Knife! Knife! Knife!
Click. Click. Click.
~So lock me up I cannot take it~
Click. Click. Click.
~Lock me up I’m already lost~
Vi hums to the tune, head bobbing up and down. The tip of her pink hair dances with each nod and the rest of her body hunches over the table. Her face is way too close to the monitor for her own good.
But Vi doesn’t care. She is in the zone now. Her eyes are fixed on the screen and her right hand holding the the mouse swings on the mouse pad with determination and precision.
Swing. The enemy’s head is locked on her crosshair. Click. The enemy falls. Repeat. There is something Zen about shooting digital heads with digital bullets. Especially when you’re good at it.
A rhythmic dance between woman and machine, a coordinated orchestra with her left and right hand, a—
“—giant can of Red Bull at 10 PM? What are you, crazy?”
Her headsets are snatched away from her head in one swift motion, and Vi’s ear is instantly flooded with the background noise of the LAN cafe—chatters, laughters, and the furious clicking sound of mouses and keyboards.
“Hey what the f—” Vi turns around in her chair, the tip of her tongue loaded with curse words in multiple different languages. But she finds Jinx standing behind her, her left hand on her hip and right hand holding up Vi’s noise-canceling headsets.
“Why, Pow?” Vi groaned. “Don’t you see I was focused?”
Jinx ignores her question with a concerned look on her face: “those things will kill you, you know?” She gestures at the energy drink on Vi’s desk before picking it up, ready to throw the half-finished drink away. “I hope you have at least bought life insurances with my name as the beneficiary. I’d hate to see you having a heart attack without a jump in my bank balance.”
“Give me that.” Vi grunts and snatches the energy drink back. “And that.” Jinx lets go of the drink and the headset without protest. “And if I were to buy some life insurance, Vander will be getting all the money.”
Jinx rolls her eyes and lightly hits Vi on the shoulder, and the pink-haired girl lets out a playful yell, feigning injury.
“Ekko and I are going to run a game together. You in?”
“Yeah of course.” Vi replies. “I was warming up with some Deathmatch just now before you came. 10 minutes?”
“Sounds good! Ugh I can’t believe I only got out of the lab at 9 PM today. How is it legal for the start of a semester to be this busy?” Jinx looks up and catches Ekko with the corner of her eye. She waves for him to come sit by the empty seats next to Vi.
“Busy with something…or someone?” Vi teases as she sees Ekko approaching.
“Ouch!” That comment earned her another punch from Jinx. “That one really hurts!”
“You deserved it.” Jinx huffs. “I’ll be right back. Don’t be weird with Ekko okay?”
“I’ll stop being weird until you stop being weird!” Vi laughs and waves her sister off.
“Hey Hey Little Man.” Vi greets Ekko as he sinks into the chair next to her and lets out a large sigh. “Ah my back has been killing me. Jinx and I has been lying on the concrete floor of the lab forever trying to fix one component of the engine.”
“Shouldn’t you be lying on your bed now then?” Vi asks. “What are you doing here?”
“Your sister,” Ekko grunts, “can be incredibly persuasive sometimes. But either way it’s nice to blow off some steam after a long day at school. Sometimes you get an itch that only Counter-Strike can scratch, right?”
“That I can relate.” Vi lets out a laugh. She takes a chuck of her energy drink and sees Jinx returning with a bottle of water in one hand and a bag of chips in the other.
“For you.” She said as she slams the water bottle on Vi’s table. “Ready?”
“Let’s roll!”
Vi takes a deep breath and puts her headsets on. A curtain of silence instantly drapes over the world. She takes a deep breath and cracks her knuckles, eyes re-focusing on her screen. A tinge of apprehension and excitement builds up in her stomach.
She loves this feeling so much.
————
“YOU ARE SUCH A F*CKING NOOB WHY DON’T YOU GO SUCK—” Vi yells into the microphone but is abruptly cut off as the match room shuts down. She groans as she rips off her headset and, after hesitating for a second, gently places it on her desk. The headset was an expensive gift from Jinx last Christmas and she is not tilted enough to destroy the gift that her sister saved up to buy for her.
The night might have started great but it certainly didn’t go as Vi had planned: she played two matches with Ekko and Jinx but they keep being paired with with two other idiot teammates who don’t seem to understand left clicking the mouse makes the gun go pew pew.
“I guess it’s just not meant to be!” Jinx stands up from her chair and stretches her arms. She lets out a big yawn—seemingly unbothered by the back to back loss. Looking down at Vi malding, she laughs lightheartedly and gives Vi’s shoulder a light massage: “come on sis. You can’t expect ever rando to be on your level. Not everyone used to be a semi-pro you know.”
Vi sighs and accepts defeat—she does get wayyy to competitive sometimes. Jinx notices her mood improving and gives her a light pat: “I’m gonna call it a night and walk back to my dorm. You too?” Ekko nods in agreement. “Are you helping Vander close up shop tonight?”
“Yup.” Vi glances at the bottom right corner of her computer. 12:47 AM. so she has 13 more minutes until closing time. “Let me check with him now.”
She gives Jinx a fist bump as she walks past her towards the front desk. Vander has dozed off already—leaning back in his chair against the wall, grabbing a phone that is in imminent danger of slipping out of his hand. The giant man looks like a trapped beast behind the comically small desk.
“Wakey Wakey!” Vi gives him a slight nudge and Vander shifts in his chair before slowly opening his eyes, taking a few seconds to fully register what’s going on.
“Oh geez.” Vander’s voice is hoarse after the nap. He rubs the back of his head and looks up at the clock. “Can’t believe I fell asleep again. These late nights are killing your old man.”
“Go home, Vander.” Vi shots a sympathetic smile towards her dad. “I can close up today.”
“Oh you’re an angel kid.” Vander stands up and chuckles. “Don’t forget locking up behind you alright?”
Vi waves her dad off as Vander moves towards the door before disappearing into the night.
She strolls behind the front desk and pulls out a clipboard with the checklist for closing up: Power, Trash, Lock. Vi has already memorized this by heart after working for Vander for over a year now, but she still prefers having a check list in her hand as she goes about her night.
Before all that though, Vi takes a lap around the LAN cafe to make sure that no one is still behind. Not making that mistake again. Vi thinks to herself. Imagine the horror of coming to work the next day and finding a customer sleeping behind the front desk. Vi got a proper scolding for that.
The cafe that Vander owns isn’t that big: they have a bar area to the left of the entrance that serves coffee during the day and cocktails at night, and to the right is a much bigger room with rows of PCs—80 of them in total. Vi still can’t believe that Jinx and her managed to convince Vander to turn their father’s old beat-down bar next to the University into a LAN cafe—the old man has never even heard of that word before. But he saw how Jinx and her friends spend hours after hours everyday buried in front of a computer screen, and it just so happened that Vander was looking for away to out of the bartending business.
I’m too old to deal with these drunk college kids. Vi remembers Vander’s grumble every time he used to come back home. And now, they have replaced drunk college kids with tryhard college nerds. Should be easier…right?
It seems like everyone has left—they usually don’t get that many customers on a school night either way. Vi glances at where she was sitting at before: Jinx and Ekko has disappeared without her noticing. Slippery as an eel. They also took out their trash and Vi’s empty energy drink can on their way out. Vi’s mouth pulls into a faint grin as she thinks about how considerate her sister can be. Growing up it has always been the other way around—Vi taking care of Jinx whenever the sensitive young sister needs her to. But now that Jinx is her own person and smarter than ever, Vi’s work is done. Although she can’t stop herself from letting out a chuckle at the fact that her sister and Ekko are stupidly in love with each other for years without either of them taking that final step.
Click. Click.
Confused, Vi’s head turns towards the sound and she barely makes out the shape of a head towards the back corner of the room, buried deep behind a monitor.
Oh god, she almost locked another customer inside.
“Hey, we’re closing at 1 today so you should probably start wrapping up.” Vi raises her voice slightly louder than usual.
No response.
Vi sighs and drags herself towards the PC. It’s always that one person. Just ten more minutes please until I wrap up this quest! Oh come on who goes to bed this early? Vi readies herself for a hearty protest from some gaming addict that needs to get a life. she walks around the row of PC and the remaining customer comes into full view.
Vi was right…but not quite.
The first thought that struck Vi’s mind is that she can’t believe how beautiful the girl in front of her is. In fact it took her brain a loooong time before she can even start to comprehend what she is seeing: dark blue hairs, light blue eyes, and she is wearing a black turtleneck that makes Vi’s eyes linger at all the wrong places. But what stands out the most is how focused the girl is: eyes glued to the screen like laser, eyebrows furrowed with concentration, lips parsed into a thin line…
Vi is staring. Staring is rude. Vi needs to stop staring.
Her brain though, did not get the message. And Vi feels like the air is thinning in the room—
“Can I help you?”
The question breaks Vi out of her trance and she realizes the girl is looking right into her eyes with a confused and slightly annoyed expression.
“We are—” Vi’s mouth is suddenly very dry. Vi don’t know why she is becoming nervous—she is the manager of the damn place after all. She awkwardly clears her throat, trying to find some confidence: “I’m just letting you know that we’ll be closing at 1 AM today, which is…right now, actually.”
The girl freezes, and they just, stares at each other.
One second. Two Seconds. Three seconds.
Thankfully it only lasted until three, because Vi can feel her face starting to burn up under the girl’s gaze.
“Oh god!” The girl sharply turns towards her computer and alt-tab out of her game. Looking at the time on the corner of the screen, she lets out a groan and begins frantically packing up her stuff.
“I’m so so sorry! I’m usually really good at keeping track of the time but I just got carried away—” Her voice trails off as she struggles to unplug her headphone. She signs and looks up at Vi, embarrassed. A hint of blushing sweeps across her face before Vi could notice it.
“It—it’s cool. Don’t worry about it.” Vi stops her before the girl destroys her headphone, which is becoming a real possibility given how clumsy she looks. This made Vi feel a little more at ease. “Feel free to finish up this game. I still need to clean up the shop so you have some time.”
“Are you sure it’s not too much trouble?” The girl responds with unease. It’s clear that she doesn’t like to inconvenient people.
“Don’t worry about it Cupcake.” Vi gives her a smile and a wave before walking away.
The moment she turns back, Vi loses the last bit of her composure and starts having a meltdown. Who is this girl that she has never seen around here before? Why was she so…flustered in front of her for whatever reason? It’s not like Vi hasn’t seen or been with attractive women before, but it’s been a good minute since she has had butterflies in her stomach. Of course she also has a cute accent. And why in god’s name did Vi call her Cupcake? She really panicked there. Vi groans at how embarrassing that must have been.
You always gets nervous in front of pretty girls. Jinx’s mocking jab from high school comes back to haunt her as Vi begins cleaning up the rest of the cafe. She is determined to play a game called “how I can clean the entire place without turning around to face the pretty girl,” and she is actually doing admirably well until…
“Thank you again for letting me stay a little late. I really hope it didn’t make your life harder.”
Vi looks up and the girl is standing right in front of her with a grateful smile. And Vi really does have to look up because the girl is a good few inches taller than her—a detail that slipped past her eyes earlier when the girl was sitting.
“No…no problem!” Vi swallows HARD, her expression dazed. “Night! I mean, have a good…good night.”
Complete sentences, Vi. It’s not that hard.
“Good night!” The girl gives her a little wave before turning away, carrying her backpack in one hand and jacket in another. She disappears around the corner and Vi lets out a relieved sigh.
Vi goes back to cleaning, not realizing that she is cleaning the same section that she already did 10 minutes ago. Absentmindedly, she keeps glancing up towards the entrance, each time thinking that she caught a glimpse of dark blue hair fluttering in the summer night breeze.
————
What the hell was that?
Caitlyn leans against the wall outside the LAN cafe, breathing in the humid air. She closes her eyes, replaying the scene earlier in her head.
Tonight was supposed to be a laid-back, stress-free gaming session where she checks out the LAN cafe next to the University for the first time. She has been planning to come to the Last Drop for a while, but she only moved here two weeks ago at the beginning of the semester, and this afternoon was the first time that she is actually free.
Why in god’s name did she sign up to do a PhD at Zaun University? Caitlyn knows why, but that doesn’t mean she can’t hate the answer. Long hours, unpredictable schedule, a thesis advisor that’s impossible to please—all in exchange for a respite from her golden cage back in Piltover.
Was it worth it?
The bell chimes as Caitlyn pushes open the front door. She steps through the entrance and takes a few seconds to take in her surroundings. The space is really cozy: warm lighting, wood panels around the wall, Super Mario OST is playing faintly in the background, and the front desk counter is crammed with video game character plushies.
She has a feeling that she is going to fall in love with this place.
The giant man behind the counter greets her with a warm smile, and Caitlyn greets him back with a grin and a polite nod. “Welcome to the Last Drop!” He announces. “What are we in the mood for today?”
“Ummm can I get a seat at a PC?” Caitlyn responses with a hint of uncertainty. Shocking as it may sound, she has never been to a LAN cafe before. Back in Piltover she had her own gaming PC at home—top of the line graphic card, water cooling, high refresh rate monitors—the best kind that money can buy. But that’s the sort of privilege one has to give up when one defies her mother’s wish and move to different city.
“Of course!” The man seems to be able to read Caitlyn’s mind because he goes on to explain, “so the way we work here is that you can pick any PC you want back there.” He gestures towards the PC room to Caitlyn’s right. “Just put your stuff down, get comfortable, and come back to tell me the number on your PC. Then I’ll get your clock started for ya. You’ll leave your credit card with me—just like how a bar tab works. It’s 4 dollars per hour, but capped at $40 total if you are staying for more than 10 hours, which—“ he takes a glance at the clock “—is probably not going to be the case today since we close at 1 AM.”
“Thank you!” The man’s warm demeanor puts Caitlyn at ease instantly, although she can’t help but feel that the man himself is a little uncomfortable and feels very out of place behind the front desk of a LAN cafe.
Caitlyn walks into the PC room, looking around before quickly deciding on a seat at the back corner. A little privacy never hurts. She notes down the number behind her monitor, 51, and walks back to the front desk with her credit card in hand.
————
Caitlyn holds her breath—the scope of her sniper rifle is zoomed in on an angle that she knows the enemy will appear at any second now. The key to being a good AWPer? Reflex, Positioning, and Patience. All of which Caitlyn possesses in abundance.
A flash of pink grazes the corner of her eyes—at the exact moment when the enemy appeared on her screen. Click. Caitlyn was a split second too late and she missed her shot. Caitlyn groans and reluctantly gives up the angle that she was holding, retreating to a more passive position for a better shot. She isn’t sure what she saw—nothing in Counter-Strike has the color pink. Caitlyn concludes that she must be hallucinating a bit. It’s been a long session after all. She makes a mental note to herself that this is going to be her last game.
She draws a deep breath through her nose and re-centers herself on the crosshair, but this time the pink re-emerges and stays within her field of vision. A vibrant, dancing dash of pink—too vibrant for Caitlyn to ignore. She takes peek from the corner of her eye and realizes it’s a woman’s hair. A woman who is standing to her side, arms crossed, watching her play.
Caitlyn is slightly annoyed…ok perhaps a little more than slightly. She is not sure what this woman wants—hopefully not her number because that has already happened twice today. Caitlyn knows that she is attractive, but a LAN cafe is the last place where she is hoping for that kind of attention. She just wants a quiet night where she wins a couple of CS matches. Is that really too much to ask—
An enemy runs into her scope, but Caitlyn’s mind is distracted. She doesn’t even have time to fire a shot before she is killed and put out of the round.
OK let’s deal with this. She sighs and take off her her headphones, mustering all the politeness that she learned as a politician’s daughter and asks:
“Can I help you?”
Her voice was as polite as she could be, but her eyes betray her as she uncontrollably shoots the person next to her an icy glare.
Somehow, the icy glare seems to hit Caitlyn back because, like a deer caught in the headlights, Caitlyn froze on the spot. The girl in front of her, with her rich pink hair, eyebrow slit, nose ring, and forearm crossed in front of her chest—god those forearms are muscular...
The girl is looking down at her, and Caitlyn feels like she is melting into the gaze from her soft gray eyes.
————
The rest of that evening went by like a blur. Caitlyn lost her game in spectacular fashion after her quick exchange with the girl, and she stumbled out of the LAN cafe with her belongings haphazardly stuffed in her backpack. She takes a second to cool off and now she is drags herself across the pavement, her body on autopilot back towards her apartment.
Her phone says 1:15AM—well past the limit that she set for herself with an early morning class tomorrow. She curses under her breath, realizing that she’d have to attend Professor Medarda’s symposium on advanced econometrics with a groggy mind. Advanced econometrics is required for all first year PhDs, and it is just so “conveniently” taught by her impossible-to-please thesis advisor.
Caitlyn spends the rest her walk thinking about how much caffeine she will need to survive tomorrow. Little did Caitlyn know, Medarda’s class is the last thing that she will be worrying about for a long time to come.