Lily and Julie were laughing to themselves as they talked about– whatever. But their laughter fell flat in my ears. All I could focus on–at the moment–was my sister's bright smile. This kid… I subtly covered my mouth with my hand and pried my eyes away from her.
After a few moments, I let my hand fall back to my side, taking in deep breaths. The world, along with everything else, cleared once more.
"Julie, do you want to come play with us? I want to keep playing, but my brother over here ran out of money. Pleaseeeee?"
Lily clasped her hands together and stared at Julie with uncharacteristic puppy dog eyes. Julie didn't seem to notice, as she laughed it off and patted her on the head. Actually, it's not Julie's fault. It's something only I can recognize. The curse of being her Brother, I guess.
"Haha, yeah, it's fine, I'll play a couple of games with you two. So, what do you want to play first?"
"Then, how about we play the dancing game!"
"Sure, let's go."
We started making our way towards the game while I maintained a slight distance between us. I wanted to give my sister some space to talk to Julie.
Lily pulled forward and twirled around to face Julie. She talked as she walked backwards. Even though she was speaking to Julie, it felt like she was looking at me. No, I'm reading too much into this. My sister's words cut through my thoughts.
"You never answered Hoshino's question, Julie, but what are you doing here?"
"Oh yeah, I just had the day off today from work. I got bored and decided to just come here and play a little bit. There are supposed to be a few tournaments today, too."
Lily's mouth went wide as she let out an exaggerated gasp.
"Woahhh, I didn't know you were good at arcade games."
A proud smirk formed on Julie's mouth.
"Good? I'm the goddamn best!"
My ears perked up when I heard that. There aren't many things that I genuinely enjoy, but a good game is one of them. A tinge of excitement burned inside me, all the way until we had made it to the dance game.
Before things could get awkward, I cleared my throat, grabbing both their attention.
"I'll sit this one out, you two got it."
Julie looked at me with a concerned expression.
"Are you sure? I have enough money to treat you both. You don't have to worry, kid."
"Oh, it's not that. Trust me, I wouldn't bat an eye at draining your pockets. I just don't like this game much anyway."
She nodded in understanding.
"Okay, just making sure. Alright, Lily, let's play!"
Lily excitedly jumped onto the stage.
"Let's do this!"
I turned around, headed toward a nearby bench, and sat down. It was relaxing being able to just sit by and watch.
I looked up and saw that the match had already started. To my surprise, my sister looked like she was doing–dare I say, pretty good. That was when my eyes turned to Julie. A bewildered gasp involuntarily escaped my mouth. The way she moved was rough and demonic, lacking any sense of grace one would expect from a "dance". But in exchange for that, she had sheer speed and precision. She danced not to look cool, but to get the highest amount of points in the game as possible.
Yikes, looks like Lily is going to lose again.
The game had finally ended. My sister was completely out of breath at this point, but Julie looked like she was still raring to go. For someone who's almost 30 years old, she had an impressive amount of stamina. She's a goddam monster.
I looked at the grade that each of them got. My sister had gotten a B+. Honestly, that was a good score, better than what I could've done. But then I looked at the grade Julie had gotten, and all the praise I had left dried up. Sorry Lily… On the board displayed 3 big flashy A's, a AAA score– She hadn't missed a single step.
"WHAT!!! HOW DID YOU DO THAT?! I DIDN'T KNOW YOU WERE SO GOOD AT THIS GAME!"
Lily's cry of protest rang through the room, causing me to squint my eyes. Taking two losses today must have been pretty hard for her; she is a sore loser after all. But just because I understand, it doesn't mean it isn't entertaining.
Julie crossed her arms while looking down on my sister.
"What can I say? I am the best! HAHAHAHA!"
Lily stomped her feet on the ground, her breath ragged. She started swaying, grabbing her head with both of her hands. People giggled as they walked past us. I let out a deep sigh and rubbed my face.
Gods… now I'm starting to feel bad.