Meanwhile, at the arcade.
Bang, bang—!
Accompanied by intense simulated gunfire, the eerie zombies appearing on the screen kept falling like wheat being harvested. At the same time.
"Yu, you take the left, I'll take the right, let's take them out!"
"Yeah, leave it to me! On the right, shoot that oil drum."
"Roger! (Bang—!)"
"....."
Watching his good friend and a friend he hadn't known for long cooperate flawlessly to slaughter monsters, Tooru, who was sitting aside holding a cup of cola and drinking it with a completely lifeless expression, silently felt a sense of being abandoned by the world.
There was no way around it. This type of arcade game was simply not within Tooru's area of expertise.
Whether teaming up with Miyahito or Yu, with only three lives' worth of game coins, he could never survive past the third stage....
"Sigh....."
Letting out a silent sigh, Tooru decided not to wait here for these two gaming masters who were about to reach the final boss.
Holding his less-than-half-full cola, Tooru turned around and returned to the basketball shooting machine. Placing the cola aside, he took a game coin from his pocket, inserted it into the machine, and silently started practicing his shooting (though it was unknown if practicing on a basketball machine would actually improve his real-life shooting skills).
A short while later.
Looking at the large "Mission complete" on the settlement screen and the impassioned announcement, Miyahito, with a face full of satisfaction, placed the gun-shaped controller back in its original position.
He turned around and raised his hand toward Yu, who was doing the exact same thing.
Looking up, Yu was stunned for a moment seeing Miyahito raising his right hand toward him with a bright smile. However, before he could react, his right hand was raised just like Miyahito's.
Smack—!
A crisp high-five rang out.
Without any reaction, Yu was suddenly hooked around the neck by Miyahito and pulled close to his side.
"Yu is really carrying us!"
As if he hadn't noticed Yu's daze, Miyahito, with his arm around Yu's neck, smiled like a big kid. Looking proudly at the two names tied for first place on the arcade leaderboard, he laughed heartily, getting a bit carried away.
"Our teamwork! Invincible! Haha!"
"....Yeah." Perhaps infected by Miyahito's laughter, or perhaps due to the joy of getting first place, the corners of Yu's mouth inadvertently curled up slightly, and his voice didn't sound as gloomy as usual.
"We are super amazing."
"Exactly!"
With his arm around Yu's shoulder, Miyahito walked away from the game machine. With his sharp eyes, he immediately spotted Tooru, who had returned to the basketball machine to play again. Grinning mischievously, he nudged Yu and gave him a look.
Receiving the hint from Miyahito's eyes, Yu didn't even think twice before looking in Tooru's direction.
Yeah, Ishikawa-kun is playing basketball again.
"Yu, King of Fighters?"
"Huh?" Yu turned his head with a look of surprise... no, it should be horror, looking at the brightly smiling Miyahito beside him, and then at Tooru's lonely back as he played basketball alone. Then, he said with a hint of difficulty.
"That's not good, is it? Ishikawa-kun hasn't won a single round out of all those matches just now..."
And it was a crushing defeat with a three-character streak.... If they dragged Ishikawa-kun to play KOF now.
Miyahito, aren't you afraid that Ishikawa-kun will never dare to come to the arcade again?
"Ah, what's so bad about that." Miyahito, his smile growing even brighter, waved his hand nonchalantly, revealing a hint of mischievous, ill-intentioned excitement.
"If he plays badly, he'll get better after playing a few more rounds."
... With your kind of 'knowing your good friend plays badly but still beating him to death' attitude, Ishikawa-kun's stress resistance is truly admirable.
"Sigh....." Letting out a silent sigh, Yu silently lowered his raised arm, which had wanted to stop the mischievously excited Miyahito.
There was no way around it... it was too late. I'm sorry, Ishikawa-kun, I couldn't stop Miyahito-kun.
Seeing the excited Miyahito already run over to Tooru's spot and enthusiastically drag the poor Tooru by the shoulders toward the KOF arcade machine, Yu silently prayed in his heart for the currently unwilling and somewhat pitiful-looking Tooru.
However, strangely enough.
Even though he, Yu, was hoping Miyahito wouldn't torment Ishikawa-kun too much, why did he faintly feel a very satisfying sensation in his heart?
That shouldn't be right, was it? He, Ishigami Yu, wasn't the type of person who "enjoys seeing others suffer," so he shouldn't have any schadenfreude, right?
Just as Yu began to doubt his true personality.
"Hey! Yu, Tooru says his Iori is invincible, what do you think?"
Slapping his palm on Tooru's forehead, who was shouting, "You're full of it! I never said that! Damn it!", Miyahito, with a face full of a troublemaking smile, turned and shouted loudly to Yu.
And the moment Yu heard Miyahito's words, the eye hidden beneath his overly long bangs instantly became sharp.
"Hoh, I can't pretend I didn't hear that!"
The moment the words fell.
Yu officially joined this smokeless war.
"Please make your selection, Ishikawa-kun."
"..." With dead eyes, Tooru glanced at Miyahito and Yu, who were both looking at him with the same eager anticipation. He asked in a tone completely devoid of the will to live, "I say, is persecuting me really that fun?"
However, hearing this question, Miyahito and Yu subconsciously exchanged a glance, turned their heads in perfect unison, and nodded at Tooru without a second thought.
Yes!
Persecuting you is really fun!
...Ohhhhh! My inner cosmos is burning!
"Then bring it on!"
"Ohhh! It's heating up, Tooru."
"Ishikawa-kun's momentum is strong."
"Talk is cheap! Bring it on, both of you."
At this moment, as Miyahito was watching Yu and Tooru face off, he suddenly felt an indescribable weirdness... as if someone was staring at him.
'Is it my imagination?'
He subconsciously looked around but found nothing. Tilting his head, he silently brushed off the fleeting strange sensation.
Yeah, no need to overthink it. It's definitely just his imagination.
He had properly asked Utaha for permission to come out and play, and he even showed her his 'report card' proving he improved his science score by over thirty points compared to last time.
So.
Utaha definitely wouldn't show up at the arcade right now to drag him home for tutoring.
...
Meanwhile.
Utaha, who was happily chatting and picking out clothes with Yoshikawa Yuki, was just about to hold up a top with a cute polar bear print to ask Yuki if it looked good, when she suddenly felt a faint gaze on her back.
"What's wrong, Utaha?" Noticing the strange reaction from the girl beside her, Yuki asked curiously, holding a piece of clothing.
"Nothing, I just felt like someone was looking at me." Answering somewhat absentmindedly, Utaha scanned the completely normal surroundings, then withdrew her gaze.
She smiled faintly to reassure the slightly nervous Yuki.
"It's probably just my imagination. Hey, Yuki, what do you think of this one?"
"That's good. Hmm... this one feels just so-so. It's too similar to the one you picked at the last store."
"I see? Then forget it."
"Utaha, look at this one. Ayase-chan would definitely look great in it."
"....."
Just as the two girls continued shopping as if nothing had happened.
A certain couple, who had almost been discovered and were now hiding in the corner holding their breath, simultaneously let out a sigh of relief.
"Tsk, since when did Utaha become so sharp?"
"...Don't look at me like that. If you don't know, how should I know?"