VOLUME 5

Chapter 3: Part 2

I hadn’t gotten a chance to use the toilet back at the vampire ninja party, and I had eaten a bit too much pizza completely doused in Tabasco, so I took a rather long bathroom break as the darts bar party reached its highest point.

I was the one who suggested this mixer in the first place, so to think they’d get so into it only when I was gone… oh well, whatever.

Back at the billiards table, all the girls were going crazy over how good Anderson-kun was, but now both the girls and the guys were making lots of noise.

Past the counter and next to the tables were a bunch of dart machines. Everyone was surrounding those machines in a half circle.

Dai-sensei was fast asleep on the sofa next to the billiards tables.

Now, I didn’t know much about darts, so I couldn’t really say what was going on right now, but I was pretty sure you’re not supposed to play darts blindfolded.

But I saw Haruna there, getting ready to throw a dart with a blindfold on.

“What’s goind on here?”

I saw Orito in the middle of the crowd, so I decided to walk up to him and try to get a grasp on the situation.

“Haruna-chan and Anderson are both way too good, so for two out of three throws they decided to go blindfolded.”

Hmm… as usual, Haruna was really good at games like this.

Umm, according to the score, Anderson-kun had eighty points, while Haruna had seventy-two? Hm, maybe it was her blindfold, but she didn’t seem to have many points at all.

“b.l.o.o.d.y Scryed!”

Haruna let out a strange shout and took a strange pose as she threw her next shot. I heard a strange whoosh, before the dart hit the board a bit above center. It had hit where there was a bit of a circular pattern on the board.

Ahh, too bad.

“She got it! Triple twenty! Wow, she’s really got the hang of this, hasn’t she?”

I had no idea why everyone was getting so excited, considering she hadn’t even hit the center, but…

Haruna threw her second blindfolded dart. She didn’t seem to really be even aiming, and the dart flew towards the outside of the board.

Haruna missed? It looked like she had done that on purpose, but… oh well, too bad.

“Now to end it!”

Her third throw. Haruna took off her blindfold, and I completely expected her to hit the board dead center, but the dart she threw hit just the board just barely, on the six.

Just six points? Wow, that’s kinda shabby… is what I thought, but…

“Uwaaaaahhh!!!”

Ear-piercing cheers roared around me, and I could almost feel the air shaking.

“I lost. As expected from Haruna-sensei.”

Anderson-kun put on a resigned smile and held out his hand towards Haruna.

“You’re a hundred eras too early to think you can take me on!”

Eh? What happened? Haruna won?

I didn’t know the rules to darts, so I seemed to be the only person who didn’t know what was going on.

“Haruna won? Her second shot completely missed.”

“Ahh, so you don’t know. She hit the triple twenty, missed the second shot on purpose, and then hit the double six on the third. That makes exactly seventy-two.”

I see. The outer ring gave double points, didn’t it? And Haruna had made seventy-two points. In other words, in darts you wanted your score to go down.

“Okay, I guess that means Haruna-sensei is the winn-“

“Wait just a second! Aikawa’s here now.”

Orito took my hand and raised it. It’s not like I really wanted to play, so all I could do was scratch myself awkwardly on the chin.

“Eh?”

“Ah, right, Aikawa hasn’t tried yet, has he?”

Mihara, who was standing next to Anderson-kun, blinked a few times in surprise.

“Okay then. The last match will be Haruna-sensei versus Aikawa.”

Anderson-kun said that and called me forward to the dartboard. I heard applause around me, and felt that I couldn’t really refuse at this point. So, I walked up, and was handed three darts. I held one of them like I would hold a pencil. It was heavier than I had expected. I held it up and tried aiming for the dartboard.

My first darts game… I should hold back my strength a bit and just toss the darts lightly, right…?

“We’ll play a game of 501.”

“501?”

“The first person who brings their score cleanly to zero wins.”

I see. Those must’ve been the rules Haruna was playing by last game. I had thought darts was just a game where you tired to get the most points…

“You have to hit a double on your last throw, so be careful.”

… What did that mean?

“Okay, here I go… hyaahh! Scarlet Needle!”

Haruna put on her blindfold and tossed the dart. Maybe it really was the blindfold, but she didn’t hit the bullseye. Rather, her dart hit above it, around the twenty-point region.

“Is there any point to the blindfold?!”

The audience stood there in shock.

All three of her darts landed in the same place.

Could it be… that she could get more points by throwing the darts there?

“How many points do you get for hitting the center?”

“The center is fifty points, and the circle around that is twenty-five.”

I see. That’s why they had those two circles there.

Asking about the rules, I found out that if you hit the circular bits towards the outside of the board, you could get double or triple points.

So, Haruna was. .h.i.tting triple twenties, which gave her more points than the bullseye. It turned out that the point of darts wasn’t to hit the center every time.

What’s more, you couldn’t just keep on getting triple twenties. Your last throw had to land on a double, or else you wouldn’t win.

Either way, I also aimed a bit above center in order to hit the triple twenty.

My first throw… dart doesn’t stick.

My second throw… dart doesn’t stick.

My third throw… five points.

Why the h.e.l.l was the five and the one on either side of the twenty point region?! I couldn’t hit the twenty at all!

Eh, Haruna got a hundred and eighty points, and I only got five…?

This match was a steamrolling! Also, Haruna once again hit three triple twenties without a sweat.

But I wouldn’t let her win that easily…

My first throw… dart doesn’t stick.

My second throw… zero points.

My third throw… dart doesn’t stick.

The sound of boisterous laughter rang out all around me. So this was what it felt like to be forsaken by everyone…

“It’s okay. Actually, this is quite impressive.”

Kyouko showed me a cute guts pose.

… It really seemed like I had zero talent for darts. Also, who the h.e.l.l could throw the dart right into that tiny circle anyways?!

Maybe there was something wrong with my darts? Why weren’t they even sticking? They should be able to stick at least, right? Ugh, this was so embarra.s.sing.

On the other hand, Haruna got another blindfolded triple twenty. And then a triple nineteen. And then…

“Hiiiiyaaaaaaaaaaahhhh~~!!”

Game over. And the cheers began.

“She won in nine darts! I’ve never seen that before! And she did it blindfolded… this must be a miracle.”

Even the shop attendant seemed surprised.

“Amazing! That ahoge girl is amazing!”

As expected, Haruna had performed wonderfully, and now everyone began to look at her in a different light.

“Eh? The game’s over? And I guess Haruna did really well?”

“Yeah. To put it in bowling terms, it’s like she scored a three hundred.”

That’s pretty great. Well, more importantly, Haruna was really cute when she was having fun like this. Everyone else probably thought the same thing. There were even people who went up to her to beg for lessons.

“Hmm, maybe I should teach you how to play.”

Kyouko smiled at me and took me by the hand.

Yeah, that’s a good idea. That was my first time playing darts, and I think Haruna would be fine on her own now. I couldn’t just let this experience end so pathetically like this…

We walked over to an unused dartboard in the corner, and Kyouko came in close.

“Use your elbow like a pivot, like this…”

Her hand touched mine. I heard her sweet voice coming from just next to my ear, and her large b.r.e.a.s.t.s sometimes brushed my skin. I really couldn’t concentrate on the darts like this.

“… Aikawa-san, are you listening to me?”

I can’t. Even if she taught me like this, I wouldn’t get any better. At that point, Yuu and Anderson-kun walked over. Ahh, thank goodness.

Try to aim for the fourteen.

That was Yuu’s advice. I wondered why that would be a good idea, but Anderson-kun supplied the details.

“The five and the one are next to eh twenty, but you have nine and eleven next to the fourteen. And the theory says that beginners tend to aim left.”

I see. Certainly, my dart had missed the twenty and hit the five.

Alright… I’ll aim for the fourteen… okay, I missed again. The dart wouldn’t stick.

“This is the first time I’ve seen someone with such a disastrous level of skill.”

Kyouko burst out laughing, and sent me a teasing smile.

I tried again… and hit my target!

“You’re too unstable. Line yourself up with your throwing path and put weight on your pivot leg. Only use the part of your arm above your elbow to throw.”

While saying that, Kyouko took the dart from the board and gave me a demonstration.

When I watched her form though, I couldn’t see anything but her lightly waving b.r.e.a.s.t.s. She really had huge b.r.e.a.s.t.s…

I did as I was told and tossed the dart as I was shown… and hm, nothing changed.

“It’s important to throw with the same form each time. Before you aim for anywhere specific, try to practice so you can throw the dart into the same spot reliably.”

Anderson-kun took me by the shoulders and the elbow. For some reason, I felt my heart speed up at his soft, gentle touch.

Ah, this was bad. What were these feelings? My heart was racing. Did the girls back there also feel this way? I’m not surprised they fell head over heels for him.

I looked up at Anderson-kun’s face, which was handsome enough to belong to an English prince.

He was so cool. His features were chiseled and it was like I was staring at the statue of David.

… Was I an idiot? What was I getting so dazed for? That was close. Okay, deep breath… I’m okay now. I’m a zombie, yeah. I’m not going to start walking down that road.

But then, Yuu pushed Anderson-kun away. Maybe she wanted to be the one who taught me now?

Anderson-kun looked a bit puzzled as Yuu’s two gauntleted hands firmly pushed his body from behind, shoving him away from me.

I will teach him.

Yuu’s face was expressionless, but I could tell she was a bit excited.

“Yuu, you’re…”

Could it be she was jealous of Anderson-kun?

When I thought about that, I just burst out laughing.

I can handle Ayumu. Better than anybody.

Yuu thrust that memo at Anderson-kun and firmly gripped my sleeve. She was a G.o.ddess. Although, I haven’t heard someone say something like that since Ray Amuro. (1)

It is like billiards. You must keep your arm completely straight.

Eh? What did she mean? My confusion must’ve shown on my face, because Anderson-kun offered further explanation.

“You can’t think about it like taking swings in baseball. If you do, then after you throw the dart you’ll end up pulling back your arm. Instead, in order to make sure your throw is stable, you need to push your arm completely out when you throw. We call this the ‘follow through.’”

I will teach him.

Anderson-kun came over to explain, but Yuu pushed him back.

Yuu helped me with my form, and I tried another throw.

Ah, it stuck this time. Let me try again!

Oh? That also stuck! Well, this was just splendid.

“Try to practice so you can throw the dart with the same posture and the same timing.”

Anderson-kun came over to comment once more, but of course Yuu just pushed him away again.

I kept on going, and at around the time when I could reliably make the dart stick each and every time… she woke up.

“Umm~~… I want to try tooo~~…”

Dai-sensei raised her hand, her cheeks still a bit flush.

I felt a murmuring in my heart.

Well, she’s drunk anyways, so she probably wouldn’t do anything too crazy… right?

But all the same, I was still pretty terrified.

“Okay~~. Come on up.”

Mihara was completely oblivious to the danger though, and pa.s.sed three darts to Dai-sensei.

“Aikawa-san… you’re paying attention, right?”

Ahh, yeah. I just have to be careful that Dai-sensei didn’t completely destroy the dartboard or something with her throw, right…?

… What exactly as she asking me to do?

Anyways, I needed a bit of time to think.

I watched as Dai-sensei prepared herself like she was going to pitch a baseball…

“Dai-sensei, have you ever played darts?”

“Nope~~. But I was watching so it’ll be okaaay~~.”

She was completely drunk. Her usual chuckles had changed more into cackles.

She lifted one leg up, held the dart aloft, held her arms close to her body, and a wind began to swirl around her.

The dart whizzed through the air… as if I would let her actually throw the dart like that!

I didn’t really know how to stop her, so I ended up once again taking the worst route and flipping up Dai-sensei’s cute skirt.

As everyone’s eyes turned to focus on me, Kyouko let Dai-sensei throw her dart. And as expected, the strength behind the dart broke the dartboard, but Dai-sensei fixed it herself.

You better keep people from looking over here. Got it? Kyouko was telling me that all the while with her eyes.

In order to make sure n.o.body else looked over there…

I flipped Haruna’s skirt this time.

“Ukyuuuuhh!!”

Haruna’s face flushed deep red as she held down her skirt.

Haruna was too busy to retaliate, so in her place the owl’s beak bore into my eyes.

“H-He’s such a perv!”

I heard whispers all around me. I started feeling really uncomfortable… like a baseball team playing a particularly hostile away game… but just then my phone began to vibrate.

Ugh, again? I thought as I checked to see who was calling.

The time was… 6:05pm! c.r.a.p! I completely forgot about Saras again.

I hurriedly picked up.

“Hi, Saras? Sorry, I’m on my way right now!”

I spoke that into the phone as I put on my favorite jacket.

TRANSLATOR’S NOTES

(1) Gundam character.