B's Log December 2024: Short Story

Newly-Produced Short Story Series: Chapter 2

Our First Time

Aoi: Good VISTY morning~! Today, I'm at the batting cages in order to fulfil a request from a survey! I was asked to try out something I'd never done before!

Keeping the camera rolling, Aoi entered the batting cages.

Aoi: Wow, so this is what it's like inside. The booths are divided up by pitching speed, and--- ... huh?

As Aoi looked around, he saw Yohei from The Cat's Whiskers and Iori from Akan Yatsura, and the two of them were talking about something.

Iori: So, whoever wins gets treated to a drink. Sound like a deal?
Yohei: Yup.

Aoi nervously approached the two of them.

Aoi: Excuse me...
Iori and Yohei: Whassat?
Aoi: I'm... AOI, from VISTY, if you recognize me?
Yohei: What're you doin' in a place like this?
Aoi: Ah, I'm just doing something for SNS...
Iori: Is that so? You want us to get out of the shot or somethin'?
Aoi: Ah, n-not at all! What are the two of you doing here...?
Yohei: We're here because...

It turned out that back when Yohei and Iori had been friends, they had visited the batting cages.
Right now, they had gotten into an argument about who was better at hitting, so they had come here to work it out and resolve the argument.

Aoi: I see...
Iori: Pretty lame, innit?
Yohei: What are you talking about, pretty lame. Coming here was your idea.
Iori: Anyway, must be fate that we ran into you here. Why don't you join us?
Aoi: Huh? Is that really alright?
Yohei: I don't have a problem with it. Not like you're total stranger or something.

And so Aoi got caught up in the spat between the two of them.

Iori: The rules're real simple. One game is fifteen pitches. Goal is to see how many outta those fifteen pitches you can hit. If you hit a home run then that's game-set-and-match.
Aoi: Understood. But, this is the first time I've ever done something like this...
Yohei: Ah, is it? Y'ever hold a bat before?
Aoi: No, I've never even done that...!
Yohei: I'll teach 'ya, then. C'mere a minute.
Aoi: I'm sorry for the trouble! Thank you very much!
Iori: Well, while you do that, I'm gonna go grab a smoke.

And so, Aoi received a lesson from Yohei in an empty booth before their match began.

Yohei: If you're just startin' out, you wanna keep your grip short so you don't go swinging all over the place.
Aoi: Yessir!
Yohei: And when you swing, you wanna rotate at the waist, and just let your arms follow that movement. You don't wanna be going full force the entire time, just right when you actually hit the ball.
Aoi: Is there a trick to actually hitting it?
Yohei: Keep your eye on the ball, mostly. Get a feel for the ball's speed and then try counting one-two-three and then swing.
Aoi: Yessir! Thank you very much for letting me know! One-two-three, huh...?
Iori: Yo! How's the lesson going?
Aoi: I think I'm ready to go now!
Iori: Love the spirit! So! I'll go first. I'll show 'ya how it's really done.
Yohei: Hah. Don't hurt yourself.
Aoi: Do your best!

Iori went into the booth, put some coins into the pitching machine, and readied his bat.
The ball came flying out of the machine at high speed.

Iori: Got it!

The ball soared right past his bat and smacked right into the panel behind him.

Yohei: Seems like all you've got is a load of boastful bull.
Iori: I'm only whiffin' it for the entertainment value. The real thing starts now.

A few minutes later...

Iori: Aha~! Not bad, considering how long it's been since I did this!
Aoi: That was amazing! You hit 10 out of 15 balls!!
Yohei: Guess it ain't bad.
Iori: Is that all you've got to say to that? I ain't gonna feel bad when you come cryin' later!
Yohei: Bring it on. Watch and learn.

Yohei cracked his knuckles and headed into the batting cage.

Aoi: Whoa!
Iori: He's callin' his shots for a home run now... he's tryin' for a reaction.

A ball came flying out of the pitching machine.

Yohei: ... rgh!
Aoi: So close...! That was just barely shy of a home run!
Yohei: Heh. What do you think of that?
Iori: Haha, what'm I supposed to be looking at? It's just a hit.

Then, there were two balls left, and Yohei had hit nine. If he hit both of them, then Yohei would be the winner.
A ball came out of the machine, and Yohei made contact with his bat.

Aoi: Whoa, another hit!

Yohei looked at Iori and gave him a smirk.

Iori: Tch, cocky. [laughs]
Aoi: The outcome of the game will be decided with just one more ball, huh...

The final ball was fired.
Yohei took aim as the ball drew nearer and nearer.

Yohei: -- hck!

And the ball hit the panel at the back of the batting cage.

Aoi: Ah!!
Iori: Ooh, real nice job, danna! Ah, what a nice breeze~
Yohei: Asshole, I got ten hits, same as you.
Iori: Shut up. Run it back for another round--
Yohei: Hold up. Next it's his turn.
Aoi: Ah, no, it's fine, I can wait until after your match...
Iori: Oh, no, it is your turn! My bad!

Aoi, feeling a bit nervous, stood inside of the batting cage.
The first pitch came out.

Aoi: Wa-- wah--!
Iori: You don't gotta be afraid of it! Y'got the next one, c'mon!
Yohei: Just remember, count 1-2-3.
Aoi: Right...! Okay...

As the second ball came out of the machine, Aoi held the grip tight in his hands.

Aoi: For... my...^[1]
Yohei: Now!
Aoi: Stella!!

Aoi swung the bat...

An hour later, the three of them sat in a coffee shop.

Aoi: Um... I'm very sorry about all of this.
Yohei: Don't worry about it. It was our own rule that we decided on.
Iori: But even so, gotta admit, I wasn't expecting little onii-chan here to be the one to win.
Aoi: I was hardly expecting to hit a home run, myself.
Yohei: It's all good. Luck is a part of skill, too.
Iori: Now, then, danna, we still haven't settled our score.
Yohei: Don't I know it. Next time I ain't losing.
Iori: If you say so.
Aoi: U-um, anyway, the pudding here is really good, isn't it?
Iori: It sure is~! Only problem is this is a no-smoking place, but it's real nice aside from that.

And so, these three people had a lovely mid-afternoon talking in that coffee shop.
Thus ended the strange competition between the three of them.

[1] Literally what he does is just count off "su-te-ra" ("Stella"), but that doesn't really work in English since we don't pronounce "Stella" with three syllables, so I rearranged it to do this.