It Has Nothing to Do with Prithvi Bir Bikram Shah – Part 04
Loud music grated on my ears. A chaotic mess of sounds crashed in from all directions with zero mercy.
Haruna, who’d been quiet just moments ago, lit up at the dazzling spectacle. Picking the arcade had been the right call. Thank god.
Trying to compete with all the noise, Haruna acted even more energetic than usual.
“What is this place?! Are these all magic items? This is crazy! Ayumu, are you trying to kill me?”
She wore a pleated dress, and somehow, just by being in that outfit, she gave off a completely different vibe, like a quiet, gentle girl. It was weird.
“Relax,” I said. “All these so-called magic items are here just for you to play with.”
“O-Oh. Good thinking!”
Excited, Haruna took off running. As I watched her sprint off, I felt a tug at the hem of my shirt. I looked over and saw a silver-haired girl looking up at me.
It was Eu. I’d called her earlier, and apparently, she’d arrived before us.
Though it seemed she was the only one who made it. I’d invited Tomonori too, but she turned me down, saying she had a Vampire Ninja meeting after club activities. Maybe Sera was meeting with her allies too.
“Ayumu, what’s in this place?”
Eu looked a little shaken by the noise. One of her gauntlets was covering her ear.
People walking by didn’t really stare at her. Normally, walking down the street would earn her strange looks, but in here, not so much. This place was kind of a haven for cosplayers.
“Sera’s not with you?”
“She’s busy. She said she’d be a little late.”
Watching Haruna run around, I said, “Wanna try the claw machine?”
We headed over to the crane games. Eu, walking close by my side, showed me a note.
“I’m a little scared.”
Maybe the arcade was too noisy for her. I started to worry, but as soon as we got to the crane games, Eu started glancing around curiously. Slowly, carefully, like she was scanning each and every prize inside.
“See anything you want?”
“All of them.”
All of them, huh. Sounds great. Looks like she might enjoy it.
“You into this kind of thing?”
“They look like Megalo.”
Oh, right. Those things did kind of resemble plushies.
“We have to help them.”
Now that was a take I didn’t expect. I went over to the change machine to swap a bill for coins.
“Ayumu! Ayumu! This place is super fun!”
Haruna crashed into me just as I opened my wallet. I dropped a thousand-yen bill from the impact. I guess noisy people enjoy noisy places.
Haruna snatched up the fallen bill and, along with her own six thousand yen, converted it into coins. So she carried money from this world too. Maybe it was part of her provisions?
Magiclad Girls probably stayed in this world sometimes. If that was the case, getting some financial support wouldn’t be strange. It was only fair, considering they risked their lives. And in this world, you couldn’t do anything without money.
“Today, it’s my treat,” Haruna said. “Have fun, ‘kay?”
Much appreciated. Though the thousand yen was mine.
We split the pile of coins between us and headed back to Eu.
We’re gonna have some fun. Big, noisy, ridiculous fun. I wanted to stop Haruna’s spirits from dropping again.
With a big grin, I raised my voice louder than usual. “First, you stick one coin in here!”
It wasn’t because of all the noise. I just wanted to act like an excited kid.
The two of them watched the coin slot curiously.
“Then you push this button to line it up.”
I scouted from the side, from above, checking out all the potential targets. Honestly, this part was the most fun. All right, got my eye on that one.
I picked a teddy bear as the best shot. There were no obstacles between it and the exit, and the distance looked perfect. Its head was just the right size for the claw.
Eu stared intently at my smug face.
That’s right, watch closely. Witness my way of life!
The claw clamped down on the prize. Tch. My aim was a little off. Still, it had a tight grip. Doable.
“Ah,” Haruna said, just as the bear slipped free and dropped.
Nooooooo!
The truth is, I’d never won at one of these games.
Everyone had their strengths and weaknesses. And some things were just impossible, no matter how hard you tried. That was my way of life.
“Well, there you have it.”
When I turned around, I saw Eu holding a dolphin plushie, flipping over the note she’d used earlier.
On the back, she’d written: “Rescued.”
“Big brother, look! I got one!”
No way. First try?
“But it was too late.”
“It doesn’t move, though.”
Well, yeah. It wasn’t alive.
“Ayumu, check this out! What a riot.”
Haruna was laughing her head off, pointing at the huge teddy bear jammed headfirst into the prize chute. It was completely blocking the hole. Yeah, there was no way we were getting that one… right?
I called over a staff member, and they pulled the giant bear out for us. Turns out, if it was already that deep in the chute, they’d still let you keep it, even if it didn’t fall all the way out.
I couldn’t afford to lose. Not as a resident of this world!
I shoved in 500 yen, planning to take one prize over multiple tries. I went for something near the exit. No need to lift it, just nudge it along with the claw.
But no good. I was stuck. Hopelessly, utterly stuck.
“This is unbearable to watch.” A beautiful voice, like it belonged to a goddess, came from behind me.
I whirled around. She’d seen me fail completely. Embarrassed, I tried to steer the conversation away from the crane game.
“Oh, look who finally showed up. What are you doing here?”
“If you can’t figure that out after seeing me in a place like this, your brain must be severely impaired.”
There she was, a stunning beauty with her hair in a ponytail.
My eyes were immediately drawn to the curve of her chest under the tube top. The alluring zone created by her denim shorts and knee-high socks was impossible not to admire. My gaze darted up and down.
“Please step aside.” Sera shoved me aside and shoved in a 100-yen coin, and pressed the button.
She went for a plushie lying face-down right above the chute.
There was nothing to grab on that thing. No way the claw could even roll it over.
The claw grabbed it by the head. Come on, think about its center of gravity. No way it was getting lifted. Total amateur move. I mean, Vampire Ninjas weren’t exactly made for this sort of thing.
Just like I thought, it lifted the head a little, but the body didn’t budge. Finally, it slipped right out of the claw.
I thought so.
Just then, gravity pulled the head down, and the momentum made the plushie tumble.
“This is what they call the Swallow Reversal.”
What the… there was a move like that?!
Sera handed me the prize she won. A faint trace of sweet perfume drifted up to my nose.
“Huh? It’s the leaf lady.”
Haruna’s eyes lit up when she spotted Sera, and she launched a low tackle at her. Now that I thought about it, it was rare for Haruna to do that kind of thing to anyone other than me.
“Haruna.”
“Check this out! It’s the clothes you picked out for me. Cute, right?” She spun around, the hem of her dress flaring.
“Yes, it looks very good on you.”
“Of course it does!” Haruna flashed a big, toothy grin.
Sera gave a gentle smile in return.
“Haruna, over here,” she said. “Let’s have a match.”
Then the two of them walked off together, like a pair of close sisters.
I felt a tug on my shirt. Eu held up a note toward me.
“Let’s go too.”
“Let’s play, big brother!”
“Sure, how about medal games?”
It was an honor, being invited by Eu like this.
Eu and I enjoyed the medal games while Sera and Haruna took each other on in racing games and fighters.
Surprisingly, their win-loss record was even. Haruna had never been to an arcade before, let alone played these kinds of games. Either Sera was letting her win, or Haruna was just picking things up freakishly fast. She always did show flashes of genius in weird places.
“Ayumu, come fight me!” she called out, and I gave in.
I didn’t really want to, but hey, this was my chance to finally get back at Haruna for all those times she beat me up.
Heh heh heh. Challenging me in this game? Let me show you what hours of grinding and practice really mean.
“You suck, Ayumu.”
“L-Let’s go again!”
No way! Me? Losing?!
“Want me to play without using, like, four buttons?”
I couldn’t win a single match, and she was even giving me handicaps now. The humiliation. My pride.
“Make it five, please.”
Screw pride. I’d take whatever handicap I could get if it meant beating Haruna. Still lost, though. Utterly destroyed.
“Ayumu, what’s that box thing?” Haruna pointed toward something using her cowlick.
“A purikura, also known as a photo booth,” Sera said.
“Oh, that thing from the stories.”
“You’ve only heard of it in stories?” I said.
“Yeah. Isn’t that the guy, Nepal’s 7th king or whatever, who took the throne in 1881?”
Who in the world is that?
“It has nothing to do with Prithvi Bir Bikram Shah.”[1]
Why the hell did Sera know that?
“Are you talking about the Pre-Crash Safety System?”
Totally off. That’s a car feature.
“It’s just a device for taking photographs,” I said.
“Oh, a camera. Yeah, I know those.” Chuckling, Haruna dashed inside the photo booth, then popped right back out. “So? What do we do?”
“We take pictures,” Sera said.
“All right! Let’s shoot to kill!”
And so the four of us stepped in and decided to take photos.
I wasn’t a huge fan of stuff like this, but I figured one for memory wouldn’t hurt.
Wouldn’t hurt, except…
“Hah!”
Click.
Only I showed up on the screen.
Haruna had kicked me into the camera, smashing my face into it. The result was a photo so chaotic, it didn’t even make sense.
“Haruna, what the hell?! Stay still!”
“Huh? I thought something was gonna jump out at us.”
“Just hold still for the next one, all right?”
“Hyah!”
Click.
Aaagh, come on!
“Haruna, seriously, don’t move! We’re wasting money.”
“Who cares? As long as it’s fun!”
“He’s right, Haruna,” Sera said. “You’re supposed to stay still for these.”
“Huh? Well yeah, I know that.”
“Okay. Big smiles, everyone.”
I pulled out my best zombie smile. Haruna looked smug, Sera looked gentle, and Eu gave her usual icy stare.
Click.
“Huh? Who’s the cute girl? Oh wait, that’s me.” Haruna stared at the screen, a little embarrassed. Everyone ignored her.
Sera picked up the drawing tablet and started labeling each of us. “See? You can doodle over the photos like this,” she explained.
“What kind of magic is that?” Haruna asked.
“It’s science,” Sera replied.
“Oh, right. That kind of magic.”
It is not magic.
Haruna started scribbling all over the close-up of my face, basically erasing me with color.
“Whoa! This might actually be fun.”
She added hearts, words, and finished the whole thing in a flash.
“You’re overdoing it,” I said. “Eu, wanna try?”
Eu shook her head. She looked like she wanted to, though.
And so we split the printed photo among the four of us.
Haruna raising her fist and flashing a full-toothed grin. Sera smiling gently. Me tugging on Eu’s cheeks, forcing a smile onto her face.
All of them were great shots. It was hard to pick just one.
“This one’s for you, Ayumu,” Sera said.
What she handed me were the close-up of my face, and the one where I was getting kicked and flailing.
Why was I getting the ones that were basically just me?
The photo of me getting kicked had Natural Born Idiot scribbled across it.
“Haruna, what the—”
Before I could get the words out, Eu tugged on my sleeve. When I turned to her, I saw her staring intently at the photo in my hand.
“You want it?”
She hesitated a little, then gave a small nod.
“All right, we’ll split it.”
I tried to give her copies of the one where I was getting kicked and practically the only one in frame, but for some reason, Eu wanted the whole set.
“You really want just this one? There’s not much to it.”
“You’re supposed to share them,” Sera chimed in.
Eu shook her head. Did she really want it that badly?
I gave her the whole set like she wanted. No reason to say no if she liked them. All I had left was the close-up of my own face. I never got the ones where everyone was in the shot.
But I was satisfied.
1. Prithvi Bir Bikram Shah was King of Nepal from 1881 until his death in 1911.
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