A place where people waste away lot of money (legally, of course)

It doesn't take long for you and Emiru to finish eating. Emiru ends up paying for the meal, despite your greatest efforts to foot the bill yourself (or at least for your portion). Unfortunately, your attempts to convince her otherwise are rebutted by her stubbornly refusing to budge on the matter, and she pays the bill when it comes before you can even get a word in.

Though you thank Emiru profusely for her generosity, a part of you feels inclined to pay her back somehow to show your appreciation. Obviously, paying for your meals when she's showing you around will just lead to another battle of generosity, so there had to be something else you could do.

Maybe I could buy her a gift? That should work...but what exactly? Flowers? Chocolate? Wait...I'm pretty sure those two are considered gifts to give on certain Japanese holidays. And heck, what would her parents think if they saw her walking back with a box of chocolates in hand from me?

As you mull idly, you still take the time to look around the Tokyo streets. You're slowly getting more and more used to how streets are constructed; it often seems like buildings or shops or stands are packed tightly together, with only signs being the way to distinguish where one stops and another begins. Yet somehow, nothing feels too claustrophobic, and the meticulous cleanliness of the streets means they give off an air of pristine assortment, like a neatly arranged shelf of products.

But even neatly arranged shelves can have products that stick out from the rest, and one such flashing sign catches your eye. At this distance, you can't quite make out what it says.

"Emiru, what is that?" You ask, pointing at the sign.

Emiru takes a moment to look before she responds. "Oh, that's an arcade. It has many attractions; rhythm games, crane games, pachinko...they're a popular chain here in Tokyo."

An idea forms in your head. Going to an arcade may be your ticket to repaying Emiru; you might be able to win something for her in a crane game, or at the very least pay to let her play with some of the attractions. And before you knew it, you find yourself leading Emiru by the hand through the front entrance.

The first thought you had was that you were glad you didn't suffer from epilepsy. The interior of the arcade was so different compared to the peaceful streets, the entrance may as well just isekai'd you. And the lights-the LIGHTS! Bright screens from every corner, LEDs that flashed through every colour of the rainbow...it's like some futuristic cyberpunk world focused exclusively on arcade games.

"Amazing..." you gasp as you look around.

Beside you, Emiru simply nods in agreement. She quickly locates the token exchange machine, but as she reaches into her purse to withdraw money, you stop her.

"Ah, no, no. Please let me," You say as you insert money into the machine. "My thanks for the lunch." You tell her with a big smile.

Emiru opens her mouth to protest, but is silenced by the sound of arcade tokens dropping out of the machine. You count out about half of them and pass them to her, before you both took stock of what the arcade had to offer.

You both start off with trying out the fighting games on display, many of which you were excited to try out as they were new and not available back home. Although your prior experience with fighting games allows you to win a majority of matches, Emiru seemed to have basic knowledge on how to play as well, netting her a few lucky wins...usually as a result of your own stupid actions ("I did it!" she cheered. "Damn it, why'd I do that?! That was so stupid!" You curse in English so she doesn't understand).

Next, you move to the rhythm game section. Of course, there were many DDR type machines there, but there were also other more quirky ones as well; one where you pressed the perimeter of a ring in time with the beat, one where you had to press flashing buttons in time with the music, another where you beat a drum...You never knew there could be so many different rhythm games!

Doing your best to seem confident, you quickly locate the nearest DDR type machine that catches your eye. It looked like the DDR machines back home, except the dance pad had no directional pads on it. Emiru explained to you that instead of directions, you merely tap your left and right feet in time with the music, and after muddling through the menus a bit, you're soon working up a sweat to the tune of some of your favourite J-POP songs while Emiru laughs and cheers you on from the sidelines. Not content to leave her out of the fun, you encourage/**** her to have a go on the machine while you take a breather. Though she initially refuses, Emiru eventually relents and replaces you on the machine, even taking off her jacket to be more comfortable...and your jaw hits the floor as Emiru proceeds to clear out several songs on expert mode, completely decimating your high scores (and pride) in the process. A couple of times, as if to show off, she even jumps around to face you halfway through the song and performs the rest of the sequence backwards without dropping a single beat.

You couldn't take your eyes off her. There was no other way to say it; she was incredible. The way she matched the on-screen idols' choreography perfectly. The way her expression, normally demure and reserved, was now adorned with one of complete joy and confidence. The way her small chest bounced up and down every time she-

Realising where you were staring, you tear your eyes away and blink to try and snap yourself back to reality. Fortunately, it seemed that Emiru was too engrossed with the machine to notice. Eventually, Emiru calls it quits as well, and steps off, where you welcome her back with the biggest applause you could muster.

"That was incredible!" You marvel as you pass back her jacket. "You are very skilled. Do you do this often?"

Emiru keeps her head down as she refits her garment back on. It seems her old reserved personality was back. "No, not really. I only come to arcades a few times a month. I'm not that good either...there are some in competitions who are far better than I am."

Although you are tempted to reply with further praise, something tells you not to press the issue. Instead, you both refresh yourselves with some drinks from a conveniently placed vending machine, before you both start looking for what to try next.

After wondering around a bit, you find yourselves at the crane game section. Even these games had a way of surprising you; not just by the variety of what the Japanese considered a "crane game", but also the prizes being offered. You were used to paltry items, such as small candies or stuffed dolls. While those still existed here, there were also more interesting items up for grabs, such as small household appliances, cans of drinks, and even-

"Is that the newest Mahō Shōjo: Hime Senshi figure?!" You hear Emiru gasp as she notices a particular crane game.

She practically races over to the crane game in question, with you (slightly befuddled) trailing behind her, where you get a proper look at the prize. It looked to be an anime figure depicting a young girl dressed in a frilly pink dress that reminded you a bit of a fancy gown (though the 'dress' part was more the length of a miniskirt, because of course it was) posing in a bold, but still cute, manner. While you weren't into the Magical Girl genre (at least, not in a way that you'd admit), Emiru seems utterly transfixed by it and immediately inserts tokens in an attempt to win the figure. The figure box itself was perched precariously in the middle of two rails; it seems that to claim it, one would need to maneuver the figure with the crane such that it'd fall between the rails...assuming the crane could even move the box in the first place.

That's what you guessed, based on your short look at the machine. Unfortunately, your cynical view of crane games was further validated when, despite positioning the crane in the perfect position to grab the box, the arms limply caught the sides and slid off, barely shifting it. Undeterred, Emiru tries again...and again...and again, but to no avail. Even you have a few tries, but you're unable to make much progress either. Eventually, your last tokens are inserted and you're **** to give up on the machine, with the figure box only having moved less than an inch.

"Well, I suppose I could always try buying it online..." Emiru murmurs dejectedly.
You merely pat her on the back to reassure her, and she gives you a small smile.

The day's been long, but fun. You're both wiped out from all the sightseeing and the arcade, and you both start planning on heading back to the Fukada's place to rest. Emiru especially looks like she needs a nap, which isn't surprising to you considering all the dancing she did a little while ago. As you leave the crane game area, you begin to fancy to nothing more that getting back to the house, flopping on your futon, and chilling out until dinner.

And then, Emiru gives one last longing look at the figure just as she leaves.

You stop. Something inside you flares; it's like someone turned on a gas burner inside you up to maximum. You glare at the figure yourself, sitting tauntingly and infuriatingly still within the machine. "What, am I gonna walk away, just like that?" You ask yourself. "Am I just gonna throw in the towel?"

You glance over at Emiru, but her face once again is expressionless. For some reason, seeing her like this makes the moment of her glancing back stick in your mind all the more. What was she thinking? Did she really want that figure, or had she moved on from it already? If you were to win it for her, how would she react?

You end up making your decision. It wasn't hard, considering the reason why you came here in the first place.

I'm not done yet. No way in hell I am.

"Hey Emiru..." You ask as you turn to her. "Would you mind if I stayed here for a bit longer?"

Emiru looks at you confused. "Ken? What did you say?"

"I want...to stay a little longer." You repeat. "I want to keep playing. You don't have to stay if you are tired."

Emiru shakes her head emphatically. "I can stay as well!" She protests. "I am supposed to look after you, and-"

"I'll be fine," You give her a reassuring smile. "You look very tired. Please do not worry. You've been very helpful, and I understand how to use Tokyo's trains now."

Emiru continues to protest, but her arguments are eventually cut short when she has to stifle a yawn. Reluctantly, she agrees to go on ahead back to her house without you.

"But please, promise you will call me the moment that you're done, OK?" She pleads, looking at you straight into your eyes.

"Of course. I promise." You tell her sincerely.

Emiru still takes a bit to leave. She stops several times to look back at you, as if she's still debating whether she should leave you here, but you just smile at her and wave reassuringly. Eventually, she disappears through the exit, out of view.

After Emiru leaves your sight, you duck back into the arcade section and you make your way back to the crane that started it all. Part of you questions the wisdom behind letting your Japanese tour guide leave you in an unfamiliar part of one of the biggest cities in Japan, but you're about to waste a good chunk of change on a molded piece of plastic; clearly, logic isn't the most important thing to you right now.

It's evident to you that trying to win the prize as you are is a futile effort; you'd run out of cash long before the box went anywhere. What could you do? Maybe nudge the box into the gap? But how? And how much money would that end up taking? You stare at the figure so hard trying to figure out what to do, you feel your eyeballs start to dry out. Every time you thought you had an idea, another part of your brain would explain how it's dumb, and you're dumb, and wouldn't help at all. And between the cacophony of noises, lights, and your internal debating, it felt like your head was about to split open.

"There's really only one thing I can do now," You decide. "Better swallow my pride and get this over with."

You straighten up and move in search of the one thing that can get you out of this situation. And also the thing that you fills you with dread more than anything else.

Asking for help.