Chapter 163 - Christmas Date (3)

“So, Mr. Luca,” I said between bites, “Are you always around Spinster’s? Or do you move the cart around?” I asked.

I could see Luna and myself coming here often for lunch. When I tell you that these may have been the best hot dogs I’ve ever had, I wasn’t lying. Maybe it was the butter, or maybe it was the sauce, either way, I could eat these all day!

“I switch locations occasionally,” Luca said, “Some months I’m here, some months I’m outside Benny’s bar. But, I always post on social media where I open. If you want to know for sure, my handle is Onirico.”

“Onirico?” I said, trying to match his accent, “What’s that mean?”

“It is Italian word for…Dream.” Luca said, “When something has uh…dream-feel to it, you add onirico.” He explained slowly.

“Ah, so, it’s like an adjective then? Like you have dreamlike food?”

“Yes! Similar.” He nodded happily.

“That’s a good name, I like it.” I returned the smile, “Why’d you choose it?”

“Because it has always been my dream to run a popular restaurant.” He said, “I want to serve onirico cibo per tutti.” He said, transitioning to full Italian at the end.

But, even though I don’t speak it, I understood it! I must be a genius! A natural! An ‘onirico’ alchemist!

“That’s a good goal.” I said, “We’ll definitely be supporting you then. When we move here, we’ll probably visit often!” I said.

“Grazie! Grazie!” He said with a bright smile.

I gulped, swallowing the remainder of the hot dog before turning to Luna. She had already finished eating her food and all that was left was my burger. I gave her my paper boats to stack before unwrapping the burger,

“Nom!” I bit into it and…Wow, somehow it’s even better than the hot dogs!

“Your food is really delicious, Luca.” Luna said, “We’ll definitely be coming back.”

“Mhm! Mhm!” I nodded with a full mouth, I swallowed before speaking, “Try it! The burger is good too!” I held it up to Luna’s mouth.

Luna hesitated for a moment before leaning in and taking a bite. That hesitation seemed to vanish as her eyes widened slightly and she took another bite.

Hehe! I internally giggled, just letting her eat. But, after a moment, when she went for a fifth bite, I pulled the burger away just before she bit it.

She looked at me with a look of betrayal.

“Bleh!” I stuck my tongue out playfully.

Luna looked at me with a small pout before turning to Luca,

“Could I get one…No, two cheeseburgers, please. Both with the vinchini sauce.”

“Of course! Of course! Two cheeseburgers with vinchini sauce coming right up!” Luca said with a smile.

“Say, where does the name ‘vinchini’ sauce even come from?” I asked.

“Vinchini is my last name.” Luca said, “Luca Vinchini, that’s me. The sauce is my family recipe.”

“I see, I see.” I nodded.

…

Luna crumbled the wrap the burger came in and casually tossed it in the nearby trashcan.

“Woah!” I clapped, “Basketball star!”

“That wasn’t much.” Luna said with a smile.

Gah! Who did she learn such humble bragging from!?

The author publishes this chapter on NovelPhoenix, but this page reproduced it without permission from that published work.

Oh…

Hehe.

“Alright, see you later, Luca.” I said, giving Luca a wave.

“Yes! Yes! Have a good Christmas!” Luca said with that same bright smile on his face. He waved as Luna and I walked away.

“Well, since we’re here, shall we enjoy the arcade for a bit?” I asked.

“Sure!” Luna said with a smile. We pivoted from walking towards the car, to heading towards the arcade’s entrance.

Entering the building, I looked around with intrigue. The floor was made completely out of carpet with a wacky design of multiple lines doing twirls and twists.

There was a TV hung on the wall, listing all the prices and tiers.

‘50 Tokens, $7.50’

‘Bronze, 200 Tokens - $25’

‘Bronze, 400 Tokens - $40’

‘Bronze, 800 Tokens - $75’

After bronze, there was also a silver, gold tier, platinum and the rest of them. From just the names alone though, I couldn’t tell what the different tiers did, but, they seem to follow a similar system to skill and trait ranks.

When I looked a little closer, I did see one difference between the tiers.

‘Silver, 250 Tokens - $25’

‘Silver, 500 Tokens - $40’

‘Silver, 1000 Tokens - $100’

Hm…So, better tier equals better prices? Then, why don’t I just buy the highest tier? Unless it’s a progression system? Well, the only way to know is to ask.

Luna and I approached the clerk. There were three queue lines, but, none of them had people in them.

“Hello!” The clerk greeted us with a smile, “Are you looking to refill tokens, upgrade your tier, or get a new card?”

“Um, this is our first time here.” I said, “What’s what?” I asked.

“Oh!” She let out, “Then, allow me to explain. New customers start off as a bronze tier, the prices are listed right here or on the TV.” She said, “You choose whichever option you want and we’ll give you a card that’s used to play all the games here. It’ll also connect to a phone app and save your progress in case you ever lose it.”

“Mhm, mhm,” I nodded along, “We start off a bronze? How do we raise it?”

“So, your tier raises automatically when you exceed a certain amount of tokens used. It’s 1,000 tokens to go from bronze to silver, and then the rest is listed in the app. There’s also a neat progress bar to track your progress real time.”

Interesting, interesting. So, that’s how they keep you! To upgrade your tier you have to actually use your tokens! And when you use enough to upgrade, you’ll get a sense of accomplishment and want to do it more!

What if I introduce a tier system to my potion buyers? Hehe, buy 100 and you’ll upgrade from no-tier to bronze! 1,000 and you go from bronze to silver! Now, what does this tier system actually do? Nothing!

“Alright,” I nodded, “I think I get it. Then, could we both get 1,000 tokens? Separate cards,” I said, “The $75 and $25.”

“Of course!”

“What’s the app called?” Luna asked.

“It’s Spinster’s Arcade on the app store.” She replied.

While she messed with the computer, Luna and I downloaded the app. It asked us to create an account and I just chose my usual: BinLover alias as the username.

There was a leaderboard on it and in the number one spot was: ‘Queen Tyumei - Platinum Tier’

Oho…The top rank is only a platinum member. I wonder how difficult it’d be to pass her. As I was thinking, the clerk spoke,

“Here are your cards,” She held out two cards with the Spinster’s logo on them, “Just input the code on the back into the app and they’ll be connected to you accounts.”

Luna and I took one card each.

“If it gets stolen, can someone else use our card?” I asked.

“You’re able to pause or cancel the card at any time through the app,” She said, “Your progress is account-linked, not card-linked, so you can change your card freely.”

“Mm,” I nodded, storing the card in my pocket.

“Also, you’re able to recharge tokens via the app if you’d like, so, there’s no need to talk to someone if you don’t want to.”

“Okay~ Thank you! Then, we’ll be going.” I said with a smile.

“Thank you.” Luna nodded.

“Have fun!” She said as Luna and I headed further into the arcade.

There were arcade machines lined up, they had the whole shabang. From racing sims to various classics, there was even a dance machine that was basically a rhythm game. Surprisingly, there was even some new school machines made for awakeners, the one I immediately noticed was the alchemy lab.

I stared at it for a moment before shaking my head.

As fun as it would be to create another recipe, I didn’t feel like leaking the city I’d soon be living in yet. At least not before the guild headquarters gets built here.

“What do you want to play first?” I asked.

“Wanna race?” She asked, gesturing to the video game racing machine.

“Heh,” I chuckled, “2 tokens for the winner?” I asked.

“You’re on.”

…

Luna ended up with 2 more S-tokens after a few minutes. But! It was a close duel! Truly, a very close duel! I totally didn’t get last place in the race…Not at all.

We continued playing game after game, betting token after token. Really, time just seemed to slip through my fingers like sand as we played together.

Though playing online computer games was fun, there was just something special about going to an arcade to play together. Perhaps it was because our first date was at an arcade, but, spending Christmas together like this was really comforting.

“Boom! 100 points!” I exclaimed. My ski ball had just passed smoothly through the corner pocket like a basketball through the hoop.

“Lucky shot.” Luna said, rolling her ski ball up the path as well. Unsurprisingly, she had also scored a hundred points. This was about her…Sixth in a row?

“You’re such a cheater!” I claimed.

Any game that involves real aiming or using the body, she just excels at! I mean, I know she’s an awakener, but, I should be able to win at least one of these things, right!?

“Skill issue.” She said smugly.

“Gah! Fine! I challenge you to the alchemy lab!”

“No way. I don’t know the first thing about alchemy, you just want an easy win.”

“Don’t know what you’re talking about!” I looked at her shamelessly, “Scared?”

“Pfft,” She chuckled, “You’re not going to get me to give you free L-tokens that easily.”

“Scaredy-cat~” I said teasingly, “Alright, Ms. Scaredy-cat since the alchemy lab is too scary for you, how about be we play something less scary? Oh! That game made for three year olds might suit you perfectly!”

“…You’re trying real hard, huh?” She said with a twitch of the eye.

“Trying hard? No! I’m simply helping you out, I know, it can be hard to face scary things. That’s why we have to work up to-”

“Fine, you’re on.” She said, “Alchemy lab. 2 Tokens.”

PFFT! Hahahaha! I laughed internally while trying to keep a steady exterior.

“4 Tokens?” I asked.

“…Don’t push it.”

“2 Tokens! Let’s go!” I said, heading to the alchemy lab.

…

“Woohoo! Easy plus two L-tokens!” I cheered.

“…That was obvious.” Luna said with a pout.

“Hehe!” I giggled, hugging her, “Fun match! Fun match!”

“Haah…” She sighed, hugging me back with a smile.

Just then, we heard an announcement come over the speakers that had been playing music.

[Attention everyone, Spinster’s will be closing in one hour. The exchange shop will be closing in 30 minutes. Thank you.]

After every game we got virtual tickets based on how well we did in the game, using that, we could exchange for stuff at the exchange shop at the back of the arcade. Luna and I had checked it out, but, everything good—like a console or a big plush the same size as us—was really expensive. So, we planned on just saving all of our tickets for now.

“Shall we call it here for today then?” I asked, “We can come back another day.”

“Mhm,” Luna nodded, “I’m getting hungry again.”

“Pfft, of course.” I chuckled.

It was only around evening. I assumed Spinster’s closes later normally, but, because it’s Christmas, there only opened til around this time.

“What do you want to eat?” I asked.

“Can we eat something homemade?” She asked, “Like…Pasta?”

I smiled.

“Sure.”

We headed out and to the car, waving to Luca—who was still standing behind the cart working hard—as we passed by. Today’s arcade trip ended with her being up 7 tokens, bringing her to a total of 11/10 S-tokens, and me being up 5, bringing me to 10/10 L-tokens.

So, now, either of us could use a wish whenever we wanted.