Toadette's Story: Book 1

Chapter 39 - Breaking Bank at the Arcade

I brushed my teeth, dressed myself, and was ready to head out. Now, time to pull a switcheroo. Instead of letting Minh T. get the jump on me, I’d get the jump on her. Though, my wake-up method couldn’t be a carbon copy of hers. Why not try something a bit more fun? With her sleepy soles spread out across my pillows, the girl was begging for a tickle test.

First, I poked her soles lightly. Then I wiggled my fingers on the sides of her feet. After enough tickles, she began to stir. Her crust-covered eyes fought to stay shut while she moaned.

“Stop it. It’s too early.”

“Really?” My nail dug into the middle of her sole, right in that delicate pressure point.

“AHAAAHAHAHA! TOADETTE!”

The way she sprung up almost made me lose my grip! Immediately, I put all my weight on her back and locked her legs into position. Then, up and down I went. The more her feet squirmed, the tighter I gripped her legs. Seeing her toes bend out of control put a smirk on my face, and looking back, she was pounding the bed frame in resistance.

“Okay, I’ll pick up the pace.” And so, I scratched every inch of her soles.

“I’M AWAKE! I’M AWAKE!”

“Gotta make extra sure,” I whispered. I slowly leaned forward, sticking out my tongue.

BOP!!

…Okay, maybe I deserved that. This kick to the mouth set Minh T. free, and she tumbled off the mattress.

“You okay?” she asked.

“You almost knocked out my teeth. I thought we could both get our morning started early.”

“Well, someone got painted with the happy brush.” The sleepy Toad rubbed her eyes. “Did Her Highness give us something to do?”

“I’d like to actually enjoy my time in Mushroom City, so I’m not rushing to found out. Let the little menace update us when the time comes. She’s got my number anyhow.”

Just as she set her hand on the bathroom doorknob, Minh T. cocked her head at me. Take a wild guess what her eyes were looking at. No, not my chest. Lower, lower, warmer… You’re getting good at this. What was she enamoured by this time?

“No socks?” She seemed confused because the rest of me was dressed.

“I’m gonna go out in those slides,” I said. “Or should I wear something else?”

“Wise move. Anything that makes you look poor or lower-class is the right thing to wear here.”

While she locked herself in the bathroom, my body floated towards her used flip-flops. Minh T. talked and talked about the dangers of looking rich in Mushroom City. Apparently, if you look like you’re making big money, you’re begging to get mugged. And while she lectured me, I inhaled the scent of a well-off, middle-class gardener. Mmm… It should be illegal for a shoe’s odour to be so addictive. Label it as a killer drug.’

“Check me out,” she said, stepping into the room. If I’d reacted a second later, she’d have found my nose against her shoes.

Talk about looking poor. Minh T. ditched her sensible, traditional work outfit in favour of something that screamed, “Please bone me on the spot, random stranger”. From top to bottom: her hair was scragglier; she had a black crop top with a Piranha Plant emblem; her jeans looked like a cat went wild on them, and they were so tight that her vagina must’ve been crying; and finally, the only elegant part of her appearance was her toes. Those blue, trimmed, ocean-hued toes.

“Do we look trashy enough?” I asked, prompting a giggle fest from Minh T.

“Hmm… Should I go barefoot or with my flip-flops?”

Whack! Whack!

I hurled both flip-flops at her face. “You said to look lower-class, not like a homeless prostitute.”

“Fine, fine.”

Now that we’d gotten ourselves together, we rode the elevator to the lobby. More accurately, the 40th-floor sky lobby. After all, it wasn’t like we could leave on empty stomachs.

Part of me felt heavy embarrassment for choosing such a basic dish, but who can resist a mountain of waffles? Having these hot wonders topped off with warm syrup was the cherry on top. Their rich flavour blew away that of those store-bought ones. And best of all—these cost us absolutely nothing.

“Someone’s got a big appetite, huh?” Minh T. had some nerve asking me that. As if she hadn’t already finished one and a half cheese omelettes. In fact, the girl rose from the table. “Time for a third one.”

Yet I’m the one with the big appetite. Okay. Back to enjoying my breakfast in peace. Mmm… Buttery, syrupy waffles…

“Morning, rookie.”

That voice. That name. I slowly turned my head to the left, and there he was. Captain Toad. Strangely enough, his beige uniform was nowhere to be found. Instead, he had a blue shirt and black slacks with a utility belt around his waist. Was he a captain or a police officer now?

I waved. Immediately, I wanted to scream that I was not getting near his feet again. But guys tend to forget things more than girls, so it was probably a distant memory for him.

“Mind if I sit? Why, thank you very much.”

He plopped in Minh T.’s seat, gobbling up what remained of her second omelette. Wow. Rude and assertive. And I couldn’t tune him out entirely since he seemed to want to talk me to death.

“Since we don’t start prepping until right before the Star Festival, I’ve decided I’m gonna hang out with you. Before you object…”

Yep, he continued. But he did indirectly remind me of what day it was. We got here Friday, so today was Saturday. And based on what I knew, the Star Festival was always on Tuesday. But it’d have to be the Tuesday after this upcoming one—therefore, we’d have ten days before the event. Hopefully, Her Highness wouldn’t make us work on weekends.

“Are you serious right now!?” Minh T. yelled like a mouse and ran about as quickly as one. To my shock, she elbowed Captain Toad out her chair without hesitation. “I was eating that!”

He just laughed, licking his lips. “One’s enough, isn’t it, chunky?”

“Maybe I really like the taste and wanna keep eating to re-taste it.”

“You just said you were still hungry. Somehow.”

Her cheeks puffed up like a balloon. Knowing the storm that was approaching, I patted her shoulder over 100 times in 20 seconds. Each second felt like an eternity, but at that 21st count, she sighed and ate her third omelette. Although, she picked at it a few times and was overall finicky.

I glared at Captain Toad. Even for an insensitive guy, what a tone-deaf comment to make. Everyone who knew Minh T. understood she was conscious about her build. Hence, I only uttered words like “chubby” and “chunky” in my head. Don’t even get me started on “fat”. The last thing anyone wanted to deal with was a depressed, paranoid Minh T. Well, clearly anyone except for this idiot.

“I’d expect someone with your title to be a little more chivalrous,” I said.

“The MK’s forces used to be like that, you know. But then they hired me, and WA-ZAA!” He tossed the heavy syrup bottle into the air. “I did some redecorating and started a new standard in the force. Good-bye to chivalry, hello to—”

CLANK!

While he was seeing bleeding stars, Minh T. and I covered our mouths. The snickers still leaked.

“You’ve been here for years, then?” I asked.

“Ninth year. Started when I was 13.”

“13?”

He rubbed the reddened bruise on his cap. “Junior program at 13, basic guard at 16, captain at 18.”

Working at 13? If he went to normal school, how could he have possibly had time for fun? Then again, I guess I’d too been working at that age. Nothing concrete or consistent like a job at the castle, yet I still beat high school. If this was his ninth year on the job, then he must’ve been at least 22. Three years older but somehow more immature.

“I’ve yet to see any of your captain skills come into effect. Last time I checked, WE handled the plane,” I said.

“Hang with me long enough, and I’ll show you a thing or two,” he promised. “Where you two going?”

“Anywhere away from Her Highness.” I looked at Minh T. for a more solid answer. She was the Mushroom City expert, after all.

She swallowed the last of her food and stood. “Thought about this last night. I’m gonna take you to this arcade I always went to.”

“Nope. I always lose at that stuff.”

“You got anywhere better to go?” The girl plucked me out my seat and began pushing me towards the elevator. “They have more than video games anyway.”

Before the door closed, Captain Toad jammed his hand between the sensors.

“You’re coming?” Minh T. asked.

“You objecting?”

Her pitch deepened. “Just don’t do anything wild. Please.”

“I’ll try,” he said with a childish grin.

“Is there something I should know about?” I asked Minh T.

No response. Damn, what did he do in the past? Kill someone at a bar because of a girl? Bang a stray Chain Chomp in an alley? By the time we reached outside, I’d come up with 40 potential stories this character could have.

The morning sky seemed quite cloudy, but there was enough sunshine that the day would go smoothly. 25% chance of rain, if I had to estimate. How the hell did weathermen know the patterns so well?

Minh T. pushed ahead of us. “Now this is on the other end of town, so we’ve got some choices. Train, bus, or taxi?”

“Train.” “Let’s walk.”

“YOU can walk, Captain. Me and Toadette ain’t walking there. You see what’s on our feet?”

The male looked at our shoes, then shook his head. “Didn’t think to wear boots?”

“And get our feet smelling as bad as yours?” I shuffled past him. “No thank you.”

Wow, Toadette, you just couldn’t resist bringing that up. Fortunately, I didn’t have to hear his mouth since the city sounds dominated everything. The river of cars honking their horns was obnoxiously persistent, and the fans of A/C units couldn’t shut up if you begged them. But at least I could zone out in this concrete jungle of noise. Finding a subway station took little time, and let me tell you, descending underground and seeing people was uncanny. This stood in sharp contrast to the lonely sewers of Toad Town.

“I’ll be back,” Minh T. said, walking to a machine while leaving me with… What a great friend she was.

Once alone, this guy immediately started to chat me up. Of course, the first thing he had to mention involved my feet. Why was I not surprised?

“Your feet are massive, you know,” he said.

“Tell me something I don’t know.” I wiggled my toes. “Does everyone magically have a foot fetish today?”

“Excuse me?”

Before blurting something out like an idiot, I replayed his short comment in my head. If he knew about Minh T.’s secret, he would’ve mentioned something about it. But maybe he didn’t. And I wasn’t going to rat my friend out when she was so protective about her odd fetish.

“Never mind.” I turned my back to him, but curiosity got the better of me. “You have a foot fetish, though?”

“GAH! What the fuck!?” His outburst attracted some eyes. “You think I’d ever shove someone’s foot in my mouth? I’m not some sissy!”

“Yet smelling someone’s foot is fine?”

“On the plane? I didn’t even smell her foot. YOU did. Even if I did, that’s a game. You’re looking way too deeply into a shallow pond, rookie.”

“You two ready?”

Minh T. popped up to slide a ticket in each of our hands. After dealing with turnstiles and waiting on a bench for two minutes, yellow lights finally emerged from a tunnel. And then—VROOM—the train zoomed past us briefly before grinding to a halt. Once the sound of creaking metal maxed out, the vehicle huffed, sputtered, and opened its doors. We replaced the leaving passengers.

“How long’s this gonna take?” I asked Minh T., who was holding one of the poles.

“Hour, give or take.” She squinted at the map above the seats. “This is on the opposite end of Mushroom City. Told ya we’re not walking there.”

“WHOA!”

How did I forget to sit or find a pole? I fell right into Minh T. now that the train had picked up some speed. And laughing at this was the Toad who forced himself into our party. He sat in the seat next to us. Actually, since this was going to take so long, I might as well have sat, too.

But a few seats were available on the bench Captain Toad sat on. And a naughty smile took over my face.

“What are you doing?”

Sighing, I sat in the last seat and stretched my legs until my feet rested on his lap. My black slides were still attached, dangling ever so slightly. While he tried pushing my feet off, I kept putting them back.

“I’m getting comfy for 60 minutes. You can ignore my feet.”

Minh T. looked over, then her head swiftly snapped toward the windows. A good move, as Captain Toad immediately glanced at her face. How well could she hide her foot fetish if someone deliberately showed off their feet? Captain Toad could count his stars lucky that this train was super crowded. Anything we did would be lost in the shuffle, and besides, stranger things were occurring. Like a darker human in a cow costume eating a bunch of cookies. Or the old dude oozing slime like a slug, wobbling as he made his way for the doors.

Captain Toad’s eyes remained on my wiggling toes. Although, his face showed nothing but pure disgust.

“You think I have ugly feet?” I asked.

“How do you rank beauty when it comes to feet?”

“You tell me.”

He shrugged, still trying to push them away. “I just don’t want them in front of me like this, thank you.”

“If you compliment them, I’ll stop. Promise.”

“Great. We got a chick whose self-worth is way in the dumps.” How rude! He removed one of my slides, observing my sole for a few seconds. “Your feet are soft and clean. There?”

I chuckled. “Is that all?”

“Fine. You have nice toenails. I wish they were red instead of black, but whatever floats your boat. I guess your feet being long makes you look stronger than you really are. You look like you can probably stomp a durian open. And maybe your feet won’t smell horrible.”

Minh T. piped up. “Why don’t you smell them just to make sure?”

“YOU stay out of this.”

“Smell ’em, smell ’em,” I began to chant. Hearing these positive statements about my feet did wonders for my mood. Yet more than that, this was just fascinating to witness. I’d never desired someone to even mention my feet, and here I was, begging this boy to write a whole narrative about them.

SNIFF!

Well… How did they smell today? We’d just gotten started.

“Yes, they’re clean,” he said. “Now can you get your feet off me?”

“No prob.”

Minh T. and I laughed for the next few minutes, turning Captain Toad’s face from peachy to magma red. During the rest of the ride, we mostly kept to ourselves. Captain Toad pulled out a notepad and scribbled some stuff on it, Minh T. was lost in her phone, and I was staring at both of them the whole time. One moment, my eyes would be on Minh T.’s feet—yep, from a side view, her soles were getting some dirt. And another moment, I’d observe Captain Toad. Ew, no, not his feet, which were in boots. But just looking at him in general from top to bottom.

Admittedly, how strange it was that we looked poor as hell, and he was dressed like a formal cop. Did passengers think he had us under arrest?

“Lemme ask,” I said to Minh T. when we finally left the crowded train, “you think he’s cute?”

“Captain Toad?” We both looked back, seeing his unamused face as he marched forward. Minh T. stuck her tongue out in return. “He’s a handful, but yeah, he crosses the cute line. ‘Specially when he’s barefoot.”

“Sicko,” I mumbled.

“What about you? You like him?”

“I’ve seen better. He’d make a cute princess, but that’s the last thing I’m looking for in a man.”

“I dunno. Maybe you two could make some love.”

“What the!?” I shook my head frantically. “Get that out your mind. I like bigger bodies, anyway.”

“It’s too hot to get out my mind, Toadette. You’re barefoot, he’s barefoot. Then he pulls your clothes off, and you’re rubbing your head on his chest. And eventually, he’s got you bent over the—”

SLAP!

“Ouch. Wait, here we are. Illepacs’ Arcade.”

We parked before the arcade doors. This building had several glass doors, as a matter of fact. It was getting uncomfortable just how close everything was in Mushroom City. Every building was like a shared space. As Captain Toad caught up, he huddled us like we were making a game plan.

“Okay, so who’s paying?”

Neither Minh T. nor I had an answer. After sharing a few awkward glances, Minh T. stretched out her hand.

“Toadette?”

“Why do I have to pay?”

“Then, Captain Toad, you’re paying.”

“Aren’t you the dodo that planned on coming here? Empty those pockets!”

“My funds can only take so much of a beating,” she said, pointing to both of us. “I’m not on Her Highness’ payroll.”

I stomped my foot. “Let’s act like adults and pool our money, how ’bout that?”

“I say this is still on the stank-foot girl.”

“CÁLLENSE!” Minh T. clapped her hands. “If we’re gonna bicker about this all day, then I’ll pay. But in exchange, you two are gonna do something funny for me when we get back to the hotel.”

“And that is?” “What?”

She smirked. “Suck each other’s toes until I’m satisfied.”

“EW!” I covered my mouth to prevent the vomit from escaping.

“I’m gonna gut you,” Captain Toad said, reaching for his utility belt.

“Don’t tell me we came here for nothing,” Minh T. continued, opening the door. “Take the pacifiers out your mouths, and let’s play.”

As soon as we entered, a warm smell hit my face. Thank the stars it wasn’t some bad BO, but the smell of cinnamon. Unexpected for an arcade. The whole game room was comparable to a small bowling alley in scale. Not the biggest, but enough space to where you never felt trapped. And after walking past the dreaded arcade machines with loud noises and flickering screens, there were billiards tables, skill cranes, basketball games, and other activities outside of video games.

“Morning, Mr Illepacs Jr,” Minh T. said, slapping her hand on the counter.

“Oh, it’s you again.”

The cashier looked to be in his 30s. If human nerd was a person, this would be that guy. He was so lanky that his arms looked like greasy noodles. His hair was unkempt and sticking to his forehead in clumps. He spoke with a bit of a lisp. Forget all that, just look at his eyes. All sunken in like they’d never seen the light of day. Definitely gave me vibes of the type of guy to piss in a bottle while sitting at the computer all day.

And he was smoking a cigarette! He didn’t give a damn about life.

But I still greeted him with a smile. Unlike Captain Toad, who had already wandered back to the game room, I valued making good impressions.

Minh T. set some coins on the counter. “I’m in town for a bit, and my friend’s visiting, so I wanna show her around.”

“Alright, here go your tokens.” He slid smaller silver coins across the glass. “Do your thing. See you in a million years.”

“Please, I’m never gone for that long,” Minh T. laughed. “What do you wanna start with, Toadette?”

“Um…”

So many options, but also so many people stealing these options. It was 10 in the morning, how many people come to an arcade this early? Whatever. Looking, looking… Ooh!

“Skee-Ball! I can’t lose at that.”

— 5 minutes later —

“How are you so good at this!?”

Minh T. was in stitches while I was reaching my limit. Rolling the ball up the hill was supposed to be easy peasy. But for some reason, the balls love her more than they love me. They always go too high when I’m handling them, yet they’re just right whenever Minh T.’s grubby hands touch them.

Suddenly, a stream of paper came from the machine. Tickets?

“These are for what?” I asked.

“Remember those things on the wall at the counter? We get enough tickets, we can spend them on those prizes.”

“And what do you want? All I saw was basic stuff.”

Minh T. looked at her feet. “They’ve got these flats up there for 1000 tickets. Pretty hard goal to reach, but they look about my size.”

Wait. If Minh T. finally uses some closed-toed shoes, her foot’s essence will be even stronger baked into them than the flip-flops. Where’s the scent going to go? Nowhere. With that knowledge, I set a firm goal for that day.

“Then let’s rack up some tickets,” I said, tossing another token into the Skee-Ball machine. “I assume they’re based on the points we score during this game.”

“Yep. Ours combined.”

Minh T. took her turn on the machine. Every shot got into the 40-hole, and there were nine balls. So, she scored 320 points. By the time she finished, she did her little victory dance that got under my skin. She may have been good, but I could be better.

Once the ball sat in my hand, I rolled it up the hill. 10. Another one. 10.

Okay, time for a change of plans. Removing my slides, I positioned a ball underneath my foot. Sorry for the random innocent that had to touch it later.

“Toadette?” Minh T. poked me.

“What…in the negative balance are you doing?”

Captain Toad was this close to ruining my concentration. I gave him a glance, then kicked the ball up the hill with the tip of my foot. It rolled and rolled, going higher in the air than I’d anticipated. Jeez, I just made myself look like the queen of idiots!

50.

It landed in the 50-hole. Both Toads looked flabbergasted.

“Hehehe.” I continued the assault on the Skee-Ball machine, blessing each ball with my foot so it could land in the topmost hole. And, to my surprise, one of the shots ricocheted into the 100-hole. In total, I ended the game with 420 points. Woo-hoo!

And after that, another stream of tickets poured out. This one longer than the last.

“Good job,” Minh T. said.

“I think I’ll do you one better.” Captain Toad stepped up to me. “Without needing to use my feet, thank you.”

Oh, so we had a tough guy here. I’d take him on with no issue. But if he lost, I would force him to kiss my feet right here and now. In front of EVERYBODY. This boy needed to be taught some humility.

When the machine activated again, he lined up for the 100-hole on the right. And Captain Toad threw in that direction all nine times, similar to Minh T.’s 40-hole strategy. Six balls made it, and three balls got 10.

“Top 630, Toadette,” he told me, slapping my cheek like a child.

“You’re on.”

Clearly, aiming for 50 wouldn’t benefit me in this round. My toes scrunched around the ball, and I turned to the 100 holes. It’d be good enough if I could just get two balls in there. Come on, feet. Don’t let me down.

As my toes released the first ball, it shot into the 100-hole. But the second one missed. And the third one missed. At this point, I focused all my attention on the 50 holes.

“420 again!” I growled.

“Wanna smoke, Toadette?” Minh T. joked. Great, now they were both laughing at me.

Counting the tickets we had, the number sat close to 50. That wasn’t even close to my established goal. We’d have to play another game to get to 1000. As I looked across various attractions, one caught my eye. A stacking simulator. It was a video game, but the side of the machine boasted about offering 9000 tickets to anyone who could max out the counter.

“Guys,” I said, “that one.”

Minh T.’s eyes widened. “I’ve gotten so close before, but it’s about as easy as pushing a Thwomp up a hill.”

“You didn’t have me tagging along, did you? We’ve got a strategy.”

“Strategy?” Captain Toad folded his arms. “Just balance it. It can’t be that hard. Observe, pussies.”

He pushed us to the side, jamming tokens into the machine before locking his hands on the controller—a wide controller that resembled the board blocks would fall on. The game’s music was as happy as possible, containing some cool techno elements. But our noble captain wasn’t holding it together after the fifth block.

“YOU LOSE!” the game roared, sputtering out maybe 10 tickets.

“It cheated!” Captain Toad shoved more tokens in and repeated the cycle again. This time, he only reached three blocks before the machine insulted him. “Damn it!”

SMASH!

He looked back. Minh T. and I were staring at him partially concerned. It was just a game, and he was hitting the machine like it attacked him.

“What?” he asked in a huffy tone.

“Let Minh T. play it. I’m pretty sure she can—”

“But you know she’s—”

I swung him to the side. “A girl who’s better than both you and me at these video games. Yes. Minh T., take your shoes off.”

Minh T. raised an eyebrow, then her mouth slowly opened as if to say, “I got you.” Slipping off her pink flip-flops, she cracked her knuckles and slid before the machine. Now we had an actual game plan. But I couldn’t accomplish this alone.

“What’s this strategy?” the male asked.

“It sounds weird, but we’re gonna lick her feet.”

He was visibly shaken. “I think YOU’RE the one with the foot fetish.”

“No, I am not!” I grabbed him by the collar. “When we were playing a game a while back, we discovered that Minh T. focuses better when a tongue is on her feet. Don’t question why, it’s not for any fetish nonsense. Just lick her heel while she handles this game.”

“I can’t.”

“Why not?” I was already getting on all fours. “Scared?”

I waited for an answer that had no intention of arriving.

“Look, did you see any prizes you want in that room?”

He put a finger to his chin. “A security camera would be useful since we need tightening here. But those cost 4000 tickets.”

I smiled. “And we can make that if we lick Minh T.’s feet. Please? Pretty please with sugar on top?”

I demonstrated my insane plan by wrapping my lips around Minh T.’s plump heel. It was at that moment that the game’s music finally commenced. Mmm… Mmm! The dirt was indeed caked into her foot this time compared to the movies. Yet… Why was I enjoying the flavour? It was gritty and earthy, but my tongue refused to stop swirling. Round and round, I sucked on her heel like it was an ice cream cone.

“I’m at four blocks,” Minh T. said, kicking her free foot backwards.

“Captain Toad.”

When I looked at him again, he toughened up his face and hit the floor. Unlike me, his eyes were fully shut while he slobbered on Minh T.’s crusty foot. Yuck, never knew crusty could be such a hot adjective in this context. But thinking of how rough her feet were triggered me to lick harder.

I wanted to wet her foot up as much as I could. She could absorb all the moisture from my mouth.

“In between my toes, Toadette.” Minh T. offered my tongue comfort between her dry digits. Meanwhile, I heard the machine counting up to ten blocks.

Checking out Captain Toad, a green hue overtook his poor face. Yeah, I was starting to feel a bit bad for him. It was evident that he didn’t want to do this. The wonders of Minh T.’s feet weren’t transferring to him like they were to me. However, the fact that he chose to help us warmed my heart. I’d probably make it up to him somehow. A kiss on the cheek or something. For now, back to soaking Minh T.’s toes.

Once her toe received a thorough sucking, I wormed my way under her foot and let her step all over my face. From there, my tongue could give her a washing for minutes. Did I care about the heavy weight crushing me? Not if that heavy weight involved my best friend’s wide foot. Gosh, her feet were pretty.

…Reality check, Toadette. You denied having a foot fetish for so long, and even now, you wouldn’t accept it. Maybe you didn’t have it in the past, but you could’ve developed it at this point.

Well, maybe I did like feet. Girls feet. Only particular girl feet, as a matter of fact. But okay, I could live with this as long as it was kept under wraps. Nobody was to formally know that I, Toadette, kinda— Screw it, I liked a few feet.

And as Minh T.’s foot dust went down my gullet, my moaning commenced. Just like in the theatre, the loud noises within this arcade meant she couldn’t hear me. Although, people walking by must’ve looked confused as hell.

“How are you doing there?” I asked Captain Toad, picking Minh T.’s foot up to suck on her toes again.

“Miserable.”

For two more minutes, we treated Minh T.’s meaty feet until she screamed in glee. In the process, she stomped on our faces about twenty times each. Mmm… Dirty me up, Minh T.

“Yes! I finally beat it!”

“Hey,” Captain Toad panted, wiping his tongue on his shirt, “you better not be lying.”

“It’s over 9000! Look!” Minh T. dove into the sea of tickets that the machine barfed out.

I kept staring at Minh T.’s cute soles, proud of the work I did cleaning her right foot. Captain Toad did a lacklustre job on the left foot, but who could blame him? A month ago, I would’ve done the same thing. I turned to the disturbed fellow and grabbed his shoulder.

“Thanks.”

Smooch!

The first time I kissed a guy who wasn’t my brother. It was a small gesture, but it made Captain Toad flustered. He could barely get a word out, like a babbling child. Okay, this was super cute. And for the next two hours, we decided to just play some other games around the arcade. He kicked my ass at billiards, I beat Minh T. in air hockey, Minh T. dominated us both in a motorbike video game, and none of us was good at basketball.

12 PM. Well, we had fun. Time to claim our prizes before we skipped outta here.

“Those shoes look so nice,” Minh T. moaned, lugging the pile of tickets. “Can’t wait to add them to my wardrobe.”

When we returned to the counter, Illepac’s cigarette fell out his mouth. I scanned everything past his head to see what I wanted. Before that, I saw the security camera that Captain Toad desired. I couldn’t understand a lick of that tech jargon, but it seemed high-tech. And those shoes that Minh T. wanted? Ooh, they were pretty. A lovely black with a velvet insole. Once her feet made their home in those, both our lives would improve.

Below those, there were various candies. While I could make off with those and be happy, there was another girl I could share them with. Penelope. Her Highness’ daughter had a sweet tooth, and her face would fall off her head if she saw all these delicacies.

“Arcade man,” Captain Toad said, approaching the cashier, “we’re ready to spend. Give us a camera, those ballet flats, the bootleg candies, and we’ll continue from there.”

“You can’t do that, sir.”

“Perfect. My men are gonna pimp this camera out, and it’s gonna be a great… Huh?”

“Yeah, what?” I stepped up. “We have the tickets.”

“You’re telling me you won ALL those tickets,” the cashier said in his nasal voice, pointing to a visibly confused Minh T., “without jacking our machines?”

“Yes,” we said in unison.

He cackled. “Even if I believed that, you can’t get anything higher than 500 tickets. You think we’re really selling goods of this high quality just ’cause someone beat some arcade games?”

“B-B-But…” Minh T.’s lips quivered, and I could hear her trying to hide the lump in her throat. “We got over 500. You always told me I could make it to 1000 if I tried, and look!”

Illepacs sighed, turning to face the prizes. “I say that to every kid who walks in here. You’re good company, Minh T., but I can’t be making exceptions for you. Nobody’s meant to make over 500. It’s just not expected. We put these on for display, girl. You’re 19, and you never thought that?”

“Please?”

We saw the waterworks starting to emerge from Minh T., and Captain Toad’s smile approached neutral status. He pointed to his uniform.

“Arcade man. Listen to me. My girls and I are going into battle soon, so we need your priciest cameras. This is serious business.”

“You can’t handle my cameras. They’re too powerful for you, especially giving them away for 3000 tickets. You need to take your flat ass to an electronic shop and buy some weaker cameras there.”

I tugged Captain Toad’s shoulder. “Let’s go. Look, we had fun. I’ll buy Minh T. some—”

“Arcade man.” His voice got louder. “I am a soldier. Or a guard, however you wish to refer to my position. My fellow Toads and I have rightfully won the tickets, so we deserve the prizes you advertised. And we are going into battle! I assume you have the utmost respect for soldiers, so you should do the right thing.”

Scrunching his darkened eyes, Illepacs leaned in. “Why respect soldiers…when my prizes can do anything you can?”

“THAT’S IT!”

CLINK! Clink, clink, clink, clink…

“Mamma Mia! Shit!”

In just one swing, Captain Toad obliterated the glass countertop with a baton. A sharp piece skidded across my cheek in slow motion as I witnessed the Toad dive at the cashier. A loud THUD echoed throughout the room, and both fell while prizes collapsed on them.

Minh T. grabbed my arm. “This is what I what afraid of.”

“T and M!” Captain Toad tossed us some small bags, returning to punch Illepacs in the face. “Grab as much as you can, then let’s bounce!”

Okay, so we were committing a full-on robbery. Goddamn it! He’d already vandalised the counter, so there was no turning back. I shoved my bags in Minh T.’s hands, repeating her objective. Although I kept one to cover my face somewhat. And I ran into the game room to ensure that if backup arrived, they’d be paralysed. What better way to do that than with some smelly…

Oh-no! I had the new slides on my feet. My feet didn’t stink!