game start!

I sealed away my words and once again ran in circles.

[headphoneacted]

▶ end of the game || takane + kido

[abdemus]

Denial quite obviously deeply ingrained within the addict’s being, acceptance of the depth of the obsession was not currently integral to proceed. All that was necessary was an ability to temporarily break away from the source for an extended period of time. A breather, if you will. As fortune would have it, the ebony wearing elder did just so with marginal, but still very real, exaggeration. It’d been duly expected as there was simply no changing Takane.

Still, mumbled objections aside, lips quirked into a subtle smile. It took everything to not embarrass herself by grinning wide at being able to spend time together, the fearis haired teenager opting to coolly nod in return before navigating throughout the shadowed enclosure in search of blinding sunlight. It didn’t take nary a minute at all for eyes to adjust as she’d spent less time in the darkened building and so rather than have to deal with a prolonged wait was she capable of posing her suggestion.

“W - well .. I don’t know if it’s something you’d be interested in, but there’s a party store near here. We could check it out?” Not fully confident in this being the optimal way in which to spend their time together, after the incident at the mall involving a horrific reptilian creature she was hesitant to go there again quite so soon. “Checking out what they have at this time of year would be something. Unless you have a better idea?”

More than open to suggestions, the final decision would fall on the other.

[headphoneacted]

While Takane's eyes acclimate to the sudden change in lighting, she sticks her hands in her pockets and ponders her options. She can take Kido up on her suggestion and go to the party store, or--

A bright neon sign catches her eye, and the older girl remembers that there's a new game store that opened just down the street from the arcade. Speaking as a professional LPer, she really should check out its offerings, and maybe find a game or two to queue up for after she finishes her current playthrough.

Still, she doesn't think Kido would be a big fan of that idea. She had entered the arcade to pull Takane away from video games, after all. Maybe Takane can check out the store some other time.

"We could go to the mall," she thinks out loud, then realizes her mistake a second too late. Frightening memories of an encounter with a snakelike boy come to mind, and she shakes her head. "Now that I think about it... Forget about that idea." That boy had recovered after being dunked in the river, but Takane wouldn't put it past him to try and pull some new kind of trick. Perhaps it would be a good idea to avoid the mall for a while.

"I guess the party store sounds good," she grins, and then, as an afterthought, "You know how to get there, right? I've never been there..." Due to her decided aversion toward leaving the house for unnecessary reasons, she's not as adept a navigator as her younger friend; it's more than likely she'll trail behind Kido all the way to the store.

[headphoneacted]

▶ electronic entertainment || takane + ene

"I hope you'll look forward to seeing how fun these other new experiences are -- even if you're watching them on the show floor. Thanks!"

With these polite words, a broadcast concludes, fading to a live feed of various people wandering the floor at a convention of some sort. A laptop glows softly, illuminating a girl's face and hands as she snatches up a cell phone. A stream of messages is rapidly tapped out on a tiny keyboard, expressing a cocktail of emotions--excitement upon hearing about all the new games, anger at the amount of money she'd have to shell out, disbelief at the amount of money she's willing to pay to get all of this merchandise, regret for becoming a gamer in the first place--in the best way its sender knows how:

To: Ene From: Takane

DID YOU WATCH THE NINTENDO E3 STREAM BECAUSE HOLY SHIT

To: Ene From: Takane

THERE ARE SO MANY GAMES COMING OUT ENE I'M GONNA GO BROKE

To: Ene From: Takane

BUT EVERYTHING LOOKS SO GOOD

[headphoneacted]

▶ a whole new world || event o2.5

"Ene? Aah, where'd you go..."

A grumpy teenager shuffles through the streets, eyes scanning for a familiar head of blue hair. A scrawled note from her sister, found upon her pillow this morning, had informed her "Going out for a walk! Be back later (・｀ω´・)". Hours later, with the aforementioned younger sister nowhere in sight and refusing to respond to all attempts to contact her, Takane has reluctantly roused herself from her comfortable gaming chair and set off on a search for her twin. Her gaze flickers upward, only to be caught by an enormous Ferris wheel on the horizon.

A few seconds tick by, and then-- "Of course," she gasps, and sprints off down the street. Ene loves amusement parks with a burning passion unknown to Takane, who would much rather stay inside and spend the ticket price on a new video game.

She screeches to a halt in front of a huge crowd. A street festival seems to be going on by the entrance to the park, and stalls and booths crowd the streets. One particular attraction, a shooting booth located next to a long row of food stands, catches her eye, and she pauses in front of it for a minute.

As she stands there, a memory comes back haltingly, in bits and pieces at a time. Sitting in a classroom with a boy and a (useless) teacher, discussing plans for a festival of their own. If we're going to do this, I don't want to do it half-assed, she remembers thinking, although she doesn't remember this festival at all. Excitement and liveliness, covered by a forced smile, propelled her onward, giving her the idea for a first-person shooter. Once the idea came to mind, the entire game was produced within a week: the teacher's hands tapped out code faster than she could have imagined; the boy's pencil skated across the paper, creating animals and a twisted, 2P version of herself; her own thumbs flickered across controllers and smashed buttons; and in the end, their booth--the memory flickers, she concentrates harder--their booth won some sort of award.

The memory halts there, leaving the afterimage of a golden trophy gleaming in her mind. "What was that...?" she mumbles. Buying a stick of barbecued pork from the stall next door to the target shooting booth, she munches on it and walks along, making her way through the crowd to the amusement park.Finding her twin is another puzzle to solve, another "dungeon" of sorts that she's got to get through before she can go back home and rack up some more points in her latest game. "Ene's got to be here somewhere, right?" she wonders, looking up at the roller coaster that towers over her head. As she continues her search, her brain ticks away at solving another puzzle; the mysterious memory that appeared in her mind today.

[headphoneacted]

▶ bright lights, big city || event o2

Takane Enomoto knows where she is. She's in Kairos, a city made familiar to her through countless checkups and hospital visits.

She knows where she is, but this isn't where she's supposed to be. It's Monday, isn't it? She has school today, and there's no plausible reason for her to be here. Her next checkup in Kairos isn't scheduled for another four months.

As she shuffles through the busy early-morning streets, still half-asleep and struggling to wrap her mind around the situation, she passes the hospital. A fuzzy image appears at the edge of her mind; she remembers standing uncomfortably outside a hospital door, talking to a teacher and waiting for Haruka?--no, that can't be right. She never goes to visit him unless she's hospitalized at the same time, and in that weird memory, she was still in her school uniform, as healthy as possible but shaken by what she'd just seen.

What had she seen? She struggles to remember as she walks the streets, dodging pedestrians and bicyclists, and comes up with a series of clearer images: Haruka, sitting next to her and playing a video game; a set of headphones, secured over her ears; a nap on a desk in a room that smelled of chemicals; awakening to find Haruka unconscious and screaming for help.

This has never happened to her. Haruka has always been sickly, sure, but she's never awoken from one of her frequent in-class naps to find him unconscious; if anything, he probably worries more about her passing out in class. The phantom memory persists, though, making her feel lost and unsure.

Shaking her head, the young woman puts her strange thoughts at the back of her mind. I need to get back home, she tells herself, and sets off toward the train station in the distance. Maybe if she runs, she can catch the next train out of the city and get back home. She arrives at the train station, panting and out of breath, only to find the tracks blocked off and the trains sitting dormant by the platform.

Slumping against a vending machine, Takane slides to the ground and draws her knees up to her chest. "What am I gonna do?" she wonders. An unfamiliar face draws into her line of sight, and she cranes her neck backward to make eye contact with the stranger.

"Hey, do you know what's going on?" The question could be about the trains or the entire situation in general. She isn't sure, herself.

[sannkofa-deactivated20160410]

-69. Electric cars ) ;

Learning. Honestly, it was his worst skill. While he didn’t know a decent amount of knowledge that most knew, it didn’t bring about a sense of self teaching, and with the constant activities his friends occupied themselves with, it was about time he, too, engrossed himself with what his companions knew, even if it resulted in questions upon questions.

With controller in hand and a look of confusion plastered to his face with a hint of his confidence dropping every time a racer passed him in their uniquely designed cars, he decided that he wished to be granted a tip or two. Or four. "Takane, what do I press to go faster?"

In a tone that was calm, yet a little frustrated at what was happening and the lack of placement he was in, his voiced continued rolling, "Takane… how do I not get hit by shells?" Staring at his controller, he had a sudden interest in victory, if it meant being good, “Takane. Why can’t I win?”

[headphoneacted]

"Why can't you win? Well, for one thing, you picked Rainbow Road," Takane grumbles, narrowly avoiding certain death with a quick flick of the control stick. Of all the courses Konoha could have selected, he just had to pick the one that was legendarily difficult. Even Takane's skills are sorely tested by this hellish track.

Still, it's not like it can be helped now. Konoha's already selected this course, and she's got a feeling that he wouldn't quit now if she suggested it. The first lap comes to an end as she whizzes past the starting line; she's in sixth place, and if she wants to win this race, she needs to get Konoha's questions out of the way so she can focus. "Press A to go faster," she instructs the younger boy, watching him out of the corner of her eye. "Then if you press Z, you can use the item you picked up." Her instructions finished, the older girl turns her full attention back to the game.

Her focus is abruptly broken when she happens to glance at Konoha's half of the screen, where he's hurtling toward the edge of the track at a breakneck pace. "No, no, wait! Press B to brake!! You're going to fly off the edge if you don't slow down--"

[headphoneacted]

▶ end of the game || takane + kido

[abdemus]

Obsidian hues languidly trailed across the assortment of arcade games to look upon the one defensively gestured to, a few passing moments in which her gaze steadily remained as though ascertaining the truth in the has-band alibi. “ … So you say. That doesn’t change that you’re playing this one now, though. Again.” More than just a subjective statement, it was irrefutably honesty and accusatory at that. It didn’t seem as though any slack was to be cut this day. “So, it’s an obsession.”

The lack of hesitance in accepting the offered change seemed to solidify the truth behind what had been said. She refrained on commenting on such, preferring to simply wait for the inevitable defeat that was sure to come. Hands finding a place in the comfort of her sweatshirt’s pockets, she shifted her weight to one leg, chin tucked down as the role of the spectator was played with an obvious lack of exuberance. Not one understanding of the appeal of video games, it made the wait a rather boring one; how she was so close to a fanatic like Takane was a complete mystery.

Rather patient in general, it didn’t make this all that trifling. Even more so considering the short span of time that it took for the expected failure to happen. Long since prepared for what she was to say afterwards, the words were voiced with ease.

“The intervention’s done with already. For the time being, at least.” No need to hide the reason, or to refrain from elaborating as to why this course of action had been taken, though. “I don’t have anything to do tonight. If you can keep to your promise, I thought we could hang out.” In the same way they had before this game has entered the other’s life preferably.

[headphoneacted]

An grouchy huff escapes Takane's mouth before she can stifle it; left with no suitable rejoinder to her friend's comments, she lifts her hands from the joystick and buttons, shoves them into the pockets of her school sweater, and mumbles defensively, "It's not an obsession..."

Her words are a complete lie, and she knows it. Something about the game has drawn her back to this console time and again, spurring her on to run faster and dodge every obstacle. It's partly a desire to beat the game once and for all--she's never taken defeat well, and this game is no exception--but she needs to know why the protagonist of Headphone Actor is running. Sure, she wants to escape the end of the world. That's obvious. But the cutscenes sprinkled throughout the game leave her wondering about a lot of things: what's on the other side of the hill? Why is the girl so intent on reaching her destination? Why does she hear her own voice through her headphones?

Takane has several questions about the game, but it looks like she'll have to wait until tomorrow to find out the answers. The look Kido is giving her brooks no room for argument: they are leaving this arcade, come hell or high water. She supposes that leaving now wouldn't be so bad. She's out of change, anyway, and she hasn't spent any quality time with her friend since Headphone Actor hit the arcade a couple of weeks ago.

"Hanging out sounds good," she nods. Picking up her bag once more, she reluctantly turns her back on the game. Its chiptune melody follows her as she trails behind Kido; they wind their way through the arcade, passing countless buzzing and flashing machines. Finally, the two girls emerge from the darkened interior of the arcade; temporarily blinded by the sun's brightness, she squints for a moment until the outside world comes into focus.

"So, where are we headed?"

[headphoneacted]

"Don’t move! You’ll faint!"

"What are you talking about?! I'm fine," Takane gripes, sitting up and rubbing at the growing lump on her head. She doesn't quite remember the events of the past hour or so, but she's willing to bet that she'd unexpectedly fallen asleep while walking home. Honestly, this disease was such a pain.

She should probably thank this stranger for staying to make sure she's okay, but at that moment her phone buzzes in her pocket. A quick look at the screen reveals six missed calls from her grandmother and a smattering of frantic texts; she was supposed to be home over an hour ago, and her grandmother must be worried sick.

"Shit!" she curses. Leaping to her feet, she breaks into a run, leaving the puzzled stranger behind.

[headphoneacted]

Can I ask who made your theme~?

// I don't know how long ago you asked this, since I've been gone for a while--if you're still wondering, though, it was made by koduck!

[headphoneacted]

▶ end of the game || takane + kofuku

[damemalheur]

Standing only a few inches behind a teenager playing the game that she wished to play, azure watched intently at the screen, head tilted in curiosity at the fine skills of the other player. And eyes stared even more so at the player’s face, seeming to change with each button she pressed as the game continued to become more and more intense. However, it was soon over, and Kofuku was honestly disappointed and highly interested.

Bumping into her was a grand opportunity. With an immediate ‘owwie’ voicing her distress and pain from the bump, it was no sooner put aside for talking to the one before her, “I was going to play, but watching you is a lot more fun.” Taking the other’s hand within her own, she seemed to beam with enthusiasm, something that the person she was talking to most likely didn’t have appearance wise, "I’m not very good at video games at all.. ~ Can you teach me how to play this game?"

Taking a change purse out of her school bag, she held it out as if advertising for a commercial, a hand holding the purse up and the other circling it, "Unless if it’s two player, then we can play together, can’t we ~"

[headphoneacted]

It's fair to say that Takane is startled by the other girl's friendly demeanor. Upon being addressed, her head turns from side to side, briefly scanning to see if this girl is actually talking to someone behind her--it's not often that someone actually approaches her in this arcade. She's established a sort of standoffish reputation since she began coming here; despite her gaming prowess, her grouchy attitude tends to drive off anyone who comes near her in search of tips.

However, the other girl cheerily takes Takane's hand in hers and enthusiastically asks if she can learn how to play. She's definitely talking to Takane. She's even being so friendly that Takane can't find it within herself to send the girl away with a few unfriendly words, like she does to almost everyone else.

"I'm warning you, I'm not much of a teacher," she shrugs, pulling her hand away. "Still, if you really wanna play, I guess I can teach you."

Sadly, Headphone Actor is only a one-player game, so she's forced to vacate her position. Moving to the side, she gestures to the machine, indicating that the other girl should step up.

"Here, put your coins in. I'll tell you what to do after the game starts."

[headphoneacted]

kisaragayshintaro replied to your post “[text] Accident? How is that an accident?”

Insert gross sweaty Shintaro panicking and scouring the internet to see if ur lying this is srs shit

You will never know.

[headphoneacted]

▶ end of the game || takane + kido

[abdemus]

It’d become increasingly noticeable during the passing weeks that a new addiction had been acquired by none other than Takane. More often than not was the girl preoccupied with formulating strategies in order to garner victory in the game, the last several occasions that they’d gotten together after school hours having been comprised solely of one-sided conversations with the occasional half-mindful agreement to any questions that’d been asked in an attempt to recapture the older’s attention.

An intervention was clearly in order.

The other’s tendency to make home at the arcade on most days made it no more difficult to find her than spying the sun in the sky, her habits learned through the friendship they’d maintained for quite awhile now. As predicted she was there and the faint traces of a frown became present upon Kido’s lips. An end to this neurotic behavior needed to be brought before it could develop into something truly debilitating.

Moving forward to step up to the challenge, doing so had only aided in making the collision that happened possible. The older questioning any possible intentions relating to the game rather than apologizing for the accident made this all the more rebarbative.

“I knew you’d be here playing that game.” An exasperated exhale, as prepared in advance were two quarters presented. The proffered coinage being the necessary pieces for another round of the game it was a friendly gesture, but not one that came without conditions. “You can play one more time only if afterwards you take a break from this game. There’s plenty of others; don’t obsess over just one. It’s not healthy.”

[headphoneacted]

Taking the proffered coins, Takane scowls, indignantly refuting the implications in Kido's statement. "I don't obsess over just one game! I was-- I was playing Hero's Duty! Over in the corner, see?" The machine she gestures at is decked out with a fake plastic rifle and an enormous screen, and blares stressful, high-speed music overlaid with a drill sergeant's commanding tones. What she says isn't a complete lie-- when she arrived, the girl had played at least half a game on this console, piggybacking on the aborted session of a child whose mother had decided that Hero's Duty was far too violent for her little boy. Takane had waited a moment or two as the mother dragged her wailing child away, then swooped in, guns blazing: after all, who was she to refuse a free game? Her gain, his loss.

"But thanks, Kido," she says after a moment. "I'll stop after this round." Until tomorrow, she adds. If she has any say in the matter, after a few more goes at this machine, Headphone Actor won't know what hit it. The coins are inserted, the familiar opening monologue plays, and her hands dance across the joystick and buttons, making the familiar run to the hill on the outskirts of the town.

Dodging left and right, the pixelated girl on the screen nimbly avoids hordes of people. The digitally distorted voice in her headphones chimes in from time to time, reminding her of the amount of time she has left; evading each obstacle, she's doing just fine, until--

A murder of crows flies across the screen, effectively blocking every obstacle from sight. Unable to see through the flurry of black feathers, Takane's hand slips on the joystick, and the girl onscreen veers offcourse and smashes straight into a telephone pole. "GAME OVER", the machine flashes, almost smugly.

Narrowing her eyes at the game, Takane silently promises it that she'll definitely defeat it. Eventually. Remembering a little too late that someone's still standing behind her, she turns to face her exasperated-looking friend and asks conversationally, "So, why were you looking for me?"

[headphoneacted]

[text] Help me, please

To: MaryFrom: Takane

mary i'm in class why are you texting me

To: MaryFrom: Takane

wait are you in trouble??? where are you? don't move!! i'll get out and go to the bathroom or something and try to find you ok

[headphoneacted]

[text] Why are you in the hospital?

To: KidoFrom: Takane

just going in for a checkup. the doctors want to see if anything's changed, but i doubt they'll find anything

To: KidoFrom: Takane

i can't believe they scheduled me for an appointment this early in the morning!!! i'm so exhausted...

[headphoneacted]

[text] Accident? How is that an accident?

To: Helpless NEETFrom: Takane

that was DEFINITELY an accident!!! why would i bother to pry the phone from your gross sweaty hands and post your secret files on purpose?!?

To: Helpless NEETFrom: Takane

besides, your 4g sucks!! your files never posted anyway!! stop being such a baby.

[headphoneacted]

▶ end of the game || intro

"It's a very unfortunate thing, but today the world is going to end."

Four minutes ago, a solemn-sounding voice on the radio had said this.

Four minutes ago, the world had devolved into utter chaos.

Four minutes ago, the girl had begun to run.

"Turn right here! There's only one minute left...!" a tinny voice cries through her headphones. Legs pumping, heart racing, hair flying, the girl rushes down the street, dodging people and debris. A crash resounds behind her as a building collapses, and the screaming around her increases in volume. The hill on the horizon grows larger and larger, and the voice piping through her headphones grows increasingly frantic. "Hurry up!" it shouts. "There's someone that you have to meet, isn't there?!"

She reaches the bottom of the hill. The voice and the sounds around her fade out, and everything turns to black.

The blackness is interrupted by a series of flashing white letters. "TO ADVANCE TO THE NEXT LEVEL, INPUT TWO COINS", the screen informs the player. Its light beams softly onto the face of a disgruntled Takane Enomoto, standing in front of a console in the corner of the Kairos arcade.

Removing her hands from the joystick and buttons that control the girl on the screen, she quickly checks the pockets of her sweater--her hurried search turns up nothing. With no other options left, Takane glowers unpleasantly at the screen as it flashes "3... 2... 1... GAME OVER."

"How annoying," the young woman grumbles, and turns away from the game console. Slinging her messenger bag over her shoulder, she loses herself in thoughts of the next level, turns around, and bumps right into someone who had been standing behind her.

"Oh, were you going to play that?" she asks, gesturing to the now-silent machine.

[headphoneacted]

If you'd just take the time

to look me in the eyes,

we'd fall in love--no, wait!

I'm really not all into that!!

But I'm still wondering why

I can't look in your eyes--

That's not it, I swear!

Just shut up and go away!