Wink

Masaki was waiting at the gate before the restaurant for the band members to arrive. He had picked a location on the totally opposite side of town - minimizing the chance of random onlookers seeing him together with a bunch of high school girls. Especially him and Akane Ishihara, he couldn’t be seen with such a popular girl, and weird rumors would start around the school.

The restaurant building was a regular-looking building in a row of other commercial spaces. However, it had one special trick up its sleeve, since there was a little bowling alley located in the building's basement.

A great activity to get to know the band members a bit better.

After leaning against a land post for a while, Masaki saw a high school-age girl looking for something. She had brown hair, tied up into two pig-tails with a green ribbon.

“Excuse me, I am looking for Tsuchiya-san.”

Masaki smiled at the polite-looking girl.

“Yes that is me, Tsuchiya, Masaki”

They made a cute bow before him.

“Miyazaki Haruka, nice to meet you!”

Her cheeks became a little red.

“You are so different from how I remember you!”

Masaki felt a bit confused.

“Remember? Have we met before? At the concert you mean?”

“Yes… yes, I mean how you looked at the concert”

He couldn’t shake the feeling that she looked a bit saddened at his reply, but they didn’t have much time to continue their conversation, since Ishihara-san had approached them.

“Hello, Haruka-chan and Tsuchiya-san, I see you’ve found each other”

Ishihara-san was wearing a grey shirt with bell sleeves and open shoulders. In her hair sat a blue ribbon. Masaki wasn’t used to seeing her in casual clothing like that.

She looks so cute in those clothes!

I shouldn’t be stupid like that… this is a business meeting.

“Hello Ishihara-san”

The three of them waited around the restaurant's entrance for a bit.

Masaki looked at his watch, it already was five minutes over time.

“Does Nagamatsu-san know she has to come here?”

Ishihara-san sighed.

“She’s always late like this - but don’t worry, she’ll turn up eventually”

But Haruka seemed a bit less relaxed about it, she bowed before Masaki.

“I am so sorry for inconveniencing you like this”

Masaki waved at Haruka.

“No problem, no problem”

Then finally, the three of them saw the remaining band member walking towards them.

Chifumi Nagamatsu seemed rather sluggish. She rubbed her eyes.

“Good mworning!”

“I am sorry, I overslept”

“It’s noon already how can you oversleep this late?”

“Ha - ha”

Chifumi rubbed her head.

“Can I have some cwoffee first?”

Masaki smiled at Ishihara-san, and she returned his smile.

“Let’s head inside!”

The four of them walked inside and sat down at a table for four.

Chifiumi leaned her head on Haruka’s shoulder, who started head patting the blue-haired girl.

Masaki looked around at the table of girls. He couldn’t deny that meeting up with a group of girls made him a bit anxious, but he didn’t feel as bad as expected. Maybe it helped he wasn’t alone with Ishihara-san, but the other girls were there as well. Still, he couldn’t help but get this warm feeling every time he looked at Akane. Something he couldn’t say for the other girls. Somehow, she was special to him.

His heartbeat started increasing again.

Better stop overthinking and focus on business.

The waiter walked up to them and asked them what they wanted for a drink.

“Your biggest mug of cwoffee please, with a lot of sugar”

Said Chifumi, who was laying with her head on the table, halfway passed out.

“Excuse her -”

Haruka said while looking at Chifumi.

“Some green tea, please”

Ishihara-san asked for water, and Masaki choose water too.

“Are you just copying me?”

Akane whispered in his ear, sitting next to him on the bench.

Masaki’s face turned a little red.

“No. I just felt like drinking water”

Ishihara-san giggled.

“You are cute”

After receiving their drinks the four of them ordered some food.

The waiting time was ideal for Masaki to ask the band members some questions.

“What kind of music do you all like?”

“Something with a nice chord progression, that makes you feel warm inside.”

Haruka said.

“Mmm…”

Chifumi said after which she took another sip of her coffee.

“Something with heavy dwums… you listened to use play live right?”

Of course she would, she is the band's drummer.

Masaki looked at Ishihara-san.

“What do you want your music to be like?”

She shook a little, she was clearly stuck in her own thoughts.

“Me? Well… I don’t know exactly”

“During the concert, we usually just some songs we like and feel comfortable playing”

“We have only one guitar player and no keys so that limits the selection”

“For what original songs we want to make… I am still struggling with that”

She looked down at the table.

“I’ve been thinking about what lyrics, but I don’t really have anything to write about”

“Our band is maid themed, but other than that we don’t have much of an identity yet”

Ishihara-san sighed.

“I guess maid-themed songs wouldn’t cut it”

Masaki hadn’t ever really thought about writing lyrics either, he had always assumed that would be someone else's job. He felt as if there wasn’t much he could do to help them, aside from offering some general advice.

“What kind of things do girl bands usually sing about?”

“How hwungry they are…”

Chifumi said while rubbing her belly.

“Cute things”

Haruka put her hands together to form a little heart.

“We are no idol gwoup Haruka-chan”

Ishihara-san was thinking.

“Mmm… usually there is some empowering message, like a coming of age thing, singing about your struggles”

She paused briefly and then added.

“And then there are love songs…”

“Something we have no experience with”

Chifumi said with a sarcastic voice - after which all of the girls sighed.

In the meantime, the waiter brought them their lunch.

“Enjoy our meal!”

The four of them said in unison, Chifumi with her mouth already full.

“Excuse her again, we try our best to educate her better”

An annoyed Haruka said directed at Masaki.

“No worries, glad to see you enjoy your meal Chifumi”

She winked at Masaki, giving him a thumbs up.

“Chifumi is special - she’s like our little puppy”

Ishihara-san with a smile on her face.

They finished their plates - after which Masaki announces the activity to them.

“As you might have gathered from the signs - this restaurant has a bowling alley in the basement”

“I want to challenge you to a match!”

The girls looked a bit confused.

“If you like, that is...”

Suddenly Masaki felt insecure. Did high school girls even like bowling? Isn’t that something old people did? He looked over at the three girls sitting beside him - and realized he didn’t have a clue what high school girls liked. The only person he would usually interact with was Kazuki, which wasn’t of much help on this subject.

He felt the hand of Ishihara-san gently landing on his shoulder. She turned her head and looked into his eyes. She reassured him with her powerful voice.

“We’d love to go bowling with you!”

Her calm nature instantly took Masaki’s anxieties away. She somehow had the power to radiate a warm mist of confidence over the room.

Like a good band leader needs.

She got up from the bench, after which Masaki followed.

“Let’s pick out some of those terrific bowling shoes”

Akane said with a glimpse on her face.

The band members and Masaki went down the stairs and entered the bowling alley.

After putting on weirdly colored bowling shoes, they went and sat down next to one of the bowling lanes.

They typed their names into the bowling screen and started playing.

Ishihara-san grabbed one of the bowling balls and ran up to the bowling lane.

The ball razed over the floor and stroke the pins dead center.

“Strike!”

The display above the bowling played a funny animation of a computer-animated monkey dancing.

She turned around and swoop her hair in one motion. Her face had changed to a serious expression. It was obvious that she meant business.

“Who dares to challenge me?”

Despite the other’s best efforts, their attempts at overtaking Akane’s score proved fruitless.

“I won!”

Masaki sighed.

“If I knew you were a bowling prodigy, I would have picked something else like karaoke.”

Ishihara-san giggled.

“Did you forget we are a rock band?”

“I’ll come up with something!”