CHAPTER 2: THE BLACK BEAST
Part 1
There’s a large cube shaped mechanical structure that stood almost at the same height as myself right in front of me. The mechanical arm inside the machine gleams as it reflects the lighting on the place, a lever on the machine's side awaits its next victim to try their luck. It is the very machine that had stolen so much from society, and laughed at them with a ridiculous "too bad, so sad" jingle every time they failed at the challenge.
"You’re sure about this?"
"Yup, I'm positive that's the one I'm looking for."
Yukino points at a certain area inside the machine's that was piled with plush toys of various shape and sizes.
Yeah, this is a crane game machine with plush dolls as prize.
"Well, there's only one way to find out..."
I reached for my pocket, took a game coin that's recently bought by Yukino here and inserted it into the coin slot.
*ring ding ding* Detecting the game coin inside its mechanism, the machine started to play a 8-Bit song. For a 21st century machine, this thing was quite odd. I mean 8-bit music? Please... does the developer doesn't have some extra money to spend on the music department?
Tossing that aside, I reached the lever that looked like an oversized joystick and pushed it to the left, prompting the mechanical arm inside the machine to move accordingly.
"Right over there Seiji! On that straw hat bear’s left!"
Yukino pointed the same mound of plush dolls again, but this time I saw the bear wearing a small straw hat that she mentioned.
"Don't blame me if I picked the wrong one though..."
“I trust you~!”
Ugh, please stop putting too much hope to me. It was just a lucky shot that I got the so called rare “Rider Bear” from this machine a week ago.
The three fingered mechanical arm moved slowly in accordance with my control manipulation. It kept on moving across the machine's inside until it reached a certain spot. Right above the mound Yukino had pointed earlier. I nudged the lever bit by bit until I was confident with the position, and then pressed the red button beside the lever.
*Ziiiii~* Yukino held her breath and crossed her fingers watching the mechanical arm descending down.
*Kacha!* Ooh! It caught the doll right at the body.
*Ziiiiiii~* the mechanical arm pulled out an orange bear plushy wearing a scarf and... an eye patch? What the heck? I turned to see Yukino’s expression, but her face went blue because she held her breath for too long. I had to shake her body to remind her to breath again.
Then *Clack!*, the mechanical arm drops the plushy to the drop area, and the machine played the rarely heard victory fanfare.
Wow, I’m honestly impressed... to think my luck could do this kind of thing two times in a row, and in the same week to add. Should I try my luck on a lottery? I might just get myself a bag of cash... hmm...
“Seiji...”
Yukino, squatted down to the prize claiming box under the machine, took the eye patch bear and showed it to me.
"This... is Kaizoku-kuma[1]!! Yay!!”
She jumped around like a little kid getting a new toy. Well, the part of 'getting a new toy' is true though.
"Pirate? Ah, that explains the eye patch."
"Uh-uh, with this my bear collection is finally complete!!"
Apparently the company who made the crane game here had established a collectible series in order to attract more customers. Yukino were collecting the bear series, where there's a variety of bears like Straw Hat Bear, Rider Bear, Pilot Bear, Navy Bear and so on. The other popular series was the cat series which were based on their fur color. By the way, two of the largest plushies in the machine was Kero-pan[2] and Ao-tama[3].
"Well, want go home?"
"Uhn, thanks for the plushy."
"No problem, consider it as payment for the lunch earlier."
“Huh? I say, Seiji, do you really have to apply your philosophy of not owing anyone to me?”
“Eh? Aaa, sorry, it’s becoming quite a habit now.”
My motto was “If you owe someone something, repay it the same day when you owe it”. It was born because my own life was pretty hard, I had to work part time to pay my tuition money, electricity and water bills, not to mention my daily expenses (food and such) and unexpected emergencies. So, adding some debt into the fray was out of the question. And it wasn’t just limited to money. I also returning other people’s favors too, in a way that I deem it was equal or more than what I get in return. If I can’t do it the same day then I’ll do it tomorrow, if I still can’t, then I’ll just do it the day after tomorrow, and so on until it’s settled.
Some of my friends called it a twisted philosophy though. I really don’t understand why. Was it that odd to return something equal to what you get to the person who gave it?
“That’s a really bad habit you know? Not everyone wanted something in return when they do something for you, it’s like you’re denying their good will or something.”
“Uhh... you do have a point there... ”
I scratched my head in reflex, she really didn’t hold back on her words. That’s one of her good traits that I liked, not afraid of telling the truth. Though I couldn’t just change my life’s motto like that.
“Next time you do this to me I’ll definitely kick your butt.”
“Oi oi oi, that’s not what a shrine miko should say in a public place like this isn’t it?”
The two of us were currently in the Taiga Mall’s third floor, along the electronics section of the mall. And the crane game I just played was sitting in front of the game center that I frequently visited when I was still in high school. Needless to say that there’s a bunch of kids and some high school students skipping school in the area right now.
“...”
Realizing what she just said to me, Yukino’s face turned pale instantly and she hugged her shoulders.
“...Mom’s going to kill me if she heard that...”
“Let’s just go and hope that no one who knows you and your family had actually heard you say that.”
“Uhn, you should go to work too.”
“Yeah, yeah... Come on, I’ll walk you to the station.”
She nodded in agreement and started to pace herself beside me.
***
If someone saw the two walking side by side like this, they would probably think the two of them were a couple. Akuno with his all black hoodie, jeans and shirt, coupled with Oimikado who wore a white dress and a cream colored cardigan (oh, don't forget, she’s holding a mean looking bear with an eye patch too).
Hehe, to be walking together with Seiji like this, it almost felt like a date... Oimikado’s cheeks flushed red because of the excitement.
"Yuki? You okay?"
"Fuey? Ah, I-I'm okay! Yes, definitely okay!! Absolutely!!"
"... uh, right,” he stared at her with a worried look, “are you sure you don't want to go to the doctor? We could go now if you want to?"
"N-no, I'm fine really!"
"Hmm, well, but if you feeling sick or anything just let me know, okay?"
She only nodded to answer his question.
It’s quite rare for her to have this opportunity to be together with Akuno like this. He always went to work after he’s done with his campus studies, so she had to use the chance to its maximum potential. Even if that only means having a walk together with him to the bus station.
*snap!* suddenly everything went dark.
“Ehh???”
“Yuki, are you okay?”
A hand reached to her shoulder, judging from the direction where it came, it was Akuno’s. She reflexively clung to that hand while still trying to figure out her bearings in the dark. Her eyes were still adapting to the sudden change of brightness.
“W-what happened?”
As opposed to Oimikado's bewildered tone, Akuno answered her in his usual tone,
“It must’ve been a power failure. Let’s just wait until-”
BRIIIIIINNGGGG!!!! A sharp and loud alarm echoed at the mall’s interior. The sprinkler attached to the ceiling started to spray vast amount of water. The visitors began to panic as they scream across the dark mall. Shuffling footsteps and sounds of falling shelves could be heard in the dark.
A black out AND fire? Are you kidding me? Akuno held his breath at this sudden revelation.
He pulled Oimikado to the side and stick to the wall, if they keep on standing where they were, they’re bound to be hit or worse, stampeded by the panic mob.
"Be careful, and don't let go of my hand."
"O-okay."
She tightens her grip on Akuno’s hand, and urged him to move. They treaded the dark hall by moving along the wall. If they followed the wall from the game arcade, they would end up at an open area near the stairs to the second floor.
Akuno flipped his phone open and activate its flash light feature. It’s not that bright, but still, it’s better than nothing. He tucked the phone under his jacket to prevent it from getting wet from the sprinklers.
Okay, let’s just hope the stairs weren’t full of people who wanted to go down.
With his makeshift flash light in his hand, Akuno guided Oimikado through the darkness. Several people ran past him while shouting and some of them even cried. But the two kept their slow pace.
Panicking is not a good idea. It would only cloud your better judgement and rational thinking.
Akuno grumbles as he kept on walking toward the stairs to the second floor.
As the two finally reached the area with the stairs, they saw a commotion with people shouting and shoving each other. One of them actually fell down from the stairs to the second floor, breaking his arms as he tried to break his fall with arms stretched.
Damn! This is going nowhere… No one can tell what would happen if we join in there.
Akuno frowns at the scene, and started to rack his brain for another alternative.
“Seiji? Is there another way around?”
Oimikado probably thinks the same thing as he is, plunging into that chaos would prove to be a stupid thing to do.
Go to the north fire exit? No, it would probably be full of people from the fourth and fifth floor trying to escape.
Akuno bit his lip as he crossed out most of the possible alternative escape routes from the third floor.
Maybe… maybe I could use that place...
“Yuki, follow me!”
“Eh? Where to?”
“I might just found a way out of here safely.”
[1] Kaizoku-Kuma: literally means Pirate bear.
[2] Kero-pan: A frog plush doll that's holding a large bread, with its mouth open, ready to eat.
[3] Ao-tama: A large blue colored ball-shaped cat that's the size of a volleyball, it became one of the most difficult to obtain because of its size and shape.
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