Kota didn’t understand it. How did he end up here twice in one week?

He thought this to himself as he entered the amusement park grounds, passing through the big sign at the front of the park labelled ‘WELCOME!’ It was odd how he’d only been here once before and already seemed to know the fair grounds well enough to maneuver his way around the stands, his blue eyes in search for one specific stand in particular. He walked past a few along the way, his nose hit with different smells all at once. Popcorn. Hot dogs. Sugary treats. He considered himself lucky at that moment he didn’t have enhanced smell alongside his vision and hearing, otherwise he be going through overload at that moment.

Despite the intoxicating aromas of food, that wasn’t what he was in search for. No. He was looking for the great white whale of the amusement park – the one stand that everyone struggled with that caught his eye the last time he was here.

Just as he thought these words in his head, his eyes caught sight of it.

And there it stood: the hackie sack game stand. Lit up by various different bulbs of red, blue and yellow, the point of the game was to throw a hackie sack at a still target in hopes of hitting the red and white circle with as many sacks as you could. You were handed a dozen hackie sacks, and the prizes of the game were displayed proudly on a shelf above. He stared up at the prizes, his eyes instantly locking on the one he’d spotted the other day.

A large stuffed panda.

Grinning to himself, he slapped his tickets on the counter and was handed a dozen hackie sacks. Because of his enhanced vision, Kota had perfect hand-eye coordination and had an unfair advantage to games like this. Proving his point, he threw one after another, each one hitting the designated target with near-perfect precision. The guy behind the counter raised his brow as Kota aimed his last and final hackie sack, throwing it in the target’s direction.

Bullseye.

Getting a perfect score, Kota was allowed to choose from the top row of the prizes and chose, of course, the panda. Satisfied with himself, he chose to hit up another stand to win another prize that caught his eye.

At least, that was his plan. Instead, as he rounded a corner of the stands, someone had ran straight into him and caused him to drop his panda, his own body being shoved into the dirty ground. Groaning, he looked over to see another boy around his age in a similar position, glancing in his direction and mouthing an apology. Kota frowned, his eyes drifting further to find where his panda had gone, shocked to find it in the one place he least expected.

His panda was on the ground, face down, with its head crushing a dropped ice cream cone.

“Hah?!” were the only words he could manage, crawling over across the ground to pick up his ice cream-coated panda with wide, frantic eyes. This had been the last panda on the game stand. He couldn’t win another one. What was he supposed to do now?! He pondered this as he mourned the loss of his stuffed animal, dropping his head and letting out a heavy sigh.

Kota cradled his stuffed panda in his arms, avoiding the ice cream now dripping from its fur. Was this karma for liking something girly? Or perhaps it was because he’d been so cocky at the target game? Either way, his prize was now lost, and all Kota was left to do was mourn. Even if he patted it down with napkins, there would be a large stain left as a reminder of the ice cream on the panda. There was no getting around the fact that the stuffed animal was now ruined.

“I’m sorry…”

A voice above him broke his thoughts, and Kota glanced up in time to see the boy from earlier doing some sort of bow of apology. He began rambling after that, apologizing over and over while offering different solutions as to how to fix the stuffed panda. His blue eyes widened in response, surprised this stranger would go out of his way to offer a solution to fix his panda. Why did he care so much? It was an accident.

Kota repeated that in his head: it was an accident. That’s right. This wasn’t some act of god or karma. They had simply run into each other at the wrong time, holding the perfect items combined for disaster.

He let out a sigh at the thought and shook his head when the boy asked if he was hurt. “I don’t think so. I’m fine,” he replied, standing up and dusting himself off. He felt a sting on his lower back where he’d hit the ground and would probably find a bruise there later on, but other than that he felt no pain. He didn’t know what the boy meant by helping him with an injury anyway. Did he have band-aids or something on him?

When the boy suggested to not give up on the bear, Kota merely shook his head in defeat. It was a lost cause holding onto it any longer. “I don’t think we can fix the panda. It’s stained now,” he huffed, clutching the stuffed animal to his chest. Walking over to a nearby stand, he grabbed some napkins and patted the fur down, proving his point by revealing the large stain once the ice cream was wiped away. Letting out another heavy sigh, he walked over to a trash can, hesitating, before slowly lowing the panda into its container.

“I’ll just win another one,” he shrugged, starting to walk off in the direction of the same game he’d played earlier.

Suddenly, an idea hit him. Kota stopped his feet and turned on his heel, looking back at the boy’s face with a slow grin crossing his features. “Actually…” he trailed off, pointing an accusing finger in the boy’s direction. “You should win me another animal. Once you do that, we’ll be even.” That seemed like a fair deal in his opinion, but it wouldn’t work if the boy didn’t agree.

“I’m so sorry for your loss…”

Kota blinked, surprise crossing his features. No one had ever apologized to him with such sincerity before. It honestly made him feel a bit guilty for his sad excuse of a reaction when the panda hit the ice cream. Although that reaction he couldn’t help – he always had a thing for stuffed animals. Back at home, he had a room full of them on the shelves of his walls. His sisters would often tease him about it, but they really meant no harm. In all honesty, he wouldn’t be surprised if they were secretly jealous of his collection. After all, liking stuffed animals was a girly thing to do.

He shook his head just as the other boy exclaimed that he would try his best, clenching his fists and showing a determined face. Kota raised a brow in response. And he thought he had childish reactions, but this boy was proving to have more.

The boy then suggested to try the game Kota played, and he shrugged in response. “There’s easier games to try, but sure, we can start with that one. It’s this way.” Motioning his head forward, he began walking through the crowds of people, assuming the boy was following him close behind. He took a few turns around the gaming tents, and just as he began to think he’d passed it, the stand came into his sights.

Ah, there it is.

Walking over to it, Kota turned back around and motioned to the game, explaining the rules. “It costs two tickets. There’s a single, unmoving target you have to hit with these hackie sacks.” He gestured downward to the small hackie sacks aligned on the game table. “You’re given a dozen, so you have a lot of chances. Depending on how many times you hit the target determines what kind of prize you get. And I want…” Kota looked over to the prize shelf, his eyes lifting toward the top area where the best prizes were. Instantly his eyes caught sight of a large stuffed lion, it’s yellow fur appearing silky smooth in the dim lighting of the game stand.

“I want the lion, so you need to get a good score for it,” he finished, turning back to face the boy. “You think you can handle that? We can always try an easier game if it doesn’t work out.”