Greatest Streamer System

After a while, Lily and Ferin returned from the café and rejoined them.

Max noticed something strange with Lily. She occasionally glanced at him, and her face would flush red before turning away.

The couple suddenly left them alone, with Ferin dragging Atlas away after saying that she had to join a game event this afternoon. Of course, that happened after they exchanged contact information with each other.

Now, only both of them had left, and it was awkward because Lily had kept her silence. At times like this, Max felt like he should take the lead. An idea flashed in his mind.

"Lily." He called out, and the girl looked at her with a shy expression.

"Yes?"

"How about we go and play an IRL game? I remember that there is an arcade center in this city. There are various games there that we can play together. There is also a claw game where we can get some plushies."

"Claw games!" Lily exclaimed, her expression suddenly brightening as she nodded repeatedly.

She grabbed Max's hand, took him by surprise, and said.

"Let's go!"

Being pulled by hand, Max just followed her obediently with a smile. At least she looked fine again.

***

Arcade games. It was something that was big among people in the past. Many people would visit the arcade after returning from school to have fun with friends.

In this VR age, the arcade wasn't really something big. It could be replaced inside the VR world with a VR machine. Why would people play an arcade in real life when they could enjoy the same thing in VR?

Many people also play games in VR using a keyboard and mouse, an old technology. They didn't need to buy any hardware as all of them could be projected and coded by the VR world, just like normal obstacles.

However, there were still exceptions. Some avid fans of retro games were still trying to revive the arcade. They created a place where friends and couples could enjoy having fun playing games together in real life.

And thus, the arcade named 'Old Timez' was born in New Eden City, the United Nations' capital.

"We've arrived."

Max and Lily arrived at one such arcade and entered. They quickly exchange a playing card by paying $50. It could be used to play 50 games, as each game needed $1 to be booted up.

"What should we play first?" Max asked as he looked around. This place reminded him of his past world. He often visited the arcade after he returned from making a parkour video in the past.

Dim lighting with only blue and purple neon light. It made the bright light from the games pop up.

Looking around curiously, Lily found one machine that she was interested in. It was filled with various plushies, from a cat to even a bunny. She particularly liked the black bunny with blue eyes because it reminded her of Max.

Pointing at the machine, she said.

"I want to try that."

Following her hand, Max looked at the claw machine. He nodded at her.

"Alright, claw machine, is it? It's such a classic to choose this one."

'And this is also a game that couples often play together to get the plushie,' he added in his mind without showing it outside.

That wasn't important, though. He was only worried that his skill with a retro game dulled and made him unable to get the plush he wanted.

Approaching the machine, he inserted the card in the slot and concentrated on the plushies.

"Which one do you want?" He asked Lily, who leaned forward just like him. New releases from NovelFirempy _r.

"That one," She said as she looked at a certain plushie. "I want that bunny."

Having seen the target, Max grinned.

"Alright."

With skillful coordination, he moved the stick in the machine to control the claw. There was one trick that he learned when playing a claw machine.

'Be a machine…'

His eyes narrowed like an eagle. His concentration peaked.

The claw inside the glass-encased machine moved ever so slightly following the command he inputted through the stick.

"There!"

After he was sure that it would get the bunny, he pressed the button to lower the claw. It lowered slowly and caught the black bunny.

"Yes!" Lily exclaimed happily when she saw the claw machine take the bunny.

However, there was one thing she didn't know.

"Not yet."

Claw machine was evil. The claw was so weak that the bunny fell to the pile of plushies again.

"Ah… Max…" She sounded sad when they failed. Looking at him, she pleaded with slightly teary eyes, "Can we try again?"

"Of course. This kind of game needs a few tries before we succeed. Look at the bunny's location. It's now in the middle instead of at the edge. We slowly move them to the reward box and push it so it drops there."

Following that, he continued to try to get the bunny. The second try wasn't lucky, but it put the bunny closer to the hole.

After the fifth try, when the bunny was hanging on the edge, Max controlled the claw to push it from inside. With precision, it fell into the rewarding hole and played catchy music.

"Congratulations! Congratulations!"

Max crouched and got the black bunny from the reward box, handing it over to Lily.

"Here, for you."

With a bright expression, Lily took the bunny and clutched it in her arms. Her lips curled into a big smile, showing the most beautiful expression ever.

"Thank you, Max. I like it."

"You're welcome." He said, scratching his cheek, "Shall we play something else?"

"Un, you choose next."

"Hmm, me choosing?" He muttered and looked around. He found a hockey table without people playing it and smiled. "How about we play that one? It's a simple game where you try to enter the puck in your opponent's goal."

Looking toward the hockey table, Lily showed an interested expression. Just like Max, she also liked challenges. Accomplishing something gave her a sense of euphoria.

"Sure. The rule is simple. I'd win this one."

"Hehe, don't underestimate me. I am a good hockey player."

Both of them spent their time in the arcade, playing various games together and competing in some. The time spent having fun couldn't be felt. The awkward situation from earlier was also gone, and now they returned to their usual selves after some time.

When the sun was about to set, they returned to Lime City by SkyRail. They were pretty exhausted after walking around the arcade without resting.

Once they sat on their designated seat, Lily fell asleep immediately. Her head fell on Max's shoulder, and her hand on top of his. However, Max didn't realize that as he had also fallen asleep.

Their journey home was uneventful, but people who saw their sleeping figure got their fill of sugar for the day. And… a thread appeared on Enjoying Breeze's community.

[Look at what I found! Breeze is sleeping together with LilyPixel on the SkyRail! They look so good together! [AttachedImage.jpg]]

Only a few people had seen this thread, as it was deleted immediately to keep Max's private life separated from the streaming one. While sharing pictures they took in public wasn't illegal, the fans knew better how to keep their streamer safe.

So, he didn't know that his fans saw him until they teased him in his livestream that night. And it was hell to resolve the misunderstanding and kept it from spreading.