Chapter Text
Taku fidgeted in his seat, rocking back and forth slightly as his eyes constantly darted towards the door, waiting for a certain loudmouth pitcher to make his appearance.
He spared a quick glance at Koushuu, who was sitting right next to him, seemingly unconcerned as usual, but the dark-haired teen could easily see the underlying anxiety and concern lining his features as the blonde’s glacial blue eyes subtly kept glancing at the door as well, much less obvious than Taku but still noticeable if you got a good enough look at him.
They were sitting in the dining room area, trays set in front of them completely in disregard as they couldn’t be bothered to eat at the moment, anxious to see when their upperclassman would enter.
Both of them had noticed him when he got back, Koushuu being the first of the two to see the brunette as he walked back to his room, neither of them going to greet him as they noticed the dazed look on his face, assuming he’d been, rightfully, exhausted after whatever training he had to endure and instead they decided to wait until the next day to say anything.
So, when morning came, they waited in their usual spot for Sawamura, used to accompanying the energetic southpaw on his morning runs, but, after almost ten minutes of waiting, they didn’t see him and guessed he might still be asleep so they got a head start on the running instead.
When an hour passed, the usual amount of time their morning jogs took, and they still saw no sign of Sawamura, they felt a bit worried, but they couldn’t, or rather simply didn’t go and see if he was still asleep, not wanting to wake him on his only “off” day, as the coach had told them Sawamura wouldn’t be training the day he got back to properly rest his body and give him some time to get used to his new schedule before resuming as normal next week.
In the end, they both ended up going to breakfast by themselves, and anxiously awaited for when their senpai would wake up and, so far, breakfast was halfway over and there was still no sign of him.
“Hey… do you think he’s alright?” Taku whispered to his friend, keeping his eyes trained on the door, absentmindedly picking at his food, though his stomach protested at even the mere thought of eating anything at the moment. “Was his training yesterday really that bad?”
Koushuu didn’t answer, instead choosing to glare at the doorway as if it had personally offended him, giving up any pretense of not staring, brows furrowed in barely concealed worry.
Expecting that sort of response, or, well, lack of response, Taku simply continued to glance at the door, still anxiously shifting in his seat, worry coiling in his gut at the thought that maybe things had been rougher on his senpai yesterday than he thought.
However, when the door opened, Taku’s head snapped up and he stared with wide eyes at the person they’d been waiting for finally, finally, walking through the door: Sawamura-senpai.
He’d assumed it was, as everyone else had already been there and the coaches weren’t going to come around until the end of breakfast, but Taku couldn’t help the relieved grin that spread across his lips as he raised his hand, waving the southpaw over with a shout of, “Sawamura-senpai!”
Sawamura slowly turned his head towards their direction, blinking sluggishly as sleep still clung to his entire being, but, upon seeing them, his golden eyes brightened and he grinned sleepily, hurrying to get his tray, thanking the cooking ladies quietly before making his way over to them, where they had thoughtfully saved a seat for him at a place relatively quiet, only the three of them at the table as quite a few people had already left to go join other tables or do their own thing.
As the brunette set his stuff down and sat down, a new person popped up, startling the trio with their unexpectedly loud voice.
“Wamura!” Kanemaru shouted, slapping the southpaw on the back, ignoring his friend’s yelp of pain and subsequent glare as he grinned down at him. “You bastard! Why didn’t you tell us you got scouted by Annabeth Hart and Sakai Akihito?”
Sawamura blinked, a million expressions running across his face, though Taku didn’t miss the split second of guilt before it quickly morphed into a sheepish smile. “Ah… Well, I was going to! I just kind of, you know, forgot?”
“Pff.” The blonde scoffed, rolling his eyes as he shook his head. “Whatever. Congrats, anyway, if there’s anyone here who deserves it, it’d be you.”
As if realizing he’d said that out loud a second too late, a raging blush engulfed the third baseman’s face as Sawamura blinked rapidly, slowly processing his words and, when they finally did, beamed at his friend. “Yeah! Thanks, Maru!”
“Tch, whatever.” Kanemaru grumbled, plopping down in the seat next to him as Toujou walked over to them, Asada, Yui and Kuki following his tail.
Toujou smiled at Sawamura, nodding at him. “Congrats, Sawamura.”
“Thanks Toujou!”
“S-Sawamura-senpai, congratulations!” Asada breathed, giving his roommate a small smile. “I-It’s amazing you got scouted by such amazing people…!”
Kuki nodded. “Yeah, who would have thought the Hart-san and Sakai-san would personally come and scout someone!”
“Wahaha, thank you, you two! This Sawamura Eijun promises to do my very best so I don’t disappoint you all!”
Taku simply smiled at the older boy’s antics, a fondness warming his chest and he glanced at Koushuu. The blonde said nothing, instead looking the pitcher over and, not noticing anything wrong, decided to say nothing, instead going back to actually eating now that he’s confirmed their senpai was alright.
The dark-haired teen grinned, knowing his friend must have felt relieved to see their senpai still being his loud, boisterous self and got to eating, as well, both of them watching the other interact, simply adding in their two cents every now and again as they mainly focused on finishing their food, more and more people coming over to congratulate Sawamura as well as ask about his time at the practice, everyone at the table unaware of four pairs of eyes watching them the entire time.
-
“Hey, Sawamura-senpai, who else did you meet there?” Seto asked, Eijun pausing from his back and forth with Kanemaru to consider the question, fully aware everyone had long since stopped pretending not to be listening in to hear what he had to say.
“Well, I didn’t know as many people there as I thought I would.” Eijun admitted with a shrug, trying to recall all the names he’d heard as well as all of the people he actually did know. “I saw Todoroki Raichi and Sanada Shunpei from Yakushi; Narumiya Mei, Shirakawa Kazuyuki, and Kamiya Carlos Toshiki from Inashiro; Hongo Masamune and Endou Renji from Komadai Fujimaki; I think I heard some people talk highly about some guy named Mima Souichiro, though I can totally understand after seeing him in action. There was also—”
“Hold on, hold on.” Kanemaru stopped him, causing Eijun to pause while giving his friend a raised eyebrow in question. “Did you just say Mima Souichiro? The Mima Souichiro? From Hakuryuu?”
“Uh… yeah? Unless there’s another guy named that? I guess it’s possible—”
“Sawamura, shut up.” Kanemaru cut him off, the brunette sputtering at his blatant disrespect but continuing as if he didn’t hear him. “Do you even know who that is?”
Eijun paused, frowning slightly. “No…? Should I?”
Toujou simply shook his head, slightly exasperated but mostly fond as he said, “that’s enough, Shinji. He didn’t even know who Hart-san and Sakai-san were until we told him; it shouldn’t be that surprising he didn’t know about Mima, either.”
Kanemaru huffed. “Yeah, that’s true.”
“Hey! I’m right here, you know?!”
“Well, did you learn anything about them?” Kanemaru asked, steamrolling right past his usual antics.
The southpaw huffed, crossing his arms across his chest as he rolled his eyes dramatically but answered the question anyway. “I mean, that Mima guy was fast. And, like, he was really, really fast. He might even be faster than Mochi-senpai!”
“Hah?!” Upon hearing that, Kuramochi stood up, glaring his way as his face turned red in anger. “What’d ya say, you stupid idiot?”
“Wahaha, don’t worry, Mochi-senpai! You’re still faster! … probably…” He added that last part as a whisper, but apparently the green-haired short stop still heard him as he stormed over to where he sat, grabbing hold of him in a headlock as he choked the pitcher out.
“Say that again, you punk!”
“Gah! Mercy, mercy!”
They didn’t get too far in their play fighting when Seto interrupted them, slightly getting up from his seat in a hurry as he said, fairly loudly in contrast to how he usually spoke, “a-anyway, how was the practice itself, Sawamura-senpai? You seemed pretty tired when you got back.”
Kuramochi gave him one last good squeeze before letting him go, the brunette coughing loudly as he took a few seconds to suck in breath he’d been deprived from for those few moments, centering himself once his coughing stopped to answer the question. “Uh… We did a few, uh… ‘basic’ exercises…” As he said that, a cold shiver ran down his spine and he shivered, already feeling a sense of dread from those hellish drills and it was only his first day from being there, the reaction not going unnoticed by those watching him, wondering what that was all about. “Though, they were more like torture sessions! I understand that they were meant to help build muscle and improve balance and all of that, but still! It was horrible!”
“So… did you not like it?” Kuki asked uncertainty, giving the second year a wary look.
Eijun quickly shook his head. “No, no, no! While I can’t say I liked it, I already feel like my body’s much lighter than before, even if I’m super sore all over! Besides, I also got to meet so many amazing and talented people, so it was great!”
“Heh… that’s amazing, Eijun-kun.” Haruichi spoke up, popping out from behind Kuramochi, moving out to stand on the brunette’s other side. “I’m sure you’ve learned a lot, seeing all those amazing people there.”
Eijun smiled at him, nodding excitedly. “Yeah! It was hard, but I think that was the most rewarding part!”
As he spoke, he tried to ignore how close both Haruichi and Kuramochi were to him, the warmth of their bodies radiating on his sides uncomfortably, and he began to get antsy, wanting to get out and do… something, anything, not wanting his mind to go crazy with wild thoughts.
With that in mind, he stuffed the rest of his food into his mouth, in part because he wanted to leave as quickly as possible and in part to give himself an excuse not to answer any more questions the others had, shooting up from his seat when he finished, shouting out a quick, “alright! Well, I’m gonna go for a quick run, so, see you later!”
“O-Oi, wait a—” Kanemaru didn’t get to finish his sentence, Eijun instead rushing out, though making sure to be gentle when putting his tray and utensils away, hurrying out of the room that quickly began to feel suffocating.
Feeling the cool morning breeze on his skin let him take in a breath of relief, the tightness of his skin and heaviness of his chest lessening, his previous anxiety slowly calming down as he made his way to the empty field, content with taking his time as even he knew he probably shouldn’t be running right away, since his body was still recovering from yesterday.
As he walked, he let his mind wander, to what happened just minutes before, of how the others seemed to have gotten the news of his scouting by the coach, which is something he’d accounted for when he ended up not being able to tell the team himself, though he was a bit surprised to see how more of them seemed proud of him than he thought would be.
He felt a bit ashamed to think that way, with how he knew they weren’t like that, his stupid brain couldn’t help but come up with the worst case scenarios and caused him to think of the dumbest things that could have happened.
Shaking his head, he rid himself of those thoughts, looking back when he heard his name being called.
“Sawamura-senpai!” Seto ran up to him, Okumura, Asada, Yui and Kuki following not too far behind, and Eijun grinned at them, waving them over.
“Hey guys! What’s up?”
-
Kaoru watched as Seto and Okumura stood closer to the southpaw pitcher than the other three first years, hazel eyes taking in every subtle movement as those two seemed to somewhat shield the upperclassman from the rest of them, for whatever reason that may be.
Now, Kaoru wasn’t stupid, he could clearly see the rift forming between the team’s resident loudmouth and certain other members, for reasons he was sure were a long time brewing, but they only seemed to hasten after the Ichidai game where Sawamura-senpai was called in at the last possible second only for them to stop the opponent’s momentum and still lose.
It was a sobering moment for everyone involved, and it was a harsh slap of reality for all the first years in realizing that their senpai and coaches were just like them—human, and fully capable of making mistakes, too. They weren’t superhuman.
Though, from the way that Sawamura had pitched that day, Kaoru wouldn’t blame anyone for thinking otherwise. Striking out batter after batter, keeping his cool under what was in no doubt an intense amount of pressure, not only from the audience but from their team themselves, and he didn’t once falter, even managing to get on base after all of that, though it turned out to be a wasted opportunity in the end.
Kaoru would admit that he wasn’t all that close with the southpaw, only ever really watching him from afar and catching for him very few times on the rare occasion he does get to actually fulfill his role as a catcher, but even he could admit there was just something… mesmerizing about the way the brunette pitched, how it seemed to suck you in a world of golden fire as your heart raced under the sheer of amount of determination and passion each given pitch was thrown.
It was all one could ever want from a pitcher and more, and Kaoru absolutely respected his senpai all the more for it, unable to resist the pull that was Sawamura Eijun.
But lately… there seemed to be a cloud hovering about the pitcher, a looming storm of untapped emotions that he never let out, for one reason or another, and Kaoru couldn’t quite figure out what was wrong until he noticed Seto and Okumura seemingly helping the southpaw drift away from certain members of the team, mainly Furuya, Kominato, Kuramochi, and Miyuki.
Now, as for the exact reasons as to why they were doing that, the catcher had no idea, but it was fairly obvious, at least, to him, that Sawamura-senpai was vaguely… uncomfortable in those specific peoples’ presence, eyes flittering around nervously as a slight twitch in his hands as he fidgeted whenever any of them were nearby.
It was something Kaoru had taken note of but never took into full consideration until recently, as it wasn’t really too much of a concern for him since he wasn’t close enough to Sawamura-senpai to ask and it didn’t seem to affect the team too much.
However, with how the blonde catcher and brown-haired second baseman were acting, perhaps there was more to the story than he thought.
“You just came back from training all day yesterday, you shouldn’t be running.” Okumura admonished their senpai, cold blue eyes examining the older boy as everyone but Seto and Sawamura gawked at his blunt words.
“Hahaha, don’t worry! I was just going to do a light jog!” Sawamura assured him, though that only seemed to deepen the boy’s frown as he growled lowly.
“Sawamura-senpai… I-I have to agree with Okumura-kun here…” Asada piped up hesitantly, flinching when all of their attention turned towards him.
“But I—”
“It’s just for today, senpai.” Seto told him, giving him his best comforting smile. “How about you help us train or something instead? I know Koushuu here could really use some help with his bunting.”
By the vaguely affronted look the blonde was giving him, Kaoru doubted that was actually the case, but it seemed to do the job as Sawamura beamed, turning to the catcher with a raised eyebrow. “Oh? Is that so? Well, this Sawamura Eijun will gladly teach you the ways of the bunt master, wahahaha!”
Okumura narrowed his eyes at the sudden noise, harshly saying, “please lower your voice, Sawamura-senpai.” However, he didn’t try to argue with him as the brunette led the group to the batting cages, eager to show them the “proper” ways to bunt, even though none of them quite understood what he was saying most of the time.
“It’s in the hips, the hips!”
However, Sawamura was quick to show them what he meant, as well as properly position them so that they didn’t necessarily need to understand what he was saying, and the time passed by much, much quicker than it ever had in the past for Kaoru, with him laughing along with the others as they ribbed at Sawamura, playfully, of course, and saw, with no small amounts of surprise, how helpful his advise had actually been when it came to bunting, all of them now able to make much better contact and have better control over where they wanted the ball to go.
Eventually, however, they had to leave, all of them having to go to their own practice, and it was clear that Sawamura-senpai was still fairly exhausted from yesterday so they all collectively decided to cut it off, though Seto and Okumura seemed a fair bit more reluctant to leave, looking like a pair of dogs unwilling to leave their owner until Sawamura assured them he’d be fine and that they should hurry and go back to practice.
Kaoru watched them leave, Asada and Kuki giving the southpaw second year one last goodbye before going their own way as well and, just as he was about to leave and join Yuuki for a bit more batting practice, he was stopped when he noticed the far away look Sawamura-senpai had when watching the others leave, his expression not one he’d ever seen, or ever thought he would see, on the pitcher’s face.
A sense of uncertainty coiled in his gut, and, before he could properly think about it, he called out to the upperclassman. “Sawamura-senpai.”
Sawamura blinked, the forlorn expression gone and replaced with his usual sunny exposition, and yet Kaoru couldn’t help but feel like it was somewhat forced, that the smile that graced his features as he looked over at the first year catcher was all too fake as he tilted his head in question. “Oh, Yui-shounen! You’re still here?”
Kaoru swallowed, a lump forming in his throat and he found himself at a loss for words—what’s going on? Why did his senpai look like that? However, when he looked into those golden eyes that looked far too dull and lifeless for his liking, he couldn’t bring himself to question it, not wanting to risk upsetting the other any more than he probably already was. So, instead, he fumbled for a bit as he tried to think of something else to say.
“I, um… I just wanted to thank you for your help, with the bunting practice.”
Clearly, the older teen wasn’t expecting that, blinking at him dumbly as his face blanked, taking a moment or two to process what he’d said but, when he did, the smile came back, and, this time, it looked a little bit more genuine, much to the catcher’s relief. “Oh, that! Wahahaha, it’s no problem! I am more than happy to impart some of my wisdom onto you first years!”
He felt a small smile form on his lips, feeling slightly relieved that he’d managed to help his senpai with whatever he was dealing with, even if just a little, but, before he could say anything else, his senpai surprised him with a question of his own.
“Hey, Yui…” Kaoru blinked, not expecting the serious tone the elder boy had, looking up into his eyes, that golden gaze eyeing him with a seriousness the first year had never seen on him outside of baseball. “Are you alright?”
He blinked. Seriously? Was Sawamura-senpai asking how he was doing? What? “What do you mean?”
Sawamura frowned slightly, face scrunched up in thought. “I just… It just feels like something’s bothering you.”
Was he for real? Kaoru was here wondering if there was something wrong with him, and never did he expect for Sawamura-senpai to pick up on his unease about the other’s emotional state, even if he didn’t quite understand what was happening and that Kaoru was worried for him.
“I’m fine… Actually, I kind of thought something was wrong with you, Sawamura-senpai.”
“Huh?”
Kaoru paused, unsure if he should be so open with his upperclassman, but he decided he’d already gotten this far so why not try his luck. “You just seemed kind of… sad, when the others left.”
The pitcher flinched slightly, face scrunched up and expression indecipherable, and Kaoru was just about to apologize, feeling as though he’d gone too far, when the other sighed, deep and heavy, and he paused, eyes widening at the pinched expression on the pitcher’s face as he gave him a sad attempt at a smile, though it looked more like a grimace.
“I’m fine!” He tried to assure the catcher, though Kaoru was in no way buying it, and he was sure Sawamura-senpai knew as he stopped for a second, thinking, then put a finger to his lips. “But… let’s keep this between us, yeah? I don’t want to bother anyone with my problems.”
Kaoru’s eyes widened. “But… why?” He couldn’t help but ask, unsure of why his senpai would be holding all his thoughts and problems to himself.
“... I don’t want to burden anyone else with my problems.” Sawamura admitted gently, the look of vulnerability much too raw for the first year to handle, his breath practically punched out of his lungs as the other quickly reigned it back in, though it was much too late for that as he gave the catcher a sad smile. “I know my place on this team. I won’t ask for more than I can have.”
“That’s…”
“Don’t worry about me, Yui.” Sawamura said, interrupting him with a shake of his head. “It’s no big deal. I just… feel a little lonely all by myself for too long, that’s all.”
But… you’re not alone. Kaoru wanted to say. And he wasn’t—there wasn’t a single day where Kaoru saw Sawamura by himself, not laughing and shouting with the other members of the first string or even those in the second or no name strings, his presence much too loud and bright to simply be ignored.
However, with the look on the other’s face, and how utterly sad he seemed, Kaoru couldn’t bring himself to speak, his words dying before they even reached his tongue, and Sawamura soon righted himself out, slapping back on that bright smile and happy exterior the catcher was so used to seeing, but it was all wrong.
“Well, I won’t keep you up for too long! Sorry for holding you up, I’d better go and rest before Seto and Wolf-boy come back and nag at me for not doing that.” Sawamura laughed, and it was bright, and it was cheerful, and it was fake.
Kaoru couldn’t stop him as he walked away, shouting loudly as he joined those in the first string, watching as he laughed and yelled along with the others, and the brown-haired catcher felt a sinking dread in his stomach, his mind flashing between what he was seeing with all the other times he’s seen the exact same scene before him before, horror clawing at his insides as he spotted too many similarities between then and now, and he wondered just how long Sawamura-senpai had been faking his laughs until now.
He looked away, unable to bear watching any longer, and walked off, determined to ask Okumura and Seto about what was going on with their loudmouth southpaw, though he had a feeling he wasn’t going to like what he might hear.