First Period: The Encounter Was Sudden

It was past nine on a Friday night, in the darts booth of a net cafe near the station.

“Yeah, that’s my win!”

The screen on the darts machine flashed FINISH! and I turned around to see the senior and junior from my part-time job, who’d come out to play, clutching their heads in unison.

“A-Atsuto-san! How do you win with that kind of handicap?! You’re so good it’s kinda off-putting…”

“C’mon, don’t say that.”

I tossed a retort at the stunned junior girl, and this time, the senior rubbed his head, giving me a wry smile.

“I was feeling pretty confident, though. Total defeat. You got some kind of trick?”

“A trick... Honestly, I don’t really know. I just started playing darts ’cause I was bored, and somehow, I just got better on my own, I guess.”

As I answered, the junior stretched dramatically and let out a small sigh.

“Phew. I’m kinda tired from throwing so much. How about a break? Wanna get some ice cream?”

“Oh, nice! The ice cream here is seriously good.”

I watched the two of them leave their seats, taking a sip of my lukewarm cola.

The net cafe, Wagūsu.

Today, I’d been invited by my coworkers, but I often use this darts booth at Wagūsu by myself.

Even though I come alone, it’s not because I have some grand ambition like, “I wanna be a darts pro!” or “I wanna win a tournament!”

I just come because I’m bored after school or after my shift.

I throw some darts, and when I get tired, I read manga or play games on my phone to kill time.

That’s just my—Yamazaki Atsuto’s—usual routine.

“Hahaha! How much are you gonna pile on, Senpai!”

“Pile it on! As much as I can!”

I watched the senior and junior goofing around by the ice cream machine thinking “What Idiots”, when suddenly,

“Hey, miss, wanna throw a few with us?”

“Look, we’ve got a bunch of booze on this table! Whaddaya say?”

A voice drifted over, making me turn around.

Two guys who looked like college students were hitting on a female customer who was playing darts alone.

It happens all the time in a place like this, so normally I wouldn’t even notice, but this time, it definitely caught my attention.

(...A foreigner?)

She had a small, pale, round face, a straight nose, and long bronze hair that reached her back.

She was short, almost like a kid, but she was wearing a suit, so she must have been an adult. And she had a bunch of beer cans on her table.

“Ah, umm…”

Her thin lips parted and closed, and her big, blue eyes darted around.

Was she, maybe, looking for help...?

Honestly, I wasn’t keen on getting involved, but ignoring it completely felt pretty awkward—

“Hey, excuse me for a second?”

I hesitated, but finally made up my mind and stepped between them.

“What do you want?”

One of the guys asked, his voice dripping with annoyance. He was clearly pissed off that his pickup attempt had been interrupted.

Ugh, shit. I’m not used to this kind of thing.

“Nah, I don’t need anything... but she looks like she’s struggling.”

I glanced at the foreigner, and she stiffened slightly, but nodded emphatically.

“But see, we just wanted to hang out and play with her, that’s all,” the other, tall guy said, closing the distance with a gentle but subtly hostile tone.

I figured we were about to get into a pointless argument when he tossed out a weird suggestion.

“How about this: we settle it with darts?” The tall guy snapped his fingers.

“...Huh?”

“You team up with the lady here, and we’ll play a game of ‘01.’ The winner gets to order the loser to do one thing. How’s that?”

“No, ‘how’s that’ isn’t the issue—”

“If we win, we’ll just order you to ‘stop interrupting our pickup attempt,’ though.”

He was just running with it. I had no intention of accepting this bet. Did I need to push back a little harder?

“I’m telling you, that’s not the point. If you keep pushing, I’m gonna call the staff—”

Just as I raised my voice to make my point,

“O-Oh, that sounds fun! I’ll do it! I’m in!”

The one who joyfully shouted was the foreigner who had been trembling in fear just moments ago.

Even the two guys who had been hitting on her widened their eyes in surprise.

“Umm... are you serious?” I asked.

She snorted with excitement. “Yes! Darts with a bet sounds kinda grown-up and fun! Plus, I really wanted to play darts with someone!”

“Huh? Grown-up?”

As I stood there with a question mark floating over my head, the foreigner’s blue eyes sparkled like a child’s.

If she just wanted to play with someone, she didn’t have to agree to such a crazy bet...

“And besides, I’ve been practicing darts so much lately!”

The foreigner brushed her bronze bangs back and gave me a bright smile.

...Wait, she speaks Japanese just fine.

More importantly, that confidence. Is she actually incredibly good at darts?

I glanced toward my own seat, where the senior and junior had already returned, watching us with expectant eyes, as if to say, “Something interesting is about to happen!”

It seemed they had no intention of stopping this.

“Alright, since the lady’s game, let’s start!”

...In the end, everyone but me agreed, and I was forced into this ridiculous bet.

The game format was 701.

It was a simple game where the first team to reduce their starting score of 701 to exactly zero wins.

The coin toss decided that my partner and I would go first.

“Yay! Can I throw first?!”

“Huh? Y-Yes, go ahead!”

I yielded the first throw to the highly motivated foreigner. She gave a small, determined “Okay!” and faced the dartboard.

And then,

“Fuweeh...”

All three darts she threw landed neatly outside the target area.

Since they didn’t hit the board, her score was, naturally, zero.

...Wait, what? What was all that confidence about?

“U-Umm, what exactly was that...?”

“N-No, you silly! Th-That was... umm... p-practice! Just practice!”

The foreigner’s face turned bright red as she desperately made excuses.

“I wonder if we can actually win this...” But then, immediately overcome by anxiety, her blue eyes welled up with worry.

She probably felt responsible. I mean, this was basically a two-on-one match now.

But—strangely, I didn’t feel like losing.

“We’ll win. Absolutely.” I stated firmly.

She looked up, letting out a surprised, “Huh?”

“B-But I might just drag you down...”

“It’s fine. I’ll cover you.”

“Wow... That’s so cool...!”

I thought I might have been trying a little too hard to look cool, but the foreigner was looking at me with sparkling eyes.

Being complimented so directly was a little embarrassing.

But since I did try to look cool, I had to deliver.

＊＊＊＊＊

From there, we somehow managed to keep neck and neck until we reached the final stage.

“Not bad, this is turning out to be quite the match,” I said, injecting a bit of sarcasm into my voice. The two guys scowled in irritation.

Their remaining score was 20 points. Ours was 150 points.

It was my turn to throw.

The center of the dartboard—the Bull—is 50 points. That meant to win this, I needed to hit the Bull with all three darts.

I let out a short breath and threw the first dart.

First dart—Bull.

Second dart—Bull.

I was on the final shot. I slowly drew back my arm, took aim, and threw the third dart—

“Partner! Go for it! Woooooahhh—!!”

“Gah!”

Distracted by the foreigner’s fervent cheering, my timing for releasing the dart slipped.

It slid right off my finger and flew in a strange trajectory.

Ah, this is probably over—

—Pkyun!

But the sharp, satisfying sound of the Bull rang out.

“Huh? I-It hit?! Y-Yes!”

Unbelievably, the dart, which had flown on a completely messed-up path, was stuck right in the Bull.

“No way...” “We lost?!”

“Ehh! Amazing! We won, we won!”

The two college students were stunned, while the foreigner jumped up and down, throwing her hands in the air.

It wasn’t a cool win, but a win was a win.

I walked up to the dumbfounded students and restated the terms of the bet.

“The winner gets to order the loser to do one thing, right?”

““............””

“Go play with each other, no more hitting on people. Got it?”

“O-Okay...” “Whatever, this sucks. Let’s go.”

I put a little pressure on them with my tone, and the students, completely deflated, trudged back to their seats.

Crisis averted—or so I thought.

“Hey, hey, Partner!”

The moment I turned around, time stopped.

She didn’t hold back at all, pressing her lips right against mine.

The faint scent of sweet perfume and the soft feel of her lips completely took over my mind.

“Puh!”

She gently pulled away, smiling brightly.

...What just happened?! That was definitely a kiss!

Damn, it was soft... No, that’s not the point!

Confused, I looked toward my senior and junior, who were also frozen in place, mouths agape with idiotic expressions of shock.

“Wow! That was amazing! I was so surprised!”

“N-No, I was the one who was surprised!” I managed to reply, trying to keep my cool.

Maybe this was a cultural difference, and in her country, people just kissed as a friendly gesture, even with strangers?

...Yeah. That had to be it. Otherwise, no one would just kiss someone they’d practically just met.

“Hey, hey, Partner! Tell me your name!”

“Y-Yamazaki. Yamazaki Atsuto.”

“So your name’s Atsuto! I’m Charlotte Flores! Call me Char!”

My cheeks flushed hot at Char’s innocent, childlike smile.

She really looked like nothing had happened at all.

“U-Umm... Your Japanese is really good, isn’t it?”

“R-Really?!”

I’d just asked to fill the awkward silence, but she beamed with delight and leaned in close.

“I studied Japanese so much! I lived in America until recently!”

“H-Huh, America...”

“Yeah! Florida, in America! This area is amazing! So many places to hang out! Near my family’s house, there’s, like, nothing! Oh, that’s right!”

While I was wondering if she was an exchange student, Char offered me a can of beer from the table.

“Let’s drink together! As a sign of friendship!”

She was recommending it with a dazzling smile that belonged in a beer commercial, but unfortunately, I couldn’t break the law.

“Sorry. I’m still a high schooler...!”

“Oh, really? That’s too bad...” Char drooped sadly.

But her expression instantly brightened as if she’d remembered something.

“Oh, then darts! Teach me darts!”

“Eh! T-Teach you? But I’m not good enough to teach, really...”

“You won’t teach me? Darts...”

Char’s face clearly clouded over with disappointment. Ugh, it’s hard to say no...

“...Fine, just for a little bit.”

“Yay! Thank you so much!”

In the end, I caved to the pressure and agreed to teach her darts.

Char exchanged the beer can for a dart and faced the board.

“Your stance is... yeah, that’s fine. Your center of gravity should be a little forward, maybe.”

“Center of gravity a little forward!”

Repeating my words, Char leaned her body forward.

“Oh? Huh? Wait?”

She let out a clumsy sound, and her body swayed, tilting forward.

“W-Watch out!”

I instinctively stepped forward, but—

—Thud!

She completely collapsed on top of me, pinning me underneath.

I can’t see! I can’t breathe! Something is covering my mouth!

“Phew! Haah, haah...”

I pushed the something away with my hand and sucked in a huge breath.

But seriously, what was this soft, yielding sensation beneath my fingers?

I cautiously opened my eyes, and there was Char, her cheeks flushed, her lips trembling.

And my right hand was firmly cupping Char’s right breast.

In other words, the thing that had been covering my mouth was... Char’s boob.

“Waaaaah! I’m so sorry! I’m so sorry! I’m so sorry!”

Immediate dogeza. I kept hitting my head on the floor repeatedly.

But.

“...Wait, huh?”

She wasn’t... angry?

Instead, Char was shifting her blue eyes back and forth in confusion, moving her lips as if she wanted to say something.

“Y-You’re surprisingly bold, aren’t you... Atsuto...”

Char shot me a few heated glances.

Perhaps because of the alcohol, her half-lidded eyes were strangely alluring.

“U-Umm,” I called out.

Char gasped, then cleared her throat.

“S-Sorry! Was I heavy?”

“N-No, you weren’t heavy, but...”

“Good. Sorry, I must have had a little too much to drink and got dizzy... Okay! Let’s forget about that and play darts!”

Char flashed a dazzling, sun-like smile. Well, I guess we’d just pretend that never happened... No way! There was no way I could just casually teach her darts after that!

“Sorry! I have something I need to do now!”

“Ehh! Teach me darts! Darts, darts, darts!”

“No, I’m seriously running out of time!”

Ignoring Char, who was whining like a child, I called out to my senior and junior, who were watching from a distance.

“Let’s head back now!”

“What?! You’re not gonna exchange contact info?! She kissed you and cop a feel without getting mad—that’s a total green light, man!”

“Keep your voice down, you idiot!”

“And Senpai, that was definitely your first kiss, right?! How was it?! Your first smooch!”

“I-I don’t know!”

I slapped the junior on the head to shut him up.

The kiss was her idea, and the grab was an accident, but don’t shout it loud enough for the whole place to hear!

“A-Anyway, let’s go! Time to pack it up!”