Chapter Text
Eijun's first summer away from Nagano is in Tokyo and kicks off with a long train ride.
It is his first time traveling alone. His grandfather drops him off a little before noon at the station with a firm warning to be careful and pay attention to all his surroundings. It's everything he's heard a million times already and when he eventually does step onto the train, he smiles big and waves his hands excitedly. Despite his stern face, his grandfather can't resist smiling and waves back just as enthusiastically.
It feels strange being here by himself, but he is a big boy and he isn't going to go everywhere with his parents forever. He sticks the ticket he'd already registered beforehand into his pocket and spins around to find a seat. His big head is even more obvious with the orange GIANTS baseball cap he'd insisted on wearing along with his purple hoodie and big denim overalls. He walks with big, wide steps until he can eventually climb up onto a seat and look out the window.
His mother would probably scream in horror if she could see him now, sitting on his knees with his hands and face pressed against the glass window. He wants the train to hurry already and start to move! He, Sawamura Eijun, is going to Tokyo! For the first time in his life! "Oshi!" He yells, earning a few annoying looks from the adults surrounding him, but he doesn't notice them and nods sagely to himself. "Time to become a city boy!"
"Oi kid" he whips around to see the train conductor looking at him unimpressed, "Keep it down and don't disturb the other passengers" Blinking owlishly he turns bright pink at the realization that in abandoning his country ways, he has become a public nuisance!
Standing to bow a perfect 90 degrees he shouts, "Of course! This Sawamura Eijun profusely apologizes and will seek wisdom to become a better contributor to society! Please forgive this lowly creature for I lack experience and have yet to repent!" The train conductor, startled by his sudden formality and loudness, coughs before leaving.
"Just sit back down-"
"Yes Sir! '' Standing up sharply he marches back to his seat and huffs in silent reflection. Which lasts approximately 10 minutes before his face is once again pressed against the cool window, eyes wide in wonder as the train rushes out of the station and into the big wide world outside of Nagano.
-/-
When he arrives in Tokyo he's so excited he feels like he'll explode. It takes forever for everyone to leave the train but when he is finally free of its walls his eyes immediately refocus on a woman with her arms crossed and tapping her foot impatiently, next to a tall boy who, judging by the awkward lankiness of his figure, just hit puberty.
"Aunt Sora! Aunt Sora!" At his calls the two finally turn towards him and to his absolute mortification, his aunt runs full speed towards him and envelops him in a hug so tight he yelps. When she pulls back literal tears are running down her face as if she is meeting a relative she thought long dead, when in actuality Eijun had seen her a little over two weeks ago.
"My sweet baby! Ah~how have you gotten even cuter since the last time I saw you?!" Out of the corner of his eye, he sees people stop to watch their overdramatic reunion. Some of the adults looked at his Aunt like she is borderline psychotic, while a few of the kids shot him sympathetic looks.
"Stop it! Don't make it seem weirder than it has to be!" He screams trying to get away but she holds him even tighter, a new round of tears leaking out of her eyes.
"How could you be so cruel to thy would loves you most? Don't tell me your rebelling?! I'm gonna have a heart attack! Ah my heart...I'll die~!" His eyes widened in shock.
"Die?!" He shouts, "Snap out of it! You can't die!"
To his utmost gratefulness, his cousin finally moves and comes to his rescue pulling his mother back gently.
"Mom, we're in public right now. Please save this for later..." Aunt Sora looks at him with regret for a moment longer before she finally stands up and dusts off her skirt.
"Okay let's go Ei-chan. I put out some food before we left, so I don't want it to get cold." She says normally, pulling his hand to move him in the right direction.
"And now she's totally normal?!" He sighs, it is unfortunate, but he knew his Aunt Sora would be like this. Since the day he'd been born he had suffered the curse of being seen as adorable by his Aunt.
His eyes wander back up towards his cousin and he lights up.
"Dai-chan!" He smiles, frantically waves to his cousin like it's the first time seeing him, even though the older boy had been around the whole time. The boy laughed and reached down a little to ruffle his hair.
"Hi Eijun." He replies back with his own smile, but his is softer and fond. He'd been too busy with his school club lately to visit Nagano and Eijun hadn't seen his favorite cousin in a little over a year.
"You've gotten so tall! Aunty Sora! Do you think I can get that tall??" He needed to know, because if Dai-chan can be that tall that means he would too right?
His aunt looked backed half-heartedly. "Maybe if you drink a lot of milk"
He gawked, "Ehh?!" He hated milk! It only tasted good in cereal and was totally weird to drink by itself. Still, if it meant he could be taller...All of his musings are quickly cut off as they step into the almost unbearable heat of the Tokyo streets. Nagano's summers are hot of course, but there tended to be a lot of wind to help balance it. Here the humidity clings to his skin like clothes and the sun is beaming straight down at him.
But the heat couldn't distract him from everything else. Tokyo is so big and cool! The skyscrapers loomed over him like something intimidating and too otherworldly, people walked fast, and nobody seemed to realize how grand all this was. He can feel the amused gazes of both his cousin and aunt and quickly straightens out. He said he was going to be a city boy on the train and he couldn't afford to be staring at everything like a country hick!
As they walk down the streets to where he presumes they would be taking a taxi towards where his aunt lived a little further from the center of the city, his mini spiderman suitcase drags behind him. When they pass an actual life size figurine of a transformer he begs his Aunt to take a picture of him with it, which Dai-chan is also forced to be in.
By the time they reach his Aunt's home the bustle of the city has faded a little until the city is but a skylight and they pull into a more suburban area. He has never been to the house before. His aunt only moved here last year after a sudden job opportunity, but throughout the year she had been the one to visit in Nagano.
He stares at the house as they are dropped off by the driver. It isn't particularly grand or anything, in fact it is smaller than his traditional house back home, but it is still so modern and cool! It is a condo style and most of the front is covered by a small blue gate at the front which the white panels surrounding it make stand out. He waits impatiently for his cousin to open the gate which leads into a small garden before the front door.
His aunt is growing yellow and white Dahlias along with some cherries which he can tell she recently picked by how few are left on the plant. When he steps into the house he is immediately in love, unlike the sparse furniture in his house, his aunt has a huge L shaped couch smack dab in the middle of the living room and posters with different kinds of art on every wall. He can also clearly see things that his cousin has probably forgotten to put away, like his sports bag that is unzipped and showed his volleyball jersey and sneakers, he also has a few comics lying around of a popular adventure manga.
"Eijun", he snaps his head towards his cousin who is patiently waiting for him to stop staring at everything like an idiot.
"Yes!"
"You can sleep in here with me. My moms been nagging me for like a month to make it as comfortable as possible for you and we set up an extra futon too." He follows his cousin to his room that he is unsurpised to see filled with more volleyball things, but like promised there is a spare futon to the side decorated with fluffy pillows and a really soft comforter so he is happy! Besides, he likes volleyball! Well..baseball is better obviously, but volleyball is alright too, especially when he gets to spike the ball whenever Dai-chan plays it with him!
He carefully unpacks his suitcase and puts everything away where Dai-chan had told him he'd made space for him and then bounds downstairs when his Aunt called out for dinner.
"It looks great, Aunt Sora!" He yells, because it really did. She'd made curry and rice, which is his favorite!
"Thank you for the food!" They all say before digging in, well in Eijun and his Aunt's case scream, she didn't come from his dads side of the family for nothing. Dai-chan, who apparently takes more after his Dad's side of the family winces at the noise but quickly adjusts, such a skill needed to live in a Sawamura household.
"Where's Uncle Haru?" He looks around as if just saying the shy man's name will make him appear, when it of course didn't, he turns back to his Aunt for more explanation.
"Haru is on a business trip right now. He should be back in a few days from now. He really misses you too, so it's too bad he couldn't be here to welcome you. '' Eijun takes another huge bite and nods in agreement. Just because his uncle is a little quieter than most people Eijun is used to doesn't mean he isn't fun to be around! His uncle is a really nice person that always listens to Eijun about baseball and makes really lame jokes that make it impossible not to love him.
When Eijun had first met him a few years ago he'd been shocked. First, because he'd secretly thought he was dead the entire time, second because Dai-chan had taken his mom's last name instead of his dads so he'd thought if he wasn't dead he'd just been a deadbeat, and third because everyone treated the whole situation like it was totally normal?! He'd later learned that no, he was not dead, the reason Dai-chan had taken his moms last name was because Uncle Haru had loved her name so much he wanted their children to carry the Sawamura name instead of his, and he'd always been around but Eijun was so ridiculous and caught up in himself he just never noticed him among the strings of his whole family.
He suddenly remembers the sports bag earlier and his cousins decked out room and perked up, "Dai-chan! Dai-chan! How is volleyball now? Are you regretting doing it instead of baseball yet?!" His Aunt clutches her sides laughing while Daichi looks at him in horror.
"Are you crazy? I would never quit volleyball! Especially not for another sport!"
"Why? Baseball is so much better then everything else." He is genuinely confused, everytime he asks Dai-chan this he expects him to at least admit he is right, but everytime Dai-chan gets this really scary smile so he just stops talking..
"Volleyball is good. My team is doing really good right now! Since this is my first year in a middle school team I was really nervous about how everything would be, but everyones really nice!"
At that Eijun is actually happy, his cousin is older than him by more then a few years but that doesn't mean he didn't think of him as a close friend. He is glad everything is working out for him.
"That's great! I wish I was part of a team! I found out last week that we have a little league in Nagano but it's too far for me to go to so I'm still only playing with my friends at the park behind the house...but still! It's really fun! I love baseball nothing is more fun so I don't need fancy stuff to play it!" His cousin and Aunt watch him say all this with a mouth full of curry and are surprised and actually a little impressed he isn't choking while trying to enthusiastically talk about the only thing anyone's ever known him to talk about since he was 5 and a group of kids let him join in their small game of catch.
"Eijun..eat properly first" His Aunt lightly scolded, he whipped his head around before dramatically bowing.
"Yes! This Sawamura Eijun apologies for his immense rudeness!" At his borderline archaic words his Aunt bursts and starts to gush about how her little Eijun is raised the right way and too cute for this earth. Daichi quickly finishes his food after that, and looks away when Eijun sends him a desperate look. Eijun knew what it meant...he was on his own.
-/-
When his aunt finally lets him go and they both finish eating and washing up, he follows her out back into the garden where she quietly waters her plants and gestures for Eijun to sit down on the small bench that is a little further away.
"What are you doing Aunty?" He asks curiously as he watches her walk towards a pile of cut wood and drag it to where he is sitting with a box of equipment.
"I'm working on one of my pieces. You remember the last one I gave you right?" He nods excitedly as he recalls the small wooden dinosaur figurine his aunt had carved for him last time she saw him and dangles his feet waiting for her to sit beside him. "Well I'm going to make something like that again."
"For work right?" He confirmed which she nodded. His aunt had moved to Tokyo apparently for a lot of reasons, one of them being her work. When he had hysterically cried after finding out his mother had calmly explained to him that his Aunt would finally be acknowledged for all her unique talents and would be working with a collectors store in Tokyo that wanted his Aunt's wood pieces as part of his exhibitions. He hadn't really understood then, or honestly now, but he knew it meant she got to do what she loved and he thought that anything someone loved was worth chasing with everything that person had. "Do you only make dinosaurs?" At that his Aunt laughed before shaking her head.
"No I do a lot of things. Sometimes it's really small animals and things like that, but most of the time it's my designs for lamps or vanities. I do a lot of things, but what's important to me is that I get to work with the material I want and make what I want." Eijun smiles as he reaches to touch the wood that his Aunt had placed between them. It is smooth and has an italic, almost slick, feel.
"You really like it huh?" His voice is quieter than it usually is, and he isn't really sure why. Between him and his Aunt it is usually a screaming fest anyways. But here, under the Tokyo sky, and in his Aunt's garden, with the cold wood slipping underneath his calloused fingertips, they are both quiet.
"Yeah. Kind of like Daichi really likes volleyball, or my idiot little brother really likes the idea of being a rockstar. Especially how you kinda really like baseball." They share a secret smile, like it is something only the two of them would ever understand, even though anyone who heard the context of their conversation would come to the same conclusions.
"Yeah kinda like that!"
"Did you ask Daichi if you could visit his volleyball club?" She picked up the wood and starts to hum lightly, trying to remember the design plans and think of all the things she'd needed to do before getting started.
"Yes! But he said I have to wait a little bit before coming over since they have a few games coming up, but since I'm staying here basically the whole summer it shouldn't be a problem to go a little later on." He informed her excitedly.
"That's good. I hope you won't be too bored here though. I'm going to be working during the day because I have a few deadlines for projects coming up, Haru is still on his trip, and Daichi will be doing a lot of club activities. I didn't really think it all the way through when I asked your mom if you could stay here during your break. Will you miss your friends?" He resists the urge to roll his eyes, he thinks he's heard this warning about being bored a hundred times already.
"I'll be fine. I looked it up and there are a lot of fun things to do here! Of course I'll miss my friends but I'll see them when I go back home. Besides I wanted to come." She stares at him for a moment, searching his expression, when she doesn't find anything in particular she shrugs and asks him to hand her a marker.
Eijun is sure he will flourish here.
-/-
He is bored.
He kinda wants to give himself a good punch because he's the one who insisted the possibility itself was impossible. But after the first two days of exploring every inch of the neighborhood and talking to every person he passed by in his best Tokyo dialect, all cold and sleek, he'd gotten over it and was burning with unpent energy.
If he has to sit in the house for one more moment, he is going to go crazy. "Oshi!" Filled with a new determination, he puts on his shoes and makes his way out of the house.
He hopes his Aunt won't freak out too much when she realizes he is gone and after reading his half-hearted note that just says 'Be back! Have emergency phone, don't worry!'
Where he ends up is a random park about 20 minutes away from the house. He ends up walking around it pretty aimlessly trying to think of something fun to do. His eyes immediately zero in on the ice cream truck parked right near the side entrance. He takes a moment to pray before he slowly digs through the pockets of his pants, almost crying when he feels a few loose coins he'd forgotten to take out a while ago.
He skips over to the truck with a carefree smile. This is a blessing, and he is going to bask in its glory. "What do you want, kid?" The man finally snaps after he had been standing there lifelessly for a full five minutes.
"Can I have a chocolate ice cream cone?!" Eijun asks eagerly, the guy looks at him like he is an idiot before pointing at a sign to his right.
"It says right there that we only serve water ice."
"Oh!" His face burns hot for a moment before realizing that yes, the sign did in fact say that, and in very large print too.
"Next time read before you come up...what do you want?" The man eventually settles on, seemingly taking pity on him, Eijun swallows the last of his embarrassment before looking back up brightly.
"Can I have a mango shave?" The guy nods and makes quick work of the whole affair. He disappears for a few seconds and reappears with a cup full of soft orange ice shavings. Eijun places his money on the man's outstretched hand and waits impatiently for him to count it out. The guy snorts looking up at Eijun as if he's joking, when Eijun doesn't move his looks changes to one of disbelief before he sighs and gives him the water ice.
"Enjoy and eat carefully."
"Thanks!" Happy, he skips back to the center of the park and takes a proper look around. The weather has been good all day and as the sunset begins to peak over the clouds, it settles from less of summer's scorching heat to a pleasant breeze. He can see families out with their kids and dogs, some couples going on a leisure walk, and kicks his feet indecisively for a moment before his eyes land on the riverbank towards the very end of the park.\
It doesn't seem like anyones going there, probably because it is directly under a bridge which a train runs through and ruins the quiet peace of the general area. Mainly because he's bored, but also curious, he goes there anyway thinking he can eat the rest of his water ice there and maybe watch a few fish swim about in the riverbank.
He definitely doesn't expect to run into anyone there. Especially not a little kid who seems just as shocked by the sudden company as he is.
They stare at each other for a moment. Alerts of stranger danger going through each of the boys' heads. This is a pretty remote and dark area, it's only when a train zooms past them that he gets a better look at his counterpart. The boy looks small and around, if not the same age as him. He has brown shaggy hair and big, wide eyes, and a wooden bat is slung over his shoulder.
After processing all of this information, his eyes light up. "Is that a baseball bat? It is right? And it's wooden?! I don't really know what that means but I heard once that it's really impressive! Ahh so cool~! Do you play too?"
The boy blinked, clearly overwhelmed by the sudden onslaught of questions. His eyes are appraising Eijun too, which he doesn't mind but wishes he would hurry up with because he wanted his answers now. "I-is t..that ic-ce cream? " His voice is quiet and scared. Eijun blinks once and then twice before he looks at the melting mess in his hand. He turns back to the boy whose eyes are starry and smiles wide.
"Yeah! You want it?" The boy startles at this, clearly not expecting the offer. "I've already had enough of it anyways, and you clearly want it, so why not just take it?" He walks closer holding out his hand for him to take.
"Is th-that ok-okay? Really?!" Eijun laughs, he didn't get what the boy was so excited about but he wasn't going to rain on his parade.
"Of course! Here!" This time he forces it into the boy's hand and places his own back on his hips with a wide stance. The boy, clearly over wasting any more time, starts to devour the water ice in no time. Eijun is impressed, seriously, he is scarfing it down like no tomorrow. "So?!"
"So?" The boy repeates confused, and Eijun looks at him like he is crazy.
"The bat? Baseball? Do you play baseball?!" Taken aback by the question, the kid glances towards the object in question and seems to brighten up a bit even through his obvious awkwardness.
"Y-yea. I play! Do..do you-p-play too?" Eijun feels his world light up and he is prepared, like always, to launch into his immense love for baseball.
"Of course! I love baseball! Baseballs the best thing ever! If I could become something else in my next life I hope it's a baseball mitt! Actually..wait no I want to be the dirt on the mound that way me and the pitcher will never be separated! I'm a pitcher for life!"
The boy, finding comfort in the topic, straightens his slouched shoulders, and perksup considerably. The water ice he'd brought is already long devoured, the only traces of it found on the sticky pale orange between both their fingers and surrounding their wide smiles. "Really? I love baseball too! Nothing's as fun as baseball! If I could be born again I would become a baseball bat so I could take down every pitcher in the world!"
"Ahh~! Finally at long last someone who has seen reason in this terrible cruel world! This Sawamura Eijun would like to know your name!"
Only slightly thrown off by Eijun's weird speech, the boy still excitedly answers. "I'm Raichii! Todoroki Raichii! I'm 8 years old!"
"I'm 8 years old too! Call me Eijun, Raichii!" The boy blushed a deep red before nodding in agreement.
"Y-yea!"
"So what were you doing here? You were practicing baseball right? Here at this time?! it's so hard core.. what do I do? It's too cool?" Rachii laughs, completely comfortable with this stranger already.
"KHAHAHA! Naturally! Batting is the best thing in life next to food!"
"Ehh~No way! Pitching is the best thing! But batting is cool too, everything is the best in baseball! WAHAA! Raichii! Can I swing your bat?"
Seeing the boy hesitating he is about to tell him it was okay if he didn't want someone who is a relative stranger touching his things when the boy extends it out for him to grab. "If you want to, but be careful it's kinda heavy."
"WAHAHA! Nothing is too heavy for this Sawamura Ei-" He cuts himself with a surprised yelp when the bat immediately sinks back into the ground after only a brief moment of transferring ownership. "How heavy is this thing? It must be 1000 kilos?!" He looked at Raichii in a new light, he must be a monster living in human skin if he is swinging this thing around like it was a toy like that.
"1000 kilos would be impossible to swing. it's called a weighted bat!" He demonstrates by picking it up easily and taking a step back to prepare for a swing.
'FWOOSH'
Eijun can only stare as the bat makes a literal sound as it cut through the air, his clothes rustle a little from where he's standing and he shivers from the goosebumps.
"Raichii...your so cool! Teach me how to do that! Why is it so heavy? How it can it make that noise? Who taught you how to do that? Why are you practicing in the dark by yourself like a cool villain? Can I learn how to do it too? What's money tree mean? It's too cool~?!"
"KAHAHA! I told you batting is the best! My dad taught me how to do this! I don't know why it's heavy but it's why I can swing so big, and of course you can learn how to! I don't have money to buy a lot so I just imagine whatever pitcher I can think of! Money tree was carved in by my dad because he said one day I would make him a lot of money with my swing...that stupid old man saying all that even though he never gets us anything nice to eat..." he grumbles.
"How did he make it?!"
Raichii shrugs and tries to look at the bat closer for any clue but it's clear he'd never thought about it before, and he seriously doubted anyone would know just from a quick glance. "I don't know. I just know it's made of some of kind of really heavy wood probably."
Before Eijun can ask a million more questions, his pocket starts to glow a faint blue, and Eijun panics a little when he sees his Aunt is calling him. "Crap! I totally forgot the time!" Hastily getting to his feet he quickly bows towards Raichii before gesturing towards the ladybug phone he is holding. "I have to go before my Aunt has a heart attack from worry. Are you..going to be okay here alone?" He ask as an afterthought. Raichii nods already pointing towards a figure approaching them from a distance.
"Yeah my old man should be coming back soon anyways. He just went to the store real quick." Relieved, and in a hurry Eijun sends him one last thousand watt smile and prepares himself for the run home.
"Okay then see ya Raichii!" He takes off before he can hear what the other boy says and dashes out of the park all the way through the neighborhood and towards the house. A smile never leaves his face though.
Eijun just found out what is going to entertain him this summer.
When his Aunt opens the door to him, she is decidedly not impressed. "What are you doing just getting back here at this time?" He pulls on his best innocent smile and shrugs half-heartedly.
"I went to the park! I left a note, didn't you see it?" She nods, pulling out the crumbled napkin he'd written it on.
"Next time don't just blatantly write such a bad note. Be careful this isn't like Nagano. Tokyo can be dangerous." He shoots her an apologetic look and scratches the back of his head, guilty. He didn't mean to make her worry, especially when she is trying to focus on her assignments for work.
"Sorry Aunt Sora. I'll be more careful next time." Her harsh stare becomes a little softer after his apology and she quickly ushered him into the house, fretting about the state of his outfit and how her heart can't handle his recklessness for much longer.
Eijun's eyes wander back towards the garden where the piles of wood are stacked, and bites his lip. Raichii...he is definitely going back there.
-/-
Originally, his plan had been simple. He'd listened enough to Raichii back then to realize that the kid didn't really know what he was talking about, but at the end of the day how hard could it really be? Wouldn't it just be wood on a stick?
He glares at the garden before nodding, "Oshi!" He is going to do this. The first problem to occur, is of course that he has no idea how he is supposed to move the heavy piles of wood. He'd tried to simply drag it out but quickly abandoned the idea when it doesn't move even a little bit.
Next he figures if he can't move each piece individually, he'd just break them down into smaller bits and bring them back together in the end. "Hmmm.." He stares at the stack for a little longer before rushing to the tool box in the far corner of the shed and picking up a small hack. If his Aunt knew what he is doing right now, he has no doubt he would be as good as dead. Which is why he is going to do all this in the hour before she gets home from work~!
He took a deep breath before crashing the small hack onto the piece of wood as hard as he can. It doesn't chip and he nods his head in a small show of respect towards the wood's durability. "As expected! The wood which shall have the honor of composing this Sawamura Eijun's bat should at least be able to handle this much." He nods again, ignoring the possibility of it being because his 8-year-old body simply doesn't have the physical strength required to make a dent on hardwood.
At a loss, he quickly gives up and decides he'd just drag a smaller, broken off piece his aunt had tossed aside the other night when she had been cutting up said wood, all the way to the park instead.
Sure it isn't a proper bat but it is basically the same thing anyways right? He huffed in agreement with himself, before rushing outside to change out of his Spiderman pajamas and slipping into the same big denim overhauls he'd worn a little under a week ago when he first arrived in tokyo. He also throws on a green t-shirt and his muddy baseball cleats, which he wears so often, might as well be his casual sneakers.
He makes sure to properly write down a piece of paper where he is going and what time to expect him back this time and place it on the dining table carefully before taking off.
He'll admit it is still a struggle getting the significantly smaller piece of wood out of the front door. In fact, he thought if he tried to drag it on even a second longer his knees would give out and he'd probably drop unconscious, that's how extreme the effort is. He ignores the haunting taunts of Wakana making its way to the forefront of his memory, reminding him that if he ate Natto he'd probably be able to be stronger, but Eijun would die before he ate that.
Determination flowers as he finally lays his eyes on a small red wagon off to the side of the road. It doesn't seem to belong to anyone, and judging by the pile of trash bags next to it he assumes whoever did own it doesn't want it anymore. "Sorry in advance!" He shouts to no one in particular before bowing a perfect 90 degrees. With eager hands he grabs the makeshift vehicle back to where he had been standing. When he manages by some feit, probably induced by hysterical strength to place the wooden piece into the cart, he can see why someone probably threw it out.
The wheels creak every time the wagon shifts, and it is uneven causing it to distribute an awkward amount of weight for whoever pulls it along. Excited, he pulls out a marker from his jean pocket, which he always carries around for situations just like this, similar to his ladybug phone he never left home without it. Uncapping it, he bends slightly and scribbles sloppily all over the sides. 'Property of Sawamura Eijun' he pauses for a moment, trying to think of what else to add to take it to the next level of awesome. When the idea comes to him, it's a stroke of genius. Scribbling even bigger next to it he writes, 'Transportation of Money Tree'. Satisfied, he turns and starts to pull the wagon in the direction of the park.
He skips, and ignores the possibility in the back of his mind that Raichii isn't even there. If he isn't, Eijun decided he would stay until he showed up, or at least until 8 o'clock when he'd promised his Aunt he'd be home....but still his point stands! He's about to go straight towards the very back but pauses when he sees the water ice truck out of the corner of his eye. Raichii had really liked it and he is about to intrude on his training, the least he can do is get him one. Turning, he marched towards the truck and stopped in front of the man in the truck, who spared him a dismissive look.
"What are you doing here again kid?"
"Isn't it obvious? I'm here to buy more water ice. This time two mangoes!" The guy is grumbling something under his breath, before he spares Eijun another glance.
"Do you have the right amount this time?" His eyebrows furrowed, what is the guy even talking about?
"Huh? Of course! I brought the same as yesterday but double!" To prove his point he places all his coins onto the counter and watches as the guy takes it and sighs again. Eijun is seriously considering if he ever got training in customer service before he is handed two water ices.
"Here. Geez, I guess I did it to myself...Kid, eat carefully!" Eijun smiles brightly before carefully placing them both in the wagon as well and then basically running towards the riverbank again.
"Thanks!" He calls over his shoulder. By the time he finally arrives, both waterices have been thrown around violently, but are still intact, and his arms ache from the strain the broken wagon had put on him. He looks around hopefully and almost explodes when he sees Raichii swinging his bat aggressively a few feet away.
"Another 100!" Someone barks out, but everything is tuned out as he excitedly bounds over to his newest friend and tackles him into a hug. Raichii, so startled by the sudden contact, drops his bat and yelps.
"Ei-Eijun?!" He continues to roll around on the floor with him, still overly happy that the boy is actually, by some stroke of luck, still here.
"Oi!" He hears before he is being pulled of Raichii by the back of his shirt. He turns to see who had literally swept him off the ground, and is met with disbelieving, furious older eyes glaring at him, hard. "What do you think your doing to my brat kid?! Oi Raichii! Are you being bullied? Is this boy bullying you?!"
Eijun blinked owlishly at the man and ignored him to look to Raichii for an explanation. "Who's the old guy?"
Seemingly even more outraged by his indifferent attitude, even as he is still being held up by his shirt, feet brushing the ground, the man basically screams in his face. "Who am I? Old guy?! I'm Raichii's dad, Todoroki Raizo!" At that Eijun's eyes go wide and he starts to wiggle around until the old man has no choice but to drop him.
"Pleased to meet you! This Sawamura Eijun is Raichii's lowly friend. I have heard of your great talents. Old man please teach this Sawamura Eijun your great ways!" There's an awkward silence which follows his sudden declaration. Raichii is blushing all the way down to his toes after hearing Sawamura refer to him as his friend, and the old man looks embarrassed by the extreme formalities.
"What are you talking about suddenly.." He mumbles, scratching the back of his head.
"I'm here to play baseball!" Eijun jolts at his own words, remembering all of his preparations for today. He runs towards the wagon which is only a few feet away from them and pulls it closer. "I came with my own 'Money Tree'!" Old man Todoroki raised an unimpressed eyebrow as he saw the split up wood that is carelessly thrown into the cart and the words poorly carved to imitate the one he had made for Raichii. "Oi Raichii! Before I forget hurry up and come eat your water ice, it's already melting."
Eijun watches as Raichii's whole expression lights up and whatever he had been flustered about before becomes irrelevant as he launches himself to get the cup Eijun is holding out. He wants to say he's shocked by the boy's enthusiasm, but after yesterday's display he can't honestly say he isn't expecting it. "Eat carefully!" Picking up his own cup he begins to eat it and smacks his lips before he turned back towards the old man who is watching his son eat. "So?! Isn't it cool?"
Todoroki stares at him for a moment before shaking his head in what is clearly supposed to be dismissive. "Is this supposed to be some kind of joke? Don't take baseball so lightly. That isn't even a bat."
Eijun frowns before he passes the rest of his half eaten cup to Raichii, who has already finished his own and is staring at Eijun's. Annoyed that the older man isn't giving the proper reaction, especially since he had put so much effort in it, he argues. "Of course it's a bat! Anything you can swing is a bat isn't it? Besides this one is wooden so it's double points!"
Determined to prove the man wrong he moves to grab the wood and tries to pull it up, but before he can so much as graze the makeshift handle he had made, the old man harshly pulls him away from the cart. Startled, he spins around to Todoroki who is looking at him like he is crazy. "Do you want your hands to be cut off? Don't be stupid and touch whatever you want when it's clearly dangerous!"
Eijun's mouth drops, quickly taking his hands back and cradling them to his chest like he can protect them from the world forever. "What are you saying all of a sudden? Of course I don't want that! I'm a pitcher! My hands are my life! I was just trying to pick up my bat?!" He turns towards Raichii in a frenzy, the other boy just stares back at him and shrugs like he doesn't really get what his dad is saying either. Tears glaze his eyes as panic takes over. Todoroki looks away, shifting uncomfortably.
"Geez just because it's wooden and you can swing it doesn't make it a bat...look at you, you're a mess." Eijun follows his gaze and settles on his hands which are calloused and a little bloody from how much he'd touched the roughness of the wood earlier. This time a few tears actually escape his eyes as he cradles his hands even closer. What if he already ruined his hands?! Is his surely great future in baseball over before it began? Is this Sawamura Eijun's destiny truly so cruel?!
Seeing the falling tears, both Todoroki's panic. "Don't be so emotional! I stopped you before you could actually try and practice with it so just relax."
"Y-Yeah! Don't worry Eijun! My dad was just being a little dramatic earlier because he was actually worried! He's gonna fix it for you!" At Raichii's sudden offer, the old man's head snaps up.
"Raichii! Shut up!" He stares at his kid in disbelief, seriously who threw their own dad under the bus like that?
Eijun sniffs and looks at him hopefully. "Really?!"
And really...who can say no to that face? Todoroki sighs, already regretting all of his life's decisions that led to this moment. When he takes longer than a moment to answer, Eijun's face falls and now he's on the verge of sobbing. Todoroki sighs, tired and wanting this whole affair to be done with. He isn't good with crying kids. Everytime Raichii did he just promised him some more food and prayed he would stop, but he seriously doubts that's gonna work with this kid.
"Geez. Look I'll fix it up okay?! Just stop whining already!" Eijun finally stops crying after that, and his smile splits his face so wide he thinks it might break in half.
"Thank you! This Sawamura Eijun will forever be in your service! What should I do? I'm so touched.." Seemingly more used to this side of his newest friend, Raichii bursts into laughter.
"KHAHA! Don't exaggerate Eijun!"
"Shut up Rachii! You should-wait! But I came with my bat today so I could practice with you! I can’t use it if Old man Todoroki is using it..”
“Oi..I didn't say anything before but don’t call me that-“
“Your the one who said your a pitcher Eijun.” Rachii cuts in, completely ignoring his dad. “KHAHA just take what I told you the other day and let’s practice that way!”
Eijun trails after Rachii as they move a little further away. Forgetting about his bat and determined to try the image training he’d first heard about the other day.
Todoroki watches them walk away with a sigh. He doesn’t know why he volunteered to fix the bat for the brat, or why he isn't insisting he leave Rachii alone so he can focus in practice, but...he supposes it isn’t so bad to have Rachii around someone that wasn’t him. He didn’t know where the kid got that rude laugh.
Despite all of his warnings earlier, he still bends down to carefully touch the wood that is thrown into the wagon. He's surprised for a moment at the quality of the wood. When he first saw it he just assumed it was trash the kid picked off from the side of the road, but it isn't that bad he supposes.
He watches half-heartedly as the kid gets into a pitcher’s position and starts to wind up before throwing his imaginary ball to Rachii who was trying to swing at the imaginary ball. The kid's form isn’t great at all, in fact, Todoroki would bet all his debt money that he was just doing whatever he wanted based on some random information of what pitching was supposed to be like. He can’t even see where the ball would have ended up, because it's ridiculous to do image training for pitching instead of batting, but Todoroki could smell money in his sleep, and that kid is reeking of it the same way his brat kid was.
He rubs his eyes, as he starts to categorize all the things he’d have to do to fix in the bat to be usable, he supposes it wouldn’t be so bad to have the kid around. Todoroki always had a bad habit of making unnecessary gambles.
He stops what he's doing and picks up a towel from the small bag he'd packed for Raichii: consisting of a change of clothes, sneakers, and a few snacks in case he gets hungry. Not that the brat needed to know that! "Oi! Come over for a second kid." Sawamura stops mid pretended to wind up and stares at him for a moment before looking at Raichii like he is awaiting for his permission, "Stop clinging onto Raichii and come quickly. Raichii! Don't mess around and start your hundred swings again from scratch!"
Eijun bounds over and stops a few feet away from the old man, waiting. "What is it?" His eyes are large and he looks a little starstruck like he still can't believe his luck in the whole situation.
"Here," He shoved the towel in the kid's direction. "If you're gonna be here at least practice for real. Leave that kind of training for when the bat is prepared. For now practice with this."
Eijun takes it but his eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "What am I supposed to do with this?" Todoroki sighs again like this is all a massive waste of time, but Raichii had already told him when they got a little further from the man his dad just liked to pretend everything was a drag but actually is overly sensitive. Eijun didn't really get it but he isn't gonna complain if someone is going to help him with the sport he loved the most in the whole world.
"It's a basic exercise called shadow pitching. Just take the towel and practice your pitching like the towel is the ball. The key is to just swing your arm all the way and finish the whole thing all the way through. Make sure you keep your leg steady and then you form a wall with your nondominant hand, which for you would be your right I guess. Then slam your foot and swing your arm." He makes a small motion to demonstrate, and Eijun doesn't quite understand but he'll do it anyway.
"Why do I have to do this though?”
“It’ll help you to get a more stable form. At the rate you're going you’ll just mess up the only thing you have going for you.” Ignoring the jab, Eijun stares at the towel a little more before he starts to seriously try the sets like Todoroki had shown him.
"Like this?" He asked after a few attempts, but the old man was already walking away re-examining the wood once again.
"Yea that should be good. Do 100 of those"
"Yes!" Excited to be trying something new he became even more serious as he tried the exercise. He can feel how intense it is as it forces him to overuse his arm and try to maintain balance on his leg. Or at least that's what he thought the point was. For all Eijun knew it could just be a joke.
That day, he spends hours with the old man and Raichii until he remembers he has to go back to his Aunt's home less she calls the cops to report him missing.
"I'll be back!"
"Bye Eijun!" Raichii enthusiastically waves him off, with his dad also preparing them to leave.
"See you kid. Come get the bat next time, I won't carry it around forever"
"Bye!"
-/-
By the time he comes home the sun has set and he's surprised to see a small blue car parked in the driveway. Hesitantly Eijun walks into the house and notices a sports bag haphazardly thrown to the side. His face lights up recognizing the bags as Dai-chan's, who had been on a school trip for the past week.
Sure enough when he rounds the corner there Dai-chan is along with his aunt and to his immense shock, his uncle. "Uncle Haru!" He shouts, running at top speed to stand in front of the man.
The smile he receives is exactly the way he remembers it being. "Eijun! How are you? It's been forever!"
"I'm great! Dai-chan, welcome back!" He greets his cousin after remembering he is there too.
"Thanks Ei." He says before ruffling his hair. "You're just in time for dinner. I'll tell you everything later."
He nods excitedly sitting at the table and fires off a million questions to Uncle Haru before his Aunt cuts in. "Where were you?"
"The park!" She raised a eyebrow,
" Again? What's so fun about there that you stay so late?"
"I'm practicing baseball with my friend Raichii and his dad!" At that she narrowed her eyes in suspicion.
"Really? What's the dads name?"
"Todoroki Raizon! He's really cool!"
"Are you going again tomorrow, Eijun?" Daichi asks as he sips on his drink.
"Yeah! I'm going to go there everyday until I can bat like Raichii! His swing is like 'FWOOSH' and then 'WHOOP' super cool!~" Haru laughs at his description and shakes his head.
"If you're going to keep going there then I need his contact information. Before you leave tomorrow come see me"
"Okay! He shovels more food in and watches wide eyed as his uncle showers his Aunt in praises about the quality of her food and how he could just feel it was made with love. Dai-Chan caught his eye and made a fake gagging motion which caused him to giggle.
When they finish everything, Eijun wastes no time pushing Dai-chan to their temporarily shared room and demanding he shows him as many pictures of his trip as possible. "So what did you guys do? Did you play a lot of volleyball?"
Dai-chan closes his phone and leans back to start unpacking his travel bag. "Yeah it was a lot of fun. Our team doesn't get invited that often for practice matches so the coaches made it a big deal and we got to do some activities after practice too! Since we're already in Tokyo we just did a bunch of tourist things, like see the dome and things like that. "
Eijun's eyes had literal sparkles in his eyes. He had wanted to do all those touristy things too but he had been asked to wait a little until everyone was back again, and now that they were he could hardly contain his excitement.
"So cool~!" He rambles about the kinds of things he wanted to do too before Dai-chan handed him something randomly. He blinks a little confused at the random gift before he realizes it is a keychain shaped like a miniature bat. "Dai-chan..." He trailed off, so touched he was on the brink of tears. His cousin laughed at his dramatics before turning back around to finish the last of organizing. "Thank you so much! I love it!"
"You welcome Ei. It isn't a big deal anyways, I just saw it and thought of you is all." Ignoring him, Eijun frantically rushed to his own sports bag and attached it to the zipper. He didn't stop his gushing until Dai-chan shifted his attention the only way he knew how, through baseball. "So what is this about training in a park? What kinds of things are you doing?"
"Dai-chan! It's so hardcore! I met a new friend named Raichii who has this really cool swing and his dad gave me this new exercise to try for my pitching! I don't really get why..but I'm sure it's super awesome! And he's fixing my bat for me right now, I can just tell Raichii is like me. He understands unlike you that baseball is the best!" He nods his head sagely, like his revelation us a great truth and Dai-chan flicks his forehead before going pointing towards the lights.
"Alright enough for now, it's getting late and I have practice tomorrow, and I guess you do too? Maybe I can meet your new friend sometime later." Extremely pleased at the general results of the day he turns off the lights without much more fuss and lets his cousin fall asleep peacefully.
"Oshi," he whispers to himself quietly. Tomorrow he will have another great day.
-/-
True to his promise, Eijun does go to see his aunt before he leaves the next day. She hands him three bento boxes she had made and makes him promise to also give a handwritten note to old man Todoroki too. As he'd done the past few days he also buys a water ice much to the continued grumbling of the cart man and bounds off to where his newest additions to his life are.
"Raichii!" He yells upon seeing the boy doing what he always seemed to be doing, swinging that heavy bat of his.
"Eijun!" The boy shouts back, equally as excited before they bound over to each other and embrace dramatically.
"Oi! Don't make such a fuss all the time or the people from all the way over there are gonna start to complain!" the old man screeches. Eijun pulled away from the hug with a bright smile and handed Raichii not only the water ice but a bento box as well. He thinks he can see budding tears in the other boy's eyes.
"Eijun! You're my new favorite person! You're much better than that good for nothing dad of mine!" He doesn't waste much more time after that, swiftly beginning to devour the food without another word.
"WAHAHAAH! Of course! This Sawamura Eijun was raised properly after all!" Remembering that his hands are still full, he bounds over to the old man and greets him with a 90 degree bow before shoving another bento box in his direction along with the note. Which upon reading the old man paled at considerably.
"Kid is your Aunt a demon? So scary.." He trails off, shrugging Eijun pulls out his own bento and begins to eat as well.
"Raichii, what are we going to do today? Are you gonna pretend to hit today too?"
"Don't call it pretend it's called image training! KHAHA shouldn't I ask if you're gonna pretend to pitch instead?"
"Shut up! I'm sure my bat is finished by now right, old man?!" He turns his eyes pleading towards where the adult sat, who sighed.
'Seriously', Todoroki thought, this kid's a slave driver. Where's his consideration? 'He gave it to me yesterday for crying out loud. I had to stay up all night for that and he's acting like it's totally expected...' Defeated, he glances over his shoulder and points towards the newly made bat which is lying on the ground, if someone looks closely they would notice the bags under his eyes.
Startled, he jumps when the boy suddenly screeches like a banshee. "It looks amazing! Does it say money tree?! It does! It's so cool~! Oi Raichii come look at mines now we're have the same bat!" Abandoning his already finished bento, Raichii did in fact come over to where his friend excitedly stands gesturing wildly towards the weighted bat.
"KHAHA! Now we can train together!"
"Who said that?" They both pause in their victory dance at the serious voice of Todoroki, who is looked around nonchalantly. "Raichii now that you're finished go do the rest of your swings. Kid your going to keep doing the towel drill."
"Eh?" Eijun whines in disbelief. "That swing thingy? Why?! Wasn't the whole point of that to kill time until I got the new bat? Raichii say something!" Raichii, who takes one look at his dad and knows the amount of swings he had to do is increasing by the second, shakes his head sadly.
"Give it your all Eijun..." Feeling betrayed, Eijun stares at Raichii's back as he walks away,
"Raichii?! " Sighing at the obnoxiousness of the whole situation, Todoroki places his bento box to the side to eat later, between his own kids ridiculousness and this kids sheer volume everything is a scene.
"Listen kid. Batting is great, but I thought you said you were a pitcher? Or are you giving up on that?" Eijun, at the sudden confrontation, shakes his profusely.
"No! I could never give up on being a pitcher, it's the best thing in the world!" At his declaration, Todoroki picks up the towel from yesterday and shoves it in his direction.
"It's both a blessing and a curse in my life to be able to smell potential. Your form, as shaky and disgusting as it, is brimming with it. One of the most important lessons you'll learn is what to abandon, what to invest in, and what weapon you have that's worth honing. Once you pick that thing, hold on and never let go. I am telling you that you should hone your form. This drill may seem useless, but it should help you for this. I will help you with your batting, don't worry. But as a pitcher, if you are serious about being one, this is the next step for you."
Eijun, for once, stays silent. He is a kid, and he doesn't really understand a lot of things. Especially the ramblings of adults. But, he thought, I love being a pitcher, and I want to keep playing as one. I'll do whatever it takes.
He looks up with determination in his eyes before nodding and taking the towel to begin.
He doesn't notice the small smile on the old man's face or the eye roll of Raichii, his dad is dramatic but he always did his best to help out other kids, especially with baseball.
He isn't sure how long he does it, with Todoroki alternating between criticizing Eijun and Raichii on their respective exercises. After a few hours, Todoroki finally tells Eijun he can stop.
"Okay now pick up the regular bat, leave the new one there." His eyes widened in surprise.
"But I thought you said I wasn't going to be batting?"
"Are you crazy? After I put so much effort into making you a bat? I never said you wouldn't bat, I just said you would also be focusing on your pitching." Eager, and even managing to shave off his disappointment at still not holding his new bat he picks up a regular silver bat and walks in front of the old man. "Take a swing so I can see where you are."
Raichii, finished with his own work and excited to see Eijun bat for the first time, runs over.
"Oshi! My time has finally come!" Taking a big step out he swings and notices the immediate grimace on the old man's face, besides Raichii's supportive one.
"I was hoping it wouldn't be this bad...Raichii take the silver bat and take a swing." Doing as instructed, the two boys switch places. "Watch him carefully, kid. Try to compare his form to yours."
Eijun watches with wide eyes as Raichii's bat cuts through the air and quite literally makes a sound. Still gaping he claps enthusiastically, much to the embarrassment of the boy.
"That was so cool! I want to do that."
"Were you watching?" Eijun turned to look at the old man like he is crazy. Of course he was watching, he isn't sure theres a single person could know Raichii is going to swing and not want to watch. "No not watch him swing, were you watching his actual form? Did you look at his feet or the way he moved his body?" Blinking, he shifts his eyes away awkwardly. He had been so distracted by the actual results he had completely forgotten the instructions. "Raichii, again."
This time, Eijun noticed the distance between his feet and the way he steps forward and uses his entire body to swing the bat, even as his lower body stays steady on the ground.
"Did you notice anything?" Todoroki asks him after a moment.
"Well his feet didn't move even a little bit even though he twisted his body like crazy! How did you do that Raichii? !" His friend, taken aback by the sudden question, thought about it for a moment before shrugging his shoulders.
"I don't know. I guess it's because of the other bat, but since that one is so heavy it's really easy to just fall completely when swinging it. It took me a long time to be able to keep my feet on the ground after I swung it, and when I switched back to a normal bat it was really easy to keep my feet on the ground the same way since it didn't have as much weight."
"As expected of the Todoroki’s, your method is really hardcore!" At the clearing of a throat, he snaps his attention back to the old man who wants to see his form while swinging one more time.
"Your actual stance isn't too bad I guess, but you're not putting your weight in the right places. Just like the pitching exercise you're working with you have to think about shifting all your weight from your lower half to your upper body. When you do that, especially with your flexibility and core strength as a pitcher, you'll be able to be more stable in batting. Once you work on that some more we'll work on trying the weighted bat."
Practice continued much the same. Raichii somehow ate his dad's share of the bento and watches as Eijun works to save what is left of his batting skills.
When they finish, he is sweating and beaming in excitement for learning even more today, he bow to both of them and bids them farewell. Before returning home, the old man adds something to the note and makes Eijun swear he would give it to his aunt the second he got back to the house.
-/-
Days passed doing the same thing over and over again. By the time Eijun had started on the weighted bat he had kinda forgotten what was so exciting about it to begin with considering it weighed a million pounds. He looked at Raichii with only respect shining in his eyes, was it even possible to swing this everyday 1 time let alone 100?!
Slowly the harshness of the wood and the merciless sun that beat down on him turned into callouses on his palms that were ugly, brusing, and so proudly his.
Come the weekend he would finally be going out of the neighborhood and get to explore Tokyo. The day before he had all but begged on his hands and knees for Raichii to be able to join him and Dai-chan on their exploration.
Now sitting together talking excitedly on the train they are wearing matching overalls and hats, much to the amusement of everyone around them. "What kinds of animals do you think we'll see?" Raichii asks loudly, now that he was over his initial shyness around Dai-chan.
"Hmm they'll probably be a lot of different ones? What do you want to see?" His cousin asks back, he had been asked to wear the third set to their outfit but had adamantly refused, before giving in to only wearing the hat.
Raichii seems to think for a long moment along with Eijun, before they smile brightly and answer at the same time, "Lion!" They burst into giggles afterwards, thoroughly enjoying their time together even before they'd even really done anything.
By the time they get to the zoo it's still only midday and they have plenty of time to explore the building and all the different exhibits. Eijun insists on getting face paint, which Dai-chan can't escape, and they stuff their faces with cotton candy and any different food they set their sights on. While waiting for Dai-chan to finish in the line buying the last of their snacks along with some things they'd each picked from the gift store, Raichii and Eijun sit outside on a bench, licking a mixture of chocolate and vanilla swirl ice cream, and having a clear view of the flamingo exhibit which is finally clearing out as people left the area to go home.
Predictably, they are talking about baseball.
"There's nothing else in the world that's better than it." Eijun said like it was the only obvious conclusion.
Raichii nodded before laughing. "KHAHA! Naturally!"
"I'll play it forever! I don't have a team back home right now, and the middle school I'm going to isn't that good but I swear I'll find a way no matter what!" Raichii stares at his determined aura before smiling in encouragement.
"I don't have a team either. I'll be cheering you on from here. "
"Ahhh! Why can't you live in Nagano! It's unfair that we can't play together. " He sulks, upset that the prospects of them playing on the same team ever are slim to none.
"Yeah..." Raichii replied equally as discouraged. Coming just at the new turn of their conversation, Dai-chan appears and hands both of them their new stuffed animals and chips.
He observed their unusually quiet aura for a moment, considering they had to be the loudest people in the world it was clearly odd. "What's the matter?" He asks, standing right in front of the bench.
"We were just talking about how we won't ever be able to play baseball together...since the chances of us going to the same high school are low..." Eijun mutters. Dai-chan started, a little surprised they are talking or even thinking about something which is so far away for both of them.
He smiles suddenly and ruffles both of their hairs, forcing the boys to look up at him. "What's with those glum looks? You should be excited! It just means that to play baseball together again you'll have to meet each other on a bigger stage, so if you want to play baseball together get better and do it as rivals!" Their eyes widen and they glance at each other for a moment before turning back to Dai-chan.
"Rivals?" Raichii repeats, confused.
"Yeah! Just because you don't go to the same school doesn't mean you'll never play with each other again. It doesn't matter how, but anyone can meet each other in a game if they're good enough. Just don't lose until you face each other, then you can play as much as you want."
"Rivals” Eijun whispers, this time with a budding hope instead of confusion. He abruptly breaks out of Dai-chan's grip and spins around to Raichii with a blinding smile and outstretched hand. "Yeah! Let's meet again then Raichii, as rivals!"
With a matching smile, Raichii takes his hand. "As rivals!"
The day ended quicker than either of them wanted, and so did the summer.
The last day of his practice with the Todoroki's, before he has to go back home for school, Eijun ugly sobs and swears to see them again one day even if he dies. To which both of them laugh and wish him safe travels, or Raichii tries to but he's crying hysterically too as he watches his first real friend leave without any knowledge of if he'd see him again.
Eijun's first summer in Tokyo, ends at the train station, as he says goodbye to all the memories he'd made there and all the people he didn't want to leave behind.
The train ride,he thinks, is far too short.
-/-
Omake:
Many years later, Aoi would look at the TV, or newspapers, or for Goodness sake carvings in random trees, and the kids' faces and name everywhere. Occasionally, new stations or some new documentary would retrace all steps of Sawamaura Eijun's life and harass any person who even breathed near him for any insight. Once or twice Aoi would get bullied into an interview about what it was like to meet the kid when he was younger, and he'd scoff everytime.
Ignoring his scarlet red face, he subjects himself to telling the same story for the millionth time to the millionth person. He supposes it can't be helped, since a few years ago the brat had mentioned off-handily in some random interview that he had frequently visited a ice-cream cart(and it was a water-ice cart thank you very much) when he was younger. Aoi supposes you can't always have nice things, and some very dedicated fans later and he had been shoved into the limelight of a local news stations spotlight for his 15 minutes of fame.
Honestly, he'd be lying if he said he had immediately remembered the interaction, it being so long ago to start with, but when Sawamura Eijun remembered you, you kinda made it a life's priority to remember him back.
"I'm sure you're tired of telling this story already Aoi-san, but it's a fan-favorite. Would you mind telling us about young Sawamura Eijun and your interactions with him again?" The nice news lady, Sara-chan asked.
"That brat had come up to my cart back then and tried to order ice-cream from a cart that clearly only sold water ice. He was real short back then and one of those kids who walked really big and loud, announcing he was there to anyone around him, He ordered a water ice and when it came to pay up, he handed me the money. For a second I thought he was pulling my leg, but he was completely serious. It was monopoly money. I figured there was no harm letting it go, but the brat started to bring around his friend all the time too and came over nearly every day with the same thing."
Sara-chan smiled at his retelling, "Yeah, when you told this story for the first time a few years ago, Sawamura-san heard about it and was horrified! He said he used to carry around two different wallets, and filled one of them with real money and the other with monopoly money because he thought having two pouches made him look cooler, and paid you with the monopoly money thinking it was the same thing. He even sent you the real amount all these years later."
Aoi shrugs, "The kid’s too serious about the most random things, and completely careless about the rest." He brushes off, trying to move away from one of the moments of his life he'll never admit to treasuring(seriously with all the ridiculous and fond stories about the guy, you would think he'd eventually stop paying attention to them amidst the serious news. But the kid had personally reached out, how did he ever sleep?) "Try our new Sawamura flavored mango here today!" He tacks onto the end, because it never hurts to earn some extra(note-real) money.
-/-
End.