Disclaimer: I don't own anything you recognize.

A/N: Written for ChibaHaya Week 2018 Day 5- Practice/ Partner. In case it's confusing, this is written from the viewpoint of a random guy working at a shooting arcade.

Practice

Through the years, he had seen a lot of customers go in and out of the shooting arcade.

He wasn't very old, maybe in his mid twenties when he first saw them. The peculiar duo of a black haired boy and a pigtailed girl, both wearing middle school uniforms.

The boy kind of freaked him out because his eyes were always covered by his bangs, while the girl had an unusually piercing stare.

What was even more unusual was how they acted as if they were adults even though they were clearly middle school students. And most middle school students didn't go to the shooting arcade three times a week. Shooting wasn't a very popular hobby.

But yet, these two were there. Every week. At the exact same time.

He had tried to make conversation with the kids, but they were very quiet and made minimal efforts to communicate. He learned not to pry, but still he felt curious about them.

The girl told him they were practicing at the arcade.

"Practicing for what?" he asked.

The girl stayed silent for a few seconds before the boy quietly stated they were practicing for a shooting tournament.

"Oh? When is it?"

The two exchanged a look and then the girl said, "Next March."

"That's a long time from now," he mentioned.

"We take it very seriously," the boy replied. "We have to practice constantly."

"Alright, have it your way." He watched as the two disappeared from the reception into their usual room.

These two were peculiar all right.

The two students became one of their regular customers. His shift always landed on when the two would be practicing. He heard his colleagues mutter among themselves. Why would two kids come to the shooting arcade so often? They were one of the few who had a gold membership card. Plus, according to some rumours, these kids were exceptionally good shots.

Sometimes, a bunch of other kids would also come along. They came less than the two shooter kids, and they always chattered loudly. Unlike the two kids, they were more carefree and joked with each other frequently.

"Wow, you kids really like going here," he said.

"Yeah, this shooting arcade is pretty nice," an outgoing blonde girl spoke. "It would be a bit better if the construction work over there stopped. Sometimes it gets really noisy."

"Hmm, what if I tell you we're building an area for paintballing?"

The girl's blue eyes glittered with excitement. "Wow, I love paintball! I bet Rinka-chan would be really happy. You know her? Hayami Rinka? The girl with peach coloured hair in low pigtails?"

"Yes, she comes here often. Always with the other boy," he recalled.

The girl chuckled. "Man, those two have a suspicious relationship. But I guess going to the shooting arcade together is their version of a date-"

"Nakamura!" someone else called. "Let's get going!"

"Bye!" the energetic girl waved and bounced back to her companions.

He thought about how different the blonde girl was from the shooter kids. The shooter kids acted more like adults than him sometimes.

The paintball venue opened during the summer holidays. Excited students flocked there to experience the sensation of being at a battlefield. For the first time, the pigtailed girl wasn't with the no eyed boy, she was with that blonde- Nakamura, and a few other girls.

"You're so good at it, so Yada, Kurahashi and I will be ganging up on you. You can handle us all, I suppose," Nakamura said.

The girl called Hayami remained emotionless. "I still have a lot to learn."

"Well anyways, you should have a good understanding of paintball sooooo you can impress Chiba when you go on dates-"

Hayami nudged Nakamura in the ribs and the blonde started to laugh. Ah, teenage theatrics were always so silly yet so amusing.

A few days later, the shooter kids resumed their usual schedule of practicing three days per week. One time, they decided to paintball. When they emerged, the girl was stifling laughter while the boy was immensely annoyed.

"That actually hurt, Hayami, it's not funny-"

Hayami was laughing so much she had to hold onto Chiba's shoulder for support. "I'm sorry! But your face was priceless!"

"I'm never going to paintball with you again," Chiba huffled, a breathless Hayami stumbling after him.

Of all the times they were at the shooting arcade, this was the first time they were more like middle school students than adults. And the change was rather interesting to see.

But that was the only time they laughed that much. After that, they immediately retreated into their quiet shell.

The seasons and days flew by, and yet these two were unchanging, determined to follow their schedule.

During the winter holidays, he noticed a sober, solemn aura around the duo. Hayami's eyes seemed to lack life as she walked up to the reception.

He wondered what had happened, but he knew he was in no position to ask. He wished he could do something to comfort them, but he knew how quiet and reserved they were.

That was the only time they had visited the arcade for the entire winter holidays.

After that, they basically disappeared from the shooting arcade.

He was worried for them. Sure, they never really talked or were friends, but he saw them almost every time he worked. It was uncanny not to see them for such a long period of time.

Suddenly, they reappeared, looking ten times happier than they did before. He didn't question them and they didn't say a thing.

The date of their shooting tournament loomed closer and closer at an astonishing speed, and before he knew it, he had known them for almost a year.

Strangely enough, the week before their tournament, they stopped going to the arcade. These two had always been so peculiar that it didn't really surprise him anymore.

The next time they visited, the new school year had already begun. The shooter kids now wore different high school uniforms, and the girl had let her hair down. They also behaved more casually around each other instead of always being so stoick and serious.

"Good to see you two back. We'll be running out of business if you guys don't come back," he joked. "How's the shooting tournament?"

"It went well," the boy said and that was all he was willing to reveal.

"I thought after the tournament was over, you guys would stop coming here to practice."

"Oh, that was what we thought at first, too," the girl answered. "But I guess we became too attached to shooting."

But even as she said that, he noticed as the kids grew up, they came back less and less until one day, they completely vanished. He assumed they were now at universities and then later, work, so they probably wouldn't have time to visit his little shooting arcade anymore.

Through the years, he had seen a lot of customers go in and out of the shooting arcade.

But these two peculiar kids were the ones he remembered the most. The middle school shooting prodigies who had a ridiculously strict training schedule.

When the kids (oh, but they weren't kids anymore) were in their twenties, they came back for a round of casual shooting. "Just for old time's sake," the girl (woman?) had said.

Years and years later, the shooter kids had almost all but faded from his memory, when two adults approached the reception.

He blinked, and he knew he had definitely seen these two before. The same slightly wavy, peach coloured hair, but up in a tight bun. The man's black bangs still hung over his face.

It was staggering to see how they were once little teenagers, and now they were fully grown adults.

"Yo, you're still working here?" the man asked as if he hadn't been absent from the arcade for more than twenty years.

He shrugged. "I have to continue my dad's business. Wow, can't believe it's been so long. You two grew up so much."

"You used to know my parents?" a new voice piped up. He turned to see a little kid of around twelve with wavy black hair, sharp red eyes looking curiously at him.

"Oh, he was the receptionist here when your dad and I were young," the woman explained.

Aww sweet, they got married and had a kid.

"It's a good place for a practice," the man said. "Haruka, let's come along. We'll teach you the basics."

It seemed like yesterday when the shooter kids entered the arcade for the first time, and now they had grown up and had another shooter kid of their own.

He had once seen a generation of kids practicing their shooting skills at the arcade, and now he would witness another generation.

A/N: Hehe sorry if it was crappy. Day 6 (Music/ Dance) will be a drawing while Day 7 (AU/ Bullseye) will be a new medieval (?) AU fanfiction posted on my account. Here's the summary:

A dragon kidnaps a princess who's about to get married. Except the dragon is a really bad captor and the princess doesn't mind so long she has her cat.

Thanks for reading and please review!