Next to a fast food restaurant with only one employee, there was a door leading to a basement, repurposed into an arcade. There was a bright neon sign above the door pointing to the arcade, and inside, there were multiple arcade machines placed along the sides and sometimes in the middle of the room. Multiple wooden stools were placed on one corner of the room, and all of them were brand new. All of the arcade machines were brimming with life, and you could hear countless 8 bit music playing from each machine. There was no dust in sight; the place was well kept. There were light panels installed on the ceiling, shining brightly at the entire arcade. On the far end of the arcade, you could see a counter with a door behind the counter, and out the door came a middle-aged woman, who seems to be the owner of the arcade.
The arcade was opened 24/7, with another worker only taking the shift of the owner when she's sleeping. Even though it was opened all day, the owner realized that not often do kids come to arcades to play in the middle of the night, so she has considered to only open until late nights recently. Her consideration was fortified by the fact that nobody was at the arcade right now. It was 1 am system time after all. Pretty sure all of the children had gone to sleep by now. Anyway, the place was a mess, so she started sweeping the floor. Bags of chips and cups of sodas were littered all over the entire arcade. It was a smart idea to open this place next to a fast food restaurant, but still, any less workload could've been nice.
As she was sweeping around, she heard some noises coming out of an arcade booth. Of course, every single arcade booth were making their own noises, but this one was different. This was the sound of someone actually playing with the booth. From the constant *pings* and *pongs*, she could determine that it was the game Pong, and she went around to the closest Pong booth she knew.
She headed towards the sound, it was behind one of the booths in the middle of the arcade. She poked her head sideways over to the other side, and she saw...
a small girl with silver hair, playing with the joystick.
It was as the owner thought, it was indeed Pong that was being played by this small girl. Hitting two lines and a dot of light, the simplest of ball games. The girl was standing on a stool, but still barely reaching the joystick. She had a deadpan look on her face. Her hair was both long and messy, but really curly too. She had a white T-shirt, but there were black stains all over it. She was also wearing some black shorts, which seems to be in good shape. Her face, arms and legs also seemed to be covered in black stains.
"Hello, dear. Where are your parents?" The owner of the arcade asked the little girl on a stool. The little girl ignored the question and continued playing with the joystick.
The owner took a look at the scores on the screen of the arcade booth. The scoreboard allowed up to 9 digits of scores. All 9 digits were filled with numbers that aren't 0, with 5 of the left-most digits being a 9. The owner couldn't do anything but stood there in shock and in silence. After that, she snapped out of it and persuaded the little girl again.
"Y-You've played for far too long, darling! That's not good for you!" She took the girl's hand away from the joystick and held it in hers. The little girl saw the 'GAME OVER' screen on the arcade booth, and turned to face the owner. The deadpan look on her face has yet to subside.
"What is your name, dear? Do you know your parents' number? I can call them for you."
The girl looked back at the 'GAME OVER' screen again, then retracted her hand away from the owner, and walked away. The owner took a glance at where she was going, and it seemed like she was heading towards the direction of the counter. The owner could see the little girl taking something out of her pocket and placing it on the counter.
When the owner reached the counter, she saw a crumpled piece of credit, and can only see the little girl's eyes over the counter. The owner looked at the little girl, puzzled.
The little girl turned her head towards the shopping list for the arcade, where it said that you could exchange credits for tokens at the counter. The owner understood what she meant by the credit now.
"Sorry, dear, as much as I'd like to accept this, you've played too much for one day. Come back again tomorrow and I'll exchange it for you, okay? I'll even give you some bonus tokens!"
The little girl, dejected, tilted her head down a little bit, and took the crumpled credit and stuffed it in her pocket before walking towards the exit. The owner just can't shake off this weird feeling she had about this girl. As soon as the little girl walked out of the arcade, another person came in. It was the hired worker coming in to take the owner's shift. He noticed the little girl walking out of the arcade.
"Wow, she left quite early today."
"Hmm? What do you mean?" the owner asked the hired worker.
"The girl that just left. I've seen her staying here at the arcade until 4 am once. Tried asking her about her parents and all but wouldn't tell me anything. Just came to the counter exchanging for tokens every hour or so."
The owner's even more puzzled than before. "Did you at least get her name?"
The worker sighed. "To be honest, I don't think she even has one."
Now, what started as a puzzling commotion, came into a worrying conclusion.
YOU ARE READING
Intertwined by Fate, Reunited by Destiny (Silver Wolf X Reader(Caelus))
Romanceafter you were unknowingly given to kafka by elio, you've gotten to know more about this strange girl that likes playing video games who's also a part of the stellaron hunters. however, the good times would not last for long.
