Babe, We Have to Win Her.
Date night had been going suspiciously well.
Meek Meek and Sergio had survived dinner without an argument, wandered through the arcade without spending an irresponsible amount of money, and were approximately six minutes away from leaving with both their dignity and bank accounts intact.
Then Meek Meek stopped.
Sergio made it three more steps before realizing she wasn’t beside him. She was staring into a claw machine.
Buried beneath an army of pastel bears and offensively cheerful rabbits sat Byte.
❌_❌
Meek Meek slowly pointed.
Sergio looked at Byte. Then at Meek Meek. Then back at Byte.
This was particularly concerning because Byte had been sitting on their couch when they left home.
There were questions that needed answering.
Unfortunately, Meek Meek had already inserted five dollars.
Five became ten. Ten became twenty. By thirty-five, Sergio—who had repeatedly called the rescue mission “financially irresponsible”—was leaning over the controls giving increasingly passionate tactical advice.
The claw descended.
It caught Byte by the bow.
Meek Meek gasped.
Sergio grabbed her shoulder.
Byte rose three glorious inches—
—and fell directly onto her face.
❌_❌
Silence.
Meek Meek reached for her wallet. Sergio gently moved her aside and rolled up his sleeves. This was personal now.
Byte eventually came home.
She cost $73.
Neither of them ever figured out how she got there.
// I know we're all prepping to log off Komiko sooner or later, but I wanted to keep the program running
x3