Tragedy Can Be Erased
Zhou Yu pointed at the machine.
"Your beginner's tutorial starts with this."
"No way."
Linnai pulled Dania away from Zhou Yu, a mischievous smile on her face.
"How can a beginner play an antique like that? You have to start with something exciting."
Without another word, she planted Dania in front of an arcade machine called Catch the Food.
On the screen, a little pixel figure held a large bowl as steamed buns, chicken drumsticks, and sweet-and-sour pork ribs fell from the sky.
Linnai pressed a handful of game tokens into Dania's hand.
"The rules are simple. Don't miss a single piece of falling food."
Dania swallowed as she looked at the appetizing pixel ribs on the screen, then dropped in a token.
A chime rang out, and the game began.
She gripped the joystick with both hands, more focused than ever before.
A steamed bun fell. She scrambled to move the little figure and barely caught it.
Two steamed buns fell. She moved left and right, catching both without incident.
"Yes, yes, that's it. Steady now." Linnai clapped beside her.
A roast chicken drumstick bigger than the bowl fell onto the screen.
Dania's eyes lit up. Her hand didn't move the joystick, but her mouth opened slightly, and she made a faint swallowing sound in her throat.
Thud.
The drumstick hit the ground and shattered into pixel crumbs.
Dania: (°o°)
She stared blankly at the screen, then touched her mouth.
"Yaya, you can't catch it with your mouth." Sigelica's voice drifted over.
Chisaki pushed up her glasses and quickly scribbled a line on her tablet.
"Visual stimulation directly triggered a preparatory eating response. A rare specimen."
"What specimen? That's called an immersive experience." Linnai patted Dania on the shoulder. "Come on, next game."
The dance machine.
Aimis had been itching to play. She tossed her helmet aside and stepped onto the platform with a long stride.
"Let me show you how it's done."
Linnai jumped up after her.
"Two-player mode, starting at two hundred BPM. You in?"
"As if I'm scared of you."
Music burst out, an electronic dance track with a frantic beat.
Their feet flew, the pads clattering under their steps. Every arrow on the screen earned a perfect rating, drawing whistles and screams from the people around them.
When the song ended, the two jumped down from the platform, neither flushed nor out of breath.
Aimis tossed her hair and beckoned to Dania.
"Cutie, your turn."
Dania let herself be half-pushed onto the platform, her limbs stiff and her arms at a loss for where to go.
"Don't be scared. Just step on the arrows," Linnai reassured her.
The music started, a cheerful children's song.
Dania looked down at the arrows lighting up beneath her feet, then back up at the screen. Her mind raced, but her body couldn't keep up at all.
The left-foot arrow lit up, and she raised her right foot.
The right-foot arrow lit up, and she hopped in place.
Linnai covered her mouth, tears gathering in her eyes from laughing.
"Don't laugh at her!" Sigelica buried her face behind her self-criticism report.
Sigelica: orz
"I'm not laughing. I'm moved." Linnai wiped the corner of her eye. "That determination deserves respect."
"You're obviously laughing!"
Chisaki recorded everything on her tablet at high speed.
"Synchronization rate between neural reflex arc and beat: zero percent. But the cuteness value has exceeded the measurement threshold."
"Chisaki, that's enough from you too!"
When the song ended, Dania had a screen full of MISSes.
She stepped off the platform, her little face falling.
Dania: (._.)
"It's okay, it's okay. Dancing isn't for you. Let's play something else." Linnai tried to pull her along again.
Dania shook her head.
She turned, silently walked over to the machine in the farthest corner, sat down, and dropped in a token.
The Tetris screen lit up, casting a green glow over her face.
At some point, Zhou Yu had leaned against the wall beside her, his ever-present thermos in hand.
"See the thing falling on the screen?"
"Mm." Dania nodded, staring at the crooked T-shaped block.
"Stack them neatly and fill a row, and that row will disappear."
Zhou Yu's tone was flat, as if he were telling her what time the cafeteria closed today.
"Disappear?"
"Yes. All gone, without a trace."
Dania placed her fingers on the buttons.
A long piece, placed horizontally.
A square block, plugging a gap.
She was slow and clumsy, but in her hands, the blocks were gradually stacked into neat rows.
The first row filled up.
Ding-dong.
A crisp sound rang out. The row of blocks vanished, and the blocks above it dropped neatly into place.
"It disappeared." She turned to look at Zhou Yu.
"It did." Zhou Yu nodded.
Her fingers began to move faster. The blocks fell faster and faster, but she grew steadier and steadier.
Rotate, shift, drop.
Ding-dong.
Rotate again, shift again, drop again.
Ding-dong, ding-dong.
The clearing sound effects came faster and faster, and the score shot up.
The others in the game room noticed the commotion and slowly gathered around.
Linnai's mouth formed an O.
"Holy crap, is she cheating?"
Aimis leaned closer, watching the blocks move so fast they left afterimages on the screen.
"How many years of being single did it take to get hands that fast?"
"Shut up." Sigelica squeezed to the front and stared at Dania's focused profile.
On Chisaki's tablet, streams of data cascaded down like a waterfall.
Chisaki: (╬ﾟдﾟ)
"Impossible. Her operating pattern doesn't match any optimal-solution algorithm. It's full of redundant movements and randomness, so why is her score so high?"
"Because she's not calculating." Zhou Yu blew on the steam rising from his thermos.
Chisaki turned to look at him.
"What do you mean?"
Zhou Yu didn't answer.
The blocks had reached their maximum falling speed.
Only the endlessly falling geometric shapes remained in Dania's eyes, and only the ding-dong of clearing rows remained in her ears.
The last piece fell, perfectly filling the final gap.
Four rows vanished from the screen at once.
Ding-dong, ding-dong, ding-dong, ding-dong.
After a flourish of sound effects, the screen went dark, and several enormous golden pixel words popped up.
[New record!]
[High score: 999999]
Triumphant celebration music blared from the machine's speakers.
The entire game room fell deathly silent.
Everyone looked at the score, then at Dania sitting in front of the machine.
Dania: (⊙_⊙)?
She blinked and turned to look at Zhou Yu.
"I cleared them all."
Her voice was soft.
It was quiet all around them, and the sound of a thermos lid being unscrewed came through especially clearly.
Zhou Yu took a sip of water and screwed the lid back on.
He looked at the glaring score on the screen, then at the utterly bewildered Dania beside him.
"That's not luck."
The lid tightened, and the metal clasp clicked.
"That's muscle memory for erasing tragedy."