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“Miyuki Kazuya!” Sawamura bellowed, his index finger pointing resolutely at the object of his fury. Said object cocked an eyebrow, the faint smirk on his lips betraying his failed attempt at looking annoyed.
“Such energy so early in the morning, Sawamura,” he said as he adjusted his catcher’s gear. “How about you put that energy into batting properly?”
“I’m a pitcher, so I put my energy into pitching! And don’t change the topic!”
“Ah? I was unaware that there was even a topic to begin with. Unless, you meant that my humble personage was the topic in itself?”
“As if! Gah, you’re so annoying I’m never giving you the privilege of catching my pitches ever again!” Sawamura fumed.
“You’re breaking my heart here,” Miyuki deadpanned.
“Don’t make fun of me; I can still recognize sarcasm when I hear it!”
“Colour me surprised,” Miyuki answered equally. He then patted Sawamura’s shoulder. “Now hurry up and get into the bullpen before I replace you with Furuya.”
The mention of Sawamura’s rival’s name got the expected result. The pitcher froze for a tenth of a second, stiffened and then executed a military salute that was accompanied by a ‘Yes, Sir!’ and a ‘Wait for me, Miyuki!’
Hardly a few metres away, several witnesses of the scene stared at the battery as it left to the bullpen.
“Married,” Kuramochi, groaned, in a blasé way.
“Totally married,” Asou joined him.
“Definitely married,” Kanemaru nodded.
“Can’t be more married,” Maezono added.
“What was their argument even about?” Toujou asked.
“No freaking clue and it’s not like it matters at this stage, right?” Kuramochi shrugged.
“I can’t believe they still aren’t going out, though,” Haruichi said pensively.
“It’s irritating.”
“It is.”
“Just looking at them makes me want to punch them.”
“Same.”
“Can’t they just confess and be done with it?”
“They need an ass-kicking.”
“They do.”
“Totally do.”
“Definitely do.”
“Then let’s do something about it.”
All eyes turned to Kuramochi, questioning him silently.
“What do you mean?” Maezono asked carefully. Kuramochi shrugged at the inquiry.
“Either we take some kind of action, or we’re doomed to cope with their bullshit lovers' quarrels every day. Hey, but they aren’t actually lovers!”
The comment triggered several groans and grumbles, which could all be summarized in three words: Anything. But. That. Therefore, the decision was made quickly, and unsurprisingly, the vote in favour was unanimous.
Kanemaru cleared his throat. “OK, we’re all cool with dealing with their crap and all, but what exactly do we do?”
Once again, all eyes turned to Kuramochi, who clicked his tongue in annoyance. “Hey, don’t look at me like that; I don’t have any clue yet. We have to think of some kind of plan.”
“We could send them death threats and force them to sign a marriage certificate with a knife to their throats,” Asou suggested.
“Let’s try to find something more legally acceptable.”
“How about creating situations that will drive Miyuki-san and Eijun-kun to confess to each other?” Haruichi ventured coyly.
“Please elaborate,” Toujou prompted.
“Oh, I know!” Maezono jumped in. “You mean, like, locking the two of them in a room at night? And then in the morning we’ll find them naked, one on top on the other or something?”
A new round of grunts arose. “Don’t give us unnecessary images, Zono,” Kuramochi grimaced. “I don’t need nightmares.”
“Without going to that extent, the general idea does sound sensible,” Kawakami said.
“Then all we need to do is create romantic situations for those two idiots,” the shortstop summarized. He paused for a second and then took in a deep breath, before continuing. “Given how stubborn and stupid our captain and Sawamura are respectively, it’s definitely going to be challenging. Are you guys sure you want to do this?” he asked, deadly serious, as he gazed at each of his teammates.
They all nodded, one by one, determination filling their eyes.
“Alright, this will require some organization and preparation. I suggest we all take a day to try and come up with some feasible ideas,” Kuramochi concluded.
Thus, began the mission to preserve the sanity of the Seidou High baseball team.
From the bullpen, Miyuki couldn’t help but have a bad feeling about the unusual gathering, particularly after catching Kuramochi glaring at him. He would have to get his vice-captains to spill whatever they were plotting.
The bells rang, signaling the end of first period.
“Kuramochi,” Miyuki called out lightly.
The other boy raised his head. “Hm?”
“You’re my vice-captain, aren’t you?”
“Last time I checked, I was,” Kuramochi answered.
“Then Coach Kataoka must have told you to support me and help me to keep this team functioning and efficient, right?”
“What are you getting at?” Kuramochi asked, annoyed.
“I just wanted to make sure that you wouldn’t attempt anything stupid that would result in harming the team or harming its captain.”
Kuramochi was sure he felt a nerve pop. “I’m really tempted to harm you right now for spouting crap like that.”
“Alright, alright, I was just making sure everything is crystal clear between us,” Miyuki smirked.
Close call.
The team agreed to begin with something rather classical: jealousy. The main target would be Miyuki. The objective was simple: give Seidou’s captain a good kick in the ass (figuratively speaking, despite Kuramochi’s begging to differ) to help him realize his own feelings.
“Shouldn’t we try it with Sawamura too?” Asou asked.
“He’s too thick-headed for that kind of plan to work,” Kanemaru said.
“We’ll find something else for Bakamura. This is just the first move anyway,” Kuramochi explained as he scribbled something down on a notebook.
Maezono peeped over Kuramochi’s shoulder. “What are you writing?”
“Hm? Oh, this?” the shortstop raised his eyes from the notebook. “I figured I’d keep a record of what we’re doing; see what works and what doesn’t, for future reference. It’s a journal of sort. Got the idea from Nabe and all his notes about games and stuff.”
“You’re taking this very seriously,” Kawakami said.
“It is a very serious matter,” Kuramochi answered. “My mental health is at stake here.”
“Aren’t you exaggerating a bit?” Haruichi asked.
Kuramochi snorted. “Obviously, you don’t share a room with Sawamura. That idiot rants night and day about Miyuki. Hell, he even dreams about Miyuki.”
“How do you know that?”
“He talks in his sleep.”
“Not that kind of dream, I hope,” Kanemaru winced.
“Hell no, Sawamura’s too stupid for that,” Kuramochi answered immediately. “Even now, he must be convinced that he absolutely despises Miyuki,” he paused for a second before adding: “Everybody despises Miyuki, so it is understandable. Anyway, let’s go over the whole thing one last time.”
The plan was summed up quickly, given that it wasn’t a particularly difficult one. Once Kuramochi was done briefing the team, he gave one last reminder: “We have to make sure Miyuki is always around, or there won’t be any point to any of this.” Everyone nodded and got ready for practice, where the plan would be put into motion.
Entry #1
Objective: make the shitty captain jealous by clinging all over Bakamura
Outcome: failure
Details: Toujou and Kanemaru practically jumped on Sawamura after he managed to bunt a ball at 160 km/h (note to self: how does he even do that??). Miyuki just called it a fluke and left to bat. He didn’t show any reaction when I got Sawamura locked in an embarrassing position. Must be too used to it.
Haruichi asked Sawamura to teach him how to bunt properly. Good start, but Ryo-san walked by the field and thought that Sawamura was trying to molest his brother.
Kuramochi put the pen down, feeling a sudden chill at the memory, but also a pang of frustration. It could have worked, what with Sawamura meticulously positioning Haruichi’s arms and legs to get a perfect bunt. With a sigh, Kuramochi resumed writing.
We managed to save Sawamura. Miyuki laughed. Curse him.
Moving on, Nori offered to teach Sawamura how to pitch sideways, holding his hand and arm and all. Very convincing. I’m sure I saw Miyuki look at them strangely, but Furuya got jealous of Sawamura and demanded that Nori teaches him too. Plan backfired. Damn those aces.
Kuramochi closed his notebook and checked the clock, which displayed 11pm. With a bit of luck, sleep would bring him new ideas.
Behind him, in the lower bunk, he heard Sawamura muttering something between two snores; something that sounded very much like ‘Miyuki Kazuya you bastard’.
He rolled his eyes.
October 3rd
My suspicions were confirmed. Kuramochi and the other guys are obviously plotting something, but I’ve no idea what yet. Today they kept clinging to Sawamura for some reason, particularly the first-years. And Nori even tried teaching Sawamura sidearm pitching. He kept touching him everywhere. Not that I was annoyed by it, but Nori should know that sidearm pitching is counterproductive for Sawamura.
And he didn’t need to touch him everywhere like that.
‘Not that I’m annoyed by that fact’, Miyuki repeated in his head as he closed his diary and went to sleep.
Entry #2
Objective: make the shitty captain jealous through Chris-senpai
Outcome: failure
Details: Not sure what went wrong here. Given Sawamura’s natural obsession for Chris-senpai, this one should have been a piece of cake. We made sure to have Miyuki around and started quizzing Sawamura on Chris-senpai… I don’t even want to know how he knows the exact number and colour of each of Chris-senpai’s shirts, jackets and trousers. As expected, Sawamura kept praising Chris-senpai between every answer.
And before we knew it, Miyuki and Tanba-senpai also joined in, competing with Sawamura over who knew Chris-senpai best (note to self: Chris-senpai’s favourite cake is the opera). Kanemaru and I had to stop them before war broke out. In the end I guess Sawamura still got the upper hand, sort of.
This wasn’t how it was supposed to go. Miyuki, you were supposed to be jealous that Sawamura prefers Chris-senpai over you!!
Never underestimate the power of creeps.
October 4th
I can’t believe I lost to Bakamura. Then again, how am I supposed to know that Chris-senpai’s first mitt was given to him by a neighbour back in the US? How did Bakamoron get the info? How does he know Chris-senpai better than I do, despite arriving a year after me? I need to update my data on Chris-senpai.
Then punish Sawamura.
“We should go for a more direct approach,” Toujou declared. “Maybe, something like an indirect kiss.”
Haruichi almost choked. He and Toujou were currently studying in the school library, the relative silence broken by Toujou’s sudden words. “I-I’m sorry, what?” Haruichi stuttered, his cheeks taking on a pink tint.
“For Sawamura and Miyuki-senpai, I mean.”
“Oh that, right. Hm so, you’re suggesting that we need to set it up for them to k-kiss indirectly?” Haruichi asked, hardly able to conceal his embarrassment.
“Yes, for instance, have them share a snack of some sort or swapping their bottles of water and pointing it out after they drank from them.”
“It sounds feasible. You should go and talk to Kuramochi-senpai about it,” Haruichi said with a smile.
Entry #3
Objective: Indirect kiss
Outcome: failure
Details: Toujou’s idea: wait till the stupid battery is in the bullpen and swap their drinking bottles. Kanemaru managed that part. Sawamura and Miyuki didn’t notice anything. We were close to succeeding, but right when they were about to drink, Haruno came with a tray of rice balls, tripped and fell. Bottles were scattered everywhere. Couldn’t figure out which one was whose. We were THAT close, dammit!
(Note to self: next time, remember to take a picture of Miyuki being squished flat by Sawamura and Haruno).
The next move was closer to what Maezono had suggested at the very beginning, except that they wouldn’t be locking Miyuki and Sawamura in a room at night. They’d just leave them alone in the baths after practice. It was an ideal setting for two males to bond; a relaxed atmosphere with naked bodies easing their soreness away in the steamy pool, a nice view of bare chests and fit shoulders dripping with hot water, the intimacy of–
“Seriously Zono, shut up. You make me sick,” Kuramochi snarled. “We don’t need so many details.”
“Right, sorry about that,” Maezono apologized, slightly embarrassed at himself.
“So, all we have to do is leave as soon as Miyuki and Sawamura step into the bath, right? But how do we make sure they even get there together?” Kanemaru asked. “Sawamura usually stays late to run or pitch extra.”
“Ideally we’d need someone to hold them back for a little while, that way we can have time to shower until they arrive,” Shirasu said.
“We could ask the girls to do that,” Kanemaru offered.
Kuramochi shook his head. “That won’t work. Miyuki’s sure to suspect something since the girls hardly talk to him.”
“Then how about us?” a voice asked from behind him.
Kuramochi turned round. “Ryo-san!
The latter wasn’t alone. Several other third-years were standing there too, creating a gathering in the school corridor that didn’t fail to attract curious gazes from other students.
“Haruichi told me you guys were up to no good,” Ryosuke said, the devilish grin on his lips telling that he definitely approved of it.
“So we came to help,” Miyauchi declared, arms crossed, exhaling through his nose.
The first and second-years’ faces displayed surprise. “Really?” Maezono asked.
“What use are the third-years if not to help you?” Tanba said very seriously.
“It is for the greater good,” Tetsu nodded. “During the time I was captain, I failed to take any efficient action regarding Miyuki and Sawamura, and the entire team’s mental health suffered from my inability to–”
“Yes, yes,” Ryosuke cut him off before addressing his juniors again. “Back to the point, what you need is to keep Miyuki and Sawamura busy on the field so you guys can be done with the baths before they come, is that it?”
Kuramochi nodded. “That’s pretty much the idea, yes.”
“Then Tanba and I can deal with that,” Tetsu said. “Miyuki and Sawamura will be less suspicious if we drop by the field to offer them some pieces of advice on baseball.”
“That’d be great!” Kanemaru exclaimed, and a few others followed suit.
“Leave this to us!” Tanba declared with the confidence of an ace.
“And we’ll be spying on them in the bath from outside,” Ryosuke added all naturally.
The first part of the plan – keeping Miyuki and Sawamura busy at the end of practice – went without a hitch. Unfortunately, as no plan ever ran smoothly, by the time Tetsu and Tanba were done explaining the duties of a captain and a pitcher to Miyuki and Sawamura respectively, the other first-stringers weren’t completely done showering. As a consequence, when Miyuki and Sawamura stepped into the baths, they were granted the privilege of witnessing a rather unique scene: their teammates rushing – more or less clothed – out of the place; Asou tripping over a stool, Higasa forgetting a sock, and Kanemaru slipping and ramming into Toujou, among other things. Kuramochi was the quickest, obviously.
Despite the few incidents, they still managed to get outside, where the third-years were already settled to spy on Miyuki and Sawamura through the fogged windows.
“You guys were too slow!” Ryosuke scolded them.
“Sorry, sorry,” Kuramochi apologized quickly. “So, how is it going inside?”
“This should be promising,” Kanemaru said. “Since it’s only the two of them, they have no choice but to wash each other’s back. It’ll be a good start.”
Sadly enough, hardly a minute passed before the door of the bathroom opened, letting a newcomer inside. Kuramochi cursed under his breath.
“Who’s the freaking retard who– Oh. Well, fuck.”
A collective round of sighs was heard.
Entry #4
Objective: Leave the shitty captain and the moronic pitcher together in the baths
Outcome: failure
Details: HOW COULD WE FORGET THAT COACH KATAOKA ALSO TAKES HIS BATHS THERE???
October 7th
...What the hell?
P.S.: Sawamura’s tan kind of fits him. And his skin’s pretty soft. Must be whatever soap he uses.
A crisis meeting was called in Kanemaru’s room (which was also Chris’s room, incidentally). The Seidou players were determined to see their mission through till the end, and the first few failures would definitely not stop them. There was one slight problem though: their supply of ideas was slowly but surely wearing thin. This left them with very few options, one of which was Ryosuke’s debatable idea of drugging Sawamura and shackling him to Miyuki’s bed.
“Chris, we could really do with your wisdom right now,” Tanba addressed the catcher. The latter gave up trying not to be part of this, though it was only reluctantly that he joined the conversation.
“Why don’t you ask Isashiki? If anyone is knowledgeable in that area, it would be him,” he sighed.
“Jun-senpai?” Kanemaru’s face lit up. “Oh! He is the shoujo master!”
Kuramochi punched his fist into the palm of his hand. “Alright, desperate times call for desperate measures! Let’s ask Jun-san!”
Entry #5
Jun-san was in the second we asked him. I think he’s even more fired up than we are. Good. Gotta say I’m impressed by the collection of shoujo manga he got out of his shelves. That should provide enough resources for us. Now I gotta prepare for the next attempt. Will come back later to report on the result.
Entry #5 (2nd part)
Objective: Scare Sawamura with a horror movie and have him crawl into the shitty captain’s lap
Outcome: Not sure about this one. Not too bad, I guess.
Details: Ryo-san lent us one of his movies and we all squatted in Miyuki’s room, as usual. First, we made sure that Sawamura didn’t know what type of movie it was, for surprise’s sake. Then we made sure that Sawamura and Miyuki sat beside each other. When the scary stuff started popping up, Miyuki just laughed at Sawamura for being such a scaredy cat. This guy really isn’t helping. Haruichi pretended to be scared and grabbed onto Ryo-san to give Sawamura some ideas. THAT MORON SAWAMURA ENDED UP GRABBING ONTO RYO-SAN AS WELL. HOW STUPID CAN HE BE?
Jun-san kicked him away before I could get him in a headlock. But there was a good sign: I saw Miyuki twitch. That was when we made our very first breakthrough! Something terrifying must have happened in the movie because Sawamura climbed on Miyuki’s bunk and hid under the blanket. Stayed there until the movie was over. When Ryo-san teased Miyuki about that, he just shrugged. Pretty sure he blushed, though. He freaking BLUSHED! We’re getting somewhere. At the end of the movie, we tried to convince Miyuki to leave Sawamura in his bed since he didn’t want to get out from under the blanket, but the shitty captain got pissed off. Too bad.
October 15th
Another busy night after a week of respite. I’m seriously contemplating moving to another room, far away from the dorms. Ryo-san brought one of his movies again. I don’t particularly fancy the horror genre, but I have to say this one was entertaining. I’ll have to ask Ryo-san for the title again. At some point Sawamura wanted to leave, but for some reason the guys wouldn’t let him. So instead he ended up hiding in my bed.
When the movie was over, Kuramochi wanted to leave Sawamura there. I thought he was joking, as usual, but then Tetsu-san approved of the idea, saying that it may be best if I stayed with Sawamura in case he had nightmares. If it was only Tetsu-san, I’d have believed it was only good intentions. The problem was that everyone else also agreed, which takes me back to my prior belief that the guys are definitely up to something regarding Sawamura. I know he makes an easy target, but they should be careful not to do anything that could hinder Sawamura’s performance. No matter how stupid, he’s still our one and only southpaw.
Miyuki closed his diary and stretched his arms with a yawn. Thanks to the movie, it was way past his usual bedtime. He climbed on his bunk, sighing at the mess that Sawamura had made with the sheets, and collapsed on the mattress, burying his face in the pillow. The faint scent of Sawamura’s shampoo tickled his nose; surprisingly enough, it didn’t feel unpleasant at all.
October 20th
I’m not sure if it’s just my imagination, but the boys have been looking distracted for the past few days. Today Shirasu missed two easy balls and Zono kept hitting fouls. Sawamura is still pitching normally, though.
October 21st
Shirasu and Zono were better today, but it was Asou who couldn’t stop popping the ball up. Kawakami tripped twice while running. Is there a disease spreading? Sawamura is still pitching normally. Also, today they insisted we eat spaghetti for some reason. I suspected poisoning, so I let Sawamura finish all the plate. He looks fine.
“This is bad,” Kuramochi reported darkly. “We aren’t getting any results and some of us are starting to lose it.”
“Have you tried all the ideas I gave you?” Jun asked.
“We’re going through them,” Kuramochi said, flipping through the pages of his notebook. “Yesterday we tried the shared plate of spaghetti, the day before yesterday was the cheesy movie at the cinema with the shared ice cream, the day before was–”
“OK, OK, I get it. Everything has ended in failure and now you guys can’t focus on practice,” Jun said, his voice heavy with reproach.
“That’s more or less it,” Kuramochi admitted with embarrassment.
“This isn’t good at all,” Tetsu said. “We can’t have you first-strings lose focus over such an issue. Maybe you should temporarily give up on your plans regarding Miyuki and Sawamura.”
“Miyuki and Sawamura are basically the source of all the problems,” Ryosuke pointed out. “And though I’m not particularly happy to hear your guys are weak enough to have your performance affected by this, I can also understand the mental strain it puts on you.”
“Mental strain or not, it’s not an excuse to practice poorly,” Jun groaned. “We’ve gotta deal with this quickly before you guys get completely useless. I’ll go and dig up more ideas.”
November 9th
I still haven’t been able to get Kuramochi or anyone else to tell me what’s going on. It looks like they’re keeping practice consistent and efficient, but I can see they’re still distracted by something. I called a meeting with Kuramochi and Zono, but they told me it must be some kind of temporary exhaustion due to low temperatures and all the colds that have been spreading around. I don’t buy it, and neither does the coach. At the same time, they’re still trying to do weird things with Sawamura. He doesn’t seem to mind, though a more plausible explanation is that he hasn’t realized that the whole team is playing pranks on him. Today Sawamura lost his jersey during practice. I’m pretty sure the guys must have hidden it somewhere, though. I had to lend Bakamura my jersey before he caught a cold. They say idiots don’t catch colds, but this one is on a whole other level of idiocy, one that could totally overturn the rule.
As Miyuki put down his pen, the words ‘boyfriend jersey’ popped up in his head. He quickly dismissed the thought. First, Sawamura wasn’t his boyfriend. Second, well… Sawamura wasn’t his boyfriend. Period.
Chris and Kanemaru’s room was buzzing with activity; the almost-daily meetings having turned into a routine of some sort. Tonight the Seidou boys were having a review of the past month’s results.
“There seems to be some progress, but nothing really obvious,” Kuramochi brooded.
“They’re trying our patience,” Ryosuke added. “And it’s harming the team’s overall performance.”
Tetsu nodded, his arms crossed. “This can’t go on forever, or Seidou will never get to Nationals.”
“The coach even asked Zono and me if there was something wrong,” the shortstop said. “Had to lie to him.”
“I still stand by my idea to tie Sawamura up in Miyuki’s bed,” Ryosuke said. “Naked.”
General murmurs of approbation were heard in the room, while a few – including Haruichi – coughed slightly in an attempt at dismissing the suggestion.
Kuramochi sighed. “I don’t get it. We’ve tried about all the known clichés from Jun-san’s manga. How can they be so impermeable?”
“Worst of all, they still keep acting like they’re married on the field,” Shirasu sighed. “My eyes bleed just looking at them.”
“Tell me about it,” Jun ranted. “I’ve used up almost all of the ideas I could find in my sister’s manga.”
“Shirasu, did you just say ‘on the field’?” To everyone’s surprise, it was Chris who had just spoken.
“Yes? What about it?”
“I was thinking… maybe you should try another approach,” Chris explained. “See, Miyuki and Sawamura are the closest when playing games, particularly because they’re both very aggressive in the way they play. You could use that fact to our advantage.”
Tetsu nodded again. “I see, you intend to use the momentum created by the synergy that already exists between them and that peaks when in the heat of a game and give them the extra push they need for them to come to a fitting conclusion.”
“… Something like that.”
“I’m surprised you’re willing to help, Chris,” Jun noted with a grin.
The catcher sighed and shook his head. “The faster you’re done with this, the faster this room returns to its quiet state,” he said. “In any case, you have a practice game with Yakushi next week, don’t you?”
“Right! That would be the perfect time to do something. Though the ‘something’ has yet to be defined,” Maezono stated.
“I have a plan,” Kuramochi said. “But we’ll need Sanada’s cooperation there.”
Sanada’s cooperation was quickly gained. As soon as Kuramochi explained the situation, he burst out laughing and agreed on the spot.
“I feel for you guys, really,” he said with sympathy. “Alright! What do you want me to do?”
“You and Todoroki are pretty close, right?” Kuramochi asked, glancing at the batter who was currently swinging his bat furiously as means of warming up.
Sanada cocked an eyebrow, though he hardly looked troubled by the question. “I suppose we are, yes,” he answered with an amused smile. “Your point being?”
“I was thinking you could sorta rile up our battery a bit. Like, telling them they aren’t close enough and forcing them to get even closer if they want to beat you and Todoroki,” Kuramochi explained before he added quickly: “Don’t get me wrong, we will beat you, regardless of what happens with Sawamura and Miyuki!”
Sanada laughed again. “As if! But are you sure they’ll take the bait? Miyuki is a particularly sensible person, from what I gathered.”
“But Sawamura is not. He’s an idiot, he’ll jump in head first and Miyuki will eventually follow after him.”
“How can you be so sure?”
Instead of answering, Kuramochi merely motioned with his head to the bullpen where Sawamura was standing with both fists up and shouting something about pummeling Yakushi. Around him were Shirasu, who merely rolled his eyes, and Kanemaru who was yelling at the pitcher to seriously shut the hell up. Then there was Miyuki, trying to look annoyed and completely failing at it. He swung an arm around Sawamura’s shoulders and spoke a few words to him with that typical cocky smirk of his. Whatever he said turned Sawamura’s grin even broader and the two of them went for a round of sniggering, hiding their faces behind Miyuki’s mitt.
Sanada sweatdropped and pinched the bridge of his nose. “Say no more. I get it. And I really feel for you if that’s what you have to go through all day long.”
Kuramochi snorted. “It is.”
“Are you sure they aren’t going out?” Sanada insisted.
“Certain.”
“Alright, we’ll try to do something. I have a pretty good idea of what to do, in fact. You owe me one, mister Cheetah,” Sanada smirked.
Entry #12
Objective: Taunt Miyuki and Sawamura into realizing they’re goddamn married
Outcome: Unexpected
Details: Can’t say I saw that one coming. No one did. Sanada is a great man. He and Todoroki provoked our battery alright and Sawamura fell for it hook, line and sinker. Sanada must have said something to Miyuki when he was in the batter box because he asked for much more aggressive pitches afterwards. Coach Kataoka must have noticed something but he didn’t say anything, probably because we were in the lead. He told Sawamura to cool down in the end though. That idiot got so worked up he gave a home-run to Todoroki. Is that a running joke or something? Now for the best part. The game was cancelled because of the rain. We tied. And right before going back to their school, Sanada told Bakamura and the shitty captain that they’d have beaten the crap out of us if it wasn’t raining. Told them it’s because he and Todoroki have a much stronger bond, even if they’re not a battery. Sawamura asked for proof.
Kuramochi paused, rubbing his temples and taking some time to visualize the scene once again. He resumed writing.
Sanada gave him proof.
He kissed Todoroki.
I’m not kidding.
Sanada freaking kissed Todoroki. Their teammates just told them not to do that here, meaning it’s not the first time they did it. Sawamura probably lost his few remaining brain cells. Miyuki was frozen stiff. Had to kick him several times for him to move again. Good point is, it’ll give our retard battery some ideas. Guys and I all agreed to pay for Sanada and Todoroki’s barbecue next time they come here.
November 13th
Dear ancestors in heaven, something surrealistic happened today. I need help. Mental help.
I can’t believe Sanada and Todoroki are in that kind of relationship. That was a very low blow from them.
What Miyuki chose not to write down – prying eyes were everywhere – was the fact that, for a lapse of a second, he pictured himself and Sawamura instead of the Yakushi players. He blamed that moment of weakness on the account of a temporary brain dysfunction, resulting from the shock.
I’m positive Kuramochi has something to do with this, though when I questioned him on it, he feigned ignorance. I saw him talking to Sanada prior to the game, but he told me it was just plain courtesy talk to welcome them. As if anyone can believe that.
Second striking fact of the day: Sawamura came to my room after the game and demanded that I kiss him so we could be stronger than Sanada and Todoroki. Someone please, please give Sawamura a few brain cells. I’m not asking for much. Just a couple of working brain cells would already be a dramatic improvement from his current state of idiocy. I just pretended I heard nothing and shut the door. Who knows what could have happened if I had agreed to his request? His idiocy may be transmittable through a kiss, for all I know. I made the right decision.
November 14th
He ran after me the whole day, asking me again to kiss him. He also came back to my room again tonight. I told him that practicing was a safer bet than kissing if he wants to be stronger than Sanada. He looked like he was thinking hard about it, but who am I fooling? Sawamura can’t think.
November 15th
Same thing today. Whoever said that tomorrow is another day was badly mistaken.
November 16th
Oh my god. Is this a joke?
November 17th
I told Kuramochi about it. He found it very funny and told me to roll with it. The bastard. I’m tempted to do it if it means Sawamura will leave me alone. That would be the only reason I’d do it. There is no other reason at all.
November 18th
…I did it, but only on his forehead, because an actual kiss would be asking for too much. He grinned like an idiot. I hope no one saw this, or it’ll be the end of me.
Entry #12 (appendix)
HAHAHAHAHAHAHA. Next time he comes, I gotta tell Sanada that we’re paying for ten barbecues.
November 19th
He asked for another one. I did it, but told him this was the last one. I don’t want this to become a habit, no matter how much he smiles at me. But if I stop, then it means he’ll also stop smiling at me. I actually don’t mind when he smiles like that. Should I continue?
Miyuki shook his head and hastily crossed out the last sentence. What on earth was he thinking?
Entry #13
Objective: have them share an umbrella
Outcome: failure
Details: Forecast said it’d be raining today, so we hid Miyuki’s umbrella and had Sawamura ‘accidentally’ know that Miyuki forgot his umbrella. Kanemaru said that, as expected, as soon as classes ended, Sawamura rushed to the exit to wait for Miyuki. Problem was, a girl overheard Miyuki saying he couldn’t find his umbrella and that’s how he ended up five minutes later with an army of girls battling to share one with him. Sawamura freaked out when he saw that and left on his own.
I hate girls. I hate the shitty captain even more for being popular with girls. No one would have offered me an umbrella if I had forgotten mine. But now isn’t the time to mope.
November 21st
The one day I lose my umbrella is the day it rains. I don’t understand how I managed to lose it. Tanba-san apparently found it in a corridor and brought it back to me after school. I wish he’d have found it earlier. It’d have saved me the trouble of having a dozen girls offering me their own umbrellas. It was rather annoying and tiring. Also, it’s been raining almost nonstop the entire day, so practice has been cancelled. Great.
Last event of the day: I had a hunch that Sawamura would do something stupid since there was no practice, so I went to the field just in case. Naturally, that idiot was running out in the rain. He wasn’t even wearing a coat! I can’t believe it! Just how far does he intend to push the limits of stupidity?! In any case, I had to drag him back by the collar to his room. I left instructions with Kuramochi to beat him to a pulp and make sure he took a bath. In that order. I seriously can’t believe it. I swear, if he catches a cold tomorrow I’m going to make his convalescence hell on earth. And thanks to him, my shoulder was all wet.
On the same night, most of the Seidou boys’ phones received a message from Toujou with an attached picture. It showed Sawamura wearing Miyuki’s coat, while the latter was holding an umbrella for the both of them. Kuramochi hurriedly edited the outcome of today’s entry on his journal.
Entry #14
Objective: nurse Sawamura back to health
Outcome: failure
Details: Bakamura caught a cold (note to self: amazing). Of course we all thought of having Miyuki take care of him. We dumped Bakamura at the nurse’s office to make sure he stayed in bed. I asked if someone could stay with him but nurse said no. Damn. I think I saw Miyuki disappear briefly during lunch time though, but can’t tell for sure if he went to see Bakamura. Just before practice, we tried to convince Miyuki to stay with him in the room to make sure he rested, but the shitty captain refused. Said it’s not his job or something. Tonight Bakamura looks better, said he’d be over in Haruichi’s room to play some games. Weird. He looked a bit too happy. Not sure what kind of games they’re gonna play. Gotta pray he doesn’t contaminate anyone with his cold.
November 22nd
The moron caught a cold, as expected, which confirms my theory that, though idiocy can protect you against colds, there's a limit to how much. I did a quick check on him during lunch at the infirmary, he was sleeping soundly. A change from his usual noisy self. The nurse said he should recover quickly, and she was right. Tonight he was so restless that he kept sending me messages to play catch with him. I gave in (I’m ashamed to admit it). He was so enthusiastic, we didn’t notice time pass. It was almost midnight when we came back to the dorms. He said he was afraid of waking his roommates up and asked to crash in my room instead.
Miyuki paused. The peace of his room was only disrupted by a soft snoring coming from his bunk. He sighed silently. Where was he going to sleep tonight?
He’d better pay me some coffee later.
Kuramochi put his breakfast tray on the table next to Haruichi. “Sawamura spent the night in your room?” he asked the younger boy. The latter tilted his head on the side, visibly surprised.
“No, he didn’t. Why?”
“Well he didn’t come back last night, so I thought he stayed over after you played games.”
Haruichi looked more and more confused. “Games?”
Kuramochi frowned. “He told me he went to your room to play games.”
“I didn’t see Eijun-kun at all yesterday.”
“Then where the hell did he disappear to?”
At that very moment, Miyuki entered the room, sneezing, followed by Sawamura who had completely recovered.
There was sudden silence.
The other Seidou boys glanced at each other.
“No fucking way,” Kuramochi swore.
Entry #15
Objective: nurse Miyuki back to health (though I’d have preferred letting the shitty captain die)
Outcome: utter failure
Details: Does this really need details? Sawamura is the worst nurse ever. We sent him to take care of Miyuki. Kept nagging him to play catch with him so he would recover faster. He was so noisy even I felt bad for Miyuki. We ended up kicking him out of Miyuki’s room. Freaking idiot. I’m through with him.
November 23rd
Someone please save me.
P.S.: never sleep in the same bed as Sawamura when he’s sick. He snuggled against me the entire night. I should have kicked him out of the bed. I should have. I’m too kind.
P.P.S.: It wasn’t unpleasant though. He doesn’t snore too loud and he kept me warm. I should consider doing this again; it may come in handy.
P.P.P.S.: Sawamura changed his shampoo. It smells nice. Makes his hair soft too.
Miyuki stretched his arms, deciding to call it a day. As he climbed onto his bunk, he tried to ignore the warm and funny feeling pooling in his stomach. The bed felt slightly too spacious – and slightly empty, too.
November 24th
I went to Tetsu-san for some advice about the team. I’m not sure I’m currently handling it well. I can’t seem to find a way to get the team more focused. We played well against Yakushi and the coach was satisfied, so I’m not too worried, but today even Kuramochi started making blunders. Tetsu-san assured me there is nothing wrong with the team and he’s convinced that everybody here is, I quote, ‘doing their very best for the team’s sake and the greater good’. He didn’t want to give me more details when I asked what he meant by ‘greater good’. Instead he merely asked how things were going between me and Sawamura. I’m even more confused. The bad feeling I’ve been having for weeks is just getting worse, especially if the third-years are involved somehow.
The mood in room 202 could have competed with that of a burial. Gloom was painted all over the third-years’ faces, while the rest of the first-string players were more divided between resignation, frustration and exasperation.
“We need some sort of miracle, a saviour or something,” Kanemaru let out, sprawled over his bed.
“Are you sure you don’t want to–” Ryosuke started, but Jun cut him in:
“Yes, yes, we’re all sure we don’t want to tie Sawamura to Miyuki’s bed. Just give up with that already, will you?”
“I’m starting to wonder if we shouldn’t go with that, after all,” Kuramochi mumbled.
Toujou sighed. “At this point, we have to try everything we can. I’m even ready to go with the death threats plan.”
“Or we can keep their families hostage,” Asou suggested.
“I’d appreciate it if you didn’t start plotting crimes in my room,” Chris said.
“In any case, let’s call it a day. We’ll see if tomorrow brings us the miracle we need,” Kuramochi said.
“Rei, you have noticed too, haven’t you?” Kataoka asked.
“That the kids have been acting strangely? Yes, I have,” Rei nodded. “Except for Sawamura-kun and Miyuki-kun, who are performing as usual.”
“I’ve talked with Kuramochi and Maezono, but there doesn’t seem to be any major team issue.”
Rei cocked an eyebrow and smiled. “So you don’t know where the problem lies?”
“I concede defeat, but from your tone I assume that you have an idea.”
“Of course I do. A bit of observation tells you everything you need to know.”
“As a coach, I’m ashamed to say I haven’t noticed anything,” Kataoka said.
“Your coaching abilities aren’t to blame. Let’s say it’s more a matter of… sensitivity, I guess?”
“Then can you do something about this situation?”
“I’ll try,” Rei answered, then with a sigh, she added: “Teens nowadays are such a pain…”
When Miyuki was summoned into the coach’s office, he didn’t expect to find Rei there, and only Rei. As he stepped inside, she greeted him:
“Ah, Miyuki-kun, please take a seat,” she motioned to the couch. As he complied, she planted herself in front of him, her arms crossed and her glasses glinting eerily.
“Now, let’s get straight to the point,” she declared without a hint of her usual smile. “Do you know why you’re here?”
Miyuki frowned. If it was about the team’s strange behaviour lately, then coach Kataoka should be there as well.
“I have no idea,” he answered eventually.
“You are here,” Rei went on slowly, “Because you and Sawamura are impeding the team’s performance. You’re preventing all of your teammates from focusing on baseball.”
Too shocked for words, it took Miyuki a few seconds to react. “Could you please be more specific? I don’t understand. What did Sawamura and I do?”
“The two of you are indecisive. As a captain, you should know that indecision is worse than no decision at all. And that indecision of yours is affecting the rest of the team.”
“Indecision? If you’re talking about my pitch calls, then I believe that on the contrary–”
“Forget about baseball for a second, Miyuki-kun,” Rei cut him in abruptly.
“If it’s not about baseball, then I really fail to see your point.”
“Try thinking about it a bit harder,” Rei said, and somehow it sounded almost like a threat. Had she always looked that scary?
Miyuki suddenly wished he could turn invisible and slip away from this place. As it was unfortunately not within his human abilities, he settled with frowning and biting his lower lip in an attempt at searching for the reason of Rei’s summoning. Several seconds passed and yet nothing came to mind.
“May I ask for a hint, perhaps?” he ventured, feeling Rei’s patience wearing thin.
Rei let out an exasperated sigh. “How do you feel about Sawamura?” she asked back sharply.
The question caught Miyuki off guard. First Tetsu, now Rei too? Why were they all asking about Sawamura and him? He felt his pulse speeding up in spite of himself while random thoughts started mixing messily in his head. Thoughts about Sawamura. Sawamura grinning at him, Sawamura chasing after him, Sawamura nestled against him… His body felt hot all of a sudden, though he was pretty sure it had nothing to do with the room temperature. He wasn’t used to this. As a captain, he was supposed to keep a cool head; his mind was supposed to be clear and collected at all time, not confused and clouded as it currently was.
“Miyuki-kun,” Rei’s icy tone made him freeze. “You seem to have some trouble. Very well. Now please listen well because I will not repeat myself.”
Miyuki nodded, bracing himself for whatever was coming.
November 27th
…I’m at a loss for words. According to Rei-chan, I need to ‘make up my mind about how I feel about Sawamura and deal with it quickly’. And she actually implied Sawamura and I would face expulsion if we don’t do something about this, as we are apparently rendering our teammates useless. Expulsion! Seriously? I'm the captain, I'm a genius catcher and a clean-up, for crying out loud! And I fail to see how my relationship with Sawamura has anything to do with the other guys, but I guess I do have to do something if I don’t want Rei-chan to kick me out.
This is unbelievable.
Miyuki removed his glasses and rubbed his tired eyes. He kept them closed, using the opportunity to ponder on Rei’s words. What was the problem with how he felt towards Sawamura? They were a battery, they worked well during games and no matter how much he liked picking on Sawamura, they were never on bad terms. That much was clear in his head, and he was certainly not conflicted about it.
Or...
One by one, he started recalling about everything that had happened for the past few weeks. It all began clicking slowly in his head: his teammates’ strange behaviour, and all the unusual events involving him and Sawamura.
So, that was all it was about. He let out a long sigh. What a nice bunch of teammates he had.
Now all that was left was to take action.
November 28th
I can’t believe his answer was: ‘Yes! Now we can beat the crap out of Sanada and Raichi!’ Is that what one is supposed to answer when being asked out?
For God’s sake, what the hell have I gotten myself into?
Entry #15
MISSION: COMPLETE. It’s a success. Miracle occurred. Saviour came. Whoever that was. We are saved. The team is saved. We’re going to Nationals.
“Miyuki Kazuya!” Sawamura bellowed, his index finger pointing resolutely at the object of his fury. Said object cocked an eyebrow, the faint smirk on his lips betraying his failed attempt at looking annoyed.
“Such energy so early in the morning, Sawamura,” he said as he adjusted his catcher’s gear. “How about you put that energy into batting properly?”
“I’m a pitcher, so I put my energy into pitching! And don’t change the topic!”
Not so far from there, a group of boys were watching the scene.
“Is it me or does it feel like déjà vu?” Kanemaru asked.
“It’s totally déjà vu,” Kuramochi nodded, “except that– GODDAMMIT GET A ROOM, YOU TWO!” he suddenly yelled at Miyuki who was currently groping Sawamura’s ass to prompt him to the bullpen.
As an answer, Miyuki merely smirked evilly before pulling Sawamura to him and kissing him full on the lips, taking his sweet time so Sawamura would turn a deep shade of crimson. He was given the pleasure of hearing a string of insults coming from his teammates. That would teach them to plot behind his back.
Entry #16
What on earth have we done?