Alignment Adjustment

The room fell into complete silence, save for the soft hum of the motors. Kōsuke's jaw hung slightly ajar as his gaze remained fixed on the freshly cleared lane, the result of his upperclassman's impressive throw. As the pinsetter prepared to arrange the next set of pins, Kōsuke's glasses slid down his nose, matching the descent of his confidence.

Akemi sat frozen in her seat, her pen poised above the paper, ready to make a mark but never quite getting there. Her hand quivered, and her lips trembled as she tried to process the bewildering scene before her.

It wasn't the Senior's exceptional performance that held her attention; it was the sight of her childhood friend standing utterly flabbergasted at the end of the lane. She had only seen him bowl once before, but it was evident that this was uncharted territory for him. Even without a view of his face, she could tell.

"Your turn, Kiyota," Isao taunted as he walked past his opponent on his way back to his seat. He gave Kōsuke's shoulder a condescending pat. However, Kōsuke offered no response, his gaze still fixed down the lane, barely reacting to the impact of his upperclassman's hand.

"Ignore him!" Taiga shouted, refusing to abandon his position, determined to encourage his best friend with his words. "He's just trying to mess with your head. Show him who the better bowler is! You've got this!"

A tense moment passed as Kōsuke remained motionless. Akemi's heart tightened in her chest as she pondered how to help him break free from his mental paralysis. But she knew that there was little she could do to assist him; any attempt might only exacerbate the situation.

In her eyes, it felt like a race between two competitors, with Kōsuke burdened by chains and weights, while Isao strolled leisurely just ahead, taunting him all the way.

However, this mental image dissolved as Kōsuke vigorously shook his head and jolted himself back into the moment by slapping his cheeks, almost dislodging his glasses in the process.

Akemi couldn't see his face from her angle, but she sensed that he was regaining his composure. It was a peculiar trait of his to regain focus in such a manner, but it undeniably worked for him. She silently breathed a sigh of relief and ensured the score was up to date.

Kōsuke adjusted his glasses as he approached the other lane, picked up his ball with one hand, and positioned himself precisely on the dots on the lane boards. Releasing a long, tension-relieving sigh, he resumed his stance. As always, he moved gracefully towards the foul line and released the ball, sending it down the lane with a beautiful arc.

However, as the ball reached the same troubling spot as on the other lane, it veered perilously close to the gutter, teetering for a brief moment before missing the pins entirely.

Silence once again claimed the room, with the sweeper falling down to clear fallen pins. But since it had nothing to do it quietly returned to its place having done nothing in the process.

"Should we just call the game now?" Isao taunted with laughter punctuating each word.

Kōsuke offered no response to the mockery, his gaze fixed down the lane, his brows furrowed and unwavering.

“Hey, you OK?” Taiga asked, concern evident in his voice as he observed his friend, who remained motionless. That was until the ball return noisily ejected his golden ball. The instant this sound reverberated, Kōsuke turned without a word, retrieved his ball, and prepared to assume his stance once more, making no alterations to his approach.

“Kōsuke?” Akemi jumped from her seat as she witnessed this, recognizing yet another of his peculiar habits. When he became severely rattled by something new, he would repetitively execute the same actions without change. Whether it was solving math problems or, in this case, bowling, he adhered to the same pattern until some would break within him, causing him to give up completely. Unfortunately, this process often took a while to unfold.

"This isn't working. There's got to be something wrong with this lane. He must be cheating or something—"

Akemi started, but Kōsuke interrupted her by finally responding, not pausing his preparations for the next throw.

"He's not cheating," were his only words.

"How are you sure?" She questioned him once more, but he did not respond. Instead, he began his approach, but this time it wasn't as smooth as usual. His movements were quicker, and he slung his arm back harder and faster than he normally did.

Just as he was about to release the ball, something occurred that made everyone present jump.

Right before Kōsuke could deliver his throw, Taiga leaped in front of him, causing Kōsuke to swing the ball right into his friend. Fortunately, Taiga was prepared and caught the heavy ball while Kōsuke still had a firm grip on it. Akemi gasped at the sight, while Isao could only laugh at the unfolding spectacle.

Seeing that his friend was unharmed, Kōsuke let out a sigh and slowly relaxed his tense body. "Taiga, what are you doing? You could have been hurt-"

"How do you know?" Taiga's eyes were fixed and unyielding as he stared at his friend. "How do you know you aren't being hustled here?"

"Taiga, just trust me," Kōsuke softly attempted to convince his friend, but Taiga remained resolute.

"How do you know? I might not be as knowledgeable as you in this sport, but even I can sense that something's wrong. Show me how you know he isn't cheating."

The two boys locked eyes for a tense moment before Kōsuke sighed and relaxed his grip on the ball, allowing his friend to hold it for him. He moved to the ball return while Taiga followed, eager to learn the secrets Kōsuke had been concealing.

"I can tell just by looking at his ball," Kōsuke finally explained, pointing at the blue ball without picking it up. "It's a regulation ball and shows no signs of tampering. It would be nearly impossible for him to tamper with it without altering its design. The way it rolls over the lane, the coverstock is normal. It would have reacted very differently if he had manipulated it. So, no, Taiga, I know he isn't cheating."

The two friends continued to gaze at each other as the weight of the information settled in the air. Without a word spoken between them, Kōsuke reached out and took his ball back from his friend, preparing for his next turn. But just as he was about to walk away, a sharp pain erupted from both of his cheeks.

Witnessing this, Isao whistled in surprise at the unexpected turn of events. With his hands now free, Taiga had smacked both of Kōsuke's cheeks with his palms, mirroring what he had seen his friend do earlier.

Kōsuke's eyes widened, and his cheeks swelled from the sudden shock. He could only stare at his friend, wondering what had just transpired.

“I know you do that to help you focus again,” Taiga said with a soft smile on the corners of his lips. “Hope that helps.”

Kōsuke stayed still for a moment before shaking his head. “Thanks, Taiga. I needed that.” His friend only gave a knowing nod in reply. “But I don’t know what to do right now.”

“I don’t know either, man,” the taller of the two shrugged back, placing a reassuring hand on his friend's shoulder. “But if anyone has a chance of figuring this out, it’s you, man. Just gotta think outside the box.”

“But I don’t know if—" Kōsuke began with an exasperated sigh, but then came to a complete halt. His eyes widened, and he nearly handed his bowling ball back to Taiga before sitting back down and gazing out onto the lane.

“This seems to be a thing of yours, huh?” Isao playfully mocked him, while Akemi attempted to hide her face in her hands. He moved right next to his underclassman, hands crossed behind his back with a playful grin on his face, leaning closer to Kōsuke. “Whatcha seein’?”

“Senpai?” Kōsuke rose to one knee, turning toward the upperclassman with a sudden grin on his face. “Can I ask, when you bowl, do you stroke or do you crank?”

“Stroke? Crank?” Taiga asked in general, looking back at Akemi, who also raised her head in confusion. Gently, he placed the bowling ball back on the ball return and joined his friend, trying to understand the situation.

Isao seemed momentarily caught off guard, freezing for a brief moment, but then his sly grin returned. “I would say I'm more of a tweener, honestly.”

“OK!” Akemi yelled from her desk, her fingers gripping her pencil so tightly it was about to snap. “Please stop making up words and explain what you two are talking about.”

“Oh! Well, in bowling, there are major styles of bowling: Stroke and Crank,” Kōsuke explained from his spot on the ground. “Stroke is the more traditional style, what you typically associate with professional bowlers. It's also the easiest for beginners to mimic.

“On the other hand, crank is a more technical style with greater power and force behind the ball. It has a higher potential for strikes but is also the most challenging to master, high risk, high reward.”

“So,” Taiga tried to connect the dots in his head and came up empty-handed. “What does tweener mean?”

“It’s exactly as it sounds,” Isao chimed in to clarify what Kōsuke had omitted. “A tweener is a blend of the two styles, combining high power with high accuracy.”

The blond bowler moved toward the center of the lane and placed his feet on the starting dots on the approach to demonstrate his meaning. “For right-handers, there are three common starting positions on the lane: center-right, far left, and dead center.” He moved his body and feet to illustrate the differences between them.

"Alright, I think I am understanding the basics now," Akemi said with a sigh as her brain was starting to hurt. "But what does this have to do with this game?"

A confident grin lit up Kōsuke’s face as he stood and stared into his opponent's squinting eyes. "It means I have figured out what you've been hiding from me right from the start, Senpai."

"Oh ho?" Isao chuckled softly under his breath, and his surprised expression slowly transformed into one of pure joy. "Please show me just what you mean by that. This is getting exciting."

"Gladly," Kōsuke confidently nodded before retrieving his golden ball from the return and taking his place on the lane once again. As the others stepped off the boards to give him room to prepare his approach, Taiga noticed something was drastically different about his friend.

Hey, he thought to himself as he resumed his position at the side of the lane, he's not in his normal spot?

This was indeed true. Kōsuke had positioned himself on the far left side of the lane, quite different from his usual place closer to the right side of the lane. He also stood further back on the lane, almost all the way to where the bowling lane boards met the normal school floor.

Everyone watched in idle curiosity as he began his approach. His steps were longer than his usual careful approach, each one filled with strength and power as he made his way toward the edge of the lane.

However, what surprised them the most was the way he carried the ball behind him. Normally, when he bowled, his arm stayed in a straight line as he held the ball, coming up just slightly to his waist. But this was drastically different.

"Wow, he's holding that ball so high above his head with just one hand!" Taiga exclaimed as he watched his friend confidently approach the foul line. Kōsuke's slender arm muscles were straining as he swung the heavy ball high in an arch right above his head and behind him. In one rapid movement of his arm, it swiftly came down in a circular motion toward the ground in the blink of an eye.

With a loud pop as his thumb released from the hole, the ball rocketed down the lane, starting nearly on the left-hand corner of the lane and moving in a direct line toward the right gutter.

Akemi gasped as she watched the ball get perilously close to the edge and nearly fall into the gutter, only to suddenly change direction and head back toward the pins. A wave of pins clattering around as the sound of the ball colliding with the pins filled the room.

As the pinsetter came down to clear the lane, only one pin remained standing – the ten-pin in the right corner.

"Well, that's a bit better," Kōsuke remarked in the nearly silent room as everyone stared in utter amazement at his sudden change in bowling style, except for Isao, who stood with his ever-present grin. "Just need to hone in on that line, and I'll have this game in the bag," Kōsuke playfully chided his senior bowler.

"Mmm," Isao sighed in content and licked his lips in excitement. "Finally, things are getting good."