I’m a Loner, Gloomy Guy Who Accidentally Witnessed the Moment the Top Girl in the Class Got Dumped. I Didn’t Know What to Say to Comfort Her, So I Just Gave Her a Cola and Somehow We Started Having Lunch Together~ - 44

Chapter 44: Revenge for That Day

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Hina looked at me smiling and made a suspicious-looking face.

“…What are you smiling about?”

“It’s nothing important. Don’t worry about it.”

“Just tell me already. When you say it like that, it just makes me more curious.”

“No way. If I told you honestly, I feel like you’d get mad.”

“Hah? What’s that supposed to—eh, that is…! Amazing! I can’t believe it!!”

Hina put the money she was holding back into her wallet and lightly hopped down from the machine. Excited, she hurried deeper into the arcade. What got into her all of a sudden?

…Well, no point thinking about it here.

“Hey, wait up!”

I couldn’t just let myself be left behind, so I hurried after her. The place Hina headed for was the crane game corner. Numerous machines were lined up in rows. Snacks, figurines, anime character goods and all sorts of other things were displayed as prizes. Hina walked up to one of the machines. The prize inside was a dog plushie.

“This plushie is the same one as back then, right? …Hey, do you remember?”

“Yeah.”

I gave a small nod to Hina, who asked timidly. Back then, on a day off not long before we graduated from elementary school. That day, Hina and I had come to this game center together.

“Wow…! This plushie is sooo cute! Hey, Maa-kun, Hina wants this! Get it for me, get it!”

“Yeah! Leave it to me!!”

Asked by Hina, I replied confidently and put money into the crane game.

I’ll get it in one shot!

With that mindset, I eagerly took on the challenge, but failed. The arm managed to grab the prize. But it dropped halfway through lifting it up.

This is insanely hard… What should I do? I don’t feel like I can get it at all…

But I didn’t complain. I wanted to be Hina’s dependable hero. I absolutely didn’t want to show her a pathetic side of myself.

“Th-that was just a warm-up. I’ll get it next time!”

“Yeah! Do your best, Maa-kun!”

I’ll definitely succeed this time! Just wait, Hina!

I tried a second time with a more serious expression than usual, but—

“…Ah. Damn it!”

Once again, I couldn’t get it. After that, I kept playing without giving up, but failure after failure followed.

“Hina will try too! I’ll help you, Maa-kun!”

After a while, Hina joined in as well, but the result was the same as mine. No matter how many times we tried, we couldn’t get it. And as the two of us kept trying over and over, the end finally came. We ran out of money.

No matter how unbroken our spirits were, without money we couldn’t keep trying. Both Hina and I were filled with frustration, but we had no choice but to give up in tears.

“When I found it, I was so surprised. I mean, they had the exact same plushie as back then. It kind of feels like fate, doesn’t it? Hey, what are you doing?”

Hina looked at me suspiciously as I put money into the crane game machine. I smiled a bit and said to her.

“Isn’t it obvious? I’m getting my revenge from that day.”

I pressed the buttons and operated the arm. To Hina, who looked like she wanted to say something, I said again.

“Just leave it to me.”

I deliberately said the exact same line as back then. And then—thud. The dog plushie dropped into the prize chute.

“Congratulations!”

A cheerful announcement rang out from the machine. Right, I got the prize. After years, I pulled off my revenge in a single try.

“That’s amazing…! I mean, haven’t you gotten ridiculously good at this?”

“Of course. I was so frustrated that I couldn’t get you that plushie that day. After that, I kept coming here for a while and practiced by myself.”

『Next time, I’ll get the plushie and give it to Hina. I’ll make her wish come true and absolutely make her smile.』

With that single-minded determination, I kept coming to the arcade and secretly piling up practice. Thanks to that, my crane game skills improved a lot. I grew to the point where I could confidently think that I could definitely get it this time. But then…

The incident with Asakura happened, and my relationship with Hina changed completely. I stopped hanging out with Hina altogether, and naturally, I stopped coming here as well. The crane game skills I had worked so hard to build up ended up having no chance to be used.

And I thought that chance would never come again for the rest of my life. But finally, the time came. At last, I was able to fulfill Hina’s wish from that day. I was glad. There was no other feeling I could possibly have.

“I can finally give this to you.”

I took out the dog plushie and held it out to Hina. The moment Hina received it…

“U… uuh… waaahhhhh!!”

She suddenly burst into loud tears. Tightly hugging the dog plushie with both arms, tears poured down onto it.

“H-hey!? Why are you suddenly crying?!”

“Shut up! Maa-kun! You’re the one at fault!”

I panicked for just a moment, but then quickly felt relieved. Because I realized these were tears of happiness. Why did I know that? The answer was simple. Because she and I were childhood friends. Something like this…I could see it coming a mile away.

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