****The Next Day****

When the catcher woke up for the second time, it was to light and something wet spreading slowly across the shoulder of his shirt. Shifting slightly, he tried not to think a murderous thought towards what he was sure was a drooling Mihashi. He turned his head to find the smaller boy crying in his sleep, and had the pitcher fully encased in a hug before he quite realized what he was doing. In the light coming from outside, he could see Mihashi's tear streaked face, and as the boy let out an unhappy sigh he gripped the boy tight and buried his face in soft sandy hair, whispering, "Mihashi, wake up. Wake up; I'm here, you're okay, you're fine."

Mihashi woke with a soft gasp and looked up at Abe, surprised.

"A-Abe?"

The catcher froze; he hadn't thought that Mihashi would actually wake. He was caught between wanting to admit everything and closing his eyes and pretending like he was asleep as well. Abe was saved the choice as hands started to shake the tent and loud voices and laughter called out to the pair.

"Mihashi~," shouted Hamada, still rocking the tent back and forth playfully, "wakey wakey! I don't know what you and Abe did last night but you guys don't need to sleep any longer than past sunrise!"

Abe and Mihashi sprang away from each other as the tent zipper opened slowly. Abe rushed to pull down his shirt while Mihashi sat up bleary-eyed, covers around his waist. Hamada's head appeared in the tent's opening, smiling hugely.

"Hey Mihashi, hey Ab— oh ho ho, what do we have here? How'd your shirt get up around your shoulders, Abe? And…what's this? Mihashi, why are you so red?"

Mihashi hid quaking underneath the covers as Abe scowled and pushed Hamada out of the way, zipping the tent up halfway as he climbed out.

"Shut up, Hamada. Mihashi is always red; he never stops blushing. And so I don't sleep soundly; congrats. Now I need food before I can deal with you this morning, so don't bother me. If I come back to my tent and you're here...you're dead."

Abe announced this over his shoulder as he walked away nonchalantly, seemingly unnoticing that his route while talking took him past everyone else's tents on the way to the campfire. He sat down to blank stares from the rest of the team, and serenely started to eat his breakfast. There was a long silence before there were more rustles that made everyone look as another tent opened to reveal Tajima and Hanai emerging from Tajima's tent. Hanai froze when he realized that everyone had turned to stare at him, until Tajima grabbed his wrist and hauled him to the campfire. Coach took one look and laughed loudly.

"Bwahaha! You little trickster, Hanai, I went to wake you so you could get everyone else and you were gone; I assumed you had gone out early, but….?"

She trailed off, leaving a half formed question in the air. Hanai colored a little as Tajima yanked him down to sit next to him, and stuttered, "W-Well, I s-spent the night in T-Tajima's tent."

Coach leaned forward with an extremely disturbing smile.

"And why was that, Captain?"

Hanai scratched the back of his neck as his eyes found their way to the ground.

"Um…well. You see…."

Tajima rolled his eyes and exclaimed around a mouthful of food, "He heard me last night and came in to help me!"

At this, all of the team recoiled, looking horrified at Tajima's bluntness, and Hanai protested weakly, hands waving.

"No, no, not like that, not like that, he was crying and I felt bad!"

Tajima beamed and slung his arms around Hanai's shoulders.

"Yeah. I don't do too well in dark places."

All of the guys exhaled a huge sigh of relief as Mihashi came up to the fire and then stopped in indecisiveness as his eyes focused on the only open seat…next to Abe. Blushing, the pitcher stood straight and stiffly grabbed his breakfast while steadfastly ignoring everyone's eyes. Once everyone was seated, Coach stood and called for attention.

"Right, guys! So today we're going to be doing trust exercises, but this is a new one we've never done before. For this exercise, everyone is in pairs. I've done the choosing for you based on who I think you need to be closer with to make our team more cohesive."

The team knew better than to groan at her announcement lest she add some other thing they dislike; instead they stayed silent, waiting for her to announce the pairings. With a nod she looked at Mr. Shiga, who stepped forward and passed out a list.

"Everyone on this list who is paired with someone you'd rather not be; this exercise is for you. There is an independent reason behind every pairing on this list, and if you'd like, I'll explain them to you."

Some hands went up around the group as the list passed by, but they were beaten out as Izumi got to his feet, shouting, "There's no way I'm doing this with Hamada! No way!"

A hand reached out and grabbed Izumi's head, and he slowly turned to find the coach behind him, red eyes flashing and hair growing.

"This is exactly what I was talking about."

Oblivious, Hamada flushed red and grabbed the list in a panic, tearing it away from the smaller brunet.

"Wha? Why do I have to be paired with this brat?"

Coach sighed and dropped Izumi, turning towards Hamada with a sigh.

"Look, this is why Mr. Shiga and I paired you two together; you need to learn how to work together better. I can't have Izumi glaring up into the stands every time you cheer for him; likewise, I can't have my center fielder injured because our cheer captain and he seem to have some issues to work out. This will give you a chance to do that."

Sighing, resigned to their fates, both of the protesting teens sat down and glumly awaited further news. Mr. Shiga stepped up and clapped his hands together brightly, exclaiming, "Today's exercise is canoeing! Paddlers will be two to a boat, and one paddle will be provided to each person. The object of this activity: to learn how to trust and better work with your assigned partner. The partners are as follows: Izumi and Hamada, Oki and Sakaeguchi, Nishihiro and Shino'oka, Mizutani and Hanai, Tajima and Suyama, and Abe and Mihashi. Remember, the purpose of this is teamwork!"

All of the teens moved to be next to their partners, and some exchanged high fives while others exchanged polite greetings. The different levels of comradeship were exactly what Mr. Shiga and Coach Momoe were banking on, and they were happy to see their plan already at work. This way, the boys got the exercise they needed while doing a team building activity that was also fun. As the boys paired up, Shino'oka came out with a towel wrapped around her, hanging from her armpits down to her ankles.

"Coach, I'm ready."

Momoe smiled at the team manager and announced, "Alright guys, suit up!"

There was pandemonium as ten boys all raced to their respective tents to put on their swim gear. Tajima was out first, beaming like a madman, and the others trickled in fast behind. Soon, the campsite was filled with the Nishiura team in various states of undress, most of them opting to go shirtless with their swim shorts. Abe and Mihashi were two of the last out, Abe coming out with a scowl and Mihashi in his trunks and an overlarge t-shirt. Sakaeguchi yelled a hello and bounded over to Mihashi, tugging on his shirt.

"Aw, Mihashi, it's so hot out today, c'mon, take it off!"

Mihashi batted away the second baseman's hands with a protest.

"No, I'm f-fine! I don't feel too hot in this, anyway."

Sakaeguchi continued to struggle with Mihashi as Hanai came up to Abe, frowning as well. They both looked each other over and quirked an eyebrow. Hanai was the first to speak.

"Did Mihashi do something stupid again?"

Abe sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose, stuffing his hands into his pockets.

"No, it's just…..I have a wetshirt I wear when I go swimming but I can't find it. And that's like the third thing of mine to go missing on this trip. It can't be any good."

Hanai crossed his arms over his bare chest and leaned against a tree.

"I know what you mean; I usually wear a surf shirt but I can't find it anywhere. I'm starting to think all of my stuff has been sabotaged."

Abe looked at him quizzically, leaning in a little closer as they partially paid attention to Tajima, Mihashi and Sakaeguchi have a sunscreen fight. The catcher was too preoccupied to notice Mihashi stop in his tracks and just stare at the tanned catcher's bare torso as Abe moved into the sunlight, or see him receive a shirtful of sunscreen as Tajima's hand disappeared down the neck of his shirt.

"You mean…you think it's all gone missing on purpose? Why? What are you missing?"

Hanai sighed and looked away, rubbing the back of his neck.

"It's nothing really, but…I have this bear I sleep with, because it's….it's….a gift from my mother…And I couldn't find it. Anywhere. I had looked all over my tent and in the van and everything. So I figured one of the guys had taken it, and, come on, who else but Tajima pulls that with me? So last night I went to ask him and he was curled up with it like it was his. I woke him up and he said Shino'oka had handed it to him."

Abe nodded thoughtfully, scratching his head.

"Hmph. Well, you know what happened with my extra sleeping bag…tell me, did any of the other things you've been missing turn up with Tajima?"

Still thinking it out, Hanai said slowly, "Yeah, actually. All of it has. Either with him or with Shino'oka."

"Exactly. And all of my stuff is stuff that I would really hate to lose with Mihashi around…do you see a pattern? I do. Shino'oka usually has all my stuff. And now Coach has paired us up with the both of them again."

Hanai shut his eyes and massaged his temples, and turned to look quickly at the coach and the manager giggling and whispering like two little girls with a secret. Facing Abe again with a grim look, he muttered, "They're trying to set us up, Takaya."

Blushing, Abe looked down at the ground, mumbling, "Yeah, well, I'm not so sure I mind it so much…"

Laughing, Hanai clapped Abe on the shoulder and went to go pick out a canoe, not even skipping a beat when he realized the baggy surf shirt on the cleanup hitter was his. Abe walked over to Mihashi, who was now bare-chested and smeared all over with creamy sunscreen, way too much for any one person.

"What happened to you?"

Mihashi only looked at him with wide eyes and stammered an indecipherable, "N-N-N-Nothing…"