"Now I'm not saying I don't believe you." Kuramochi took a deep breath and then let it out. "But I don't believe you."

He was sitting down at a table in a restaurant where the yearly alumni gathering was happening, looking at the ex-pitcher across from him with his arms crossed. Eijun shifted a bit uncomfortably under his gaze and laughed awkwardly.

"Haha, yeah. I wouldn't believe me either but apparently it happens according to my doctor."

"It makes perfect sense now why you dropped off the face of the planet." Kuramochi mused. "Just didn't think that the reason was, was that you were having a kid."

"I know."

"How did that even work?" Kuramochi asked out of curiosity, then shook his head. "Never mind, I don't need the details."

Eijun laughed. "If you really want to know, I can tell you."

Kuramochi shook his head again. "Nah, tell me when I'm drunk so I don't remember. Anyways, show me them."

Eijun smiled and pulled out his phone. He opened his pictures and found a nice recent photo of Kazu and Eiko. Both were clad in white baseball jerseys, smiling at the phone. He handed it over to Kuramochi to look at while pointing to each child.

"This is my son Kazu and my daughter Eiko. This is when we recently attended one of Miyuki-senpai's games."

Kuramochi stared at the picture for a moment, then laughed.

"Oh my God, I had to see it to believe it. Jesus, they're practically little clones of you two. Your daughter looks exactly like you, except cute."

"Hey! I'm still cute." Eijun grumbled then beamed. "But Eiko is wa~ay cuter though. She's already got a handle on pitching. It's so adorable when she plays catch with Miyuki-senpai. And Kazu's batting has gotten so good lately. Ah! You know he's a second baseman like Ryo-san and Harucchi?" Eijun rambled and Kuramochi just nodded then froze.

"Wait, he's a second baseman? Not a catcher or pitcher?" He asked, a little surprised. Eijun shook his head.

"No. Even though he'd make a fantastic catcher, Kazu was very adamant about not being in that position. He says he has his reasons and I think I know what they are." Eijun's face suddenly fell. "It' s really all my fault."

"Sawamura...Don't do that to yourself." Kuramochi started.

"But it really is my fault. I ran away without explaining anything and it affected almost everyone around me. I didn't want to just disappear like that but..." Eijun's voice drifted off and he frowned.

"But you thought it would be best for Miyuki and your child at the time?" Kuramochi finished for him. Eijun nodded slowly. Kuramochi sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. "Sawamura, you're probably the most caring and selfless idiot I've ever known."

Eijun tensed up and laughed humorlessly. "I don't know about that. I denied Miyuki-senpai the knowledge that he not only had one child but two! And now that I see how much time and effort he's putting in to making up for lost time, I regret it so much. He's so good with the both of them, even Kazu's finally warming up to him. I can't even begin to imagine what things would have been like if I told him at the beginning. Maybe it would have been all good or perhaps worse."

"I doubt it would have been worse. The guy loves the shit out of you, has ever since you stepped foot in Seidou. I bet he would of given up going pro if it was to take care of you and Kazu." Kuramochi said.

"And that's exactly what I wanted to avoid. I didn't want Miyuki to give up everything he worked hard for."

"Well what about what you were working hard for?" Kuramochi asked. "Isn't taking all the burden of parenthood all alone a little too much and unfair? If you ask me, Miyuki could balance being a Father and a pro baseball player. He's good with multiple responsibilities. You didn't have to do it all by yourself."

"I..." Eijun started. "I know that now." He looked down at his lap with a frown. "I'm sorry too, for not telling you anything."

"Don't worry about it, what's done is done." Kuramochi waved his right hand in a nonchalant manner. "I just wanna know when I get to meet them."

"Ah, actually... Anytime now. We couldn't get a babysitter for tonight so Miyuki is bringing them from home. I came here right after an appointment."

"So I'm guessing you're going to break the news to everyone at once then."

"I guess so."

"This'll be fun." Kuramochi laughed and Eijun shrugged slightly.

"I've been holding this in for a long time, it's time for more than four people and my family to know."

"Let me guess, Haruichi, Furuya, Kataoka and Takashima?" The ex-shortstop listed off.

Eijun nodded. "You got it."

"Knew it."

The sound in the restaurant suddenly went noticeably quieter in the next few minutes. Kuramochi looked over to the entrance to see Miyuki standing there with Eiko in his arms and Kazu by his side. He seemed to be looking for Eijun. Once he spotted him, he started making his way over with the kids.

"Miyuki! You have kids?!" Maezono suddenly asked aloud for everyone in the room. Miyuki paused and turned to him.

"I sure do, this is Eiko." He said as he lifted up the young girl in his arms. "And Kazu." He motioned down to the boy next to him.

"When the hell did that happen?"

"About ten years ago." Miyuki smirked and finished walking to the table to place Eiko down next to Eijun.

"Mama!" She cried happily and hugged Eijun's side.

"Hi Sweetie." Eijun smiled down at her.

"Daddy said we were going to a baseball party, so I wore Daddy's jersey!" Eiko said excitedly then pouted. "But I don't see any baseball stuff."

"That's because we all used to play baseball, so we're all just hanging out tonight, not playing." Eijun patted her head.

"Oh, can we still play catch?" She asked. Kuramochi cackled on the other side of the table.

"She's just like you through and through. How adorable."

Eiko turned her head to Kuramochi. "Who's this?" She asked Eijun.

"This is Kuramochi Youichi, my friend and roommate from high school."

"AH! You're Mochi!" Eiko beamed. "Can I call you Uncle Mochi?"

Kuramochi blinked then laughed."Hyahaha, sure kid.".

Eijun smiled down at her and felt both Kazu and Miyuki sit on either side of him.

"This is Kazu, as you probably know." Eijun wrapped his arm around the boy.

"Nice to meet you Kuramochi-san." Kazu bowed his head.

"Nice to meet you too, but don't give me that Kuramochi-san stuff, you can call me Uncle Mochi like your sister." Kuramochi smiled and waved his hand, Kazu's cheeks went a little pink and he nodded his head.

It didn't take long for the other alumni to gravitate towards the table to meet the kids. They all eventually started talking and the kids were entranced by the team's stories of high school (and maybe a little starstruck when Chris joined the table). While they were busy on the other side of the table, Miyuki pulled Eijun close and kissed his temple.

"So how did your appointment go?"

Eijun gave him a soft smile smile. "It's a good thing we moved into a bigger house because we have a third one on the way."

Miyuki's face brightened and his mouth split into a large smile. He pulled Eijun into a hug.

"I'm so happy. This is the best news I've gotten since I found out I had two kids with you and you accepted my proposal."

"It really makes me happy that you say that. I'm glad you're back in my life, our lives." Eijun said correcting himself at the end and his eyes began to mist over.

"You have no idea how much it means to me that we started over." Miyuki said as he brushed his fingers over Eijun's cheeks. "I love you."

Eijun blinked away the mist in his eyes and gave Miyuki an extremely sunny smile.

"I love you too."

XxXxXx

For Team Karaage's writing contest. Based on Single Mother Eijun. Thanks Team Karaage for bringing the fandom amazing translated doujins, you all are the best! Please continue to do such great work!