Chapter 29: Forgiving the Baseball Idiots
It was one of these days… You know, one of the days in a month a girl hates the most. Yeah, exactly. That! Even Aoki Sora had to go through times like this, unfortunately.
Usually the blue haired girl had always done perfectly fine without having cramps, even with the amount of physical exercise she was coping with every day. There hadn't been any problems whatsoever. However due to her newfound resolve to strengthen her core for her pitching form and the unfamiliar focus on muscle parts she hadn't paid any attention to before, her system seemed to be utterly confused.
Not only was she two days early, her abdomen felt like an accordion, contracting and releasing in irregular waves of pain. And of course on a day she had to attend morning practice and school classes, followed by afternoon practice as well. The young girl wanted to die! She wasn't accustomed to this!
To make it even worse, she was kind of on bad terms with Miyuki and Kuramochi because of their stupidity and because of her own hypersensitivity. Sora knew that she probably had overreacted, especially after hearing their explanation. And Kuramochi had in fact apologized already, so there was no need for her to be so bitchy with them. But now she was on her period and she was suffering from cramps! Not the very best condition to make up with anyone. Or to interact with people at all! The blue head had a feeling that she would snap at almost every person who would dare to get close to her today… Ugh… Sorry, guys!
Sora forced herself to get up and to get dressed and she dragged herself to the bathroom and to breakfast. Her moodiness was even worse than usual. That had nothing to do with not being a morning person anymore. Her female hormones were basically shouting at her that she hated boys today. Just because.
Not wanting to hurt anyone's feelings, because obviously she didn't really hate her teammates and she also didn't want to lash out at them, she got the double amount of coffee and her food for herself and crawled into the hindmost corner of the cafeteria she could find, hoping that no one would be stupid enough to approach her. Sora was pretty sure that even the denser part of the male population should be able to see the big red brightly shining warning sign above her head.
"DON'T TALK TO ME UNLESS YOU WANT TO FUCKING DIE!"
Sufficient enough, no?!
However, to her utmost confusion, even the more capable members of her team Sora would've deemed quite intelligent up until now didn't seem to recognize her mental danger sign.
Watanabe, Kawakami, Ono, Maezono and Shirasu who had been sitting at another table already when Sora had entered the cafeteria, exchanged glances with each other after recognizing their blue haired teammate keeping so much distance from them and got up from their seats to go over and group around Sora instead. Much to her annoyance. What was wrong with personal space?! No, seriously!
"Guys, sorry no offense, but could I have some time and space, please? I don't feel particularly sociable today"
She gave some emphasis on the word today to give the others a hint that she didn't mean her morning personality, but her general mood.
They all gave her a weird look, Watanabe raised his eyebrows at her and Shirasu just silently placed another cup of coffee in front of her before they began chatting amongst themselves. None of the boys tried to include her. They weren't ignoring her per se, just respecting her personal space without leaving her alone. The boys were physically present, but with their conversation Sora wasn't included in they still kept some kind of distance. She would have the possibility to join them if she ever changed her mind and wanted to, but if not that was also fine. They were keeping their voices low, even Maezono and to Sora's surprise it wasn't going on her nerves.
On the practice field Sora was still being rather grumpy and monosyllabic with her answers and when finally Sawamura and some others of the team arrived, at least the young southpaw caught her mood in an instant only by throwing her a short glance. She heard him advise his fellow first years not to come too close to her which she was incredible grateful for. Just, how come the biggest airhead around was able to understand her the best?!
Kuramochi and Miyuki whom Sora would've thought would be her biggest problem, luckily kept their distance from her voluntarily after their argument the evening before. Maybe they wanted to give her some time to think or they still had a bad conscience, but in the catcher's case that was very unlikely.
For the very first time since entering Seidou, the blue haired girl was actually glad that practice always started with running. She could get rid of her frustration and her bad vibes and moving her body around also helped with loosening up a bit.
In the batting cages she decided to practice with a ball machine. The blue head didn't even go through the trouble of trying to hit any targets. She just kept swinging with full power, smacking the balls as far away as possible and although Sora couldn't bat like a powerful guy like Maezono, her specialty was making contact at least. Until one of her cramps decided to show up with a terrible timing.
The next ball just had left the machine and was flying towards her at a fairly high tempo as her abdomen contracted painfully. Her body tensed, her fists clenched around her metal bat and she gritted her teeth. The young girl hissed and swung, but missed. The baseball hit the fence behind her.
Toujou and Kanemaru exchanged a glance.
"Sora… missed…?!" the blonde questioned incredulously.
"I've never seen Sora miss a ball coming from a machine before", Toujou said equally surprised. "He even hits the majority of my pitches. I always have to go all out to get a strike"
Shirasu who stood on the other side of Sora's spot sighed and rested his bat on his shoulder to face Kuramochi and Miyuki seriously. Maezono was switching with him and just getting ready into his batting stance.
"Whatever you two have done, you better fix it!"
"Huh?!"
Kuramochi blinked taken aback. It was rare for Shirasu to talk so openly and it was even rarer for him to accuse anyone of anything without being certain.
"Why do you think that we did something?!" Miyuki didn't hesitate to ask.
Shirasu quirked an eyebrow.
"First of all because you pestered Sawamura to take you guys with him yesterday and that even though Sora was obviously already angry at you for breaking into his dorm room", the calm and composed boy explained matter-of-factly. "And secondly… Who else would have such an extreme effect on him if not for the two of you? Sora was acting strange during breakfast as well and I'm not talking about his usual morning personality"
"Do you think he's still that pissed?" Kuramochi asked his captain, but he averted his gaze and just clicked his tongue stubbornly.
Coach Kataoka announced a short break and the team assembled in and around the dugout to grab towels, drinks and honey laced lemons. Sora was rolling her shoulder and glared at her bat in annoyance, but before either the shortstop or the brunette catcher could muster the courage to approach her, Sawamura bet them to it, plopping down on the bench right beside her, almost leaving no space in between at all.
"Hey Sora?"
He shot her his bright and sunny smile and the blue haired girl looked up to him in confusion.
"Hm?"
The brown haired southpaw pulled her into a warm, bone crushing bearhug, squeezing her tightly, but also gently. Sora tensed at first, not knowing what was going on. Slowly but surely, she returned the gesture, putting her arms around his torso and hugging him back. Her body instantly relaxed. The young girl could feel Sawamura's consoling warmth and she could hear his strong, steady and reassuring heartbeat. Noticing how good this felt and how much she actually needed it, she nuzzled her face into the fabric covering his chest and let the young pitcher hold her a little while longer.
All the other boys were gaping speechlessly at a tame and touchy-feely Sora who had looked quite intimidating and pissed off just a few seconds ago, now almost crawling into Sawamura's lap like a little pet kitten.
"How the hell does he do that?!" Miyuki just couldn't hold back to blurt out. "Like… Every single time…?!"
"I guess we'll never know, huh", Kuramochi gave back and stared at his roommate with their blue haired teammate in his arms.
"Sometimes Eijun-kun really knows how to cheer someone up", the younger Kominato remarked, making Kanemaru snort sarcastically.
"Yeah, it's a miracle since he's usually just good at pissing people off"
"Shinji…" Toujou deadpanned.
"Well, it seems like you two had your butts saved by your underclassman this time", Shirasu teased Kuramochi and Miyuki who sweat dropped at that.
Meanwhile in the dugout, Sawamura let Sora go and patted her head.
"Better?"
She nodded.
"Yeah, thanks Eijun"
"Sure. If you need another one, just let me know"
The blue haired girl smiled affectionately at him.
"I will", she promised and he handed her a water bottle to hydrate.
"Oh, he smiled! Sora's back!" Maezono exclaimed in relief.
"Seems like I was wrong", Shirasu mused. "The one having the biggest effect on Sora could actually be Sawamura after all"
"You're in a weird kind of teasing mode today, Kenjirou", Kawakami chuckled with a pitying glance at their captain and green haired vice-captain who were frowning.
"Because Sora couldn't be more straightforward with his feelings", the calm field player replied. "He tells you everything he likes and everything he dislikes straight to your face. You just have to make the effort to actually ask him since he won't come to you to bother you with it himself"
"Eh? That's rare! So, you've talked to him about something?"
Shirasu hummed softly.
"More or less. We didn't have much time. It was before our Christmas party. That's when I noticed he's pretty honest if he trusts you enough and easy to understand too"
Before the brown haired submarine pitcher could respond, their head coach ended their break and began barking orders for his players again. The second half of morning practice continued a little better for the blue haired girl, but she was still glad when she finally was released and could go to classes.
After Sawamura's hug instead of feeling pissed, she rather felt whiney now and that didn't help with batting at all. All her frustrated energy was gone and suddenly she wanted to hide in her bed under her blanket and pity herself for having cramps. Or being cuddled and consoled by whomever would volunteer. The young girl wasn't picky.
When finally lunch break came, Sora didn't want to move an inch and rested her arms and her head on her desk. Miyuki was gone to get his coffee from a vending machine and Kuramochi fidgeted on his seat because he was uneasy and he didn't like this weird distance.
The shortstop decided to approach the blue head and cleared his throat a little awkwardly.
"Hey Sora, uhm… Are you… alright?"
He cringed. How stupid did that sound?!
"I mean, are you still… pissed at me and Miyuki?"
The young girl sighed, but looked up to her worried friend anyway. She was well aware that he was probably thinking that her strange behavior was his and Miyuki's fault which wasn't true.
"No, stupid!" she grumbled. "I mean… despite the fact that Kaz never actually apologized, which I also didn't expect to be fairly honest… But you did and you guys also somehow explained and that's fine. Well, not fine… Like, please don't pull a stunt like that ever again, but I'll forgive you. This time…"
Kuramochi slumped down on a chair in relief and exhaled audibly.
"And there I thought you were behaving like that because you're still furious…"
"It's just absolutely not my day today, Mochi. Even I have times like that. Rarely, but it happens. Didn't feel sociable this morning at all. I just need some time and space"
"Hyaha! And a hug from Sawamura"
"True. Didn't even know myself that I needed that until he just went and did it. Sometimes he does work wonders on people"
"…So… We're cool now?"
"Yeah, we're cool"
"Then, I'm gonna leave you to your lil' nap"
"Thanks, much appreciated"
Sora's head plopped down on her arms again, eyes closed.
"I'll kick you when the teacher enters"
"If you don't fall asleep yourself"
"Hyaha! Damn right!"
Miyuki found two sleeping idiots lying on their desks as he entered the classroom a little while later with his black coffee in his hand.
Afternoon practice came and Sawamura was getting worried about his blue haired friend. They were going through different fielding scenarios with Miyuki and Ono switching for the catcher position and also the four pitchers were included. The coach himself was batting and when Sora's turn as a pitcher was over, she was switched in as a fielding partner for Kuramochi and Kominato, just like Furuya who had to take his usual position on the left when he was done pitching.
However, in the young pitcher's eyes the blue head somehow looked tense and her movements felt wrong and forced. She was still doing her reckless plays and her accuracy was on point as ever, but Sawamura couldn't shake off the feeling that something was wrong. He contemplated hugging her again, but since they were both sweating buckets, he decided to wait until after they had taken their baths.
"Sora, are you alright? Should I sleep in your room with you tonight?" the young southpaw offered after he had guarded the bathroom door for her and they had a moment alone.
She gave him a tired smile as an answer, shaking her head no.
"I'm fine, Eijun. But thanks"
"Are you sure? You look… tense…?"
The blue haired girl stopped on her way back to the dorm rooms.
"I do?"
She had thought that she was hiding it very well. Hell, she had acted tough during winter hell camp and no one had been able to notice! But Sawamura nodded and she cursed.
"So, you are hiding something!"
"I'm not hiding it, stupid. I'm just not broadcasting it"
"What?!"
"I have cramps, Eijun", she hissed, blushing a bit to tell him something like that.
"Eh? That's bad Sora!" Sawamura exclaimed, waving his arms. "Then you need to take magnesium! And you should go have a massage too-…"
"No, idiot!" the young girl interrupted him and facepalmed. "Not that kind of cramps… M-My abdomen, you know?!"
"A stomachache? That's even worse, isn't it?! Then you have to go and see a doctor. If Cap and boss find out that you practiced while being sick again, they're gonna behead you this time…"
…
…
Exactly how stupid could one single human being on mother earth be?!
"Eijun!"
"Yes?!"
"You've been to sex ed properly, no?"
"Of course!"
Without hesitation and without even turning bright red… Wonderful…
"And your parents also talked you through some stuff?"
"My grandpa did! With a lot of yelling and slaps and threats that if I ever dared to make an innocent girl pregnant, he's gonna… er- uhm… cut off my manhood…"
Sora gaped.
"Wow… Okay… Well, props to your grandpa, I guess…"
Seriously, if more adults went to the trouble educating their children like that, maybe some problems of the society could be solved… But that was another matter…
"AHHH!" Sawamura suddenly shouted and Sora flinched. "That kind of cramps! You're on your per-… mmpf"
The young girl slapped her hand over his mouth and shushed.
"You're too loud, moron!"
"Sorry"
"But yes, you're right"
"Then… uhm… What can I do? Wait… Is there actually something I could do? Do you take pain killer? Is it that bad?" the brown haired pitcher rambled on.
"No, it's not. Don't worry", Sora tried to reassure him. "I guess I'm gonna make a hot-water bottle and warm it a bit when I go to sleep"
Sawamura exhaled.
"Being a girl sure sucks, huh?!"
The blue haired broke out into a laughing fit.
"Yeah, you can say that again!"
He accompanied her to her room and they hugged again.
"You sure you don't want me to come in? Or call Aniki?"
"Uh, really no. Not today. Thanks, Eijun"
"Alrighty. G'night then, Sora"
"Sweet dreams, Eijun"
She went into her dorm room, put her bathroom utensils away and heaved a heavy sight. For a second her gaze lingered on the copy of her key lying on top of her desk. Not exactly sure why, Sora took it and put it into the pocket of her warm winter jacket to her original version. Then she slipped back into her sneakers and left again. A hot-water bottle and a nice hot tea or hot chocolate or maybe hot milk with honey didn't sound all too bad after all.
On her way back to the dining hall where also the kitchen was located, Sora suddenly stopped on her tracks and changed her direction without even noticing it clearly. Soon enough she was standing on a little hill, gazing up in awe. It was a cold, crystal clear and starry night with a beautiful moon shining down on her softly and thousands of stars sparkling like celestial icicles. It was breathtaking!
"Sora?"
The blue haired girl almost jumped out of her skin.
"Holy river Styx, spare my soul!"
"Hahaha what?!" Miyuki cackled with one hand holding his stomach as usual and his other hand still holding onto his metal bat. "Even your curses are unique, huh"
"That's not funny, stupid. Don't creep up on me like that. I thought my heart would plop out of my chest!"
"Sorry, sorry. Didn't mean to surprise you like that"
"It's fine. Did you just finish individual practice?"
The brunette catcher rubbed the back of his head sheepishly.
"Yeah, thought I'd swing my bat for a bit…"
He came up the stairs to the small grassed area Sora was already standing on, resting his bat on his shoulder. They both looked up to the starlit sky again and the young girl took in a deep breath.
"It's relaxing", she said, her breath forming small white clouds in the chilly air.
"Sora…"
"Mh?"
"I- uhm I mean we…" the young captain started insecurely. "We missed you. Kuramochi and me. That's why… We went into your dorm room to hang out as usual. You know, like… Like you were with us. Actually we just wanted to watch a movie and then go to sleep. In our own rooms, of course, but… uhm-… Well, plan gone wrong, I guess?"
The blue haired girl's breath hitched. She could barely prevent her jaw from dropping as she shifted her gaze from the night sky to Miyuki in all his glory.
"And that's also why we wanted to accompany Sawamura to pick you up", he admitted. "We've never been to your workplace although we knew where it is the whole time. We've never seen you work, never acknowledged your hobby, always had our underclassman accompany you… Even our third years are hanging out there regularly now, so… I don't know! I don't even know what we were thinking, we just wanted to be there, I assume. And that's weird. For me this is weird!"
To the young catcher's surprise, Sora began laughing softly and she shook her head.
"Hell, we're so whipped!"
"Huh?!"
"It was the same for me", she said matter-of-factly. "I distracted myself with work and with spending time with my family, but in the evenings alone in my room, I thought I might die from loneliness. That's why I posted the pictures of me and Eijun in cosplay. I wanted interaction with the team, with you guys because one single night alone and I already missed you. I missed the banters, the videogames, watching movies, Eijun's hugs, Zono's loud voice… Everything of it. Even studying, can you believe me? Ugh! And then I had one day off of practice and I didn't even know what to do. I wanted to help at the wellness center, but my parents and Ten-nii told me to enjoy my rare free time. I was completely lost. I felt like I didn't have a free day like in a century and I noticed that I don't really have many friends outside of Seidou. I was actually quite desperate, ya know. And you're right, it's weird. Sick and toxic, to be precise. I'm usually pretty independent"
Miyuki turned to her, his features illuminated by moonlight and his caramel eyes shining like liquid gold. Sora's eyes widened at his intensity. His ever so smug smirk was back on his face, maybe even worse than usual. She had stroked his ego too much…
"I wouldn't mind you being a bit more dependent on me, Sora"
Holy shit, you're absolutely fucking gorgeous, Miyuki Kazuya!
He blinked, seeming taken aback.
"What?!"
"Mh? Nothing", she answered maybe a little too hastily. "I don't like depending on other people too much"
She hadn't said that out loud, right? That had been a thought and since Miyuki wasn't some creepy mind reader, there was no way in heaven or hell that he had heard that just right now. Otherwise she would crawl into the next hole and never come out again.
Sora pulled out the copy of the key and threw it at him quickly.
"Here, keep it"
"Eh?! Are you sure?"
"Yeah, you went through all the trouble having it copied, so it's whatever", Sora shrugged it off. "I know I overreacted too. It wasn't okay just having your way behind my back without asking me first, but I mean… On the other hand, had you asked me, I probably would've given you permission anyway. I don't mind having you in my room. As I said, you're always welcome, Kaz"
The young captain lowered his gaze and let out a soft chuckle.
"You're the first one to tell me that…"
"Still, if you barge in on me without knocking first, I'm gonna cut off your most essential parts for fathering children. Are we clear?"
Miyuki blanched.
"Y-Yeah, crystal clear…"
"Sweet"
Yup, props to good old grandpa Sawamura! His threats worked wonders even on a cocky Miyuki.
"Can we get back to the point now when you were flirting with me? Because I wasn't at all opposed to continuing there, ya know"
"When the hell was I flirting with you? Besides, didn't you tell me you don't do guys?"
"Maybe I do you"
"Yeah, sure. No can do"
"You called me absolutely fucking gorgeous, Sora"
She wanted to die! Shoot me this instant, please!
"In your dreams maybe"
"Hey, I heard it loud and clearly"
"Uh-huh. You're getting old already. There has to be something wrong with your ears", she teased, turning on her heel to hide her flush of humiliation and began descending the stairs.
"Aw, there's no need to be embarrassed now", Miyuki cooed, following her to the big dining hall. "I get that a lot. I'm used to it"
"See, that's one of your major personality problems", Sora deadpanned, hiding her cold hands in her pockets and rolling her cerulean eyes at the catcher. "Usually even if you really received a compliment, the adequate reaction to that would be a thank you. And not oh yeah, I know, I'm hot as fuck"
"But I am hot as fuck!"
"Arrogance makes unattractive, Kaz"
"And you also confirmed that with your own words…"
"Modesty is a virtue!" she used the same words that she had used for Narumiya.
"C'mon, you like my arrogance, Sora" the brown haired catcher gave back nonchalantly.
Their little banter went on until they arrived in the kitchen in the back of their cafeteria and in the end, Sora decided just to make a hot tea for the two of them. Since she didn't know if the school actually had something like hot-water bottles and it would be a bit too suspicious now that Miyuki was with her and watching what she was doing. Maybe she could go and search for them in the infirmary the next day?
After their late tea together, Miyuki accompanied Sora back to her dorm room, but before she could say her goodbyes and go inside, the crafty captain hugged her from behind and she held her breath in surprise.
"I don't like fighting with you", he whispered very close to her ear, sending a shiver down her spine. "Sorry I started it. Thank you for ending it in my stead and for forgiving me"
She just couldn't help it but to sink deeper into his hug, against his chest right behind her. The blue haired girl could feel Miyuki hiding his face in the crook of her neck and inhaling deeply.
"Mhh, you smell nice, you know that, Sora?"
"Yeah? What do I smell like?"
"Like a sweet lil' cinnamon roll"
She laughed out loud.
"So, you're comparing me to a desert? But you don't even like sweets"
I like you! I want you for desert!
It almost had slipped out, but the brunette catcher could contain himself properly in the last minute as he let his blue haired teammate go again.
"By the way, what were you actually doing before you went to work yesterday? You said you had trouble deciding all alone, right? Did you just stay at home staring at your ceiling or something?"
Sora cleared her throat a little awkwardly when she put the key into the keyhole of her entrance door and turned it around for a quick escape route.
"I visited Mei at Inashiro and we went out for lunch together"
And with that said, she hurried inside her room, closed the door and locked it from the inside, leaving the key inside the hole just to be safe.
"WHAT WAS THAT?"
The whole of Seidou could only hear the cry of an utterly baffled Miyuki.