"Come on, come on, I told you it wasn't that scary! And look, you only jumped in my arms like five times throughout the whole thing too! Not that I was counting or anything. But seriously, I don't think I've ever heard a guy scream like that before." A good hour and a half had been spent watching the latest horror flick at the nearest movie theatre. It was really a shame that the cinema on Purple Crown's campus was only open on Saturdays. Otherwise, Maribel would have dragged them over to that one. Either way, they still would have watched some kind of monster mash-up movie. The blue-haired girl giggled as she crossed her arms with her fan resting between her fingers.
"So, anything else you wanna do Jukey? I actually have to head back to the Council room in a few but I can kill a little more time right now. It's not like Yoshino-chan needs me or anything right now." Alex was shaking, he truly couldn't handle scary movies. He could have said something about seeing one as a kid and it being traumatic, but that would have been a lie, being jumpy and easily shocked seemed to be a defining character trait and there was little he could do about it.
"I-I don't mind doing something" still shaking from the movie "It would be nice to not end on what feels like a downer... do you know any good places nearby?" The smirk on Maribel's face was too great to behold. Before Alex could protest, she was already dragging him to a place that surely he would have known well. Soon enough, the makeshift couple were standing before the sole gaming arcade on Purple Crown's campus. And it was close to the Council office too, making the location a plus.
"How much you wanna bet I beat you at all of these games?" the Blue King asked coyly.
"I don't have much to bet with" secretly Alex had a little confidence, since he didn't have much of a social life he had spent a lot of time at the arcade and although he didn't have the highscores, he did have second place on most. Keeping the smile off his face he asked
"What do I get if I win? What do you get if I lose?" "Hmm. Well if I win, I get to choose. And if you win, you get to choose the prize too!" With that kind of logic, it almost questionable why they were even playing in the first place. Nevertheless, Maribel dragged Alex inside with great stride, using her own money to pay for the game tokens. It was the least she could do since Alex had nearly wet himself back at the movies. Once again, people stared at the two with just a little amazement, a good majority of the guys wondering how someone like Alex had ended up with the Blue King herself.
"Let's try this one first," Maribel said, pointing over to a generic zombie shooter. Taking up the first player gun, she gripped the gun and felt her finger along the trigger. A gleam of something new and different reflected in her crimson eyes and she waited for Alex to step up beside her.
"Kind of amazing we still have places like these around, right? What with DGO running everyone's lives." "I think I prefer this, this feels more real, despite DGO meant to be a complete virtual reality thing-a-majig" stepping up to the 'Player 2' position, Alex hefted the gun and looked back at Maribel with something close to her gleam in his eye.
"Shall we begin, Miss Maribel? Or are you not used to playing with toys like these?" "Oh look at you being snarky with me! I think I like this kind of Alex. Or is that just Jukey talking for you instead?" Maribel stuck her tongue out at him playfully before reacting as soon as the first wave of enemies entered the screen. With quick reflexes, she dispatched the coming horde of zombies, aiming, shooting, and reloading in what seemed to be only mere moments of timed interval. By the time the second wave was approaching, there was an obvious difference between the two's points.
"What's wrong Jukey? You forget that you're playing against a King in her territory?""Jukey is simply a matter of confidence, Miss Maribel. It's easy to be confident in DGO since no one knows me there" trying to keep pace with the King he could see himself falling behind, a slight sense of foreboding creeped up on him wondering if he was being hustled.
Reaching his second wind, Alex started clawing his way back closer to Maribel's score, but the initial burst she gained in the first wave was massive.
"How could I forget? You're obviously good at this one, better than me certainly, but I only need to beat you once to win the bet!" still having some pride Alex continued to lessen the gap between them as best he could before the game ended.
"If you say so dear," Maribel said airily, shooting away at the increasing number of enemies without much effort. Some time passed before the game was finally over. To the surprise of the people watching them, they really expected no less when Maribel's score was still significantly higher than Alex's. This pattern continued for the next game that they played, air hockey. And the next. And the next. With each victory gained by the Blue King, the numbers in the crowd watching them grew more as well.
Some of the other teenagers were giving Alex looks of sympathy, knowing that if one was to date the Blue King they would be required to sacrifice more than a little pride. Though it wasn't hard to say that at this point, they were all cheering for Maribel.
"Whoo! Well there's only one game left Alex. You sure you don't wanna call it quits?" Maribel asked as she gave him the giant teddy bear she had won at the skill crane machine.
Alex laughed, actually laughed. Not some nervous giggle, but an actual belly laugh
"Haha! I get it now! You're not just the Blue King, but King of the arcade!" sighing
"Why would I give up?" Alex grabbed Maribel by the hand and dragged her over to the last machine: DDR. Almost leaping on to the dance pad Alex span on his heel and went into a little bow.
"C'mon up Blue Bel! You're on my stage now~♪!" the widest grin Alex had ever made outside DGO was plastered all over his face, almost taunting Maribel to come up.
"Someone seems confident," Maribel commented, the crowd's eyes following her as she stepped up onto the pad.
"But you may be rushing into things Alex dear. Take a look at the scoreboard." As if on cue, all eyes now traced back to the scoreboard, slight murmurs spreading across the crowd of fellow gamers. Alex's name was listed as the second highest score with a new name being slated for number one. The date was marked yesterday afternoon and had Maribel's Avatar title in bold letters: Mercury Titania. Needless to say, the tension was high in the air.
Placing his hand to his brow as if he couldn't see the name Alex leaned forwards
"OooooOooo~♪! Number one! Such a lonely number... like a King I suppose. Well if I only have to use one pad, I might beat you though~♪!" slotting in the tokens the game started up and music started to fill the air.
The coundown started:
"3!"
"Are you sure I won't beat you Blue Bel~♪?""2!"
"I don't mind if you want to concede~♪""1!"
Maribel's response was a rapid flurry of what could only be described as dance moves. Or rather, simulated dance moves considering that the motions were displayed on the screen as the arrows moved upward. Throughout it all, Maribel never faltered in her confident smirk, moving at a speed that made the crowd go silent in anticipation. Now if only she could file her paper work just as fast.
As the game began Alex pulled his hair out of his face and moved. Maribel moved with speed that surprised Alex, but he listened and determined what the next move would likely be, his feet already there before he saw the arrow. Laughing he had to hold himself back from wanting to borrow Maribel's pad and focus on his own.
The scores were almost level, barely five points between the pair as the chorus kicked in.
"Giving up yet Alex? The song's almost over and we're still really close to each other too~"As the Blue King danced to her heart's content, she couldn't help but think how fun this all was. When was the last time she was able to compete in a game without the stress of the future weighing down on her? Now that she thought about it, when was the last time she even visited this particular arcade? Sure she had stopped by yesterday but she remembered a time when she had come here frequently with someone else.
Yes, that was right. Now she was remembering those happy times. And the more she remembered, the slower her movements got. It took all she could to concentrate on not frowning for Alex instead of the actual game.
Out of the corner of his eye he saw Maribel falter and his heart soared, he was going to win! Then he saw a flash and instinctively leapt to hit it, fully off his pad and onto Maribel's, seeing the ones she was going to miss and hitting them, barely keeping out of her way as she danced.
Realising what he was doing he jumped back onto his pad, but it was too late. He had handed Maribel the game on a silver platter, the score was too much to surpass in the time remaining.
The thunderous applause that followed almost made Maribel jumped. Staring dumbfounded, she glanced at the score with some amazement as it showed that she had won. Well wasn't that strange. She knew for a fact that she hadn't been paying attention for the remainder of their game so by all logic, she should have lost.
"Say...you wouldn't have had anything to do with that, eh Alex?" she asked, giving the other teen a smug look.
"Aw, you really are a gentleman! Handing over games to his lady like that. Aren't you just the cutest knight in shining armor~""Handing over the game? Never, I just danced the best I could and that happened to be on your pad~♪" now that the game was over he felt the confidence subside a little, blushing deeply at being called a knight in shining armor and the applause felt uncomfortable to his ears, since he knew that some part of it was directed at him.
"So you won the bet, Miss Maribel. What do you choose to win?" a nervous smile replacing his previous confident one.
"Hmm. I did win, did I....how about this! You join me for a quick cup of coffee! Won't that be fun? Unless you had something else in mind like a visit at this great hotel I know~?""Uhh... coffee is fine, thanks. C-can we get out of here? I kinda don't like the staring..." "Sure, sure. Off we go then." Maribel latched onto Alex's arm and began to lead them off to the nearest coffee shop. Honestly at this point, it was becoming common practice for her to move Alex around in such a manner. But despite the fact that she should have been feeling happy right now, Maribel still couldn't shake off the feeling of dread that lingered close to her mind.
Even at the coffee shop, she really only smiled when Alex said something before turning away while he went to get their drinks. Taking the coffee in hand, she made sure to have the concoction sweetened with glorious amounts of sugar and cream. Yet staring into the browned liquid, she found herself letting a sigh escape at the thoughts that bothered her. Maybe going to that arcade was a bad idea.
Alex was happy to be lead away from the stares of the arcade and he had actually started to enjoy Maribel's company a lot more as the day wore on. Getting Maribel her coffee, he saw her pour in more sugar than he thought the cup could hold and then just stared at it and sighed.
Oh no! She's regretting meeting me! Wh-what do I say?! "M-Maribel? Umm..." unsure what to say, he took the straw out of his iced-coffee and stole some of her sweetened coffee, hoping for a reaction that wasn't a dissapointed face, coughing as it went down the wrong way
"H-how do you drink something so deathly sweet?!" "Hmm? Sweet? Jukey, this is barely up to my standards. Besides, that's what you get for sipping in other people's juices~" she teased before her smile faltered.
"I was just thinking about the arcade. I used to go there alot with someone I know and now it all feels like long memories or something. That's all." "Whew! I thought you were in trouble or something! If you have a bad time there, why did we go today? Also, why not just go back to the arcade with them? Don't they like the games?" A dry chuckle escaped from Maribel as she looked over at Alex. She sighed again before saying,
"No, not exactly. Didn't you know that the Student President hates video games with a passion?" Alex's eyebrows shot up
"The President? If the President hates games why did you used to go to the arcade with her?" the image of Maribel and the President playing arcade games together just confused him, he just couldn't see the President there, let alone playing a game.
"No one is born hating games Jukey. And Yoshino-chan was less devoted to her work back then I guess. She either really sucked at them or she was so good that she was embarassed by it. I sort of forget which one it was," Maribel said with a tilt of her head.
"Anyway, she stopped being so frequent in those things when her work caught up with her. Sometimes I wonder if she's even sleeping right these days." Alex listened quietly kicking his legs under the table
"... So you're worried about Miss President because she does too much work? Then why not make her have less work? I don't know much about the politics of the Student Council, but surely delegation is a thing, right? She should have plenty of time, the eight hour day you know? And if she doesn't want to give up on her work, make sure the work doesn't reach her in the first place!" "You sound like I haven't tried that already," Maribel giggled before her voice became quiet.
"But it's not just work. Recently, I think she's been having trouble concentrating or something. It's just a rumor, but apparently Yoshino-chan really is losing sleep or something. Whatever it is, I know it's there but she won't tell me."Shrugging Alex didn't know what else to say
"Well if she won’t tell you, then you can't force her. Just support her and look after her I suppose. I'm your secretary, so I'll help out if I can." A slight grin worked its way onto his face.
"So, what do we do now? I probably should get onto DGO sometime today, want to continue the 'date' there?" "Yeah. Let's do that. I gotta admit, you do know how to make a girl feel better about herself," said Maribel with a wink.
"But calling a date in DGO? My little man's growing up! That's so bold of you Jukey~""I wouldn't call it bold, I'm just a nice guy that finishes last." Standing up Alex offered Maribel a hand
"Shall you lead me somewhere else fantastic Miss Maribel~♪? I'm getting better at this I think." "On the contrary, I'd say you're doing alright for your first time," Maribel said with a wink.
"Now come along Jukey. I hope this means you're considering joining my Guild? Hm? Nah, just kidding. Let's go~!""It's very tempting to join you, but as I said to Miss President, if I was strong I'd already be a part of your guild. I'll be heading to Black City probably, still kinda got a job there I suppose. Let's meet up there shall we?" 3
2
1
Welcome Back Unrelenting Jukebox, aren’t you happy today?
Once again, the welcome screen was snarky to him, but he ignored it. Unrelenting Jukebox found himself where he forced to log out, namely the exact middle of nowhere. Spying a part of his car in the distance he walked over to it and found the trunk lid he’d shot off before.
If that’s here... then the car must be that way putting the trunk kid in his inventory Jukebox walked to where he guessed the car would be.
He found it on one piece, sure the body looks like a giant wood pecker went at it, the roof was only half there and he had to turn the steering wheel hard to the left so it would go straight, but he could make it to Black City. With that in mind he set himself on the path and gunned the engine and music started announcing his travels.
Jukebox could be heard approaching Black City long before he could be seen. Jukebox made the mistake of taking his hands off the wheel when he made it to the City in one piece and immediately careened right into a parked car and flipped his car into the second floor of a nearby building.
Dragging himself out, Jukebox dusted the broken glass off and went up to the roof to get a vantage point. As he made it to the roof he heard the car explode on the floor below causing the building to shake slightly, but other than that he was fine and didn’t notice that he got the 150 EXP for killing a level 3 outlaw.
