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Hairi rested her chin on her palm and watched the world whizz past through the car window. Her earbuds sat in her ears, her fingers toying with the cord, wrapping and tangling it in her fingers as she listened to the Three Days Grace that played from a playlist labeled "Feels". The music was the only thing filling her time while she waited to get to their destination.
Seeing her friends would be fun, but the event she signed herself up for felt really stupid.
Her parents dropped her off and shared some simple pleasantries before driving away. Hairi looked up at the bright, colorful signage of the building and slanted her mouth. She hadn’t been to this children’s casino for a long time, and getting invited back by Gojo was… well it wasn’t a surprise, but it was a little odd.
She sighed and wandered inside, attempting to hide her face in her jacket.
As soon as she stepped inside, she winced and waited for the screams of children to assault her ears. Luckily, that never came. Arcades kind of died, so there were very few people actually visiting. She kept her earbuds in, but she was so happy she wouldn’t have to endure loud ass kids the whole time.
“Hairi! You made it!” Gojo cheered, throwing an arm over her shoulder and dragging her with him to the tables he and their other friends claimed. They were chatting with each other, Geto and Shoko counting out all of their tokens while Haibara laughed and jostled an annoyed Nanami. This place was a little juvenile for them.
“Yeah. Uh, why are we here?”
“Cuz this place is empty. We can play a bunch of the games without anyone on our ass about hogging them,” he pocketed his other hand and gestured with arm around her shoulders. "The other arcades will be busy and loud."
“And their pizza is rad!” Haibara beamed from his seat at the table.
Hairi nodded. It was flattering to know he was thinking of her a little. Though, if she recalled correctly, Geto wasn't too fond of screaming and such either. Which would more heavily influence his decision.
Once the tokens were counted and separated, they handed a cup full of them out to everyone and ran off in groups. Hairi went with Nanami and Haibara. She often chose to tag along with them. It wasn't exactly a secret that she was sweet on Nanami and far too shy to do anything about it. She did get teased about it sometimes, by Gojo mostly, which only made her want to hide it more. But she couldn’t stop herself from sticking close behind Nanami any chance she had.
“Are tickets important?” Hairi asked as they passed through another neighborhood of fighting games. They weren’t offering anything in return for their gameplay, but they were in better condition than the easily farmed games.
“Eh, there’s never anything cool to win. And you need, like, thousands of tickets to get them anyways,” Haibara hummed, jingling his tokens in his cup.
“I’d rather not endure something stupid just to get tickets,” Nanami stated, rolling his head to the other shoulder. His shoulder length blonde hair fell past his face, showing the eye it had been hiding.
“What would you rather do then?” Haibara folded his arms behind his head and stopped at the end of the fighting games. The other two looked around. It was hard to choose. Then, Hairi spotted the bright and flashy machine with the massive speakers and the metal floor pads. She gasped and ran over to it. Her friends tailed behind her.
“YO IT’S DDR,” she bounced on her feet and poked at the screen to see the song choices, “DUDE. DUDE?” She grabbed Haibara and Nanami by their sleeves and gave them the biggest puppy-dog eyes she could muster. “PLAY WITH ME, PLEASE??” Haibara laughed and eagerly joined her at the machine. Nanami stepped away to give them space, never agreeing or disagreeing.
Hairi took off her jacket and tied the sleeves around her waist, both paying the machine the fistful of tokens it required.
“Don’t think you’re gonna beat me just because you’re all over music,” Haibara smirked.
“DDR is my favorite game, dork. Have you even played before?”
“Once or twice.”
“HAH, you’re dead.”
With most DDR machines, the song choices they had were definitely only known if you had played DDR before. They had three songs to get through and plenty of choices.
"We have to start with the most quintessential DDR song ever. And it's not super hard so we can warm up," Hairi said, flipping haphazardly through the catalogue until she found what she was looking for. The song was energetic as hell from what little Haibara was able to sample.
“You can do this one at beginner level, I won’t hold it against you,” she said, choosing the basic level for herself.
“Pssh, I can handle basic, come on,” Haibara scoffed. Hairi grinned devilishly. Her plan worked. The song, "Ecstasy" by d-complex, started up with the usual screen. Their default players bobbing to the beat and ready to dance along with them, the announcer asking if they were ready.
Hairi grinned mischievously at Haibara, her eyes sparkling with anticipation. "Ready to feel the rhythm?"
Haibara chuckled, adjusting his stance on the DDR platform. "As ready as I'll ever be."
The game launched into action, the vibrant lights of the arcade machine illuminating their eager faces. The pulsating beat of the song filled the air, urging their bodies into motion. Hairi moved with practiced precision, her feet gliding effortlessly across the arrows on the dance pad. Hairi didn't miss a beat, dancing right along side the default dancers, hitting every arrow that crossed the outlines. Beside her, Haibara struggled to keep pace, his movements clumsy and uncoordinated compared to hers. Haibara struggled, missing the jumps and stumbling when the song decided to pause all of a sudden and hang on the arrow until he completely lost the beat.
Hairi dominated that easily, though she did so through trickery and Haibara wasn't going to let that slide.
"Alright... you won that round," he panted, straightening his back and squinting at her. She whistled nonchalantly and looked away, pretending nothing happened. "But I get to pick the next song." With a grin, he scrolled through the music library, searching for something intriguing. He found it and smirked, selecting the song before stepping off the platform.
"Nanami! You take this one, I'm gonna go check our table for the pizzas," he directed, darting off before Nanami could interject. Grumbling, Nanami joined Hairi at her side. The song chosen by Haibara was "Stay" by Tess. Hairi didn't recognize it from the title, but as soon as it began to play, she felt her face flush crimson. It was a romantic technopop song. Haibara left them here on purpose, that ass.
Hairi's heart raced faster than her feet on the dance pad. She stole a quick glance at Nanami, who seemed apathetic, his expression giving away nothing of what he might be feeling. Trying to focus on the game, Hairi moved her feet to the rhythm, but her mind kept drifting to Nanami. She couldn't help but wonder if he even noticed her, or if he was simply content with their friendship. Lost in her thoughts, she almost missed a step, stumbling slightly on the dance pad. Nanami's hand shot out to steady her, his touch sending a jolt of electricity through her.
"Woah, careful," he said with a softer tone than normal. Time slowed down for her. She could imagine how they looked from a third perspective, how his arm wrapped around her and how she was dipped so romantically. Her heart fluttering like a startled bird in a cage. Hairi wished she could see it.
In reality she was barely off kilter and her face was so red you'd think she was about to pass out or burst into flames. Before they could decide if they should wait for Haibara to do the third song, he returned and gestured for them to follow him.
"Hey! The pizzas are done! Everyone else is waiting for us."
"What about the 3rd song?" Hairi asked as she stepped down and wiped the sweat off of her brow. Haibara shook his head and waved a hand.
"Eh, if someone else gets to it first it's no big deal. But I think we'll be good to save it. Not a lotta people here," he trotted off ahead of them. "C'mon!"
Hairi and Nanami followed slowly after him. After two dances, she was a little winded. Nanami could have easily went ahead without her, but he matched her pace and stayed beside her. Relieved by the distraction, Hairi and Nanami joined Haibara at the table, their conversation turning to lighter topics as they enjoyed their meal. Hairi couldn't shake the lingering feelings stirred up by the romantic song, knowing that her crush on Nanami would not fade away so easily. But their day was turning out more enjoyable than she thought it'd be.