For the last day of our family trip to Japan, I could go no where else but Akihabara—the veritable mecca for otaku and enthusiasts. For me, its most alluring draw was its gargantuan, sprawling arcades. Nothing back home could even come close to the extensive arcade complexes that seemed so frequent here. My parents, lacking interest in such things, spent their time elsewhere, leaving me all the time and freedom in the world. But I wasn't even sure where to begin!
The towering, neon-lit buildings all vied for my attention, with their gaudy electric signs and flashy advertisements. However, I had done my research—there was one arcade that captured my fancy: HEY Arcade, which I decidedly made a beeline for.
The dimly-lit floor and the cacophony of the countless machines clued me in that this was the right place. HEY Arcade was, unlike many of the arcades in Akihabara, deliberately old-fashioned, with its main appeal being, of course, retro arcade games. While many of the more modern arcades here used a rechargeable card to pay for games, the machines here took yen coins, just like the quarter-munching machines back home. Throughout the myriad rows of machines, I saw many games I recognized, but countless more that I had never seen before. I didn't even know where to start. This was practically heaven!
Before I suffered from any more choice paralysis, I decided on my old standby, Soul Calibur II. Although I wasn't the best at most fighting games, something about this one just clicked with me. I inserted a 100-yen coin, selected my character (Nightmare, of course), and plowed through a few rounds against the computer with ease.
It wasn't before long that a voice took me out of the game. A voice that, although accented, was pretty good English. "Ara, mind if I play?"
I turned to its source, and saw a tall woman who looked like she belonged more in an office than an arcade. Her silken black hair was kept in a neat bun, and a pair of glasses framed her sharp amber eyes. Perhaps because of her tight pencil skirt and button-up shirt, she looked rather shapely, at least compared to your average Japanese lady.
I replied "Sure" to the woman, who then inserted a 100-yen coin on the player-2 side.
"So what's your name, boy?" the woman asked as she lingered on the character select screen.
She seemed nice enough, so I answered. "It's ${name}."
This made the woman smile. "I'm Mayumi. But you can call me Mayu-nee, alright?"
She seemed a bit forward, but I guess it was because I was a foreigner. I nodded and she continued. "So, ${name}-chan, how about we make a little bet? If you can beat me..."
Mayu-nee revealed a large bag stuffed with 100-yen coins. "...You can have all this!"
My eyes widened with greed. I'd practically double my coins if I won! "So what if I lose?"
She got near my face and whispered "You have to do whatever~ I~ want~." Mayu-nee then selected her character—Necrid.
"I'm in," I replied. Beating this lost office lady should be a snap! She even picked the worst character in the game.
My confidence quickly shattered after the first round, which Mayu-nee had won without breaking a sweat. The second round went even worse—I didn't even land a hit on her!
"Ahh, yatta!" Mayu-nee cheered in a gleeful voice that contrasted with her somewhat stoic appearance. "I won, I won!"
I heaved a sigh and took my hands off the controls. Mayu-nee then swiftly put her arm around me and dragged me close. "You know what that means, right, ${name}-chan?" she whispered with a hot and heavy breath.
"I have to do... whatever you want?" I nervously affirmed.