Before Ed can think of an idea, Zara already pushes the door open.

“Let’s go, I have an idea.” she says, waving for him to enter.

Shrugging, Ed steps through the door, immediately getting blasted by the loud noises going on all around him. He hears music, the sounds of various games, and people talking. As he looks around, he finds himself in an arcade, with various people playing at the machines.

“I thought we could have some fun and relax here for a while.” Zara steps through the door behind him, pulling him further into the arcade.

“Yeah... that sounds like a good idea.” Ed says. I think I might need that.

The two make their way through the crowd, eventually getting to the front desk, where a young man is standing behind the counter with a kind smile on his face.

“Hi! How may I help you today?”

“Hi, how long can we play for with one credit?” Zara asks, taking the lead in the conversation, giving Ed some time to look around and observe. He finds that most of the people are around the size of humans, with none of the significantly larger species that he’s seen making an appearance. He sees dwarves, elves, orcs, goblins, and a variety of beast-folk, varying from humans with small animal parts; like tails and ears, to ones covered head to toe in fur.

“One credit will allow you to play fifty games.” While Ed is looking around, the conversation continues on, and Zara settles on them each spending one credit.

After Ed agrees to the transaction, the two are given a card and walk away from the counter, looking around at the different games to play. Zara spots two empty racing seats, wanting to snatch them up before anyone else can. The two tap their cards, activating the racing sim.

Selecting their cars, the two choose to race against each other, deciding on a track that only runs for one lap.

“Three, two, one. Go!” a voice comes from their screens, signalling the start of the race. The two shoot forward, quickly passing by the CPU drivers. They race neck and neck to the first corner, with Zara managing to get the upper hand, drifting perfectly around the inside line.

Damn, she’s good. I need to step up my game. Ed quickly follows behind her, catching up before they reach the next turn. Luckily, I spent a lot of time playing racing games as a kid, so I should be able to keep up. He continues to trail behind her as they go through several twists and turns. Zara shouts out in excitement, enjoying the competition between them.

Eventually, they pull onto another straightaway, allowing Ed to close the distance. She’s better on the turns, but my car is better on the straights, otherwise, I wouldn’t stand a chance. Now neck and neck again, they make it to one last bend. I need to do something. With the finish line in sight, Ed knows that this is his last chance to win. He can’t let her take the lead on these turns, so he barely lowers his speed, playing it risky and going into the turn at a speed far higher than he would normally want to.

His car speeds into the turn past hers, forcing her to try and catch up. The back of his car flies out, and he barely manages to drift around the bend, shakily transitioning into the straight, with Zara coming out just behind him. He crosses the line, winning the race.

Breathing out a deep breath, he turns to Zara to see how she’s feeling. She stares him down, a competitive fire now burning in her eyes.

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“Best of three?” she asks.

“Sure, why not.” They both tap their cards again, jumping right back onto the same track. This race goes much the same as the previous one, but this time, Zara doesn’t let him get in front, speeding into the last turn, skilfully drifting around the bend. Capturing the victory.

Now that they’ve tied, the match has gotten more intense. It all comes down to this

“Three, two, one. Go!” They race down the track, quickly bypassing all of the other cars, with Ed slightly taking the lead going into the first turn. Drifting around the corner, the two cars come within inches of colliding with each other, but both end up making it out of the turn safely.

Through the twists and turns, Zara manages to steal the lead going into the straightaway. Taking advantage of his car's better acceleration, Ed catches up, now driving alongside Zara as they go into the final turn. He tries to shift into a drift on the inside, but Zara’s car shoots forward, narrowly scarping past his car to steal the inside line. He chases after her, crossing the finish line a mere fraction behind her.

“Woohoo!” Zara cheers, pumping her fists in the air. In her excitement, she pulls Ed to more games, challenging him at various other games. They trade wins back and forth. With Ed winning at air hockey, basketball, connect four, and ring toss. While Zara takes the victory on the bean bag toss, the dancing rhythm game, and a hunting game. Tied four to four they take a small break from the competition, playing some more recreational games. Even having a go at the claw machine, although they don’t end up winning anything.

Having had a wonderfully fun afternoon, they decide to end it off with a game of miniature bowling. Tapping their cards for their final game of the evening, they fill in their names, and Ed sits down on the lounge as Zara steps up to bowl.

The ball rolls down the line, connecting with the front pin, knocking down seven in total. Unfortunately, her second bowl misses, passing in between the remaining pins.

Stepping up, Ed feels the weight of the ball, before gracefully stepping forward, bowling the ball with a bit of spin. The ball glides across the lane, turning right into the left gutter. Ed looks up at the roof, ignoring Zara who is dying from laughter.

“This one should be better.” He says, getting ready to bowl.

“Yeah right.” Zara scoffs, watching as the ball curves slightly, smashing into the middle pin and toppling down all of the pins. “Holy shit.” No longer laughing, she gets serious, not wanting to lose.

The two go back and forth, getting a couple strikes and spares, while sometimes failing miserably. Their scores start to rack up, Zara with a score of ninety-five, and Ed leading with a score of ninety-nine. Zara steps up to bowl, taking a deep breath before bowling the ball down the lane. The ball hits the front pin, knocking over eight, and leaving two right next to each other. She bowls again, successfully turning it into a spare, allowing her to have one more go. With her final bowl, she manages to knock down seven pins, getting a score of one hundred and twelve.

I can win this. Ed steps up to bowl, curving the ball and knocking down six pins. On his next bowl he clears the remaining pins for another spare. He pauses for a moment as the air around them gets tense, both of them focusing entirely on this last bowl. Taking a step forward, he tosses the ball down the lane, but it doesn’t curve as much as normal, and instead of hitting the middle pin, it instead veers off to the right, knocking over three pins. They both look up at the board to see that their scores both say one hundred and twelve.

“Damn it!” Zara shouts, frustrated at the result before cooling off slightly. “Well, I guess it’s a tie.” “Yeah, I guess it is.” Ed sighs, relaxing fully.

“We can’t just end it like that, can we?”

“We could come back here another time to determine the winner. Or, we could accept the tie and both win?” Ed suggests,

Zara smiles, quickly nodding her head. “Yeah. I like that.” The two head off towards the door. “Thanks for the night, it was so much fun!” Zara says as they reach the door. Just as Ed grasps the handle, Zara calls out to him. “Wait. One more thing.”

“Yeah?” Ed turns around to listen to her but finds her standing closer to him than he expected. Before he can say anything, she lightly presses her lips against his.

Feeling the warmth and softness of her lips, Ed’s brain shuts down for a moment.

Staying there for a moment before she takes a step back, her face slightly flushed with joy. “Bye.” Zara steps around him, waving goodbye as she steps through the door.

Almost mechanically, he waves goodbye and enters his room. It’s only when his body hits the bed that he processes what happened. He puts a finger to his lips, still feeling the warmth from her kiss. He smiles slightly. Huh. That was nice.