Then the orange swirl returned. And the text appeared again, smaller this time, nested in the bottom corner like a forgotten order ticket:

Marcus stared at the purple disc. It had a crack now. A hairline fracture from the center spindle to the edge. He knew, with the terrible certainty of a corrupted BIOS, that there was no disc 2. There never was. This wasn't a port. This was a lure. Atomiswave arcade hardware was for fighters and racers. This thing… this thing was a trap for hungry ghosts.

He tried again. Slice, slice, slice. The cursor was useless. The salmon just wobbled. He clicked the mouse button in desperation. The laser dot flared. A tiny, pixelated flame erupted, scorching the fish to ash.

PRESS START TO SERVE.

His Dreamcast, a gray relic he kept alive with soldered joints and prayers, hummed to life. The usual orange swirl appeared, but it was wrong. The swirl was bleeding. Red seeped into the orange like dye in water. Then, silence.

After the tenth failure, the screen changed. No more sushi bar. No more conveyor belt. Just the chef. The low-poly, mask-faced god of this broken arcade world. He leaned forward, his jagged fingers wrapping around the frame of the CRT, as if he could climb out.

Another level loaded. This time, he was behind the counter. He could feel the weight of the chef’s cleaver in his polygonal hand. The orders came faster. EEL. 1 SLICE. 1 SECOND. OCTOPUS. 8 SLICES. 4 SECONDS.