Baseball with a Childhood Friend and Chicken
Today was an off day for Lulu’s stream.
Yeah, an off day. The kind of day that should’ve had me feeling fantastic.
To be more precise, it wasn’t so much that I felt great as that I felt weirdly empty.
Of course, that emptiness was something I could fill at school.
“Jinwoo, hi.”
“Hey.”
Because Lua was at school.
Just like always, Lua greeted me and drifted over to my side as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
“Hey, are you free today?”
“Free? Why?”
“After school… um…”
Lua hesitated, then leaned in close to my ear.
In that instant I tensed up a little.
Whenever Lua whispered something right against my ear, she always did it in Lulu’s tone, with Lulu’s way of speaking.
Getting ASMR from my oshi was an incredibly good feeling, but it was also a little embarrassing at the same time.
So I braced myself as hard as I could, ready for it…
But contrary to my expectations, this time she spoke in Lua’s own voice, not Lulu’s.
“Wanna watch baseball with me today? At my place.”
Of course, the content of what she said was still plenty enough to make me tense.
“Today…? At your house…?”
“Yeah. Mom and Dad aren’t home, so… it’ll be super easy to watch… yeah…”
…This girl had no idea how dangerous the words she’d just said actually were.
A high school guy going alone to a high school girl’s house when her parents aren’t home?
Childhood friends or not, alone or not, this felt like it was crossing a line.
That was what I thought, anyway.
“Is it okay if I come…?”
My mouth had already gone and spilled the desire that was sitting in my heart.
At my question, Lua nodded like it was the most obvious thing in the world.
“I’ll buy the chicken too. Beer’s obviously out, though.”
“Well, yeah, that goes without saying.”
“Right?”
Lua gave a soft little smile and nodded, and I nodded right along with her.
Whether she liked the way that looked or not, Lua went back to her seat still smiling, and I just stared after her like an idiot, feeling even more lightheaded.
Wait, seriously? I was going to Lua’s house today? To watch baseball and eat chicken?
And baseball games could run late into the night if they went long.
Just thinking about that made my heart pound even harder.
Being alone at a girl friend’s house late into the night—that alone was going to be an insane amount of stimulation for me.
School ended in what felt like a blink.
Maybe because I’d been secretly looking forward to going to Lua’s house so much, time flew by even faster than I’d expected.
Normally the closer you get to something you’re waiting for, the slower time is supposed to crawl, but apparently that wasn’t always the case.
I fell into step beside Lua without thinking, and she started lightly poking my cheek over and over.
“Lua?”
“Hm?”
“Why are you poking my cheek?”
“It feels weird.”
“…What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Exactly what I said?”
Was something weird about my cheek?
When I started poking my own cheek, Lua burst into little giggles like the sight was hilarious.
“No, it’s not that there’s something wrong with it. It just feels different from mine.”
“Different how?”
“Mmm~ A little rougher, and not as soft?”
Lua poked her own cheek as she explained.
I couldn’t exactly reach over and prove it myself, which left me in an awkward spot.
Maybe she picked up on what I was thinking, because Lua grinned mischievously, grabbed my hand, and pressed it against her own cheek.
“Huh?”
Squish.
Lua pushed my hand into her cheek and looked up at me.
“Well? Soft, right?”
“…Yeah. It’s ridiculously soft.”
If it were only soft, it wouldn’t have been this much. It was soft, and smooth, and warm on top of that.
Friends of mine who were dating had always said a girl’s cheek was completely different from a guy’s.
I never expected I’d end up proving that with Lua’s cheek.
“Weird, right?”
“Yeah. Your cheek is.”
“What? Mine?”
“It’s so soft and squishy it feels weird.”
“No way! You’re the weird one! Yours is all dry and rough!”
“I don’t think it’s that bad.”
Even as I said it I touched my own cheek, and yeah—just like Lua said, it felt pretty dry.
Probably because I’d gone from touching her cheek straight to mine.
The contrast was so extreme that it felt off. I wasn’t the weird one here.
While I was busy rationalizing it to myself, Lua came out with something even more baffling.
“Jinwoo.”
“Yeah.”
“…Still. Your cheek felt pretty nice in its own way.”
…What?
Before I could even process what she’d said, the crosswalk light changed and Lua started walking ahead.
I scrambled after her, and when we reached our apartment complex first, I headed into mine.
“Come straight over. The game’ll already be on by the time you get there.”
“Got it.”
With that I ducked home, changed clothes, and headed right back out for Lua’s place.
And when I arrived, Lua opened the door for me immediately.
“You’re here?”
“Of course I am. Here, a present.”
“Huh? A present?”
Lua took what I was holding out with both hands. Inside was a roll cake.
“A roll cake?”
“A present. It’s nothing special, though.”
At that, Lua shook her head hard in denial.
“How is this nothing special? This is totally special.”
“It’s really not that big a deal…”
“No, it is that big a deal.”
Answering with absolute firmness, Lua smiled at me again.
“Thanks, Jinwoo. I’ll enjoy it.”
Even as she said it, she was still in her school uniform.
I slipped into the guest slippers by the door and brought up her clothes without thinking.
“Why are you still in your uniform, though?”
“Huh?”
“You should change.”
The second the words left my mouth, Lua narrowed her eyes at me in a prim little glare and said something I never saw coming.
“Jinwoo, you perv.”
“Huh? Out of nowhere?”
“You have to wash up before you change clothes, right?”
“Well, yeah?”
“…Are you saying you want to listen to me shower right now?”
……What?
How did it turn into that?
I’d only said it because I thought the uniform might be uncomfortable!
I was so flustered I couldn’t get a single word out, and Lua just kept teasing me.
“Perv, perv, perv. The little pervert who wants to listen to his childhood friend take a shower~.”
Still talking, Lua headed straight into her room.
She came back out with a set of loungewear and spoke loud enough for me to hear on purpose.
“Perv. I’m gonna go wash up. When the chicken gets here, put it in the living room for me.”
“Uh… okay?”
Creak.
Slam!
Lua yanked the door open and shut it hard, making her current mood extremely clear, and all I could do was stand there staring after her like an idiot.
…After getting beaten up by her viewers so much, she’d finally learned how to dish it out herself.
Should I call that impressive? I wasn’t sure.
I was the one on the receiving end, after all.
By the time Lua finished washing up, the chicken arrived.
While she dried her hair I carried the chicken into the living room.
The game was already on the TV—today it was the Hanul Devils versus the Dosan Grizzlies.
For the record, if we won by four or more runs, the Dosan Grizzlies would miss the postseason just like us.
Was there any scenario where we still made it in?
That scenario had vanished a long time ago. We were dead last again this year.
“No way we’re the only ones missing out. Grizzlies, you guys stay home too.”
Munch munch.
Lua started muttering curses at the other team while chewing her chicken with little rabbit-like nibbles.
Maybe it was because I’d heard she liked rabbits, but watching her eat chicken really did look like a bunny.
The way her mouth moved was pure rabbit.
“Jinwoo, you’re not eating?”
“Nah, I am.”
I tore off a wing, and Lua looked at me with a completely pure question.
“Do you always start with the wings when you eat chicken?”
“Wings first…? I dunno. Honestly you only ordered drumsticks and wings today, so I just grabbed whatever.”
“Then what’s your favorite part?”
“Drumsticks.”
“Still the same, huh.”
Honestly, drumsticks were probably the most popular part of the chicken for most people.
They were the chewiest, the softest, and the most filling.
“You’re still a drumstick person too.”
“Of course.”
For the record, Lua and I had history of fighting over chicken drumsticks.
My mom had stepped in to mediate with, “A boy should yield to a girl!” and I’d been so wronged that I think I cried a little.
Lua had already eaten one drumstick by then, after all.
When I started crying she’d felt bad and handed me a drumstick.
Looking back now, it was nothing but a cute story.
“Jinwoo, do you remember back then? When we fought over the drumstick.”
“I remember it as the time you made me cry.”
“…Here, you take this drumstick.”
Maybe she felt a little guilty, because Lua passed me a drumstick and I happily accepted the free food.
“Still, it was cute, right?”
“Yeah, I think so. Looking back after all this time, it was really cute.”
I nodded in satisfaction while looking at Lua’s smile.
Right then—
Right field wall! Right field wall!! It’s going overrrrr!!!
Three-run shot! Three-run homer! The Hanul Devils take a huge lead!!!
“Kyaaaaaaah!”
“Finally! You finally hit one, Johnson, you son of a bitchhhh!!!”
Lua and I threw our arms around each other, celebrating the American mercenary’s home run.
We were so happy that hugging felt completely natural.
As a side note, we ended up winning by exactly four runs and dragged the Dosan Grizzlies down into hell with us.
If we can’t make the postseason, neither can you bastards.