Chapter 29: Two months later

Miyuki looked up when the door to his room opened, letting in the energetic southpaw he loved so much.

"Hey Kazuya, they should open the blinds for you in this place, it's so nice outside today." Sawamura said as he himself did just that.

Miyuki leant up against the wall, silent as always as the southpaw made his way towards the white bed in the middle of the room.

"I've been going to rehabilitation like usual." The southpaw started, though his smile slipped. "Looks like the ball hit my wrist just right… I can't play ball anymore…"

Miyuki's eyes widened. As Sawamura spoke, his gut twisted with guilt.

"It's not the worse outcome… I could have zero use of my wrist worse comes to worse…" Sawamura continued.

Miyuki could see the way the other was trying to convince himself and less tell him how his day had gone.

"Boss is letting me stay in the dorms… I guess I could take on being the manager with Nabe, help out where I can…" Sawamura continued before chuckling bemusedly. "This sucks… I wanted to smile when I walked into your room. Be overly loud like I have been for everyone else on the team. Did you know that Kuramochi has kicked me at least four times in the last three hours?"

Miyuki had a frown on his face as he watched Sawamura biting into his lower lip.

"I want to smile but the only thing I keep thinking is that I wish you'd open your eyes… two months and nothing… not even a sign… I miss you so much… I even miss the way you'd call me an idiot when I did something stupid. Isn't that funny? I miss the way you'd rile me up… Because even though you were riling me up, your eyes were open at that point, and there was that stupid smirk that always painted itself across your lips…"

Miyuki fought the urge to reach towards the southpaw as he spoke. He watched as Sawamura fought the tears that threatened to fall.

The two boys jumped when a knock came from the door. Sawamura was wiping at his eyes quickly before the door opened to reveal Kuramochi and Haruichi.

Miyuki would get visits from the two of them from time to time. He wouldn't lie, he was happy that Kuramochi had someone to lean on. He regretted what he had done, if only for the sole reason of leaving Sawamura alone after it had happened.

0_0_0_0

"Eijun, Yoichi's taking us out for dinner." Haruichi said before breaking away from Kuramochi and making his way towards the quiet southpaw.

"Who says I'm paying for the idiot?" Kuramochi scoffed.

Sawamura turned around with a smile, the one he'd forced to his face so many times when the Seido players were around him.

"Where are we eating?" He asked, his voice seemingly more lively than when he had been talking to Miyuki moments ago.

"Haruichi said he wanted to try a sushi place down the street." The shortstop said before shrugging.

"Yea, I'm definitely game." Sawamura said before getting up. "I'll see you tomorrow Kazuya." He then said before brushing his fingers over the catcher's in a discrete matter.

Haruichi pulled Sawamura out of the room, exclaiming that he was starving and that it was definitely time to go.

"You better wake up soon dumbass…" Kuramochi said as he stepped into the hospital room. "I'm getting tired of seeing your idiot's fake smiles."

The shortstop than sighed before rubbing the back of his head.

"I'm talking to an unconscious person like he can hear me… Just… Hurry up…." Kuramochi muttered before shutting the door behind him.

0_0_0_0

Miyuki was watching the scenery outside of his window when he heard another knock at his hospital door. When it open he couldn't believe his eyes.

"Dad?.." He muttered, shock marring his features.

The older man stood in the doorway for what felt like hours before he pulled it closed behind him.

"I can't believe it came to this…"

Miyuki felt anger quickly surfacing from within himself.

"Who the hell do you think you are?" The catcher growled.

"I can't believe that I let it come to this…" the older man spoke softly as he made his way towards his son's hospital bed.

Miyuki had never wanted to punch someone so hard in his life. Unfortunately for him, even if he did, his fist would pass right through the man in front him, inflicting none of the pain he wanted the other to fell.

"The last time I was here… It was for your mother…" The older man said so softly that Miyuki almost missed it. "Now I'm here for my son… It's a rather cruel world don't you think Kazuya?"

Miyuki bristled as he stood beside his father.

"Why are you here? Acting like a bloody wounded animal. Get out of my room!" The catcher growled, wanting nothing to do with his father.

Of course, his words fell on deaf ears, and his father continued to mutter to himself.

"I was as home when a conversation both your mother and I shared came to mind."

Miyuki's fingers clenched and unclenched at his sides

"I was sitting here, like I usually would when I visited her. She would always be smiling, as if she wasn't in constant pain…"

"I don't want to hear this." Miyuki said as he pressed his hands to his ears.

"And she started to tell me of this experience she had. It was quite strange." Miyuki's father continued after having not heard Miyuki's pleas. "She was supposedly under anaesthetics, and therefore not conscious while the doctors attempted a new remedy to save her life. She told me that she watched the whole procedure, as if floating above the table as the doctors worked on her body… Ridiculous, don't you think?"

Miyuki squeezed his eyes shut, cursing the fact that his hands weren't blocking out his father's voice no matter how hard he pressed them against his ears.

"They call it an out of body experience… I didn't have the gall to tell her how impossible what she was telling me was… So I had simply smiled back then…"

Eventually, Miyuki's arms fell to his sides numbly, after not being able to block the noise.

"Point being… I remembered that conversation and was wondering… have you been watching yourself? This whole time?..."

Miyuki's eyes widened a fraction. He watched as his old man took a deep breath.

"Listen Kazuya… I've made some mistakes…"

"Really? I thought you were perfect." Miyuki spat.

"And I know that it'll be next to impossible to atone for them…"

"At least you know." Miyuki muttered angrily.

"But I can at least try to explain myself… Not excuses… I just came to understand them myself recently.." His father mumbled as he sat in the chair beside Miyuki's bed.

"Did you know? You have your mother's eyes… God… You're the spitting image of her, luckily." His father chuckled softly. "But… Unbeknownst to me… I started to push you away because of that…" His father's smile fell as he spoke. "I know I can't just fix it by saying sorry… I just… I wanted you to know, that it was a huge mistake that I've come to realize."

Miyuki was chewing on his cheek as his father spoke.

"So, it took me being hospitalized for you to realize your idiocies?"

"These past two months… they've been hell… I couldn't even think of coming to visit you… The last thing I had shared with you was a slap to face… All you were trying to do was make me realize something that I was too blinded with anger and remorse to understand… And for that Kazuya, I'm sorry."

Miyuki stumbled back on his feet somewhat, eyes wide with surprise. If there were two words that he'd never expected to hear from his father, 'I'm sorry' were definitely them. He never expected his father to admit to any faults he saw in himself. As he spoke, Miyuki couldn't help the way his stomach flip-flopped, nor the tears that seemed to claw at his eyes.

He watched as his father wiped his face, the creases that ordained his features becoming all too clear as he did so.

"I was trying to bring you up to be able to fend for yourself… To not need to rely on others… And I've come to realize that that wasn't what you needed… You needed your father… and he wasn't there for you… I may have helped in bringing you here, but I was no father to you Kazuya… I distanced myself from you when Clara died and I'm so sorry that I did…"

Miyuki didn't move to stop the tears that slipped down his cheeks.

Miyuki's father jumped when his son's monitor started making noise. He looked up to see an aggravation in the otherwise normally calm beeping. He stared at the monitor before the sudden realization that he should call a nurse hit him hard.

Miyuki had never seen his father move as fast as he did when he got up and threw the door open, demanding that a nurse come to his son's room immediately. The catcher flinched when he felt an almost sort of gravitational pull towards his hospital bed. The feeling scared him.

Am I dying? What does this mean? Am I never gonna get to see Eijun again?.. I'm not ready to die.

Miyuki watched as a couple of nurses flooded into his room, expressions neutral as they crowded around his motionless body.

Please don't let me die here…

0_0_0_0

Sawamura sat on the right side of the booth as Kuramochi and Haruichi shared a seat on the left side.

"It's on me so don't worry about it." Kuramochi said as the menus were put out in front of them.

"Are you sure Kuramochi, I don't mind covering my own bill." Sawamura said as he opened the menu in front of him.

"I'm sure, as long as you don't eat their whole kitchen out, I should be able to cover the bill." The shortstop joked as he looked through his own menu.

After a couple of suggestion thrown to each other as they read the menu, the trio finally ordered, setting the menus down before starting up conversation.

"So, Eijun, you had a physio meeting for your wrist today right?" Haruichi asked with a smile. "How is that going?"

Sawamura's smile faltered before he was able to pull it back up. This didn't go unnoticed by the second baseman.

"Doctor says that playing baseball isn't in the foreseeable future." Sawamura said before chuckling to hiding the pain. "Ah this sucks… I wanted to take you guys to the finals…"

Haruichi frowned as Sawamura avoided eye contact.

"Damn…" Kuramochi muttered under his breath.

"I'm so sorry Eijun…" Haruichi said, a frown on his face. "I know how much baseball meant to you…" The pinklet mumbled.

"It's fine." Sawamura said, waving his hands in front of him. "I've already talked to Boss about it, I'm going to see if Nabe will take me on as a co-manager."

Kuramochi showed a small smile as Sawamura spoke.

"I'm sure he'd be glad to." The shortstop stated with a smile.

As the meal progressed, Sawamura's smile became less forced and more real as Kuramochi cracked jokes. The trio laughed together, enjoying the meal before they agreed it was time to get back to the dorms.

It was 7:43 when Sawamura's phone started to go off. The trio were walking down towards the bus station as he pulled it out and answered the call.

Haruichi watched as his best friend's smile grew.

"Are you serious?!" He demanded overly loud.

Kuramochi glanced towards the pinklet, earning a shrug as Sawamura spoke on the phone.

"I'll be there right away!" Sawamura than hung up and pocketed his phone before starting to run down the street.

Both Kuramochi and Haruichi's eyes widened before they attempted to run after the boy.

"Oi! Sawamura!" Kuramochi called out, clearly confused.

"What's happening Eijun?" Haruichi called out.

"It's Kazuya! He opened his eyes!" The energetic southpaw shouted before speeding up.