Romantic Killer But I Made It Gay

Part 64

At the bowling alley, we split ourselves into two teams: me, Riporin, Amin and Yuri, and Harue, Ryuya, Emi and Miyuki.

"We're gonna crush you!" Ryuya challenges, raising a bowling ball threateningly.

"L-Let's fight fair, okay?" Harue squeaks to her teammate, who sighs.

"I didn't say let's cheat. Of course I'm gonna fight fair. And I'm gonna win fair too!"

"Not when we've got the bowling master on our team," Riporin laughs confidently, patting me on the shoulder as I carefully pick a ball.

"What?" I jump at the contact, my body full of more jitters than blood cells.

"Haru!" Amin whines, shaking her fist at me. "Take this seriously!"

"Why don't we make a bet?" Ryuya suggests with a smirk directed my way. "How about the losers have to tell the other team their first crush?"

Everyone on my team turns to me and I shrug. "All I can think of are anime characters, so I don't really care."

"I do." Amin shudders and the other girls nod sadly.

"We're counting on you, Haru." Riporin gives me a confident yet unhelpful thumbs up and I sigh, trying to exhale my nervousness. It's just bowling. I know how to do this. But the idea they're counting on me, that they might hate me if I screw up—

"Haru." Emi's voice pulls me out of my thoughts and I look back to see her grinning supportively. "Imagine the pins are your cousin. Take out all your anger on them."

"What kind of relationship do you have with your cousin!?" Ryuya yelps but I ignore him, walking up to the lane and holding the ball to my chest. Imagine they're Kiki, huh? That just might work. I close my eyes and an image of the yellow egg in all three of its forms appears at the end of the lane. When I open them again I can still see a mirage of its stupid mug and I summon all my strength, remember every bowling game I've ever played, then roll the ball as far as I can.

The sounds of the pins falling might be the most satisfying thing I've ever heard. Every elongated egg topples to the ground and is swept away by the machine, disappearing into the darkness. I wish I could topple Kiki's rule over my life like that.

The building is quiet except for the muffled sounds of people at the bar. I turn back to my friends with a nervous smile, awkwardly walking back to the group.

Finally Ryuya pipes up with, "You want to do that to your cousin?"

"I—"

"You don't know his cousin," Emi informs him. "That girl deserves it."

I blink in surprise. "I didn't know you hated Kiki."

She laughs, winking. "Of course not. I can't have her knowing I hate her, otherwise that takes all the fun out of it."

"You are... strangely terrifying," Yuri comments softly.

"Whatever." Ryuya shoves past me, grabbing his bowling ball and chucking it down his lane. It immediately swerves into the gutter and rolls into the darkness.

"What!?" he yells angrily, throwing his hands in the air.

"Ryu, take this seriously!" Miyuki calls jokingly.

"Don't call me that!" he snaps, and I frown as he stalks back to let Amin take his place.

"Someone's angry," she mutters and he whips around, fuming.

"You got something to say?"

She jumps and stumbles back, crashing into me. Finding a rush of my usual strength, I take her shoulders and steady her. This is my friend, she's scared, and I'm not going to stand here and do nothing. I have to prove to Ryuya I've grown up and won't take his bull.

"What's your deal!?"

"Huh?" He glares daggers at me but doesn't move toward us.

"You can't yell at your friends like that." Realizing I'm still holding Amin protectively I let her go with an apologetic glance which she returns with a grateful one. "It's not cool. Besides, why are you so angry? Because you didn't get a strike on your first ball? Or because of what we said? We're just joking around. And if you can't handle that, just try to get through it today. This means a lot to some of us, so don't ruin it for those people!"

Again, our group is silent except for me panting slightly from saying so much so quickly. Then a slow smile spreads over Ryuya's face. I blink, my anger dissipating. Am I really that bad at telling people off? I thought I did pretty well.

"W-What?"

He realizes he's smiling and covers his mouth with a quick hand. "Just, you never used to tell me off like that." His cheeks flush and he looks down the lane awkwardly. "You really have changed, Haru. Sorry." He offers me a hand to shake and I sigh, pointing to Amin.

"I'm not the one you should be apologizing to."

"R-Right." He turns to Amin, who raises an eyebrow. "I'm really sorry. I shouldn't have gotten so mad over a game. And I...shouldn't have yelled at you either."

"Hmph," she huffs, flicking her short hair. "I'll look forward to hearing all about your crushes."

Ryuya nods sadly and retreats to his group where Emi ruffles his hair in a way that's not exactly kind and Miyuki mutters something about boys to Harue, who sighs tiredly.

I return to my group as well, who are all staring at me in shock.

"That way incredible," Yuri compliments softly, her gray eyes glowing with wonder. "I barely recognize you, Haru."

"You were so cool!" Amin gushes, ruffling my hair in a way that is kind. "I don't know what Ryuya's deal is, picking a fight like that, but you were awesome!"

"That's our Haru!" Riporin grins at me. "You've always been cool, in your own way."

"Ah...thanks?" I'm not sure if I should take that as a compliment, but I decide to. What was I so worried about? Maybe I'm still afraid. Maybe I haven't completely let go of the past. But I've grown up.

I can handle myself now