Author's note: So.. I just had a random urge to write a oneshot(my first ever :O) about Sawamura as a toddler being adorable. :D Hopefully it's decent enough since it's my first attempt at writing fanfic. I tried to not make the characters too OOC so excuse me if they still are LOL. But yea, reviews, favorites, and the like would be greatly appreciated! :) Once again, I just typed randomly so excuse the messiness and possible errors/typos. Enjoy!
Disclaimer: I don't own Diamond no Ace or any of its characters, plot, etc. I can only wish.
The day started as any other. If you were to look around the Seidou High baseball field at the moment, you would notice the monster rookie known as Furuya Satoru pitching with an aura around him, Kuramochi advising Haruichi on quicker passes, Yuuki chatting with Jun while batting, and one Miyuki teasing his kouhai Sawamura Eijun. The poor unsuspecting baseball players had yet to realize how their typical day was about turn into one adorable mess..
"Oi, Bakamura! Are you going to pitch any strikes any time soon? I don't have all day ya know."
Said "Bakamura" glared and pouted at Miyuki. "Shut it you! My arm's just not warmed up enough yet!" While Sawamura intended for his glare to look intimidating and menacing, Miyuki actually found it to resemble an angry kitten.
'He's seriously too fun to tease for his own good HAHAHAHA!' Miyuki stifled a chuckle and resumed his "advising" over his loud kouhai.
Yep, practice was just the usual.
After another tiring but fulfilling practice, all the Seidou players were now in the locker room changing and preparing to leave for the day.
'Hmm, I wonder what's for dinner...' Sawamura was so busy in his musings that he didn't notice a card falling out of his locker until Kuramochi picked it up off the floor.
"Is this yours Bakamura?"
"Is what mine? AND DON'T CALL ME BAKAMURA SO CASUALLY WHEN IT'S NOT EVEN MY NAME!"
"HAH?! ARE YOU TALKING BACK TO ME YOU PUNK?" Kuramochi loomed over the now shivering and afraid Sawamura and grabbed the poor boy, putting him into one of his infamous headlocks. "Care to repeat that Bakamura~?"
"I-itai Kuramochi-senpai..!" whined the southpaw pitcher.
While the two were so busy arguing, Haruichi gingerly picked up the forgotten card off the ground and peeked inside. A few seconds later, the pink-headed male's cheeks became inflamed and steam came out of his ears. This really got the senpai-tachi curious as to what was on that card; however, before everyone got the chance to glance over Haruichi's shoulders to read, Sawamura quickly snatched the card and began skimming it.
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Sawamura was now rereading the card with a flowery aura around him and was glowing with happiness. Now the senpai-tachi reeeally wanted to know what was on that dang card. The glowing boy proudly shoved the card in front of everyone and said, "I got confessed to! HAHA read it and weep! Looks like I'm more popular than I thought! Oooooh and look! They even gave me a lollipop too!"
Everyone glanced at one another and began reading the card:
"Dear Sawamura Eijun-kun, I've always been watching you from afar with admiration and affection. I hope you will accept the small offering(lollipop) along with my love.. "
Everyone's face was in utter shock. It would have made a hilarious sight if someone were to walk in at that moment. It isn't every day that Yuuki's normally stoic and serious face cracked a bit and showed disbelief. Nor was it common to see the normally cocky Miyuki have his mouth slightly agape. Yeah, I'll leave everyone's faces of shock up to your imagination.
"Do you think the person's on crack?"
"Maybe they fell down the stairs and hit their head.."
"They probably put it in the wrong locker.. it is near Miyuki's.."
"OI, WHAT'S THAT SUPPOSED TO MEAN?" hissed Sawamura, who finally left fantasyland to hear his senpai badmouthing him.
And as usual, leave it to Kuramochi to be blunt. "Well, let's be honest here Sawamura. Who in their right mind would confess to you?"
"WHA-"
But before the first year could even argue back, his senpai all continued their harsh assaults one after another.
"You're not exactly smart."
"Nor good-looking."
"Nor good at pitching." Furuya mumbled and casually looked away when Sawamura began glaring daggers at him.
"Why is senpai-tachi bullying me?" whined Sawamura, who was now comically sobbing with his face in his hands. The miserable boy whipped his head towards his most-trusted Chris-senpai. "They aren't right right? I'm not that unattractive am I?"
At this point, Sawamura was wailing and Chris felt a pang of sympathy because his teammates were being rather harsh in their comments, so he decided to try to be nicer to his kouhai. "I'm sure there's someone in this world who'd want you Sawamura." However, his comment only made things worse as Sawamura began wailing even louder and mumbling something about even Chris-senpai bullying him.
"Hm, but it's strange that it wasn't signed or anything. Maybe the person wanted to remain anonymous?" commented Ryousuke, who had his normally closed eyes opened slightly.
Sawamura huffed and began eating the lollipop that was attached to the card. "Well either way, I know senpai-tachi is just bullying me because they're jealous right?" He was about to continue bragging when he noticed the dark aura coming from many of the players. "EEEEPP!" and in less than three seconds later, Sawamura was running for his life out of the locker room with an angry mob behind him.
3:00 am. Kuramochi groggily stared at the red numbers and shifted in the messy bed, trying to find a more comfortable position. Drifting back into dreamland, he closed his heavy eyelids and was about to fall asleep again.. until he heard some mumbling and lots of rustling in the bed below him. Twitching in annoyance, the short-stop player waited for the noises to stop.
One minute later... "Oi Sawamura! Stop moving so much will ya?! I'm trying to sleep here!" When he got no response and the rustling continued, he clucked his tongue and jumped out of his warm bed. Pulling the blanket off of his kouhai, who had resembled a cocoon more than a person since he was so heavily bundled, Kuramochi was about to strangle Uzamura until he saw said Uzamura looking a bit.. off. Sawamura was tightly clutching his stomach and curled into a human ball; and if his position wasn't peculiar enough, he was also trembling a bit and covered in cold sweat. Realizing he was blankly staring, Kuramochi snapped out of it and began shaking the trembling boy. "Sawamura?"
The first year was breathing rather heavily now and could only mumble something inaudible. Kuramochi quickly shook Masuko, the other roommate who was miraculously still asleep despite all the noise, and dragged him out of bed. They both continued prodding the boy and shaking him more fervently in hopes of waking him up.
"U-uhnn.." groaned Sawamura. He didn't know when the pain had started but his stomach suddenly began hurting for no reason, he began sweating heavily, and he felt as though a million sharp needles were prickling and jabbing at every part of his body. All in all, he felt like absolute shit and it was 3 am for crying out loud.
For once, Kuramochi was panicking and he began measuring Sawamura's temperature, finding it to be burning hot. "Masuko-senpai, go call Miyuki or the coach. This idiot's got a raging fever and we'll need some help. I'll stay here to watch over him." Masuko nodded and quickly ran out the door in search of help.
A few torturous minutes later...
"Kuramochi! How's Sawamura doing?!" asked Miyuki, who came sprinting in with worry etched all over his face. His look of concern turned into one of bewilderment when he saw that Sawamura wasn't in his bed and Kuramochi was pinching his arm multiple times. "Er.. Kuramochi? Where's Sawamura? This better not be some prank."
The short-stop was still pinching his arm but managed to shakily reply to Miyuki. "No dude.. Sawamura's still in bed.."
A bewildered and traumatized Kuramochi was definitely not a good sign. Flinging the blanket off, Miyuki himself was rendered speechless when he did indeed see Sawamura on the bed.. a miniature Sawamura that is. Behind the two shocked players was Masuko, who at this point joined Miyuki and Kuramochi in having their jaws hang agape. The now much smaller Sawamura continued to sleep blissfully while sucking on his thumb, unaware of how much inner turmoil he was causing his senpai-tachi.
"Zzzz..."
"When do you think he'll wake up?"
"Hopefully some time soon cause I'm starving."
"Anyone good with handling brats?"
"I don't think calling kids brats is appropriate Kuramochi-senpai. Then again, it's Eijun-kun so it's likely he'll be a brat."
A small rustling and soft grumble alerted everyone present that said brat was finally awake. The regulars watched on as a small tussle of brown hair emerged from the blanket and eventually revealed a sleepy looking baby Sawamura. The former southpaw pitcher rubbed his eyes and blinked up at the dozens of eyes staring back at him.
The regulars began to sweat and inwardly panic when Sawamura just continued to stare with his wide brown eyes; and so, the staring match ensued for another few minutes. Feeling annoyed, Kuramochi stepped up to his baby roommate and made the scary face he wore when he first met Sawamura(refer to the first few chapters in DnA when he pretended to be a ghost). "BLEEEHHH!"
The second year's head snapped forward as soon as he did due to Masuko smacking him. "It's bad to bully Sawamura-chan." Kuramochi was about to complain but he blinked instead when he heard small giggles coming from below.
"Uwaaah! Hehehe~" Sawamura smiled adorably at them and clapped his small hands together, showing his amusement. Whether it was towards Kuramochi getting smacked or from his scary face, the Seidou regulars will never know.
"O-oi, Miyuki. Why are you getting a nosebleed?"
"What about you?! Your face is as red as a tomato!"
All the players were either blushing madly and or having minor nosebleeds. Why? Because Baby Sawamura was just too cute of course. Even the ever stoic Captain Yuuki was blushing a bit.. and are those stars in his eyes?
"Hungweee!" squealed Sawamura, who was simultaneously bouncing while protruding his arms in the air, the universal sign kids use when wanting to be picked up.
"Hungwee?" echoed Haruichi.
"He means hungry. You pronounced it the same way when you were a baby too." smirked Ryousuke, which in turn caused Haruichi to blush in embarrassment.
"Wait, but we can't just take him out can we? I mean, won't people notice that Sawamura's missing and how much this kid resembles him? It's bound to cause a scene." commented Yuuki.
Everyone glanced at one another and agreed that they didn't want everyone gossiping about how the first-year southpaw pitcher magically turned into a toddler overnight. "Let's just stuff him in a bag or something. I mean, I have this big bag we cou-" But before Kuramochi could finish his sentence, he got smacked for the second time of the day courtesy of Masuko.
"That's child abuse Kuramochi-senpai."
"Ok ok! So how about we find some makeshift clothes or something then just sneak him outside. I mean, today is our day off so we could just avoid being in school." suggested Kuramochi.
Everyone stared at him intensely. "W-what?!"
"That just may be the smartest thing you've said today."
Yuuki nodded and with his serious face on(his normal face lol) said, "Commence operation find Sawamura makeshift clothes and sneak him outside."
"..."
"What?"
"You should just stick to batting Tetsu."
"..."
"Well, up you go." Miyuki lifted the much lighter boy and shifted him around until he had a good grip."Let's start the mission!"
One hour later, the Seidou regulars could be found in casual clothes walking around a mall. This wouldn't be a strange sight seeing as it could be seen as team bonding or simply hanging out. However, it was a really strange scene since the teens were all arguing over who would get to carry baby Sawamura. A few mothers were whispering to one another and wondering if it was okay to leave the small child in the hands of such loud and aggressive-looking teens.
Baby Sawamura was growing bored of hearing his nii-chans argue and bicker, so he glanced around and noticed a sports shop nearby. With stars in his eyes, he toddled away from the angry teens.
"You already got your turn to hold him you bastard Miyuki! It's my turn now!" hissed Kuramochi.
"I thought you hated Ei-chan! No way am I letting someone who always puts him into headlocks carry him." retorted Miyuki.
Yuuki coughed, catching the two arguing second-years' attention. "How about this, we let the most responsible person carry him.. so it's my turn to carry him."
"WHAT?!"
"Ano.. senpai-tachi?"
"What is it Haruichi?"
"Ei-chan's gone."
"...WHHAAAAAAT?!"
Oh the poor Seidou regulars.
Trot trot trot.. Sawamura waddled as fast as he could towards the baseball aisle for a reason even he didn't know of. He was so focused on reaching the the baseballs that he accidentally bumped into someone's leg, resulting in him landing on his bottom. "I-itee.."
Sanada was strolling through the various aisles with is hands in his pockets. He really couldn't fathom why Raichi wanted to come to the sports stores, more so to the baseball aisle, when they played baseball every. single. freaking. day. Baseball idiots, honestly. Sighing, the third year headed back to the bats, knowing Raichi would probably be disturbing the public with his boisterous laughing and monstrous power swings. "Raaaichi. Are you done looki-" Blinking, Sanada stared at the scene. "-ng yet?"
"Sanada-senpai! Look what I found!" gushed Raichi. The monster batter rubbed his cheek against baby Sawamura, who looked quite smothered and miserable at this point.
"Raichi, he's not a lost puppy.. and I think you should let go of him before he starts cry-"
Too late. No a moment later, Sawamura began wailing and crying his eyes out, attracting many peoples' attention. Sanada sighed. Really, today was just not his day.
"Nonononono don't cry! I-I-I'll give you a banana!"
"WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!"
"...you're an idiot Raichi."
"E-Ehh?! Why? Who doesn't like bananas? I know bananas would make me not want to cry!"
Sanada facepalmed. He really wondered if Raichi would even pass high school at this rate. Well, the wailing was really killing his ears so he figured he would help his suffering kouhai. "You're supposed to bounce and rock kids a bit when they're crying. Try to speak softer or make silly faces to make them laugh. Here, hand him over." And just as Sanada said, Sawamura really did stop crying after Sanada took over.
Sawamura giggled cutely while squealing in delight. "Heheheheeeee~"
"SUGOI SANADA-SENPAI!" Raichi was practically radiating with admiration. Sanada sweatdropped.
"But really, how did you even find him? Don't tell me you kidnapped him..?!" panicked Sanada.
"Of course not!" huffed the first year. "I was just looking at the bats when he bumped into my leg. I'm innocent!"
"Ah I see. Well we should probably drop him off at the front desk so they can call for his parents or something."
"IIYAAAAA!" Sawamura flailed and began squirming violently in Sanada's arms, causing the teen to nearly drop him.
"I think he likes us! Didn't he say no just now? That means he wants to stay with us right?" beamed Raichi.
"Seriously he's not a puppy Raichi. We can't keep him just because he said no.." reasoned Sanada. However, even the third-year couldn't say no when Raichi and baby Sawamura both made adorable puppy eyes at him.
"..."
"Pleeeeeeeease senpai?"
"Puuweeeassse?" mimicked Sawamura, who had large teary eyes.
"OK OK. Yeesh, you guys can do what you want!" sighed Sanada that day for the umpteenth time. "But don't blame me when we get accused of child kidnapping Raichi."
"Haii!"
Raising an eyebrow, Sanada looked more closely at the cutie in his arms. "Is it me, or does he seem kind of familiar?"
"Really? I don't know any babies though…"
"No idiot, his features."
"Oh." Squinting his eyes, the monster batter examined the small boy. "Hey, he does kind of remind me of-"
"Oooooooooiiii, Ei-chan~ Where are you?"
The two Yakushi players turned their heads and saw Haruichi and Miyuki looking around until their sights finally landed on them. "Ah! There he is!"
"I see you guys have a day off too huh?" said Sanada.
Miyuki nodded and opened his arms towards Sawamura, expecting the pitcher to faithfully return; however, the first-year only buried his round face into Sanada's shirt. "Iyyaaaa!"
Haruichi tried coaxing the boy to return. "Ei-chan, Sanada-senpai and Raichi have things to do so they have to go…"
The pink-haired boy immediately regretted his words as he saw Sawamura begin sniffle and tear up a bit. "Iyaaaa!"
"Miyuki-senpai, some help please."
"Er… so do you guys have anything to do for the rest of the day?" grinned Miyuki.
Raichi was jumping for joy at this point while Sanada just sighed. Looks like he wasn't getting out of this one.
And that was how the two Yakushi members ended up joining the Seidou regulars in babysitting Sawamura. The southpaw boy was surprisingly insistent in being carried by Sanada, who was inwardly pleased when he saw the gloomy looks on the Seidou players' faces. "So, care to explain why you guys are babysitting on your day off?"
The Seidou players all looked at each other, contemplating whether or not to tell them that the adorable kid in his arms was actually Sawamura.
"So you see.. an accident happened to Sawamura.."
Raichi's ears perked up and he began to panic. "ACCIDENT? Don't tell me he got hit by a car? Or did he get kidnapped? Oh no! What if he can't play baseball ever again? Then I'll never hit his pitches again!"
Sanada smacked his loud kouhai's head then turned to the Seidou regulars. "Continue."
"And that accident involves him magically turning into a baby overnight and we have no idea how to fix him."
"Wait so you mean to tell me that this," Sanada lifted up Sawamura for emphasis, which in turn caused the boy to giggle and laugh, "is Sawamura Eijun? Your southpaw pitcher that throws moving balls?"
"Yea basically."
"...that sounds quite ridiculous." The third year looked down at Sawamura and poked him in the stomach, eliciting more squeals of laughter. "So what're you guys going to do?"
"No idea."
The teens continued to casually stroll around the mall for another hour or so until they all unanimously decided to go to a baseball field. They were baseball idiots so no surprise. On the way, Sawamura was taking in the unfamiliar setting with stars in his eyes; and unsurprisingly, Raichi was right next to him with the same childish interest in his eyes as well. When they finally reached the field, it was mid afternoon already and the weather was perfect for playing baseball. Unfortunately, there was already two players occupying the field.
Miyuki blinked and commented, "Hey, isn't that Inashiro's Harada and Mei?" And true to his words, it was the ace and his catcher playing.
"What are the chances of bumping into both Yakushi and Inashiro regulars on the same day hm." mused Ryousuke.
"Yea, we're on a bad luck streak today."
"Ouch, that hurt." said Sanada while faking a hurt expression.
With all the chattering going on, Narumiya Mei halted his patching and twitched in annoyance. He was about to turn around to give them a piece of his mind until he noticed who they were. "Why if it isn't Seidou. I see you guys play baseball on your day off too huh?" smirked Mei.
"Yewoooaah~!"
Inashiro's ace paused for a moment and looked around to look for the source of the sound and finally settled his eyes on Sawamura. "You guys… are babysitting? HAHAHHAHA." His sudden laugh caused baby Sawamura to jolt in surprise and to stare at him in curiosity. "As unpredictable as ever. But why? Is he one of your players' relatives or something?" He then paused to stare at the teen carrying Sawamura and gasped. "Don't tell me.. did you guys kidnap him at some mall or something?"
"Oi oi, why does everyone accuse us of child theft." twitched Sanada in annoyance. This was really getting old.
Miyuki sighed and explained to Mei and Harada what happened and the identity of the kid in Sanada's arms.
"Eeeehhhh? That's the loud-mouthed first year southpaw?!" exclaimed Mei, his normally arrogant and confident smirk absent. The ace was now bouncing baby Sawamura up and down in his arms due to the first year's curiosity and attraction to Mei's blonde hair.
"Pweettty~" Sawamura tilted his head and gave Mei one of the most innocent wide grins the blonde had ever seen, causing him to blush. 'So cute! I think I like this kid more when he's a baby than a freshman ha.' The first year pitcher continued to curiously pat and touch Mei's blonde hair, making the Inashiro ace so glad that only he had blonde hair out of the group.
"That story seems too unbelieveable.. have you ever heard of someone magically reverting to a baby?" asked Harada.
Mei shrugged. "Well anything's possible right? Plus isn't this better? He's not as annoying or loud before!"
The two continued to bicker while the Seidou regulars just sweatdropped. Furuya coughed, catching Miyuki's attention. "Miyuki-senpai, please catch for me."
"The same as always huh? Let me go grab a mitt first."
A flowery aura appeared around the monster pitcher as he happily walked to his beloved mound, only to find that baby Sawamura was already sitting on it, along with Mei teaching the baby to pitch.
"..." Furuya frowned.
Sawamura blinked. "Pwaaaay!"
"B-but I wanted to pitch.."
"Pwiiiitcchhh!" Sawamura continued to turn on his puppy eyes full blast.
"My mound.." However, even Furuya didn't have the heart to take back his beloved mound if it meant causing baby Sawamura to cry; and with that, he sat under a big tree with shade and immediately fell asleep.
Miyuki sweatdropped. 'He gave up?! Just like that? And who falls asleep that fast?!' He turned his attention to Mei and Sawamura. "So anyone wanna pitch?"
"I was just about to teach Ei-chan here how to pitch. What better way to learn than to learn from the best ace there is right? Hohoho" Everyone who was watching sweatdropped. Inashiro's ace really had no qualms about bragging did he?
Half an hour later, the Seidou regulars and two Yakushi players all stared on with various expressions ranging from amusement, annoyance, boredom, etc. Why? Because the stubborn Inashiro ace was adamant about teaching Sawamura, who couldn't be older than three by his appearance, to pitch a baseball.
The blonde once again laid the baseball in front of Sawamura, who began hitting the ball as if it were a basketball. "Waaaaa!" After recovering from his minor nosebleed due to cuteness overload, Mei began his lecture(again).
"Ok Ei-chan. One of the key things to proper pitching is having a balanced and correct stance. Let me demonstrate again." Mei winded up in a typical fashion before bringing a foot down onto the mound, completing the pitch by swinging his arm forward and releasing the ball from his grip. The result was his signature changeup pitch, which ended up flying into Miyuki's mitt with a resounding thump. "See? Easy right? Now you try!"
Baby Sawamura eagerly took the offered baseball from Mei and scrunched his face up, which was his way of showing his determination. Imitating his onii-chan, Sawamura winded up(which brought a lot of ooooohs of awe from the spectators) and brought his tiny foot down while swinging his left arm forward; however, to Mei's disappointment, the ball only went straight into the ground a feet or so away from him and bounced up a bit. Then again, what was Mei expecting, a toddler being able to pitch a real changeup?
In Sawamura's eyes, his pitch was much better than his previous attempts so he began cheering happily. "Oshi oshi oshi oshi~!" Normally the Seidou regulars, Sanada, and Mei would find Sawamura's trademark yelling annoying. But now, seeing their Ei-chan with a slightly dirt-covered face and adorable small hands flailing wildly, everyone couldn't help but have nosebleeds for the umpteenth time that day. 'K-k-kawaiiiii!' At this rate, everyone was going to faint due to major blood loss.
Another half an hour later, Mei finally admitted defeat and that it was impossible, even for him, to teach a toddler to pitch a changeup. Soon after, mainly due to Sawamura's stomach growling rather loudly, the baseball players decided to grab something to eat and head back home for the day.
The first to leave were the Inashiro players. Harada had to use all of his strength just to drag Mei away from Sawamura, who was just cutely waving goodbye. Many sniffles, outbursts, and tears later, the Inashiro ace finally parted with the southpaw.
Soon after, the Yakushi players had to leave and their reunion was no different. Sanada was in charge of prying Raichi off of baby Sawamura, who looked like he was going to pass out from being suffocated in Raichi's embrace. The first year monster batter even gave Sawamura banana to remember him by, to which Sanada face palmed. Although not as open in his display of affection for Sawamura as Raichi, Sanada was also quite sad at having to leave the adorable boy. As a parting gift, Sanada leaned down and gave a light peck on baby Sawamura's cheek and grinned when he saw the flaming aura behind all the Seidou players. That was how the Yakushi members departed, with one Sanada running for his life while dragging Raichi behind him. All the Seidou regulars cursed at Sanada until he was out of sight, minus Eijun of course, who was just smiling and waving goodbye to his onii-chans.
"Phew, that was an eventful day. Is it weird that I feel more exhausted right now than after baseball practice?" chuckled Miyuki.
"You're not the only one. This is why I'm never having any kids of my own." agreed Kuramochi, who literally looked like he was about to keel over.
Ryousuke smiled sadistically. "And you act like there's actually a woman who'd want to have kids with you." He continued merrily on his way, ignoring his kouhai's indignant squawks.
"Looks like Ei-chan's tired too. Look, he's already fast asleep." commented Haruichi, who was lightly brushing Sawamura's soft brown bangs out of his face. Everyone glanced at their baby first year pitcher sucking on his thumb in dreamland and smiled gently, even Yuki. Although the day was exhausting, it was well worth it if their Ei-chan enjoyed himself.
"You know, although Ei-chan is much cuter, quieter(kind of), and less annoying this way, I kind of miss Sawamura.. as you know, not a toddler." said Miyuki, which surprised many of the regulars. They had thought Miyuki only liked teasing the idiotic pitcher for amusement. Everyone couldn't help but agree in their own ways with what the catcher said.
"I miss Eijun-kun always telling us to cover his back since he's going to let the batters hit.."
"I kind of miss hitting the idiot for being too loud with his oishis."
"Nii-chan!" scolded Haruichi.
"Joking joking haha!"
"I miss putting him into a headlock and practicing my wrestling moves on him.."
"I'm kind of glad he doesn't take my pudding anymore.. but I do miss scolding Sawamura-chan for it."
"...I miss having someone yelling loudly and idiotically behind me with his tire…" Everyone, minus Yuki and the quiet ones, gasped. Even Furuya missed Sawamura? The world really must be ending.
"Although I'd never admit it and say it to his face, I kind of miss the brat disrespecting me even though I'm his senpai. Plus it's far too quiet without him around.. There's nobody, well except for Furuya here, who consistently bugs me to catch their pitches. Man, I sound pretty sappy right now." mused Miyuki, who was unconsciously smiling remembering his times with the energetic first year.
Kuramochi stopped walking, catching everyone's attention. The second year frowned and had worry etched all over his face. "W-what if Sawamura is stuck as a toddler forever?"
Silence. Everyone was having so much fun for the whole day that they never thought of that possibility, at least not until now. The regulars sluggishly picked up their pace and continued their trek, all solely thinking about the consequences of Sawamura being stuck in that form forever. By the time they returned, it was well past 9 and thankfully nobody saw them sneaking their Ei-chan back into Kuramochi's room.
The room was crowded with the Seidou regulars; and yet, it was so quiet that one would be able to hear a pin drop. Yuki decided that as captain, he should probably encourage his teammates instead of letting this gloomy atmosphere ensue. Coughing, he said, "As problematic as this is, we should all probably get some rest. We all do have practice early tomorrow. If worse comes to worse, we'll tell Coach Kataoka about Sawamura's.. condition." Everyone reluctantly agreed and gave one last look at Sawamura, who was still sleeping soundly and snoring lightly, and headed back to their respective rooms. Only Miyuki, Kuramochi, and Masuko stayed, since the room belonged to the later of the three.
Miyuki continued to gaze at Sawamura, a worried expression on his normally cocky face. "What if he really stays like this forever?" He turned to Kuramochi. "What are we going to tell his parents? ..I won't be able to catch for him ever aga-" To his surprise, Kuramochi smacked him hard on the back of his head. The catcher stared at his violent friend in confusion and slight annoyance while cradling his wounded skull. "Oi, what was that for?!" Masuko tried to calm the two as he was worried their yelling would wake Sawamura and lead to a crying fit. To his relief, the first year continued to lightly snore while sucking his thumb.
Kuramochi narrowed his eyes in anger at Miyuki. "Where'd your normal calm composure go huh? Didn't captain tell you that worrying isn't going to help at this point?"
"But-" Once again he was interrupted by the shortstop player.
"You think we all haven't thought about those possibilities?! As his catcher, aren't you supposed to have more faith in him? That he'll return to us?"
"..."
"Look, we all care about the kid too so there's really no use worrying about things we can't change. Plus it's only been a day, so there's always a possibility that he'll change back in the next couple of days." reasoned Kuramochi.
Miyuki just continued to stare at him.
"W-what?!"
The catcher smirked a bit. "You know, you're much more rational than I thought. I'm impressed~"
"Bastard! Are you picking a fig- MMGHH!" Kuramochi struggled against Masuko's hands over his mouth.
"Shhh, you guys will wake Sawamura-chan!" scolded Masuko quietly. The two blinked. They had totally forgotten that the object of their argument was sleeping only a few feet away. Oops.
The catcher gazed down at baby Sawamura and smiled gently. With a final sigh, Miyuki leaned down and lightly kissed Sawamura on the forehead. "Please come back to us you idiot.." And with that, he silently left.
Kuramochi stretched languidly in his bed and hit the snooze button on the alarm clock that had loudly disturbed his sleep. Gazing at the red numbers, which read 5:30 am, he got out of bed and went to pick up his shower towel and other essentials. The shortstop walked past Sawamura's bed and glanced down lazily, sleep still blurring his vision. After a few steps, he blinked and walked back. He stared.. and stared.. and stared.. then rubbed his eyes for good measure. "EHHHH?!" He was now anything but sleepy, that's for sure. He quickly dashed out of the room and called for the other Seidou regulars to tell them the best news they've all heard in a while: Sawamura's back to normal.
"Wow, when you said that he may go back to normal after a few days, I didn't think it'd actually happen.. good job!" Miyuki clapped with fake awe on his face.
"Can it Miyuki you bastard!" hissed Kuramochi, who looked ready to put the catcher into a headlock.
Everyone was visibly relieved at the news and many were even cheering while doing happy dances.
Ryousuke, with his ever closed eyes and calm smile on his face, crossed his arms lightly. "What I'm curious about is how Sawamura even turned into a toddler.." The cheering abruptly stopped because truth be told, everyone was curious.
"Maybe it was something he ate?" commented Haruichi.
Kuramochi shook his head. "If it were, then we all would've shrunk too. We all eat the same food in the cafeteria."
"Hmm.." Haruihi rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "What about that lollipop Eijun-kun ate in the locker room? It's the only thing I recall him eating that we didn't."
Silence.. silence..
"That's actually a possibility."
"Yeah why didn't we think of that!"
"That's cause you're an idiot."
"Shut up!"
"The letter wasn't signed too so we have no idea where the candy even came from."
Everyone couldn't help but facepalm. Only their idiotic first year southpaw would eat candy from who knows where. The kid really was too naive for his own good.
With all their constant talking, Sawamura began to awaken. "Ughh..Why do I feel like I got hit in the head with a hammer..?" He sluggishly got up to a sitting position in his bed and rubbed his aching head. The southpaw continued to rub his head but blinked when he saw all of the Seidou regulars in his room.. and all of them staring intensely at him. "W-w-what? Why're you all here?! Oh god, are you guys here to kill me or something?!" he wailed, causing a few players to wince and cover their ears. Yup, it was definitely Sawamura all right.
He only ceased his wailing when he felt a smaller body collide with his own. "H-Haruichi?"
The small pink-haired boy sniffled a bit and smiled happily at the pitcher. "It's good to have you back Eijun-kun!"
Sawamura tilted his head and looked at him strangely. "Uh, it's nice to be back? Where'd I go?" he asked jokingly. "I still feel like you guys are pranking me or something! I bet Miyuki put you all up to it!"
Miyuki feigned a hurt look on his handsome face. "Ouch Sawamura. There you go disrespecting your senpai again. He then gave a genuine smile to his kouhai, earning him a startled jump from said kouhai.
"But really, it's good to have you back Sawamura.."
Once again Sawamura scrunched his face up in suspicion. "Ok ok, it's good to be back." Grabbing his bathing towel and things, the first year headed towards the door. "Now if senpai-tachi doesn't mind, I'm going to get ready since we all do have practice in 20 minutes." And with that, the door clicked shut. The wind from the door shutting caused a something to fall on the floor.
Haruichi, noticing this, went over to pick up the fallen letter. He was about to place it back on the table when he noticed that it was the letter they found in the locker room that day; and to his surprise, he saw writing on the back of the letter, which he hadn't seen before. "Senpai-tachi, I think you guys should read this."
Now curious, the players all leaned over to read the writing on the back of the letter. On it was, 'Btw, the lollipop's effects will only last a day or so before wearing off. Hope you had fun 3 ;)'
3...2...1… "WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT!"
Meanwhile in the empty shower stall, Sawamura was happily humming his favorite tune while lathering, completely oblivious to his senpai's rage fit in his room.
~The End~
And that concludes my first ever fanfic/oneshot. Hope you guys enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it! xD
