding up my 'reporting' pad with a blue ballpoint pen in my other as I sat beside him in an empty seat of an arcade game while I watched him shoot the ducks. Joey didn't look at me and fiddled with the gear stick, pressed some of the buttons, and then growled in slight annoyance when the music indicating Game Over was heard. He pouted, with his arms crossed over his chest and his mouth turned upside down to a small frown. I saw his mouth slightly open, and then close, and then open again.

"Well??" I asked him.

"Gurlie… why are ya asking me dese things?" He asked me as he switched his gaze away from the machine to me.

I froze up all over.

"And why are you holding a pad like that as if you're interviewing me?"

I choked a little. "Well uh… I just want to find out. You know, about you and Mai. How do you feel towards each other?"

"Gurlie…. Have ya got a boyfriend??"

"NO!!!"

He stared at me even more suspiciously. "Are you telling the truth?"

"Okay, okay, I do have a boyfriend!!" I said quickly.

"Really?" He laughed and turned around as I nodded. "Well, just ta let ya know, I think the most important thing about love between two people, dey need to be are… emotions and respect, lovers need to get a grip on their current feelings towards each other……"

I took a quick note down. Fee–lings…..

"And they need to respect their actions towards each other too….."

Respect…..

"Great, thanks Joey…. So um… how is your relationship with Mai?" I asked him as I held the pad close to me as he tried to peek over.

"Not telling ya." He replied, grinning at me. Then I slumped. "Aw'right, I'll tell ya." He added. I beamed at him. "We're doing jus' fine."

I smiled and then got up from my seat. "Well, I'd be talking to Tristan now, thanks Joey." I thanked him and waddled over to the snooker table where Tristan was holding the club and scratching his chin, thinking about his next move.

"No prob." Joey inserted more game tokens into the machine and started rapidly pressing the buttons again once the game started.

It was a nice Saturday afternoon, the gang and I had decided to spend one day of our holiday at the local arcade for a couple of hours before going for some lunch. Joey was at the video games with Duke and Yugi, Tea was at the Dance Dance Revolution area at another challenge with this guy with funny hair and long, long, arms and legs (Johnny Steps - is that his name?), Tristan at the snooker table and Ryou was hanging out at gambling area/jukebox at the corner. And me? Well I had dutifully resigned myself to use this opportunity where everyone is here together to 'interview' them on their views on love. Unfortunately Mai wasn't here today since she was busy, hopefully I'd get the chance to interview her and ask her on her opinions.

"Hi Tristan." I said as I plopped myself down on the seat near the table, watching him hit the ball making it fly down a hole.

He gloated and then turned to me. "So, I heard you've been 'interviewing' some of us, what about?"

Hmm, I looked at my checklist, I've already interviewed Joey – he said respect and emotions, I've also interviewed Duke – he said trust and joy, and Tea said heart and communication. I've not got the guts to interview Yugi – in case Yami hears our conversation. I also haven't interviewed Ryou yet.

"Yeah, I've been interviewing everyone, but for a reason – I just want an answer, what do you think is the most crucial in a relationship?" I asked him nervously.

Tristan blinked. "You mean love??" he slightly went pink. "Wow… I can't believe you, Shrimp, most of the time you talk rubbish and act all immature, and now you're talking what grown ups talk about."

I raised an eyebrow. "Your point?" I asked curiously.

"I didn't know you felt that way towards me." He said, with his eyes closed and small grin forming. He looked as if he was in some kind of dreamland. "I'm sorry but I already have a loved one......"

What?? "No, no, no, you got it all wrong, Tristan." I said with a slight sweat drop.

He blinked. "If you don't mean it that way, then, what way do you mean it?"

"I-eh……" I went red too. "I don't mean it THAT way, if you get what I mean – Tristan, are you alright??"

He was resting himself beside me on a chair with his arm over his eyes as if he was crying – which I think he was. I sweat dropped again. "Tristan, I'm sorry…."

"No, it's okay Shrimp, I understand, I just got kind of carried away there." He rubbed his eyes and grinned at my reassuringly. "Well, to the answer to your question, I always thought honesty and faith was important in a relationship."

I quickly scribbled that down in my notepad. "Thanks Tristan. Oh yeah, and that 'loved one'.... is it Serenity???" Iasked as I got back up, and then before I went to Ryou in the corner, I turned back to him.

"Uh..... yeah...." He replied awkwardly. "Don't tell anyone, Charybdis."And he held me a thumb up sign. I beamed at him. "It's okay, you're 'secret' is safe with me."

Afterwards………

"Um….. Ryou??"

"Yes Charybdis?" He asked me, not turning from his game.

"Er…. What do YOU think is the most important in L-O-V-E… Love???" I asked him, once again my voice went quiet and shaky. Darn it.

Immediately he went into Game Over mode and looked at me with a small smile. "Why Charybdis, do you like someone?"

"No." I replied quietly.

He looked slightly thoughtful. "Well then, I think I'd better tell you something, maybe give you an example."

"An example?? How Ryou, do you fancy someone too??"

"Not at the moment, no....You asked me my own opinions." He shook his head slightly - that his snowy white hair followed him as his head turned from side to side.

I shut up and let him go on. Ryou advanced over to the jukebox and looked at the available songs. Currently it was playing some kind of catchy rock song, but then he inserted some coins into the slot, and pressed another button, that a new CD flipped and began playing this slow….. dreamy….. song….

"May I?" He asked as he held his palm to me.

I looked around nervously. "What…. In here??????" The arcade wasn't exactly packed, but I could feel all eyes averting from the games to the origins of the sudden change of song. I gulped a little.

"It's alright Charybdis, no-one would see us dancing," He said.

"How do you know?"

"The other people are too occupied with their games to look at us dancing."

"Well, if you say so." I stammered and accepting his outstretched palish palm.

We got into position and then began to 'dance'. Ryou held my sweaty hand tightly as he guided me around. I held my breath and silently wished he'd take his hand off my waist. "That's it, you almost got it Charybdis." He said.

I blinked a little. I guess I must've improved since social dancing at school. I smiled at him awkwardly and nervously. Thus my thoughts had ventured over to Yugi who was beating Joey at a fighting game and I pondered, whether Yami had overheard our conversation and was watching silently and secretly.

"Ouch."

"S-Sorry." I apologised to him. God, this reminded me when I was dancing with Yami at the Christmas party…..

"Ouch."

"Sorry Ryou."

5 minutes later……….

"I thought you said that no-one would look at us!" I hissed at him angrily as I stared at our surroundings. People had abandoned their games to look at us and then even begin dancing themselves with a partner. I felt a little embarrassed

"Do you want your answer or not?" Ryou asked me.

I nodded briefly. "Sorry, go on."

"Well, in dancing, it's like being in love. The beat of the music isn't the most critical, but the pace and rhythms of the dancers are. If you pay too much consideration to your partner's steps, your owns steps will get unnatural, but if you pay too much attention to your own, it'll get affected too."

Amazing. He just breezed through it as if it nothing. I wondered whether he had written it in his hand or something. I thought for a while, not noticing that Ryou had let go of my hand and I stood there on the spot gawking at his back as if he was a love expert. I raised my hands, and then slowly, clapped for a minute or two. He blushed furiously while scratching his head and smiling.

"Wow Ryou…." I croaked at him. "I never knew you knew so much."

He beamed at me. "That's just what I think."

o

So, you think you know what to do now?

"Yup, I'm going to draw a mind map all about our relationship!" I chirped cheerfully, as I ripped an A4 sheet of paper out from my pad and grabbed a pen.

I began staring at the paper.

I thought you said you were going to –

"I am, I need to first of all, focus, gather my concentration up, gather all my feelings and stuff blah, blah, blah, until I can do this."

Well, if you say so.

Then I began writing the words 'My Love Life' in the middle, drew a pink cloud around it and then a leg protruding out of it, then wrote the word 'Yami' then drew another leg with the word 'Me' connected to it and drew pink clouds around those two.

o

"Yup, I got everything written down and sorted." I replied to Scylla while finishing my 'touches' to the spider diagram that lay in front of me on the surface of my desk. I lifted it up, walked to my vanity mirror and showed her it; she took a quick glance at it, before looking back at me.

Great. Now, you read over it.

So I did, I took it and sat back on my bed, reading through all the things I just scribbled down messily about all of my feelings and other stuff. As I delved further into my own written piece I felt even more confused and as if realisation had finally been sowed into my brain. "Do…. Do I really feel that way??"

You wrote it.

"Wow, I never really realised how much was in my brain, all of these stuff just popped in my blank mind and then I just wrote and wrote and wrote." I gawked at my four pages long 'essay' in my hands and then made a reach for my stapler. I stapled the sheets together and then hastily wrote my name down.

"Better not let anyone see this, especially Yami… for now."