Zach was very aware of Yuki watching him. She had her hands behind her back, her head cocked and a smile plastered on her face that was somewhere between expectant and teasing.

He extended his arm, pretending to hit something as he tried to remember the little he knew about throwing a punch.

He glanced Yuki. She arched her brows, patiently waiting.

With the worries about his sister off his mind, he had come to the conclusion that he wanted to impress Yuki. As such, he now stood in front of a machine called Strength Tester 2000, which was little more than a punching bag attached to a digital counter.

Yuki had gone before him, scoring a total of thirty five out of a hundred, which Zach was pretty sure he could beat, though not easily.

“Are you going?” she asked, “They want to have a go too…”

Zach looked over his shoulder to see a duo of older teen boys that had been watching them.

“They can go first,” Zach mumbled, stepping back.

“Oh no no,” one of the two, who had a pair of sunglasses in his hair, laughed, “You look like tough girls. I want to see what you can do…”

“Or,” the other, shorter and wearing a red blazer, piped up, “We could make it interesting.”

“Oh?” Yuki asked before Zach had a chance to decline the bet, “What is your plan?”

“Our best score versus your best score,” he said, straightening his blazer, “If we win, you go on a date with us…”

“And if we win?”

“We’ll pay your drinks all night.”

“So we still would not be rid of you?” Yuki smirked.

“The hunter stalks the prey, baby.”

Zach gave her a pleading look to get rid of them.

“I have to warn you,” she said, “You might not like a date with us.”

“Cuties like you two?” sunglasses said, “We would…”

He pushed past Zach, brought his arm back and punched the machine, much to the scorn of his friend. Instead of properly hitting the bag, he managed to graze the side, barely moving it and scoring a mediocre ten points.

“It counts!” his buddy yelled, “Pussy!”

The boy got another quarter out and put it in the machine.

“My turn,” the second said, without waiting to see if Zach wanted to take his.

Unlike his buddy, his punch hit hard on the mark, scoring forty two points.

He punched the air, then put a quarter in for Zach, “That’s how it’s done, baby. Beat that, sweet cheeks.”

Zach made a face at Yuki, who hid her giggles behind her hands, only amused at the whole situation.

‘Punch through,’ Zach mantra’d to himself, ‘Punch through.”

He threw his arm, felt his knuckles connect with the leather and watched the numbers start to rise without pulling his arm back.

Ten.

Twenty.

Thirty.

Thirty Five...

Forty…

Forty one…

Forty Two…

There was a soft click as the machine turned itself off, then a short buzz and the whole arcade was dark. Only the green emergency exit signs still burned.

There was a soft grumbling throughout the entire arcade until five seconds later the lights came back on.

“Our apologies,” a voice said over the PA. system, “There was a slight power outage. Please have a complementary drink as an apology and we hope this won’t stop you from frequenting Stars Arcade…”

“It’s going to take forever” Sunglasses complained, “Let’s just get a snack. You girls want in?”

Yuki narrowed her eyes, smiling very softly, then stepped next to Zach and put an arm around his shoulder.

“We played with you, boys, but we are…”

She kissed Zach’s cheek.

“Oh,” Blazer said, clearly disappointed, “They’re dykes…”

“Hey, I have a better idea,” the other said…”

Yuki frowned.

“We play you girls in air hockey and if we win, you’ll let us watch you make out…”

Sunglasses slapped his buddy, “Don’t be gross, Jack. Sorry, girls. He’s a pervert…”

He dragged him along, “Let’s just find some normal girls.”

Yuki let go off Zach when the boys left. He barely noticed, thinking too much about her warm lips on his cheek.

He glanced at the punching machine. It had landed on forty five.

Zach and Yuki had challenged each other to a bunch of other games, each winning as much as the other, but after three laps around the place and playing pretty much all the multiplayer games, the fun was starting to dry up.

As such, they found themselves in the small food court, staring at the menu.

The food court was mostly empty and Zach stared at the picture of a root beer float, working up the courage to suggest splitting it with Yuki.

“Hey,” Yuki yawned suddenly, “Are we staying her all night.”

Zach shrugged, checking his wallet.

“We could…” he mumbled.

“Or?”

“Still go to a motel if you want to sleep?”

“But what would father think?” she replied, trying to sound her usual teasing self, but only managing to end in another yawn.

“Do they have coffee?” she demanded, “I want coffee.”

Zach, disappointed he had missed his window, nodded and ordered two coffees for them, bringing them to a standing table.

“No seats?” Yuki complained, then downed her coffee without waiting for it to cool off.

Zach sipped at the bitter drink, finding that even with sugar it tasted awful. He pushed it over to her.

“You want this?”

She nodded and it followed the first just as quickly.

Zach left her briefly to get a can of coke and found her staring into space when he came back.

“Yuki?...Yuki?”

“You still with me?” he grinned.

“You are not tired?” she wanted to know.

Zach smirked, “I slept most of the day.”

“Lucky,” Yuki sighed, “I did inventory…”

“Are you sure you don’t want to find a place to sleep? Maybe just go outside.”

Yuki nodded, “Motel is good… but no funny stuff.”

“Wouldn’t dream of it.”

Still sipping his soda, Zach stepped into the cool night air, suddenly very disappointed he wasn’t wearing pants. Yuki however seemed to perk right up, hopping in place and clapping her hands.

“Where to?” she asked.

“I have no idea…” Zach replied, “I don’t know what we can do at…”

He checked his watch.

“Two in the morning.”

“We were in there that long?”

“Yup…”

“Hey, I want to go to the park. I want to see the stars!”

“I don’t know where that is...”

“Three blocks that way,” an older man who was walking his dog at the odd hour said, “But that’s no place for little girls at this hours.”

“We’ll keep it in mind,” Yuki replied, taking Zach’s hand, “Let’s go.”

Zach sighed, letting himself be pulled in her wake, though they never got further than the other side of the road.

A voice came from an alley when they arrived on the other side.

“Hey, you girls wanna buy some co...You!”

Zach and Yuki stood eye t o eye with a man in a red shirt and white pantaloons that had been feigning casualness a moment before, standing over a sports bag.

“Oh, crap,” Zach said, taking an involuntary step back, “We don’t want any trouble.”

“You should have thought of that before, Jacuzzi bitch. !a' a morire ammazzato!”

Zach didn’t know what the Italian meant, but it seemed a good moment to run…

“Oi!” Yuki yelled back, taking a step forward and letting out a string of Japanese that seemed to be nothing but threatening sounds and rolling R’s.

She pretended to reach for something under her uniform.

The man responded to this by reaching for his bag.

Zach took Yuki’s hand, pulling her away from the alley, “Move. He’s got a… phone.”

He took a firm hold of her hand, then started to run back towards the movie theater.

“Zach. Where are we going,” Yuki breathed as he pulled her into another alley.

“My bike! We’re getting out of the city!”

“Why? It is just a phone.”

“He’s calling his colleagues. I don’t want to end up with concrete shoes…”

“Concrete shoes?” she giggled.

“He’s mafia, isn’t he?”

“Just a dealer,” Yuki shrugged.

“Still don’t want to mess with him,” Zach whispered, “He might not be carrying, but his buddies will be…”

“So? We can just blend into the city.”

“Yuki! We’re not in Tokyo… We look like Japanese schoolgirls. How do you suggest we blend?”

Yuki looked put out, then meekly nodded, “Lead the way…”