Chapter 3: Hinata's and Yui's Story
We left Kanade's and Yuri's apartment about half an hour later. The ball park wasn't too far but it took us about another half an hour. Though I'm not one to complain, I got to hold Kanade's hand the whole way. Just having her back with me, it's so comforting, despite the crazy 95o weather.
We arrived at the ball park fifteen minutes before the game started, but the streets were filled with cars for blocks and people kept coming. The line at the ticket booth had to be extra-long today.
I felt my shoulders slumped when I saw the line, "Great. We're gonna end up fried by the time we get our tickets."
Yuri lifted her baseball cap so her emerald green eyes were visible. She scowled when she realized what I just said was true.
Without a word, Kanade suddenly dragged me across to an old woman about 3 people away from the front of the line.
The woman was taller than Kanade, about Yuri's height with gray hair and looked about sixty-five. She was talking on her phone when we approached.
When she finished, my girl then gently yanked on the woman's sleeve, causing her to look over at us with a written expression of confusion, "May I help you kids?"
"Yes ma'am," Kanade spoke, in a very childlike voice, "My cousins and I were hoping if we could merged into line with you. We got separated from our parents and they've been calling nonstop, dead worried about us and my cousin here," she elbowed my stomach, causing me to double over, "needs to get out of the sun as fast as he can otherwise he's going to collapse."
I sweated a sweatdrop at Tachibana's little lie. And from the looks of it, Yuri is, too. There ain't no way that lady's gonna fall for that, Kanade!
Boy was I wrong.
"Aww, aren't you such a cutie?" she exclaimed, fangirling for some reason, "Of course you may! Come now and squeeze yourselves in!"
"Thank you, ma'am," Yuri smiled.
She just kept telling us how cute Kanade really is. Not that I disagree but it got pretty annoying. I was counting down the seconds until we finally reached the ticket booth.
"Three tickets, please," I said, pulling out my wallet.
The old man behind the window typed something on his register before he said in a very bored voice, "That would be $15."
Yuri and Kanade immediately disagreed that I'm paying for them but I slipped the money through the window before they could continue protesting. The guy returned our tickets before yelling, "NEXT!"
"Alright, first thing we need to do is avoid that old lady so she doesn't keep asking questions," Yuri said when we were safely inside, trying to find our seats.
I scratched my head, "Let's see if we can get a seat as close to field as we can."
Again, Kanade dragged me with Yuri right on my tail. I was really surprised; the field wasn't small at all. Most of the seats were taken and I was surprised that Kanade was able to sniff out four seats dead center and in front. People swarmed everywhere and all different kinds of noises caused me to have a headache.
"Now what?" I asked, as we took sat down, leaving a seat between me and some random dude.
"Now, we wait until the game," Yuri replied, crossing her arms and legs.
Yuri didn't say anything but her mouth formed a small smile.
I suddenly felt a soft tug on my green jacket sleeve and turned to Kanade, her face emotionless again, "Do you not want to take this off? It is really hot today, after all and you might end up with a fever or stroke if you don't."
I smiled at her concern before taking her advice and slipping it off. She held her hands out, confusing me for a bit.
"You want to hold it?" I asked.
She simply nodded without a sound. I hesitantly handed it to her. Kanade hugged it against her body and rested her chin on it.
The sight made me blush a bit. She looked so cute and my jacket seemed like it was very precious to her. She must've noticed me starring at her because she peered up at me with her sun eyes.
"Hey guys, it's time," Yuri exclaimed, causing us to turn to the field.
"Hello all you baseball lovers and welcome to this amazing game between two of the strongest high school teams in all of Tokyo!" The announcer's voice blazed through the air.
The whole stadium erupted in cheers. Geez, these people are really obsessed, aren't they?
"Now, welcome your home team, the Vicious River Dragons! Still standing strong after their tragedy. "
Tragedy?
Players in blue baseball uniforms took the field, waving at the crowd. People continued yelling with joy as their team introduced themselves.
Since we're seated behind them, my eyes searched for the familiar blue hair under the baseball caps.
"There he is!" Kanade pointed as a player with the number sixteen came out. He waved at the crowds but I could barely see the hair.
Doubting, I turned to Kanade, "You do remember what Hinata looks like, right?"
She nodded, "Blue hair and often has his face ripped out of place by Yui."
"And here comes the Clawing Champions from last year, the Ember Tigers!"
As they started their business down on the field Yuri turned to me, "We have to find a way to injure the pitcher from the Ember Tigers so you can step in, Otonashi."
"What? How do you plan to do that?" I blinked. Of course I have to do work here.
"Hand sonic, version 5," we heard Kanade's voice and looked down.
On her hand, the sudden demonous looking weapon appeared. I nearly fell out of my seat due to the shock and plus I forgot how creepy she made the weapon look. How the hell did it get here?
Our leader, however, instead of being shocked like I was, was laughing really hard. She was clutching her stomach and her laughter traveled for miles, causing almost everybody in our section and half the crowd to turn their attention towards us.
Kanade immediately shield her weapon under my jacket. I sighed, so that's why she wanted to hold my jacket. I actually thought she wanted to keep it.
I felt eyes shooting bullets into my head. I glanced sideways towards the field; half hoping we weren't going to get kicked out of the place because somebody saw Kanade's weapon and the fact that Yuri is slowly dying.
The eyes belonged to none other than Hinata.
I turned and faced him head on, half daring him to look away and half daring him to recognize who we were. His eyes lit up when he saw me return his stare and smiled, giving me a thumbs up for some apparent reason.
I don't know if it's a trick from the light or I'm just sitting a little far but I can see the little glint of sadness behind his eyes.
Shouldn't he be more worried about winning the game? Why is he so sad?
"I think I can answer that worry of yours, Otonashi," I turned to Yuri; her eyes were finally focused on the business at hand again.
"Seems like you've recovered," I murmured.
She only nodded once, "I forgot to tell you. When we arrived in Tokyo two weeks ago, there was an incident on the news. Do you remember?"
I searched my brain for the memory. I watch the news almost every night so it's gonna be pretty hard to just remember a single incident that happened two weeks ago.
"Oh right!" I snapped my fingers. "There was some huge car accident! And I think seven people died one person in critical condition!"
"Let me explain what happened," Yuri's voice grew scary serious. "Kanade was the first one to see Hinata and Yui. Yes, we did track them down but she saw them when we were just walking around in the mall. She then stalked them for some time and everything seemed to have been going smoothly with the two. Yui had moved in with Hinata and they two live about three blocks away from here and well, the same as they always were. Arguing but they still stay together no matter what happens.
"That all changed one day. Kanade was doing her usual stalking outside their back porch but she heard more yelling than usual. She heard insults that seemed to have gone a little too far and Yui just left the house and slammed the door. Kanade then saw her jump into a van filled with guys and they drove off. About two hours later, I called for Kanade to come home but right when she was about to leave, she heard Hinata yelling at something. Then the lights shut off and another slam of the door. Luckily, they lived on the first floor of an apartment building so my little cousin was able to chase after Hinata as he ran crazily towards the sight of the accident.
"Turns out the huge accident that you just recalled was between the van Yui was in and a huge semi-truck. All the guys in the car were killed but Yui; she's the one in critical condition."
"What?" the word came out in a hitched breath. I can't believe it! How could Yui be in another medical condition again? I couldn't bare the scene of her sitting in her hospital bed again just watching people enjoying their lives and wishing she could do that one day.
"She can be saved, though," Kanade replied, "She is in a coma at the moment and all she needs is surgery. After that, she will return to normal."
"Then what are they waiting for? Why won't the doctors perform the surgery?" I asked.
Yuri held out on of her hands and rubbed her thumb and her index finger, "Money. Hinata has a part time job but that won't be enough to pay for a surgery that costs 3,000 American dollars. And in addition to all of this, Yui's mom wants the two to break up when everything is over. She had said Hinata is a good for nothing. He doesn't even have enough money to pay for her surgery and had let what happened happen. Hinata's just a wreck at the moment so if he misses a catch or something that would determine the game, I don't think he can cope with anything anymore."
I felt my hands curl around the fabric of my jeans in frustration. Even now, Hinata had to go through so much. My friend, actually nobody, deserves to suffer this! And to top all of this, he has to leave Yui when she recovers. I'm surprised he's able to even smile at a time like this.
"Don't you two have a plan?" I asked. "We can't just leave our friends to suffer like this."
Kanade's small hand rested on mines, "We do. It is taking time, but for now, all you need to do is to get Hinata to remember who he was. Once that is cleared, Yui is our next target."
"Are you two going to rob a bank or something? How are you going to come up with 3,000 American dollars?"
Kanade gave me a small smile, "My father and Yuri's father are surgeons. We have already talked to them and they have agreed to perform the surgery. We have not confronted Hinata about it yet because it would be weird just having to strange girls telling you their fathers are willing to perform surgery without a cost."
I sighed. These two, always a step ahead in all their games. No wonder, they're both so important in my life. Yuri's become like an older sister to me now and the go to girl when I need some information. Though she's still kinda lacking the feminine side.
"Hey look, the Tigers are gonna pitch first," Yuri sat up. "Kanade, get ready to do your magic."
"Huh?" I looked down at Angel. She had her weapon at ready and a small pebble pulled back under my jacket.
The pitcher adjusted his hat and glanced at his first base man. He then prepared himself for the pitch.
"Right when he pitches the ball, shoot and hit his wrist," Yuri whispered into her cousin's ear. "Otonashi, hug her so nobody can see and she can then get a better angle."
"Sure," I, embarrassed, threw my arms around her small shoulders as she pulled back on her sling shot.
Just as the pitcher's pitching hand moved in the process of a throw, Kanade Tachibana shot a bullseye.