A/N: Once again, thank you all for the reviews! Sorry for the delay and thanks for all the patience for waiting for this chapter. I had quitted my previous job and got a new one that has nothing to do with writing this time but I have kind of made myself busier by taking up a part time video editor job instead. So my time for fandom writing went smaller again… ^^|||
Sorry for all mistakes made. I haven't edit/proofread this yet so feel free to let me know if there's any mistake, especially for grammatical and spelling mistakes :)
Without further ado, enjoy~!
P.S. RyouKura anyone?
It's Okay
Chapter 10
Sawamura fidgeted as the silence in the doctor's office continued, nervousness rising as he watched the doctor's frown kept getting wider and wider as he read the report he had in his hand.
Not that Sawamura could help it; that report contained the results of his latest tests and check up after all, and the frown the doctor was having on his face was not helping to ease the tightening feeling in his chest.
And just as Sawamura was about to enquire the doctor about his condition, the pitcher flinched when the doctor's eyes were suddenly on him, causing his heart to almost skip a beat. "D-Doctor? S-So what does my report says-Ouch!"
And he definitely did not expect the sudden smack on his head by the doctor using his clipboard amongst the whole tension in the doctor's office.
"Hey! What the hell was that for?!" Sawamura couldn't help but yelled as he rubbed onto the throbbing area on his head. "This is what they called the doctor's abuse, isn't it?"
"Shut up, brat," the doctor sternly replied as he slightly glared at his patient. "That's, for not being careful enough, even though I've told you many, many times to take care of yourself more than you should."
"Huh?" A confused frown on Sawamura's face.
"Don't you dare 'huh?' on me," the doctor chided as he lowered his clipboard and report in his hand to stare harder at the pitcher. "Those light bruises and scratches on your right arm and elbow and the bump on your head clearly indicated signs of you falling down hard on the ground. Thank goodness your legs were probably protected by your pants so no signs were present on them BUT that doesn't change the fact that you got careless and fell down when you should be walking more carefully and NOT running right now. AM I RIGHT, Sawamura-kun?"
Sawamura flinched and sweated upon that questioning, skeptical and fierce stare from the doctor, before turning to avoid eye contact with the doctor out of guilt. However, Sawamura could feel it. The stare and the fierce aura seemed to be getting closer to his face.
"W-W-Well, that's…" Sawamura stuttered as he turned back very slowly, only to flinch again for the third time.
"Hmm?" the doctor was smiling this time, but that smile DEFINITELY did not mean anything good.
"I'M SO SORRY!" Sawamura cried out of fear for his life, unable to withstand the evil and dark aura from the doctor anymore. "BUT I DIDN'T MEAN TO RUN AND FALL DOWN THE STAIRS! I SWEAR-OUCH!"
And another smack on the head.
"Quiet down, kid. This is the hospital; you'll disturb the other patients."
Urgh… This is definitely abuse, dammit! Sawamura cursed as he rubbed the throbbing area on his head again. "S-So, about the report…"
The doctor sighed as he watched Sawamura's eyes changing from a glare to a pair of pleading eyes, and then closed his eyes and relaxed on his chair before looking sternly at Sawamura again.
"According to your report…" Sawamura gulped and closed his eyes as the doctor started, fearing for the worst. He didn't think that he could accept and forgive himself if anything were to happen to him at a time like this. Please, not now. Not now when summer is getting closer and closer-
"You were really lucky I would say," the doctor said as he watched Sawamura opened his eyes widely in surprise and confusion upon hearing those words. "Fortunately for you, that fall of yours seemed to only cost you physical injuries like your bruises and scratches on your arm. Other than that, your recovery progress is not affected."
Sawamura had to blink twice before letting the words by the doctor sink into his mind. "Y-You mean…"
"It means your knee is progressively recovering as we speak," the doctor said as he pulled out a few pieces of x-ray radiography photographs and placed them on the light board on his table, not noticing the gasp and widened eyes from Sawamura when he heard the news. "As shown here, this fall of yours did not affect or broke any of your bones on your knee. So all in all, your knee is alright-"
"Oshi, oshi, oshi!" the doctor jumped in surprise when Sawamura suddenly stood up and started cheering loudly in his office, fist clenched and smile widened as he continued his cheering.
The doctor could feel that his veins were in the midst of popping out.
"Excuse me, Sawamura-kun-"
"Doctor!" the doctor jumped again as Sawamura had suddenly turned and moved closer to the doctor's face to look at him with a pair of eyes that seemed to be sparkling. "That means I can continue to play baseball, right? Or how about pitching? Can I start now? Because I can't wait to do that! Please tell me that I can start pitching and playing in games now. PLEASEEEEEEEE!"
And that was where Sawamura received his third smacking on his head.
**Line Break**
The sound of a bat clashing with a baseball echoed through the field as Kanemaru watched the ball rolled on the ground towards the area where the shortstop would be, cursing to himself that if he had batted that ball it would have been an easy out for him.
After that, the machine seemed to have stopped indicating the balls that were put inside the machine had been used up. Kanemaru heaved a breath as he began to walk towards the machine slowly, still contemplating if he should continue his batting practice. He was finding it hard to concentrate after all. Shit, it's all that idiot's fault.
But he was soon distracted by a louder sound of the bat clashing with the ball, which prompted him to turn to check out the source of the sound.
And Kanemaru's eyes widened as he watched the ball flying all the way over the fence, which was probably behind the right fielder. Whoa… A homerun…
And it seemed that not only Kanemaru was awed by the batting power just shown by their team captain, who had lowered his bat and got into the batting position again.
"Whoa… that ball he just batted was adjusted to fly out at 140km/h isn't it?"
"Seriously?!"
"Our team captain's a monster huh…"
"More like…did something happen?"
"Huh?"
"Is it just me…but Miyuki-senpai seemed to be in a very bad mood or something?"
"Ah, now that you mention it-"
"Oi, first-years!" a sudden yell in an Kansai accent suddenly blared through the group of first years who were collecting the balls from the field, causing all of them to suddenly jolt in shock. "If you have the time to talk among yourselves, hurry up with the balls so we can start your fielding practice!"
"Y-Yes! Maezono-senpai!" the first-years replied as they scrambled around to quickly pick up the balls in the field.
Kanemaru sighed as he saw the whole episode with the first-years and vice-captain Maezono, who was placed in charge of the first-years fielding for today by the coach.
"As usual, Zono-senpai seemed to be harsh on our first-years again," a voice suddenly spoke from behind Kanemaru, which prompted Kanemaru to turn again, this time facing Toujou who had batted a high fly ball in front of him, causing Kanemaru to slightly twitch in surprise.
Damn… So am I the only one who is not performing well today? Kanemaru scratched his head in slight annoyance as he realized how much he might be overwhelmed by the strength of his teammates today if he still couldn't find back his concentration.
And another clack sound from his captain caught his attention again as he turned and placed his eyes on his captain's back across the net in front of him.
"Is it just me…but Miyuki-senpai seemed to be in a very bad mood or something?"
Kanemaru narrowed his eyes on his captain in concern as he remembered those words made by a first-year, which immediately brought his memory back to what he had saw last night.
"DON'T TOUCH ME!"
Something very significant must have happened for Sawamura to say those words and for Miyuki-senpai to be in this scary mood huh… Kanemaru wondered to himself as he watched the captain batted a fly ball seemingly towards the center field.
"Kanemaru-senpai," a new voice suddenly came in, surprising Kanemaru for a moment before turning towards the source of the voice. Koushuu revealed himself as he slowly trudged towards the third baseman.
"Ah, Okumura. What's up?"
"It's a message from Kuramochi-senpai," Koushuu replied with a purposely-louder voice, with Kanemaru noticing that his eyes had moved towards the figure behind him for a moment when he said his next words. "It's about Sawamura-senpai. Coach Kataoka had received a call regarding his condition from Takashima-san who is currently with Sawamura-senpai in the hospital."
And as he had expected, a twitch from Miyuki was resulted.
"He said Sawamura-senpai is deemed all right by the doctor; last night's fall had miraculously not affected senpai's recovery in any way. In fact, his recovery progress seemed to be going well where the doctor had finally allowed his rehabilitation to move on to the next level. Sawamura-senpai will be able to start running as a form of rehabilitation tomorrow and also the doctor had finally allowed him to start pitching, but only for a short period of time every day till he say so."
"Then… That Sawamura's really alright?" Kanemaru asked with widened eyes upon hearing the news, holding his breathe in nervousness as he waited for a confirmation.
"Yeah, except that senpai is not allowed by the doctor to head for practice and rehabilitation today. But all in all, Sawamura-senpai is perfectly fine."
And Kanemaru released his breathe in relief.
"...Geez, that idiot." Making others worried about him like that…
"And I'm guessing you can concentrate better from now on as well, senpai. Since you've been really worried about him."
"Huh!" Kanemaru quickly gave an incredulous yell when he heard those words. "What the hell are you talking about! There's no way I'm worried about that selfish and idiotic pitcher like him! He can go and rot for all I care!"
And laughter from a figure behind Koushuu resulted from those words.
"But that's what you always say, Shinji," Kanemaru flinched when he heard those words from his friend since middle school, Toujou, who had stopped his batting practice for a while and was standing at the other side of the net in front of him. He was smiling at hearing those words and seeing the slight blush from the second-year third baseman, who was trying very hard to hide his true feelings. "You were worried to the point where you couldn't sleep last night, weren't you?"
"S-Shut up, Toujou!" Kanemaru barked at the center fielder with a stutter which anyone could tell he was trying to hide his embarrassment. "T-That's because it was partly my fault that idiot fell! I definitely wouldn't want to be responsible for that idiot's downfall, that's all!"
"In any case, I've relayed my message," Koushuu said as he turned, preparing to leave. "This should make you be able to sleep tonight then, senpai; I'll take my leave then."
"Ah. Right. Thanks for the information, Okumura." Kanemaru quickly said as he watched the first-year catcher leaving the batting practice area. He sighed in relief as he raised his bat and walked towards the machine, decided to continue his batting practice.
"Ah, that's right, I almost forgot," Kanemaru twitched in surprise as he looked towards Koushuu who had only taken a few steps in front of him while leaving. He then gave Koshuuu the confused expression when he realized that the first year seemed to still have some business with him. "Kuramochi-senpai had also asked me to invite you to our room tonight. Sawamura-senpai has requested for your help with his homework again…"
And now that he was relieved that Sawamura's injuries didn't worsen, Kanemaru this time could feel his vein popping out in annoyance and anger instead.
You want me to help you when you've made me unable to sleep last night? You must be joking!
"Tell that idiot, LIKE THE HELL I CARE!"
"Well, even if you said those words, you still couldn't leave him alone in the end,"Toujou smiled again upon seeing his friend getting all annoyed and flustered. Because that's the kind of person you are.
"Like I said, shut up, Toujou!" Kanemaru screamed again, and Toujou could almost laugh at the sight of his blushing friend. "That's because, I couldn't help it." And that's where Kanemaru began scratching his head in annoyance, voice becoming softer as he said the next few words.
"I-I hate to admit it, but that idiot's a valuable asset to the team and he's needed by the team, so I don't want to-Hey! Stop smiling, Toujou! It's creeping me out!"
Meanwhile, Kanemaru had failed to realize that his captain behind him had frozen on the spot upon hearing the news, ignoring two balls that had been shot by the machine towards him.
Because right now, his mind was only filled with one thing.
Sawamura can start pitching…
If it were before what he had done to Sawamura last night, he would have already dropped his bat and immediately run straight to find his boyfriend already; to give him a hug, a reward kiss, anything to celebrate this occasion. Hell, he would even help Sawamura to catch as many pitches as the southpaw wanted even if it was against the doctor's advice.
But right now, he couldn't do it. Miyuki didn't think he could face Sawamura after what had happened last night.
Right now, he could only grit his teeth in frustration as Sawamura's crying face from last night continued to fill his thoughts.
**Line Break**
Now was his chance.
If he wanted to escape he had to do it now.
It didn't matter if later he was going to get beaten up badly by his roommate later.
He needed out, and he needed it now!
So hurriedly without hesitation, the southpaw opened the door and was about to run out, but only to bump into something hard onto his forehead.
"Ouch!" Sawamura yelled in pain as he stepped back while rubbing the throbbing area with tightly closed and teary eyes, hoping to ease the pain on his forehead. Is this me or is everyone aiming at my head today?!
However, Sawamura froze in fear immediately upon sensing a malicious aura very close to him.
"Where do you think you're going?" and Sawamura cowered even more when he heard the angry growl and felt the aura approaching even more closer. "Bakamura?"
Sawamura laughed nervously, trying his luck of laughing his way out of his situation. "I-I was planning to, to, eh, head to the toilet! Yeah! I need the toilet! Well then, if you excuse me…" Sawamura exclaimed as he tried to pace out of the room.
But only to suddenly land himself in a headlock by his roommate.
"O-O-O-Ouch! Senpai! What are you doing?!" Sawamura yelled as he struggled in his senior's headlock.
"Going to the toilet my ass!" Kuramochi yelled back as he tightened his headlock. "You brat! You're planning to sneak out to the field, aren't you?! You got guts trying to lie to me, don't you?!"
"B-But it's boring staying in the room the whole day! At least let me go outside for a while! I promise I won't do anything so please let me go out!"
"Like hell I believe you! Be obedient and stay in the room!"
"I don't want to!"
"Stop struggling you brat!"
"Nooooo!"
"Wow, as usual, you two seemed to be having a lot of fun, don't you?"
The entry of a new voice stunned both the pitcher and the shortstop, prompting both of them to turn to face the two new figures that were currently standing by the door of their room. Both roommates were stunned again when they realized who were waiting for them by their room door while they were busy struggling with each other.
"Ah! Chris-senpai!"
"And Ryou-san?!"
**Line Break**
"Ah yes! This is definitely the best!" Sawamura cheered loudly as he jogged around the outside parameter of the field, where there were players currently practicing their fielding. "Thanks for helping me persuade Kuramochi-senpai to finally let me out, Chris-senpai!"
"It's not a problem," Chris smiled as he watched his former protégé energetically jumping and looking around the field like a kid who just seen the baseball field for the first time. "But remember, you're not allowed to do any running and touch the ball till tomorrow."
"Yes, I perfectly understand!" Sawamura shouted again as he turned to salute to his former battery partner. "Thank you very much for escorting unworthy Sawamura into the sacred field, Master!"
With his back facing the field, Sawamura had failed to notice that right behind him across the fence were the first string infield members practicing their fielding, where everyone had immediately twitched in both surprise and annoyance upon hearing the voice of the loudmouth Sawamura.
Except for one catcher, who seemed to have frozen upon realizing who was probably watching from behind him. Sawamura?
"Oh? Looks who's here making a scene already, HUH?!" and another new voice stunned the southpaw for a moment, before turning to the source with a big and cheerful smile as he recognized the equally loud but fierce voice.
"Ah, Spitz-senpai! You're here too!"
"Who're you calling Spitz?!"
"What's the occasion today? Why are you, Chris-senpai and Onii-san here today?"
"Ah, as for that," Chris replied as he walked and stood beside the former vice-captain. "The players from our generation are gathering tonight for an O.B.* reunion dinner. And since I've asked Isashiki to show me around his college this morning, we thought of coming to visit here first before meeting the others."
"Oooooooh!" Chris could have sworn that Sawamura's eyes were beginning to sparkle. "Does that mean that you're going to the same college as Spitz-senpai and Onii-san?"
"Yeah, but only with Isashiki; Kominato only joined us just before we came here as his university baseball club has a day off today," Chris chuckled upon seeing more sparks from Sawamura's eyes. "I should be able to start attending college when summer starts, though there seems to be at least two months of work for me to catch up…"
"Haha! If it's you Chris, I'm sure you can manage!" Isashiki laughed and patted on Chris's back slightly too hard when he saw Chris's hesitation.
"Yeah, that's right, Master! I'm sure you can do it! You can do even better than Spitz-senpai!"
"WHAT THE HELL DID YOU JUST SAY?!" Isashiki yelled in annoyance with a vein beginning to pop out. "As usual, you're full of energy, huh? Sawamura?" Isashiki Jun commented as he trudged towards the second-year, and Sawamura soon realized that he had to struggle against another headlock again. "Hah! Too bad you can join in the practice yet! That's what you get for not being careful enough!"
"Ah! Spitz-senpai! Please let me go!"
"Don't call me Spitz!" Isashiki twitched in anger again before tightening his hold, while Chris smiled upon the interaction between the two loudmouths.
But the happy mood was soon interrupted when a yell was suddenly heard from the side where the first string members were practicing. All three pairs of eyes that were outside the field immediately turned to see the source of the commotion.
And Sawamura widened his eyes when he saw the sight.
It seemed that almost everyone had gathered around the home base, while a catcher's helmet was found a distance away from the home base.
And Sawamura had to resist the urge to immediately run into the field to check up on the person who was currently sitting on the home base with his right hand covering his face.
"Miyuki-senpai! Are you alright?"
"Oi, Miyuki! Answer if you're fine! Dammit you should have been able to catch that easy ball!"
"Quiet down, all of you!" a deep and stern voice by the head coach immediately stunned everyone as they watched the coach walking towards the team captain. Instinctively, everyone had moved back to allow the coach and Miyuki some space.
"Miyuki, are you alright?" head coach Kataoka asked firmly as he crouched down to inspect the captain for any injuries.
However, Miyuki seemed to decide to remain silent for some time, worrying everyone around him.
And of course that everyone included Sawamura, who was watching silently the whole scene with widened eyes and fastened heartbeat.
"…Sorry, coach," Miyuki finally replied after several seconds to the coach who had been patiently waiting for the captain's answer. "I think I'll like to rest for today, is it alright?"
And this time everyone's eyes widened upon that answer from their captain, because Miyuki asking for a day off was something no one had expected to happen, ever. If not for the seriousness of the situation and the mood sensed from the captain, probably some of them might think and comment that the sky could be falling down on them any moment.
"…Fine," the coach surprisingly allowed, before turning towards the players in the field. "Furuya! Bring Miyuki to the infirmary!"
"Y-Yes!" Furuya promptly replied as he went up to Miyuki to check if he needed any help in getting up, which Miyuki had refused. Slowly, Miyuki trudged towards the dugout to remove his catcher's gear with Furuya's help, before silently leaving the field.
And since the way to the infirmary included passing by the graduated seniors who were watching, Chris couldn't help but asked Miyuki in concern about his well-being when Miyuki walked past, without noticing that the southpaw had hugged himself and stepped back when Miyuki had approached them closer, being silent all the time with his head lowered and facing the ground.
On the other hand, Miyuki tried to smile awkwardly to his former fellow catcher to stop making him worry and then walked away.
And in a few steps Miyuki had walked pass right in front of Sawamura. In that instant, time seemed to have slowed down for both of them and everything around them seemed to blank out except for the presence of each other. Miyuki had already noticed that the pitcher had tried to distance himself away from the catcher while Sawamura had already noticed that Miyuki would not be making any effort to come closer to him.
I guess he refused to even see my face huh… Miyuki narrowed his eyes with a frown and tightened the clench in his fist upon that thought as he walked off, failing to see the biting of the lips and the clenching of fists on the shirt's sleeve by his boyfriend.
"…That Miyuki," Isashiki suddenly said to Chris as they watched the back of Miyuki walking away. "He's been performing badly from the whole time we were watching the practice. It was as if he couldn't concentrate and his mind was on something else."
"For Miyuki to be not concentrating, something must have happened," Chris commented as he heard those words, before facing the pitcher beside him. "Do you know what had happened, Sawamura?"
But instead of getting an answer, Chris blinked in surprise upon seeing the state Sawamura was in, finally noticing that Sawamura seemed to have hidden himself in the shadows of the fence that were behind them with his whole body tensed up very tightly.
"Sawamura?" Chris called out to the pitcher in concern, because it was definitely not the usual Sawamura that was standing with him right now. The usual Sawamura would have started getting noisy over Miyuki's mistake and also getting concerned over the catcher and his battery partner. Sawamura twitched upon hearing the calling from his former mentor.
"…S-Sorry, Chris-senpai," Sawamura stuttered as he replied, not knowing how he should answer. He then finally opted to answer by saying "I-I don't know" before falling into silence again.
Because it was probably true that he had no idea what was going on between the two of them and most importantly, what would happen to the both of them given the current state of their relationship.
Meanwhile, unbeknownst to them, they were being watched under a pair of small but careful eyes from the right outfield.
**Line Break**
"Heh… So you're Sawamura's guardian today, huh…"
"Like I got a choice; and since there's nothing for me to do today, I guess I can spend my day bullying-I mean watching that idiot only for today-OUCH! What was that for, Ryou-san?!" Kuramochi exclaimed as he rubbed onto the throbbing area on his head, where Kominato Ryousuke had taken a liking to smack on his head mercilessly. Kuramochi then turned to face the former second baseman as if expecting an explanation, but flinched when he got an evil smile with a thick, black aura from his former defense partner in return.
"What was that for, you said?" Ryousuke asked as he began to approach the shortstop, his hand still in position to give another vicious smack. "Here I am coming all the way here from Kanagawa only to see my ex-defense partner being suspended for a week from club activities as a punishment from damaging the dorm's property?"
"A-Ah, w-wait a minute, Ryou-san!" Kuramochi could only begin to step back with his hands raised in front of him, trying to calm the former second baseman down. "I-I can explain this-"
"And furthermore, he has to become a watchdog for our beloved Sawamura-chan who is not allowed to play baseball for today. For some reason, that's a bit infuriating to me."
"W-Why?!"
"And here I thought I can play a little bit of catch ball with you today," Ryousuke continued to speak as he stalked towards Kuramochi, who had reached fell onto the bed behind him. The current vice-captain quickly sat up and waved his hands around, failing to calm Ryousuke down as the former second baseman finally reached right in front of Kuramochi. "…But oh well, guess it can't be helped."
"Huh?" Kuramochi, who had tightly closed his eyes and protected his head as he had expected the worse, became confused as he looked up, the dark and evil aura emitted by Ryousuke had dissipated.
"Although I must say," Ryousuke continued to talk as he turned to walk towards the table and pull out the chair to sit and turn to face the shortstop. "It is rather shocking for me to know that you are actually such a violent person to start destroying things around you…"
"Ah, well… that's…" Kuramochi could only scratched his head as he started to think, being slightly embarrassing by those words from his ex-partner.
"Let me guess, you had a fight with someone from our team?"
"Ah, well, I…"
"Is it Sawamura?" Ryousuke suggested with a contemplating look on his face. "But I don't think you would go violent on him seeing he's such an idiot and he's still injured…"
"Hyahahaha! You're right about that…" Kuramochi tried to laugh out despite being all nervous and awkward inside.
"Hmm, then is it Haruichi?" and at that moment the dark and evil aura from the pink-haired senior seemed to be back in full force.
"I-I wouldn't dare!"
"Hmm, I guess you're right," and Kuramochi heaved a sigh of relief as the aura disappeared.
"Eh, Ryou-san, about my suspension, I-"
"I know! It's Miyuki-chan, isn't it?"
And Kuramochi's widened eyes and flinch answered his question.
"Heh… So it's Miyuki-chan huh… That was pretty unexpected."
"…Well, things happened, so…"
"Both of you still have not settled your scores since that incident six months ago?" Ryousuke asked, knowing about the incident in the changing room six months ago because he and the graduated seniors were still in Seidou at that time, so it wasn't long before rumors were spread to the seniors at that point of time. "Tetsu-chan and Jun-chan had already talked to the both of you separately, yet the two of you still have not done anything to fix the strains between the two of you?"
"Ah, well, that's… Even if we listened to them, it's still not easy…" Kuramochi said as he lowered his head in shame, unable to meet the eyes of the graduated senior.
"Especially because it's about Miyuki-chan's boyfriend?"
And that was where Kuramochi had widened his eyes and flinched for the second time, answering the question.
"R-Ryou-san! H-How did you-"
"Ah, let's just say I THREATENED it out from Haruichi," Ryousuke said as his smile began to widen. "It is never a good thing for a younger brother to keep secrets from his elder brother, don't you agree?"
"Ryou-san…" Kuramochi sweated when he heard those words, beginning to sympathize with the younger Kominato. He then gasped when he realized something else. "D-Does that mean-"
"Don't worry, I think the others from my generation have yet to know; not even Chris seems to notice it," Ryousuke calmly explained to the shortstop, who sighed in relief upon hearing the answer. "Although…"
And Kuramochi flinched for a third time when he saw a very gleeful and evil smile coming out from the former second baseman.
"I might accidentally spill the beans later at dinner…" Kuramochi began to panic and sweat at those words and that smile, which promised nothing good at all. "Unless you tell me what happened this morning between you and Miyuki."
"…HUH?!"
"Well? Kuramochi?"
…Dammit, Bakamura! You owe me for this!
**Line Break**
"I WOULDN'T! I would definitely report Eijun's injuries if I had knew! I'm not selfish like you who chose winning the match over Eijun's wellbeing!"
Are you sure about this?
"NOT SELFISH? HAH! Those are the last words I expected to hear from you!"
Shut up.
"Don't joke around with me! You wouldn't choose victory over Sawamura's safety?! Have you forgotten what were at stake at the fall tournament?! Koushien! The coach's resignation! Who the fuck was the one that declared that we must win the tournament and make the coach stay with us?! Who the fuck was the one that was obsessed with victory and results during the whole time?!"
Shut up.
"It's you, Miyuki! YOU THE CAPTAIN WAS THE ONE THAT WANTED TO WIN MORE THAN ANYONE OF US; WHAT WE ALL MERELY DID WAS TO ANSWER TO YOUR FEELINGS!"
Shut up.
"AND YOU OF ALL PEOPLE SHOULD KNOW THAT THE PERSON THAT WANTED TO ANSWER TO THOSE FEELINGS OF YOURS THE MOST IS NONE OTHER THAN THAT IDIOTIC PITCHER AND BOYFRIEND OF YOURS!"
Shut the fuck up.
"If you were the one being injured instead, if you were the one that found out about Sawamura, you dare say that you would NOT let him play?"
Shut the fuck up.
"Perhaps what I did was wrong, but you would be a damn hypocrite if you dare to tell me you wouldn't do the same thing, especially because it's YOU!"
SHUT UP!
"Miyuki… Please stop…"
Eijun…
"DON'T TOUCH ME!"
And that was finally where Miyuki had finally opened his eyes and gasped loudly, jolting up in panic upon seeing that memory of rejection. As his eyes opened to a new surrounding, Miyuki began to pant heavily as his mind began to process and identify his current location as his room, eyes widening and fists clenching on the blanket that was covering him in the process.
When he finally calmed down, Miyuki heaved one last deep breathe before wiping away the sweat on his face with his shirt sleeves; his sports goggles and spectacles had already been removed before he fell asleep.
Shit, I can't believe I'm having that kind of dream. Miyuki cursed as he began to stretch and move his hand to the area beside the pillow, intending to find his spectacles.
However, instead of finding his spectacles, the spectacles seemed to have brought itself to Miyuki with an unexpected hand reaching out to him.
"Had a nightmare just now?" an unexpected new voice reached Miyuki, causing him to widen his eyes and freeze in shock for a moment, staring at his spectacles that was being offered to him.
"…Shouldn't you be at practice?" Miyuki said after overcoming his initial shock, accepting the offered spectacles and put them on before turning to face his surprise guest. "Or is there something you need from me, Shirasu?"
And the right fielder watched silently at his captain for a moment, before sighing as he saw Miyuki's exhausted face despite someone who was sleeping for a while in his room while his team was practicing hard on the field.
"…There's something I need to tell you, Miyuki."
**Line Break**
"Heh… That Miyuki-chan is still angry at you for keeping Sawamura's injury a secret huh…"
"Well…" Kuramochi continued to explain, rubbing the back of his neck with his uninjured hand, being slightly uncomfortable for talking about the current topic. "It's true that it WAS wrong of me to hide his injuries at that time, and even helped him to hide it from the others and the coach…"
"And why's that?"
"Huh?" Kuramochi stopped the rubbing on his neck and looked at Ryousuke with a confused expression.
"Knowing you, I'm pretty sure that it was probably Sawamura's the one that convinced you to keep quiet about it, wasn't it?"
"…That's true, but-"
"Ah, well. It's not that I cannot understand from Sawamura's point of view," the graduated senior commented as he stared at his junior with his closed eyes. "And I also don't think that I had that right to criticize Sawamura for that, do I, Kuramochi?"
Upon hearing that question, Kuramochi gasped softly, leading him to immediately remember that incident at the last summer tournament between him and his former defense partner where he had also kept quiet about Ryousuke's injury on his leg. At that time, he was also the first one who had noticed his injury, and was also persuaded by Ryousuke to keep quiet about it.
"Everyone hides injuries like this."
The shortstop then remembered that during the night before the finals of the fall tournament, he had confided in Shirasu regarding Sawamura's injuries and had come to the conclusion that knowing Sawamura, and being proven already, that he was just be as stubborn or even more stubborn than the former second baseman, hence he had kept quiet about his discoveries again but this time, he initially felt that the efforts of helping and watching over Sawamura paid off when they won the fall tournament and was able to go to the spring Koushien.
But after seeing Sawamura's tough recovery process over these past few months and after his vicious argument with Miyuki this morning, he was unable to comprehend anymore whether what he had done was the right thing to do.
If it's Miyuki, or if it's anyone else other than me, would things have turn out differently?
"Erm, Ryou-san," Kuramochi suddenly and hesitantly spoke up after thinking for quite a while.
"Yeah?"
"L-Let's say that if you were the one that had found out about Sawamura's injuries," Kuramochi asked as he slowly looked up with a pair of hesitant and confused eyes towards his former partner. "W-What would you have done?"
And Ryousuke twitched upon hearing that question; clearly taken back by the question he had received. Nevertheless Ryousuke gave a slight frown and let his fingers pinched his chin, as if he was making it obvious to Kuramochi that he was giving a serious thought about that question of his.
And when the smile and those closed eyes returned in the direction of Kuramochi's eyesight, he knew he had found his answer.
"Well, like I said," Ryousuke answered as he relaxed into the chair. "I don't think I have the right to criticize Sawamura and threaten him about his injury… But knowing that stubborn idiot, he would probably do whatever he can to stop me from reporting his injuries. And for some reason, even though he's a dense idiot, he had a way of really convincing people to bend according to his will. Chris is a living example of that, don't you think?"
"Well, that's true, but-"
"And also, Sawamura's situation was different from mine, wasn't it?"
"Different?"
"Probably the most important thing I'll need to take into consideration is that he's a pitcher," Ryousuke explained as he turned slightly to rest his elbow on the desk behind him and let his cheek rest onto his fist. "If I remembered right, Furuya was already injured at that time, right? So that makes it even more improbable for me to report his injuries; I can't let Nori carry the burden of playing the whole match by himself.
"But, I guess no one would have guessed that Sawamura's injuries were serious to the point that he had to have an operation and take a break from baseball for the past six months. That's probably the only thing that would make you or anyone regret for keeping hush about his injury."
"…I see," Kuramochi said as he continued to process the words that were given by his senior, realizing that he most probably had the same thoughts at those times when he tried to convince himself that what he had done was right. But still…
Damn, if only that idiot knows his limits during that match and let everyone know about his injury or volunteer to be subbed out like Ryou-san, things wouldn't be so annoying for me.
"Oh, that's right," Ryousuke suddenly said, interrupting the shortstop's thoughts. "Don't forget that unlike me, Sawamura probably had no one to take over his position as a pitcher during that final match, except for Furuya, but since he's injured-"
"Ryou-san!" Kuramochi suddenly called out to the graduated senior loudly, surprising the pink-haired senior, evident by the sudden flinch he showed. "Sorry, but I got one more question."
"…Go on."
"W-Why did you volunteer yourself to get subbed out?" Kuramochi hesitantly asked, knowing that it could be a sensitive topic for the graduated senior. "Since you've convinced me to keep quiet, it means you have every intention of staying in that position in the game and not allowing anyone else to take that spot of the second baseman from you right? Then why?"
Just like that Sawamura who refused to let anyone else have the mound, would that idiot volunteer and let Furuya play if he had known his limits?
However, instead of getting an immediate answer, the shortstop received a chuckle from his pink-haired senior.
"Have you forgotten already? What did I said when I asked to be subbed out?"
"Huh?"
"At that time, I felt it was perfectly alright for me to be benched because," and this time, Kominato Ryousuke slowly stood up, walked towards the shortstop who was sitting on the bottom bunk bed and ruffled his junior's hair as he answered. "We have many reliable kohai*."
And a smile on his face immediately awakened something inside Kuramochi as he registered in those words. The shortstop widened his eyes and gasped, as if those words had triggered something important inside of him.
Wait a minute…
Something important?
An important memory?
Or… important words?
"It's alright, Kuramochi-senpai!"
That's right, it was those words…
"You idiot! You're obviously not alright!"
It was those words of his that finally convinced me…
"But it's really alright, senpai! I'm confident that I-I mean WE won't lose!"
It was those words that I couldn't counter back…
"HUH? Why the hell are you so confident when you looked like you're about to collapse?! It's obviously you're going to screw up somewhere since you're an idiot that refused to admit your injuries and weakness!"
And it was those words that made me speechless that I gave up on trying to dissuade him.
"Because, I've got many reliable senpais and teammates on my back!"
…Damn you Sawamura.
"Dahahahaha! Balls will come flying to you, so I'll be counting on everyone!"
It was those idiotic words' fault that made me stay quiet.
"…Dammit, Ryou-san," Kuramochi cursed as he slapped and covered his face.
"Hmm?" Ryousuke hummed in acknowledgement when he saw that his junior seemed to be going through a whirl of thoughts in his head as he ruffled his hair, but soon stopped when he realized he seemed to be going through a leap of faith and inspiration when the shortstop refused to show his face.
"…I'm such an idiot, isn't it?"
And the pink haired senior chuckled upon hearing that comment as he resumed ruffling the green hair.
"Took you long enough to realize."
To be continued
O.B. = Old Boys, which commonly refers to the alumni of any schools or clubs in Japan.
Kohai = junior/lowerclassmen, which I decided to use the romanji version instead as it sounds better XD
Birthdays: -
I forgot to mention this in the last chapter. The last chapter is partly dedicated to Kanemaru Shinji, whose birthday falls on the 28th August.
As for this chapter, it is dedicated to Isashiki Jun, whose birthday lies on the 1st September and also to Takigawa Chris Yuu, whose birthday lies on the 1st October.
Next chapter will be dedicated to Yuki Tetsuya, whose birthday falls on the 8th October, and also to our beloved Miyuki Kazuya, whose birthday falls on the 17th November!
So what do you think of this chapter?
Let me know in reviews!
Regards,
Ink-chan
P.S. OMG it's 7a.m. again?!