Those four buttons appearing at the same time were the final inputs of the game.
When the music ended, both Tanaka Masao and Sawamura Eriri let out long sighs of relief.
Masao braced himself with both hands on the floor, kneeling as he gulped down air.
"It was just a game… so why did it feel this intense?"
Eriri wasn't in any better shape. The moment she relaxed, she flopped flat onto the floor. Almost instinctively, she glanced over at Masao.
At the same time, Masao looked her way.
Their eyes met—both of them clearly a mess.
"You're not bad," Eriri said.
"You too," Masao replied.
They both laughed at the same time.
Sports and games had a way of pulling people closer together before they even realized it.
After burning through so much stamina dancing, neither of them felt like moving much. They settled in front of a coin pusher machine, sat down, and started feeding coins into it while chatting idly.
"Hey, Tanaka," Eriri said, "isn't this thing just about shoving coins in? What's so fun about it?"
"Think about it," Masao replied. "You put in one coin, and it might spit out a hundred. That's exciting, right?"
"A hundred coins isn't that exciting," Eriri scoffed. "And normally, you can dump in a hundred coins and not get a single one back."
"But the thrill of betting small for a big payoff is what makes it fun," Masao said.
Before he could finish, Eriri's machine chimed loudly.
Her eyes lit up. "Ah—payout! More than twenty coins! Lucky!"
Watching her delight, Masao couldn't help teasing,
"Didn't you just say a hundred coins wasn't worth getting excited over?"
As she gathered her winnings, Eriri shot back,
"I said a hundred isn't exciting. I never said twenty isn't. Hehe—today I'm taking all the coins."
With that declaration, she started feeding coins into the machine like crazy.
One after another, the coins disappeared into the slot.
More than half an hour later, Eriri finally ran out of coins, and the session ended.
She stood up abruptly and snorted in annoyance.
"Let's go, let's go. This is boring."
Masao watched her sulky expression and silently thought, You didn't look bored when you were winning.
Naturally, a grumpy Eriri needed somewhere to vent.
She dragged Masao to the shooting game area, grabbed a gun, and started blasting enemies on the screen.
Gunplay always got the blood pumping—even in a game.
Eriri quickly lost herself in the thrill of shooting.
"Shine~ shine~! (die, die!)"
As enemies dropped one after another, she let out exhilarated laughter.
Masao, playing co-op beside her, took a cautious step away when he saw how unhinged she looked.
Thank goodness this was just a game. If it were real life, he was genuinely afraid that in her excitement she might accidentally shoot him.
A full-on shooting spree left Eriri refreshed and energized. All her pent-up frustration was blown away along with the gunfire.
Next, the two of them headed to the claw machine area.
Unlike ordinary girls who loved fluffy, cute plushies, Eriri clearly had different tastes.
"Ohhh, this figure is super lewd," she said approvingly. "What a perfect model."
She operated the claw while letting out a very questionable "hehehe~" laugh, zeroing in on her chosen figure.
"Damn it, just a little more."
"Why is it so slippery?"
"This machine is totally rigged."
After several failed attempts, Eriri grew increasingly irritable. She turned to Masao, who had been watching the show, and called out,
"Hey, Tanaka. You're probably good at this, right? Help me."
Masao pointed at himself, confused.
"Why do you think I'd be good at it?"
In the original owner's memories, he'd barely ever played claw machines. In his previous life, he'd played plenty—but even then, succeeding once out of ten tries was considered lucky.
Eriri crossed her arms and said matter-of-factly,
"With this many nice-looking figures here, you definitely come all the time—making that creepy 'hehehe' laugh while you grab them and take them back to your room to… do whatever you want."
Masao rolled his eyes.
"Hey, I've never done that, okay? And if anyone's making that 'hehehe' noise, it's you."
Eriri didn't give him a chance to argue. She shoved him in front of the claw machine and urged,
"Stop talking and start grabbing. You have to get it today."
Masao said nothing more and took control of the claw.
It was just a claw machine. With enough attempts, success was inevitable.
First try—fail.
Second try—fail.
Third try—fail.
…
Seven or eight attempts later, he still hadn't succeeded.
Eriri complained impatiently,
"So? Can you actually do this or not?"
"You're the one who made me do it. Give it a little more time—I feel like it's almost there."
"It's coming out, it's coming out! Just a bit more! Go, go!"
"Yes! Got it!"
After repeated attempts, Masao finally managed to grab the figure.
Only then did he let out a long breath and remark,
"It's because the box is too smooth—hard to grip. Otherwise I'd have gotten it way earlier."
He was still making excuses for himself as he reached for his prize.
But someone else was faster.
Eriri snatched the figure the moment it dropped out of the machine, her eyes sparkling.
It was obvious—she loved it.
Looking at the figure he'd worked so hard to get, Masao said,
"Eriri, let me take a look at it too."
Seeing Masao's chubby hand reaching over, Eriri instantly went on guard.
"What are you planning to do to my figure?"
Watching her act like a mother hen protecting her chick, Masao sighed.
"Hey, I'm the one who grabbed it. At least let me look."
His argument made sense. Eriri hesitated, then clenched her teeth as if making a huge decision.
"O… okay, but only for a second."
"Hehehe, then I won't hold back."
"Oh, wow—it really is pretty."
"Are you done yet?"
"Wait, let me look a little closer."
"Hey, stop it! Listen to me—she's my figure now!"
"What's wrong with just looking?"
"No means no! Only I get to look there!"
Just as Masao was about to inspect the finer details—checking how precise and realistic the sculpting was—
Eriri suddenly lunged forward and snatched the figure back.
"Give it back!"
She hugged it behind her and glared fiercely.
"If you want to look, go catch one yourself."
"But I did catch this one myself."