The Goddess Needs A Break!

"Uuu, I lost…"

It seemed that the goddess was not the best at everything she did. Although, that was the case most of the time.

I held back and made several mistakes on purpose and she still managed to lose? I seriously overestimated her driving skills…

Takei had enough of the depressed goddess, so he devised a new plan. "Here, I'll cheer you up. How about I win you a prize from the claw machine?"

Akari's eyes immediately started glowing. "You will?"

"Yep, let's go over to the claw machine area."

They both walked towards the inner part of the arcade where the claw machines were. There were less people here than earlier at the arcade machines, since most people had trouble with claw games and would end up losing all of their money. However, Takei was different since he grew up playing claw games. As of now, he would probably consider himself a professional.

"This panda is so cute…"

As they were walking closer to the claw machines, Akari mumbled something and looked longingly at a panda plushie.

Looks like I know what I have to get now.

After mustering his resolve, Takei promised Akari to get her the plushie. "I'll get that for you, give me a second."

"Ah, okay."

Akari gave a normal response, but her face was showing something different. She looked like a cat expecting food. To clarify, she just really wanted that panda plushie badly. Takei thought it was quite cute how badly she wanted that plushie though.

Seeing that face makes me feel like the only real outcome is success. Well whatever, let's see what I can do.

Takei walked up to the claw machine and slid a coin in. He put his left hand on the handle and his right hand hovering over the button.

Focus, focus. It's all or nothing.

He breathed in and breathed out gently. Now, Takei was in the zone. He pressed start and the claw began to move. Exactly one and a half seconds before the claw was about to reach the panda, he pushed down on the red button.

Akari was baffled at the action he took. "Wh-what? Isn't that too early?!"

Takei grinned as he heard her surprise. "Nope. Just right on time."

The claw started to slow down when he clicked stop, but it didn't stop right away. It slid for a bit, and then stopped completely. Once it stopped, the claw dropped and snatched up the panda plushie perfectly. The panda got dropped into the small hole in the corner of the machine and fell out of the prize hole.

Takei chuckled as he looked at Akari's frozen face. "Haha, it's a little trick I picked up after playing claw machines for a while."

Akari looked like she just saw a miracle. "How did you do that?!"

Takei then began to explain his odd trick. "Some claw machines have the claw slide for a bit before it stops completely and drops the claw. I've played this one specifically in the past to get my sister a plushie she wanted, so I already knew the exact timing for the claw."

Even after the explanation, Akari was still amazed. "Whoa…"

"It's nothing special." Takei stated.

He truly felt like he hadn't done much to impress her.

"Anyways, here's the panda plushie you wanted."

Takei handed Akari the panda plushie. She held the plushie up and stared at it for a long time. Akari didn't move a single muscle, all she did was stare at the plushie. After watching for a while, Takei couldn’t endure the suspense any longer.

"If you don't want it, you could always throw it away."

An instant denial came from Akari. "No! I wouldn't do anything that cruel…"

Takei then got even more confused at Akari's early actions. "Why were you just standing there and staring at it then?"

Akari started fidgeting around and looking all over the place. "Um…"

"Hm?" He really wanted to know, so he decided to coerce her a bit.

Akari seemed to have given up on withholding her inner feelings after his coercion.

She took a deep breath and told him what was on her mind. "I was really happy that you got it for me, so I was thinking of ways to treasure it…"

"..."

A bashful girl that was as red as a tomato was telling him something in such an adorable manner. It was safe to say that Takei's brain had been fried.

Both of them just stood there in silence. They were both looking at the ground while burning up from shame.

Several moments passed until Takei finally regained his composure enough to make a suggestion.

"Do you want to start heading home?

A weak response escaped Akari's lips. "Mhm."

Seeing the extremely docile Akari had almost gotten Takei knocked out again. It was fortunate for him that he had recovered enough health from her last attack.

The duo walked out of the arcade center with an extra member in tow. Akari was hugging her newly gotten panda plushie while Takei looked straight ahead to ensure his brain wouldn't get fried again.

They started to walk in the direction of home until a voice was heard behind them.

"Eh? Takei, is that you?"

Takei turned around to see two people he had not seen in a long time.

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Akari’s Affection Meter: UNDER MAINTENANCE

IT Man has been punished, meter will soon return.