"Yotsuha!"
No response.
"Yotsuha!"
And the silence persisted
"YOTSUHA! GET UP!"
Third time wasn't the charm, and Mitsuha stormed up the stairs after a trifecta of failed attempts to get her sister out of bed. It'd been a while since she'd lived in her former home, and not much was different. She was never the one responsible for getting Yotsuha out of bed for school; that responsibility lied with their grandmother Hitoha.
However, that just wasn't the case anymore.
Throwing open Yotsuha's sliding door brought back some memories of living in Itomori. The role reversal triggered some nostalgia. In many years prior, it was Yotsuha getting Mitsuha out of her room and at the table for breakfast. The tables turn, and the amount of time that had passed since made Mitsuha think a little bit. But the situation at hand still need addressing. Yotsuha hadn't budged an inch since her sister had called for her. It didn't look like she had any intention of getting up any time soon.
"YOTSUHA! DO YOU KNOW WHAT TIME IT IS?"
"Alright, alriiight, I'll get up…"
She wasn't fully awake, but she was willing to do pretty much anything to get Mitsuha to stop nagging at her. To some degree, Mitsuha's nagging could've been a bit much. Even going back to the night at Taki's apartment. Still, Yotsuha had to be just a little bit thankful for her older sister being here. Not only would she have been pretty lonely, but she would've been almost guaranteed late for school.
"You barely have enough time for breakfast! Get ready and come eat!"
The way Mitsuha left the room, it definitely wasn't out of anger. No hostile inflection like that of an abusive parent. It was…more annoyed. And irritated. Much like a parent. Normally, Yotsuha would just brush it off and ignore it. But she realized that Mitsuha was almost all she had left as far as her family went. Best not make the current situation harder.
Mitsuha returned to their dining area, where Taki was enjoying his morning coffee. She sat down right next him, on the same side of the chabudai, and began reaching for the rice in its steamer.
"Is there anything I can do to help?"
"Ehh, not really. We just have to wait for a certain someone."
Taki took a second to think about what was going on. It's been 3 days since they've taken temporary establishment in the Miyamizu household, and everything was different. Like, no sh*t, right, of course it was different. But Taki was expecting this monumentally exhilarating, or equally disappointing, experience. Really, he got none of that. It was different in the sense of scenery and location. As far as the life changes went, he didn't really feel any. And he'd have been a liar to say he wasn't a little disappointed.
The Miyamizu house was rather nice, actually. Not a mansion, by any means, but a very nice, spacy, comfortable house in a good part of town. Not to say that Taki lived in a bad neighborhood, but certainly the two areas were on different rungs of the social ladder. In fact, it was the kind that Taki would choose to raise his and Mitsuha's family in some day. Perhaps it was the Miyamizu patriarch that was funding this abode. It was, after all, fair to assume he'd found some position somewhere in the local government. He'd made such a big deal to Mitsuha about moving into a new home somewhere, and perhaps he was just disillusioned by the impression of 'more is better'. As far as their daily routine was concerned, everything was the same. They got up, ate breakfast, went to work, and came home. Speaking of which, the commute if anything was a little tougher. Maybe just out of the principal of being different, though. And he'd also have been a liar to say he didn't miss their little apartment. He could tell Mitsuha certainly did. Just by her facial expressions when they get up out of bed. Sentiments aside, too, he missed his own bed. And a space that felt like his own. Now I understand where you're coming from, sweetie…
"Mitsuha…"
"Yes, darling…"
"Is this…how you want our lives to look like in the future?"
Mitsuha was in the middle of bowling the rice for breakfast, and his question hit her hard enough to stop her from what she was doing. So she solemnly put down the bowl, and wrapped her arms around Taki's, leaning against him.
"It's…it's hard to say. The reason I love your apartment so much is because…because…"
"Because it's our place. Not an apartment, not just some place to live. But it's a place we can call ours. Our private space…"
"Right…I mean, I get it. People move all the time, and they have to get used to different places all the time…everyone has to at some point…"
Mitsuha had trouble thinking of what to say next, and Taki certainly didn't have anything of his own to add. The sentiment between them was clear, so best not try to confuse it with words that don't mean anything.
"But that doesn't change the fact that we're here for a reason. Can I confess something to you?"
"Sure."
"I've…never been able to really swallow the fact that…I basically took you away from your family."
"Taki, we've been through thi-"
"You never seem to understand, though." Taki had so much more had wanted to say, but given the current situation, it probably wasn't the best time for it. Mitsuha will always be a little vulnerable, and in a time like this, she was most likely much more so. He didn't like the idea of Mitsuha abandoning her family to live with him, but he hated making her cry even more.
Mitsuha by no means was fragile, but she possessed a lot of sensitive points that only someone like Taki would know. It wouldn't have been fair to him to start accusing her of something that was ultimately his own doing.
"Look. We can talk about our future soon. But let's worry about right now. There's someone who needs us. Well. Maybe not 'need' need. But we should do what we can to keep her upright. Y'know, I shouldn't have even said anything…"
"N-, don't, Taki. Don't be like that. Y'know, it actually still bothers me that you're not comfortable speaking your mind when it's just us. You still withhold a lot of thoughts that you know bother you. Yet, for whatever reason, you don't think you need to talk about it. Can we change that?"
"Mitsuha, I do open up to y-"
"But you never seem confident, and you're always hesitant."
"I could easily say the same about you. Look. This talk is going nowhere, we've changed subjects at least three times now. There'll be a time and place where we can let everything out. Let's plan on it. When we go back home, let's promise to unload everything on our minds. Does that sound good?"
"It…it does…"
It put their relationship into a little bit of perspective. There were times where they could claim to be the world's ultimate lovers, that there were no two people on the planet who loved each other more than them. Yet, this barrier of communication still existed. Miniscule or not, it only represented a major flaw in their bond.
Taki wrapped his arm around Mitsuha and pecked her with a kiss, wanting her to relax. "Hey. We still haven't eaten breakfast yet."
"Speaking of whi-…YOTSUHA!"
"I'm here, I'm here!"
Unbeknownst to Taki and Mitsuha, the younger Miyamizu caught the latter part of their conversation. And her mood and feistiness changed drastically. Without them, she'd be all by herself. Never mind the fact that she's too young to live by herself, it's lonely for anyone regardless of their age to be by themselves. She felt slightly more grateful that they chose to be with her in this strange time in their lives.
At the table, she had a lot on her mind. A lot that she felt like needed to be shared. Anyone who knew Yotsuha knew she wasn't that great with words. As quiet as Mitsuha was, Yotsuha could almost be considered even more of an introvert. And she knew this. Often times, she'd try to compensate by acting like a brat, for the sake of attention. Or diversion of attention, rather. She herself didn't even really know why she acts the way she does sometimes. So as such, her intention of sharing her gratitude for Taki and Mitsuha's presence went away. Perhaps she didn't want to come off as sappy or anything. Even though Mitsuha would be happy to hear what Yotsuha would be thinking about at any given moment. But again, it just wasn't in her character to speak her mind. The toast at the beach was an impossibly rare outlier.
So for breakfast, the mood and atmosphere was a bit awkward. It was clear as day that the two sisters had stuff on their minds they would've like to share. But just couldn't find the courage to speak up. Perhaps being away from each other for as long as they were created a slight communicational rift.
Oh c'mon it was barely two months.
And as sociable and conversational as Taki was, even he felt like it would've been weird to throw just anything out there. Perhaps he could ask Yotsuha what she's learning in school, or what they have planned for the day. Or maybe her love or social life. That's a terrible idea! But if there was anything that was common among the three of them, it was the confusion as to why this tension was here in the first place. All of them care so much about each other, and up to this moment couldn't be more comfortable with each other at al. So why is it so hard for them to get words out of each other?
Eh. Death in the family is really serious. And spending friendly time together is completely different from living together. So this slight discomfort shouldn't come as a surprise to any of them. It's just a difficult time to be in.
"So how's school? What are you guys learning?"
Eh. What the heck.
"Oh, it's, uhhh, going well. I guess. I think my favorite subject right now is probably economics."
"Oh, that's cool. Ha, I've always found it kind of funny how neither of you are too interested in political science."
The sharp silence all but told Taki that was the wrong thing to say. The question, of course, stemmed from their dad, and he always knew that they had a pretty non-traditional relationship with their dad. But the new mood let him know that they almost straight up didn't like him. It made sense, too. To this day, he's never met him in his own body; he'd only met him through Mitsuha's eyes. All be told, he was clearly never around. So not much for them to really care about in that department.
"I'm sorry…that was not a smart thing to say…"
"Oh! No worries, Taki. But yeah, the idea of how money works is pretty interesting. I think I'm gonna make a career out of it."
"That's awesome, Yotsuha. Just like your big sister."
Yotsuha's tardiness didn't afford them much time to eat, so the remainder of the time at the table was spent wolfing down whatever breakfast they could before they had to head to work.
"Alright, gotta go."
"Okay. Bye, sweetie."
Taki and Mitsuha pecked each other on the lips, and the masculine half of the pair darted out the door, but not before running over and wrapping Yotsuha in a one-armed hug and bidding her a goodbye, too. And Yotsuha couldn't help but feel like she just watched 10 seconds of a sitcom. Before long, Mitsuha herself had to start her commute as well. Before she did, she also gave her sister a big hug and a bye.
As hard as her personality tried to deny it, and as cheesy as she knew it was, Yotsuha couldn't help but feel tremendously better having someone to say bye to before going to school. For something that's usually taken for granted, it did wonders for her and her mental state. Going to school was that much easier.
(line break)
Before they knew it, the weekend came around. This is new for Taki and Mitsuha. They weren't used to having to find somehow or someway to include someone else in their plans. Every other instance was out of chance and circumstance. But perhaps this more than anything was a good opportunity to strengthen the rapport between each other.
"Guys! Can we go to Akiba today?"
Akihabara. That might've been the absolute last place either of them expected Yotsuha to request. But then again, what did they know about Yotsuha?
"Akiba? I didn't know you were into that kinda stuff."
"Well…y'see…I'm…not really going for myself…I mean I do like anime quite a bit…but…"
Teenage girl. Blush. Not going for herself. It added up too conveniently. The next thing Yotsuha saw when she looked up were her sister and future brother-in-law pounce over for the juicy details.
"Wait, Yotsuha…could it be that you're getting something for a…BOOOYYY?"
"Guys, I'm 18, not 13! What the frick is wrong with you guys?"
"Oh, Yotsuha smitten for the first time!"
"It's not the first time, what are you talking about?!"
"I can't wait to meet him, and tell him all of the embarrassing stories about you!"
"You'll never meet him at this rate!"
As the sisters were playfully arguing, Taki looked back on his love life. He never had one. All he's ever had and known was Mitsuha. He never had the struggle of pursing someone who didn't return his feelings. He's never had to deal being rejected, and moving on from that person. Okudera doesn't really count; there wasn't enough chemistry between them to think anything was serious. And as far as he knew, neither did Mitsuha. He savored the fortune for a second, appreciating that Mitsuha practically fell into his lap. Well, to his credit, what he and Mitsuha went through was arguably much worse than what people normally go through. So maybe he'll get to really see the high school romcom he never got to really experience.
"Well, I know a thing or two about what guys like when it comes to anime. We could seriously help you, Yotsuha."
(line break)
It didn't take a genius to see that Yotsuha was completely out of her territory. So was Mitsuha, but at least she didn't look outright uncomfortable. The safest bet was to assume Yotsuha was terrified of seeing someone from school here, giving them the wrong idea. Or better yet, the person who she was here for. She had a point, though. If there was anything she learned from the few slice-of-life shows she watched, it was that unfortunate shenanigans could occur with little to no warning. The kind that would inevitably embarrass her and lead to rumors and whatnot at school. That's just how kids are.
'Tread wearily and lay low' was the strategy. But ironically, it almost brought more attention to herself than if she were to just walk through normally. Yotsuha refused to make eye contact with anyone, and almost stared at the ground the whole time through. At some point, she almost wondered what she was even here for, and walked through the shopping district pretty much aimlessly. And she so on edge that Taki and Mitsuha were worried that she'd just freak out if they said a word to her.
But at this rate, they'd pass through all of Akihabara without even stopping somewhere. The elder Miyamizu took matters into her own hands, and pulled her sister over. "What're you so worked up over?"
"Look, this is…uncharted territory for me…I don't belong here at all…"
"So why are we here?"
"Because, well…"
"It was your idea to come here, after all."
"I know…I feel kinda bad now that I've dragged you all the way out here…"
Taki interjected, having a little bit of perspective on where she was coming from. He too remembered being conflicted between who he was and who he wanted to be. What Yotsuha wanted to be was a cool girl. The one that seemed invincible, whose confidence struck either admiration or fear into their peers. But deep down, she was just like Mitsuha. Quiet and reserved, and slightly out of touch with popular culture. There was no way in the world she was going to be able to identify what to get for this individual. And perhaps it was a little bit of his fault too. He didn't even hesitate to approve a trip to Akiba, without considering his travel party, and the implications around it.
"Hey, I never mind coming out here. This is kid-in-a-candy-store territory for me. But I do wanna ask why you think getting something here would…you know…"
"Okay, look, I…plan on confessing to him pretty soon. And I thought, y'know, instead of a cliché box of chocolates…why not get creative and…get him something from here?"
"Oh, Yotsuha, that's so thoughtful! That's so outside the box, I'm really impressed!"
"Yeah…"
"Do you even know what kind of shows he watches? Or what kind of merchandise he likes?"
"I thought I did…but now that we're out here, I'm…kinda drawing a blank…"
"Say no more, Yotsuha. I, your otaku yet dashingly handsome tour guide Taki, will be your willing life line on your search for the Holy Grail! Let us embark!"
He said that so loud that just about everyone around them turned and looked, with the two Miyamizus wanting nothing more than to die right where they stood. But, it's Taki. Based on his physical stature, no one would ever peg him as some NEET otaku.
For the rest of the day, the threesome traversed the shopping district, browsing wares and merchandise. It didn't take long to find the heart-sealing gift for Yotsuha's love interest, and Taki couldn't help but feel himself at how expertly quick he found it. But something felt weird though. It almost seemed too convenient that he knew exactly what to get. Almost like he was getting this gift for someone he…already knew?
Anyway, the rest of their time after that was all theirs. The trio learned more and more about their mutual interests, augmenting the experience of finding merchandise for all their favorite shows within these fountains of otaku goods. Spending a little more money than they probably needed to, they departed Akihabara with bags upon bags of almost everything ranging from scale figures, Gunpla kits, charms, and wall scrolls. Oh, and Blu-ray sets of their favorite shows.
And before they could even stop to reflect on their day together, Taki's phone buzzed, signifying a text message. The lock screen revealed that it was a message sent from their group chat, which Mitsuha also received.
"'Look to your left', what?"
So the group rotated to their left to be encountered by the Holy Trinity of hijinks. Shinta, Tsukasa, and Okudera. To be fair, only one of them was a real cause for concern if there needed to be one. The other two were pretty tame.
"Why are you guys here?"
"We could ask you the same question, guy."
Taki would've much rather be seen by his friends in a different place than an anime shopping district. But it was nice to see them rather unexpectedly. In some way, he could argue that surprises are a little better than plans. Well, only the pleasant ones.
"Hey, it's Miyamizu Double Trouble! Good to see you guys, I feel like it's been so long!"
Mitsuha chuckled at how cute Shinta's little nickname for her and her sister was. "Hi, Takagi-san!"
Yotsuha offered a significantly different reaction, though. She…
Oh my god, Yotsuha, it's this guy?
Taki turned, also needing a second to piece what was happening together. But he too did not take long to realize the brunt of the situation. "Yotsuha, what's wro-", his statement being followed by a big gasp.
Hand over her mouth, blushing, horrified of eye contact with Shinta, there it was. The maiden has been exposed, Yotsuha is indeed smitten with Shinta. Taki and Mitsuha looked at each other, while the opposite trio had no idea what was going on. Actually, maybe Okudera could pick up on the body language, who knows?
But all in all, it made sense. Sort of. The only interaction Taki and Mitsuha had witnessed between his co-best friend and her younger sister was the fateful night. The drunk travesty and the beach day. The night that all but sealed their unbreakable friendship. With a bit of evaluation and reminiscence of what transpired during those hours, it became less of a surprise that Yotsuha had developed some sort of attraction to Shinta. Shinta by no means was a bad looking dude. He had some stock and muscle on him, he was kind and funny, and if there was one thing Yotsuha loved a lot, it was laughing. Probably because she didn't do enough of it.
Taki noticed one free hand behind Yotsuha's back, so he pulled a fast one and shuffled over to her, hanging the bag where her gift, now revealed to be for Shinta, was contained on her fingers. Before Yotsuha could react, Mitsuha expertly diagnosed Taki's tactics and assisted him. "Guys, let's go check out if they have any wedding stuff in that store over there."
Okay, 'expertly' wasn't quite the right word. Mentally face-palming, Taki couldn't believe how badly Mitsuha almost botched the entire scene. 'Wedding stuff', are you kidding me, Mitsuha? He was inadvertently reminded that she and he and done next to nothing to plan their wedding, took a mental bookmark to do so, and went along with Mitsuha's 'distraction', gesturing Tsukasa and Okudera away from where they were.
When they were at a safe distance, Okudera pointed over at them, pretty much deciphering what was going on. "Are they…?"
"Well, are far as we know, it's one sided."
"Well, we can confirm that it's mutual."
Taki and Mitsuha's faces lit up with joy. "REALLY?!"
"Yeah, the big guy's had a pretty hefty crush on her since beach day. I guess he was just uncomfortable with the age difference. But from what it sounds like, she doesn't seem to mind at all. What is it, 4 years?"
"That's honestly not even bad, either."
"Hey. Do you wanna do some role playing?"
"You guys are messed up!"
"Okay. I'll be Shinta. You be Yotsuha."
"'kay. 'Here are the secret codes for the nuclear bomb, do not mess this up!'"
"Wow this looks so cool! Must be pretty dangerous to have this! Hey what does this button do?'"
"'IT WON'T…do anything until it's reached the designated time window…'"
"'I wonder if I play around with it, it'll actually cause this HUGE explosion!'"
"'You…ugh, why do I find this funny, I'm the general, I shouldn't laugh at anything, hahahahaha!'"
But the mood of their little improv skit shifted quickly; Yotsuha and Shinta fell into a tight, passionate hug. "But whatever you do, stay safe. It's a dangerous industry we work in."
"You ain't never losin' me, boss!"
Mitsuha and Okudera had to genuinely clap at how nicely they wrapped up improv hour. Such a short, and stupid story, but the ending synced with the mood of the real situation almost perfectly. The foursome 'aww'd in unison, just in time for Yotsuha to catch them out of the corner of her eye. And be very not happy about it.
"What're you guys looking at?!"
"Just pretend we're not here!"
"You know what? We don't even have to pretend! C'mon, Shinta, let's go somewhere else."
Shinta could only look back and quickly wave goodbye before being swept away by his new lover. And just like that it came down to Taki and Mitsuha, and Tsukasa and Okudera.
"Man. Talk about a bad case of 'pair the leftovers'."
The rest of the group didn't react very kindly to that, clamoring at him in disgust with dude's and seriously's. "Hey guys, c'mon, I was just kidding. Honestly it's really nice that they're together."
"Yeah. I think it was inevitable, though. I mean, dare I say it, but you were right, Tsukasa. They were kinda the odd ones out in our little circle, so I guess it was only natural that they end up a little closer to each other."
"Huh. I never thought I'd ever see the day where my own little sister is in my circle of friends."
"What, Yotsuha's pretty chill. I don't think it's weird at all."
"No, I'm not saying it's weird, it's just…I dunno, I've always seen her in a different light."
"You're siblings. That's pretty much a given."
"Yeah…"
(line break)
Dinner followed by coffee and desserts was content for the group. Their evening supper was spent at a revolving sushi bar, and the original hangout café served as their spot for pastries and house roast. And a discussion that Okudera had been saving for a time where they could be together, but alone and in a quiet setting.
"Do you guys remember when…you had just told us you were getting married?"
"The night before the beach day?"
"I like how that's how you remember it, instead of by what happened…any way, we were joking around about having a group wedding, remember?"
"Uhhh, not really, but okay."
"I…kinda wanna do it."
The rest of the group looked at her in…maybe not bewilderment. But definitely a little bit of confusion and disbelief.
"So you wanna get married with all of us?"
"Hey, I think it'd be really cool. We're all pretty tight knit. I think it gets rid of the trouble of having to plan around each other's weddings. And we all get to spend our big day with each other! Isn't that what we'd do anyway?"
The argument held a lot of merit. Primarily the point of saving time for convenience's sake. But. The whole point of a wedding is to celebrate the joining of two people, not six. At least in their case. Not to say that they wouldn't want to be with the others during their wedding. But for Taki and Mitsuha, part of the felt like the wedding would be less special. In the least selfish way possible, they weren't very receptive to the idea. At least at first. They cared about their friends, certainly. But at what point would they lose their individuality as a couple? In reality, it's not even really about Taki and Mitsuha anymore. And what's the point of that? Of course, they'd never know what Okudera meant by that. It was possible she had an entirely different sentiment to the whole thing. Perhaps that was a discussion for another day.
"At least give it a thought. I think it's a cool idea."
From there on out, the topic of conversation shifted from work, hobbies, current events, and whatnot. Some time went by. But not that much. By the time they were ready to leave the café, it was only about 20:00.
"You guys still down to do stuff?" to which the opposite couple nodded in concurrence.
"How 'bout movie night at my place?" Mitsuha figured that with a bigger floor space, they finally had an accommodating space for a large group. Not to say she minded being packed in tight on Taki's apartment floor, but maybe the rest of the group did. But what it all came down to was just simply 'why not?' It's not like they had anything else to do in particular.
Maybe it was the previous topic, and nobody quite knew how to react, but the walk to the Miyamizu residence was awfully quiet. Beyond just lack of words, it was almost uncomfortably quiet. And the weird part was that everyone in the group could feel it too, and each of the foursome tried to find something to say to break up this silence. Yet, something was stopping them. What did anyone have to hide from each other?
"Do, uhh, you guys have any movies in particular you wanna watch?"
"Actually, Mitsuha and I just watched this funny American rom-com, a-"
"Okay, we're not watching 'I Love You, Man' again."
"Oh, come on, really? You didn't think it was funny?"
"Well, I did, but are we really gonna watch it with another engaged couple, I just think it'd be weird."
"What's it about?"
"Ugh, it's about this guy who doesn't have friends, so he needs to find a best man for his wedding."
"That actually sounds like it can be pretty funny. I vote to watch that."
"Eh. I guess I don't really object either."
But upon entering Mitsuha's house, two figures that no one could immediately identify occupied the main living area. As if it could've been anyone else, Yotsuha and Shinta looked to be setting up a mildly elaborate board game.
"The beacon was sent, and the challengers have arrived!"
"What're you talking about, dude?"
"He convinced me to play Settlers, go figure."
Settlers of Catan served to be an extremely trying test of the male trio's friendship back in the day. A lot of frustration and anger birthed from this colonization simulator; pieces were thrown and very bad words were shouted every time they played. But alas, a lot of good memories came out of it, too.
"Shinta, you always sucked at this game, I doubt anything has changed!" Tsukasa proudly accepted the challenge, to which his fiancée just shook her head.
"What, what, how do you play this?"
Taki barely spotted sake and other distilled beverages already on the table. It seems like Shinta and Yotsuha had anticipated the group's return. Yeah, that's great. Settlers. Alcohol. 6 people. What could possibly go wrong?
Here we go again…
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A/N: Hey guys, hope you liked this chapter. Now again, a long gap between chapters, but honestly more than just 'not having time'. If anyone who's read from the beginning read any of my previous author's notes, you'll know that I play baseball. Well. As of recently, played baseball. With baseball season coming around, I had to take some time to prepare for tryouts. Tryouts for my school's team were last month. And I got cut. Just like that, my baseball career was over. I mean, it's not like I was trying to play MLB or anything, but I'd been playing since I was 7. I'm 17 now. One of the biggest parts of my life for 10 years, and it was gone just like that. I can't really put into words how important the sport was to me, but it was rough. I didn't take it very well. I loved baseball, still love it even now. So I fell into a bit of a depression. Naturally, when you put so much effort into something and it doesn't work out, you get a little upset. I couldn't find the motivation to do anything. Went straight home after school every day. Didn't step out of the house, talk to my friends, or interact with anyone other than my family, for that matter. Didn't do that hot in class for a little bit, either. I mean, quite honestly, I was depressed. Thankfully, my family saved me a quick trip to the therapist (I don't mean to make this sound extreme, but baseball was the single most enjoyable part of my life) and got me to focus on the other things that made me happy. Which, wouldn't you know it, includes anime. And anime movies. Like 'Your Name'. And this story. When I came back to this story, and really took time to sit down and reread what I've written…a lot of it I wasn't proud of. To be honest, I wish I could just rewrite the first 4 or so chapters of the story. But maybe it was the early parts of the story that make me really proud of what it's become. I'm so proud of the audience it's developed, I'm so proud of the loyalty, and the following. I saw myself grow as a writer, just by rereading the story. And for a short second, just for a little tiny second, it made me forget about baseball. I mean, it came back and hit me again eventually, but just the satisfaction from writing the story, among a lot of other things, made me realize there's so much to accomplish outside of sports. I'm thankful that I didn't have to look very far to find motivation. So, with that being said, this chapter, I gotta be honest, I don't think is very good. And I'm not sure how it'll be received from here on out. But for sake the following and my own sanity, it isn't going anywhere. The story will go on. That, I can say for certain.
So 100 favorites and follows. That is what brought me back. That is the milestone that made me believe that I'm so much more than a failed baseball player. It's your guys' readership that proved to me something that thought would never happen, ever. So for the umpteenth time, thank you all for the readership and the feedback and all that. They're what makes the story possible.
That's it from me. I don't mean to mix my personal life too much into this, but I feel like you guys deserve an explanation for why there was such a gap between chapters. See whoever in the next one. Cheers.