There Must Be Something Fun To Do Around Here

He woke up early the next morning and used his phone to try to find out where he could take Aida to have some fun. Fun of the innocent, childlike variety of course. Maybe some sort of amusement park or arcade would be good. Even the futile attempts to win something from the claw machine could provide some levity for them both. Although he was wondering how an arcade in heaven would work since money was absent and therefore no real risk was involved. But maybe that would be something worth finding out. He did actually find a place that looked like it was worth exploring and it wasn't even far away. Being in heaven had its perks after all.

A while later Aida came down the stairs and sat down at the table. One look at her and it was obvious to Michio that she was still in a bad way. She probably was thinking about the situation the whole night. Seeing her this way caused conflicting feelings in Michio, since on the one hand he could proceed with his plan to take Aida somewhere to hopefully cheer her up, but on the other hand actually talking to her and more so convincing her to do something together with him seemed like a ridiculous idea and would never work in a million years. Although he supposed that he probably had more than a million years to spare after all. Finally he decided that he had to at least try and got up from the couch to sit down at the table as well.

“Thank you for the pillow and blanket. Made the couch almost tolerable.” Aida looked at him and he had a hard time reading her face. She seemed sad, but maybe also irritated by him? Nothing out of the ordinary so far. Then she looked away and he felt like she was disappointed in him. What did she expect him to say?

“Yoshida, let's go have some fun.” Michio just blurted the words out without thinking and now she was staring at him again. “I mean, there must be something fun to do around here, right?” She looked away again, but this time she seemed to at least think about it.

“And what do you want to do Hino?” she finally answered. He was flabbergasted for a moment since he didn't expect her to actually entertain his idea, but then she slid his phone over the table and showed her the place he found. “It's like an arcade I guess. I never went to them much back... you know on earth. But I think it would be fun to spend some time there. Maybe I can win you a plushie to keep you company.” That last part was something very spontaneous and he regretted saying it as soon as the words had left his mouth and prepared himself for swift retaliation but Aida didn't seem to take offense, which was even more surprising.

“Okay, let's do it. I have nothing better to do. When you you want to go?” She actually seemed to think it was a good idea and Michio couldn't believe his luck. Even if this was all just to cheer her up a bit, the fact that she was willing to spend some time with him at all was amazing. It was almost like a date, right? He stopped himself from going down that path of thinking immediately, but he still wanted to seize the opportunity. “We can go right now if you want to. It seems to be open all day and as you might expect, I'm free as well.”

“Okay, then let's go.” After saying that she got up and went for the door. Michio kept sitting for a couple more seconds since she still couldn't really believe how well this was all going, but then he hurried to follow her and they were both out on the street walking to the arcade moments later. Despite her seeming almost eager to go along with his idea, when they were walking down the street he couldn't help but feel that she was still very much in the same bad way she was yesterday. He really hoped he could make her forget about her worries for at least a while until he could come up with some more permanent solution. When they entered the arcade it looked remarkably like the places he knew from Japan. He indeed wasn't a frequent visitor, but at least in his younger years he went to the arcades every now and then. He knew that Aida did so as well, since he followed her there a couple of times, a fact he hoped she wouldn't remember right now. 

The idea of winning a plush for her actually sounded pretty appealing though, so he was looking for some kind claw machine and indeed they had several. He took her to one that contained various kind of animal plushies. Suddenly he remembered that he actually knew something about her after all, she really loved cats. She always had some kind of cat related merchandise with her wherever she went. And there was a cat plushie in this very machine. So he looked at the controls to figure out how this would work and he realized how you had to pay in this world. 

There was a little pad to place your hand on and a little sign said that every time you play, a little bit of energy was depleted from your body until you would just fall asleep on the spot. After he paid accordingly, he tried his luck with the machine and he failed instantly. He barely picked up the plushie he wanted and it felt down almost immediately. He looked over at Aida and she seemed quite amused by his failure and in a way that still made him happy. He tried again and this time he managed to position the claw closer to the animal and he picked it up a lot better. But it still fell out of the claw before he could maneuver it over the chute. He noticed that Aida this time seemed to be disappointed, maybe she really wanted that plushie after all. But the payment started to take a toll on him, so he needed to get it quickly. He knew that he needed to do it this time. He felt like he knew the machine quite well now, so he managed to position the claw just right, the timing was perfect and seconds later the cute animal landed in the chute and he went and handed it to Aida.

“For you, Yoshida. You do like cats, right?” He was surprised he actually managed to hand the plushie over to her without being embarrassed and she seemed to be surprised by the gesture as well, but took the animal in her hands. “Thank you Hino. I do like cats.” She actually seemed to blush a little bit even. Michio found it quite cute to be honest. But then she suddenly seemed to get self conscious and realized what they were doing. She threw the plushie at Michio and started to walk away from the machine and Michio. “Just go away Hino. Leave me alone.” Michio was left flabbergasted with the plushie in his hand. What was happening right now? What did he do wrong this time? He sighed in defeat and went to stand alone in a corner of the arcade to think about how to mend the situation he had found himself in once again. After he stood there and pondered his bad luck for a while, he was approached by a man with a smile on his face.