"I am going to be serious now."
"You were not serious just then!?"
Yoichi panicked as Naoko dropped a bomb. Yoichi was on one knee, with all of his equipment and protection needed for a catcher.
Naoko gripped the baseball in his hand tightly and warned Yoichi.
"Here I go."
"W-Wait! I am not r-"
Naoko lifted his right feet in for a small instance. Then when he decided where to aim for, he clenched his teeth. He brought down his right foot whilst the other acted as a strong foundation.
"...Oh shit..."
He swung his left arm as fast as he could and the ball left his fingertips.
*Whoosh!!*
A ball faster than the wind reached Yoichi's hand in a matter of instances.
*Pow*
The impact noise it made when the ball made contact with Yoichi's glove. It sounded like a bullet.
"Woah! Amazing!"
Yoichi, although he got scared, he was amazed by the explosive power of that throw. Naoko looked satisfied with the outcome.
"That was a great throw, Naoko!"
He put on an air of pride and he put his hand just below his nose to hide the overflowing confidence he got from Yoichi's praise.
"Isn't that right? That is not my best you know." He even bragged about achieving a better result than this.
Yoichi removed his helmet, stood up and approached him with a smile.
"Wow...You have a high potential. You can challenge even the seniors here."
"I am glad you have noticed my true strength. Mwahahahah!"
Yoichi changed his amazed gaze into a sad one. Naoko noticed this so he inquired about the sudden change of expression.
"What's wrong."
Yoichi stopped before him and verbalized his thoughts.
"You could have been in the first-string team....."
Naoko immediately understood what Yoichi was going to say next. He stopped him in his track and asserted his ground.
"Listen here Yoichi. I don't know why you are feeling down but I want to say one thing. Don't blame yourself."
Yoichi was a bit stupefied about Naoko's thought process. The moment that he reached such a conclusion was amazing but that was what Yoichi was doing.
To be precise, he was 'acting'.
'Was I being too obvious or is this normal? Oh well, might as well go through with it.' Yoichi shrugged and continued. He stared into Naoko's eye.
"How did you...?"
"I just know it. Anyway, get this in that stupid skull of yours. The actions I did was chosen by my own free will. I do not regret it so don't go feeling guilty about me not being on the first-string team."
"Naoko..."
Naoko saw that Yoichi was being entangled by his inspiring speech. He felt a sense of satisfaction as he delivered those motivational words.
At least that is what he perceive himself as such. Because the other party does not seem to view it like that.
"Hahahahahaha!!! Naoko! There are some things that I learned from you."
Naoko was confused as hell, wondering if Yoichi got a few screws loose.
"What?"
"One, you are not cut out to be an actor. And two, you are too cringe. Ack! Your cringe is making me question my life."
"You.....You really know how to piss someone off!"
"By telling the truth."
"You have really gone and done it now."
"Waah!!!"
Naoko dashed towards him and wanted to catch him but Yoichi evaded just in time. Yoichi threw the helmet away and ran as fast as he could.
"Wait here!! I am going to teach you a lesson!"
"Don't want to!!"
Every time Naoko tried to get close and grab him, he narrowly escapes by dodging quickly.
"You slippery bastard!"
"Blegh! You can't catch me like that!"
He stuck out his tongue and mocked the unsuccessful attempts of Naoko's. It just fuelled him to try even harder. They went around the lockers, the storage, the hitting practice target until they get caught.
"Hey!! What are you doing!?!"
The enraged voice of the coach had the power to make Yoichi and Naoko stop right away. They were met with fear. They stood respectfully when the coach approached them.
"N-Nothing sir, just p-practising." Naoko lied stutteringly.
And Yoichi agreed with him by nodding.
"Practicing huh..."
The coach had his doubts and it was right on the money when he thought that they were playing around. So, he reprimanded them.
"Well, if you like practising that much, then do 10 laps around the field."
"What!?" Naoko was pissed.
"Do you have any problem with that?" The coach glared at Naoko. It worked splendidly because Naoko was shut down and did not complain.
However, Yoichi had a problem.
"But sir, he was the one chasing me. He was going to kill me." He pointed at Naoko.
"Hah!? He is lying, sir. He just insulted me so I wanted to teach him a lesson."
"That is basically what I am saying!!"
"You-"
"ENOUGH!! Both of you!!"
The yell of the coach attracted attention from the club members, wondering why the coach was in such a foul mood.
The veins in his forehead started to appear blatantly.
"Do 10 laps! If you don't want me to add another 10 then do it right now without complaining."
""Y-Yes!""
After that, Yoichi and Naoko started running.
"Heh. Those first years this year are troublesome."
"Why bother. They are in the second-string team anyway."
The upperclassmen condescendingly observed Yoichi and Naoko from afar, and they mockingly laughed.
Ando Yui, Naoko's girlfriend looked at Naoko with worry and Yoichi with indifference. Well in all, she sighed exasperatingly at their childish behaviour.
"What the hell are they doing?"
Those two jogged for a while. They have completed 6 laps and were about to finish the 7th one too.
During this time, those two have not interacted at all. Naoko was still pissed off about the punishment that the coach gave.
But moreover, he was angry at Yoichi because he was the one that caused all of this.
Yoichi though was thinking about ways to elevate Naoko's mood. It was conspicuous that Naoko was not alright judging by his glare.
He could not think of anything so he just struck a normal conversation with him whilst running next to him.
"This is too much for just playing around."
"...."
"They do not call it a powerhouse school for no reason. Hahaha..."
"...."
"*Sigh*...."
*Ding* Yoichi got an idea.
They have got a common enemy so why don't he berate him. The enemy of his enemy is also his friend. That is basically how the saying goes.
"When the coach is angry, he looks like a dying crow."
"........"
"Did you see his veins on his forehead? Looks like a spider's cobweb."
"...." Naoko's face started to change a little.
"You saw how large his bald head was? I bet it qualifies as a helicopter pad."
".....pff....."
"His nose looks like the entrance to the sewer system. It needs to be cleaned thoroughly."
"...S-Stop it....."
He needed one more push.
"Hahaha!! Did you notice his ass cheeks? I bet he can fetch a million yen if he strolled around the red-light district."
"HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!"
Naoko laughed like a maniac. Along with the sweats, tears of laughter also flowed down his cheek.
He could not take it anymore. The number of jokes and the intensity of each one was unbearable to suppress.
In the end, Naoko felt better now since Yoichi insulted the coach.
"You know how to humiliate someone. That is a god-like talent!"
Naoko praised Yoichi, forgetting about their previous argument.
"Thank you. Not anyone can insult someone so elegantly like me."
"True."
He took that credit proudly as he pumped his chest ahead with confidence.
"Insult who exactly?"
""...Eh?""
The coach was near them where they were jogging. They have heard his voice, they froze completely in place.
Naoko and Yoichi were stiff as they veered their heads towards the coach. His face was a pissed as it looked. However, he wasn't looking angry as usual.
But he smiled maliciously.
'He.....He heard us...' Yoichi's eyes wandered due to panic.
'...Shit.' Naoko accepted that it was time for another punishment in place.
The coach approached them with bloodlust. The pressure from him was surreal.
"Looks like you two want to stay here a bit longer."
Naoko felt chills from him. He again blamed Yoichi for dragging him into this dire situation.
Well, he was partially at fault for not stopping him from bad-mouthing the coach like that. He understood that Yoichi had the intent of cheering him up.
But the primary reason why he let Yoichi run his mouth is that his insults were too funny to begin with.
As expected, he should not believe in stereotypes of glasses guys. He was not a nerd but actually a funny guy.
Just like he said before, his insults were a talent on its own.
Well right now, Naoko thought of it as a double-edged sword. It can cure your depression and sometimes, can land you in trouble.
He glanced at Yoichi and wanted to whisper furiously into his ear, expressing his anger.
But he noticed that he was typing something on his phone, which he hid behind his back.
He respectfully stared at the coach but Naoko saw that Yoichi wasn't listening to the coach.
More like he was sending an SOS message.
'Oh, aren't you reliable?' Naoko felt relieved a bit but for now, he has to face the demon lord.
'Please to whoever Yoichi is messaging to, save us!!!'
...........
"What is this?"
Keiko read the message that she just received from her brother.
It read:
"Glo on withyout mme. I aamgoing to belate."
It was understandable that Yoichi could not type perfectly because of the situation he was in but Keiko does not know that.
She messaged him back but to no avail. He did not respond. His phone was switched off.
So she tried to read it. It took minutes for her to comprehend but she finally got the message.
"What's wrong?"
Kirika from behind inquired Keiko. She just finished dressing up from her archery attire to her school uniform.
Keiko smiled at her and said, "Let's go home together."
"Eh? Is that alright? Weren't you going to wait for Yoichi-kun?"
"He will be late so he told me to go on without him. Let's go."
"Is that so? Okay then."
They both went on with Ren and Asahi. Suzuki went home early since he did not join any club.
If he did then they would have invited him to go home together. Not like they could do anything about it if he does not want to join a club.
Anyway, whilst chatting, Keiko and Kirika were the only ones left after the others separated to go their own direction.
They were walking down the road when Keiko noticed a group of boys walking in the opposite direction.
At first, Keiko did not pay mind to them. However, when she strained her eyes and carefully scanned who was in there, she got a bit worried.
Hurriedly, she grabbed Kirika's hand and dragged her down to an alleyway.
"Wai-!! What?!"
Keiko and hid behind the walls and put a hand over Kirika's mouth.
"Mmm!!!" Only the muffling inaudible noise could seep out of her hand.
She signalled her to stay quiet. Kirika saw that Keiko had a serious face so she obeyed.
After the group of boys has passed, she heaved a sigh of relief and removed her hand out of Kirika's mouth.
"....What was that about?" Kirika inquired.
"I.....saw someone that I know."
"Then why did you hide?"
Keiko put on a fake smile and reassured her with a cheerful tone.
"Just because."