"So… you want coffee?"

"I'm more of a tea person myself."

"Ah… ok then…"

Fujiwara walked up to the barista and began to place her order, occasionally stealing glances at Hayasaka who was looking around the cafe, seemingly evaluating the place.

Hm… that was a little confusing, but now that I think about it, Hayasaka-san is athletic, she's probably pretty rich, she's probably smart, she seems like a natural introvert, and from what little I know, it sounds like she's just her straight man. And as for looks…

Fujiwara gulped as she eyed Hayasaka's side profile from top to bottom. She was wearing a beige coat with a puffy feathered collar with simple black tights. As for her hair, it hadn't changed much since she'd cut it, staying at a comfortably short length while leaving her face (Maybe some makeup? Fujiwara couldn't tell) exposed.

…I can't say that there's anything wrong with her exactly…

Fujiwara shakily brought the drinks back as her palms began to sweat. She sat down, taking a deep breath although a small amount of sweat continued to trickle out of the side of her head.

…

*sip* x2

…

"You seem a little nervous, Prez-chan."

"Gak!" *cough* cough*

Fujiwara began pounding her chest before her breathing stabilized. A weak smile found its way onto her face as she intermittently coughed.

"You could-" *cough* "tell?"

"Yeah. You're pretty obvious. Then again, it's not like I'm any different, so…"

Fujiwara was confused for a moment before she looked down at Hayasaka's drink, noticing quick, shallow ripples that kept on forming as long as Hayasaka held onto the cup.

"Ah… At least we're in the same boat then…"

…

"Say, Prez-chan? Why don'ot we get to know each other a little?"

"Don't we already know each other, though?"

"What's my favourite colour?"

Fujiwara blankly stared at Hayasaka until she continued.

"What about my favourite pasttime?"

…

"Ah, I think I see what you mean."

Hayasaka cracked a smile at that before taking a sip of tea.

"For the record, my favourite colour is dark blue, and as for pasttimes, I go to the batting cage pretty often."

"Really? In that case, do you want to head over there?"

Hayasaka showed a faint look of surprise for a split second before her expression turned to a smile and she gave a quick nod.

"Sure. Let's go."

Hayasaka got up and began heaeding for the door.

"Wait, the drinks!"

Hayasaka looked back at the nearly full beverages still on the table before sitting back down with a sheepish expression.

"Right, let's go after we finish those…"

###

"Just how much time do you spend here?!"

"I just come from time to time to blow off steam, though I used to come here just about as often as I could."

Fujiwara stared in awe as Hayasaka hit home run after home run after homerun. A strange look overtook her face as her mind quickly got to work.

She's that good at baseball huh? In that case…

Fujiwara picked up a bat and walked up to the cage and looked all over it for a moment before finally deciding to knock on the cage.

"How about we have a bit of a contest, Hayasaka-san?"

###

"F**king dammit! How are you so good at this?!"

"Years of practice."

20 to 0. Result of this battle: Fujiwara's undisputable loss.

"Still, you were hitting it pretty close, Prez-chan."

"Yeah, I know… If only I could get a little bit better…"

Much to Hayasaka's confusion, Fujiwara began to give her puppy-dog eyes. After a few moments, however, she realized what was going on.

"Ah, alright then. I'll teach you how to bat."

"Yay!"

Fujiwara stood outside the cage while Hayasaka got into batting position.

"So first, you want to get into this position. Since the pitcher's doing the same pitch every time, you don't need to crouch at all. Stand at your fullest height possible, and imagine an imaginary arc from where the ball comes from to where your bat is. Then, once the ball's shot at you…"

*CRACK*

"Home run."

"Great job, Hayasaka-san!"

Fujiwara quickly clapped for a few moments with a wide smile, causing a small smile to appear on Hayasaka's face.

"Fufufu… Well, now it's your turn."

Fujiwara stepped into the batting cage and got into position…

"Hold on, can you come here? I can see a few mistakes in your stance."

Fujiwara looked down at herself as she stepped out of the cage.

"Hm? What's wrong?"

"Can you get back into position? Alright, perfect. First, of all, your grip's a little too tight. If I feel you arms… yeah, rock hard. Try to loosen up a bit."

Fujiwara missed everything after 'your grip is too tight' as the only thing her mind could comprehend was the feeling of Hayasaka's touch on her arms, then the warmth of Hayasaka's hand on her fingers.

"There you go, Prez-chan. You should be able to- wait, what happened?"

Fujiwara put her hands to her cheeks for a moment, her expression showing nothing but a blank stare while her entire face burned bright red.

"I don't… know…"

Hayasaka raised an eyebrow before looking down at her hands, then at Fujiwara's arms and hands before a blush made its way onto her face.

"A-ah… That's… uh… Why don't you give the bat another try?"

Fujiwara gave a quick nod before stepping back into the cage. She took a few deep breaths and gripped the bat tightly before loosening her grip and slightly relaxing her muscles. She could see it now, hitting that home run/bullseye/whatever it is at a batting cage and then looking to find stars in Hayasaka's eyes. The ball went flying at her, she swung, and…

Missed the target by less than a foot.

…

Fujiwara stared at the place where the ball landed and dropped the bat on the floor, the shame quickly-

"Great job, Prez-chan!"

Fujiwara wheeled around to find that Hayasaka was looking at Fujiwara with a completely blank expression, but that she had also cut off the narration to give her a double thumbs up. A snort found its way into Fujiwara's throat and before long, she was hysterical.

"Pfft… Ahahaha! What's with that face?!"

"Sorry about that, uh, is this better?" *ahem* "Great job, Prez-chan!"

Hayasaka gave a bright smile as she said it this time, but Fujiwara merely shook her head.

"Nah. It's easier not to act, right?"

Hayasaka opened her mouth and her eyes went wide for a moment, but her overly bright smile faded off of her face as she looked down at the ground.

"Yes… It is easier to do that."

"Now, let's get some ice cream!"

"Didn't we just have coffee?"

Hayasaka let out a brief sigh as Fujiwara marched onwards but once she made sure that Fujiwara wasn't looking back, the smallest grin formed on Ai Hayasaka's face.

###

How can one person eat so much and not be morbidly overweight?

Hayasaka stared in awe as Fujiwara sat behind 5 bowls of ice cream. Hayasaka, meanwhile, had a singular bowl.

"I'm gonna head to the washroom now, so watch my stuff, Hayasaka-san!"

"A-alright then…"

She sat mostly still for a few moments before sprawling out on the chair.

"Today was pretty fun, wasn't it? Prez-chan is surprisingly fun to be with and, well…"

Unsurprisingly adorable…

Hayasaka's cheeks went pink as an almost nostalgic smile appeared on her face.

"She's a pretty quick learner too. I don't think she's even touched a baseball bat before today, but she picked it up pretty quickly."

And then there was that moment… I guess piano prodigies just happen to have nice hands. Or maybe people with nice hands tend to favour the piano? Either way-

"Oh? That girl looks pretty hot."

Hayasaka's eyes shot open as her body froze for a moment before slowly, naturally straightening up. How long had they been looking at her? What were they trying? Actually, scratch that, she knew what they were trying, she'd been worrying about something like this happening all day, but with Fujiwara distracting her, Hayasaka had put that out of her mind.

At least, until now.

She heard footsteps approaching her from behind. She looked up towards the bathrooms to try to find Fujiwara. No sign of her. She gave a heavy sigh and turned around to see…'

"What's up?"

He seemed to be fairly good-looking with a black jacket and a white button-up shirt underneath and black jeans. His hair was wavy with his bangs obscuring his eyes and Hayasaka could tell that his intentions were anything but pure.

"Do I know you?"

"No, but we can fix that pretty quickly, right?"

She resisted the urge to punch him in the face. But alas, no matter what he was about to say to her, the law would rule it as aggravated assault.

"Well, allow me to introduce myself-"

"There'll be no need for that."

Hayasaka looked over her shoulder to see that Fujiwara was now standing behind them with a bubbly smile.

"Hey, Hayasaka-san! You ready for that meeting with your manager?"

Hayasaka looked at the Fujiawara in confusion before turning back to Fujiwara with a look of realisation forming on her face. She gave a nod as a sense of relief began to overtake her. As they went to leave, however, Hayasaka felt a chill go down her spine, fingers about to touch her hand before hearing a sound sounding like to a fly being swatted. This was followed by a voice akin to a hissing cat.

"Don't touch my girlfriend, you freak!"

Hayasaka felt someone else's fingers wrapping around her hand, causing blood to rush into her face, going red. Composing herself, she turned to see the boy gritting his teeth in frustration while rubbing his wrist. Upon closer inspection, she saw a hand-shaped red mark, presumably caused by the person next to her.

"What do you mean 'my girlfriend'? Aren't you both girls? Just give it up already-"

"That's enough, dude. You shot your shot and got shot down."

They looked at the other group of 3 guys, 2 of which had their heads on their desks with hoods over their heads and the other one barely able to make eye contact.

"You're embarrassing the rest of us."

The one with wavy hair sat back down with a scowl on his face as Fujiwara led Hayasaka out of the shop, speaking in a worried tone.

"I'm really sorry about that! I probably shouldn't have let him get close-"

Hayasaka cut her off, speaking in a muted tone.

"Don't be. He was the one being a d*ck. Oh, right, also…"

A look of confusion appeared on Fujiwara's face as she noticed Hayasaka's ears going red while she turned away before she looked in between them to find their fingers still intertwined.

"Ah! I'm so sorry, I had no idea!"

While Fujiwara was blubbering away, a blush rapidly generating on her face, Hayasaka simply brought that hand up in front of her face as a memory made its way into her mind.

"Us girls wouldn't mind being saved every now and then."

And then she smiled. It wasn't overly bright with a synthetic krinkle to the sides of her eyes, but rather a light grin as her gaze softened.

I guess I'll be doing this more often.

That's when another piece of the past floated up into the surface of Hayasaka's mind.

"Just this once, I wouldn't mind it if you kissed me!"

Hayasaka's eyes shot open as her blush returned in full force. She looked at Fujiwara who was still blubbering out apologies before giving a sigh.

Maybe sometime later. Still, today was actually pretty fun, though, so…"

Hayasaka took a deep breath, recomposing her face and turning to Fujiwara, relaxing her body.

"So, Prez-chan."

Fujiwara stopped to look at Hayasaka.

"Yeah?"

"Do you want to walk around the culture festival together?"

Fujiwara was mute for a few seconds before averting her gaze and sprinting ahead.

"I'vegotsomewheretobesoI'llseeyoulaterbye!"

Hayasaka looked at her for a few moments before letting out a sigh and kicking a nearby rock.

"Dammit… And it was going so well too-"

*BZZZT"

Hayasaka opened her phone and on the screen it read:

Chika Fujiwara said: "Let's have fun at the culture festival together!"

She put her phone in her pocket as another smile found its way onto her face.

"That girl is way too unpredictable."

Result of today's battle: Ai Hayasaka wins.

Also, the total score for Hayasaka vs. Subject F: 14-13.