The combined sounds of the loud game cabinets that surrounded Shuichi were beginning to overwhelm the boy's senses. Shuichi hadn't expected the instant overstimulation as he stepped into the arcade for the first time, his hand gripping the women he entered with tighter. The games were singing a siren's wail in an attempt to get any hopeful player's attention and money, their songs meshing together into one large dissonant wall of sound. The boy didn't know which game to even start at, watching curiously as Chiaki Nanami bought tokens from the cashier, their friendly conversation about the new Resident Evil game suggesting familiarity with one another. Shuichi was surprised when Nanami offered to take him here, but thankful that he could escape the anxiety-inducing lunch at the café across the street they were just at. The same café his aunt and the woman's two boyfriends were still discussing if Shuichi would be staying with these strangers. Already the three adults had been nothing but kind and gentle with Shuichi, but those were the type of strangers his father had warned him about, to not be so quick to trust anyone in this scary world. Given the fact his father was currently sitting in a prison cell Shuichi decided now might be a good time to not follow his advice word for word, even if only a little bit.
The blue haired boy's grip on Nanami's soft hand stayed firm as she finished her transaction, his eyes meeting the woman's as she looked down at him with her kind and sleepy eyes.
"Since this is your first time at an arcade, I want you to have the first pick of what we play." Nanami suggested to Shuichi, his eyes widening with shock as he was given unexpected if inconsequential responsibility.
"I've played every game here, so don't feel pressured about what to pick okay? Just go with whatever catches your eye first." Shuichi eased up ever so slightly, his grip loosening on her hand as he took a solid look around him. Among the sea of joysticks and buttons the sight of a plastic motorcycle stuck out to the young, inexperienced gamer. It stuck out so much that it turned into the first game Shuichi wanted to try. The boy wordlessly pointed over towards the racing game section, over to the motocross racing game that captured his interest. The woman looked over to which game Shuichi picked and smiled, impressed at the boy's choice.
"You want to try the motorcycle game first, kiddo?" Shuichi confirmed by nodding his head, Nanami unable to help herself as she laughed playfully before guiding the boy over to his choice.
Nanami assisted the small boy with getting on the ride-able controller while he watched the demonstration on the screen, the high speed and seamless driving from the computer amazing the child.
"Best advice I have is just try to balance yourself towards the middle of the screen" Nanami explained to the child as she positioned herself on the other cycle, handing the child four tokens for him to start his game.
"And just focus on having fun!" She was being careful in not overwhelming the child, letting him ease into this new experience. Shuichi picked his avatar after he put the tokens in the machine, the woman's words echoing back in his mind as he readied himself onto the bike, his small limbs trying to emulate the stance Nanami took on hers.
Suddenly, Shuichi found the screen counting down from 3, the virtual racers revving up as they readied themselves to race. Shuichi looked over at Nanami and noticed she was laser focused on her screen, her hands shifting the handlebars as the numbers decreased in value while the fictional crowd erupted in cheers. It was the sound of a hyper enthusiastic "GO!" from the game that snapped Shuichi back to his screen, twisting the handlebars like Nanami as his racer quickly sped away. He was taking the pro gamers' advice to heart as he focused on keeping himself steady rather than trying to win. Another glance over at Nanami's screen revealed she already had secured first place and was widening her gap from the rest of the pack. That was more than enough for Shuichi to figure out catching up to her would be unlikely at best. The track suddenly began to twist and turn wildly, catching the boy by surprise as he drifted away from the corners by only a hair, keeping his focus on balance to heart.
Lap one turned into lap two, with Shuichi standing comfortably in 3rd place while Nanami sped along with her firm lead. That didn't matter to the boy right now, as he let himself get fully invested in the game and found himself having fun. The tight corners that littered the track became familiar to the boy as he got in front of the last of the AI opponents, finding himself in second place behind the experienced woman to his left. Shuichi was more than content with the virtual silver medal, finding this game to be a lot easier than he thought it would be. The final lap was uneventful as the two players kept their positioning and distance from one another, Nanami inevitably finishing in first as Shuichi held on to second place.
Shuichi stared at the screen as his virtual racer clapped along as Nanami's took a victory lap, the woman reaching over to playfully rustle the boy's blue hair. The gesture caught Shuichi off guard, who impulsively jumped as the hand moved through his hair. Shuichi wasn't used to positive affirmation like that but he quickly calmed down as Nanami withdrew her hand.
"Good job Shuichi!" Nanami proudly praised, "Are you sure this is your first time playing this?" She coyly asked.
Shuichi sheepishly looked away, a small grin resting on his face. "I just followed what you said to do." He admitted. "You were awesome though! You're like a professional racer!" Shuichi was quick to praise his caretaker, excitement overflowing from the boy in that moment. Nanami laughed, finding his behavior cute.
"Thank you kiddo." She responded, "Racing games are pretty easy once you understand the handling and map dynamics." All Shuichi could do was nod his head and pretend he understood anything she just said. Nanami hopped off the motorcycle and extended her hand to help Shuichi off his.
"Want to try a fighting game?" She offered, a small mischievous smile creeping on her face. Shuichi enthusiastically agreed to the idea despite finding the woman's mischievous look to be rather suspicious.
Nanami guided the child over to a more traditional looking arcade cabinet, another two player game with two different joysticks with six buttons next to each stick. The sides of the machine were decorated with several people of whom Shuichi guessed were playable characters, all looking serious and ready to hurt someone. Shuichi couldn't help but stare at the character that was staring back at him, the man's silver hair and emotionless scowl reminding the child of his Auntie Kyoko, a thought that made the boy giggle to himself. The game was called "Tekken", which Shuichi was pretty sure was not a real word. Nanami placed more tokens into the cabinet while Shuichi found a step stool to help him actually reach the buttons. The character select screen showcased many different playable characters, a near overwhelming amount for the small child. He glanced at Nanami's side of the screen as she instantly selected a girl with pink hair and what looks like mechanical wings.
"Fighting games are weird" Shuichi thought to himself as he flipped around to pick a character. He recognized the man that reminded him of his aunt, named "Lee" and decided he would try him out.
Shuichi got nervous as the round was about to start, he couldn't help but notice how zeroed in Nanami looked again, her eyes not even blinking as she practiced different movements and button combinations as the game loaded.
""Uh'' Shuichi reluctantly spoke up. "May the best fighter win?" And with that, the announcer started the fight and the battle began. It was at this moment that Shuichi realized that he had just wandered blindly into the lion's den without a plan. As soon as Nanami's first attack landed the young novice stood no chance, getting combo-ed into a dominating loss by the gamer who clearly has played this game before. It was over in a flash, the last attack being replayed as the round was called, a perfect victory by the hands of Chiaki Nanami. She triumphantly looked over at Shuichi, who just stared bug eyed at the screen as he tried to figure out his next plan of action.
"S-sorry about that, I should have let you learn this game a little bit first." Nanami apologized, embarrassment seeping out of her. She cursed her inner competitive streak, but was relieved to see the boy finally look back up at her and weakly smile.
"It's okay!" Shuichi was quick to assure her. "I just need five minutes, tops!"
She appreciated the boy's continued enthusiasm even after getting destroyed like that. "Okay, let me show you some moves your character can do then we can try again."
"I-I won't let you down!"
—
Even after being shown all of Lee's special attacks, Shuichi stood no chance against the veteran Tekken player. Match after match were spent the same way, getting no real opportunity to actually fight back as Nanami kept her pressure on suffocation mode. To the boys credit, there was one round where he managed to chip away half of her health but that proved to be a fluke. Nonetheless, the gamer was showing elite sportsmanship and giving the boy pointers as they played. Disregarding the fact that all of her talk about mechanics and hit boxes went in through one ear and out the other to Shuichi.
He appreciated the attention if he was being honest, and was glad to be able to just forget about his mountain of problems right now. Speaking of which, he wondered how the conversation between his aunt and those two men back at the cafe was going. Their names were Hinata and Komaeda and their collective kindness did not go unnoticed. However the amount of unknowns about them still made Shuichi uneasy. All he really knew about the two were the fact they were both dating Nanami.
His aunt had partially revealed this fact to him earlier this morning, when she first revealed her plan to provide the boy with a reliable place to live.
"Hinata is in what is called a polyamorous relationship." Kyoko calmly explained to him over breakfast his morning. "Hinata is in love with Nanami and Komaeda, as they are in love with him." Kyoko described the relationship with a triangle metaphor, how all three points were happily connected. None of this bothered the boy, even if he had never heard of three people dating harmoniously like that before. The child looked over at the gamer, who had moved on to a new game where a spaceship was avoiding getting hit by hundreds of bullets at once. The projectiles covered the screen with minuscule room for error but as expected, Nanami was effortlessly dodging anything the game threw at her. Shuichi didn't know if right would be the best time to talk to her but his natural curiosity took over the boy as he mustered the courage to speak up.
"What's it like being with two people?" Shuichi bluntly asked. Nanami looked back at him, flashing an assuring smiling before turning her attention back at the game.
"It's both the hardest and best thing to happen to me." Her answer was equally as blunt, but it did not lack any sweetness. "Dating one person can be exhausting, even if it's someone you love dearly. I just so happened to find two people I love, two men who understand me as well I understand them both, I think." Nanami had a look of reminiscence on her face now, distracting her enough to die in her game. Shuichi was intrigued now, even if her answer was more boring than he expected. He only had more questions now as the woman inserted a few more tokens to try her game again.
"Do the three of you go out on dates and stuff together?"
"As a matter of fact, we do." Several romantic memories played out in Chiaki's head, every second spent with Hajime and Nagito feeling like a pleasant dream. A happy sigh broke out of the woman's lungs as she once again died in her game, the gamer too busy reminiscing about the triads first romantic dinner together eight years ago to truly care. Chiaki looked back at Shuichi and could tell by the expectant look on his face that he wanted to hear more. She smiled sweetly as she gestured towards the considerably quieter snack bar, empty tables sprawled out in the separate room. Shuichi clung to her hand as the two walked to take a break.
As Shuichi adjusted himself on the plastic seat the lack of noise compared to the rest of the arcade was welcome to his overstimulated self. Shuichi took a mental note of how thinking about her boyfriends made Nanami lose her focus on her video game, something Shuichi thought to try to use against her the next time he played against her in Tekken. What stuck out the most about the woman's smile is that Shuichi knew he'd seen such a look before. His uncle Makoto smiles the same way whenever he sees his auntie. He sees this smile when Kyoko is resting her head on Makoto's lap as they both read separate books as he caresses her softly while they're sprawled out on their couch. He sees this smile really any time Kyoko enters any room Makoto happens to be in, often on the face of his good natured uncle but Shuichi has seen such a loving smile worn by Kyoko as well. Being the boy's only real reference of what love looks like, the similarities he'd seen between his aunt and uncle and Nanami with her boyfriends gave the boy a good idea on how much the sleepy woman must love them. Shuichi couldn't find the words as to why exactly but that thought relaxed him.
"What's on your mind Shuichi?" Nanami perked, the boy having not said a word as he was deep in thought. He quickly remembered where he was, flashing embarrassment at his lack of manners much to Nanami's amusement.
"The way you talk about your boyfriends reminds me of how my aunt and uncle talk about each other." Shuichi admitted, furthering his personal embarrassment. "They must make you happy."
The audible "awwww" that came out of Nanami after hearing such a thing didn't do anything to subside Shuichi's blush.
"You're right though, they both make me feel like the happiest woman in the world."
"What are they like?" He still didn't actually know anything about the men, but he already found himself trusting them more.
"Well, they're both incredibly smart for starters. Hinata can be a grouch but he's honest and he has a really big heart when he's able to show it. Komaeda is super laid back and can be just as sweet, if not sweeter. He has his eccentric moments but I wouldn't want him any other way."
"Eccentric?" The boy barely understood what the word meant in the first place, but could tell Nanami was being intentionally vague.
Nanami briefly paused before continuing. "He's a very hopeful person." The emphasis on "hopeful" sparked more intrigue in Shuichi. "He's very well meaning though, granted we've known each other since we were about your age actually."
"Wow that must have been ages ago then."
"Hey I'm not even thirty yet!" Nanami pouted before laughing softly, finding it impossible to be actually mad at the boy.
"Oh… Sorry" Shuichi looked down at the ground in shame, before Nanami placed a reassuring hand over his.
"I'm not offended kiddo," She assured, "So tell me more about yourself Shuichi. What do you do for fun?"
—
"There you guys are!" A cheerful voice rang out, the voice belonging to Nagito Komaeda, behind him his boyfriend Hajime Hinata followed by Kyoko Kirigiri, who looked a lot more calm than she has the past three days. Komaeda kissed Nanami who happily reciprocated before taking a seat next to her as Kyoko sat down next to her nephew, who didn't hesitate in wrapping his aunt in a hug. Hinata took a seat next to Nanami, giving the gamer a kiss of his own.
"How are you doing, Shuichi?" Hinata asked the child, meeting eyes across the table.
"I'm doing okay I think, I was just talking about Sherlock Holmes with Nanami!"
Nanami smiled warmly, Shuichi's ten minute tangent on how the famous detective solved what may be his hardest case being nothing short of adorable. Talking about the sleuth was a lot more preferable to the child, as his attempts to dissect his feelings towards his father and being in between homes nearly brought Shuichi to tears. Nanami had been there to comfort him as best as she could, his cries subsiding once he had been brought into a great big hug before turning the conversation back towards his special interests. Nanami made note to introduce him to a certain courtroom drama game series once she could show him her game collection at home.
"So we think we have an arrangement everyone is comfortable with." Komaeda excitedly announced, smiling over at the boy who smiled back.
Kyoko nodded her head before turning to her nephew. "We've agreed that the best way to acclimate you is if you start staying with Hinata, Komaeda, and Nanami at their house during the day. Come evening either me or your uncle will be over and stay the night with you. This of course until you have a proper room or if you decide this isn't right for you."
Shuichi was openly puzzled as he took in his aunts words, something all four adults picked up on.
"Think of it like a sleepover with your aunt at our house until you're sure you're comfortable." Hinata clarified. "And during the day you can hang out with us."
Shuichi couldn't deny his surprise at the proposition. The boy did understand the situation he was in, how he couldn't just stay at his apartment by himself while his dad is in jail. He understood that his only other family were workaholics that were not in a situation where they could take in a child either. Even understanding his technical homelessness he didn't expect to find someone to take him in this soon. Shuichi wondered if his aunt even expected the suddenness of this either. Shuichi looked over at the triad across from him. He sees how completely different they are from one another, yet now that the three are reunited he picked up a lot of small things, such as how Komaeda played with Nanami's hair or how Hinata held the woman's other free hand, the gamer absentmindedly running circles on the back of the tanner mans knuckles. Shuichi saw comfort and undeniable love between these three people.
Shuichi already decided he can trust Nanami, and he knew that his calculated aunt trusted all three adults before him. The fact that his aunt was going to be staying with him at night helped a lot too, Shuichi being thankful he had an out in the event of any worse case scenario that could be thrown his way. He had a gut feeling things couldn't get any worse than the mess he was currently in anyway. The normally cautious Shuichi was willing to step into this unknown.
"Sounds good to me!" He exclaimed, Kyoko making no effort to suppress her sigh of relief next to him. The triad each shared equal visual relief, Komaeda being more surprised than anything else however.
"You don't need to jump into a decision this quickly." Komaeda reminded Shuichi, "This is a lot to take in, I'm just saying if you need more time to really think about it it's okay-"
"If Auntie Kyoko trusts you then I trust you." Shuichi cut off the ghostly thin man, understanding his concerns with jumping into an answer. Overjoyed, Kyoko brought her nephew into a loving hug.
"Are you sure sweetie?" Kyoko whispered.
"Yes." He simply whispered back before receiving a kiss on his tiny forehead. He couldn't remember the last time his aunt had been this affectionate towards him, Shuichi enjoying every second of it.
"Why don't you bring him over on Tuesday?" Hinata suggested, himself wrapped around his lovers.
"Tuesday sounds perfect." Kyoko warmly responded, "What about you, Shuichi?"
Shuichi flashed a hopeful smile, already making peace with the breakneck speed of the situation seeing as it was already Sunday. "I'd like that"
Across from the boy, Komaeda's eyes wandered from outside the snack bar towards the claw machines that stood right by the doorway. An idea popped into his head as he stood up from the table.
"Hey Shuichi, want to see something cool?" Komaeda offers. The mere concept of a surprise sounding rather enticing to the child. Shuichi looked back at his aunt who gave him an assuring look as she let go of him, Shuichi getting up and following the lanky man over to the claw machine.
Komaeda pulled a coin out from his coat pocket and inserted it into the claw machine. "I doubt anyone has told you, but I have a particular… gift of luck." Now this Shuichi had to see. "It cycles from good and bad luck, but as sure as the sunrise I'm due to experience otherwise unexplainable luck. It's been like this since I was a kid honestly. Let me give you an example." Shuichi still didn't know where he was going with this, but was eager to see what was going to happen.
"Pick any toy you want." Komaeda suggested, Shuichi shuffling over as a rather cute looking black cat stuffed animal caught his attention before pointing it out to Komaeda. The man hummed approvingly to himself before positioning the claw on top of the stuffed cat. Komaeda dramatically pressed the big red button and as the claw dropped down and snagged down, not only was the black cat grabbed but the white bunny right next to it was captured by it's large white ear. Shuichi watched in awe as the two stuffed animals dropped to the corner and Komaeda picked them up from the slot, Shuichi gained an understanding on what Komaeda was talking about with his luck as he eagerly took both stuffed animals.
"Wowwwwwwww" Shuichi cooed, "That was awesome! Thank you!"
"You are very welcome, Shuichi." Komaeda couldn't ignore the stress building inside him as he worried about the potential of his luck harming the boy that looked at him with amazement. He took a deep breath to suppress those thoughts, reminding himself that his luck cycle has actually never directly impacted anybody else but him as his coping mechanism worked like a charm.
As Shuichi held his new stuffed animals his mind raced to what was going to happen next. Shuichi knew there was a chance that everything could go wrong, that these people weren't nearly as nice as they appeared. As fun as today has been for the boy, he couldn't forget that he was still in the middle of weathering the worst storm he'd seen so far in his life. The waves of uncertainty and fear crashing into him at full force. Shuichi knew he had a life jacket within reach with his Aunt however, and the boy couldn't help but feel that these three kind adults were going to help him get out of the turbulent weather all together. Shuichi felt like smooth sailing was waiting for him in the near future, the calm wind in his sail coming in the form of Nanami, Komaeda, and Hinata.