The Right School

by eskamobob21

Their semifinal game ends in disaster. Abe is devistated and wonders why he even decided to continue playing baseball. More to come, will be yaoi-ish in later chapters, T for teenage pottymouths

2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Abe's mind was racing. His plan for the night was shot full of holes. The black haired catcher tried to gage the reaction of the pitcher and come up with a solution to the problem put before him but Mihashi acted differently than he had thought. Abe expected Mihashi to freak out and try or say a whole bunch of things, yet Abe did not see what Mihashi said coming. The words rung through Abe's consciousness. 'You will always be my friend.'

Always be my friend. What did Mihashi mean by that? What was the scatterbrain pitcher thinking? Was he planning something of his own?

Abe could feel his heart beating faster in his chest. Mihashi had to be planning something and Abe had to figure out what it was. Abe was reasonably sure that he could handle himself if Mihashi suddenly didn't want to associate with Abe. Loneliness was not a foreign feeling for the catcher; he was use to it in junior high but that was a different story. Now Abe was important to someone and had the well being of another person to keep in mind.

Abe thanked the old woman and left her a hefty tip. Abe made a point to leave at least the amount of the bill as a tip. Today's meal was double what it normally was but Abe still didn't mind.

The dark haired boy knew his friend was long since gone but he was not concerned with that at the moment. Abe did not want to go home yet and the sky was just now starting to turn colors. He had hoped to spend some time with Mihashi and talk over a few things, but now that the smaller boy was gone Abe was left to roam the city as he blew off some steam to clear his mind. There was a lot of new information that Abe had to analyze before he exposed his plan tomorrow morning.

He let his feet take him wherever they wanted. Abe had wandered around the city enough to know it pretty well. Despite the fact that Abe's parents just moved to the current side of town only this past year, he had often traveled around Nishiura when he was in junior high to visit his aunt and uncle. When he decided to attend Nishiura his parents decided to make a deal with his relatives and the two families switched houses due to the fact that now both Abe was closer to school and his father was closer to his job and his uncle, moving into Abe's old house, was now closer to his job.

The practice field at Nishiura was now in front of Abe. He walked through the dugouts and onto the infield. The smells of baseball and the time he spent on the field; the dust, the grass, the sweat, and everything else that Abe remembered about baseball swirled around in his nostrils. Abe remembered his games in junior high and how difficult it was to play catcher. Abe had felt he was the force behind the team, but with that realization came the fact that while he was the main factor in their wins he was also the main factor in their losses. The next memories were of the seniors. His team's pitcher was a wild animal; eyes of fury stared back at Abe whenever he got behind the plate. The catcher would never admit it but many times he was scared and did not want to catch for the beast. But yet he did.

Abe rubbed his left forearm without realizing he was doing it. He suffered through so much pain during his junior high years, both physical and mental. He remembered the time his old pitcher hit him with a pitch that was so hard it actually fractured his forearm; and also remembered how he felt after his team lost a game because he let so many balls go by. The small body he had, the pitiful skills he possessed, and his inability to control or even help his pitcher when it was obvious that he was suffering.

The memories from Nishiura, the memories of this past season now enveloped him. Abe's legs were getting weak so he sat on the pitcher's mound. Everything from the training camp to all of the games the team played together all filled Abe's head. The endless days of practicing from 5 am every morning to well after the sun had set at night. Abe felt a pang of guilt when he thought about not coming back to field. He could not honestly say that this season was terrible; on the contrary he enjoyed himself more than he ever had, that is until yesterday when everything crumbled around him. It was the worse possible ending to a season that Abe thought was pretty fun. He enjoyed the cohesiveness of the team and his teammates in general.

This place, this stadium, this team; Abe wanted to be a part of it. He was content here, he liked the atmosphere and he liked the team. Unfortunately he also knew that he did not have what it took to be a cornerstone of the team. The pain in Mihashi's eyes left a scar on Abe's heart larger than any other. This sin was something that the dark haired catcher had to deal with and the only way he could think of was to sever himself from Mihashi so that this mistake never happens again. Abe was content with helping the pitcher from the background but didn't know how well that would go over with said pitcher. 'Damn,' Abe thought to himself, 'tonight only confused me more.'

The catcher moved a few feet to his right and lay down in the grass folding his arms under his head as a pillow. Things had been so confusing for him and now he just wanted to let everything run together. The hell with thinking specifically and individually about everything and the hell with analyzing each detail separately; instead Abe lay on the ground and let the events of the past few days swirl around together in his head. Abe could feel the grief and responsibility that had filled him during the game mixing with the regret and despair of the post game shower and all of that combining with the confusion and hope of tonight's dinner with the pitcher.

Abe shivered. When the catcher opened his eyes he noticed that the sky was no longer the beautiful scenery it was when he closed his eyes moments before. Instead of the vibrant colors playing out across the sky said sky was now a deep navy blue lit only by the dull lights from the city and the twinkling stars. He looked at his watch and cursed under his breath. When the catcher reached the field it was almost six o'clock, now it was past seven thirty. 'So much for only closing my eyes for a second,' he thought to himself.

Abe's mom was standing in the kitchen when he got home. He wanted to avoid any awkward conversations about what happened to and with Mihashi regarding the game and the events surrounding it.

"Hello mom, I've got some homework to do so I'm going to be upstairs," the dark haired boy said to his mom in as cheery of a voice as he could muster. "Tomorrow we don't have practice instead only a meeting so I can sleep in for another two hours. It'll be much better getting up at six instead of four."

The elder Abe looked at her son and after a moment's pause smiled at him. "Alright Takaya take care and remember to set your alarm. Your father is going to go to work early tomorrow and I have an early appointment so I'm going to need you to make sure to get Shun up with you and make sure he gets off to school."

"Alright mom," Abe said as he smiled and nodded at his mother. He would handle his brother Shun tomorrow, what he needed to focus on right now was slinking his way up to his room without being burdened with any questions.

At six that next morning Abe's alarm went off waking the sleeping teen. He had a knack for getting up in the morning; whether or not he was tired whenever he heard the alarm the boy was instantly up and after a brief shower and a check to see if Shun was awake the dark haired teen made his way to the school.

It was still a ways before the start of school but already in the morning the grounds were buzzing with activity. Different sports clubs were practicing around the grounds of the school. Since the baseball team was not using the field today the track club decided to make use of the large open space and were running around the inside of the fence. The meeting was in an empty classroom on the first year's wing. Everyone including Shiga-sensei was going to be there and at the pace Abe was walking he would be quite a bit early; which was necessary if he was going to be able to articulate what he wanted to say smoothly.

Abe couldn't help but feel nervous about his decision. He couldn't get out what he wanted to say when it was just himself and Mihashi and now that he had to address the entire team things were going to be rough. 'If I know Momoe at all then she would probably kill me at the slightest mention of my resignation from the team.' Abe chuckled briefly to himself. 'Then again she'd have to get in line. I'm sure the rest of the team would probably want to kill me. I know I kinda want to for what I did to Mihashi and the rest of them.'

Abe was right in thinking that he would be the first one in the room. The classroom was completely deserted and quiet giving the tall catcher the time he needed to think of a plan. Without thinking he took his normal seat during team meetings which was on the far wall near the window so that he could space out when unimportant things were being discussed. After a moment's thought the catcher decided it would be better to take a seat near the door, just in case he did have to make a speedy getaway. Abe wasn't stupid; he saw what Momoe had done to the orange during the first day of practice and Abe could easily picture his head between her insanely strong hands.

There was still a half hour before the team was supposed to meet. Having nothing else to do Abe sat back in his chair and tried to come up with possible questions that the team would ask when he told them his news and what their answers would be. Most of the normal questions like "why are you leaving?" and "what are you talking about?" he could answer with sufficient accuracy pending to what he wanted to convey. It was the stupid questions from the likes of Tajima that Abe was worried about. The kid was so sporadic that any logical person such as himself could not possibly come up with questions the third baseman might ask. Lastly there was Mihashi, but he already knew a lot of what was coming and hopefully stay quiet.

"You look terrible what's wrong man?" The voice woke Abe from his trance. Izumi had just walked in and noticed Abe.

"Just doing a bit of thinking," the catcher responded as he turned to watch his teammate walk from the door on his right to an open seat on Abe's left.

Izumi furrowed his brows at Abe. "Huh," he said, "must be a lot of thinking because from this perspective it almost looked like you were in pain."

Abe mustered what he could from his mental happy-bag and shot the best smile he could at Izumi; a smile so meek and terrible it almost hurt Abe.

"Come on man, who are you trying to fool?" Izumi glared at him. "What's wrong?" The speed demon shot Abe a very wide eyed and intense stare. He noted how, despite the front Abe was putting forth, he was definitely in some pain trying to decide something. "Don't tell me this is about the game, is it?" Izumi concluded.

'Damn,' Abe thought, 'how the hell, really how the hell could the speed demon conclude that?' Abe couldn't think of anything convincing to say. Something deep down told Abe that Izumi had a very good read on him and if he tried to lie then Izumi would be able to tell instantly. "Um, well, yeah," Abe finally muttered.

Izumi looked at his catcher expectantly. He knew he had created an awkward silence and if he waited long enough then Abe would slowly come forth and reveal more. He put on a pleasant smile and looked at the taller boy, simply staring never wavering.

Abe couldn't take it. He really did not want to tell Izumi what was on his mind but the silence was getting to him in the worst way. The catcher tried to hold out as much as he could but in the end decided to crack under the pressure. "Izumi, I can't take it."

Izumi finally changed the expression on his face and leaned forward. At the very least Izumi had to show some attempt at active listening.

"Please, don't tell the others," Abe started, "but that game on Saturday almost killed me, Tajima can attest to that. Mihashi was just so lifeless throughout the entire game but still I could not do anything for him." Abe took a deep breath to calm himself and fight back the tears. Every time Abe blinked he saw Mihashi's lifeless face staring back at him from on the mound. "Then, when Mihashi collapsed, the feel of him sent me over the edge. He was much lighter than he should be and wouldn't stop shaking. I couldn't take it."

Izumi was surprised to hear this. Abe never mentioned a word of Mihashi's strange activities to him during the game and to be honest when Izumi remembered back to that day he could not think of anything that Mihashi was doing that would hint at anything wrong.

Abe, who had hung his head, now looked at his teammate. "When I got back to the locker room I couldn't help myself and I broke." Abe took another deep breath. He could feel the tears starting to rim his eyes. "Once Tajima and I got changed we went to visit Mihashi in the hospital instead of going to the meeting. When we got there we ran into his mom and she told us that it was 'just an ulcer,'" Abe stressed these last few words. According to him there was no such thing as 'just an ulcer' when someone is in the state Mihashi was in. "She told us that he first got it in junior high and it got worse as he progressed through the seasons occasionally having to go to the hospital." Abe looked at Izumi hoping he would draw the conclusion so that Abe would not have to say it out loud.

Izumi looked back at the dark haired catcher. There was something that Abe was trying to get at, something he wanted Izumi to realize without Abe having to say it. Unfortunately Izumi's ability to read was more of a subliminal thing.

Izumi was not getting what Abe was trying to say. "I–" Abe started, "he, um, well," Abe didn't know how he wanted to put it. "It means that I, the catcher, the one who is supposed to protect and support his pitcher, the one who is supposed to befriend the pitcher and create trust, completely failed in my job to provide Mihashi, my pitcher, my friend, with anything but stress and despair." Abe could not phrase what he wanted to say and hoped this was enough for Izumi to get what Abe was trying to say.

Izumi got it. "What are you saying; that you are the reason why Mihashi had to go to the hospital?"

"Yeah," Abe said as he hung his head.

Izumi was getting flustered. "That's absurd. We're all a team and we are all responsible for what happens to each other."

"You don't get it," Abe whispered in a voice so quiet and meek that Abe could hardly recognize it as his own. "The catcher is supposed to form a battery with the pitcher, create trust and friendship, and create an environment that promotes the best pitching atmosphere. I did the opposite and hurt my pitcher, my best friend." Abe wiped away the tears that were, despite his best efforts, growing larger at the corners of his eyes.

Izumi felt for his teammate. Logically, he could see where Abe was coming from even if he did not agree with the premise of the argument.

"I hurt Mihashi and the team." He looked up and locked eyes with Izumi. "That is why I shouldn't be a part of the team anymore. Nishiura is bound to get some recruits next year and even if any of them aren't catchers Tajima can play the position no problem, the guy is a baseball prodigy." Abe felt a little better after finally voicing his feelings to someone and decided to go a step farther. "If all I can do is hurt my pitcher and best friend then I do not deserve a spot on the team."

Izumi had noticed what first was a few other teammates filing into the room and as Abe continued to talk with his head down the rest of the team as well as the manager, coach, and adviser had entered and upon seeing Izumi frantically shaking his head so that they would see him and Abe would not the rest of the team stayed perfectly quiet. That is until Abe finished his spiel.

The center fielder was surprised to hear silence after Abe's little rant in front of everyone. He expected someone like Shiga-sensei, Tajima, Momoe, or at least someone to say something in protest but by the look of shock on pretty much everyone's face the angry protest to Abe's resignation seemed like an unlikely outcry.

Instead Hanai walked from the back of the crowd and, upon reaching Abe who still had his back turned and did not know the group was there, swung his fist and punched Abe knocking him off of his chair and onto the ground. "What the HELL are you talking about Abe!?!" Hanai was livid.

Abe laid on the ground. The world was spinning and his head hurt worse than anything he could imagine. He thought he heard Hanai yelling at him but was not sure if it was his teammate who hit him or a bus; either way he probably had a concussion. Slowly the officially former catcher pulled himself up onto his knees and then started to stand. He turned to see almost every one of his teammates, Shinooka, Momoe, and Shiga-sensei looking at him still shocked.

"Where do you get off telling yourself that this is all your fault?" Hanai said in a forcibly controlled voice. "I'm the captain and if anyone is going to be blamed for anything that happens between my teammates it's me."

Abe stared into the fire that was spewing out of Hanai's eyes. He did not want a conflict with anyone on the baseball team but right now Abe was feeling particularly self-destructive. Abe got into the taller boy's face and stared directly at him. "You have no idea what I felt, what I did, how much I hurt him. Out of my way; I'm done here." Abe was awkwardly slightly happy at what he said. It was true that Hanai would never know how he felt and the last bit was just icing.

Hanai was shocked to hear this come from the catcher; but what shocked him even more was that Abe who, despite being the second biggest guy on the team was still noticeably smaller than the captain, tried to knock Hanai out of the way with his shoulder as he passed. The moment Abe hit Hanai with his shoulder the right fielder lost it and slammed the dark haired teen into the desk next to him.

Hanai grabbed the front of Abe's shirt with both hands and drew him in close, their noses almost touching. "I don't care what you think," Hanai seethed, "but only a real ass pulls this kind of shit without even talking to us about it." The largest teen released his grip on the now mangled shirt. "If you have a problem with something you talk it over with your friends. I thought we were friends, hell I hoped we were friends. But I guess you don't even care about us that much."

Abe was relieved yet slightly annoyed when Hanai released him and stormed off. Abe wanted Hanai to keep punching him, to pound Abe into oblivion because everyone in the room secretly knew that Abe deserved it.

The dark haired teen watched as the captain who had moments ago loomed above him stormed out of the room. The crowd of former teammates split to let the larger captain through, all of them still in shock over not only what they had heard from Abe but also from what Hanai both said and did to Abe.

Abe continued to lie on the desk staring up at the ceiling while the shock of everything wore off. The initial surge of adrenalin and masochism started to wear off and soon Abe realized how much he hated himself. He had spent the latter half of this horrible weekend trying to figure out everything and came to the conclusion that he was alone just like when he was in junior high and the seniors. Now Mihashi and Hanai were calling Abe their friend and he was unsure of how to react. One thing was certain in Abe's mind: he could definitely sympathize with Hanai's position. Abe knew that if someone else tried to pull this same sort of stunt Abe would be pissed and probably act the same if not worse than Hanai.

'Damn I truly am a dumbass,' he thought to himself.

Abe sat up. He was in Shiga-sensei's in the way of the baseball team's meeting and needed to move so they could continue. He was a bit shaky getting to his feet but once stable the dark haired boy made his way through the crowd and out the door as quick as he could; Abe did not want to see the other's faces.

There was still almost an hour before school started. Despite the grounds being occupied by the various student clubs the school itself was almost desolate. Abe needed to get away for a while. The prospects of skipping school for today crossed his mind and seemed very attractive but in the end the boy decided against it and instead slid into the men's bathroom near the main entrance. The bathroom was empty allowing Abe to let go of his emotions. The boy started shaking as he walked to an empty stall to sit down.

The dark haired boy lost track of the minutes as he let the pent up tears he had been holding back slide down his face. He knew Hanai was right, that Abe should have at least mentioned it to the team. Then again he was going to address the team as a whole and they just happened to over hear him.

Either way Abe hated himself. The spot on his head where Hanai had punched him was starting to goose egg and swell. Abe gingerly felt the area. He had to give credit to Hanai, the boy was much stronger than he looked.

'If only he would have kept hitting me,' Abe thought to himself. 'Lord knows I deserve it. Now how am I supposed to punish myself for this?'

After a brief check of his mobile for the time Abe decided he should clean himself up and look presentable. He may no longer be a part of the baseball team but he still had to look at least semi decent. Upon exiting the bathroom he gave the main hall a brief scan only to see very worried looking Izumi talking to a still pissed off Hanai. 'Damn,' Abe mentally cursed. The two were hanging around the entrance to the first year wing and there was no way Abe could make it to class without getting past them. As much as the black haired boy wanted his former captain to pound him into oblivion Abe wanted to avoid any sort of scene. His earlier idea of skipping school popped back into his mind and seemed to be the more attractive of the two offers; so instead of taking a left out of the bathroom and facing the fury of Hanai the teen decided to exit stage right and slip off the grounds before school officially started.

Abe could not go home because his mother would be there and it would be a very awkward conversation trying to explain why he was not in school. The arcade and other typical fun ideas were out of the question as well both because Abe did not have the money to go out at the moment and because the teen also thought he did not deserve to cut class and have fun after what he did.

Instead the boy spent the day in a park fighting through one hell of an anxiety attack and trying to come up with something to tell his parents. Abe knew his mom would eventually get use to the fact that Abe could not go back to the team; it was his dad that Abe was worried about. The man was the driving factor for Abe's baseball career making a point to involve Abe from when he could barely walk throughout all of his school days and into high school. It took everything Abe had to convince his father to let him go to Nishiura instead of a named school. The teen had to tell his father that he did not care about his career and instead wanted to enjoy baseball and the only way he could do that is if he could get along with his team and make friends.

'Friends,' Abe thought to himself. Before this year he was unsure if he was even able to keep the friends he made. He was not the most social guy and he soon found out that friends were hard to come by as he got older. Thinking back on the season Abe realized that he really did think of everyone on the team as his friend. They hung out together, for the most part, at lunch and breaks; they were always together before and after school; they had spent so much time bonding and getting close to each other. They were all friends, so how could they not know how Abe felt about Mihashi. Mihashi was not just his friend but everyone on the teams'.

The small mobile had in his pocket had rung a few times throughout the day, mostly mails but a few calls around lunchtime. The small screen on the front of the flip phone told Abe that school had just gotten out. Out of curiosity the teen decided to check what he missed. The missed calls were from Tajima, Izumi, and Sakaeguchi while the mails were from Tajima, Mizutani, Oki, Tajima, Tajima, and Suyama. Abe felt a little disappointed when he did not see anything from Mihashi. 'So much for always being my friend. O well it's better if he disassociates with me.'

Curiosity got the better of Abe again and he decided to read the mails. Tajima's first was a 'WTF' but the other mails were different; the subject: Mihashi. According to what Abe could determine, Mihashi had, as Abe expected, freaked out and ran. He was in class when school started but ended up collapsing just before lunch and was sent home.

Before Abe could read all of the mails his mobile rang. Tajima was on the other end. The dark haired teen tentatively answered, unsure of what the sporadic teen would say.

"Abe where the hell are you?" Came a furious voice.

"I'm out. Tajima what's going on?"

"We've been trying to get a hold of you all day. Listen, Mihashi collapsed in school today and his mom came and picked him up. Right now he's at home and the group of us are going to visit him. He's been acting very strange all day." Tajima said in what had to be one breath.

"Tajima slow down I can barely understand you. What do you mean he's been acting strange?" Abe was worried now.

"He was quiet all day and did not touch his lunch between classes." Tajima said in a slower voice. "We're going over to his house after school. Listen, I know you probably don't want to go with us but I'm asking you as a friend."

With that the third baseman hung up the phone. Abe should have known that something like this would happen to Mihashi; and this was after the pitcher knew what was coming.

Abe was in the opposite direction of Mihashi's House from the school, which meant that his former teammates would get there before Abe would.

Abe was right. When he reached Mihashi's house let himself in. From his past encounters Abe knew that Mihashi's parents were both at work and Mihashi himself was probably upstairs in his room. Abe knocked once, let himself in and kicked off his shoes next to the nine other pairs of his former teammates. The dark haired boy had been inside of the Mihashi household a few times before and weaved his way through the house to the stairs up to Mihashi's room. Abe sprinted up the stairs as fast as he could but stopped when he reached Mihashi's room. The door was open and voices were coming out. Abe leaned against the door frame and listened to Mihashi laying on his bed talking to the others in a weak voice.

"Without A-Abe-kun I'm just a-a lousy pitcher with a sl-slow fastball." The dirty blond said.

Suyama looked at his pitcher. "Mihashi what are you talking about? There isn't another high school or hell even university pitcher who can divide his strike zone into nine partitions. It's amazing. Mihashi, you're amazing."

"I'm j-just a bad pitcher. A-Abe-kun is the a-amazing one and w-without him I-I'm just a guy who sh-shouldn't be on th-the mound." Mihashi turned to look at all of his teammates, which was difficult with tears sliding down his cheeks. "I-I'm s-s-sorry guys." Mihashi choked out. "But without A-Abe-kun I c-can't pitch, a-a-and if I-I can't pitch th-then I should qu-qui…" Mihashi was having trouble saying it but he knew he had to. He had caused a rift to form between his team and in order for Nishiura to do well Mihashi had to end it. "I should quit too; I've turned Nishiura into Mihoshi."

"Like HELL," roared Abe from the doorway. He made it just in time to hear Mihashi tell the team he's quitting. "You're not quitting, Mihashi. Baseball means the world to you."

Everyone in the room looked at their former teammate. Abe was panting and sweating slightly from running up the stairs. "Abe," whispered Tajima. Izumi looked at the third baseman and then shook the thoughts from his head. There was no way. Was there?

Abe stormed into the room on a direct path to Mihashi's bed. The smaller boy pulled the covers over him in a pathetic attempt to hide from the angry figure on the warpath. The meek boy did a terrible job. The larger black haired boy yanked the covers down exposing the cowering boy under them. Mihashi looked up at the angry figure. "Ah, um, Abe-kun," the smaller boy stuttered.

"Mihashi," Abe growled.

Sakaeguchi saw what was about to happen and took it upon himself to stop it; he was not going to like what he was about to do and was pretty sure he would get hit because of it but it had to be done. "Abe, you have no right to say anything. You abandoned us," Sakageuchi swallowed his fear and moved between Abe and Mihashi. "You abandoned all of us."

Sakaeguchi turned his back on Abe; something that everyone else in the room saw as a dangerous move. Instead of focusing on Abe he moved his attention to Mihashi. "Listen Mihashi," he said, "I know you're feeling bad but still think about us, your friends."

Mihashi looked up at the second baseman. His eyes sparkled with a mixture of tears and awe. "B-b-but Sakaeguchi-kun I-I am thinking about the-the-the team. I've c-c-caused A-Abe-kun to qu-quit the team and-and-and you guys g-got into a f-fight." Mihashi snapped his head to try to look at his former catcher. "Abe-kun, I'm sorry!" Mihashi finally yelled after not being able to see past Sakaeguchi.

Abe had no idea that Mihashi felt this way. He was blaming himself for Abe's own strife. "Mihashi," Abe commanded after moving around Sakaeguchi who was crouched at the head of Mihashi's bed on eye level with the pitcher. "Mihashi, I've acted like an ass the entire season. It's not your fault that I've quit the team. I quit the team because all I did was hurt you throughout the entire season and stress you out. I caused you to relive your junior high years and doubt yourself. I failed as a catcher and as a friend and I should not be allowed on the team. If I were a better person then you would not have the ulcer and we all would still be playing baseball, together."

This was news to Mihashi. None of it made sense. The pitcher looked over at his friend who was kneeling down beside Sakaeguchi next to Mihashi's bed. "B-b-but Abe-kun, the reason wh-why I fainted is-is-is because I f-forgot to take my me-medicine." The blond stated matter-of-factly.

Abe snapped his head up. He must have misheard; Mihashi must be trying to joke with the dark haired teen. "What did you say Mihashi?" He asked.

"I-I-I, um," the tears in Mihashi's eyes were gone and the pitcher now wore a smile that started to piss Abe off. "I-I had forgotten t-to take m-my meds a f-few days be-before."

"WHAT!" Abe roared.

Everyone in the room stared at the pitcher. Nobody could believe that everything happened simply because Mihashi forgot to take his pills for a while. Abe had quite the team, gotten in to a fight with Hanai, and now Mihashi had quite the team. As of a few minutes ago there was no Nishiura baseball club because once Mihashi quit they did not have enough members to form a club. Nishihiro was the first to come to his senses and had an idea.

"So if I understand this right," the outfielder said, "Mihashi, you quit the team because essentially Abe quit; and Abe you quit the team because you hurt Mihashi very badly by giving him an ulcer; and Mihashi had an ulcer because he forgot to take his medicine."

The other boys looked at the genius when he started to talk but once he finished they were all nodding their head.

"So," continued Nishihiro, "if Abe did not cause Mihashi's ulcer, then he did not hurt Mihashi, is not a bad person, and owes all of us an apology and then some. Likewise, since Abe is making up with the team then that makes Mihashi's argument about driving the team apart null and void causing him to owe the team an apology and then some. Am I correct in this?"

Hanai, being not only the captain but the next smartest person on the team, saw where Nishihiro was going with his proposition and decided to agree. He would have a talk with Abe about everything later on in private. Hanai did not want to simply dismiss Mihashi's quitting the team but also did not want to give the feeble pitcher something to hate the right fielder for. "First off," Hanai called out over the muttering group in front of him. "First off, we need to have a team vote on whether or not to reinstate the members. First up is Mihashi." Hanai looked over to the small pitcher and gestured with his hand. "All in favor of letting Mihashi back on the team as the team's Ace raise your hand." Every single hand went into the air. Tajima had both of his arms raised as far up as he could reach.

Hanai looked around thoroughly satisfied. 'If this doesn't show Mihashi that we want him here than nothing will,' he thought.

"Alright. Secondly, all in favor of reinstating Abe, with sanctions to be determined by the captain, raise your hand." Again immediately every hand was raised in the air with the exception of both Tajima and Mihashi who had both of theirs stretched towards the heavens.

Hanai smiled. "Then it's agreed," he said. "Abe is back on the team as the catcher. And-" the right fielder turned to face the catcher, "as your first official sanction from the captain you must explain what was going through your head. If we are going to work as a team and win it all then we are going to have to put everything out in the open. Nobody leaves this room until we are all satisfied."

Abe laughed at himself. He really did have friends on this team. After Abe had acted like such a big ass this morning he could not believe how things turned out for him; he was back on the team and only had to suffer through whatever it was that Hanai could come up with for Abe.

"Alright fine," Abe said as he stood up. The taller catcher walked over to the other side of the room so that everyone could see him. "Alright, I'm not going to go into detail about what happened to me after the game but I can tell you that I'm twenty times better than if Tajima had not been there to help me through it." Abe looked over at the third baseman who was a deep red, which Abe felt a little odd. "Anyway, the main reason why I wanted to quit the team was because as I told you all I felt like a terrible person who hurt the greatest asset to this team."

Abe spent the next fifteen minutes detailing what he thought about the night after the game and the following day, about his life in junior high and the seniors, about the panic attacks and anxiety attacks that plagued him throughout junior high, and his inability to make friends. The reinstated catcher left out a few minor details but still did a good job convincing his friends. 'My friends,' he thought. 'They are my friends, my precious friends.'

The boys decided to celebrate the rejoining of the battery with a little night on the town. Since none of them had to get up early for practice the rest of the week they were free to stay out as long as their parents would allow. The ten teammates decided to meet up at the CD store in an hour after each went their separate way to change out of their school uniform and into more comfortable clothes.

Abe was one of the last to leave the Mihashi residence followed closely by Tajima and Hanai. The trio walked a little ways making idle chatter until a long silence enveloped them. Hanai thought it was as good a time as any. "Hey Tajima, can you run on ahead? I need to talk to Abe alone for a while."

Both Abe and Tajima looked at the right fielder in surprise. "Um…sure," Tajima replied. After bidding the two taller boys good bye the third baseman went his own way.

Abe turned to Hanai. "So," he said, "what is it you want to talk about?"

Hanai motioned for Abe to join him on a nearby bench. "First off, I want to say that I'm glad you're back on the team. I think you're a great guy and an even better friend. Besides, it would be very tough trying to motivate everyone by myself during the winter practices."

Abe nodded in agreement.

"With that being said I want you to know that I don't plan on putting any sanctions on Mihashi what so ever. You on the other hand," the taller of the two first years looked into the smaller's eyes. "Because of the way you acted and your reasoning for quitting the team I cannot let you join without some penalties. Is that understood?"

The catcher knew the right fielder was right. Abe had hoped he would not have any major penalties but deep down knew they were coming and that he flat out deserved them and any more that Hanai wanted to give. "Yeah I understand," Abe responded.

"The first thing is for a month you are to help Shinooka-chan out in any way she needs. We will still be having outdoor practices until the weather turns bad so you will be in charge of the equipment like the pitching machine, the balls, and so on. I know we usually do a turn based system for that but from now until I say it is your responsibility."

That seemed more than fair to Abe.

"Also, because of the way you acted I can no longer have you as one of my assistant captains. I will be choosing a replacement later on. No hard feelings."

The catcher also agreed to this. "None what so ever. Is there anything else?" Abe asked.

Hanai looked at Abe. To be honest he could not think of anything at the moment. "I'll let you know; and don't expect me to go light on you either." Hanai said with a smile.

Abe returned the larger boy's smile. "Hanai, I wanted to personally apologize to you about this morning. I acted like a huge complete jackass and I should not have taken any of my frustration out on you."

"Taken out your frustration on me?" Hanai asked surprised. "From what I remember I was the one who was beating you up." Hanai looked at the smaller boy and added, "And I'm not going to take back my actions this morning. Sometimes words will not get across what you want them to and that's when the fists come in handy."

"To be completely honest with you," Abe added, "I kinda hoped that instead of storming away you would just keep beating me. Everyone knows I deserved it. Still do."

Hanai put his arm around Abe's shoulders. "Ha ha at the time I wanted to keep going but I knew I shouldn't. I was just so pissed off…" the larger boy trailed off.

"Although I think it's a good thing you didn't," Abe picked up the slack in the conversation. The mood between them was cheery and there was no question that Abe still owed the captain and knew it; so what was the hurt in praising the more mature teen with the truth? "That first punch, man I think it gave me a mild concussion. If you were to keep going Shiga-sensei might be scraping me off of his floor right now."

The two boys laughed and joked about ferocity of Hanai's punches, the protein powder's effectiveness, and Hanai's selection for new vice-captain for a few minutes before they parted. It was obvious to Abe; Hanai was a good captain.