Calling the boy in front of her "Senior."
Calling the boy in front of her "Senior" was like calling someone twenty years younger than herself "Brother"—it was truly too embarrassing.
And there was also a strong sense of impropriety.
Miyajima Tsubaki couldn't help but bite her pink lips, her gaze constantly dropping.
It was a miscalculation; she should have said they were the same age.
Then she wouldn't have ended up in such an awkward situation.
But now that it had come to this, if she didn't call him that, would the boy become suspicious? After all, when she had blurted out "young man" earlier, he had already looked at her with a slightly strange gaze. Miyajima Tsubaki gritted her teeth and stamped her foot, finally overcoming her sense of propriety, opening her cherry lips, and softly calling out:
"Se-Senior Kobayashi..."
After calling out, she mustered her courage and puffed out her cheeks, looking up. Hmph, making an elder call you "Senior," aren't you afraid of shortening your lifespan!
Then, she found that Hayato was no longer in front of her.
Instead...
He had gone to a claw machine.
Then he peered into the glass window, looking inside with an expression of "☆△☆."
Miyajima Tsubaki: ...
D-Darn it! I called him for nothing!?
She quickly trotted over to Hayato and then looked inside, following his gaze.
There was only one type of doll inside that claw machine.
It was a pure white animal.
If Miyajima Tsubaki remembered correctly, this animal should be called... an "alpaca."
Speaking of alpacas,
Miyajima Tsubaki looked again at Hayato's pants pocket; a charm was peeking out from inside, and its design was also an alpaca.
However. Miyajima Tsubaki narrowed her eyes; she always felt as if she had seen this alpaca somewhere else.
Where was it?
Unable to recall it for a while, Miyajima Tsubaki simply gave up thinking for the time being.
"You want it?" Miyajima Tsubaki asked.
Hayato didn't answer her but proved his intention with action.
He pulled out a bill from his black friend's inheritance—actually, his friend's inheritance was almost spent; this was already the last remaining fruit. And it was the result of breaking it down for change.
He put it into the coin changer and then pressed "Fifty."
The clinking game coins fell like rain.
Hayato grabbed them all.
Then he returned to Miyajima Tsubaki's side, watching the position of the plushie inside the glass display case, and took a deep breath.
Miyajima Tsubaki, however, found it strange:
"It's just for one, why exchange so many coins?"
"Heh." Hayato smiled indifferently: "Junior!"
Miyajima Tsubaki initially thought Hayato was calling someone else, and it took her a moment to realize he was calling her.
I'm the Junior.
Miyajima Tsubaki bit her lip in embarrassment, her face flushed red. Su-Surely, being called "Junior" by a boy twenty years younger was shameful; th-this feeling of impropriety... Her palms seemed to be sweating.
"The so-called 'claw machine' is not a sacred domain that you young people can set foot in," Hayato said with a noble and holy tone, as if he were paying homage to the God of Claw Machines and asking for good luck.
Yes.
For Hayato, "claw machine" has always been a game of luck, not skill.
Even with a massive fifty coins, Hayato didn't feel 100% confident that he could win this "alpaca princess" plushie. In fact, Hayato had always been unwilling to play such luck-based games, but this time was an exception. Because...
Wuwuwu, the alpaca princess is so cute, and it's even a limited edition skin from the movie version, who wouldn't love it?
Hayato took a deep breath, then inserted the corresponding coins into the claw machine, his eyes fixed on the alpaca princess behind the glass.
He hesitated again and again, intending to hesitate three more times.
After grasping the joystick and making a careful fine-tune.
"Imada!"
Hayato shouted loudly.
The countdown next to the joystick also began to change from green to red: "3," "2," "1"!
"Good opportunity! Kobayashi! Finishing move! Dragon Claw!"
Launch!
Hayato slapped the release button.
Ah~~
The claw sprang out, heading towards the alpaca princess's face.
The princess was grabbed by the face.
Then the plushie was lifted up.
As if ascending to heaven!!
"Yosh!"
He didn't expect to hit it on the first try.
Hayato clenched his fist, good luck, how amazing, God of Claw Machines! It's you! You let me have the alpaca princess! It's you! You delivered the alpaca princess into my hands! It's you! You gave the alpaca princess new life!
Now he just had to wait for the new life to slowly be delivered from the claw machine's exit.
Hayato waited impatiently.
Then, with a "clank," the claw loosened, and it fell next to the exit.
Missed?
Hayato tilted his head, and it took him a few seconds to accept this reality.
How the hell could it miss!?
"It didn't come out," Miyajima Tsubaki said, "Almost."
Your mom's "Claw Machine God"... No, this is just a warning from God, you have to believe in God, only then can God give you a reward.
Hayato continued with admiration, beginning to rub the cold joystick, which was almost hot from his rubbing.
One time, two times, three or four times.
Five times, six times, seven or eight times.
Nine times, ten times, countless times... "God of Claw Machines" your mom. is dead.
Hayato said.
After using the last coin, Hayato kicked the claw machine.
Damn.
Are you a psycho!
Just as Hayato was cursing, Miyajima Tsubaki came over with a game coin between her fingers.
"Shall I try?" she said.
"One coin?" Hayato said with an expression that conveyed, "I'm not looking down on you," "Young man, the waters of claw machines are deep, you can't grasp them."
"Just try it," Miyajima Tsubaki said with a light laugh, "Besides, I just picked this coin up from under the machine over there, so there's nothing to lose anyway."
Miyajima Tsubaki pursed her lips, then blinked and said, "You're not afraid that something you couldn't hook up with fifty coins will be hooked up by me in one go, are you? That would be very embarrassing, wouldn't it?"
"Heh." Hayato scoffed, "If you hook it up in one go, I'll eat the claw machine, I swear."
He stepped aside to allow Miyajima Tsubaki to operate.
Miyajima Tsubaki's delicate hand touched the long, slender joystick, and then she let out a "hey."
Hah, poor joystick control, weak button presses, unsteady footing, chaotic gaze. If someone of this level could actually grab it, he'd vow never to touch a claw machine again.
"Look."
Just as she finished thinking, Miyajima Tsubaki squatted down and held the snow-white alpaca princess in her hand, shaking it twice: "I did it!"
Hayato: ...
Miyajima Tsubaki giggled, pinching the alpaca's cheeks twice, then looked at the claw machine: "Are you going to eat it raw? Or should I put some seasoning on it?"
Hayato: ...
Miyajima Tsubaki rarely smirked, deliberately showing off the plushie in front of Hayato, then blinked her bright eyes: "Want it?"
"..." Hayato originally wanted to say no, but sometimes being stubborn also depends on the occasion. He looked at the "alpaca princess"'s bare, snow-white, fluffy body, and after a thousand thoughts and ten thousand deliberations, Hayato gritted his teeth and spoke what was in his heart: "Yes."
"That was a quick answer!" Miyajima Tsubaki exclaimed. He only thought for about three seconds, right?
Then Hayato bowed deeply with immense respect: "Please, Senior Sawamura, get me one too!"
"Senior"... refers to a senior in claw machines, right?
Miyajima Tsubaki thought, he had just "teased" her, making her call him "Senior," and now he had won a round.
But for some reason, she wasn't happy.
Miyajima Tsubaki thought to herself, her mood even calm, not as stirred as when he called her Junior... Ugh, Tsubaki, what are you thinking!
She quickly blocked out her strange thoughts and then stuffed the plushie in her hand into Hayato's arms.
"Since you like it so much, I'll give it to you. It's no use to me anyway," she said.
"I don't really like it..." Hayato said, but this was his last stubbornness. He immediately hid the plushie behind him, afraid that Miyajima Tsubaki would ask for it back.
Miyajima Tsubaki could only smile wryly.
But it was quite novel. She thought, it seemed only at this moment... could she see such a childish side of this boy.
Even this childishness had never been seen in her own daughter. Sakura was somewhat too mature for her age, never begging her mother for toys or rarely acting spoiled. Although this was due to Miyajima Tsubaki's good upbringing and something to be proud of, there were still moments when she felt lonely...
And as for the boy "Hayato," from the moment she met him until now, Miyajima Tsubaki had always believed that he was different from ordinary high school students, handling things simply and directly, with a decisiveness that peers lacked. Yet, she never expected to occasionally see such a "childish" attitude.
Miyajima Tsubaki pursed her pink lips, beginning to fantasize about whether this child would also act spoiled with adults.
Don't look at his current cool and aloof demeanor; perhaps when he was little, he would cling to his mother, crying and shouting, "Mommy, I'm hungry."
Next, it's fantasy time!
Miyajima Tsubaki seemed to truly see a tiny Hayato with his mother, but she didn't know what Hayato's mother looked like, so she put her own face on her. Anyway, it was just to satisfy the regret brought by Sakura rarely acting spoiled; Miyajima Tsubaki didn't feel it was out of line, and even felt a little smug.
"Junior, where are you going next?" Hayato asked.
Having received such great kindness, he would go through fire and water if necessary.
"Junior"...
Being called that again by a boy twenty years her junior, Miyajima Tsubaki's fantasizing heart trembled uncomfortably.
Her fantasy also underwent a slight change.
She was still herself, and Hayato was still Hayato, but Hayato was no longer a child; he was now a high school student.
"Mommy, hungry, hungry."
Miyajima Tsubaki shivered, her face pale, sweat pouring down like rain.
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