As the elevator climbed, Dianzi pulled the squirrel from her bag and held it in her arms. Its black-bead eyes watched the numbers change, its tail dangling from the crook of her elbow. "This girl wants to play games," she said. "Then let's play," I answered.
The doors slid open. Purple-green neon light spilled through the crack, splashing across the dark red carpet in shattered shards.
The arcade thumped with bass, the air thick with sweat and stale popcorn. A metallic smell rose from the old machines lining the walls. Dianzi brushed the silver ear threads at her ears, and the floating interface lit up. "Darlings, today we are at the Phantom Light Arcade." She panned the camera across the neon sign, its bent tube letters flickering on and off.
[chat] Arcade!
[chat] Loved places like this as a kid 🎮
[chat] What's Daughter playing today?
In the corner, an old cabinet machine repeated the same pixel jump animation. A man in a plaid shirt inserted a coin, jumped three times, and hit an obstacle. The screen flashed game over. He stared at it, then inserted another coin. From the claw machine area came the mechanical click of claws closing and a chorus of disappointed sighs.
The claw machines lined the back wall, their glass cabinets warmed by colored lights. Inside were penguins, rabbits, Shiba Inus, and a chubby squirrel clutching a brown acorn, its fluffy tail sticking straight up. Dianzi stopped in front of that one. "This girl wants that squirrel."
"Put the coins in yourself."
"You help this girl grab it. This girl never manages to get one."
I took tokens from the Lingguang Armlet and fed them into the slot. The machine lit up, the claw clacking into position. I gripped the joystick, adjusted the angle, and pressed the button. The claw descended, grabbed the squirrel, then loosened halfway. It tumbled back, landing beside the chute. "So close," Dianzi said.
"No worries. Watch carefully." I inserted another token, nudged forward, then twice to the left, and pressed. The arms gripped the squirrel's waist firmly this time, lifted, shifted sideways, and released. It thudded into the prize bin.
Dianzi bent down and scooped it out. The motion made her short skirt ride up a fraction, revealing a sliver of skin between the hem and her over-the-knee stockings, pale under the neon. She straightened and the skirt fell back, the skin hidden again in less than two seconds. She held the squirrel up to her eyes. "Sister is amazing."
[chat] Wifey is too powerful 👏
[chat] Daughter only knows how to act cute hahaha
[chat] This squirrel is so adorable 🐿️
She flipped it over to examine the acorn, touched a tiny white speck on the brown felt, then turned it back to face her. "This girl loves eating lychees most of all. From now on, you will be called Lychee." I reached over and turned it face down. Its belly pointed skyward, limbs stiffly extended. She immediately flipped it back. "This girl likes it like this."
"What next?"
"This girl also wants that pink dolphin."
I glanced at the corner machine. The pink dolphin sat in the center of the carousel. The arcade was still quiet, though the line for the VR zone had not moved. Over at the dance machine, a man danced completely off beat, laughing at himself while others laughed too.
My attention caught on a figure in the corner. A young man, mid-twenties, dark jacket. He stood beside a machine but was looking at his phone, the screen lighting up his face. Dark bruised circles ringed his eyes. His free hand was shoved in his pocket, fingers rubbing together inside the fabric. The arcade was loud around him, but he seemed sealed in his own silence. He was scrolling through a recruitment page.
I pulled a small paper packet from my bag, pale yellow powder visible inside. Using my phone as a mirror, I walked toward him.
Passing by, my fingers flicked. The powder drifted onto the back of his neck and collar. He shrank his shoulders and reached up to scratch.
"Oh dear, this girl spilled her powder. That job on your phone will come, but this itch will not. Let this girl help dust you off?"
Without waiting, I brushed the powder away with my fingertips, nails grazing his skin. His shoulders tensed briefly.
He dropped his scratching hand. "Thanks." His voice was hoarse.
"Waiting for an interview notice?"
He nodded. "Been sending them out for months. No one replies. I check email every day. Email, job app, email again. Same emptiness."
Dianzi squeezed in beside me, holding Lychee up to him. The squirrel's black-bead eyes stared. "Lychee says waiting for news is really hard." He looked down at the plush—its round head, tiny acorn. The corner of his mouth twitched, not quite a smile.
Dianzi took a silver token from her bag and pressed it into his palm. "Play one round. Even the machine is telling you to try again."
He hesitated, then walked to a machine filled with colorful octopuses. He inserted the coin and gripped the joystick, fingers stiff. He paused, adjusted, pressed the button. The claw brushed past an octopus and grabbed nothing. He laughed—a genuine laugh this time. "As expected, no luck."
——Waiting turns hope into a coin you keep feeding into a machine that never pays out.
"Next time will be better."
He put his hand back in his pocket, but his fingers stayed still. "Thank you." He turned toward the exit, his shoulders less rigid. His phone stayed in his pocket.
[chat] What did wifey just do
[chat] Who was that man
[chat] Daughter is so kind giving him a token 🎮
[chat] Hope he finds a job 🙏
I walked back to the pink dolphin machine and inserted a token. The claw descended, gripped the dolphin's tail, and dropped it into the bin. I flipped it over. A small tag read: Made with love. I tucked it into Dianzi's bag beside Lychee, the dolphin's tail sticking out pink like a piece of sunset.
We walked out. The door closed and the bass dropped away. Only our footsteps remained, and the distant sound of waves. Through the glass, the neon still flickered—on, off, on—like a phone waiting for a message.
I turned and looked through the porthole at the corridor's end. The sky had shifted from deep orange to gray-blue. The sea was calm, the last light fading from the waves. A cargo ship moved slowly in the distance, blurred by thin mist, only a white light remaining.
"Sister, what are you looking at?"
"At that ship."
"Where is it going?"
"I don't know. But it keeps moving."
She leaned her face against my arm and said nothing more.