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As one of the top industrial countries of the world, Japan is also considered as one of the busiest.
And yet, for the past month and a half, when the clock strikes 9 at night, time seemingly stops for its busy citizens. The decrease of employees doing overtime work was certainly surprising.
All just because of this show.
If someone asks Kuramochi Youichi, 24, Yomiuri Giants jersey no. 6, shortstop, the Life Swap Challenge is definitely interesting. It is a reality show wherein six pairs of different professionals try out other professions and fulfil a challenge.
The program lets its viewers into the ‘backstage view’ of each industry it features. Of course, the roles that the challengers take on are mostly entry level positions unless they have the actual qualifications and experience, but the show skilfully showcases each profession’s highlights and challenges that it successfully entices the appreciation of both civilians and industry people.
Kuramochi knows no job is easy and glamorous, but the show hits it home even more. There are many times that he thought he could not possibly do that kind of job and has been even more grateful that he earns from doing something he loves.
Anyway, enough of that introspection. That is certainly not the reason(s) why he and the majority of the viewers are watching the current season though. He quickly grabbed his TV snacks (roasted unsalted mixed nuts and baked lightly salted vege chips as recommended by his team’s nutritionist), sat on his favourite spot underneath the kotatsu, and clicked on the remote.
“Oshi, oshi, oshi!”
Just in time.
“MIYUKI KAZUYA! YOU’RE SO SLOW! HURRY UP! THE RICE WON’T PLANT ITSELF!”
“Oi baka, watch out! There’s a–”
“RICE! RICE! R–Agh!”
Classic. Kuramochi started howling in laughter.
“Idiot!”
The owner of the exasperated voice, Miyuki, shook his head and approached his partner, Sawamura, who fell down the muddy ditch in the middle of the rice field. Miyuki proceeded to nag the other before extending his hand to pull him up.
Sawamura moved as if reaching out, however, instead of grabbing Miyuki’s hand, he placed something on it, which Kuramochi believes is a bug. He started grinning as he knows Miyuki is definitely not fond of the said species currently on his hand.
On screen, the very moment Miyuki realised, he let out an inhuman scream and fell down the same ditch as his partner who started laughing. Kuramochi started tearing up from laughter and howled even louder when the rice field owner found their helpers unrecognisable from all the mud and dirt. He then proceeded to scold them about work etiquette and whatnots.
“Let’s hope that Hanako-chan (female cow, 2 years old) didn’t bless that dirt you’re eating”
Oh gods, Kuramochi is dying.
That is the first reason. This pair are absolute comedians without even trying to.
But the next instance made him gag.
On the screen, Miyuki sighed out loud then stood up.
“Come on baka, let’s at least clean our faces before Kome-san gets angry again.”
Sawamura brought out his infamous (disgusting) pout. “It’s your fault though! If you didn’t pull on my shirt I wouldn’t slip!”
“I wouldn’t if you'd been aware in the first place. Here, take my hand.”
“Tch.”
Just like a typical cheesy romance movie heroine, as soon as Sawamura was pulled up, he again slipped and just like any other typical cheesy romance movie male lead, Miyuki caught him in his arms.
And that is the second freaking reason. These two are not only comedy cliches, they embody almost every romance trope there is!
Sickening. Blegh!
There was never an episode featuring these two that didn’t end this way.
Disaster and disgust.
Sooo~ much disgust.
In the shown first episode behind the scenes-
“Excuse me, Host-san!”
“Yes, Sawamura-senshu?”
“Is it possible to change partners?”
“Eh, excuse me?”
“You’re excused. I know it’s already signed, but I’ll ask just in case if I can change partners- MIYUKI KAZUYA STOP LAUGHING!”
“Oh my gods, my stomach!”
“SEE HOST-SAN?! ALL HE DOES IS LAUGH AT ME?!”
“Ah, uhm, excuse me Sawamura-senshu-”
“You’re excused!”
“Hahahahahahahaha!”
“MIYUKI KAZUYA!”
“Hey now, stop troubling Sumida-san.” Miyuki put his arm on Sawamura’s shoulder and pulled him a bit closer.
“SHUT UP! IT’S BECAUSE YOU’RE TROUBLING ME–”
“-and–” Miyuki leaned and whispered something to Sawamura which made the eyes of the latter sparkle in glee.
Kuramochi rolled his eyes. Wow, it’s too difficult to guess what a catcher can bribe a pitcher with.
“REALLY MIYUKI KAZUYA? NO TAKE-BACKS!”
“But you don’t want to–”
“I’LL DO IT!”
“Uhm, excuse me Sawamura-senshu–”
“I said you’re excused, host-san! Also, I would like to apologise for the trouble and express my deepest gratitude—”
Kuramochi decided to tune out those two embarrassments then. He thought that if those two get complaints tomorrow, it serves them right. To his surprise though, they were trending positively which surprisingly continued in every episode (unfortunately).
Honestly, nothing much happened on their first challenge as firefighters. Their first episode was all about them performing the drills that the firemen do. The two, as professional athletes, breezed through most of the challenge though they did have their own struggles on some of the parts of the drill.
The highlight of the episode though was during Miyuki’s turn to do the climbing exercise. While the camera shot was mostly focused on Miyuki’s ascent, Sawamura can still be seen looking in deep thought while staring intently at his partner. The firefighter beside him noticed and engaged him in a conversation.
“Miyuki-san’s doing very well.. He’s almost as fast as we are who do this regularly. I’m sure you won’t have a hard time too!”
“Hmm, it’s just now that I understand something.”
“Which one is it? If it’s about the drill or our work in general, I can help explain it to you.”
“No, it’s fine. I now understand why Miyuki Kazuya is given the title ‘Best thighs’ in the baseball world!”
Because Sawamura does not understand the concept of room voice, everyone around the perimeter heard him despite the noises, and all are visibly flustered. Kuramochi off-screen spat out his very expensive ginger tea.
“I still don’t get why they wanted him to choke them with his thighs? Wouldn’t that hurt?”
Kuramochi, within the comfort of his home, almost choked on his rice.
“What the heck Bakamura?! You’re in a PG show! PG!”
Back on screen, the owner of the thighs in question visibly slipped just right before he reached the summit and slid down his harness.
“Miyuki-san, are you alright?!”
“Wahahah! Miyuki Kazuya, you’re so clumsy!”
“It’s your fault stupid! Shut up now! Well, if that’s the game you wanted to play, be ready.”
“I did nothing?!”
Kuramochi recognised that Miyuki-face, that one he makes when he’s set on making ridiculous revenge plots. For once, Kuramochi agrees to serving Bakamura deep humiliation.
However, as the episode continues, Miyuki didn’t show any signs of exacting his revenge that Kuramochi thought he changed his mind. It wasn’t until all the exercises were done and all that’s left are the cooling down stretches.
Miyuki with that glint on his eyes and immediately latched on to Sawamura who noticed.
“Cap-”
“Captain, would you mind if we go do our own cooling down stretches? This guy is still a pitcher and I would like to check that he didn’t hurt anything that will affect his play.”
“Yes, Miyuki-san. You both did well today, so go ahead and cool down then you can go.”
“Wai-”
“Thank you Captain.”
Sawamura tried to plead but Miyuki had already taken him by the collar and pulled him away somewhere aggressively. In a few seconds, a loud screaming startled the whole group and the viewers.
“Eh, what is happening?”
“Maybe Miyuki-san is playing tricks on Sawamura-san as a revenge for distracting him a while ago.”
“Haha! They seem close don’t they?”
“That’s for sure!”
The screaming went on and off for a few minutes until a new sound that flustered everyone came out. Kuramochi choked on his rice the second time.
What in the ever loving heck was that Bakayuki?! Humiliate Bakamura not humiliate yourself alongside him?! Keep it PG!
“Uh, Captain, should we say something?”
“I think they’re a bit too close than expected.”
“Mi-mieta-kun, go check on them.”
“Eh, but–, alright, I’ll go and see what’s happening.”
The poor sacrificial firefighter who probably wasn’t aware of signing up for eternal trauma awkwardly ran into the area, took several deep breaths, and knocked at the room.
“Mi-miyuki-san-”
“Come in, it’s open!” Sawamura groaned again.
“Eh, are you sure?”
“It’s fine! Do you need anything?”
“If you say so. I’m coming in.”
The surprise was evident in the guy’s face when the door opened without resistance at all but he immediately closed his eyes before fully entering the room. As he opened his eyes, the viewers could see how the guy slowly turned red from his neck up to his head.
And no, the pair was definitely not in any position that would change the show’s rating. Sawamura is on the floor doing the splits while Miyuki was standing but pushing him down on his shoulders.
“Ah, Mieta-san, was it? Sorry for hiding away here. Mr. Most Flexible Baseball Player here just gets too loud when stretching–”
“It’s because you’re pushing me down too much you bastard–”
“We didn’t want to disturb you. We’re almost done now–”
“Stop treating me like a rubber band YOU TANUKI–”
“We’ll be there Mieta-san.” Miyuki smiled innocently as if he wasn’t again pressing down Sawamura who screamed then groaned once again.
Mieta ran away as fast as he could.
Kuramochi prayed for the poor souls while cursing the two. After seeing too many gifs of those traumatic scenes and messages from his acquaintances and friends, he decided to turn off his phone for a week until the next episode, hoping that the next one won’t be as revolting.
Thankfully, the continuation wasn’t as eventful, but apparently it was dubbed as the ‘shirt incident day’.
It started just as usual, with Sawamura being disastrous. Fire hoses are known for their pressure and do take considerable fitness or strength to be able to control it very well. Sawamura got overconfident and as soon as he turned on the nozzle, he lost control of the hose, drenching everyone with water. Many people beside him came over and at least three struggled to turn it off.
It was called the ‘shirt incident’ not only because a dozen grown, well-built men wearing only t-shirts as tops (it was just practice day, no need for whole uniform) suddenly got drenched and acquired the wet look™, but along the fiasco, Sawamura managed to slip and accidentally rip Miyuki’s t-shirt.
Holy Buddha Karen, he does have an eight pack!
Yeah, whatever. It’s not like the bastard is the only one!
Suffice to say, it was another week that Kuramochi turned off his phone after seeing for the nth time how much water people on social media apparently need.
They got even more attention on their next challenge where they worked as a five star restaurant staff for three days (it’s the three piece suit and slicked-back hairstyles really). Kuramochi thinks that everyone, including him of course, that Miyuki, despite his rotten personality, will be alright as a F&B attendee, but not Sawamura due to his short temper.
Surprising everyone, Sawamura actually did well with his training and performance, stating that he had experience working at a cafe when he was a student.
All was going well until this certain female customer started making complaints and demanded to meet the chef. Sawamura was actually keeping calm while apologising and explaining until the lady grabbed her filled wine glass and in true cliche fashion, threw its liquid towards Sawamura–
–except Sawamura actually dodged the airborne red wine and instead splashed the person behind Sawamura, the lady’s husband who just came back from the restroom.
And there was silence.
“Oh my gosh! My Darling! Your suit!” The lady fussed over her husband who was still shocked and then turned towards Sawamura angrily.
“You! Why did you avoid it?!”
“Eh- I’m sorry Ma’am?! It’s just a reflex?! I mean I’m a baseball player so I should be able to do that at least? But, uh, you can try again if you want, but I can’t guarantee I will accidentally avoid it again? Here’s a napkin for your husband by the way. I’ll just grab the caution sign and the cleaning stuff and you can try throwing water towards me again!”
Everyone was visibly holding their laughter. Miyuki can be seen on the screen slowly collapsing from laughing too much.
Kuramochi once again almost died from that episode.
He was scowling the next week though. At first it was almost just a normal episode except for Sawamura, out of nowhere, stated during the side interview that he misses katsudon while working at a french restaurant.
“French food is delicious, but I suddenly miss katsudon, especially my mom’s!”
People from social media went ooh-aah from this comment, saying that he was adorable and relatable. They changed their ooh-aah tune (keep it to yourselves) when Miyuki came out though.
That shift, one of the assistant chefs was running late and the restaurant was having a hard time accommodating the busy hour. On one instance, Miyuki who was about to go into the kitchen met Sawamura who was about to exit. For a moment the two look at each other for a bit, with Sawamura glancing at the kitchen staff once and then tilting his head when he looks back at Miyuki.
There were no words said but Miyuki just suddenly sighed and asked for an apron. Sawamura just smiled, helped the other tie up his apron, and slightly bumped his fist to Miyuki’s shoulder before going out again. Miyuki in turn, approached the food prep station and asked what he could do. The chef almost cried in gratitude before handing him the vegetable prep work.
Three things went viral that day. First, Miyuki Kazuya is very skilled in the kitchen. Second, apparently, a lot of people are into rolled sleeves and muscular arms. Third, Miyuki and Sawamura really seemed to have a very close relationship as they look like they can communicate telepathically.
Kuramochi thought that was interesting. Miyuki is a very private person and the only way Kuramochi knew he could cook was because they stayed in the same unit provided by the team when they were just starting. Miyuki has moved on his own after two years to be closer to his dad.
But back to the point, it’s not a well-known fact that Miyuki is a good cook, but looking back to that little telepathy scene (which they totally do when they pair up), it looks like Sawamura knows. It’s also suspicious how he was shown eating a suspiciously just cooked katsudon on his break during a shift on a freaking french restaurant in a blink-and-you’ll-miss behind the scenes clip.
That’s when Kuramochi decided to look a bit closer, and sure enough, there was something going on with his teammate.
Miyuki Kazuya, Yomiuri Giants jersey no.2, catcher, his teammate and captain back in Seido high school, and now his vice captain for the last three years since Kuramochi’s transfer to the team. A true baseball maniac who went pro immediately after winning Koshien in their last year in high school. He has been on the permanent roster for the Kyojins for the past 4 years and half, the national team for several years, as well as on and off the All-Stars team. He also won four MVP awards in the six years he’s playing.
Also voted Bachelor of the year thrice, called ‘the pretty boy catcher’, he’s also well-known for his looks. Maybe Kuramochi will agree, very, very reluctantly, if only the bastard didn’t have one of the worst personalities ever, even saying thank you when someone points it out. Up to this day, the bastard four-eyes still sometimes deny they are friends (disgusting).
He is bad at communicating even now. He is straightforward, sometimes too much. Sometimes he doesn’t even say anything, nothing until the issue explodes on their faces. He’s bad at replying and only uses his social media accounts or does PR stuff when forced by the management. He says he’d rather use his time practising. Truly a media nightmare.
That was the first sign. A baseball maniac who can’t be bothered doing the minimum PR work is in a whole reality TV show. The person who comes to practise first and leaves last even during off season suddenly becomes a person who packs up and leaves as soon as the training session is dismissed to attend his show briefings early. To be fair, that is the correct behaviour when doing a job, but because Miyuki Kazuya is a person known to breathe and live baseball, it is somehow disorienting seeing him doing something different.
Heck, Kuramochi has known the guy for more than 8 years now, and the way he is acting on TV is sometimes different from the Miyuki Kazuya he knows.
But above all these observations is the biggest question mark that should be addressed in the first place.
Why the heck did he agree to do the TV show in the first place?
The only other times he allows media exposure recently is when he wins MVP of the game and is happy with his performance or whenever he accidentally gets caught by the media. The other times was when he joined the All-Stars or when they played a team with a pitcher he loves messing with, namely Furuya Satoru, a former Seido teammate and currently Fukuoka Softbank Hawks ace pitcher who they meet only during All-Stars, Narumiya Mei, New York Yankees jersey no.10 who they meet only during olympics, and Sawamura Eijun, Tokyo Yakult Swallows jersey no.10, pitcher, Miyuki’s current at pitch rival and a fan favourite battery mate for the catcher.
He met the loud pitcher several times, even becoming Kuramochi’s temporary roommate their first olympic experience together, he believes he has the right to say this- Sawamura Eijun is a bit stupid and is very, very loud, no matter what he’s doing, even in his all caps texts. He cries when reading his gazillion shoujo mangas and reads books that are sometimes written in archaic japanese. Thank goodness he knows how to clean after himself, or else he’s going to taste more of Kuramochi’s wrestling moves.
Well, even then, he’s definitely a good wrestling practice dummy because he’s stupidly flexible that some moves that makes others cry uncle immediately is quite useless on him (which makes Kuramochi cackle in glee as he can push a little, just a little more than normal).
Jokes (and sadistic urges) aside, Sawamura is definitely unique as a pitcher, perhaps, the first of his kind, at least, that Kuramochi met. The guy has the biggest repertoire of pitches, most only he can throw because of his unique physicality. He only shows a handful of his deadly pitches, and only Enjou Renji, his team’s main catcher, knows the full extent of his abilities. He takes serious care of his body, going as far as designing his own management approved training regime a month after entering the permanent roster.
Seriously, if someone meets Sawamura outside of baseball, no one will think that the guy recently finished his masters in Sports and Health Studies (shocking, he knows), on a full sports scholarship from Hosei University where he brought home two championship titles in the four years he served as their ace. Sawamura says it’s a contingency plan once he retires from playing as he doesn’t want to fully step away from professional baseball.
This, and the fact that he spent his senior high school years at Jorge ‘Animal’ M’s, alma mater in the US makes it a no-brainer for recruiters. Apparently, (Takigawa Chris, Tokyo Yakult Swallows jersey no. 12, catcher) Chris-senpai’s dad met Sawamura purely by chance during a shoot schedule in Nagano, liked him, and recruited him for his former high school.
Lucky bastard.
Anyway, with this kind of background and his dopey, loud, but polite demeanour makes him an entertaining media darling, the total opposite of someone he knows. Gods, he doesn’t miss the times that these two caused headaches from bickering too much whenever they met, not that they stopped.
That reminds him, apparently these two had history.
Six years ago, the Japanese under-18 Miyuki-Sawamura battery became as popular as the Miyuki-Narumiya and Enjo- Masamune batteries. Kuramochi can still clearly remember that article published by Monthly Baseball describing their battery as ‘love at first pitch’. It said that the battery only took one pitch session to discover their extreme compatibility and establish their synergy. It also mentioned that compared to all the other pair-ups, it can be observed that the said battery was more animated and all-smiley in the three games that they played together, as if they were able to read each other’s minds. Well, it’s still like that now.
Kuramochi didn’t get invited unfortunately to see it firsthand, but according to the snitch no.1 hidden with the codename: Kamiya Carlos Toshiki, Tokyo Yakult Swallows jersey no.12, shortstop, Sawamura who was then studying and playing in the US, did not know anyone on the U18 camp, arrived on a scene where one of the invited batters was bullying one of the invited pitchers who was helping out.
Sawamura didn’t like what was going on and went on a spiel about baseball is team sports like the righteous little that he was when the said batter challenged him to a duel.
According to snitch no.2 hidden with the codename: Shirakawa Katsuyuki, Hiroshima Toyo Carps jersey no.16, shortstop, during that time, Miyuki was in the weights room with other players with then Inashiro ace Narumiya, then Teito ace Mukai Taiyou and catcher, Inui Kengo, to name a few when another player who was announcing the duel passed by.
“Oi, something interesting is going on! That pitcher from America, Sawamura is gonna duel Batta Ichi from Nantoka High!”
“Hah?! Another pitcher?! Not that anyone can beat me, right Kazuya? Eh, where’s Kazuya?”
“He already left as soon as he heard the players’ names, your highness.”
“What a cheater! Wait, did he just say Sawamura? As in Sawamura Eijun?! Kazuya!!!”
Snitch no. 1 said Miyuki arrived at the field a bit dishevelled and immediately asked him what the situation was.
“Wow, I never thought you’re a gossip Miyuki. Anyway, mister pitcher is warming up over there and mister batter is over there, swinging his bat.”
“Thanks.”
Then Miyuki started walking towards the pitcher.
“Excuse me, I heard you’re looking for a catcher?”
“No, I’m not! I can take him on myself!”
“But don’t you know that the best pitches are works of art produced by the pitcher and catcher working as one? Baseball is a team sport. It’s not something you play alone. So, what do you say about shutting that guy together?”
“Tch. Fine!”
Miyuki put his arm around the pitcher’s shoulder.
“Now, tell me about your pitches.”
“Wow, you immediately latch on that one huh. I don’t even know your name!”
“ I’m Miyuki Kazuya, a third year catcher from Seido.”
“Se-Seido?! From Chris-shishou’s school? This humble servant’s name is Sawamura Eijun!”
“Yup, I know. So you can trust me on this.”
“Urgh. Fine! I’m only allowed five at the moment.”
“What do you mean only allowed five? Does that mean you have more than five?”
“I’m not allowed to say!”
“You’re definitely interesting! Say, if we manage to shut this guy up, can you tell me more?”
“No way! I’m not even sure you can catch my pitches yet!”
“Heh. There’s no way I’m letting your ball pass through. Anyway, we can continue this for later. We have some monster-slaying to do for now, don’t we, partner?”
Miyuki raised his glove into which Sawamura reluctantly bumped on his own.
“Since I don’t fully trust you yet I won’t tell which one is which, but here are the signs I practised. If you can catch them without me telling you what they are, then I’ll think about it!”
“Heh! Sounds like a good deal!”
True to his word, Miyuki managed to catch all of Sawamura's pitches, with his face visibly lighting up with each strike. They managed to strike out the guy in six pitches when another one stepped in for the challenge. And then another one, and another one, and another one. They went through six people and were only stopped until one of the coaches stepped in and told them to go to the bullpen. Sawamura remembered that he had yet to leave his things in his room and let Miyuki go first.
“Welcome back you cheater! Was it worth it leaving me behind?”
“Heh.”
“Tch. Even I can’t say anything when your whole face is screaming happiness. Was he up to your expectations?”
Miyuki didn’t say anything but Narumiya understood.
“Hmph! Not that he can beat me!”
Honestly, when Kuramochi heard the story a few years after during some drinks, he found it a bit unbelievable, but then he did remember that the day Miyuki came back to Seido, he showed several scorebooks that he blabbed about for days. When he talks a lot, Kuramochi knows he is happy. So he asked about it.
“What do you think is the perfect baseball?”
“It depends on people, I guess.”
“Baseball is really fun, Kuramochi. I want to play as long as I can, as much as I can.”
That instance, Kuramochi thought that Miyuki was honestly just a guy who loves playing baseball. There was no trace of the stress that he has as the captain nor thoughts about the future games they are about to play. No Koshien, no winning or losing, just that ‘perfect baseball’ he was talking about.
Then Kuramochi remembered something.
There were times that Miyuki disappeared and when he goes looking for him, he’ll find Miyuki at Chris-senpai’s room. When Kuramochi asked around (a.k.a. Threatened Chris-senpai’s first year roommate, Kanemaru), apparently they were talking about a Japanese pitcher currently in America that senpai was regularly communicating with through letters and videos. Videos, which, if Kuramochi’s hunch is correct, were the same videos that he caught Miyuki watching on his laptop during his free time.
He also read a lot of suspicious scorebooks that if asked, he would say a study.
Oh gods, he was also unusually anxious during those once a month mail days when he was crap at communicating.
Huh.
“Did you meet that guy?”
“Ah.”
Miyuki suddenly seemed shy as he started rubbing his nape and he started thrumming his fingers on his desk. Then he sighed.
“So you know about that huh? Nothing really escapes you, Mochi. Yeah, I did.”
“How was he? Up to your expectations?”
Miyuki stayed silent for a bit. Then he looked out the window, and Kuramochi knew, he accidentally bursted Miyuki’s happy bubble when his face turned pensive.
“No point on what-ifs, Mochi-kun. For now, leading the team to Koushien is my main focus.”
“Tch. Now you’re making me feel guilty.”
“It’s about time I go back to reality anyway.” It was a whisper, but Kuramochi heard it clearly.
“There’s nothing to feel guilty about. Besides, I’m starting to worry if you can do without me anyway!”
“Jerk!”
Back to the present, Kuramochi thought about the times that Miyuki seemed different.
He was always interested in the drafts announcements but he didn’t even spare a glance at this year’s result.
He was watching university baseball the past few years, but he suddenly lost interest this year.
He seemed more talkative and a bit more engaging with the press when against the Swallows. He is definitely more of a jerk as well, even taunting especially when Sawamura is pitching.
He stopped joining the All-Stars three years ago, but suddenly he joined last year and got paired up with Sawamura.
Huh.
Huh?!
Wow, Kuramochi. Wow.
Okay, he thought that was a lot to take in. To be fair, Kuramochi does think that Sawamura is definitely fun to play with but surely annoying if against.
His repertoire of pitches that doesn’t go straight definitely matches Miyuki’s annoying personality on and off-field.
Well, it is Sawamura’s personality to try and humiliate Miyuki even without knowing, is a plus, so personality-wise, they match surely.
They can even do that telepathy thingy, so they definitely do understand each other very well.
Honestly though, even if Kuramochi tries to analyse everything, he won’t fully understand why, because it is something that only Miyuki can understand as a catcher. His idea of a perfect baseball is something that can only happen between him and a pitcher that he finds and deems perfect for him.
Whatever.
If he’s happy, then Kuramochi is happy, albeit reluctantly.
He’s finally found it. Good for him, Kuramochi decides. Though he has a nagging feeling he forgot something, he decided that he wasted more than enough brain cells for Miyuki.
And with that, he went back to his program and started laughing at Miyuki’s stupid face which yet again planted itself to the ground.
….
….
….
….
Wait.
Wait.
He really can’t shake this feeling that something was amiss.
Even after Miyuki and Sawamura won the program months ago.
Even when the Yomiuri Giants won the championship title against the Tokyo Yakult Swallows.
Even when the Central League finally won the All-Stars Championship after all these years with Miyuki and Sawamura leading.
Even the next year, Tokyo Yakult Swallows made the wrong decision of trading Sawamura to Yomiuri Giants for Yabe Kouji as they needed more batting power apparently.
So Kuramochi finally decided to do something about it during winter and went to Miyuki’s house to confront him only to be surprised when it was Sawamura who opened it instead.
“Eh, Kuramochi-senpai? What brings you to this fine evening?”
“What are you doing here? Where’s Miyuki?”
“You’re just in time senpai! Miyuki Kazuya has just finished preparing the nabe! Come in! We’re about to eat! We set up the kotatsu recently so it’s gonna be comfy!”
“Eh- What?”
“Come in, Senpai, it’s getting cold!”
“Sawamura, who’s that?” That was Miyuki’s voice from the inside.
“It’s Kuramochi-senpai!”
“Tell him to come in already, I can feel the cold seeping in.”
Kuramochi doesn’t understand what’s happening.
Even after he finished three servings of food. Miyuki, the bastard sure can cook.
Even after they finished watching the game between Narumiya and Chris-senpai’s US teams.
“Hah! Take that Narumiya! Shishou is the best! The best catcher in the world!”
“While I will agree with you on that, Chris-senpai doesn’t feed you, so you wash the dishes.”
“Where is the logic in that?! Fine! Even though I’m so comfy here, fine, I’ll do your dishes!”
“There’s pudding in the fridge if you want some.”
“Okay!”
When Sawamura was out of earshot, Kuramochi hounded Miyuki.
“Oi, what’s this? Why is our new pitcher hiding here?”
“Well, I’ll be helping him out next week to move in here officially. I figured I had an extra room, so why not?”
“We have available rooms at the dorm?! You didn’t even invite me?”
“Wow, I didn’t know you wanted to stay with me so bad Mochi-kun! I’m touched!”
“Jerk! I won’t do it even if you pay me!”
“Hehe!”
“....”
“....”
“But seriously, I know you protect your space seriously, what gives?”
“Eh, honestly I don’t know. If you told me last year that I’ll be taking in a loudmouth who’ll invade every inch of my house, I would have laughed at you… Actually, scratch that I might have thought about it.”
“Wow, I didn’t think you were in so deep.”
“I didn’t think I would be as well, but here we are.”
“Your idea of perfect baseball, huh.”
“Oh, is that what you meant? Well, maybe, but it’s definitely fun, Mochi.”
“As long as you’re happy.”
“I know you love me too much, Mochi-kun!”
“Disgusting. Anyways, thanks for the dinner. I’m going.”
“You’re welcome. You can come whenever you miss me.”
“Jerk! Oi, Bakamura! I’m going!”
“See you at practice, senpai!”
Before Miyuki closes the door on Kuramochi-
“Hey, thanks again.”
“Stop talking so seriously, you’re giving me the creeps!”
“Hehe!”
Then Miyuki rubbed his nape and looked down for a few seconds before looking at Kuramochi once again.
“In all seriousness, thanks. Thanks in advance too. You know my personality, so I might stumble with this idea of grasping happiness or whatever in the future, but I’ll seriously try now that it’s here, after waiting for so long. You have my permission to kick me in the head when I’m being stupid.”
“I don’t need your permission to knock you over! I will do it anytime I want. But yeah, good luck. I know you’re stubborn when you want to, so I’m sure you can.”
“Heh. You should think about confessing too! Bye!”
“Shut up! See ya!”
It was only when Kuramochi was about to open his front door that he realised what Miyuki was saying.
Oh.
Oh.