Chapter 9: Try Rejecting Me Now

Part 1

The sky over Shibuya was a bruised, toxic purple. Ash drifted through the air like gray snow, settling on the shattered remains of a neon billboard flickering its last, pitiful heartbeat.

“They’re coming through the subway grates!” Olivia shrieked, her voice cracking over the distant boom of something exploding. “Sera, left! Twelve o’clock!”

Sera pivoted sharply, boots skidding across the ground. A shambling horror in a tattered school uniform lurched from the shadows, its eyes glowing a sickly, hypnotic pink. Sera leveled her weapon with the kind of focus that suggested she’d been waiting all day to shoot something.

LOVE OUTBREAK DETECTED!

INFECTION RATE: 87%

Thud-thud-thud.

The creature’s chest burst into a shower of sparks and rose petals. It let out a synthesized screech before dissolving.

“Perimeter clear!” Sera called, though her heart hammered like it was trying to escape her ribcage.

To her right, Erika stood in perfect, unbothered sniper form — calm, precise, and deeply judgmental of everyone else’s aim. “Watch the rooftops, Olivia. The Heart‑Snatchers drop in three… two… one…”

Right on cue, winged gargoyle‑things swooped down from the clouds. The air filled with screaming, gunfire, and the mechanical heartbeat of a world ending.

Olivia cracked her neck like she was prepping for a boss fight. “Ladies, it’s time to purge the heartbroken.”

Erika didn’t even look at her. “Please stop saying things that make people stare at us.”

But Olivia was already dual‑wielding like she’d been born in slow‑motion. “NOT TODAY, ROMEO!”

The damage was not enough as the zombie lunged toward her holding a bouquet of roses.

Olivia shrieked and shot it point‑blank.

Erika took out a zombie mid‑proposal with a single, surgical shot. “Denied.”

Sera fired rapidly, movements sharper than usual. Her jaw clenched, shoulders tight — but her eyes were bright, almost fierce. A zombie hurled a glowing pink heart at her; she dodged and muttered under her breath, “Try rejecting me now.”

She froze for a heartbeat, startled by her own words.

Then she fired again, harder.

COMBO!

LOVE BARRAGE ACTIVATED!

The screen exploded into sparkles as the trio unleashed chaos.

Olivia dual‑wielded like she was auditioning for an action movie.

Erika sniped with surgical precision, muttering “unacceptable” every time a zombie got too close.

Sera tore through the horde with a ferocity that startled even her — her breaths coming quicker, her eyes bright with something between adrenaline and release.

A giant zombie lumbered onto the field, clutching a bouquet the size of a compact car.

Olivia gasped. “Final boss!”

Erika sighed. “It literally screams worst boyfriend of the year.”

Sera lifted her pistol, steadying her breath. “Let’s finish this.”

They fired in perfect, chaotic synchrony.

The boss exploded into a shower of pixelated hearts.

A booming, cheerful voice echoed from the heavens:

LOVE HAS PREVAILED!

YOU ARE THE TRUE HEROES OF ROMANCE!

All three girls slumped against the arcade machine, panting.

The bruised sky flickered — then vanished. The ruins of Tokyo dissolved into a scrolling leaderboard and a high‑pitched J‑pop jingle.

Sera blinked as the harsh fluorescent lights of the Game Center slammed back into reality. The “tactical rifle” in her hands was pastel‑pink plastic, tethered to the cabinet by a thick black cord.

Olivia leaned heavily against a padded stool, her crutches propped against the machine like discarded props. She was flushed, breathless, glowing with post‑battle delusion.

"That was exciting but... Oliver the Magnificent... demands... victory ice cream," Olivia panted, wiping sweat from her forehead with the back of her hand.

Erika adjusted her glasses, which had slid to the tip of her nose during the final wave. She set her blue plastic gun back into its holster with a quiet clack. "You missed forty-two percent of your shots in the final sector, Olivia. That’s not a victory. That’s a miracle we survived the stage."

Sera didn't join the bickering. She stood there for a beat too long, her hands still trembling as they gripped the pink plastic. The transition was always the hardest part—the moment the "apocalypse" ended and the hollow ache in her chest returned. In the game, she was a hero. In the game, she could shoot the things that tried to hurt her.

Out here, the monsters didn't dissolve into rose petals. They just stayed in the room with you, invisible and quiet.

"Sera?" Erika’s voice was softer now, devoid of the game’s competitive edge. "You're still gripping the gun like you're trying to snap it in half."

Sera forced her fingers to uncurl. She turned to her friends, her face instantly shifting into a bright, effortless mask of "I’m having a great time."

“Just an adrenaline rush,” she said lightly. “That boss was tougher than last time, right? I thought we were actually going to lose.”

"Lose? With me on the trigger?" Olivia scoffed, reaching for her crutches. "Never. I’m the protagonist of this arcade."

Sera leaned her head back, eyes closed, breathing deeply. Her smile softened — real, unguarded, warm.

For a moment, she looked lighter.

Then—

A sharp, piercing cry cut through the arcade noise.

A child.

Part 2

The cry cut through the arcade like a blade — sharp, panicked, and far too real. Not the whiny “I want a plushie” kind of cry, but the hollow, breathless wail of a child who’d just realized the world was bigger and scarier than she was prepared for.

Sera’s hands, still warm from gripping the plastic rifle, went cold. She turned toward the row of claw machines.

“That sounds like a Level One distress signal,” Olivia said, her voice dropping into something startlingly serious. She adjusted her crutches, posture shifting from “Arcade Protagonist” to “Emergency Side Quest NPC.”

“How can she move so fast with a sprained ankle,” Erika muttered, already speed‑walking after her.

They rounded the corner of a massive Unicorn Kingdom machine — and froze.

A little girl, maybe five, sat huddled against the glass of a crane game. Glittery backpack. A stuffed dragon clutched to her chest. Tear‑streaked face.

And kneeling in front of her, looking like he was apologizing to the air itself, was a guy in an oversized gray hoodie.

Olivia gasped so loudly a nearby couple jumped.

Erika’s jaw dropped in scandalized horror.

Sera’s protective instincts snapped into place like a sprung trap.

"I... I’m sure that we can find him," he was saying, his voice so low it was almost drowned out by a nearby racing sim. "If you tell me his name, we can..."

The girl’s sobs hiccuped to a pause as she noticed the trio approaching.

Olivia pointed a crutch at him like a divine judgment staff. “Step away from the child, fiend!”

Sera felt a strange jolt in her chest. It was him. The boy from the quad—the one who had saved Olivia from choking with a calm, surgical precision, then disappeared. The same one who had bandaged Olivia’s ankle in the park without saying more than three words.

The boy startled, blinking up at them. “Oh. It’s you. From… the things. The choking. And the ankle.”

Erika folded her arms, voice sharp. “Shame on you!”

Sera tried to sound calm, but her voice wavered. “Sir, explain yourself.”

"Really..." he mumbled, looking at the room around them. "She was almost finished crying before you all interrupted."

The girl blinked at the sudden chaos — then burst into louder, more panicked sobs.

“Don’t accuse me of a crime,” he signed quickly, hands moving with practiced clarity. “She’s lost. She let go of her brother’s hand to look at the prizes.”

Around them, arcade patrons were already glaring — annoyed that the trio had turned a quiet crying child into a full‑blown meltdown.

Olivia’s voice softened instantly. “Oh no, sweetie, don’t cry!”

She knelt where the boy had been, her knees hitting the sticky arcade carpet. She didn't look at the boy, but she could feel him watching her from the shadows—a quiet, observant presence that felt oddly like a safety net.

Erika bowed repeatedly. “We’re so sorry, we misunderstood, please don’t cry, oh no—”

Sera knelt beside the girl, offering a gentle smile. “Hey… hey, it’s okay. You’re safe.”

Her hands trembled slightly, but she kept her voice soft.

The girl hiccuped, eyes glossy and overwhelmed.

Olivia, desperate, thrust the stuffed dragon toward her. “Here! Remember your emotional support dragon!”

The girl blinked at it.

Then grabbed it with both arms and hugged it like a lifeline.

Her sobs had softened into tiny hiccups, her face buried in the stuffed dragon’s plush head. The arcade noise slowly returned — the clatter of tokens, the ding of jackpot bells, the thump of bass — but the little bubble around the five of them felt strangely quiet.

"Hey there," Olivia said, her voice dropping into a soft, melodic hum. "I'm Olivia. And these are my friends. We're actually really good at finding things. We just found our way out of a zombie apocalypse, you know."

The girl’s sobbing hitched. She peeked out from behind her backpack, one tear-streaked eye fixed on Olivia.

"Zombies?" the girl whispered.

“The biggest ones,” Olivia said before her friends covered her mouth to continue.

“Apologize for our imaginative friend,” Erika said with a strained laugh. “She still thinks she was a man in a previous life. For now, why don’t you tell us your name?”

She peeked out from behind the dragon’s wing, eyes still glossy. “M‑Marie.”

“That’s a lovely name,” Sera said gently. Her voice was warm, but her hands trembled just slightly where they rested on her knees.

Olivia finally pouted but she didn’t say anything.

The boy knelt beside Marie again, moving slowly, carefully. “I’m Soren,” he said. “I found her crying near the racing games. I tried to help, but… uh…” He gestured vaguely at the trio. “Then you all arrived.”

“Like heroes,” Olivia said proudly.

“Like a stampede,” Erika corrected, pinching the bridge of her nose.

Marie sniffled, twisting the dragon’s tail nervously. “I… I got lost.”

Soren nodded encouragingly. “Do you want to tell me what happened?”

Marie hesitated, then whispered, “It’s my first time here. I was holding my big brother’s hand, but… but then I saw a sparkly dragon and… and…” Her voice wobbled. “I let go.”

Sera’s expression softened — but something flickered behind her eyes, a shadow crossing her face before she smoothed it away.

“A lost sibling quest!” Olivia gasped.

Erika slapped a hand over her mouth again. “Do not scare the child.”

Marie startled, clutching the dragon tighter.

Soren offered his hand, palm up. “Let’s find your brother together. Okay?”