Ayanokouji POV
"What's so strange?"
"Ayanokouji are you in your emo phase? What's with the all-black mister?" Ishigami asked as he looked at my black cardigan hiding my white shirt underneath. It seems it was more as I glanced at my black watch and black jeans. Sigh, I should have brought better clothes. But it's not like I can really change in the middle of the street can I? I glanced over to Ishigami as I rebutted, "It's not as if I am the only one with an emo look, when was the last time you got a haircut, one-eyed Emotional Damage?"
It seems that was enough to shut him up as he put his white hoodie on top of his head and looked down at the pebbles below. I turned around to find none other than a panting Shirogane as he got off the bike. His pale blue shirt and his brown jeans were certainly an odd combo, but pleasing to the eye. I waved at him as he waved back at me while Ishigami snapped out of it, looking at Shirogane as he patted Ishigami's shoulder speaking, "What's with the sour face Ishigami? And hello Ayanokouji, oh...that's quite the colour coordination you got there."
"Coincidences can be freaky President." I said as I leaned at the pole for support, contemplating if I should take a jab at his dressing as well. If I wanted to be expelled, I definitely would have said something. But I had other plans, so I kept my mouth shut. Given the present circumstances, there were 3 boys all quite socially inept and far from the word called fun, hence suggesting things would be quite a bother.
I wonder, what they have in mind.
Narrator's POV
Well, why don't we find out~
'What's with the awkwardness, I have prepared a list of things we should do and even made sure we can make reservations. Not just that I even have backups. But this silence, I was unprepared for. It's defeaning.'
He was right, last night was spent with him planning every single criteria and making quite a few calls to different venues, irritating his sister to the fullest!
'....One....eyed....emotional....trauma.....Sigh, I want to go home and watch One piece now, the only cure for this everlasting agony.'
Unfortunately, Ishigami's mind was still stuck on the words Ayanokouji had uttered. He spoke up, "Prez, let's watch anime...."
Shirogane was clearly against that and now he had his moment to shine, "We can....but let's go bowling first...sounds fun?" His eyes gleamed as his plan started to take action. Considering the other two didn't have well-versed opinions of their own, decided to simply agree to this and march along. After a while of silence yet again, this time Ishigami tried his luck at starting a conversation, "Are any of you actually good at bowling?"
Shirogane quipped up,"I mean how hard can it be....."
Those words uttered, truly sent shivers down my non-existent spine. I do hope, that all of them come out alive. Moving on, Ayanokouji seemed to stay quiet contemplating his response. I wonder what goes on in his noggin'
Ayanokouji's POV
Considering I have never played bowling, should I be honest? It would probably make a mockery out of me. Hmm, it seems I just have to go with a safe response, "I haven't played it before but I do hope, beginner's luck is with me." They looked at me in surprise as I said it. It seems, my response wasn't as safe as I thought. Ishigami asked," Hey Ayanokouji, you sure about that? Like never at all?" I nodded in agreement as I added, "Though I am well versed in the rules, I won't be an inconvenience I hope."
Shirogane patted my back and said, "Don't worry about it. It's all fun. I haven't played it much either, once I went with my sister and she destroyed me. And for some reason I was banned from there...they said something like I broke the ball." He said it in utmost confidence as if he was announcing he got first place. Ishigami nodded in pride with him as we walked inside the mall. It was the first time, I have been in an outside mall not considering Keyaki Mall.
I stared at the lights glaring at me, from all the different shops around me. Somewhere they sold, perfumes other places they sold toys while others sold clothes. It was quite a sensory overload. ANHS has things we needed, here, there was an expanse of goods and itineraries that would be considered useless to a student.
If I had all the time in the world, my curiosity would lead me to be completely lost in such a place. I was led by them in the elevator. It reminded me of the particular situation I was in with Ibuki. Thankfully, this elevator wasn't as cruel and let us leave to the bowling court.
It was quite contrasting to the rest of the mall, as it was completely dark and had the lights lighting up just the alleys and next to the alley, there was a pool room with a few lights above them.
"Hey Ayanokouji, stop spacing out! Look, I will show you, the basics." Ishigami graciously showed me his throw. The shining red ball, slipped his fingers as it started rolling through the long brown lane.
The anticipation was indeed seen in their eyes, even though I had my eyes locked on the ball. It rolled and rolled, striking down 5 of the pins in succession.
Strikeeee
They toppled over and the slider collected it all, in quite an interesting set of movements. Ishigami raised his fist in the air as he grinned proudly of his achievement. He spoke wildly, "I DID IT! Hell, I thought I was just gonna hit one pin....I mean....uhh..." He slipped up as he revealed that he too, was a novice with beginner's luck.
Shirogane cheered gladly and picked up the green ball," Wow, not bad. Hmm, as I can see. I should pull up my hand..." He jabbed his fingers on the 3 holes of the ball as he lifted it up and continued, "....then I just have to figure out the angle...." The concentration he had was quite something, as he focused his entire attention on the pins I could see his fingers shaking from the weight of the ball hanging in the air by their support. I spoke,
"President, should I call Fujiwara?"
I heard a small yelp from the background but decided to ignore it for now.
He looked towards my direction, as his bed hair showed a glare. He looked back, and let his ball shoot. But, fate had other plans. The ball slipped from the sweat dripping down his arms, as it rolled outside the court instead of towards the lane.
The ball rolled and rolled, hitting one of the pool tables causing a burly man, in his 40s to look at us in a menacing glare. He walked towards us with the ball tightly encased in his hands. He roared, "Which of you, decided to interfere with my pool shot?"
I sighed as I blended into the surroundings with my all-black outfit. He looked at the other two and discerned it was Ishigami because of his glum and fearful look. Grabbing him by the collar he pulled Ishigami to the table as he grumbled, "I missed my shot....." He dropped him on the floor and handed him the cue stick and spoke, "Make the shot for me...NOW.Hey, it's cool right?"
Another person on the opposite side nodded thinking it was just a bunch of kids.
I scanned the pool table behind Shirogane as I remembered reading about it in a book. Billiard balls are always having near-perfect elastic collisions. Given that, the kinetic energy would be preserved with less discrepancy between prediction and result.
Simply put, given enough thought and practice, every single shot can be mathematically analyzed and predicted. In the positions given here, I can notice that we need to have a glancing shot or lesser collision giving the target ball more distance to travel.
Given Ishigami's skill level, it wouldn't be wise for him to shoot it using such techniques in mind. If he shot directly, it wouldn't end well. I wouldn't enjoy wasting time in such silly fights. So I walked out from behind the man, who was shocked at my sudden appearance out of thin air. I whispered into Ishigami's ear
"Look at the board properly. None of the higher-scoring shots can be done, without a glancing shot. Look at the table and close your eyes." After hearing my command the petrified Ishigami followed it blindly as he imagined what I dictated
"Imagine the board and focus on the yellow ball. Think of a ghost ball just next to that ball and straightly aligned to the angle you are shooting at. Hit with a smaller force than you think is necessary and move your hips to the side."
It was quite obvious that he couldn't clearly understand why I was saying that. But as a programmer, his mathematical mind took charge as he nodded. His eyes were on the ball, as he shot just next to it. The shooting ball, grazed the surface of the yellow ball as it rolled and rolled, hitting the side of the table at an angle of about 30 degrees. Given the law of reflection, the ball quite perfectly had struck the red ball, which then dropped into the pocket of the table, winning us our ticket out of this mess.
The man glared at me in contempt which suddenly softened as he thumped my back, "Well played, black shirt boy and one-eyed pirate. Hoho, it's been long since I have seen kids your age being this good at such old-fashioned games." He went on to ramble about his great history in pool games and such. But we didn't have much time, as we slipped by and reached the owling court, but it was already late. They both looked at me as they started thanking me
"Gosh, that was close, thanks, man. I will let you call me anything anytime." Ishigami emotionally spoke as his eyes clouded up in happy tears. Shirogane affirmed as he added in," Thanks to you, things stopped being messy. It seems, I really do need to call Fujiwara up."
He picked up his phone but I pulled it away and said, "Why don't we finish my turn and eat something? I am starving." Shirogane looked at me strangely for grabbing his phone suddenly but didn't think much of it as I returned it. I grabbed a black ball, as I glanced at the pins.
Given that this court doesn't have evenly spread lubrication on the alley, it would be unwise to hit it straight. Else the outcome would be like Ishigami, where it slipped slightly from the intended angle he was shooting at. So I shot a slightly tilted roll. The ball as intended, slipped slightly, getting into the angle I originally wanted and hitting the centre pin, giving me a full strike.
STRIKEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
After a few more rounds it seems everyone was exhausted, and I meant everyone from the court. As the bystanders gathered around to see Ishigami's, almost perfect shots and saying
'Oooohhhh'
Shirogane's mind-boggling failures
'hahahahhha...how? Just HOW??'
and my strikes after strikes.
'That kid, should be in the nationals.'
After a while, we finally headed to the food court as I ordered myself a tortilla and an ice-cream sundae. It did feel quite relieving as we saw some uninvited guests pop up I heard a familiar voice
"Oh Ayanokouji, mind sharing that sundae with me?" A smirk from the blonde-haired beauty might just bring catastrophe to the boy's night out.
"Help yourself Hayasaka."
AUTHOR'S NOTE
Dear Readers,
Well, as you noticed. I might have nerded out. Well, guess what, next chapter I can't...after all, girl's night out.
What even can I do? Maybe compare prices? Talk about the history of clothes? Say how ripped jeans are just....ripped---jeans.
Hmm, well, stay tuned!
Do read my other books and give this one a vote and comment if you enjoyed it.
1. Fakekouji (Updated)
2. Shinzou wo Sasageyo Ayanokouji (Updating soon)