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Copper should’ve known something was up when Titanium and Platinum had gotten her into a car, without revealing the destination. She had seen the signs all week long, little out-of-place things that seemed innocent in the moment, but they stuck out hindsight. Tita being rather interested in the music Copper had been listening to lately, Plat making conversation about their favorite restaurants, and even her...girlfriend Zinc asking if Copper would be doing anything this week.
And now, here she was, in the back of Plat’s two-door hatchback, as her friend stopped in front of the Kinesis Arcade. The original, not one of the branches they opened throughout the metro and country. The feeling like Copper had forgotten something important immediately reared its head as she and her friends got out of Plat’s hatchback and walked into Kinesis.
Almost as if she forgot someone’s birthday but that couldn’t be. All her friends’ birthdays were earlier in the year and, well, her girlfriend’s birthday was during the summer, and it was already late October. Shakudo’s birthday was the last one Copper was aware of. Copper had gotten her nanny a wonderful Panchalohan figurine of Suvarnam, Shakudo’s favorite senshi, so who’s birthday did she miss?
Thoughts of missed birthdays vanished as Copper and her friends entered the arcade and were assaulted by the yummy smell of pizza that caused Copper’s tummy to grumble in protest. A protest that drew chuckles from her friends as Copper grumbled. She really should remember to eat lunch.
“Sounds like we better feed the beast before we get started.” Tita said as she led Copper to a table while Plat went to go order food for their group.
-
It was about twenty minutes later, after a few enjoyable slices of pizza, that Copper was able to wheedle information out of her friends. Namely the birthday she had missed. Her own, she had somehow forgotten about her own birthday.
Perhaps her courses at uni were distracting her more than she thought, though now that she remembered the significance of the day, it did explain why Shaks and her mothers seemed so adamant in her spending the whole afternoon with her friends. After Copper and her friends had eaten their fill of pizza, they had taken to wandering around the arcade looking for new games or old favorites to play.
It was during this wandering that Copper had wheedled the information from Tita. Something in the vein of ‘Can I not treat my friend to a day at the arcade for her birthday?’ caused Copper to stop in her tracks as she eliminated which friend Titanium was talking about.
Not a big problem overall, just one that made Copper and her friend feel sufficiently silly in the wake of the realization. Thankfully Plat was there to scare away the awkwardness, after laughing for a good minute at the situation, by dragging the two over to one of the various ddr machines within Kinesis. A move that led Plat to challenge her friends to a dance off. Something about the cabinets being updated since the last time she was here, leading to Copper gently turning the idea down.
The arcade was packed enough, and Copper was more than fine cheering at the sidelines. It also gave her ample opportunity to text Zinc and see if she might be up for an impromptu movie night. It was Friday after all, and it’d give Copper a good excuse to end her family’s celebration early.
Hey, you free tonight? Wanna get together to watch that new K21 movie? :Copper
Taking a sip of her soda, Copper began to scroll through a few unrelated messages, passively listening to the electronic dance music the arcade machine was pumping out. Minutely aware that Platinum was going to win the current dance off since the stomps coming from Tita were off beat, though Plat herself wasn’t doing much better.
The song they picked happened to be faster than anticipated and they weren’t prepared for it. If Copper was more aware, she would’ve realized she kept up with the timing as she tapped her foot along to the beat.
“Ha, eat it Tita. I am the best!” Platinum declared, flexing in the universal ‘I am the best’ pose with both her arms up. The declaration also drew Copper’s gaze to the machine’s screen, showing Titanium’s score of 21,000 to Platinum’s 43,000. Indicating to Copper that Plat was more in-tune with the beat than she had initially thought.
“Yeah, yeah we’ll see. This time I’m picking the song unless…” Titanium shot back before trailing off as she met Copper’s gaze with a question. Wondering if Copper would like to bust out some moves that Titanium shouldn’t’ve been privy to. Damn her friend’s timing.
“Oh no, please, I won’t get in the way of your dance rivalry with Plat.” Copper said as she took another sip of her soda, looking between her friends and shrugging in defense.
“Oh please, Cu? We could pick an easy song, it’d give Tita a chance to stop sweating too.” Tita’s protest fell on deaf ears as Copper turned down the offer once more while Titanium took off the bolero she had on.
Turning back to her phone, this time to trawl through some blogs checking for a few updates on things. Only semi-aware that Tita chose a song with a more apparent bass-line despite how frenetic the song became, possibly to try and distract Plat. Curiously, the song’s bass-line was also apparent to Copper as she began to tap her foot in time with the beat.
It’s near the end of the song, and Copper’s idle surfing of the net, that her girlfriend’s reply arrived as a smile wormed its way onto Copper’s face. Surely a result of the upbeat song her friends were dancing too...and maybe from receiving Zinc’s reply.
Zinc: I would love to, but I got plans this evening. Maybe tomorrow?
Well...that dampened Copper’s spirits.
Yeah sure. You okay with seeing it at 11?: Copper
Zinc: 11’s fine, want me to pick you up?
Nah, I’ll meet you at the cinema.: Copper
A particularly egregious stomp grabbed Copper’s attention from her phone and wretched it to her friends, just in time to see Titanium claim her victory with a score of 35,000. Platinum had a respectable score of 31,000, though from the way Plat was swatting at a victorious Tita she wouldn’t’ve have known it.
Plat was saying something about Tita being a cheat using a song Plat can’t help singing to, which only caused Tita to laugh some more. That only escalated things with the way, Plat leapt at Tita. Good thing her friend was so strong and sporty, or Copper’s sure Plat would’ve knocked Tita down with that little display. Instead, Tita effortlessly caught Plat and began to twirl her around as she sung the song while Plat pouted cutely.
“...~name on every wall”
“Tita put me down!”
“No can do, shouldn’t’ve jumped at me.” Tita said as she continued to twirl. “~When you leave my colors fade to gray, ~”
Normally, Copper wouldn’t be bothered by her friends’ antics but they’re in public and the entire thing was drawing attention.
“Come on Tita, you’ve gloated enough. You don’t want a repeat of graduation, do you?” Copper said reminding them that spinning doesn’t sit well with Plat’s tummy.
That quickly got her friends to calm down, though a new problem spawned when Tita had to go to the water closet. A problem that involves Plat looking at Copper with a full-on pout that makes her look like a puppy-dog, asking if Copper’ll do a song.
Now let it be known, Copper can be pretty stubborn when she doesn’t want to do something. Her family and friends can attest to that, but Platinum knows she folds to that pout. So, it’s with some hesitance that Copper takes off her hoodie and joins Plat on the adjacent dance pad.
“Birthday girl gets to pick the song.”
“Gee, thanks Plat.”
“No problem, Cu.”
Copper could only sigh as she began to look through the songs for something easy. Most of the songs she was seeing were labeled as basic or difficult, making her decision that much harder. Copper might be good at video games, but she didn’t play dance pad games enough that she could felt comfortable starting at basic with her eye-to-foot coordination. Best to go with a beginner song...if she could find one!
Apparently, her friends were fairly confident in their abilities since they were pretty deep in the harder difficulties. Copper almost gave up her search upon seeing ‘Definite Desire’ among the various songs, but it was just a couple songs past it that led her to finding all the easy songs.
One stood out among the rest. ‘Arcane Adagio.’ Copper could dance to that without feeling more ridiculous than she currently was. Picking the song, and trying to relax, Copper turned to her smiling friend with feigned eagerness.
“Ready?” Copper said, doing her best to keep the nerves out of her voice. There was nothing to be nervous about. She was just dancing with her friend, and Kinesis wasn’t that packed.
“Yeah! You’ll do great, Cu.” Plat said as she bounced on her feet. These sorts of games also filled her with energy. Copper occasionally wondered if that’s why her friend always did so well on ‘em.
Fortunately, or maybe not, the song started, and the game began to demand Copper’s attention as arrows began to go across the screen. At least she picked a song with an easy beat to follow, though after a good thirty seconds Copper felt like she missed more than a few arrows.
The sounds of Tita talking behind her, nearly distracts Copper enough to miss an arrow but Plat responds to whatever Tita asked causing Copper to figure it didn’t involve her. Besides, she was nearly halfway through the song if she was remembering it right.
About fifteen seconds later, during a lull in the song and arrows, Tita voiced a question that Copper was able to actually discern.
“Cu, you up for loser swaps dance off?” Titanium said smoothly as the song started to pick back up. Gah, her friend had the worst timing. How was Copper supposed to answer that?
“Uh, sure.” Copper said, narrowly hitting an arrow that almost slipped pass her gaze.
“Great, you got this Cu.” Tita said encouraging her friend.
It would be about a minute later, or what felt like hours to Copper, when the song came to an end and... Copper’s proclaimed the victor with a score of 46,000 to Plat’s score of 40,000.
That surprised Copper, a great deal. She coulda swore she missed an arrow or two, which would’ve placed her score underneath 45,000 on points alone but, apparently, she had hit every single arrow. Ah well, not that it mattered. She won so, she could swap out and-
“Awroight, you ready to go against me Cu?” Titanium said as she took Plat’s place on the adjacent dancepad.
“Uh...sure?” Copper said unsure as she looked around to see Plat taking a sip of her drink while looking at her phone.
“Wasn’t it winner swaps out?”
“Nope, it’s a loser swap.” Tita said with a calming tone. “It’ll be fine Cu, you mind if I pick the next song?”
“Ah, no go ahead. I just need a couple seconds.”
A couple seconds is exactly what was afforded Copper, just enough for her to catch her breath, when Tita found a song.
“You ready, Cu? This one’s going to be harder.” Tita said with a smirk as Copper shot her a surprised look. That didn’t bode well.
Although as the first thirty seconds pass with a decent number of arrows going across the screen, Copper felt that maybe her friend was overselling the difficulty of the familiar song. A really familiar song that Copper couldn’t place but one she swears she hears regularly. The reason for the familiarity became known not twelve seconds later when the speakers belted out the words:
“~Revolution. Revolution nine oh nine, revolution nine oh nine nine nine nine. Revolution. ~”
Copper’s reflexive urge to throw up her hands at her friend’s tactic nearly made her miss a couple of arrows. Of course, Titanium’s competitiveness would be stoked by now and when her friend got competitive, she became…more willing to press on someone’s weak spots. How else would Titanium explain picking a, basically, seven-minute song to dance against if it wasn’t an endurance test.
“Not funny, Tita.” Copper huffed out as she began to focus more on keeping up with the arrows while the song picked up.
“Haven’t the faintest idea of what you’re implying, Cu.” Tita’s tone held her natural confidence though she sounded distracted. Copper hoped it was the song, cause fuck this really was going to be an endurance test with the double-held arrows starting to appear across the screen.
About a minute and a half later, Copper became aware that her friend had lost the beat or that she was missing arrows from the way she was cursing under her breath. Whatever the case, Copper felt confident in her victory because she had found her rhythm in the song. Nailing every arrow with a great or higher, Copper’s only real worry now was endurance. What did the pros do for endurance? Trying to remember during the middle of such an intense song likely wasn’t one of Copper’s best ideas, but thankfully the answer came to her right when a lull hit.
They shortened their steps and used the bar for support. How could Copper have forgotten about the bar? The shortened steps were going to be an issue mid-song though Copper felt she was correcting that as the song began to pick up once more. The real test would be a song on an even higher difficulty, though she doubted Plat would be up for it unless her friend picked a song at random.
“Hey Tita, she’s here.” Plat’s voice broke through Copper’s concentration. So much so that, she looked over her shoulder to see who Plat was talking about. A move that Copper shouldn’t have done because she would’ve remained oblivious about the small crowd around the machine. Thankfully, before her nerves could kick into action, Plat directed Copper’s attention back to the game with a prudent observation.
“Cu, you’re missing some arrows.” Plat said, leading to Copper to whip back around and quickly work to gather her bearing.
“Feckin’ hells.’ Was Copper’s only remark as she focused back on the song that was nearly over. A good fifty seconds remaining if Copper remembered right going off the beat of the song.
Fifty seconds that was quicker than Copper thought possible, though it was no lie as the song came to an end. An end that declared Copper the victor with a score of 251,370 to Titanium’s 247,690. It was a victory that made Copper realize how sweaty she was, and that she should probably take a shower when she gets back home before her family roped her into more celebrations.
Faster than Copper thought possible, Plat took Titanium’s spot and held out a bottle of water for Copper. Taking it without protest, Copper guzzled the refreshing drink without a care in the world cause fuck- That was an endurance test. No songs longer than three mins, Copper’s gonna put her foot down when it comes down to the next song.
“You up for one more song, Copper?” Plat asked as she began to scroll through the songs. The half-hearted ‘mhm’ was Copper’s reply as she polished off her water and used the collar of her shirt to wipe off some sweat. It was during the would-be cool down that, Copper’s mind began to wander. She had a few assignments due next week, might be worth doing one or two over the weekend despite her mothers’ insistence that she takes the entire weekend off to celebrate her birthday.
“Do you wanna do Preserved Vampire or Savage Sister?” Plat’s question fell on deaf ears, Copper took the opportunity to check her phone as she caught her breath from Tita’s test of a song. Only vaguely aware of the songs Plat asked about. They had something to do with bullet hells, didn’t they? Copper wasn’t sure how they related to the game they were playing.
“Cu!” Plat snapped, getting Copper’s attention.
“Yeah?” The flat look Plat gave her caused Copper to react on instinct.
“Uh, Savage Sister. That’s a good song.”
Slipping her phone back into her as the song started up, something about the set-up caused Copper to pose a question.
“Plat, why’s Savage Sister on expert?” The worry in Copper’s voice might not have been intentional but, well, expert called for that concern.
“Cause it’s only available on expert or challenge.” Plat supplied innocently causing Copper to let out a defeated sigh.
The song was just starting when the players ran into a significant problem. Namely, the speed at which the arrows flew across the screen. An issue that Plat hadn’t considered, and Copper was doing her best to keep up with it by fully leaning on what she remembered from watching pros play. Ideally, using the bar to steady herself and minimizing her steps dramatically that they’d likely be considered half-steps in any other situation.
“Cu, what do I do for the doubled-up arrows?” Plat’s question barely got through Copper’s concentration and as such her response was mostly on autopilot.
“Double tap!”
In all honesty, Copper’s not entirely sure how she was keeping up with the song. The song was just waves of two arrows at once, with a third arrow a half-second after demanding the use of corners just to land ’em. Not to mention the nasty double-held arrows the song slips in right after calling for all four arrows in a row that are held for half-a second.
Copper swears, in the heat of the moment, she’s probably missed several ‘Perfect!’s since getting any ‘Marvelous!!!’s is out of the question with the speed it’s requiring. Copper’s just surprised she’s kept her combo going for well over half the song though that idle thought was quickly forced aside as the song built up for another crescendo that required all of Copper’s attention.
A tense forty seconds later and the song ended, allowing Copper’s concentration to slowly dissipate. Just in time for the scores to finish tallying and applause to erupt as Copper’s score of 969,840 got acknowledged as a new record. The applause spooked Copper into realizing the rather sizable crowd behind her and her friends, but something about the results screen bothered her. It took her moment to piece together why.
Copper had actually gotten nothing but perfects or higher while keeping her combo.
Oh, she didn’t realize she got a perfect full combo. The realization and the crowd were making her feel faint.
Plat and Titanium kept Copper grounded by leading her back to their table to cool down and catch her breath. Absolute wonders it was doing for Copper in the moment, allowing her to recover just in time for the next surprise.
“Congratulations on the high score, Copper. Can I interest you in a victory shake?” Zinc asked coming to stop in front of their table while holding out a vanilla shake for Copper.
A shake she readily accepted, it should be noted as she made room for her girlfriend.
“Thanks, though what are you doing here? I thought you had plans.” Copper said as Zinc sat down next to her. An action that Copper took advantage of, resting her head upon Zinc’s shoulder, as she idly drank her shake.
“My plans involve surprising my girlfriend for her birthday, and then spending the rest of the day with her. If that’s okay with her.” Zinc said with a chuckle at Copper’s forward actions. Establishing a new record takes a lot out of someone, apparently, and Copper was living proof of it.
A few minutes later, as Tita and Plat were getting another round of food, Copper and Zinc’s idle chatter turned to possible plans for the evening.
“Do you still wanna see the movie we were talking about. Might be a good excuse to end the festivities if you want.” Zinc asked as Copper lost a battle with a yawn.
“It sounds nice, something to keep in mind.” Copper said, as she laid her head back down on Zinc’s shoulder. She was fighting a losing battle and they both knew it.
“I’d much prefer to have a nap actually.”
“Go ahead, Copper. I'll wake you in twenty minutes?” Zinc asked while Copper merely nodded in agreement.
“Okay, and happy birthday Copper.”