We came out of the glass corridor and walked half a lap around the deck.
The sea breeze had picked up, carrying the sharp smell of salt and the distant sound of seagulls.
My skirt brushed against my calves with each step. The silver gear on my back swayed gently.
The deck was quieter now. Most passengers had gone inside for the afternoon activities.
At the stairwell, Dianzi stopped and pointed at the neon sign overhead.
"Sister, let's go over there."
The Phantom Light Arcade was on the fourteenth deck of the ship.
The entrance was hung with signs made of neon tubes—purple, green, blue—casting shards of coloured light on the dark red carpet.
The carpet was thick and soft, muffling our footsteps as we walked in.
Inside was packed.
The air was thick with the sound of beeping machines, electronic music, and people shouting.
A wave of cold air from the air conditioning hit my face, carrying the smell of popcorn and plastic.
The VR deep‑sea exploration zone had a long queue.
People stood in line with their heads down, scrolling through their phones.
A woman in a red dress yawned behind her hand. A man in a cap tapped his foot impatiently.
The dance machine zone was taken over by a few young people in fluorescent T‑shirts.
They moved in perfect sync, their feet tapping the pads in a rhythm that seemed too fast for the human body.
Sweat glistened on their foreheads. The crowd around them cheered after every successful combo.
The claw machine zone was relatively quieter—only two or three people queuing at each machine.
Dianzi pulled me straight towards the claw machines.
Her fingers were warm around my wrist. She was excited.
"This young lady wants that one." She pointed at a plush toy in the farthest machine.
A fluffy squirrel, light brown, hugging an acorn, its tail curled up, its expression both dazed and earnest.
The acorn was the size of a ping-pong ball, embroidered with a tiny leaf on top.
"Why that one?"
"Because it looks like you when you're thinking."
I looked at her.
She was adjusting the lens angle on her neck chains, pretending not to have heard.
A smile tugged at the corner of her mouth.
[chat] This outfit is so fairy today
[chat] Black Lolita in an arcade, incredible
[chat] That little gear on the chest is so cute
[chat] Lolita and neon lights go so well together
I looked down.
The black Lolita skirt was refracting tiny specks of light under the neon glow.
The wine‑red ribbons in my hair lifted slightly in the air conditioning.
The silver gear hairpin behind my ear caught a flash of purple light from the nearest sign.
I could feel the weight of the gear on my back, cool against my skin through the open fabric.
"What do my treasures want to see first?" Dianzi leaned closer to the lens. "VR deep sea, dance machine, or claw machine?"
[chat] Claw machine!
[chat] Dance machine
[chat] Claw machine +1
[chat] I want to see everything
"Then claw machine it is." Dianzi turned to me. "Sister, coins."
I took a handful of plastic coins from the Lingguang Xihuan.
The coins were cool and smooth in my palm, each one stamped with a holographic dolphin.
The dolphins shimmered when I tilted my hand, blue and silver.
I inserted one and moved the joystick.
The claw dropped with a mechanical whir.
It closed on nothing but air. Empty.
The machine beeped sadly.
Another coin. Another try.
The claw caught the squirrel's tail, lifted it, shook it once, and dropped it. Empty.
The squirrel landed on its back, its little legs sticking up.
[chat] Your claw machine skills are so bad 😂
[chat] Mum can't watch this
[chat] Hahahahaha
[chat] Daughter, keep going!
Dianzi bit her lower lip and pushed the joystick towards me. "Sister, you try."
I inserted a coin.
The machine beeped.
I moved the joystick slowly, aligning the claw directly above the squirrel's body.
The squirrel's glass eyes stared up at me, patient and unblinking.
The claw dropped.
This time it caught the squirrel firmly around its middle.
I held my breath.
The claw lifted, moved steadily towards the chute, and released right above the opening.
The squirrel fell in, rolled once, and landed face up in the collection tray.
[chat] Got it in one try?
[chat] What kind of luck is this?
[chat] Sister is too strong
Dianzi crouched down, scooped it out, and held it up to the lens.
The squirrel's brown fur was soft, its black button eyes slightly mismatched.
One eye was higher than the other. It gave the squirrel a permanently confused look.
"My treasures, look. Its name is Lychee."
"Why Lychee?"
"Because it's hugging an acorn, and the acorn is round, like a lychee." She paused. "And this young lady likes eating lychees."
She turned the squirrel over to check the seams, then tucked it into her small bag.
Only a furry head and half a tail remained visible, poking out from the opening.
The tail was fluffy, with a white tip that twitched when the bag moved.
We walked around the arcade.
The queue for the VR deep‑sea zone had not moved.
The man at the front kept staring at the entrance, as if waiting for someone who never came.
His hands were in his pockets. His shoulders were tense.
The dance machine zone had a new player—a young man in a plaid shirt dancing earnestly but completely off beat.
His arms flailed. His feet stumbled.
The spectators were laughing loudly, their phones raised to capture the moment.
A girl with pink hair was recording a video. Her friend was laughing so hard she had to hold onto the machine.
I held up the interface, letting the lens sweep across these scenes.
Not deliberately.
It was just that every machine had people queuing, and every queuing face carried a similar expression.
——The waiting expression. Not waiting for the game to start. Waiting for something else.
At the other end of the claw machine zone, I stopped.
A little boy stood in front of a machine, clutching his last coin.
He was small, maybe four or five years old, wearing a striped T‑shirt that was too big for him.
The collar hung off one shoulder. His shoes were scuffed at the toes.
He had already tried three times. All misses.
His mother stood two steps away, looking down at her phone.
The screen light illuminated her face, showing no expression.
Her thumb scrolled slowly. Up and down. Up and down.
He inserted the coin, moved the joystick with both hands.
His tongue stuck out slightly, a sign of deep concentration.
The claw dropped.
It caught a plush dolphin, lifted it, moved it over the chute, and released.
The dolphin fell in with a soft thud.
He bent down to retrieve it, his face breaking into a huge smile.
His whole body glowed with joy.
He held up the dolphin and turned to call out, "Mummy! Mummy, look!"
His mother did not look up.
"Mummy!" He called again, louder, with a note of urgency creeping into his voice.
The woman looked up. "Mm. All right." Then she looked back down at her phone.
The smile stopped on the boy's face.
It began to fade from the edges inward, like a photograph left too long in the sun.
His eyes dimmed first. Then his cheeks. Then his mouth.
He looked down at the dolphin in his hand, hugged it tight against his chest, and said nothing more.
His knuckles were white where he gripped the plush toy.
He stood there for a few seconds, his small shoulders rising and falling with a deep breath.
Then he followed behind his mother.
As he walked, he twisted his body to look back at the claw machine.
Inside, many more dolphins—purple, pink, yellow—sat motionless under the lights.
Their glass eyes reflected the neon glow, but no one was looking at them.
A purple dolphin near the front had a crooked smile stitched onto its face.
[chat] Hugs for the little brother 😔
[chat] Mummy, could you just look at him?
[chat] That smile breaks my heart
I closed the interface and tucked my phone into my crossbody bag.
The bag felt heavier than before, though nothing had changed inside.
"Let's go."
"Sister, that little boy..."
"I saw him. He smiled, and she did not look up."
The words came out flat. I did not mean them to.
Dianzi took the squirrel out of her bag and hugged it in her arms.
She pressed her cheek against the squirrel's furry head.
"Lychee, you'll be this young lady's child. This young lady will look at you."
The squirrel hugged its acorn.
"It says yes," Dianzi said.
We walked out of the arcade.
The neon lights were left behind, their colours fading as we stepped into the corridor.
The transition from bright purple and green to white fluorescent was always jarring.
The fluorescent lights in the corridor hummed their steady, monotonous hum.
The little boy was gone.
Only the echo of his footsteps remained, fading into the distance.
The claw machines were still lit, the dolphins still turning inside.
Round and round.
Waiting for the next person to insert a coin.
No one came.
I wondered how long they would keep turning.