Chapter Text
Last year, July…
A roar of cheers echoed throughout the baseball stadium where the final game of the Tokyo Regional Tournament is being held. The teams’ respective school bands play their school’s anthem as encouragement to their team.
The fielders of the opposite team positioned themselves far away as they expect a long ball coming from the clean-up hitter of Otonakizaka Academy.
“Go Eli-chan!!!” A loud cheer came from the Otonakizaka’s dugout as Eli prepared to bat again after two strikes and two balls.
“Eli! My life on being drafted as a pro baseball player hangs on you! Hit it hard!” Nico also shouted out from the dugout. Eli’s lips crooked up a little from Nico’s remark as she tried to focus on the pitcher.
As she drowned out the cheers from the stands, Eli gripped her bat tightly as the pitcher began her fifth pitch. Like in a slow motion, she caught the trajectory of the ball and saw the inside pitch. She swung her bat strongly, but her eyes widened up as the ball began to break towards her.
‘Sinker!’
She began to try to change the position of her bat to cope with the changed trajectory, but it was a bit late as the ball hit below the sweet spot of the barrel and near the handle of the bat. The bat vibrated badly as Eli’s eyes widened up when she heard a small crack somewhere. She didn’t mind it at the moment as she watched the ball that she hit fly over the glove of the second baseman that jumped out, trying to catch the ball.
‘Please fall!’ Eli mentally shouted as she ran with all her might to the first base as Umi, who is at the third base, ran towards the home plate.
The ball passed through the second baseman and fell at the middle of center field and the second base. The crowd roared widely as Umi slid through the home plate. Umi shouted in triumph as the scoreboard flipped from 5-4 to 5-5; they have tied the game at the top of the last inning.
Standing on the first base, Eli tried to put out a guts pose as the team celebrated the tied game because now, they have a chance again to win the game. But as she tried to close her right hand, she felt a flash of pain course through and she bit her lip to not let out a cry of pain. She felt cold sweat wash through her as she slowly removed her batting gloves to assess the damage. Even without looking at it, she knew that she might have fractured or worse, broken a part of her hand.
Her internal struggle was interrupted when their team’s next batter took the batter’s box. She shook her head and focused her head back in the game, but unfortunately, their fifth batter struck out on a perfectly placed fastball on the outside.
She slowly jogged right back at the dugout and was glomped by her teammates. “Eli-chan!!! You’re the best!!!” A couple of third years congratulation her on her RBI. “Come on girls, let Eli get her gear and let’s protect the score, okay?” Their team captain said to them.
Eli thanked the team before proceeding to the back of the dugout to wear her catcher’s gear. Nozomi helped her wear it as she said to her, “Ericchi, is something wrong? I can see it in your face, you know.” Eli stopped for a bit before continuing to fix her shin guards. “Hm? Everything’s fine, Nozomi. Let’s just focus on not letting them score this inning, okay?”
As Eli strapped on the remaining part of her gear, she stood up and said, “Let’s go?” she then proceeded to move out to the field. Nozomi, on the other hand, can’t help but get worried at Eli, “She’s sweating so much and seems…” She stopped and shook her head to get focused on the game. She followed Eli out to the field and proceeded to the pitcher’s mound.
Nozomi got her rosin bag from her pocket and powdered her hand to prevent the ball from slipping in her pitches. She looked at Eli who is crouching at the home plate as she prepared to pitch at Eli’s orders. Eli smiled at her before placing her glove at the batter’s strike zone.
Eli positioned herself at the catcher’s box as she tried to slowly open and close her right hand. A dull, burning pain now replaced the feeling in her hand, ‘Just a bit more…’ She mentally repeated like a mantra in her head.
As the first batter of stood at the batter’s box, Eli tried to analyze her, ‘She’s a strong inside hitter, but she struck out at two consecutive at-bats with Nozomi’s slider. She might be looking forward to it again, so…’
Eli signaled Nozomi for a pitch and positioned her glove where she wanted Nozomi to pitch it. After Nozomi smiled then nodded at Eli’s instruction, she readied and winded up her first pitch. As she released the ball, the batter swung her bat and to the batter’s surprise, it wasn’t the outside slider that she was waiting for, but a perfectly placed inside fastball. The bat hit the ball weakly and the ball rolled to the direction of the third baseman, who in turn threw the ball safely at Umi in the first base.
“One out!”
Determined, the next batter then hit a big one that fell between the right and center field. Settling on the second base, the third batter then stood on the batter’s box.
‘Nozomi’s last pitch is a little high, that’s why that batter hit it. She’s almost at her limit.’ Eli worriedly thought about it as Nozomi wiped her sweat away on the pitcher’s mound. ‘She looks a bit tired in there, but I know she won’t let anybody replace her at this moment. As stubborn as me, huh Nozomi.’
Eli then instructed Nozomi to pitch an outside pitch, as she deduced that the opponent will use a squeeze play to advance their runner to third. True to her senses, as soon as Nozomi released her pitch, the batter changed her posture to a bunt position and followed through the pitch. The ball bounced towards Nozomi as it hit the edge of the batter’s bat. Nozomi picked up the ball and threw it to Umi as the base runner launched herself at the scoring position at the third base.
“Don’t mind the runner! Two outs!” Honoka shouted from the center field. It was followed by loud, thundering chants at the stands, “Two outs! Two outs! Two outs!”
As the fourth batter came in front of Eli, she released a long breath as she calmed herself down. ‘One more…’ She analyzed the batter again to assess where should Nozomi pitch the ball to get out. She first tried an outside pitch. The batter only let the ball pass through her as she analyzed the speed and trajectory of the pitch. As the pitch hit Eli’s glove, the umpire called out, “Strike!”
Eli held the ball and tried to throw it back to Nozomi when she felt a flash of pain again as she tried to grip the ball. Realizing that she could not throw it back to Nozomi properly, she stood up and called a time out to the umpire. She jogged lightly to Nozomi and stared at her as she gave back the ball. “Nozomi, two outs.” She said to her.
“Mou Ericchi, do you even need to call the time out? Or did you just missed being close to me?” Nozomi teased Eli as she tried to remove the stiff expression on Eli’s face. Eli blushed at Nozomi’s remark as she laughed lightly and replied, “Come on, and let’s finish this.”
Eli jogged back to her place and positioned herself. She opened her glove widely as she instructed Nozomi to throw her best inside pitch. When Nozomi pitched the ball, Eli’s eyes went wide when she saw the batter changed her position into a bunt.
‘Squeeze play at two outs?!’
The ball landed just in front of her as she reached and caught the ball on the ground. “Throw it to first!” She heard her teammates yell at her. Seeing that the third base runner hasn’t moved, Eli tried to throw the ball to the first base. However, when she tried to, she realized her mistake as a shooting pain went through her arm to her hand, as she lost her grip on the ball. The ball she released went wide of the direction of the first base. The third base runner saw this, and she run with all her might to the home plate.
Umi’s eyes widened up as she saw the high throw of Eli and she stretched out upwards to try and catch the throw. But in the split second that Umi caught the high ball, the batter first stepped onto the first base as the third base runner made her way home. A loud roar of cheers erupted at the stands as the Otonakizaka Academy’s opponent; UTX High scored and won the tournament. They had become the Tokyo representative to the Summer Koshien.
-
Eli couldn’t believe her eyes as their opponents celebrated their victory right in front of her. Jumping around, their opponents cried their tears of joy as they went on to hug each other in happiness. Eli slowly slumped into the ground as her closed her both her hands so hard and hit the ground repeatedly in frustration. She could not even feel her throbbing right hand as the hollow feeling in her heart was more painful than the physical pain of her hand.
A shadow entered her field of view as she felt a hand on her shoulders. Not raising her head, the person kneeled down, stopped Eli from pounding the ground and hugged her tightly. As Eli heard soft sobs coming from her, tears from Eli’s eyes fell uncontrollably as she hugged her back, “N-n-nozomi, I-it’s my fault…”
Nozomi shook her head firmly while still in Eli’s embrace, before she pushed Eli a little to face her. “No, it’s nobody’s fault, Ericchi.” She said with conviction in her eyes. People around them started to line up and Nozomi tried to reach Eli’s hand to help her stand up when Eli flinched hard when she touched her hand. “…Ericchi?” Nozomi moved her stare from Eli’s eyes that turned away to her hand. “D-did you …” She was cut off by someone calling them from behind.
“Eli, Nozomi, they’re calling us to line up.” Nico said as she tried to stop her own tears from falling out. Her pride couldn’t let her cry at this moment. The team did their best, it’s just wasn’t enough.
Nozomi looked at Nico and said to her before she stood up and left them, “Stay here with Ericchi, I’ll call the captain.” Nozomi jogged to where the rest of the team is and asked their captain, “Captain, can you come with me for a bit?” A bit confused, their captain followed Nozomi to where she left Nico and Eli. As they were walking back, Nozomi whispered to their captain, “I think Ericchi injured her hand in the game.” Their captain’s eyes widened and got worried as she jogged to Nico and Eli. She kneeled down and gently grabbed Eli’s hand to inspect it. When she saw Eli flinched and bit her lips, she asked her carefully, “When did this happen?”
Eli was not answering the questions when the umpire called them to line up for the final time in the field. Before they stood up, their captain said to them, “Hurry, let’s line up, and let the doctor assess that immediately.”
The two teams lined up with their heads held high as the umpire announced, “Score is 6-5, the winner and the one proceeding to Koshien is UTX High!!” The cheers from the stands thundered before them. The crowd from UTX was very ecstatic about their teams’ victory. As their team went back to the dugout, their captain went to their vice captain to say some instructions before leaving with the rest of the second years, “Eli’s injured. You girls can go back to the school. Don’t say anything to the rest of the team before we can confirm everything.”
-
A tense atmosphere enveloped a small room inside the stadium. Three teammates sat behind and observed the situation in front of her.
“It’s a bit tender here and it’s beginning to swell up.” The doctor commented as he was examining Eli’s hand. “You should go to the hospital and do an x-ray or an MRI, but I think you fractured your hand during the game. When did this happen?”
“…When I was batting in the 9th inning.” Eli answered with a quiet voice.
The doctor was about to say something again when Nico suddenly yelled, “Why didn’t you say anything back then?!”
“Nicocchi.” Nozomi said, trying to stop Nico from escalating the situation further.
“Ayase-san, you should have stopped playing when you injured your hand. Continuous playing may cause irreparable damage. You may have to stop playing from 6-8 weeks to let this heal perfectly depending on the final diagnosis at hospital.” The doctor calmly said to Eli before he stood up and left them. Eli just nodded from the doctor’s orders before looking at her teammates. Seeing them now just made her feel guiltier than before. Not even the caring look from Nozomi appeased what she was feeling right now. She was convinced that it was her fault that the team lost the game, that the third years will graduate without even stepping at Koshien.
Eli slowly stood up from her chair and walked towards the door. Eli stopped by the door and looked back at Nico with a tired expression and said, “Nico, sorry.” Nozomi also stood up and messaged to the other two to leave everything up to her before following Eli.
Nico was surprised at Eli and all her anger had dissipated down and turned to worry. She has never seen Eli have that kind of expression and she never apologizes that easily, whatever the circumstance is.
One year ago…
‘You know, my dream is to become a pro baseball player and make it into the major league.’ Nico told Eli as they cleaned up the baseball field after their practice.
‘I’m sure you’ll make it Nico.’ Eli replied to her with an encouraging smile.
“Haa… You’re good enough to have the powerhouse schools scout you, but for me, we need to go to Koshien so that the scouts can see me play. But our team… We haven’t even made it in the final eight of the regional tournament since the inception of our school... What a record.’ Nico sighed out loud.
‘Don’t worry Nico, I’ll make sure that we will go to Koshien this time. I promise to you that we will play baseball on the peak of summer in that stadium.’ Eli grinned and put out a V-sign as she promised Nico.
Nico deflated down in her chair and realized that Eli still remembered her promise from long ago. She didn’t realize the burden it might have caused Eli all this time.