Ch 10: The Article
The school paper came out the day before the game against Sakitama. Lesser members of the newspaper club, those who did not contribute an article, tried to sell the paper in front of the school for 25 cents. Not everyone cared to take one even at that price. After a few days, it would be given away for free, or you could always borrow a friend's paper.
But the first years didn't know that, and in any case the members of the baseball team and been waiting for the dreaded article. They all planned to buy it, except Abe who insisted he didn't care.
However, Hanai and Mizutani, who were in the same class as Abe, each bought one that morning. They read it immediately during homeroom. To their surprise, the article was all positive! It hailed Momoe as an intelligent modern woman capable of competing with her more experienced male counterparts. Each player received praise for his positive attitude and skills - all except Abe. His paragraph was merely a factual report of his experience with the senior league, his position as vice captain, and how his overly modest pitcher credited him with the win against Tosei. Still, it wasn't anything negative…until they found the other article.
The article on the baseball team, with all the photos, took up the back three pages. The paper was only eight pages long and on the fifth page there was another article, this one starring Abe.
The title was "Initiations and Pledges - Condoned Bullying" and accompanying it was a picture of Hanai pinning Mizutani to the ground, Abe giving Mihashi noogies, and another of Abe's angry face. The article spoke about the dangers of initiation, from practical jokes to drinking alcohol illegally, to accidental death. The article and photos were cleverly and carefully positioned so one could infer that they were related or infer that the photos were just a continuation of the article on the back. The article did not mention any names or the baseball team, but instead talked in general about how despicable bullies were and how they were all cowards picking on those weaker than themselves.
'Crap! If Abe sees this he'll blow his top and make things worse,' Hanai wisely surmised.
But Mizutani did not have Hanai's discretion. "Ooo, she wrote I have the looks and locks of a rock star. Hey Abe! Look, there're more photos of you than anyone else!"
Mizutani walked over to Abe's desk and shoved the paper in his face. "See? Yea, we're all famous!"
Abe grabbed the paper from Mizutani and scanned the page with the article on bullying.
"What the hell is this? That hack is making me out to be a bully? She didn't even interview me!"
Hanai was not happy about his picture either, but at least his face wasn't showing and since he was wearing his practice uniform, there was no number. It was unlikely that he would be identified. Abe, however, was front and center. Like Mizutani said, he'd be famous.
"Lower your voice Abe, the teacher will be here soon. Look, don't worry about it. Everyone on the team knows the truth, and anyone who knows you. Nobody else matters. No one will believe all that stuff, especially not in a high school rag." Hanai did not voice his true thoughts, which were that Abe did bully Mihashi. Not that he blamed him. Mihashi was difficult to deal with and often tested his own patience. "But maybe you should cool it from now on," he added.
"What do you mean?"
"Just be more patient, especially in public, and near any reporters."
Abe's response was to rip the paper into tiny pieces. There was no way he'd let that bitch get away with this.
Mizutani was about to complain that Abe owed him 25 cents. He had planned to cut out the article and mount it in his scrapbook. But Abe's dark face, the one he reserved for special occasions, as when Mizutani made the error against Mihoshi, stopped him before he let out a squeak. He was just going to have to buy another copy.
Abe felt people staring at him and whispering all day. He was sure it wasn't just his paranoia. On his way to lunch he bumped into a small first year and the kid practically bowed to the ground, apologizing for his carelessness. Then he quickly scurried away before Abe had a chance to say it wasn't his fault. His anger and paranoia continued to build when during lunch he heard some snooty girls discuss how terrible it must be for the "darling little pitcher to be so mistreated by the big mean catcher" in voices purposely loud enough for everyone to hear.
"Where is that hack?" Abe muttered as he looked around the cafeteria, but the reporter was nowhere to be found.
It wasn't hard to find Risa. After classes, Abe went directly to the newspaper club's room. He found her alone, by the club's computer, just about to turn it on to work on whatever slanderous article she had prepared next. His aura of fury must have warned her - she turned her head to him.
"May I help you?" Risa asked politely.
"I think you've 'helped' quite enough. Just what are you trying to do?"
"I don't know what you're talking about," she said, then turned back to her computer screen.
Abe came up to her chair, grabbed its back and spun it around so that she was forced to face him.
"You know what I'm talking about! The article about bullying? The one with my picture?"
"So? If the shoe fits…" Risa straightened her chair again and tried to ignore Abe.
"I'm not a bully. I don't bully Mihashi. You've got it all wrong…"
"Oh? Do I? Pictures don't lie! And I know what I saw. If you're in denial, that's your problem…"
Abe leaned in close, with his fists clenched and right arm raised. It was a typical stance for him, but Risa instinctively flinched and raised her arm to protect herself. Then she quickly recovered her composure and said in a quiet, cold, trembling voice, "What are you going to do? Hit me? Boys like you grow up to be drunks and wife beaters and earn minimum wage. Is that what your father's like?"
Abe took a few steps back, surprised at the vehemence in her voice. "I don't know what your problem is, but…you have some serious issues." He left it at that. The girl was crazy. He was afraid if he pressed her any further, she'd cry rape or something worse to make him look even worse than a bully.
By the time he arrived for practice, he was a good fifteen minutes late. Cause for punishment in Momoe's eyes, usually, but today she was in a particularly good mood. She had read the article on the team and was surprised how positive it was. In fact, it even suggested supporting the baseball team via donations or purchases of team caps and T-shirts and other paraphernalia. Shiga-sensei had informed her that the reporter had talked to him about merchandising and publicity to help with funding. After all, Momoe could not be expected to support the team continuously for the next three years or more. That reporter was now gold in her eyes.
The rest of the team had also read the article and were very relieved and happy with the final product. Mihashi was described as determined with a will of steel! Hanai, as the captain, was the rock of the team! Tajima was multi-talented! Suyama, Oki, Sakaeguchi were all solid infielders and great guys! Izumi and Mizutani had the looks to grace posters! Even Nishihiro was praised for his hard work and dedication.
They were also thrilled with the two gift baskets. One was specifically for Mihashi from his old teammates at Mihoshi. It contained a scrumptious assortment of snacks (including all flavors of Pocky) and drinks (including all flavors of Ramune). Mihashi stared at the card, reading it over and over. "Congratulations on your win against Tosei! Hope to Play with You Again. Good Luck!"
The other was a large box of the fish shaped taiyaki and the round cream-yaki. The card was signed "Thank you for your time. Wishing you the best of luck in all future games. From the Newspaper Club."
"That must be from Risa's parent's bakery," Tajima pointed out.
"You're on first name terms now?" asked Izumi. "And how do you know about her parents?"
"I've got a date with her, don't I? So I ask her stuff. That's how you get a girl," Tajima said simply. "Oh, and she asked me to call her Risa because…" Tajima paused and screwed up his face as if in deep thought as he tried to recollect her exact words. "'The family surname is a propagation of male dominance in society, which is nonsensical as you can be sure of the biological mother, but not the father, so that heredity should rightfully be along the maternal line.' Whatever that means."
'Oooo…' his teammates were all super impressed that Tajima, who barely passed any of his tests, was able to remember such a long quote.
"It means she's rejecting her surname because it's her father's," Nishihiro explained. He added to himself how that was no longer true - with in vitro conception, you couldn't be sure who the biological mother was either. He turned his attention back to the box of goodies. "Mmm, the taiyaki sure looks good…"
"What's wrong with you guys? Don't be suckered in by a box of cakes! That girl is evil!" Abe ranted.
Tajima was about to protest, but Sakaeguchi tugged at his arm. There was no use arguing with Abe.
"What's wrong, Abe?" asked Sakaeguchi. "It was a good article."
"Didn't any of you read the other article?"
"What other article?"
"The one on bullying! The one with pictures of me! Oh, and Hanai too."
Sakaeguchi, Tajima, and Izumi looked at each other in confusion.
"Oh, that article. Your picture was supposed to be with that article? It was clearly labeled 'Field Antics' so it wasn't about bullying. Aren't you over-reacting?" asked Izumi.
"No, I'm not! That reporter's out to get me. I'm sure of it." Abe's temple veins bulged out even more than usual.
"Abe, let it go. Focus on tomorrow's game, all right?" Hanai said evenly. "Look at me, I don't care." Actually, Hanai was annoyed, but relieved since his face wasn't obvious and he had to act more mature since he was the captain.
"Whatever," Abe muttered. He started to put on his protective gear. From the corner of his eye he saw Mihashi skulking nearby. His temper escalated another notch. It was all Mihashi's fault! It was because of Mihashi's annoying bewildered look that he had words with the reporter. If it had been someone normal, like Hanai or Sakaeguchi (but maybe not Tajima or Mizutani), who would have simply pointed out there was a girl in the stands taking pictures, he would have thought she was a fan, not a spy. Abe glared at poor Mihashi who was still ambivalently looking back and forth from Abe to the field.
Mihashi looked as if he wanted to say something, but was too afraid. Finally, Abe couldn't take it anymore. "What is it?" he barked. "If you have something to say, out with it!"
"I…er…I…d…th…y…n…not a bully!" Mihashi squeaked, then ran out to the field.
Abe stood alone in the dugout for a moment, just thinking. "I'm not. Am I?" he said quietly to himself.
End of Part I
Author's Notes: I plan for four parts because of the baseball metaphor for relationships I'm using for the title. In part one, First Base, Risa has gotten under Abe's skin for better or worse, worse actually, lol. Visit my Ookiku forum for status updates, character discussion, baseball questions, etc.