He could hear the cheering of the raucous crowd siting in anticipation outside. His stomach was churning at the thought of striding out there with his held high. A grin stole over his face as he remembered the trials he had overcome just to get here. The long afternoon and morning sessions. Before and after school every day he would run, throw and train without break for hours on end.
He sat down on the locker-room bench and put his hands on the back of his neck, then rested his elbows on his knees. A strange feeling flashed through is stomach and he felt a rush of uneasiness. His eyebrows drew together for an instant before relaxing back into a smile. He couldn't remain unhappy on the day of the big game. Finally, the grueling days of practice would pay off...
"5 minutes until game start, Takeshi" His coach popped his head in the doorway, "You ready?"
"O-Of course! I've been waiting so long!" Yamamoto stuttered. This fluttering feeling in his stomach was increasing with each minute. His coach grinned at him and winked, "Break a leg, out there, Takeshi"
Yamamoto could only smile in response.
Then his ringtone went off.
'That's odd,' he thought in surprise, 'I swear I turned off my mobile so I could focus...'
He stuck his hand into his large duffle bag and searched for the noisy alarm. Finally, he felt the vibrating gadget against his fingers. He pulled the phone free and frowned, 'I know I turned it off...'
Then he saw the model. It was the Vongola emergency phone Gokudera had thrust into his hands with a disgruntled expression and told him, "Juudaime insists we have a different phone for Mafia matters. Don't ever turn it off"
The blood drained from Yamamoto's face as the worried feeling crept back into his stomach. With hesitation, he clicked the 'answer' button.
"He-"
"YAMAMOTO!"
This was bad - Yamamoto had never heard Gokudera call him by his actual name before. Only baseball freak, idiot, stupid...etc.
"Gokudera? What's wr-"
"Get on the next plane to Italy! Now! It's the Tenth...he's...he's in trouble...serious trouble!"
"Wh-What do you mean, Gokudera?" So this is why he was feeling so odd. Intuition?
"Juudaime is in hospital! He's crashing..."
Yamamoto gripped the plastic phone so tightly his knuckles turned white. His eyes widened in shock, "What happened?"
"There was an attack on the Vongola head quarters! We were loosing, but Tsuna...stepped in. You know how he is. He saved us all but took some heavy damage...I was...useless...Yamamoto, I think he's gonna...He-He's giving up...I tried my best, but..."
Yamamoto squeezed his eyes shut and prayed for Gokudera to be misinformed. He knew that the Storm Guardian was telling the truth, though. He would never make light of the boss in trouble. Such terrible timing, though! The finals! The very event that he had been training for so long. His dream...
"Please...Takeshi?"
Yamamoto snapped his eyes open.
"Send the plane over"