Chapter 12: Retired Baseball Idiots and older brothers
"U-Uhm… Eijun…? What the hell is this? What are we doing here?!" Sora stammered helplessly, looking at the eight third year students standing right in front of her.
"Hm? I'm gonna introduce ya, of course. That's obvious, right? Since you told me you've never met one of our senpais before", Sawamura exclaimed proudly, puffing out his chest and grinning widely. "Please meet our new transfer student, second year, Aoki Sora. Currently playing infield, but soon to be pitcher of our Seidou first string team!"
The blue haired girl bowed reflexively and lowered her head deeply in front of the soon to be graduates who already had retired from the baseball team and also had left the dorm rooms to prepare for getting into college. However, she still slapped Sawamura's back of his head when standing up straight again.
"Ow! Oi, Sora! What was that for?" he whined rubbing the spot where he got hit.
"Please tell me that you didn't pester our third years to assemble in the middle of the hallway only to tell them who I am!"
"Eh…"
The young girl facepalmed.
"Eijun!"
"What?!"
"Good grief, whenever I'm with you I always have the urge to apologize to people on your behalf. Gimme a break, would ya?!"
The upperclassmen started to laugh at the little banter and Sora's attitude of scolding the brown haired pitcher.
"No need to apologize and no need to be so overly formal. We are already used to Sawamura's stupidity after all", Kominato Ryousuke, Haruichi's older brother said with a friendly smile on his innocent face.
"Onii-san!" the young southpaw protested instantly and Sora groaned.
"So, you're calling Haru's brother Onii-san and my brother Aniki? Really?!"
"Well, I do have to make a difference, right? Otherwise it'd be confusing…"
"Eijun, your brainlessness is lethal"
"Oi!"
Isashiki and Masuko broke out in loud laughter.
"You're great, I like you!" the loud-mouthed former center fielder almost shouted and pointed at Sora.
"Uhm… thank you, senpai…"
"At least he's way more well-behaved than another certain pitcher we all know…" Tanba, the last ace of the team stated, giving Sawamura a pointed look.
Yuuki Tetsuya and Sakai Ichiro nodded in silent agreement, making the young southpaw protest even more and Miyauchi, one of the former catchers just breathed out heavily through his nose.
"You need to bulk up a little. You're too thin, are you eating properly?" he asked the blue haired girl, causing her to blink a little confused. "I'll give you some of my protein powder. It's good to train your muscles!"
"H-Huh?! Ah, right! Thanks…"
Her bewilderment grew with every second. What was up with these people? Were all Seidou baseball members weird? Also the former ones?
"Oh! I have a very good idea, Chris-senpai!" Sawamura suddenly exclaimed with total conviction. "You should let Sora massage you! He's great at it. He also helps the Cap with his recovery, so maybe you would heal faster if you asked him too"
Takigawa sweat dropped and Sora deadpanned.
"Dear Gods in heaven…!"
The hazel eyes of the young brown haired pitcher were still sparkling like he just had been stricken by the idea of the century. Sora felt like dying from humiliation.
"Didn't you tell me that your mentor is doing physiotherapy for quite a while now and that he's visiting a very good clinic for it and that he is also being supported by his father? I mean, I should feel flattered that you actually think I could do something so miraculous that all those experts can't, but since I know better, I'm just hoping that your stupidity isn't contagious. We do spend a lot of time together after all…"
This time even the composed elder catcher chuckled, but he still looked at Sawamura somehow affectionately. Almost like an older brother. It reminded the young girl of how Ten used to look at her.
"I'm sorry, Takigawa-senpai. Please don't mind him!" Sora apologized for Sawamura, but got a kind smile as a response.
"It's Chris. Everybody calls me just Chris, so that's fine. And there's no need to apologize, really. I was coping with this almost every day until very recently"
"Yeah, I certainly know what you mean, Chris-senpai" the blue haired girl gave back matter-of-factly.
"I can see why you're givin' that Miyuki bastard a hard time", Isashiki suddenly chimed in with a mischievous grin on his face. "Serves him right!"
"Eh?!"
Sora tilted her head questioningly.
"Excuse me?!"
Giving Miyuki a hard time? Wasn't it the other way round?
Yuuki Tetsuya, the former captain of the baseball team nodded again, crossing his arms over his chest.
"We heard most of what has happened. Only because we left the team, doesn't mean we're not well informed about everything that's going on"
"You could actually be the first one meaning trouble for Miyuki and Kuramochi", Kominato added with his menacing smile.
"I beg to differ!" the blue haired girl disagreed strongly.
"Don't worry, Aoki-chan. We're praising you! It's rare for someone to keep those two in check" Masuko Tooru, Kuramochi's and Sawamura's former roommate tried to reassure her, but without success.
"Ah, you can all call me Sora, by the way…", she offered and then shook her head because that certainly wasn't the point right now. "And just for the record, Kaz and Mochi are the ones giving me a royal pain in the ass! I'm only trying to survive this without losing my human sanity"
There suddenly was a stunned silence between the Seidou students.
"Kaz and Mochi?!" Tanba repeated like something could be wrong with his ears.
"You guys have to be pretty close then", Sakai Ichirou simply commented and Sora snorted, trying to hide her blush.
"Wouldn't put it that way…"
"Hmm… Are you pouting?" Kominato teased.
"Wha-? No!"
The pink haired boy chuckled and Sora couldn't believe that the older Kominato was such a malicious person when his little brother was such a precious and cute boy. The demon and the angel… Well, it kinda made sense since there had to be a balance between things somewhere.
"And you are calling Haruichi by a nickname as well. Seems like you got accustomed to the whole team pretty fast. That's good"
Miyauchi breathed out audibly again which sounded like an affirmation this time, almost like humming in agreement.
"You've been through a lot, but what doesn't kill you just makes you stronger. Keep fighting and show the team and the coach what you can do as a pitcher!"
Sora froze and her cerulean eyes widened in shock.
"Eijun…"
The low and icily threatening tone of her voice made Sawamura break out in cold sweat and he backed off a few steps, gasping in fear for his very life. Even his knees began trembling.
"Exactly how much did you tell our upperclassmen about me if I may ask?!"
"W-W-Wha-? N-No! No, no, no! It's not like that… I-I promise… I swear! I d-didn't… Well, a little bit, but only the good things. L-Like about baseball, not the u-uhm… other stuff!"
"My completely messed up past and my creepy freak abilities you mean?"
"I didn't say that!"
"Whew! Didn't think you'd have it in ya! Your killing glance is kinda scary to be honest", Isashiki praised.
"He's small, but he's got guts! Not half-bad!" Miyauchi agreed with him.
"Sora", Takigawa interrupted calmly, having some pity for the young southpaw. "It's not like Sawamura was ratting you out or something like that. We just still talk a lot to the other team members and we also give advice whenever it's needed, so we happen to hear a lot of different stories and fragments from various people. You understand?"
The cold glare in her azure eyes and the threatening aura disappeared and she blushed a little embarrassedly. Sawamura exhaled in great relief that his life was spared.
"Yeah, I understand… It's just… I don't like too many people knowing about… too many things from my past and my personal life. I don't want pity. I don't want to justify myself or explain myself to others… I just want to play baseball"
"Trust your team", Yuuki said strongly and the other third years nodded.
"I will try to keep that in mind…"
"And if you ever need anything, also don't hesitate to come to us upperclassmen. Even though we already retired, we're still there for our teammates", Takigawa added with his kindhearted smile and Sora just had to smile back at the calm and collected catcher.
"Thank you very much!"
"Sora, we gotta go. Lunch break's almost over!", the southpaw pitcher reminded her and waved his goodbyes to the third years.
"Ah, right! It was very nice meeting you all! And if some of you really might want to have a massage, please come find me anytime"
"Careful, Ikemen-boy! I'm takin' you at your word, ya know!" Isashiki threatened playfully and the blue haired girl sweat dropped once again.
Ikemen-boy?!
"Yes, gladly Isashiki-senpai!"
She smiled genuinely at the third years before turning around and following Sawamura down the corridor, leaving behind an astonished Isashiki Jun and his fellow upperclassmen. The center fielder had a heavy blush on his face.
"T-That's actually the first time a kouhai gave me such a polite and obeying answer…!"
"Feels good, huh? Did you fall for him?" Kominato teased, causing Isashiki's blush to deepen. "That could certainly mean trouble for you if you're still planning on getting a massage…"
"Shut up!"
The others began to laugh at their completely flustered friend, but the third years all knew that they had just met someone very special.
In the evening the whole team was practicing since early afternoon and Sora was drenched in sweat. She was teaming up with Kuramochi and Kominato for fielding practice and Ono Hiroshi was acting as their practice catcher. The coach Kataoka himself was batting and supervising the practice making it an even greater challenge. Meanwhile Takashima, some of the female managers of the team and Miyuki were sitting in the dugout, watching the other teammates struggle to survive. Coach Ochiai was taking over the second-string practice as always, supervised by Oota.
Also her two partners were already panting heavily. The blue haired girl was leaning over on her knees, but never lost her focus. Her cerulean eyes glistened with determination and fighting spirit. The coach had been hitting very difficult balls on purpose to challenge the trio and they were more than eager to prove him that they could do it as a team. Sora eyed the current simulation with three runners on the bases skeptically.
"Mochi…" she hissed during a short interval and the shortstop shot her only a quick glance from the corner of his eye to stay concentrated enough on their head coach. "When I catch the next ball, don't make eye contact. Just open your mitt. Look at where you want to throw next, leave the rest to me. We're gonna throw all three out!"
"Huh?!"
"Pinpointing your pitch to save time?" Kominato asked and Sora flashed him a smile.
"Even at your back if need be… But only in case you trust me enough. When you see me catch, start running and focus on the next two steps ahead"
The pink haired nodded and the shortstop beside him grinned maliciously.
"Hyaha! Interesting enough! So, no wasting focus on catching. Understood!"
"Mhh… Sora's plotting something…" Miyuki mused, earning a raised eyebrow from Takashima.
"I can see it in his eyes. Watch closely, Rei-chan, we're gonna see something interesting during their next play"
And as if he had called it, the next ball came flying towards the blue head. Sora sprinted, jumped and caught while Kuramochi and Kominato were already thinking ahead and positioning themselves to throw all three runners out in one go. The captain and the female scout of the team exchanged confused glances.
"What are they thinking? It won't work out like that…" Takashima said, looking at Miyuki for an explanation, but the young catcher only shrugged.
"Haven't seen a formation like that before either…"
After having caught the ball, Sora turned in midair and let out a sharp and short whistle. Without looking at her, Kuramochi only held up his mitt while already focusing on Kominato. The pink haired boy nodded at his partner as the blue haired girl shot the ball right into the shortstop's glove. Kuramochi reacted only a split second later, throwing it directly at Kominato and so it went on.
"Back home! Back home!" Someone yelled eagerly and surprised and unbelieving cheering could be heard from the dugout and the sidelines.
As the ball landed back in Ono's mitt, silence settled down over the whole field for a few moments. It had been a really close call.
"Out!" the confirmation came promptly and clearly.
Sora jumped into Kuramochi's arms and also flung one of her own arms around Kominato's neck to pull him close. The green haired shortstop cried out his hyena laughter and ruffled both of his partner's hair while the pink haired boy blushed and smiled happily.
"Amazing, you guys. Great job!"
"Right back at you, Sora-kun"
"Hyaha! True! That was some hell of an awesome throw!"
Also some of their other teammates like Toujou, Kanemaru and Shirasu came over to praise the trio and to celebrate their successful play.
Takashima had to clear her throat and to push up her glasses to mask her astonishment.
"Aoki-kun honestly never ceases to surprise me", she admitted nevertheless.
"Heh…"
The beautiful caramel eyes of an awestruck Miyuki lingered on the group of reveling friends with a certain intensity.
"You seem pleased", the female scout remarked, suppressing a smirk.
"That's an understatement…"
"How rare for you to say something like that. You're usually not very open with your praise, Miyuki-kun"
The brown haired catcher narrowed his eyes at Takashima and gave her a flat look in complaint. The scout chuckled amused, not making it any better. Miyuki had to be careful not to blush. Because it was true. He had been a bit absentminded just now to let that slip. He just couldn't wait to be able to catch again!
When practice was finally over and the coach and Takashima along with the managers were already gone, Sora was standing together with Sawamura who high-fived her for her teamplay with Kuramochi and Kominato earlier.
"Accompany me again for late practice?"
"You bet!"
"You two never take it easy, do you?" Miyuki teased, coming out of the dugout with hands in his pockets. "Nice fielding, Sora"
"Gah, Cap!"
"Thank you, captain"
An arm landed heavily on the blue haired girl's shoulders from behind and she almost stumbled.
"Sorry, Sawamura, but this guy's with us today!" Kuramochi stated.
"Eh?!"
The young southpaw blinked confused and also the young girl didn't know what the shortstop was implying.
"Haven't heard of that"
"We are going to compete in base running. Sora-kun, will you join us?" Kominato was polite enough to at least ask.
"Ah! Yeah, sure thing!" she gave back nodding her head. "Just the three of us then?"
"Four", Sawamura added.
"Eijun-kun?"
"You're a pitcher, Eijun…"
"Yeah, so?" The young southpaw shrugged his shoulders seemingly oblivious. "I have to be able to run to the bases as fast as possible as well whenever we're rotating to offense, right? Besides, that guy's completely useless for me right now…"
The brown haired pitcher pointed his finger at Miyuki quite shamelessly and Sora snickered to herself while the captain glared back in annoyance.
"Oi!"
"Hyaha!"
"Eijun-kun… Gee!"
Suddenly the group of five teenagers could hear someone laugh at them from behind their backs.
"Y'all are a pretty lively bunch of baseball dorks, ain'tcha? That's the team of my peanut for ya!"
At the familiar voice and the use of her childhood nickname, Sora spun around on her heal immediately. A tall, athletic guy with dark blue, silky hair and dark green eyes sparkling with amusement approached the friends with a bright grin on his handsome face. He raised a hand casually.
"Yo, folks!"
Kominato, Kuramochi and Miyuki blinked a bit taken aback and looked at Sora whose eyes were widening in pure joy and she started smiling from ear to ear, while Sawamura only began cackling as if he knew exactly what was going on.
"Ten-nii!" The young girl began sprinting the moment she had realized that her older brother just had appeared right before her out of nowhere.
Ten caught Sora the moment she jumped at him and spun her around once, then he put her back on the ground and ruffled her artificial hairpiece affectionately. Her teammates just watched the brotherly exchange in stunned silence. They had never seen their blue head smiling that gleefully before.
"Ossu, Aniki! Nice meeting you in person finally!" Sawamura greeted, gaining the dark haired boy's attention.
"Oooohhh! Isn't that our great guardian Eijun?! Cheez, bud!"
The two of them fist-bumped and started laughing exaggeratedly at each other, causing the other three boys and Sora to sweat drop.
"Uhm… Guys, let me introduce you. This is my older brother Aoki Ten", Sora explained her baffled friends.
"Alive and in person!" the older Aoki brother affirmed, nodding his head politely at Sora's team members. "Thank you very much for taking care of my lil' bro"
"And here we have Miyuki Kazuya, our captain and first-string catcher, Kuramochi Youichi, vice-captain and shortstop and his fielding partner Kominato Haruichi. You know Eijun already, though. He's a southpaw pitcher"
"And future ace!" Sawamura added proudly.
"Ah, yeah, yeah. The two guys who formed that crazy combination with you earlier. That was some decent baseball, really!" Ten remembered looking at Kuramochi and Kominato before his gaze shifted to Miyuki. "First-string catcher, huh? Also your catcher then?"
He gave his little sister a meaningful look and she sighed and shook her head, understanding the hidden message.
"No!"
"Soon to be!" Miyuki corrected immediately.
"You wish!"
"Oi, I thought we've talked about that already?!"
"Still don't have to like the idea…"
"Aw, you're getting along very well, aren't you? Good for ya, Sora!" Ten commented lightheartedly only to get glared at by the blue haired girl. "No, honestly my brother needs someone with guts who's confident enough to handle him. I'm certainly relieved you've got a team full of strong and unique characters here"
"Ten-nii!" Sora scolded, but her brother only placed one of his big, warm hands on her head again and laughed.
"I think Sora-kun is rather handling them, though…" Kominato remarked with a sly little smile, making her brother laugh even harder.
"Yeah, sounds like him…!"
The dark haired, tall boy patted the smaller Kominato on his head like he had done with his younger sister earlier. The pink haired boy flushed furiously red.
"Hey, you're a cute one. Are you shy?! You can call me Aniki too, ya know"
"Oh hell, Ten-nii! Leave Haru alone already, will ya? He has an own elder brother and I bet that guy's not so embarrassing!" Sora chimed in, swatting Ten's hand away from her flustered friend. "Sorry, Haru. That guy's always been a little pest. Just don't mind him too much"
"You're mean, peanut!" her brother whined and pouted with his lower lip like a child.
"Hyaha! Peanut?!" Kuramochi started laughing and Sora facepalmed.
"Yeah, 'cause I'm short… obviously…"
"It's affectionately!" Ten reassured everyone, much to Miyuki's amusement.
"Well, it's true and he calls me like that from the very beginning, so I don't really mind", the young girl sighed, sounding very exhausted.
As much as she loved seeing her brother, it was also taxing. Especially when her teammates were being present and she had to be dressed like a boy on top of it.
"Why are you even here, Ten-nii?"
"Ehhh… To see you. I missed you, ya know!"
"Yeah, me too. I'm glad you came" Sora smiled warmly, her azure blue eyes shining lovingly at her brother and Ten returned the smile equally affectionate, putting one arm around her shoulders.
Miyuki and Kuramochi gaped. They couldn't really help it. It was a scene like in a TV drama and while it would've been just hella cheesy under normal circumstances, seeing Sora's facial expression this very moment caused them to hold their breaths. It shouldn't be allowed to put these two Ikemen-brothers together like that in public! Too much heart-throb potential! Sora alone was already one thing and dangerous enough, but together with her older brother who looked just as good and also had the ability to make the blue head smile like a descended angel, it literally got life-threatening!
Sawamura and Kominato on the other hand watched the two siblings being just happy for them that they could have such a beautiful reunion like proper friends should. Maybe with a tiny little bit of envy in the pink haired boy's case because he'd really like to have such a heartwarming moment with his own brother for himself as well.
"So, you telling me now why you really dropped by?" Sora questioned her brother again and the older boy suddenly turned serious with a pointed look at her teammates.
"To give a little warning…"
Ten's green eyes flashed dangerously and the blue haired girl groaned in exasperation.
"Oh, Ten-nii! No!"
"Hell, yes! 'Cause I'm gonna…"
"…murder us if we dare to hurt Sora again?!" Kuramochi finished Ten's threat crossing his arms over his chest equally grim.
"Heh… Well, glad we understand each other then. Makes things nice and easy"
"Yeah, gonna help ya with the murder if you'd let me!"
"I gotta say, Sora. I really do like your new teammates. They're great, good choice!"
"Maybe you should enter Seidou then…" the young girl responded dryly, shaking her head about her brother's antics.
"Friends!" Kuramochi insisted. "We're Sora's friends. Not only teammates!"
"Mhh, we'll see about that…" Ten gave back skeptically and the green haired shortstop narrowed his eyes at him.
"Huh?! You wanna pick a fight with me now, big bro? Try telling me to my face that I'm not Sora's buddy…!"
As the green haired shortstop attempted to take a step forward, Miyuki put his hand on his shoulder and Sora placed herself in between the two hot heads.
"Are we done with the pissing contest now?" she deadpanned, making Sawamura laugh out loud. "Gee, keep your testosterone in check for God's sake!"
Ten only grinned brightly, crossing his arms behind his head while Kuramochi still seemed to be pissed off, so Kominato moved a little closer to him and Miyuki, just in case he'd have to help holding the furious shortstop back.
"If you only came here to threaten my friends, you made yourself clear enough now, Ten-nii!"
"Ah, right! I also came to help you guys train. Almost forgot… Oopsie!" he rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "But with that much energy I think we're gonna have some fun. Didn't I hear something about competing and base running? How 'bout letting me in on that?"
"So, basically you just wanted to run with me again", the young girl deadpanned.
"Yup, that!"
"Oh, for the love of… Fine! I got it. We're practicing together!"
"Yay!"
Sawamura and Ten high fived.
"Can one of you have mercy and kill me, please?!" Sora asked Kominato, Kuramochi and Miyuki, but they only started laughing at her misery.
"So much about friends…" she sighed.
The whole group including Ten returned to the ground with Miyuki helping out stopping the time and taking notes on it at the sideline. Sora's dark haired older brother was a strict coach surprisingly, letting Sora and the three boys run to first base or complete rounds until back home again until he was satisfied with their performance. Additionally he was giving advice and yelling instructions about how to improve their speed, their agility or their posture. At the end Ten even joined the running, challenging the group of four friends to beat him if they could. Sad to say that of course they couldn't since the older Aoki was a track and field prodigy with three years more of experience and training. However, also the baseball group had enough fighting spirit to not give up and to give the dark haired boy a hard time winning at least.
When it was finally getting too late, Miyuki as the captain and the voice of reason decided to call it a night and since Ten had to drive home and the others would have school classes early in the morning the next day, no one complained.
They saw off the older Aoki at the front gate of Seidou and Sawamura and Sora were waving at him until he had finally disappeared out of their sight. The blue haired girl sighed. Ten's visit had been a nice surprise.
"Thanks, Eijun", she mumbled because she knew he had something to do with it, but the brown haired pitcher only grinned and shrugged it off.