Yuria Ichinose had been frantically "machine-gunning" 100-yen coins into the UFO catcher just moments ago, but she’d finally stepped away from the machine to get some change.
Watching her from the shadows like a proper loner, I seized the opening to check the machine she’d been playing. As soon as I looked, the prize inside practically leaped out at me.
"Why... why would a gyal like Ichinose want this?"
It was an item completely unsuited for a "downer gyal"—and yet, it was a piece right up my alley.
A female character was printed on a rectangular yellow box. The text on it read: Transcendent Super-Busty Beauty Anime: Breast-Kyun—Prize-Exclusive Pretty Girl Figure.
"B-B-B... Busty!?"
And "transcendently" so, at that?
(For the record, allow me to provide the typical otaku fast-talking explanation: Transcendent Super-Busty Beauty Anime: Breast-Kyun is a high-octane, R-17.9999 "gentlemen’s" anime that airs late on Saturday nights. It’s a chaotic series where beautiful girls in perpetual swimwear fight for the survival of the nation using their prized, massive breasts. The home console version is a total fap-fest where even the "pink bits" are uncensored, and its disc sales reached a record high for the Reiwa era.)
Why on earth was Ichinose playing a game for an erotic figure that only "big friends" would ever care about?
(No way... Is she planning to flip it?)
Granted, Breast-Kyun was the hyper-popular "erotic" anime that dominated the summer season last year. But regardless of the show’s popularity, reselling a crane game prize would only net a thousand or two thousand yen at most. Meanwhile, Ichinose had already sunk nearly three thousand yen into this machine. There was zero profit to be made. If that was obvious to anyone with eyes, then what was the point?
(I don’t get it. Even if she wins a figure of a busty blonde in a swimsuit, what’s in it for her?)
"Hey, you! That’s my machine—"
A voice barked from right beside me as I was leaning forward to peer into the glass.
"Ah."
"Ah."
I’ve been alive for sixteen years. Plenty of things have happened in that time, but this was, without a doubt, the most awkward moment of my entire life.
The arcade’s bustle suddenly fell silent.
No—that was just my own perception. The place was definitely as noisy as ever. I was just so paralyzed by the situation that the world around me had gone mute.
Silky milky-brown hair. A sharp gaze framed by long eyelashes. A voluptuous chest and thick thighs that were a match for the "busty" figure inside the machine. The moment I caught those details out of the corner of my eye, I realized I’d been spotted by Yuria Ichinose.
"Why are you..."
Ichinose pointed a finger at me, her mouth hanging open.
"Y-You... Don’t tell me you’re trying to dig up my weaknesses...!"
I had a bad feeling that another massive misunderstanding was about to unfold.