infinite_reflection | In front of the Arcade...

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open rp

In front of the Arcade...

Ever since Miho introduced Greg to the arcade at the local mall, he's been there most weekdays after school for at least an hour or two... It ate a lot of money, sure, but it's money he would've spent on point cards for his phone at any rate.

At the moment he was just outside, though, sitting on a little bench near the entrance and fiddling with his phone for some reason or another. The boy was, as usual, paying no attention to his surroundings or anything but himself and the small piece of technology in his hands. The perpetual and unfortunately socially discouraging look of vague annoyance and great boredom was in place on his face, though he was completely free to approach for anyone not bothered by it!

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"Seiya-chan always liked them young." The man mused, adjusting his glasses to get a better look at the boy.

"Okaaaaay that's enough talking about that." Seiya stopped the topic from spreading into higher levels of uncomfortable. Plucking two books from the shelf she began to compare them.

Changing the topic didn't stop a snort from coming out of Greg, and he had to resist the urge to just laugh for Seiya's sake. He attempted to disguise it with a clear of his throat afterward, and then flipped a few pages quickly. "So, uh... A lot of smaller stores here, huh? There's the big chains, but I see a lot of family stores and restaurants." That'd work for an evasion of the topic at hand, right?!

"Ahhh good eye, young man." The woman began stocking a few sparse shelves, taking her time to give each book a nice home. "We've been here for 40 years."

"About as long as Yamada Mart, eh Sei-chan?" The man patted Seiya's head, filling up a little bowl of hard candy.

"It's hardly been that long." Seiya eyed Greg. That almost sounded like laughter... either way, she plopped 4 books on the counter, paying for them. "What kind of shops do you like, G-kun?"

Greg replaced the book where he found it (not doing so would probably earn a mark on his record; these two seemed to care about books) and then returned to Seiya's side while she paid. "Family stores tend to last a long time, so uh... It's not really surprising."

Hmmmm. What kind of stores did he like? Gregory didn't really like shopping in general, but that sounded like a sort of annoying thing to go and say... "I go to convenience stores the most often, uh, heh. Yours, lately, so... Otherwise I like game stores, but I usually go with a thing in mind to buy. I don't really browse." Window shopping was definitely not a thing he partook in.

"Good answer!" The man laughed, ringing up Seiya's purchase. He slid the books into a little paper bag, sealing it with a sticker fashioned to resemble their logo. "Have a good day you two."

"[Thank you!]" Seiya tucked her new bag under her arm, holding the door open for Greg. "Where to next? Your pick!" It seemed she'd just make up adventure rules as they went.

He figured he was earning some kind of brownie points or something, right? There wouldn't be any use for them, but earning peoples' approval was never a bad thing. Greg followed his adventure buddy to the store's exit and turned around to say goodbye when she did first! In English, no less, so he figured he'd do the same. "[Yeah..! Thanks.]"

Now they were back out into the busy mall, though still in a quieter corner of it. That meant he at least had time to think, since it seemed the responsibility of keeping this trip fresh was now on his shoulders. "Uhh, hmm... I need a new bookbag for school. Mine's got a hole in it. Do you know a place?"

Seiya beamed at his use of English. It was so smooth! SWOOOON. Deciding it was best to go a bit more compact, she slid her bag of books into the previous bag she'd been carrying.

"Bookbag? I know a place!" With that, she was off, forgetting to link up with him again.

Greg hunched slightly now that he could keep his hands in his pockets, posture was not a thing he was concerned with, and stepped after Seiya when she started moving. "Those two seemed nice. Keeping a shop open for 40 years is, uh... Quite an accomplishment, huh?" The two thankfully hadn't hit any large seas of people yet, and that meant he wasn't too worried about holding on. If they did, though, he'd probably grab onto her in some form or fashion.

Seiya navigated the area with expertise, glancing over her shoulder to speak to him. "Yeah! They're like my grandparents in a way." She dove into a sea of people headfirst, aiming for a little sporty store at the end of the hall.

Welp! She was definitely headed for a large crowd, and Greg picked up the pace to catch up. His hand landed on Seiya's shoulder just before they were both surrounded by people, and it stayed there while they navigated through. This one seemed longer, the mall was probably getting more populated as time went, though he let go when they were through. "It gets really crowded here, jeez..." He'd been bumped into a few times; it'd probably be pretty damn easy to get trampled on accident.

As they walked the crowd seemed to thicken. Jesus, were they giving out free babies? Seiya put her hand over the one on her shoulder, leading him to the opening before Sports Good Time Fun. Seiya let go, hands on her hips.

"Ta da! Backpacks by the motherload! [So many!]"

He let go as well, surveying the store, and then nodded. "They'll probably have what I'm looking for here, uh, yeah." Should he..? "[Thank you..!]" That worked, right? It probably made Seiya happier than he realized.

Greg stepped toward the section with several backpacks and started browsing. Hmmm! Some of these were more sporty, definitely not what he wanted... Others were for kids, and despite how funny using a cartoon-themed backpack sounded he figured he'd shy away from that. "What do you think? I like black... Or dark green, hmm."

Seiya nearly jumped up and down with glee. His use of English around her was like tossing a dog a biscuit.

Following him inside, she surveyed his options. "The black is very [cooool.]" She nodded solemnly, as if she was an expert on the subject. "But the Totoro ones are really cute..."

The idea of wearing a small furry creature in backpack form was an odd one... He'd seen them around school, though, but mostly on the girls. "Black is okay, yeah... Hmmm." The black one was pretty roomy, too. That's really what he needed more than anything, so Greg pulled it off of the hook and nodded. "We'll go with this one, then. It'll hold my books, uh... A lot more than that, probably. Never hurts to have more room." That said, it did look kind of bulky. Why was something like this bizarrely difficult?

She rewarded him with a thumbs up, heading back down the aisle. Pausing, a backpack caught her eye. Seiya froze in her tracks. "[Oh. My. God.]"

Low and behold, a backpack fashioned to look like an American flag hung on the rack. She grabbed it, holding it up towards Greg. "[OH MY GOD!]"

Greg kept right on going until the first exclamation, then turned around to see what she was holding... Oh, wow. That was really tacky, by basically anyone's means. Seiya meant for her, right? She didn't think he was gonna wear that? "... Uhhh... I get the feeling it'll make me stand out even more, you know?" He ran a hand through his hair, messing it up just a bit, but then flattened it back out. "Do you want it? You could wear it. [Pretty cool!]" Hopefully that'd work.

Seiya's cheeks flushed and she held the bag close. YES! Approval! She nodded enthusiastically, jogging to his side. "[Totally!]" Her whole world was cloud nine at the moment. "I'm definitely buying it! [Super!]" Heading to the counter, she couldn't stop grinning like an idiot.

At least she was having a good time, he figured. Greg headed toward the counter and paid for his new backpack, then let Seiya do the same for her ridiculously patriotic purchase. If it made her happy, who was he to judge? He slung the empty black backpack over one shoulder and headed for the exit. "Uh, what was next? I forgot what your little order was."

Immediately after purchase, Seiya shoved her bags into her new American rucksack. Putting it on, she struck a pose, modelling it for Greg. "Ta da!"

Heading out of the store, Seiya frowned. "Well, the loop back to the Arcade is next." She was sort of sad to see the day ending.

Seiya got a thumbs-up in response to her little bit of modeling, and to be fair it did look all right on her. Greg couldn't pull it off, he'd look like a massive tool, but the third year somehow managed. He just hoped she didn't get ridiculed for it! Actually, he didn't really know anything about her classmates... Or other friends. Maybe they were all cool?

"The, uhh..." She looked a little down, actually. "We don't have to go there, if you don't want? I dunno how into games you are. There's other stuff there, though... Miho and I got our pictures taken in one of those booths, and all that."

Seiya perked up a bit. She was into games, but taking pictures sounded especially interesting. "Let's take pictures!" The spring in her step returned as she headed to the arcade. "It'll be fun!"

Heeey, that worked. Every student in this country seemed to fucking love taking pictures, from what he'd seen. Oh, and then adding cat ears and little smiley faces to them and crap. He almost forgot that part. "Uh, sure! I was kinda surprised..." Greg moved up beside her and kept the pace, "Arcades aren't really a big 'thing' in America. This one seems pretty popular."

"Really?" Seiya loved these little lessons. She synced their steps, a determined look in her eye. "Everybody here loooves Arcades. They're a good stress relief!"

"Yeah, see..! That's what games are good for, right?" Hey, this is something Greg almost seems passionate about. "It's different over there, it's getting better but, uh... If you like anything but sports and shooting games you get looked at funny. In school, anyway. It's just, I don't..." He huffed, looked like he got a little worked up, and then dismissed it with a wave of his hand. "Anyway, here's better for that kind of thing."

"Looks like you fit in." She flashed a warm smile to him, playfully tugging his sleeve. As they approached the arcade she grew giddy again. Listening to him talk about games fired her up!

"We'll take pictures and then you should show me your favourite game!"

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