Chapter 29: An Arcade
Eli had a large, satisfied smile on his face as he walked hand in hand with Lea.
In his other hand was the reason for his satisfied smile, a mech that was almost half his size.
Since he had managed to knock down all the targets, he had been allowed to choose his prize.
Olivia, meanwhile, looked at Liam before her, and he soon noticed her gaze, causing him to turn to her.
"Are you curious about what I did to the ball?" He asked, careful not to let Eli hear.
Olivia paused, realizing how easily her thoughts had been discovered, but she nodded instead of denying it.
"I just infused it with my pragma, which allowed me to slightly control it mid-air," Liam responded.
He was sure this would work because of the ball of pragma he had created, back in the Ring’s base.
Well, he wasn’t certain, since the ball wasn’t created by his factor, but he was glad it all worked out in the end.
Olivia placed a hand on her chin before asking, "You’re an awakened?"
"Technically," Liam nodded, "but I’m basically a Null, since my pragma only barely crossed the required threshold."
"I see," She muttered with a nod.
"What about you, Olivia?" Liam asked, "Are you an awakened?"
She was silent for a while before looking directly into his eyes and starting, "I —"
Before her words could be completed, though, Eli suddenly spoke up, "There!"
Liam looked in the direction the kid was pointing and noticed that it was towards a certain building.
One that seemed to lead to an arcade.
"Let’s go there next!" Eli said, already pulling Lea in that direction.
Lea looked back at Liam, who just nodded, and the two rushed ahead at his confirmation.
Liam and Olivia followed closely behind, with her never answering his question.
But she realized that he wasn’t pressing her for it; instead, he just turned towards her and said, "I apologize for dragging you around this much."
"I don’t mind," she said as she looked around, "It’s nice not to be surrounded by a crowd for once."
"Hmm?" Liam turned to her, and she immediately realized her slip-up.
"A crowd of customers," she tried to correct herself, "a-at the supermarket."
"I see," he nodded with a small smile on his lips, "sounds exhausting."
"Y-yeah," Olivia said, letting out a sigh of relief since he didn’t seem to suspect anything.
Liam, on the other hand, still maintained his smile since he knew exactly what she was referring to.
"Then let’s get you properly relaxed," he said as they walked into the arcade. "Have you ever played one of these?"
"Once or twice," Olivia said, looking around the arcade.
The interior was somehow louder than outside, as it was filled with the sound of gaming machines and the screaming of the players hunched before them.
She had been in a place similar to this when she was younger, but it was a memory so old that she had mostly forgotten what being in places like these felt like.
"Any catching your eye?" Liam asked, pulling her out of her thoughts.
She looked around before her eyes landed on the one that had a fighting game on it, before pointing there, "That one."
"Alright then," Liam nodded as they walked towards the machine.
Eli had found a racing game and was sitting in the seat of the car-like controller with a completely focused expression.
Beside him sat the mech, acting as a passenger forced to experience every crash with him
Even though he had never played one of these before, he seemed to be quickly learning, and soon enough, he was even executing drifts.
Lea sat inside a different car beside her little brother, and she quickly realized that the game was surprisingly more fun than she initially thought.
Liam and Olivia, meanwhile, soon reached the fighting game machine, which was unoccupied.
It was a two-player setup, with two controllers side by side and a screen displaying a roster of characters.
Olivia looked at it for a moment before glancing at Liam, "Do you play?"
"I know a thing or two," he replied as he picked up the extra controller.
"Alright then," She nodded, picked up the second controller and chose a character.
A flame ninja with chains that could pull the opponent towards him.
In response, Liam chose a character that seemed to be a cocky movie star, complete with sunglasses.
Olivia looked at his selection but said nothing; instead, she just waited for the game to start.
***
PLAYER 1 WINS!
When Liam said he knew a thing or two about the game, what he actually meant was that he had spent an unhealthy amount of his free time on these types of games.
Olivia, who had been certain victory was hers after winning the first round and reducing his health to a sliver in the second, looked at the screen in surprise.
"Again," she said.
"I figured," Liam replied, already hitting the rematch button.
***
PLAYER 1 WINS!
"Again."
***
PLAYER 1 WINS!
"..."
Even the small crowd that had gathered around the two were extremely quiet.
It wasn’t that the lady was a bad player; hell, after the first game, she had adapted so much that they doubted any of them could beat her.
But the man, on the other hand, was just on a completely different level.
"Again?" Liam asked as he looked at Olivia.
Usually, when one wanted their lady to enjoy a date, they’d make sure to always give them the win, especially in games.
But that wouldn’t work on Olivia.
He’d just end up pissing her off if he didn’t set up his loss properly.
Besides, there was also the fact that her satisfaction would be significantly higher if she earned it herself.
He could tell that much from the way she played; she wasn’t someone who wanted things handed to her.
"Again," Olivia said with a nod as she readied herself for the next round, but the moment Liam selected rematch,
BOOM!
===
A/N: We’ve got a super gift from Limelight, which means I’ll have to push Chapter locks to 45 instead of 35.... Thank you Limelight.
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