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MC felt nothing but regret as he walked through the crowded fair by himself. The entire time, he saw smiling children and happy families enjoying their time together, and it made him feel even worse. After having a fight with Sayori, he chose to walk away without apologizing. At that moment, he thought it was the best way to end it without things getting worse. He realized too late that he should have done better. Just thinking about Sayori's sad face made his eyes sting. A part of him wanted to go back and apologize right then and there, but another part believed that it was too late for that. He continued to walk with his head hung low.
He would occasionally lift his head, his attention easily captured by the bright signs promoting games to play, the racks lined with prizes tempting him further. Perhaps playing something could help him feel better. MC scanned the stands and booths, trying to decide on which game to play. Eventually, his eyes landed on a cow plush, one with black limbs, a white body, and a black spot on one of its eyes.
Sayori would like that.
The plush had to be won from a ring toss game. A big sign displaying a rather simple win condition caught MC's eye. All he had to do was toss a ring, have it land around the neck of a glass bottle, and he'd win the plush. He knew that, despite how easy it sounded, these games were far more difficult than they promoted themselves to be.
Judging by the prize rack still being lined with prizes, this game in particular was probably one of, if not the hardest, to win. Yet it managed to have a decent amount of people surrounding the array of bottles, throwing rings either one or multiple at a time. The sound of hard plastic colliding with glass could be heard frequently and inconsistently.
He approached the carny in charge, causing them to perform a routine greeting. MC was quick to ask, "How much to play?" immediately and bluntly after they finished talking.
"Twelve tickets," the carny answered enthusiastically.
Reaching into his pocket, MC pulled out the tickets he had left. He counted them up, having exactly twelve tickets. Playing the game was a big risk. If he played this game and didn't win anything, he couldn't buy more tickets. His parents could only give him so much money for an allowance. MC pondered if it was even worth trying to play. There were already a few people playing, and any one of them could win and take the plush for themselves.
But his friendship with Sayori was on the line. He needed to win the plush for her. He had never seen Sayori so sad in his life. In his mind, a mere apology was not enough to make up for making her that unhappy.
He handed the carny the tickets. In exchange, he was handed a bucket full of small, red rings, barely wider than the bottlenecks. As he predicted, this game was going to be very difficult. But Sayori deserved that plush, he was going to win it for her if it took him all day.
Without hesitation, MC lightly tossed the very first ring.
Clang
Thud
Watching the ring bounce on the bottle and fall on the floor had set the tone of the game for MC. However, he had more than enough opportunities to try and get the ring to land around the necks of any of the bottles. He grabbed another ring and threw it. Just like the first ring, it bounced around before falling on the ground. A grunt of frustration passed his lips as he grabbed a third ring and tossed it without thought.
Ring after ring, MC watched as they would bounce, only to fall on the ground or in between the bottles. Sometimes, they'd land on the ring but bounce up and out. At first, it was frustrating. Now, it was demotivating. He slowly started to lose confidence as he mindlessly threw rings one at a time, watching them land everywhere but around a bottle's neck. The bucket was half-empty. His chances were growing slimmer with each ring thrown.
Some part of MC was beginning to tell him to stop. It tried convincing him to give up because of how slim the chances of winning were. But, as his eyes shifted over to the cow plush, he reminded himself of who he was doing this for. This was for Sayori. He had to win this. Their friendship was on the line. If he couldn't win this, he would have failed as Sayori's friend.
Still throwing rings, he thought back to their argument. It all seemed like a distant memory, but the way he ended it was what he remembered the most, viscerally so:
"You're being so annoying! Just leave me alone."
Replaying the memory, especially the conclusion, was painful. If Sayori decided she didn't want to be his friend anymore, he would have felt like it was deserved. But, if there was even a slim chance that she could forgive him for his attitude, for what he said, he'd take it the same way he took this slim chance of winning the cow plush.
When MC reached into the bucket, he realized that it was empty. He had been throwing these rings while in his own head. He should have taken the time to figure out the best way to throw the rings. Instead, he was carelessly tossing them toward the bottles. Looking inside, a single ring remained, a single opportunity to win something that Sayori deserved from him. The ring, now being fiddled with between his index and thumb, meant the whole world to him at that moment.
MC’s amber eyes stared at the ring for a few moments, and it felt like that gaze was being reciprocated. The lights from the game booth reflected off the red plastic. Multiple eyes looked at MC, unblinking, intimidating, taunting him to take his best shot. He almost shivered. With one last look at the dozens of bottles, he tossed the ring like a disc.
It bounced from one bottle, gaining less than a second of airtime before landing on its neighbor. It spun around the neck, slowly lowering before finally resting on the shoulder. A short gasp escaped MC's lips. His eyes widened. His mouth was agape in shock. He did it. Other spectating eyes looked at the only ring around a bottle, and they traced their way to MC.
The carny, having watched his final ring toss, approached him in surprise. "Our very first winner of the night, everyone!" The other players started to clap for MC in celebration, leaving him more than a little confused.
MC immediately pointed at the cow plush, prompting the carny to take it from the rack and hand it to him. He nodded to them in thanks before taking a few seconds to stare at the cow in disbelief. A small smile appeared on his face as he walked away from the booth. He really did it. He won the plush.
Now it was time to find Sayori.
He attempted to backtrack to where he parted ways with her. The sun was already beginning to set, the horizon a bright gold while the rest of the sky was becoming a stunning pink. He was running out of time. His parents said they'd be here to pick them both up at sundown. If he couldn't find her now, everything would take a turn for the worse.
In a panic, MC began to go in random directions, taking random turns, ending up even more lost than before. Suddenly, he spotted coral pink hair and a red bow left askew. He knew without a doubt it was Sayori. His pace increased, attempting to catch up to her before she walked any further.
"Sayori!"
She turned her head when her name was called, spotting MC running towards her. Even from his distance, and as he got closer, he could see a defined frown on her face. "MC… hi!" From the tone of her voice, combined with her expression, it was clear that she was still very sad, and it was definitely because of their argument.
Her eyes caught the cow plush in MC's arms, and her irises almost sparkled. "Wow… that cow… it's so cute. Where did you win it?" she asked, attempting to sound happy for him.
"I played a ring toss game. It was really hard," he explained, out of breath from running. His gaze alternated between the cow plush and Sayori.
"Ah… well, at least you won it. Congrats." Sayori smiled sadly, keeping her eyes on the plush.
MC didn't like seeing her attempt to be happy for his sake. He firmly shook his head. "Actually," his head turned away to hide the embarrassed look on his face. "I won it for you."
Sayori's expression changed immediately upon hearing his words. In disbelief, she let out a near-silent, "What?" A hand covered her mouth, while the other rested on her chest. "For me? But… why?"
Giving the plush to her was already embarrassing enough, but now he had to explain why he won it in the first place? This was harder than he thought it'd be. "I saw it, and I thought you'd really like it. I was playing that game the entire time after I walked away," he explained, his head turned away.
The setting sun could be seen in the cow's black eyes, like golden irises staring at Sayori. She wanted to take it and never let it go, but a part of her was hesitating. She couldn't quite understand why MC would go out of his way to win this prize for her.
Their eyes met. "I'm sorry about what happened earlier, Sayori. I didn't mean anything I said," he told her firmly. "The cow is an apology gift. I thought if I won it for you, then you would forgive me."
Sayori's eyes felt watery. She couldn't believe that MC would spend all his time playing a game just to win a prize for her. "Aww, MC." Without hesitation, she threw her arms around him, hugging him tightly, squishing the cow plush between their bodies. "I forgive you!"
With his hands occupied by the plush, he had no opportunity to return the embrace. As soon as she let go, he bashfully looked away again. "Please don't make it that big of a deal. Just take it," he begged, almost becoming frustrated.
"I just can't believe you'd win something for me!" Sayori took the plush from his hands, holding it in the air before hugging it tightly. "I'm going to cherish it for the rest of my life!"
To see Sayori so happy over a simple plush made MC happy as well. His mouth curled up into a small smile as he watched her play around with it from the corner of his eye.
"So, are you gonna name it?"
Without hesitation, Sayori answered, "His name is Mr. Cow!"
MC let out a small laugh. He expected her to give it a name as simple as that. It was such a Sayori answer. Watching her play with Mr. Cow caused his smile to widen before looking at the sunset. Although pretty, it was a gentle reminder of the time they had left. "My mom said she'd be here about now to pick us up. We should get going."
"Okay!" Sayori replied, giving Mr. Cow a final squeeze before starting to walk with MC to the fair's exit.
Both of them had wide smiles on their faces.