“What’s next?”
“Bowling, definitely. We did come all the way out to Phase One.”
“Got it. Let’s go check in.”
I had no objections, so we headed for the bowling counter.
“Now that I think about it, last time I went bowling with you was elementary school, right?”
“At a neighborhood event, wasn’t it?”
“Yeah — and that was my first time bowling, so I really struggled.”
I had no idea about force, control, any of it — gutter ball after gutter ball, obviously.
My brother and Kano apparently had natural sense and didn’t gutter-ball at all that day. Looking back, the spec gap between me and my brother already existed at that age.
I was thinking that as we finished checking in, switched to bowling shoes, picked up balls, and headed for the lane.
“Oh — just regular bowling is boring. Want to make it a match?”
“Match how — high score?”
“Yeah. And the loser has to grant the winner one favor.”
“The match itself’s fine, but the one-favor thing is…”
I had absolutely no idea what kind of favor Kano might ask for, so I hesitated to nod.
“If Yuito wins, I’ll specifically set up a date for you with Suzuno.”
“Wait — for real?!”
“Yeah. But if I win, in exchange — tomorrow, in addition to today, Yuito plays with me.”
“Got it. I’m in.”
Reeled in by the word date with Suzuno, I accepted. Even if I lost, the worst case was just sacrificing my Sunday — not exactly catastrophic.
I went first. Slipped my fingers into the holes, aimed for the center pin, and threw with everything I had. The ball drifted slightly right and left four pins standing.
On the second throw I aimed for the left side where the pins remained, but only knocked down three.
“One left over. Hadn’t bowled in a while, didn’t go great.”
“Right, my turn now.”
She stood up while I muttered my frustration, slid her fingers into a ball, and threw with a beautifully clean form. The ball rolled dead straight and slammed into the center pin.
“Oh, all of them fell.”
“You’re kidding me…”
A strike on her opening throw. I couldn’t tell if it was luck or skill, but if I let her keep building a lead I’d never close it.
I threw my next frame. This time I dropped nine on the first throw and picked up the last on the second — a spare.
Should be enough to start closing the gap, I thought — and then Kano nailed another strike. As I started getting flustered, she was wearing a relaxed-as-could-be expression.
”…Two in a row, that’s impressive.”
“Just luck. I haven’t been bowling lately.”
“W-well, we’re nowhere near the end.”
“Mm-hm, go easy on me.”
We kept playing, and by the time we reached the tenth frame I had completely surrendered any hope.
Even if I scored consecutive strikes in this frame and she gutter-balled, there was no path to me winning.
”…You’re way too good at this, Kano-san.”
“Really? I don’t know.”
“People who throw mostly strikes and spares are not that common.”
She’d hit strikes in four of ten frames and spares in another four — an outrageous score. Just one frame missed.
It’s not that I’m bad at bowling — I’m actually pretty decent at it — but I was getting absolutely nowhere against her.
I’d accepted the bet thinking I could win at bowling — clearly a fantasy. Kano really can do everything except sing, huh.
In the tenth frame she rolled gorgeous consecutive strikes and won by a massive margin.
“Time to claim my prize.”
“A promise is a promise, I suppose.”
She’d said the request would be something like play with me tomorrow, so it shouldn’t be too unreasonable.
“So! Yuito’s going to come along on an overnight little trip with me.”
”…What?!”
“We’re leaving now, but you’ll need to pack, so let’s swing by your house first.”
“H-hold on. Are you serious?!”
“Naturally.”
She replied with a sunny smile, while I was visibly panicking. I take back what I said — she just blindsided me with the most unreasonable request imaginable.
”…A day trip, sure. But an overnight is honestly a bad idea.”
“Why’s it bad?”
“I mean — we’re a guy and a girl of, you know, that age…”
“I’m basically Yuito’s big sister, so it’s fine, right?”
“My mom is probably going to be against this, so —”
“Oh, permission’s already been granted, so we’re fine.”
She had a counter for everything. Wait — when exactly did she get my mom’s permission?
“So! Going forward, then.”
”…Fine.”
With every escape blocked, all I could do was nod.