Chapter 135: High-Score

FieryKathy

Time flies when you have fun with your friends. We had tried shooter games, pinball machines, car driving games, more fighter games, Air hockey, rythm games and even this one kind of dancing game where you needed to place your feet on different areas on the mat to complete the dance steps. I was surprisingly good at that. 

“Damn you and your darn cat balance, Ami. That song was just impossible.” Hailey’s laying on the floor, completely and utterly defeated by my amazing dance moves. 

“This game is so fun!” I jump a couple of happy jumps.

“Can’t deny that.” Hailey smiles up to me. 

“Hey, Ami, you can even fill in your name on the high score list!” 

Hailey gets up from the floor and looks at the screen as well. “What? You got first place?” 

“Really?” I look at the scoreboard as well. And indeed, when I look at the board, my score is blinking at the top with three empty horizontal white bars next to it. 

“And luckily your name is short enough as well.” Carol smiles as she starts typing in ‘AMI’. 

“Did someone get a top score?” The man who runs the store comes walking up to us. He’s walking around with a dust cloth, occasionally wiping one of the machine’s panels. 

“Yes, this girl here did.” Carol smiles and pats me on the back. 

“Congratulations, that’s quite the feat on a machine this old.” 

“I managed to do this because it’s only been up for a short time, right?” I ask the manager. 

“No, when we let the machines get restored we tried to maintain the old scoreboards as a memory to the people who’d used them before. That didn’t work out for all of the machines but it did for most of them.” He points at the dancing arcade machine. “But this one is definitely a machine where the memory was kept.” 

“Wow.” Carol looks at the scores. “So this ‘JOE’ person is someone from 60 years ago?” 

“That could definitely be the case.” The man nods. 

“Wow.” Carol repeats herself. 

“Have you girls had fun?” The man continues. 

“Definitely!” I reply. “It’s so fun to play all these old games.” 

“We’ve had plenty of laughs too.” Hailey nods. 

“I’m glad to hear that.” The man smiles. “He then picks something out of the wallet he has hanging from his belt. “Here’s six coupons to get yourself something from the drinks and meals vending machines.”

“What do we need to pay for them?” Carol asks. 

“Nothing, it’s on the house. See it as a reward for breaking a 60-year old record.” 

“Thank you!” Carol gladly accepts the coupons. “But let’s go and play some more games first.” 

“That’ll be a bit hard without any more time.” The store manager laughs. “Looks like you’ve had so much fun that you forgot to keep track of time.” 

“Wait, those three hours are already over?” I look at the bracelet. It says 0:00. “Wow, we must’ve started this game at the last second.” I check my phone to be sure, but indeed, we have already spent three hours inside of the arcade. 

“You can always get a refill.” The store manager replies and waits for our answer. 

“Uh, I don’t think we will at the moment, but we will definitely come back next time and maybe bring some more friends.” Carol replies. 

“That’d be very much appreciated.” The store manager smiles once again. “If you need me, I’ll be back at the counter. Don’t forget to wash your hands after you’ve had your food.” 

“We will!” I reply as the manager heads back to the front of the arcade. 

“Let’s put these coupons to some good use.” Carol smiles and hands two coupons to both Hailey and I. “The vending machines were over there, right?” She points to the right. 

“I thought so, yes.” Hailey nods and starts moving. 

I follow my friends along as I send a message to Sam. “How are things going there, Sam?” 

“Meeting’s almost done <3” She replies back almost immediately. “Do you want us to come over there?” 

“We’re just going to get a snack from some vending machines. I think it’s best that we come and get you.” 

“Alright, we’ll wait at the kiosk then. Did you have fun?” 

“Yes! :D Thanks a lot for the suggestion. Next time we should come together!!” 

“I’d love that. <3 I need to go now, the other girls are getting jealous that I’m texting my beautiful girlfriend. See you in a bit!” 

“Love you <3” 

“Love you too <3<3” 

“What are you smiling at, Ami?” Carol asks, we’d just arrived at the vending machine area. 

“She’s texting her lover, isn’t that obvious?” Hailey prods her friend in the side. “Just look at her face. She’s beaming.” 

“Right… I should have known.” Carol smiles. “But Ami, look at these.” She then turns around and points at all the different kinds of vending machines. There’s a couple that sell hot drinks, hot meals, smaller snacks, both cold and warm, there’s even a pizza machine. 

“This one even sells ramen.” Hailey walks up to one of the machines and looks at all the options. “I think I might go for this one.” 

“I don’t think I’ll be able to decide.” Carol just keeps her distance from all the machines and just keeps looking at them. 

“I think I’ll pick the pizza.” I reply. 

“You make a convincing argument, friend.” Carol gives me a nod and together we approach the pizza vending machine. It has all kinds of options. What type of crust you want, the different kinds of toppings, even if you want extra oregano, garlic or some kind of spicy oil. 

“I’ll take the pizza ai frutti di mare.” I press the button for one of the basic pizza types. I don’t really need extra herbs. I just want some more fish. 

Next, the screen of the machine tells me to “insert payment or coupon” as a light lights up on the machine, indicating where I need to insert the coupon. I bring the coupon close to the insert and with a buzz, the coupon gets sucked into the vending machine. 

“Waiting time -> 3 minutes. Please insert the next order.” This tells Carol that it’s time for her to order. 

“I think I’ll just take a quattro formaggi.” Carol enters her order as well together with a coupon, after which a second three minute timer appears. 

Hailey is already eating her ramen and comes to stand next to us to watch the clock count down. “Do you think it’ll be good?” She asks. 

“We’ll have to see. But it’s hard to fuck up a pizza.” Carol shrugs. “Unless you add chocolate or whatever.” 

“Mhmm.” I nod. At least the smell that’s coming out of the machine is already making my mouth water. “How’s your food, Hails?”

“It’s okay.” She nods and then eats another bite. “Is it restaurant quality? No, but I wouldn’t have guessed it came out of a machine either.” 

“It smells pretty good.” I reply. 

“Want to have a bite?” 

The vending machine beeps, notifying me my pizza is ready. “I think I’ll stick to my pizza.” A cardboard box slides out of the machine as I approach. It’s supported by a couple of metallic brackets. 

“Please take your order off the tray.” The machine orders with a robotic voice. 

I do as it says to avoid a vending machine revolution. Not that long afterwards, Carol’s pizza slides out on brackets next to where mine was. She was already prepared so she took her box in her hands as soon as it plopped out of the machine. 

“The moment of truth.” I sit down at one of the two tables nearby and open my box. It does smell incredibly good, and it doesn’t look much worse, albeit a bit small. But I guess these are meant to be a snack rather than actual dinner.

“Do you want me to get your drinks?” Hailey asks, her ramen is already pretty much gone. 

“A lemonade for me.” Carol takes her up on her offer and hands over her coupon.

“I’ll have the same if you don’t mind.” I hand mine over as well. 

“I’ll be right back.” Hailey smiles and walks off to one of the nearby machines. “Oh! It looks like lemonade is out of stock, want anything else?” She calls out. 

“Uh… apple juice, do they have that?” I ask.

“Yep! They even have carbonated apple juice, whatever that may be.” 

“Just the regular, please.” 

“For me too, Hails.” Carol says.

Hailey nods and soon after returns with three bottles of apple juice. “There you go.” 

“Thanks.” I accept a bottle and twist the cap off the top. 

“What’s the plan after this? Back to uni to meet up with the rest?” Carol asks.  

“Yep, at least that’s what I’m going to do. Then I’ll head home with Sam.” 

“I think I’ll just go straight home after we leave the arcade.” Hailey says. “I still want to do a bit of cleaning today.” 

“That reminds me… I need to do that as well…” Carol sighs. “Ami, don’t you have any magic for that?” 

“Not yet.” I chuckle. “I’ll look around for a skill like that.” -I’d actually be somewhat surprised if it didn’t exist… but then again, magic twists and turns in mysterious ways.-  

FieryKathy

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