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“Eh? What are you saying so suddenly… Ugh, this guy… Oraoraoraora…!”

In consideration of me, Asanagi took me to play a shooter game with her.

It took a while for me to get used to it since I’ve never played it before, but once I got used to it, I managed to deal with the enemies without losing any of my lives.

Shooting things with a gun like this is fun.

“Hmm… Second place, huh? I guess my mistakes at the start were impactful after all.”

“No, no, no, it’s your first time playing and you got into the ranking list, that’s amazing enough already. Whenever I played this with our classmates, we always got done in before we could even clear it.”

“…Asanagi, once more?”

“Mm… Sure, fine.”

Originally I planned to only play it for one round, but that one round felt more like a warm-up than anything, so I decided to go for another round.

Sure, we were only playing for fun, but I was quite a competitive person, so I had to take it seriously.

“Hey, Maehara.”

“Mm? What?”

“Are you having fun?”

“…Well, I guess… you?”

“Well, I guess.”

Asanagi mimicked my tone while grinning from ear to ear.

“Don’t mock me.”

“I’m not, I’m just telling you the truth. Hey, focus, the enemy is coming.”

She said as she held up her gun and aimed it toward the screen.

“Urk…”

At first, I was just going along with whatever Asanagi wanted, but now, I feel like I’m the one who’s pulling her around.

Before coming here, I always thought that this place was just an idiotic, noisy place, but now that I’m here with Asanagi, I find myself enjoying it.

Guess you gotta experience it by yourself before you could judge it, huh?

“ORA!”

Clank!

After we were done with the shooting game, we went to the batting cage.

Asanagi decided to show me the ropes, so we went to the 120km/h speed pitching machine. That speed should be quite difficult for a girl to handle, but Asanagi proved me wrong and was able to hit the ball with amazing accuracy.

“You weren’t lying when you said you’re good at physical activities.”

“Of course! I’ve been hanging out with Yuu since I was little. Besides, I need to get some exercise every once in a while."

Asanagi, her sweat trickling down her forehead, came over with a satisfied look on her face.

She was still wearing her oversized hoodie and jeans, but I could tell from her figure that she was in good shape.

Even though she slacked off occasionally, she probably did enough to stay fit. No wonder she could accompany Amami-san as the center of the class.

“Since I hit a home run, I got a bonus round, so, here, Maehara, your turn.”

“Huh? Me?”

Asanagi held the bat out to me.

“Of course. You have to exercise once in a while too, you know?”

But, I’ve never even held a baseball bat before.

Not only have I never played baseball, I’m also bad at sports in general. Hitting the ball with this bat might be a pipe dream for me.

“Don’t worry, no need to be embarrassed if you can’t hit it, I won’t laugh at you.”

“There you go with your ‘I won’t laugh at you’ again. Stop saying words that you didn’t mean.”

“Hey, just do your best. If you hit it, I will buy you juice, okay? …Ah, bunting is a no go, got it?”

“Tch…”

Well, like she said, I’ll just treat it as exercise and be done with it. There are no other people around, so all is good.

I took the bat and helmet from Asanagi and stepped into the batter box.

The pitch’s speed would be 120km/h, the same as Asanagi’s.

Asanagi told me that I could lower it, but since Asanagi did it at this speed, I should be able to do it too.

The first pitch.

Whoosh!

“Woah…!”

It didn’t look this fast from outside, but when I got into the batter’s box, the speed of the ball surprised me.

So 120km/h was this fast…

“Hehe, Maehara, you scaredy-cat.”

“I-I’m not scared, shut up!”

I calmed my mind and took on the second pitch… This time I swung my bat, but it missed.

Whoosh, the bat caught nothing but air.

“Maehara, watch the ball carefully first. Aim carefully, predict the ball’s trajectory, and intercept it with the bat. Don’t think about doing something ridiculous like getting a home run, just think about hitting it first!”

“…Ugh…”

I swung the bat on the third and fourth pitches following Asanagi’s advice, but I failed them both and got a strikeout instead.

While everyone else in other boxes was hitting the ball, I got strike after strike instead.

“It’s okay, it’s okay. Your aim is getting better and better with each pitch, you know?”

“Thanks for the encouragement, but can you stop rubbing salt on my wound? Isn’t this just a game?”

“Well, I mean, Maehara, you look so pathetic right now, I figured I’d give you a word of encouragement.”

“Such a dick…”

“C’mon, leave it at that and just do your best! There are still three pitches left.”

I followed Asanagi’s advice and only thought about hitting the ball.

“…Aim carefully… and intercept the ball’s trajectory with the bat…”

Clink!

“I-I hit it…”

“Ohh! The ball’s direction is wrong, but good job!”

I rubbed the bat.

Okay, I got this.

Clink!

“Ohh! That was close!”

I hit it and the ball went down, but I felt like I could hit it properly next time.

I just needed a little bit more power.

“It’s the last pitch, Maehara!”

The last pitch, the conditions were the same as the previous pitch.

“Aim carefully… and swing!”

With Asanagi’s advice in the back of my head and her cheering behind me, I swung the bat and hit the ball as hard as I could…

.

“Here you go, good work out there ~”

“…Thank you.”

After using up all the tokens, Asanagi and I were sitting on the couch in the resting area while drinking juice that Asanagi bought.

The batting result was, well, the ball went forward, but my swing was weak, it didn’t even reach the machine.

“…Asanagi.”

“Mmm?”

“Next time, I’ll hit a home run.”

“Oh, someone’s fired up. Sure, I’ll look forward to it.”

It had been a while since I’ve moved my body like this, so I was struggling to catch my breath. But strangely, it didn’t feel unpleasant.

I don’t know if it’s because of the games or the fact that I’m with Asanagi, but everything feels fun. I enjoyed myself enough that I would love to come back here again.

Maybe next time, I will come here alone… Well, if the place is less crowded, that is.

“It’s almost time to go home.”

“Right… Ah, I need to go to the toilet first, hold this for me and wait for me outside, okay, Maehara?”

Asanagi left her bag with me and went to the toilet.

Is it okay to leave this to me? Isn’t the content of this bag important to her? Well, I’m glad that she trusts me enough to have me hold on to her bag, but still…

“…Thinking back, I never expected that I would get along with Asanagi so well…”

I muttered to myself I stared blankly at the group who was playing a game.

The loner me and one of the centers of the class, Asanagi.

If we were living our lives normally, we would never have gotten along, but now, we were connected with a strong bond of friendship.

It had been a while since I first introduced myself to the class, the introduction that I thought went horribly wrong, but because of that introduction, the ‘second cutest girl in class’ came into my life.

“She taught me how to be brave and how to not feel embarrassed at my own failure…”

The people called ‘loners’ were originally the people who were sensitive toward other people’s impressions of them. They didn’t want to be ridiculed by people, they couldn’t stand the embarrassment, that was why they tried so hard not to fail. But because of that, they became hesitant to take a step forward when the opportunity presented itself.

In my case, even when there was someone I wanted to be friends with or someone that I liked, the fear of failure prevented me from taking action. That was why I’ve always been alone.

However, thanks to that failure, I was able to befriend Asanagi.

Even if I previously failed, that didn’t mean it was the end of the road. Rather, it would open up another path that I couldn’t previously walk… I think Asanagi taught me that…

“Now… it should be about time for Asanagi to be done with her business… Let’s get outta here…”

The moment I stood up from the bench while carrying Asanagi’s bag on my shoulder…

“Huh? Is that you, Maehara-kun?”

“…Eh?”

“Ah, it’s really Maehara-kun! Hey ~ Maehara-kun ~!”

One of the girls from that group I was looking at approached me while waving cheerfully.

She was wearing a familiar uniform. I could recognize her even in this dimly lit place. She was the last person I wished to meet today.

“…Amami-san…”

“Yes, it’s your classmate, Amami ~”

With her angelic smile, Amami-san stood right in front of me.