Later that night

Ding-Dong-Dang

Taiyo walked through the arcade doors, head up, ready to get a brief moment with his digital flame. He passed the UFO machines, and all of the other arcade games unworthy of his time and affection. As he turned the corner, something was off. 

“Wait, did I turn the wrong direction or something?” he said while looking in all directions.

An employee passed Taiyo by and he flagged him down,

“Excuse me, did you guys move the DanceStar machine?”

“Yes.”

“Where?”

“Not exactly sure.”

“Oh……NOT EXACTLY SURE?!?”

“Yes, we rotate games between locations. It helps keep a fresh atmosphere for all players.”

Taiyo stood frozen, dropped to his knees, mouth agape, eyes wide.

“Sir…are you ok sir? Do you need medical attention?”

For a brief moment Taiyo snapped out of it,

“No…no that’s fine.”

A catatonic Taiyo trudged away as the employee looked puzzled. 

Ding-Dong-Dang, and out he came. Downtrodden, in disbelief, if only he had known beforehand. As he sulked outside, a familiar voice echoed from down the street.

“Taiyo!” said Tsuki

As she approached closer, she could tell something was wrong.

“Hey, what happened? Why do you look so sad?”

“Hey Tsuki…it’s…it’ll sound silly.”

“Doubt it, you can tell me.”

“My favorite arcade…game got moved to another location…”

“That’s it?”

“Yep.”

“Wow, you must really love that game to look this beat up about it.”

“I did…I do.”

“I’m sure there are other games similar to it around Tokyo.”

“No, you don’t understand. This one was unique, it’s not as simple as finding an similar game.”

Tsuki could tell there was something genuine in his response. Whatever it was about this arcade game, it was clearly special to Taiyo. 

“I hate seeing someone I know feel this bad…let’s find it.” Tsuki said earnestly.

“Really?”

“Mm-hmm, I love a good adventure!”

Taiyo’s disposition seemed to change ever so slightly, and off they went into the subway. They traversed to every location they could find within Tokyo. Each location brought with it the same answer, the machine was moved and the employee didn’t know where. As they reached the final location on the map, the anticipation was high.

“It has to be here Tsuki, we checked everywhere else.”

Ding-Dong-Dang rang out as they rushed to the first employee they could see.

“Excuse me, does this location have DanceStar?”

“No.”

That response cut through Taiyo like a knife.

“But, I heard that our new Osaka location just got it in.”

“Osaka?!”

“Yep, it’s a brand new location so they must’ve wanted it. It’s super popular.”

“Trust me, I know.” Taiyo said sullen.

Tsuki looked at Taiyo and blurted out, 

“Osaka it is then.”

“Huh?”

“You heard me, Osaka it is…the adventure continues!”

“There’s no way we could book a train to Osaka tonight, it’s too late.”

“I know, but what about this weekend?”

In that moment, Taiyo saw something in Tsuki’s eyes that almost rivaled the feeling he had when he felt Hoshi’s touch. Someone who didn’t treat his experience like a delusion, someone willing to help him find happiness.

“That’s a great idea Tsuki.”