Every mechanism of the arcade booth rang as if it was playing a victory song in advance, insistently loud, over the sounds of the place's various beeps and boops and chatters and whirrs and jingles and sproioioings and canned voices and - and - !
...With each practical alarm chime, another ticket slid bzznn!-ing outta the slit below the coin slot. Chiaki had only used one coin, and here she was, still playing away, tonguetip just pokin' pink between the side of her lips as a tongue of tickets, now, fed out longer, longer, longer, looooooonger... 'til, still not able to match Chiaki's style but unable to stop trying, it had nowhere to go but piled up in loops and coils on the floor.
"Queen of games," Ibuki said, breathlessly, at bells and bangs sounding and targets lighting up while itty-bitty, sleepy little Chiaki ducked and wove and slung that light gun at the cage of mechanisms before her.
Was this even allowed?
What the - was this allowed?!
...
...It stopped. The bzznn!-ing had stopped.
Ibuki glanced down. The —
— the tickets had stopped; the pile in which they sat grew no larger, still protruding from the slot well too far gone to go back, motionless but for a subtle jiggle in the drafts of passing frolickers' wakes and air from ducts.
Ibuki suuuuuucked in a gasp, hands drawing in front of her mouth to make her breath stop, stop, I can't handle the slaughter — ! as she swelled onto her tippy-toes...!
— Her pupils flicked to Chiaki, who continued to practically dance with the gun as the machine, likewise, continued to chime, flashing lights making alternating patterns of color on her face.
" — Chiaki!" she spat (totally by accident), hoppin' up further forward on her sneakers - reaching her hand toward Chiaki's shoulder fingers twitching in the air nope nope don't throw her off nnnnnngh — ...! "You've already cleaned out the whole bank! Look! Why, Ibuki's never seen a one-woman robbery like this since — "
— Wait.
Like she, too, was lining up a laser, Ibuki whipped her head aside.
The scoreboard at the end of the lane, flanked by targets poppin' up and flipping down and claws dropping balls with oh so subtle rhythm, counted up.
996.
997.
998...
...999.
It flashed in red. Above it, "CHAMPION", in white circus lettering. Colored bulbs around the board blinked and danced to ever-merrier chiming.
Ibuki swayed side-to-side, her "ohhhhh...!" wavering from the sheer second-hand head rush of what she'd just seen.
And in front of her, Chiaki knelt, slotting the gun back into its space and tearing the tickets free.
She rose with the whole bundle in her arms like she was picking up some plump pet bunny rabbit that hadn't even been making much of an effort to get away; smiled her dreamy smile under dreamy, slow-batting eyes.
"Sorry about that…" she said. "I was so close to the high score that I kind of forgot about the tickets for a second, there…"
"Umm - !"
- Ibuki blinked hard; swallowed and felt her tongue wiggling in her own throat before she nodded twice neck-breakingly hard. "Yeahyeah!"
She did not get it.
"Ibuki totally gets it - !"
She would have heard the moment the tickets had stopped dispensing. She would have been way too jazzed to see what the prize counter had in store for the girl who made out like a bandit to even care anymore about the scoreboard at that moment, hooboy Chiaki how was she not cheering about any of this -
"All in a day's work when you're the Ultimate Gamer, huh - …?!"
- Welp, she had certainly let a giggle vibrate the hell out of that statement; both right, silly Ibuki! and um - at least I think I get it? C'mon Chiaki please tell me what kind of spectacle I even just saw then -
Chiaki's brow roofed a little, her smile's curve deepening. "Well, I don't come to arcades all that often…" Her eyes drifted aside. "I may have gotten distracted, but I am glad I got so many tickets out of just one round; the ticket rate wasn't on the board, but this looks like it might be enough…"
Ibuki's eyes pop-plinked gum-bubble-round and bright.
"Ah-ha!"
Before she could even care to know it, she bounced up onto the soles of her feet again, her heart leaping after her with the thrill of discovery! She scanned about the arcade rapidly for the sign indicating the counter under the visor of one hand!
"So Chiaki was a gamer on a mission!" Where was it, wherrrrrre… "What could she have possibly decided was worth her going that H.A.M. for?"
Oof… If only she knew what to listen for at a prize counter besides, like… cheap kazoos!
"Follow me," Chiaki said.
Ibuki knocked herself out of her tiptoe-peeking, inclining her head at Chiaki when her face had found her again. In turn, Chiaki pressed up her smile a little more, gave a sideways nod down the aisle, and began to turn.
...Took Ibuki a couple seconds - oh - it's that way? - but! But! She half-jogged up behind her, readily!
Eyes round as she rolled up to a stop behind Chiaki as she arrived at and set her ticket bundle down on the bright-lit glass display. Looked up from green lights dancing on the counting machine's screen to the shelves, contemplating each item on them as her head tilted one way… then the other… falling in line with the angle of Chiaki's arm as she pointed…
...at a large plush toy resting on the topmost shelf. Something… white… and pink… and…
Up went the ladder, and up went the prize clerk. Down he came with the plush - Ibuki's eyebrows arched high as she nodded, in mounting approval, with a high-piped little "huh!" at the zebra, with its black mane and pink-and-blue-and-purple stripes, being placed into Chiaki's arms…
...and then finding its way into hers.
Ibuki shut her eyes tight and then reopened them on the beady-eyed little colorful horse - as if refreshing them, in case she was missing something.
Looked back up at Chiaki and cocked her head.
" - Uwah?" she managed at first. "You want me to… hold onto this for you, or something?"
Oh my god Ibuki it's your favorite colors.
Her heart was beginning to bunny-thump.
Her face was beginning to flush.
"Like - while Chiaki goes and plays some more - ?"
Hoo boy her voice hit a sharp note at the end there -
Chiaki giggled, softly.
Her face got hotter; her mouth began to fall open.
"I saw it when when we all passed by on the way in, so… I thought it might be a good idea to try to win it for you while we're here, since it reminded me a lot of you…"
- Meanwhile, Ibuki did not know when she had begun to wobble and sway again, and yet, here she was.
Right on her knees, her head bowed, the words "Ibuki is not worthy…!" coming out of her, oh so loud yet oh so heckin' wiggly from wanting to laugh from that head rush coming back - whether it was the daze of the last five minutes hitting her again all at once and coming together at this point, or whether it was the heat coming off of both her cheeks and the plush, so intense she could feel it in the air…!
"Does that mean you like it…?" Chiaki's voice drifted in like a sweet pink wisp of breeze. "I'm glad."
"Eeee-hee-hee-yup, yup…!"
Ibuki wiggled against the plush, burying and smooshing and rubbing her blushing face in it as if the blushing could be scrubbed off for one, two, three seconds before throwing it and her tight-in-her-cheeks grin skyward, all flashing up to the air…!
Heart going thumpathumpathumpathumpathump…!
"...Ibuki loves it…!"