The weekend came by quickly again. Through the week the music club asked for help with the microphone, only not coming to me but Ria. Perhaps it’s because she more approachable. Not that it concerns me, I’d rather be left alone when it comes to science.  I’ll let Ria continue to sort out the PR issues.

I stretched my arms upwards, continuing to get myself dressed. In about an hour, Taiju Yuzuriha and Ria should be showing up for that movie marathon Yuzuriha continued to insist on.  I wonder what she’s thought about bringing. Probably some sappy anime movies.  I sighed, finishing buttoning up my shirt as my old man walking to my room without knocking. “You know it’s dangerous to enter a young man’s room without permission,” I laughed.

“Like I’m going to walk in on you doing something indecent,” He laughed, sitting on my bed. “I have a bit of a favour to ask.”  I raised a brow, slipping a jumper over my shirt. “Would you mind heading out with your friends today? I’m having a friend over and was hoping to have a catch up?”

I felt my brow twitch. Who is he talking about? The old man has friends I don’t know? Then I started to chuckle. “Oh, feeling a bit frisky, are we?” I teased, making my old man blush. “Oh, did I deduct it correctly?”
He started to get flustered, waving his hands about. “N-nothing like that, she’s literally just a friend,” He defended. “But we haven't seen each other for a while which is why it would be nice to catch up.” I sighed, holding out my hand. His eye twitched. “Such an evil son I have!”

---
In the end, I’m not sure how it happened but Taiju dragged us all to the arcade. Something about the large prize being a uber rare figure he’s been after, or something like that? Honestly not sure why I’m here, I'd rather play monster hunter then some silly arcade game.  I looked over at Ria, who had her hands clamped to her chest, staring in awe.  “I haven't been to an arcade in years,” She muttered. 
Her gaze found the prize area and she ran for it. I’m shocked. Has she always been this excitable? I watched, Taiju running up beside her and pointing out the figure he wanted to try win today. “In your words Senku,” Yuzuriha smiled. “Get excited because today is a day to let loose.”

‘Hmph’ I laughed cracking my neck. I just smiled, walking over to Ria who was awing at the prizes on the bottom of the shelf. She looked up at me, before standing back up to face me. “Seen something you want to try win?” She nodded. “Got to say, I've not seen you this excited before.”

“I used to love arcades back in England my b-” Ria stopped her sentence, calming down her emotions. I felt my chest tighten a bit. B- Boyfriend? No way did her parents let her have a boyfriend?  “My friend and I used to go to one all the time. I guess this brings back a few memories for me.”

“Well let’s make some new ones,” What am I saying? Do I want her to forget those old memories? I want to replace that other person?  “Follow, me. I’ll show you how this place works.”

This particular arcade allows you to save up your tickets on a credit card of sorts. So, if you didn’t get enough today, you could come back and keep building up the tickets, though you would only have six months to spend them. Ria’s smile grew, seeing her name on her own personal card and excited over something so trivial. We went over to one of the games, where it was based off snake and the more you got the snake to eat, the more tickets you got. You just had to avoid the objects.
Ria, placed her cad into the slot and placed her money in before starting the game. Her concertation never left the screen and next thing you know, she was jumping for joy having earned her first hundred tickets. “Oh yeah,” She laughed, which was kind of cute.  “This game is definitely one where if you take your time the pay-out is big. Which other games are there like this one?” 

I smiled; she’s thought logically about how to get the most out of the machines for the most of her money. She really has done this a lot. “There’s a couple near the back where if you throw a ball at the correct trajectory you can get the high scores.” Ria grabbed my wrist, my heart skipping a beat and we left for the other side of the arcade.

--
A couple hours passed and I think we finally ran out money. Taiju, Yuzurhi and I were at the front of the desk choosing the items they wanted while Ria went to the ticket checker before joining us. “Ah man, I’m short!” Taiju whined, his large forehead making impact on the glass counter.

“Ah, don’t worry Taiju,” Yuzuriha said in a soothing voice, rubbing his back. “You’ll have to come back and earn more tickets.”

I thought for a moment, then it hit me. “He’s upset because the prize rotation is happening before, he gets his next allowance,” I groaned running a hand through my hair. So, in other words, this was an illogical outing as with Taiju’s skills, he was never going to get enough tickets. In the corner of my I noticed Ria handing over her card. “What you doing?”

“Turns out I didn’t get enough tickets for what I wanted,” She smiled in a disappointing way. “So Taiju can use them for his prize.”

Taiju stood straight pulling a confused Ria into a hug with tears of happiness streaming down his face. After bagging up his prize, Ria was given her card back and we started to leave. Until Ria stopped just by the entrance. I looked at her face, a look of horror as she stared at the pair across the road. “Mother?”