Sunday April 30th, 2020

On any regular day at the Iori Shopping Center, the visiting patrons of the lower three floors would never make a casual stop at the 4th floor arcade unless they were planning on it beforehand. However, today is different, because today the Takemori arcade shop is holding a special 4 hour “Beginners Event!” from 10 am to 2 pm. For only 500 yen, anyone, both young and old, can buy these limited gunpla featuring the Universal Century Zaku II model, the After Colony OZ-06MS Leo model, and the Post Disaster Graze model. And to truly help beginners, during the event a small demonstration on building occurs. Posters for the event have been plastered around the center for the past 2 weeks, and have gathered the attention of local young fans hoping to build their first models. This event, partnered with a small locals tournament happening right after the event, is what brings Yukihiro Naoki to Takemori Arcade in order to help out the shop owner, Shinrai Takemori.

In the sitting area of the arcade, tables are placed out in rows with a single table at the front for the instructor, Naoki, to demonstrate to the class how to properly build a gunpla. The class consisted of mostly elementary school students with a couple of parents joined in as well. 

Naoki finished attaching the head of a Graze gunpla to the chest before showing the connected parts to the class. “After you’ve combined your separated parts, your gunpla is complete!” He said before combining the arms, then the waist and legs of the Graze.

“If no one has any more questions, I think it's about time for us to wrap up this lesson.” he said as the children began to chatter amongst themselves, showing off to each other their gunpla and some even running to the terminals in the back to try them out.

One of the boys ran up to Naoki, holding up a Zaku II with a smile, “U-um, sensei how does my Zaku look?.”

Naoki instantly recognized the boy as Tomiyoka, a shy boy whose mom worked at one of the stores, and who would also come to watch the battles at the arcade. “It looks great Tomiyoka. I’m surprised with how well you sanded the parts down, not a nub remnant in sight.” The young boy smiled with glee before bowing and running off to his mother who had been waiting in the back. 

Naoki smiled with glee before stretching a bit before looking around, seeing faces new and old around the arcade made him happy. He even saw some people with his school uniform but didn’t get a look at their faces at the time. He glanced at the clock on the wall. 1 o'clock. In 15 minutes the final building lesson would begin, and then immediately after that, at 2, the tournament would start up. "I wonder ... will I meet who I've been looking for?" He whispered as he glanced at the crowd.

[hr]

In the back of the arcade stood a group of 5 students wearing white uniforms with the emblem for Zenshin High, in the center of the group stood Seiichi Seo , the leader of the Zenshin Gunpla Club. “I can’t believe we have the luck to run into that Yukihiro bastard.” He said as he watched the boy prepare for his next lesson. “He thinks he can just reject our offer and smile about it! He even had the nerve to insult us while he did it!”. 

One of his friends butted in. “Don’t even sweat it Seiichi, I overheard him talking to one of the kids, he’s entering the tournament today. If our info about the tournament is correct we’ll have our chance to crush him there.”

“We’ll break his gunpla to scrap and trash.” Another said with a laugh.