This is Lotus

This is Saiki

Saiki and Lotus

~Thoughts of others~

The Afternoon Arcade Showdown - Spares Are in the Attic

"Oh, I'm going to miss you, girls!"

"We're going to miss you too!"

In front of the Yamaguchi home, the entire family stood outside, a tearful farewell taking place. Camellia had her arms wrapped tightly around her two daughters, the trio sharing a group hug.

The older woman looked to her husband and the tall man's shoulders were shaking as he wiped away a few tears. His cries coming out in small almost silent sobs.

"Oh, you big baby! Get over here!"

Takumi made his way to the three and with his long arms, managed to wrap them all in a hug.

"This is so sweet!"

Ethan cried behind his camera, snapping photos.

New sniffling caught the group's attention, and they all looked down the pathway towards the home's main gate. The entire Saiki family was present, the two adults of the group crying.

"Oh, well look who came to send us off too. Ain't this a nice treat?" Camellia spoke with a smile.

Kusuo came up next to Lotus, standing next to the girl while the adults conversed.

"Here, these are for you." Kurumi came forth holding out two small bags. "Just a little snack for your flight."

"Oh, you're too kind!" Camellia said

"Thank you very much," Takumi said

"The next time you're in town you have to stop by," Kurumi said

"Of course! And keep an eye out on my girls will you?" Camellia said

"Of course!" Kurumi said

*BEEP BEEP*

All attention was pulled towards the street as a cab parked itself on the curb before the home.

"Well looks like our rides here," Camellia said

The woman gave a small sniffle wiping away a nonexistent tear from her eye.

"Babe get our bags please."

"Right."

Takumi picked up several large bags with ease and started carrying them over to the cab.

"Now Kusuo my boy–"

Kusuo gave Camellia a look as she addressed him. She placed a hand on his shoulder leaning in.

"You're an upstanding young man, I really like you. Make sure you continue to take care of my youngest. Oh, and if you have any other troubles, I keep some of my extra pickaxes and shovels in the attic."

"Why would you have extras?"

Takumi finished loading up the car and gave his girls one more large bear hug.

"Oh bye my babies! I'll call you the moment we land!" Camellia said

"You better," Violet said

Camellia laughed, grabbing each girl, pulling them in, kissing both of their cheeks.

"And Ethan–"

"Hm?"

The man wore a questioning look as he lowered his camera. Camellia smiled, patting the young adult's head.

"Good boy."

"Is he your son-in-law or pet?"

The couple got into the car and the cab pulled off. Camellia stuck her upper body out the window and waved as the cab took off down the street.

"Bye! Bye-Bye! Miss you already!"

She leaned out further and Takumi's hands came around the woman's waist keeping her from falling out.

"Aww, gotta love those two!" Violet said

A bell rang overhead signaling the end of the school day and Lotus started packing up her bag.

"Are you ready to go Saiki?"

Saiki slung his bag over his shoulder.

"Yup."

Lotus stood up from her seat as well, putting her bag over her shoulder. Before she could step away from her desk an arm was slung over her shoulder.

"Wha–?"

Another arm, belonging to the same person, was slung over Saiki's shoulder and the couple was pulled in close to a familiar person.

"Hey, buddies! Wanna go get ramen?"

"No."

Despite his protest to the invite, Saiki, along with Lotus and Kaidou were joining Nendou for an afternoon outing to grab some ramen. It would've been nice if the taller teen had informed them beforehand that the restaurant was a 30-minute walk from the school.

To top it off, when the group arrived at the restaurant they found it to be closed with a note taped to the front. The owner was sick, so the restaurant had to be closed for the day.

Saiki was now even more irritated about the whole ordeal, considering this afternoon was reserved for him and Lotus, the two having already made plans. Video games and cake were on the schedule before Nendou had dragged them off.

"Closed. Well, that's weird," Nendou said

"I can't believe you made us walk 30 minutes for this!" Kaidou snapped

"It can't be helped. The managers got allergies. Can't be sneezing around exposed noodles."

At the end of his sentence Nendou let out a massive wet sneeze, spit and snot landing on Kaidou.

"I'm mad at you for not picking a closer ramen place!"

"We're going now."

"Well let's go find somewhere else to hang out. Hey!" Nendou pointed across the street to an arcade. "Let's go there!"

"How are games a replacement for ramen?" Kaidou said

"It's not my fault the guy has hay fever! Do you have any idea how troublesome that disease can get!"

"That's not the problem here! We need to find another food place! Not an arcade!"

Nendou glowered, as he stared down at Kaidou.

"I'm getting mad now. Okay, Kaidou let's settle this beef between us once and for all."

"Sure. I was getting bored of having a peaceful everyday life anyway."

"To the video arcade!"

"Heeey you agree on something."

Lotus snickered at the tone of Saiki's voice.

The two followed after Nendou and Kaidou, entering the arcade.

"Anyway, it's been a while since I've been to an arcade. I liked it as a kid, so my mom always took me. My favorite game was whack-a-mole. I know it's simple, but I liked that it let you focus on doing that one thing."

"Let me guess kid Saiki's strength did a number on those moles?"

"When I hit those moles they never came up again."

"As much as I love my console games, nothing can beat the classics of an arcade. I'm really fond of Galatic Intruders and Avenue Brawlers."

"How often do you go to the arcade?"

"Oh, I go almost every Sunday!"

"Really?"

"Yup, as long as I don't have any plans I got to this nice little arcade I found. If you and I have plans I either go on a weekday after school or before or after our plans. No one really bothers me, I even have an arcade pal who plays PVP and Two-Player games with me. If you want to, we can go together sometime?"

After a swift lap around the arcade, Nendou quickly grabbed a seat at one of the racing games but failed to insert any money.

"Oh yeah! I'm way ahead of the other cars! What? I can't turn right."

"Stick a coin in."

"Is this thing broken?"

"It's your brain that's broken."

Kaidou had taken up shop at a shooting game, using both guns to play.

"He's gonna run out of ammo soon."

"Is that the best you can do zombies! If you couldn't handle the pressure you shouldn't have gone up against Kaidou the Double Bullet! What–No! I'm all out of bullets! No! Let me reload! Give me a fighting chance!"

The zombie attacked the screen, and it was game over for Kaidou.

"Called it."

"Alright, I'm done playing your stupid zombie game. It's totally rigged."

"Well, it is a game."

"Hahaha! You suck at games dude!" Nendou laughed pointing at Kaidou.

"Fine how about we start this duel!"

"Okay runt just pick a game, so I can start beating the crap out of you."

"Yeah right. You couldn't beat me at a single game in this arcade. Since it's the closest, let's go with this quiz game."

"Wow, you really wanna win this."

"If we're doing the game that's closest, why not the one you're leaning on?" Nendou questioned

Kaidou stood up and turned around to find himself leaning on a punching game.

"You dug your own grave."

"Hmm...sometimes Nendou is really surprising."

"Uh, it's better if we let Saiki and Lotus choose," Kaidou said

"Oh no! If you're not going to pick I will!" Nendou said

"Just play something, seriously."

After much back and forth, finally, the game was chosen. Air hockey.

"Simple enough game. First person to nine points wins."

"Yeah! Air hockey is awesome!" Nendou cheered

"~I can hold my own against most.–~"

"You really can't though."

"~But Nendou has the strength of an ogre, flawlessly I'll get smoked! I have to think of a strategy! If I hit the puck straight he'll just block it with his wild reflexes!~"

"Just start."

"~I'll confuse him with a rare bank shot.~"

"Everyone does that."

"Yeah, it's used in several games. Like pool."

"Wait...you play pool?"

"Tall Hammer Shot!" Kaidou shouted, hitting the puck.

The puck didn't move all the fast giving Nendou plenty of time to prep and return the shot. The puck soared back across the table and flew right into Kaidou's goal.

"What?! How!?"

"~That was so fast I barely saw it!~"

"Haha! What's wrong short stuff!" Nendou laughed

"Huh, I actually did just pick this game randomly but Nendou might have too much raw strength over Kaidou."

"~I can't believe it's come to this.~"

Kaidou hit the puck again doing another small bank shot.

"That's the same attack, only way slower!"

Nendou hit the puck back but this time Kaidou was prepared. He grabbed two air hockey mallets blocking the goal completely.

"How did you get two of those handy thingies!?"

"This is the impregnable wall of the Double Mallet!"

"It's called cheating."

"How in the world did he get two of those anyway? This is a two-player game there should only be two mallets."

However, the puck still made it past Kaidou.

"It doesn't matter because Nendou still scored."

0 - 2

"Ha! You haven't seen anything yet!" Nendou said

"Damn it…"

Kaidou crouched behind the table confusing everyone.

"What's up?" Nendou asked

"Oh, I can't find the puck. Can you see if it is on your side?" Kaidou asked

As Nendou bent down to look, Kaidou popped back up with the puck hitting it into Nendou's goal.

"Meteor Smash!"

"That's dirty."

"Hehe, looks like it was on your side after all!" Kaidou said

"Dirty trick but a rather good quip."

"Sorry to interrupt your victory pose, but you cheated again. I guess I'll let it slide to prevent you from losing so badly."

Lotus sighed, dropping her head into her hand.

The game continued on in this fashion, Nendou using his brute strength and Kaidou tricking the gullible teen. At one point Kaidou had gotten a third mallet and even started using his bag as one.

"Seriously where does he keep getting these mallets?"

Finally, the game neared the end with the score being tied at 8 - 8.

"Huh? You know I did not think Kaidou was going to be able to hold out for this long."

"I will say you've played a really good game, but it's over now," Nendou said

He raised his mallet striking the puck.

"Take my Zig Zag attack!"

"This is too fast! You'll win the game with this! All I can do is–Oh, it's slowing down. Take this!"

Kaidou hit the puck back, the object moving extremely slow.

"Too easy," Nendou said about to hit the puck back.

"Ha! You fell for it! Mallet attack!"

Kaidou flung his mallet across the table hitting the puck, sending it into Nendou's goal.

"Playing dirty to the end."

"Alright, I actually won! How do you like me now? And don't say I played dirty, no matter what a win is a win," Kaidou said

"Oh, now I get it! I didn't realize until now that you could use those little hitty thingies to block the puck," Nendou said

"What now?"

"~Why do I feel so guilty?~"

"So in a way, Nendou wins, and I just realized I didn't use my powers. Doesn't matter no reason to mettle in such a hollow sporting event."

"Well at least Kaidou learned his lesson, now that means I don't have to punish him."

"Huh?"

Saiki turned to Lotus and saw a dark aura wafting around her, as she wore a tight-lipped smile.

"Remember I hate cheaters."

"Hey, buddies let's get a shot to remember this by!"

"Come on guys!"

Nendou and Kaidou called out to the couple as they stood before a photo booth.

"Do we have to?"

Despite his reluctance, Saiki got in the booth and Lotus joined. As the group attempted to pose for the photos Nendou and Kaidou got into another tiff and each photo had the two squabbling, with Lotus and Saiki stuck in the middle of it.

"These two are hopeless."

Still arguing, Nendou and Kaidou got out of the booth. As Saiki was about to step out he was pulled back. Glancing over his shoulder he saw a shy-faced Lotus, a slight tint to her cheeks. He was confused as to what she was doing before he saw the screen of the photobooth counting down again. He was about to question what was going on until he felt a soft hand on his right cheek and his head was pulled in closer. Air got caught in his throat as something soft pressed against his left cheek just as the flash of the booth went off taking the photo. Lotus snickered quickly exiting the booth leaving behind a slightly stunned Saiki.

The pink-haired teen took a moment to recover before exiting the booth. Lotus stood with a proud smile on her face, cheeks red, as she held something behind her back. She looked around making sure Nendou and Kaidou were still busy before holding out a small row of pictures for him to see.

There Saiki saw six versions of himself being kissed on the cheek by Lotus.

"Here."

Lotus folded the row in half and tore it down the middle, segmenting it into three photos each.

"One for me, and one for you."

Saiki took the photo before tucking it away in his bag, a small smile making its way to his face.

Guess this afternoon wasn't a total bust.