Kyoukei and Sunako were now walking in a deserted street of Sapporo. The young man had no idea of where they were headed to and he hoped that Sunako wouldn't notice his uneasiness.

As a matter of fact, Kyouhei wasn't so fond of dating. He couldn't understand all the fuss about it. When he wanted to spend time with Sunako, he just needed to go and see her, and he would be contented. He didn't expect her to dress up for him. She would never do such a thing anyway. Moreover, she hated dates as well, so why bother ?

Kyouhei had never felt concerned with all of this. He had already been on dates, but with Sunako. And it had never been of their own accord. Their busybody friends had meddled in their business as always. He vividly remembered that one time when Ranmaru had had one of his love crises. He had forced Kyouhei to take Sunako on a date without her knowledge. Kyouhei had to follow a strict schedule: romantic movie, fancy French restaurant, potential kissing… but of course, nothing went according to the plan. He had complied because he was afraid of Ranmaru, but when spending time with Sunako, he just had had fun. They had watched a horror movie, they had eaten in a nice local restaurant. They had even fought with wrestlers (this moment was what had most moved him; he was fond of her fighting style). Being with her was always fun anyway, whatever they did. People usually don't end up covered with blood when they go on a date, but who cared ? It didn't need to look like a date as long as Sunako had appreciated the day.

Why had he asked her on a date as a reward for his help then? Because he knew that even for thickheaded people like them, a date meant something. It meant being in a relationship, or being about to start one. He would obviously enjoy spending time with her, but he also wanted her to realize that his feelings for her were strong. Moreover, he was facing a younger Sunako that he had yet to know. He could see that the one he knew was different from this middle-school teenager who had yet to be rejected. He couldn't take the risk of not behaving properly.

Kyouhei looked at Sunako. She was walking as far away from him as possible, her eyes staring at the ground. She had struggled not to go on this date. She had begged, tried to negotiate a postponement, and finally, had tried to punch Kyouhei in the face. But he was stronger than her. At least, stronger than the thirteen year-old Sunako. He had defeated her when he had made it obvious that he was determined to spend time with her, that whether it was today, tomorrow, or the days after, she would go on a date with him, so she had better get over with it as soon as possible. Surprisingly, she had taken the bait. Well, maybe his threatening her of waiting in front of her school every day of the following week had helped a bit. She must have hated him by now. He couldn't blame her. It was pretty wicked and low of him to use that kind of argument. But still, he had had no choice. He felt urged. He had overheard a conversation between Sunako's mother and her husband on the phone (he couldn't get used to the fact that she called her husband "my sweet darling") and had learnt that Sunako's father would be home this Sunday. When he would be back, it would be useless to even think of talking to Sunako. Her father would kill him for this. He knew how overprotective he could be.

Kyouhei stopped and looked around him puzzled and annoyed not to know exactly where they were. He had looked for suitable places to go with Sunako and had somewhat explored the district while she was busy stuffing her room with hideous pink things, but he hadn't come up with any truly good idea.

'Do you have any idea where we're going?' Sunako asked at last. She seemed about to turn around and go back home at any time. 'Aren't you just lost?'

'Of course not! I simply don't know where to go first. I don't want you to get bored, that's all!'

'As if you cared!'

Sunako had wavered a bit at these words. Much to Kyouhei's relief he recognized a curry restaurant which he knew to be about five minutes from the mall.

'Wanna play games at the arcade ? We're not very far.'

Sunako shrugged and followed him.

Did that girl like videogames ? He didn't really know. The fifteen-year-old Sunako liked zombie and horror games, but that was pretty much it. He didn't feel like going to the cinema to sit silently in front of a movie though, and he really wasn't hungry. He just wanted to talk to her and laugh with her.

The place was crowded. We were on Saturday night, and a lot of young people had come to gather and expel the tension they had accumulated during a tiring week at school or at work. Kyouhei soon spotted a boy he had seen at Sunako's school. The guy's shade of ginger hair was unmistakable. However, Kyouhei didn't tell his date about it for fear that she would want to leave.

Luckily, they found an isolated game in a curiously dark corner of the arcade. No one seemed interested in it. There was a picture of a scalped mutant's head stuck on the side of the machine and some other gory details like orphan members which didn't help make it welcoming. Kyouhei had feared Sunako's reaction, but to his surprise and delight, she showed more enthusiasm for this videogame than he had seen her display for anything since he had met her younger self. She had sparkles in her eyes and didn't seem to be aware of the world around her anymore. She rushed to the machine.

'Aaaaaaah, nobody's playing Hungry Mutant Cannibals 3 !'

'Ain't that obvious ? Nobody would dare approach it !'

'Really?' Sunako seemed genuinely surprised. 'As far as I remember I've never seen this game available. It's always busy. There even often are people queuing for it.'

'Well, maybe tonight the owner of the place didn't let gang members or killers in. Do you enjoy sleepless nights ?'

Sunako didn't listen. In a blink of an eye, she had put some coins in the machine and had started it. Kyouhei smiled to himself and took the second joystick. Sunako had spontaneously selected the two-players mode and he appreciated. She chose a hulk of a character, Kyouhei took the nimble lady with blue hair. The aim of the game was quite simple: they were in a town which had been contaminated by a virus and where most of the inhabitants had turned into mutants. The players had to rescue the survivors who were hiding. They would kill mutants to survive, to defend the survivors, or just for the fun of it. They even could execute gory combos when killing mutants which gave the characters experience points that they would distribute amongst some skills between each level. That was the kind of game Kyouhei loved. And from what he could figure of Sunako's smile, she shared the same feeling. In an instant, they were totally hooked. They didn't even notice when a crowd began to surround them as people heard the machine shout the number of mutants Sunako could kill in a row. "Ten, Ultra Combo." "Fifteen, Exterminator," "Twenty, Mutant Genocide !"

It may seem strange that they didn't notice the cheerings and ovations, but when one gets to know Sunako and Kyouhei that kind of story becomes incidental. Sunako couldn't care less about what was going on around her. When she liked something, she gave herself to it wholeheartedly without a care for the rest. And she liked this video game. As for Kyouhei, he was used to it, no matter what he did people would come and watch. He couldn't buy fried shrimps at a takeaway without girls getting a nosebleed around him or faint because their eyes would meet. To normal people his handsomeness clashed with the violence of the game but since the presence of all these people didn't seem to disturb Sunako, why would he say something ?

They were walking along a tunnel when they were attacked by a group of six mutants. Kyouhei shot at them, but he was almost out of ammo and experienced difficulties pushing them back. Why did he struggle so much? Usually, killing them would have been a piece of cake. He looked for his huge and muscled partner and realized his was the only one fighting. Sunako was not covering him. Her character was meters away from the combat zone, standing still.

'Oi, what are you doing?' Kyouhei yelled.

He looked at Sunako and realized her player was not the only one spacing out. The young girl was looking straight ahead of her. Motionless, her lips slightly open, she didn't seem to have heard him. The young man followed her gaze and understood at once. That guy, Takero or whatever, the man who had dared say she was ugly, had joined the crowd and was looking at them. He seemed unaware that was at him that Sunako was staring. Was she that nothing to him that he couldn't notice something so obvious ?

Kyouhei felt angry. He couldn't understand. He was nice to Sunako, he wanted her company, and sometimes, he even yearned for it. However, she wouldn't even look at him. She wouldn't consider him as someone to date. But that guy? That man who wouldn't even regard her as a girl ? How dare he ? Kyouhei pressed his joystick so tightly that his fingers turned white.

After the two players were slaughtered by the mutants, blood gushed on the screen and wrote the words "game over" as the machine pronounced them with a scary deep manly voice. As though he had forcibly been brought back to reality, Kyouhei slowly let go off the joystick and took Sunako's hand.

'Let's go. Didn't you hear ? The game's over. We've lost'

Sunako did not look at him, but obediently followed his lead.