Wild Talk

In which Takashima simply listens in

"Furuya-kun, Kominato-kun – time's up," Takashima called to the two first-years, one seated on a chair in the bullpen, the other in the batting area.

Their responses were predictable, and identical: "But I feel fine, Takashima-sensei."

Of course they would say that. And of course they had to be sternly ordered off to the benches under the trees near the home-dugout end of the A training grounds to sit down, hydrate, and rest.

Furuya was the major worry. After injuring a collateral ligament in his right foot during the game with Ugumori High on Sunday, he was barred from running, and from pitching while standing. Takashima had to make sure he remained seated while pitching, and wasn't overcompensating with his upper-body muscles because he couldn't throw on his feet. She was limiting him to 25 minutes' pitching in each hour of training.

Kominato Haruichi was only a slightly less worrying case right now – he'd had a fever last night and woken up to congested sinuses this morning – and hadn't admitted it. They'd found out early enough to take precautions only because Oota had caught him blowing his nose several times during lesson hours and demanded the truth from him. It seemed to be clearing up now, and the fever was gone. But Kataoka wasn't allowing him to run or take part in today's fielding training, because if it turned out to be a cold or the flu after all, then too much physical exertion would put excessive strain on the boy's heart muscles.

Takashima hoped it was nothing – the game with Ouya Metropolitan was in three days; they needed their first-choice second baseman to be fighting fit. In the meantime, he was only allowed batting practice – and Takashima was limiting him to 20 minutes an hour, with plenty of hydration and rest in between.

But these two obstinate kids would overdo things if not closely supervised, seeing that they had the bullpen and the batting cages all to themselves while their teammates fielded and ran. So Takashima had roped in Natsukawa Yui to watch Furuya, and positioned Yoshikawa Haruno in the batting area, to keep an eye on them.

It was on their second enforced break that the student-managers went off to attend to the second-string players doing base-running drills at the B grounds. Takashima left with them, but came back after a few minutes to check on the boys. She found them sitting there obediently, silently watching their first-string teammates running round the A field. She stayed quietly in the background, looking out over the scene, taking a break herself. The boys probably didn't realise she was there, or maybe had forgotten that she would return, because after a period of silence, Furuya asked Haruichi out of the blue:

"Does Zono-senpai ever touch you?"

"Zono-senpai… touch…? Ehhh… Furuya-kun, what kind of question is that?" Haruichi asked, sounding taken-aback, head swivelling on his deceptively fragile-looking neck to peer enquiringly up at the tall pitcher through his long, rosy bangs.

"He doesn't, then?" Furuya asked in his usual monotone.

"Uhhh… not in any specific way which would make such a big impression on me that I'd immediately think of it here and now. You're asking because…"

"Because my roommates have never touched me."

Takashima counted three beats of silence. Then Haruichi said slowly, as if he was addressing someone who was a little… slow: "Yeeesss, I would think they never have."

"So we're not the odd ones."

"Odd how?"

"I'm wondering if it's normal for one's senpai roommates to grab one and… touch. Off the field."

Even from the back, Takashima saw from the younger Kominato's posture that a lightbulb had gone on in his head as he nodded with understanding and stated: "It isn't. Unless you're Eijun-kun and Kuramochi-senpai's your roommate."

Furuya's lack of an immediate reply told Takashima – and Haruichi, no doubt – that the example provided was the very one on the pitcher's mind. A thoughtful 30 seconds later, Furuya spoke again, softly: "I'm not very good with people."

"Uh-huh," Haruichi gave a perfunctory nod as he watched the runners, not even looking at Furuya, as if the pitcher's understatement was a given. (Takashima's sentiment exactly.)

"I don't always know how to get along with them."

"Uh-huh." Another perfunctory nod.

"I like animals."

"Yup – everyone knows those Animal Kingdom volumes are pretty much a fixture under your arm outside of baseball practice," Haruichi chuckled, still watching their teammates run.

"Which is why I notice all this peculiar behaviour."

"Eh?"

"Even when people think I'm too sluggish to be awake to see it."

The sakura head finally rotated back in Furuya's direction for Haruichi to ask: "Er… are we talking about animals right now?"

"Animal behaviour – in our baseballers."

"Uh… huuuh…?" Haruichi began, hesitantly, with a questioning upward lilt.

"Bonding behaviour within the pack."

"Nothing unusual in a baseball team."

"Courtship behaviour," Furuya said without any modulation whatsoever to his tone.

Ah, thought Takashima. Even Furuya, aka Spaced-out Monster Kitten-kun, has noticed?

"Cour… what?"

"That's why I asked if Zono-senpai ever touches you the way Kuramochi-senpai touches Sawamura."

"Furuya-kun, would you please begin at the beginning? I think I'm a little lost here, to put it mildly."

"Our third-year senpai are in other rooms now."

"Is this the beginning I asked you to begin at? What has this to do with courtship behaviour?"

"It's a preamble," Furuya stated matter-of-factly.

"Right. Preamble," Haruichi echoed, a little impatiently. "Third-year senpai in other rooms in the dorm – yup, I know that – they're rooming with other third-years now as they prepare for the final exams."

"But they still wander over when they need a break from their revision."

"They do. Aniki drops in occasionally."

"And senpai like Tetsu-san who don't live in the dorms still come by sometimes before going home for the day."

"So…"

"Last night, Jun-san and Tetsu-san were in Miyuki-senpai's room again. Miyuki-senpai summoned Sawamura and me. He said it was so they could give us fielding advice. But I think he just wanted us to keep them company while he played a video game with Kuramochi-senpai."

"Uhhh… Furuya-kun, Jun-san had better not have asked you to massage his legs again because, first, he's not playing baseball now, and second, your foot is injured." (Again, Takashima's sentiments exactly.)

"He didn't. He knows about my foot. He offered to massage my feet instead while he talked about making the most of a strong pitching arm in the outfield."

"Did you take him up on his offer?"

"Yes, he gave me a lot of advice about outfield work."

"The massage, I mean," Haruichi said impatiently.

"No."

"I would have!" Haruichi chuckled. "I suppose Eijun-kun, on the other hand, had to play shougi with Tetsu-san?"

"Yes. After he'd given me enough pointers, Jun-san left, saying he had much more studying to do than Tetsu-san did. Kuramochi-senpai and Miyuki-senpai were still at their game, and Sawamura and Tetsu-san were still playing. I should have left, but I felt sleepy, so I leaned against the wardrobe and dozed off."

"Then what happened?"

"When I opened my eyes, Tetsu-san was gone. Kuramochi-senpai had put away his video game and was teasing Sawamura."

"About what?"

"About how only a first-class idiot like him could overcome his inside-corner pitching phobia in the bullpen right before the Nanamori game without even knowing that he had done it." This came out so uncharacteristically smoothly from Furuya that it was obvious he was quoting Kuramochi, probably verbatim.

"He had a point there. And he'd be the most surprised, since I hear Eijun-kun's unconsciously-done inside-corner pitch almost burnt a trail-line across the front of Kuramochi-senpai's shirt!" Haruichi snickered.

"He also teased Sawamura about how warm and friendly he had been to Coach Ochiai after the Nanamori match. If Ochiai hadn't responded civilly, he said, or if he'd tried anything funny with Sawamura again, he and the other senpai would have arranged a 'batting accident' for Ochiai."

"Protective, isn't he?"

"Sawamura was looking a bit worked up, so Kuramochi-senpai then teased him about how his eyes go cat-like when he gets agitated."

"Ha ha! It's true – they do!" Haruichi laughed. "So is this what you meant by animal behaviour?"

"No."

"Then…"

"Well, Kuramochi-senpai said Sawamura should get rid of the cat-eyed impression, as it was a tell – opponents would know when he was upset. But Miyuki-senpai said it was fine, because Sawamura wears all his feelings on his sleeve anyway. Kuramochi-senpai laughed and said that for once, Miyuki and Zono were actually in agreement about something, and the captain could now fight his other vice-captain for a change, over this cat-eyed matter."

"Wait a minute – was he implying that Miyuki-senpai had fought with Zono-senpai over something else?" Haruichi asked with a concern that echoed Takashima's. Was there dissent amongst the leaders of the team?

"Yes. Sawamura asked that question too, and Kuramochi-senpai said: 'Didn't Kanemaru tell you? He was there. Zono finally got mad enough with this annoying fellow here to do exactly what you do to him all the time – you know, grab him by the shirt and shake him. Some of the second-years were worried that Zono was going to punch Miyuki's pretty little face, but I know Zono – he has more sense than that, even if he gets emotional sometimes. I'm just telling you, Bakamura, because you deserve to know that your captain is starting to satisfy his masochistic urges with someone other than you.'"

"Ehhh?" Haruichi exclaimed. "Kuramochi-senpai said all that? And you actually remembered it all…"

"I might be paraphrasing a bit. My memory for words isn't that good."

"Which explains your test scores. But what happened then?"

"Sawamura looked upset. He said the team should pull together as a team and not fight among ourselves."

"Eijun-kun actually said something sensible for once!"

"But then Kuramochi-senpai said the disagreement was cleared up now – something about Watanabe-senpai confirming that he was happy to do what he'd been asked to help with. Kuramochi-senpai then said it was good the disagreement was resolved, because 'it's been days, and everyone's on tenterhooks when the parents quarrel'."

"Oh… Miyuki-senpai can't have liked that," Haruichi smiled.

Furuya replied in a monotone: "He didn't. Miyuki-senpai went: 'Oi, oi, who are the parents here?'"

"And…?"

"And Kuramochi-senpai said: 'You're Daddy, naturally. And mother-hen Zono has to be Mummy'. That was when Sawamura looked at Kuramochi-senpai and asked: 'If Miyuki Kazuya is Daddy and Zono-senpai is Mummy, then who are you?' And Miyuki-senpai smirked and said to Sawamura: 'Kuramochi's the mistress, of course.'"

Haruichi snorted, and Takashima almost did too, but she kept quiet and listened on as the younger Kominato added: "And Eijun-kun's their illegitimate idiot child! What did Kuramochi-senpai do then?"

"He grabbed Sawamura and pinned him to the floor with a wrestling move," Furuya stated.

"Eh? But it wasn't Eijun-kun who called him a bit on the side."

"That's exactly what Sawamura said in protest. And this was where I really started paying attention–"

"You weren't paying attention before then?" Haruichi demanded.

"Not really. This was where I started paying attention, because Kuramochi-senpai replied to Sawamura's protests by saying: 'Ah, but you're the best way to get at Miyuki, don't you know?'"

"What? What did Miyuki-senpai do? Or say?"

"He glared at Kuramochi-senpai. I was paying attention now because the way it looked to me kept shifting – like those trick images where the drawing doesn't change, yet your brain sees one thing first, then another."

"Shifting how?"

Furuya seemed to grow more fluent when describing visual impressions rather than verbal exchanges, because he said fairly fluidly: "First it looked like Miyuki-senpai and Kuramochi-senpai were two predators about to fight over one fresh kill – Sawamura. Then it shifted and suddenly looked like Kuramochi-senpai was going through a courtship ritual of presenting food – Sawamura – to his intended mate – Miyuki-senpai. Then it shifted again and looked like Kuramochi-senpai was actually trying to court the one he had in his jaws, so to speak – Sawamura – and kind of taunting his rival – Miyuki-senpai – about it. Then it shifted again, and…"

"Wait, wait – this is where the animal courtship behaviour comes in, right? The preamble is over?"

"The preamble is over."

"If this is how you go about your assignments, you've got to write shorter essay intros and provide more substance, Furuya-kun."

"But you asked me to begin at the beginning."

"My fault completely. I'll never do that again. Now describe what happened next – in detail!"

"The scenario of the predator courting the one in his jaws now came into focus. Because Kuramochi-senpai sort of shifted his wrestling hold on Sawamura."

"What do you mean?"

"Instead of pinning him to the floor with his legs and using a choke-hold on his throat, he kind of… pulled Sawamura up and back a bit while inching back along the floor until he could lean against the chest of drawers, so Sawamura was now… umm… leaning back against Kuramochi-senpai's front, with Kuramochi-senpai's legs wrapped around his hips, his feet holding Sawamura's legs down, and his arms around Sawamura's upper arms and chest. And he was looking at Miyuki-senpai the whole time, taunting him with a grin. Is that enough detail?"

"Ohh… oh. Uh-huh. Good detail. More, please."

"Miyuki-senpai didn't move, and he had a kind of strange little smile on his face, but he was glaring harder at Kuramochi-senpai. Sawamura was going ballistic, howling and threatening, and Kuramochi-senpai was saying he'd let him go if Sawamura would give him Wakana-chan's mailing address."

"Ah. The usual demand."

"Sawamura refused. He kept yelling and struggling, then Kuramochi-senpai lifted one hand to Sawamura's head and started to stroke his hair while still looking at Miyuki-senpai, and Sawamura sort of froze and went quiet."

"And then?"

"Then Kuramochi-senpai said to Sawamura while stroking his hair and grinning cheekily at Miyuki-senpai: 'I'm going to win Wakana-chan from you eventually – but in the meantime, I'll have to make do with you. And you're handy for getting at Miyuki. See what I mean? This gets to him, doesn't it? Can you tell? So who's really his mistress here, I wonder?'"

"They did all that in front of you?" Haruichi sounded amazed.

Two seconds of silence. Then Furuya admitted rather morosely: "I think they forgot I was there."

Haruichi patted Furuya soothingly on the shoulder and said placatingly: "I'm sure they simply thought you were still asleep. You normally are. What happened then?"

"Sawamura went all red in the face, looking between Miyuki-senpai and Kuramochi-senpai. Then he finally unfroze and kicked out hard, breaking Kuramochi-senpai's hold. He sprang to his feet and pointed at Kuramochi-senpai and Miyuki-senpai in turn, spluttering and yelling: 'Cheetah-senpai! I've only just got Miyuki Kazuya to be a bit more honest with me, but now you're starting to weird me out too! And it was bad enough with him already, so stop it. Because I can only handle one of you – not both! You're both not being very captainly and vice-captainly right now!' He stomped out of Miyuki-senpai's room, and Miyuki-senpai went after him, giving Kuramochi-senpai one last glare. That was when they finally noticed my presence. Miyuki-senpai sort of flashed me a startled look, but his priority was obviously catching up with Sawamura. Kuramochi-senpai grinned at me and asked if I'd had a good nap. But he was a bit red in the face too – I think he'd really forgotten I was there."

"Wow."

"I left. I don't know where Sawamura and Miyuki-senpai went, but I suppose everything's fine between them. They've been… closer to each other lately."

Indeed, Takashima had noticed that Miyuki and Sawamura had bridged the distance – previously built out of teasing put-downs and annoyance – that had once been between them. They'd grown closer in ways she had not thought she'd see while they were still at Seidou. Miyuki had been looking at Sawamura with genuine fondness and warmth of late, he'd toned down the teasing, and he'd actually stood on the mound with Sawamura at the Ugumori game and shared a jolly good snicker with him when Sawamura had gone on in place of Furuya. Their body language at that moment had spoken volumes – they'd actually looked like a proper pair of friends there – two equals, instead of a catcher merely giving instructions to his pitcher.

Right now, things were obviously still fine, as the pack of runners started stretching out into a longer line, the fittest holding the front and those with the least stamina bringing up the rear. Sawamura – who'd started at the back according to hierarchy as a first-year – had moved up through the line as others dropped behind, and was now jogging beside Miyuki near the front, the two of them chuckling occasionally (where did they even find the oxygen in their lungs to laugh like that while training so bloody hard?).

Affairs seemed to have normalised with Kuramochi as well – the shortstop had now caught up, and was slinging an arm cheekily around Sawamura's shoulders, only for Miyuki to push that arm off the pitcher. Sawamura, energetic as ever, turned about and jogged backwards for a while to grin and say something to Kuramochi, who promptly kicked both him and Miyuki.

"I also saw Miyauchi-senpai and Kawakami-senpai that night after leaving the room," Furuya said, calling Takashima's attention back to the conversation from her thoughts about Miyuki and Sawamura.

"Are we still on the animal-behaviour topic?" Haruichi asked.

"Yes. Miyauchi-senpai was in the sort of protective mode you see in males who've been rebuffed by the ones they're courting, but they're still hovering, protecting them, waiting until they can try again. He was hovering over Kawakami-senpai as they talked. They stopped talking when I got near them, but before they noticed me, I heard Miyauchi-senpai say: 'I felt helpless not being able to help you.' And I heard Kawakami-senpai say: 'I wanted really badly to just go to you and – I don't know – bawl, or something – but I didn't want you to think I was just using you.' Then Miyauchi-senpai saw me coming and they stayed quiet until I was too far away to hear anything else."

"Maybe you've been reading too much of that Animal Kingdom series. Miyauchi-senpai and Kawakami-senpai's situation could have been something else entirely different from… um… what went on in Miyuki-senpai's room."

"It looked like what it looked like," Furuya insisted quietly.

"You're not good at reading people, remember?"

"No, but it's different when they start behaving like animals."

"That sounds so wrong coming out of your mouth, with that expressionless look of yours."

Another few minutes of silence, then Furuya spoke: "I'm not in love with Miyuki-senpai, you know. Even if some people do make snide remarks about me being besotted with him."

"If you say so."

"I am obsessed with him as a pitcher who admires a brilliant catcher, but after what I saw in the room last night, I'm sure it's a different kind of obsession from Sawamura, Miyuki-senpai and Kuramochi-senpai's situation."

"In short, you've discovered that you don't actually have the hots for Miyuki-senpai outside of pitching and catching."

"Hnn."

"Who do you have the hots for, then? Please don't say it's the tyre you and Eijun-kun are always squabbling over."

"Takako-senpai is beautiful."

Haruichi grinned widely before forcing the grin to fade a bit so that he could pat Furuya on the shoulder in exaggerated consoling fashion: "You know she and Jun-san are an item, right?"

"I know."

"You should have asked Jun-san to let her massage your feet last night!" Haruichi burst into laughter, abruptly shifting out of consolation mode.

Takashima raised an eyebrow as she saw Furuya do something she seldom saw him do in a social context – gearing up to take a dig back at someone. She watched and listened with interest as he quietly asked Haruichi: "Are you sure Zono-senpai doesn't touch you?"

"Of course he doesn't! I told you."

"Hmm."

"'Hmm' what?"

"Yes, I suppose it would have been a much more serious matter if he had."

"What would?"

"Another thing I heard in Miyuki-senpai's room earlier in the evening – while Jun-san and Tetsu-san were still there – was Kuramochi-senpai remarking how obsessive Ryou-san can be."

"Aniki? What's my aniki got to do with this?"

"You and Zono-senpai were in the indoor training facility recently, practicing your swings, and Zono-senpai was beside you. Ryou-san wasn't pleased…"

"Huh? Swinging practice there with Zono-senpai happens on hundreds of occasions, with the rest of the team all present too."

"Yes, but this time, it seems Zono-senpai said to you: 'You make swinging look easy.'"

"So?"

"So Ryou-san happened to be in the area, taking a break from his exam revision, and he overheard Zono-senpai. And Kuramochi-senpai complained that next thing he knew, Ryou-san was pulling him aside and asking weird things like: 'You know Zono well, don't you, since you're co-vice-captain with him? Would you know if he uses the word "swinging" as a euphemism for anything else – as in, does he say "swinging" when he means something other than lashing out at a ball with a bat? Does he use it in his pick-up lines?'"

"Ehhhh?!" Haruichi leaped to his feet, scarlet in the face, spluttering that he needed to have a talk with his older brother about not getting the wrong idea where there was NOTHING to get the wrong idea about.

Takashima really did laugh then, and the two boys turned to see her there, doing her best to straighten her features into their usual stern arrangement. Haruichi got even redder, and Furuya blushed, a light wash of pink across his cheekbones.

"Okay, you two can go back to practice for the next 20 minutes – that is, if you can find any space in the bullpen and batting area now that your teammates have finished their run," she said, not caring much that there was a distinct tone of mirth in her voice.

They hurried off, both still pink in the face, and Takashima sat herself down on the bench they had vacated, looking at the flock of players homing in on the batting cages and bullpen.

So Sawamura and Miyuki had come to an understanding. Kataoka had admitted that he'd told Miyuki to find his own way of reaching equilibrium in his dealings with Sawamura, since clamping down on his instincts had not produced good results for the battery or the team. Well, from what Takashima could see, it was good for Sawamura's game and confidence – he had overcome the yips, and looked ready to start the game against Ouya this Sunday.

But balance was a hard trick to master. Miyuki was stumbling in other ways now, failing to notice how deeply Furuya had sunk into a catatonic state during the rain delay in the Teitou game, failing to notice Furuya's foot injury during the Ugumori game, and struggling to adjust to his role as captain. As she had just learnt, he had apparently not been careful enough in his discussions with Watanabe Hisashi either, about doing the job of researching the team's opponents, and had almost come to blows with Maezono-kun over his handling of the issue.

Watanabe-kun, Kudou Yasushi and Higashio Shuuji had knocked on the door of the coaches' office the night before last, while she'd been there with Kataoka. That was when she and Kataoka had discovered how conflicted the three boys had felt – probably for a long time – about being on the team without being good enough to play in matches. So if Miyuki and Zono had quarrelled over this days ago, it must mean that Nabe-kun had previously approached Miyuki about it for assurance, and the captain probably hadn't thought through his manner of responding, leading to Zono becoming furious with him for not talking Nabe through his doubts.

Takashima shook her head slowly and adjusted her glasses. She wouldn't say anything for now. She would give things a chance to settle themselves down. There was a good possibility that Miyuki's current hiccups were the result of teething problems as he got used to the captaincy, and not the kind of faulty judgement he'd displayed against Inashiro when holding back his instincts with Sawamura. He'd been even more off-balance then, and it hadn't helped Sawamura either. At least if those two were finding balance with each other, maybe things would work out for the team as a whole, and Miyuki would stabilise himself sooner rather than later. She only hoped he remembered to remain neutral in the way he treated all the players as the captain.

Come what may, she was certain at the very least that Miyuki's closeness to Sawamura had helped the pitcher greatly as he clawed his way through the yips, and had also been a valuable support against Ochiai's apparent malice. (She had yet to get back at Ochiai for trying to damage her southpaw pitcher, but maybe the universe was getting its own back at him in some strange way, because she'd noticed that the man had been going completely off his food in recent days, and trotting to the toilet a lot. Karma – that's what it was – pure karma embodied in a stomach bug.)

All she could do until there were further developments was to wait and watch this bunch of cats. If Miyuki screwed up by allowing his personal affairs to harm the team's performance, she would have to send Cheeky Cheshire-kun a painful wake-up call. And having heard what she'd heard, she guessed she could do that most efficiently by dropping a hint to Demon Cat Kominato Ryousuke-kun that Miyuki had used a naughty pick-up line on Haru-Kitty.

The solid karate-chop the captain would get on that good-looking head of his was bound to rap some sense back into him. And Demon Cat-attack or not, it would certainly be a less painful blow than the agony of letting that ticket to Koushien slip from their grasp once again.