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cinnamon-bunni · 3 years ago

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Hey there! I participated in the @danganronpa-bigbang2022! This is a short little piece that I made, but it was really fun to work on ^^ I had a blast with this event!

@ceenimations made paired art to go along with this! Please go check it out!!

Read it on Ao3! I hope you enjoy!

Kazuichi dragged his chair across the wooden flooring, over to Chiaki’s desk. The girl was fast asleep, waiting for class to start again. Lunch was still going on, but most had already finished their meals.

The noisiness of the room hadn’t woken her up, and certainly not the scraping noises that came from the mechanic’s chair did, either. So he knocked against the wooden desk for a good short while, hoping that that would wake her up. Of course it didn’t though, he should’ve known.

“Hey, Chiaki!” he said, and that seemed to work. Her light snoring came to an abrupt end, and she raised her head a bit to look up at him.

“Hey Kazuichi?” she asked. The mechanic flashed her a big smile, happy to see that she was awake. Even though she was still groggy, he started to speak.

“Okay so, I was trying to think of a place to hang out with the others, right? But none of us can agree on the same place. Gundham apparently wants to go to a carnival that’s in town right now because they have a petting zoo, but I do not want a repeat of last time where he stole a bunny from them. And Fuyuhiko is being a pain in the ass, just thinking up some lame excuse not to go to one thing or another. Got any ideas of what they would all enjoy?”

She rubbed her eyes, clearly still trying to get over her sleepiness. Kazuichi wondered that maybe he should’ve waited to ask, but it was important. And besides, Chiaki basically almost always had an answer to something.

“Well,” she said thoughtfully, “Hajime and I were going to go to a nearby arcade after school today. I tend to go there often whenever I’m bored. It’s a big place too, I’m sure you could find something to do there.”

“An arcade, huh?” Kazuichi repeated. He gave a hum. “Well, it’s not the worst idea.” He just didn’t know if the others would enjoy it. Gundham might enjoy a few of the games, and maybe Nagito’s luck can bring in some good prizes, too. Fuyuhiko might not enjoy himself, but he never seems to in any situation. He slammed his hand down on the desk, startling just about everyone in the room.

“Chiaki you’re a genius!” he yelled. He then turned around to yell across the classroom. “Hey guys! We’re going to an arcade later today, got it? Meet me by the front gate once school’s over!”

“Excuse me?”

“Alright Kazuichi! Sounds fun!”

“And why would I want to go to a place filled with the screams of the damned and bright and pulsing illuminations?”

“Because it would be fun?” Kazuichi offered. “Besides, all you guys kept denying my other offers and have yet to come up with your own!”

“That’s because this whole group is batshit fucking crazy!”

“And yet you still hangout with us,” Kazuichi muttered under his breath. Or at least, he thought he did. Because apparently Fuyuhiko could hear him perfectly well from the other side of the room.

“The fuck did you say, asshole?”

“I don’t mind the others joining us,” Chiaki said aloud, ignoring the scene that was seconds from unfolding right in front of her. “And I don’t think Hajime will mind, either. I think it’ll be fun–more the merrier, I suppose.”

“Yeah, that’s the spirit!” Kazuichi said, trying to ignore the loud spews of curses that the yakuza leader was throwing at him. “And of course Hajime won’t mind! We’re his friends too, afterall!”

“Alright then, I guess it’s settled,” she said. “I can wait for you guys at the entrance of the school if you want to travel together.” “Considering that I don’t even know where this arcade is, yes please.”

~~~

The arcade wasn’t too far away. Just half an hour of walking, but no one minded. Hajime, at first hesitant of bringing such a huge group to an arcade (where devastation and bannings from the establishment were probably inevitable at this point), found himself warming up to the idea of hanging out with them all again. He didn’t spend too much time with them, usually only really hanging out with Chiaki. The Reserve Course was keeping him busy, and no doubt the others were busy with their courses as well. But Hajime didn’t mind listening to Gundham talk about different species of hamsters for one-third of the walk, and didn't mind joking around with Nagito.

When they entered the arcade, Hajime could tell how surprised Kazuichi was by how big it was. According to him, the only arcades that he ever went to as a kid was a pretty small one nearby his dad’s bike shop, but that had closed down by the time he was a teen.

The group first went to buy credits to use–Hajime was annoyed with how long they spent arguing about who was going to pay, only to agree to spend money on their own credits to spend. But he wasn’t going to let it damper his mood, because spending a day in an arcade with them was surely only to end in disaster. He’d rather just spend as much time being happy while playing the games as much as he could.

“There’s an upstairs for their crane games,” Chiaki said, “if you wanna check that out first.”

Kazuichi’s eyes practically sparkled in excitement. “Oh hell yeah! Let’s go check those out first.” Kazuichi had to drag Fuyuhiko up the stairs, with the others trailing behind the pair, but they made it up there. In the large area were rows and rows of different crane games, all with different prizes and their own flashy signs and colors. Kazuichi marveled at all of the colorful machines, while Fuyuhiko scoffed.

“These are just dumb things made to try and take our money,” he said. “At least with those arcade games downstairs you earn tickets to get prizes. Here you’ll just waste all of the money you have.”

Hajime pointed down one of the aisles of machines. “I think there’s a few here that have some cute stuffed animals,” he said. “I’m sure Peko might like one as a gift.”

“I would like to see these imposters filled with cotton,” Gundham declared. Hajime could see the battle Fuyuhiko was having in his mind on whether to go or not to check it out. He had to bite his cheek from smiling, because he knew that Fuyuhiko would certainly try and gut him like a fish if he thought someone was making fun of him.

“Fine,” he sighed. “I guess I’ll go with the weirdo to see the stuffed animals.”

“Chiaki, look!” Nagito pointed at one of the crane games; it was filled with some sort of plush animal, though Hajime didn’t recognize the creature. “Isn’t this from one of your video games?”

Chiaki gave a hum, and went towards it like a moth attracted to light. “It is,” she said. Swiped the plastic card she was given that held her credits, and immediately started to look for the best angle. “I hope this doesn’t take many tries to get. There’s still a lot of items I wanna try and get before we’re done.”

“I wonder who’s better at these sorts of games,” Kazuichi wondered aloud. “I’m sure Chiaki has a lot of experience in these, Nagito has his weird luck on his side.”

Nagito gave a sheepish grin, and raised his hands up in protest. “No, I’m not sure how much my luck would come into play here. Chiaki is much better at these sorts of games than I am.”

Hajime watched in anticipation as Chiaki moved the crane in gentle pushes on the joystick. She pressed the button once she was happy with the placement. He held in his breath as he watched the crane go down, and gave a small sigh as the crane simply pushed the stuffed creature.

“It’s fine,” Chiaki said, swiping the card once more. “I have to move the item first so it’s in a better position for me to grab.”

“I’m just saying, your luck could get us a lot of prizes!”

“I don’t think it really works like that, Kazuichi-”

“C’mon! It wouldn’t hurt to try, right?” Hajime listened as Kazuichi dragged Nagito off to some other place, while keeping his eyes on what Chiaki was doing. They would be fine without supervision for a while.

“Do you think you’ll get this?” Hajime asked. Chiaki continued to focus on the crane.

“...Hopefully not too long,” she answered once she finally hit the button to let the crane go, and left it at that.

~~~

After three more tries, she got the item she wanted. She seemed pretty happy with it from what Hajime could tell, Chiaki giving a small but pleasant smile whenever she looked down at it. She won quite a few prizes after that too, to the point where Hajime was carrying everything that she got in both of his arms. He didn’t mind too much though, because he was happy enough to just spend time with her.

Kazuichi and Nagito only came back with one thing. Kazuichi looked very disappointed with this fact, while Nagito looked happy with the little golden cat he had in his possession.

“We spent all of his credits on one item,” Kazuichi groaned. “And we didn’t even get the thing we wanted!”

“Aw, don’t be so glum Kazuichi!” Nagito said.

“The only reason we even got that item was because the machine broke on our last chance and the workers felt bad!”

“But that item is pretty rare,” Chiaki informed. She leaned in a bit to get a closer look. “These things can only be found in crane games, and I’ve heard that the machines they’re held in are pretty hard to beat.”

Kazuichi’s mood did an immediate one-eighty. “Really?” he asked excitedly. “Nagito, turns out your luck helped us out after all!”

“I wonder where the others are,” Hajime said. As if on cue, Fuyuhiko and Gundham appeared, with items that they won. Gundham had a quite noticeable prize; a large, pillow-sized stuffed hamster that he carried carefully. Fuyuhiko looked annoyed, as he always did, but more so thanks to the existence of the large pillow hamster. His hands stuffed into his pockets as he scoffed for the nth time.

“I still can’t believe you won that,” Hajime heard the young yakuza leader say, once they were in earshot.

“Fiend, you clearly just don’t understand the powers that I hold,” he muttered. “The magic that is the dark arts has given me such mighty power to obtain this large and false hamster. The powers that took me to procure this item goes over your feeble mind.”

Fuyuhiko narrowed his eyes in what seemed like more confusion and annoyance than anger. “Dude, it’s just a stuffed hamster, calm down.”

“Did you win anything Fuyuhiko?” Hajime inquired. Before Fuyuhiko could answer, Gundham answered for him.

“He won a small feline keychain that he seems to want to keep hidden,” he explained. “On why he would care about hiding such a miniscule and precious little charm, I have no answer.”

Hajime couldn’t help the little smile that grew on his face, knowing exactly why Fuyuhiko won the keychain. He was probably hiding it just to save his reputation.

“I got it for Peko, okay? So shut up already.” And there it was.

“I’m sure Peko will really like it,” Hajime said. He continued to give a smile, even while Fuyuhiko glared daggers at him.

“We should head downstairs,” Chiaki suggested. “So we can actually start playing some games.”

“Yeah, and I need to buy more credits to use,” Nagito said with a sheepish grin.

“It’s been forever since I’ve been to an arcade,” Kazuichi said aloud, mainly talking to himself. “I wonder what kind of new games they have.”

He rushed down to the loud noises and bright lights, with the others following in-tow. The group played a few games together–mainly one volunteering for the game, while the others cheered on and watched–and collected tickets along the way. Then, Kazuichi abruptly stopped, and pointed down one of the many games that was in the building.

“What is that?”

“A game, dipshit,” Fuyuhiko replied.

Chiaki tilted her head. “Looks like a racing game.” Before she could even finish her sentence, Kazuichi was racing off towards it.

“Just look at this!” he shouted, beckoning for the others to come take a look. They begrudgingly complied, not impressed as the mechanic was over the game.

The game in question was just like any other racing one, in Hajime’s opinion. There wasn’t anything special–a large screen, and two plastic motorcycles that moved around a bit for people to race each other with. But given Kazuichi’s reaction, he supposed that maybe it was the first time for the mechanic to see such a game.

“Chiaki, you gotta play this with me,” he said, already adding in his tokens into the little slot.

She gave a shrug. “Sure, why not? It seems fun.”

Fuyuhiko snorted. “Yeah, as if you’re gonna win against the Ultimate Gamer. Good luck Kazuichi.”

“Hey! At least have a little bit of faith in me,” he said. “I mean, I know motorcycles like the back of my hand!”

“While you do have a vast knowledge about mechanical beasts,” Gundham spoke up, “this is just a mere illusion. Chiaki is far more knowledgeable at things such as this.”

“Aw c’mon!” Kazuichi, who had already climbed onto one of the motorcycles, sent pleading looks to Hajime and Nagito, as if begging for them to support him.

Hajime gave a nervous smile. “I mean, they do have a point, Kazuichi…”

“But, I’m sure you’ll do great!” Nagito added, clearly lying to try and give Kazuichi a little bit of grace.

“Whatever! I’ll just have to prove you all wrong!” It took a bit of time to navigate through the menus, but both people were ready by the time the race was going to start. “Get ready to eat my dust, Chiaki!”

“Good luck to you too,” she answered. And just like that, the race begun.

Hajime kept a close eye on the game, as did everyone else. As much as he cared about Kazuichi, there was no way that he was going to win against Chiaki. This was something that the gamer did probably every weekend–this is the first time Kazuichi has probably even seen the game.

But as Hajime watched, he found himself getting more and more surprised by Kazuichi’s maneuvers in-game. And he knew that the others were getting more and more drawn in as well, as they all started to watch with wide eyes. Because Kazuichi was putting up a big fight against Chiaki.

“Holy shit…” Fuyuhiko muttered, and stepped closer to watch. “Holy shit! Kazuichi, you can actually fucking win!”

“Hell yeah! Told you guys!” he replied.

“C’mon, Chiaki!” Nagito called out. “I believe in you!” She furrowed her brows, but said nothing in reply. Hajime knew that look–that was her putting everything she had into the game, focusing completely on it and nothing else.

“Kazuichi, you can do it!” Hajime cheered. He figured that Kazuichi would appreciate it more than Chiaki would–she probably didn’t even register him or anyone talking. Kazuichi had a large smile on his face as Hajime and Fuyuhiko continued to cheer him on.

“C’mon, dumbass, just win already!”

“I’m trying!” the mechanic yelled back. Fuyuhiko was close enough by now that he didn’t have to yell, Hajime was sure of it, but the yakuza still continued to yell rude encouragements at his friend.

Kazuichi ended up losing, sadly. Hajime was sure that she was going easy on him in the beginning, only to show her true skills when he became an actual threat. But still, Kazuichi didn’t know how to quit.

“C’mon! One more round!”

Chiaki thought about it. “It was a pretty close game,” she said. “I don’t mind doing another round.”

Kazuichi gave a toothy smile at that. Fuyuhiko shook his head, but didn’t say anything. Hajime decided to stay quiet as well, wondering to himself if Kazuichi might actually win this time.

He didn’t. Nor did he for the third and fourth time.

“Just give up already!” Fuyuhiko shouted. “It’s over! You lost! Get over it and let’s go back to the academy already!”

“I have you agree with the dark leader here,” Gundham spoke up. “It appears that the maws of this demon shall soon be closing, so we must make haste, lest we get eaten alive.”

“The fuck does that mean?”

“Arcade is closing soon, we need to go,” Chiaki translated. Fuyuhiko rolled his eyes.

“Bit of a fucking stretch, but whatever. Weirdo’s right, we should probably start heading out now–which we should’ve fucking done ten minutes ago if we wanted to get back before ten. Now if we don’t hurry the fuck up, we’ll have to face the wrath of that fucking hall monitor, and I am not getting detention because you dumbass for lost at a racing game!”

“But just one more round!” Kazuichi pleaded. “You guys can go ahead! Me and Chiaki will stay behind for a few more minutes.”

“We should probably be heading out now, Kazuichi,” she said. As she started to walk off with the others, Hajime stayed back a bit with Kazuichi.

“C’mon Kazuichi,” he said, offering a smile and a small pat on the back. “I think you did pretty well. Chiaki is the Ultimate Gamer after all, so I don’t think you’ll be winning any time soon.” Kazuichi gave a few upset mumbles at this. He yelped when Fuyuhiko grabbed him by his sleeve, the sudden force of being pulled away from the game startling the mechanic.

“C’mon, let’s go already! I’m tired of waiting for your sorry ass.” As the two continued to fight–Kazuichi moping hopelessly while Fuyuhiko suppressed the urge to hit him–Hajime couldn’t help but laugh at the sight.

Maybe they could come back again another time. Hajime certainly wouldn’t mind it one bit.

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