Komi Komi Literature Club!
Chapter 23: The Arcade Date
"Alright, I think we've delayed long enough. Time to start making chapters again." Alex said to himself as he waited outside of the local mall. He saw Monika approaching him wearing jeans and a nice top. She greeted him with a happy hug and a kiss.
"Heyyy! Man, I'm excited! The last time we had a chapter where we got to go out on a date wasn't even in this story!" She recalled with a laugh.
"Yeah, right? It'll be nice," Alex laughed and smiled. "Have you ever been to an arcade before?" He asked.
"I have not actually. At least, probably none like the ones you go too." She answered.
"Alright. Well then this will be nice then." Alex said, taking her hand and walking into the arcade with her.
They entered into a large arcade with several rows of games ranging from shooting games to sports challenges, along with several sections for things like VR interactive games, touch screen games, and even Dance Dance Revolution.
"This looks nice. I don't know what games to play, haha, so I'll let you lead." Monika said with a giggle.
"It's an arcade, babe, you can play whatever games you want." Alex pointed out.
"Hmm...but I wanna see what games you like." Monika insisted, drawing out the word 'you' or emphasis. Alex chuckled at this, finding it cute.
"Alright. Well let me get our game cards together and we can get into it." He said. They went to a kiosk and Alex bought one card for them to share, loading it up with enough points for both of them to play on.
"Do you go to arcades often?" Monika asked curiously, following next to Alex as he started making his way through the different games.
"Eh, not really. Every so often, I guess," He answered with a shrug before approaching a guitar game. "But whenever I do go, I always make a point to play this at least 2 or 3 times." He said.
"Oh yeah? How does it work?" She asked, leaning over his shoulder to look at the guitar-shaped controller curiously.
"You wear it like a guitar," He said, putting it on. "You strum with this hand and you press the frets with this hand," He said, strumming with his right hand and pressing the colored buttons on the neck with his left. "And you just play what you see on the screen." He explained.
"Oh that's cool! Looks kinda hard to keep up with." She commented.
"Well, there's different difficulty settings: easy, medium, hard, and expert. I go with hard, where it uses all the buttons but it isn't overcomplicated either." He said as he started up the game and searched through the different available songs.
"Ooh, okay. Play for me, Alex!" Monika encouraged with a laugh, clapping her hands together.
"Haha you're a dork." He chuckled and shook his head at this.
Monika watched as Alex played a song of his choosing in the game. As soon as the song began, he started nodding his head and sang along with the song while he played. Monika just watched him with a smile, finding it really cute.
She liked seeming him smile.
After that game, they started picking out random games to play: classic arcade games, skeeball, and basketball. Monika particularly enjoyed playing the VR interactive games since it allowed her and Alex the opportunity to play and work together.
Once they had used up all of their games, they spent their points on candies and a small little cat plushie for Monika to keep. Then they sat down and ate their candies while they chatted.
"Man, this was so fun! It's like being a kid again!" She said with a giggle.
"I know, right?" Alex agreed with a tired chuckle, sitting back in his chair.
"I feel like we could've decorated at least a couple more paragraphs to it though." She pointed out teasingly. Alex glanced at her sideways with a little smile.
"Look man." He started before breaking into a laugh. Monika giggled at him before leaning against him.
"Either way, this is a fun little date. Thanks for breaking things up so we could have it." She said appreciatively.
"Yeah, of course. I'm sorry it took me so long to get to it. I'm trying to get back though." He informed her.
"I'm glad to hear that. I actually like how things are going in this story. Komi has actually started growing on me as a character." She admitted.
"Oh really?" Alex looked at her.
"Yeah, haha, she's cute, and it's nice to see her getting along with the girls," She said. "She fits right in." She added.
"Yeah, I agree. I'm glad you feel that way. I have more that I would like to do. I'm really just making a lot of this stuff up as I go, but it is a nice change of pace for me too." Alex expressed.
"Keep it up, babe. You're doing great." She said, nudging him with a smile.
"Thanks. I'll do my best," Alex promised. "It'll be interesting now that we're getting into the summer break chapters." He commented.
"Oh yeah? Summer vacation is always fun. Any ideas on what to do?" Monika asked curiously.
"Not too sure yet...beach chapter?" Alex suggested jokingly.
"Oh yeah, you'd loooove that wouldn't you?" She teased him.
"Heheh, yeah, actually I would." He agreed.
"Uhuh, heheh, hey, why don't we invite the girls to come here to the arcade?" She offered as a chapter idea.
"Hmm...actually, that's a good idea. Let's do that next." He decided.
"Yeah? Yay, I'm helping!" Monika laughed.
"Awesome, heheh, thanks." Alex wrapped an arm around her shoulders and gave her a quick kiss on the cheek...