Swoosh! Crack~! Clatter!

The moment I stepped inside, I heard that nostalgically pleasant sound.

“I wanted to come here first ♪.”

Hiyori linked arms with me and led me to our destination: the bowling alley.

“Heh~ Bowling, huh.”

“Have you ever done it before, Toyo-cchi?”

“Of course I’ve done it before. Does Hiyori come bowling often?”

I had done it before. In my previous life, that is… Well, I went maybe a few times. I think my score back then was around 100, give or take. Since I’d been doing various things now, maybe I could score a bit higher…? Though I couldn’t say for sure without trying.

“Yeah. I got hooked after trying it once. I love the atmosphere of bowling alleys, and I love the unique score display on the monitors, and I love the sound when the ball hits and the pins go ‘crack~’ as they fall. I also kind of like the little game area in the corner of bowling alleys. I want my own ball too, but they’re expensive…”

Hiyori rattled off all the things she loved about bowling one after another. I could tell from her expression that she really loved it.

“Ah!? Sorry… I got carried away talking…”

“No, it’s fine, don’t worry about it.”

“I-Is that so? W-Well, anyway, let’s pick out shoes and balls and get started right away!”

“Okay.”

♢♢♢

After selecting our shoes and balls, Hiyori and I moved to the lane. The throwing order was Hiyori first, then me. Hiyori wiped down her ball and prepared for her first throw.

“Let me see… Hiyori’s performance.”

“When did you become that red guy, Toyo-cchi… Well, just watch.”

Hiyori said confidently, “Just watch.” Since she boasted about loving it so much, her skills must be quite good. Surely there wouldn’t be a twist where she was actually bad, right? Right?

“Here I go!”

The ball released from her beautiful form curved gracefully toward the center─

Crack~! The pins struck by the ball bounced vigorously and fell one after another…

“Yes!”

Hiyori jumped up and down on the spot in joy. Needless to say, her chest was bouncing around.

Then suddenly… sharp pain shot through both my cheeks! What? What was happening?! It hurt like hell! I looked away from Hiyori to check my surroundings…

“…Where are you looking?”

I could see Yuuka next to me, speaking in a cold voice while pinching one of my cheeks… Her gaze was stern…

“Yuuka… Yuuka…?”

“That’s right! Toyo-chan, hurry up and answer Yuuka-chan’s question!”

Rin was there too… She was pinching my other cheek…

“How am I shupposhed to shpeak with my cheeksh being pinched?!”

“Wait!? What are you two doing, Kagu-cchi and Kandou-cchi!? Toyo-cchi looks like he’s in pain, so let him go!”

Thanks to Hiyori saying that, the two finally released their hands from both my cheeks.

“…Geez… What were you doing, Yuuka and Rin?”

“Ah… no… that… you’ve got the wrong person!”

“No way… what do you mean wrong person…”

Yuuka… that excuse obviously wouldn’t work…

“Th-That’s right! Just like Yuuka-chan said, we’re not named Yuuka and Rin!”

“But you just said Kagu-cchi’s name…”

I think Hiyori was right. Rin’s excuse was pretty forced too…

The two of them must have realized their excuses weren’t going to work, so they looked at each other and nodded…

“Wh-What a coincidence.”

“Wh-Who would have thought we’d meet at a bowling alley? What are the odds!?”

“No way, no way, no way…”

My voice and Hiyori’s harmonized.

“I know you two were following us, you know…?”

“…Eh…?”

Did they really think they hadn’t been caught…? Both of them looked genuinely surprised…

“Were Kagu-cchi and Kandou-cchi serious…? Did you seriously think you weren’t caught? I think even kids could hide better.”

“You two can drop the act now, right?”

At my words, the two looked at each other again and nodded…

“…If we’re caught, there’s no helping it!”

“Besides, it’s Toyo-chan’s fault for staring at Hiyori-chan’s chest!”

“Th-That’s right!”

Oh no… they’d turned the blame on me…! If they were bouncing that much, any guy would look, right? I wasn’t exactly staring that hard, was I!? It was just for a moment, right!? I always tried my best to avoid looking at such things by not directing my gaze there!

“You were… watching…? W-Well… if it’s Toyo-cchi… I don’t particularly mind…”

“What!?”

That statement was very dangerous, Hiyori!

“I-In that case…”

“Yeah, Yuuka-chan!”

“Let’s settle this with bowling!!”

Why… did it come to this…? What kind of competition was this…?

“Sure, sounds fun ♪.”

Hiyori accepted this competition whose nature I didn’t understand… Was I the only one who couldn’t keep up?

“Just competing would be boring, so let’s make it so the winner gets one wish granted.”

“Fine by me.”

“Yeah.”

Well, if the three of them were okay with it, then I guessed I was too…

As an aside… at that time, Ai was…

“Another strike… hehe… I’m on a roll ☆.”

She was enjoying bowling by herself on the lane at the very end…