""Forgive us.""
After we finished vacating the court, Umi and I bowed our heads to Amami-san and Nitta-san.
Because we hugged each other for a few minutes, we ended up wasting the rest of the duration we reserved and became unable to see a proper conclusion to the match.
"It's fine~ I got heated up during the match, but it really didn't matter~ I had fun playing a serious game against Umi, that's what matters, right, Ninacchi?"
"Right~ Honestly, I wasn't planning on playing seriously on the class match, but seeing that game gets me in the mood~"
I got what she was saying. Their vigor during the match was amazing to the point that I, the spectator, was hyped up as well.
Like Nitta-san, I was only thinking of joining the class match to make up the numbers, but after seeing that match, I felt like doing my best.
I didn't know much about softball, but I'll do my best to learn it.
And I'll have some fun while I'm at it.
After that, we took a few minutes break before we went to the next place we planned to go to.
The reason why we were here in the first place was to practice for the class match, the basketball practice was just a part of our plan.
"…It's been a long time…"
I muttered to myself as I sat down at the batting cage. The last time I came here was last fall, it had been a long while.
Last time I was only able to brush the 120km/h ball, but this time, my goal was to score a homerun, nothing less.
I put in my token, hit the start button, wore my helmet and dragged a bat to the batting area.
Unlike back then, I've been training eyes, 120km/h ball should be a cinch for me–
Swoosh!
"…"
The ball passed right beside my head. This was probably both a welcome and a warning from the pitching machine to me. Seeing this, I took a deep breath and thought…
…Plan B.
Forget about homerun, just hit it toward the pitching machine instead.
"Don't be scared, Maki! Look at the ball properly and hit it with the bat!"
"Go Maki-kun, go!"
"It's a perfect time to show your lovely girlfriend your cool side, innit, Rep?~"
In the back, outside the cage, Amami-san, Nitta-san and Umi were cheering me on. I told them that I wanted some peace and quiet here so they should go play other games by themselves, but they said…
'What are you saying? Of course I'll stay with you~' (Umi)
'I'll follow where Umi goes~' (Amami-san)
'Me too~ I don't wanna go alone~' (Nitta-san)
That was the reason why they were here. I had to embarrass myself in front of three girls, just what did I do wrong?…
Occasionally, I heard someone clicking their tongues from behind my back. I'll pretend that I didn't hear those…
Anyway, I needed to concentrate on the ball. Cut the background noise and concentrate. The ball will fly on a designated trajectory, so what I needed to do was to read it and hit the ball at the right timing.
As long as I got the timing right, I would be able to hit the ball… Or at least, that was what Nozomu and Umi told me.
"One… Two… Three–!"
Clank!
After a few swings, I finally managed to hit the ball.
It flew overhead, but I got the timing right, so all I had to do was to adjust the bat's position.
…After a few more pitches…
Clank!
Just as I was about to use up my batting chances, I hit the ball sharply and the ball went toward the machine's direction and hit the net.
"Ah, he hit it? Yuu, did you see that? I wasn't seeing things, right?"
"I saw it. The ball was fast!"
"Beginner's luck~ Maybe… His form was good for it to be a beginner's luck, though…"
The three girls were surprised at my performance. Understandable, because I was even more surprised than them.
More than that though, the feeling of the bat hitting the ball was good.
Well, I had to remember this sensation and try again. The previous swing could be a fluke, so I needed to make sure that I would be able to make a hit like that regularly. The machine did another pitch and this time I could see the ball's trajectory clearly.
"Relax… And swing the bat as hard as I can!"
Clank!
"""Ah!"""
I hit the ball and it formed a perfect angle as the three girls behind me raised their voices.
The force was weaker than my previous hit, but it flew toward the homerun circle.
If this ball were to hit that circle, I would have won a free ticket to get another round, but this was reality, not a sports manga, the ball went off target and hit the net.
In the end, that was the closest one to the homerun. The rest of my swings were either missed ones or ground balls.
"Good job there, Maki~ Here's some water… Ah, come here, I'll wipe off your sweat."
"Ah, I'll do that myself, don't worry."
"What?~ Are you feeling embarrassed? After you did such a show in the basketball court?~"
"…Look here…"
"It's fine~ Besides, you didn't bring your handkerchief, right? I know you didn't, you're a sloppy boy like that~"
As soon as I came outside the batting center, Umi immediately started to cling to me.
She had been doing something like this ever since we started dating, but today she was clingier than usual.
I guess she was trying to pay me back for what I did to her earlier?
"Hehe… How was your feeling, Maki-kun? You were able to show off to Umi~"
"…Who knows… Well, that was good practice."
One of the differences between baseball and softball was the ball's size. But since I was able to hit a 120km/h ball, it shouldn't really matter much.
As long as we didn't get paired up against the baseball team members, we would be fine, maybe.
"Alright, now that Rep's done with his practice, what are we going to do? There are still some tokens left."
"…Tokens, hm…"
"Umi. No."
"Eh~"
"No."
She was probably joking, but I couldn't let it pass. She would spend the rest of the tokens in the horse betting game again if I did, so I had to rein her in properly.
It was for her future, after all. Gambling bad.
"Ah, right, there's that thing! Let's go, all four of us!"
"That thing? …Oh, the photo booth."
Amami-san pointed at a photo booth machine, a staple in an arcade like this. It was also one of the most terrifying machines to approach for me…
"It's not often that all four of us hang out together like this, so might as well, right? What do you think, Umi?"
"Well, sure, but… What do you think, Nina?"
"I'm fine with it~ By the way, you can put filters on Rep's face~"
"So you're a woman of culture as well, Nina. Alright, let's do it."
"Whoops, I think I accidentally flipped her switch~"
Naturally, I had no say in this, so we went to the photo booth.
We had to wait before we could use it because someone got in there before us.
"Ah, this machine is the new one. Maki, what filter should I add to your eyes? Sparkles? Googly eyes? Or both?"
"Eh, go easy on Maki-kun~ Let's use the basic ones like the beautifying filter. We'll make him turn into a cute girl~"
"I'll post his pictures on my Insta Story~"
Now you know why I was terrified of this machine. Well, I doubt that they'll spread the pictures around, they were good people after all, so I'll let them do whatever they want.
Besides, Umi looked so happy right now.
Also, I wanted to see them working with the filters, it seemed fun.
"Ah, the person in front of us is done, let's go~"
"Alright! Time to put a good show~"
"I'll say go easy on me, but you guys won't listen, so do whatever you guys like…"
However, as we were waiting near the machine, we had our most unpleasant encounter possible.
The moment I was the face of the first girl who came out, I realized that her face looked familiar. At first, I thought it was just my imagination, but when I saw the last person come out…
"Huh, it's Amami."
"…Arae-san…"
Her name was Nagisa Arae. She was the main topic of our conversation prior to the basketball match.