Chapter Text
[ Group Message ]
satorin: and so the curtain rises on another school year…
satorin: what will it have in store for the shiratorizawa university baseball team?
satorin: the drama! the romance! the heart-pounding excitement of it all!
satorin: i can barely stand it…!!!
semisemi: as long as calc doesn’t kill me first we’ll see it through together
satorin: semisemi is bad at calc www
semisemi: semisemi likes practical math and this is just a bunch of greek bullshit
satorin: excuses excuses!! keep those grades up or coach-sama will kick you off first string wwwwww
ushijima.wakatoshi: You’re failing on the first day of classes?
ushijima.wakatoshi: I have excellent connections. I could find you a tutor.
semisemi: tendou is just being a smartass
ushijima.wakatoshi: The sentiment stands.
ushijima.wakatoshi: It’s the least I can do after upsetting you so badly last year you punched me in the face.
semisemi: i thought you weren’t mad about that
ushijima.wakatoshi: Directly in the face.
ushijima.wakatoshi: I did not have my mask on.
semisemi: i’m still sorry about that
ushijima.wakatoshi: Sometimes during cold weather the pain in my jaw flares up.
semisemi: you’re not allowed to spend time alone with tendou anymore
semisemi: you’re gaining a sense of humor
satorin: “ψ(｀∇´)ψ
oohira: Don’t create something you can’t control, Satori.
satorin: i can’t take credit for creating him
satorin: i only molded what was already there
satorin: ANYWAY
satorin: has anyone seen hayato
ushijima.wakatoshi: He may have lost his phone again.
oohira: He does that a lot.
oohira: We have chemistry together this semester but that was a couple hours ago and I haven’t seen him since.
oohira: I never got his room number from him.
semisemi: i swear i’m gonna glue it to his goddamn hand
semisemi: actually we’re missing jin too
soekiwi: I’m here.
soekiwi: Just a little busy unpacking the rest of my stuff before practice.
satorin: you still haven’t unpacked??
soekiwi: Coach needed my help with pre-season things and I can’t just say no.
semisemi: of course you can
semisemi: just say no
semisemi: easy as that
satorin: maybe we shouldn’t be taking advice on how to speak to coach from the guy that’s gonna lose his chance at being the ace because of his attitude www
semisemi: shut it
satorin: w[ User satorin kicked from Group Message ]
“I’m telling you, Eita,” said Tendou, waving a banana in Semi’s face. “We’re both gonna make first string this year and all our dreams are gonna come true just like we talked about last year. Koshien and beyond! Ace pitcher Eita takes Shiratorizawa University to Koshien once more!” He held the banana like a microphone and put on his best announcer voice. “Shiratorizawa hasn’t seen victory on the Koshien stage in several years, but can upcoming superstar pitcher Eita Semi turn the tides and bring honor and glory back to this powerhouse school?”
Semi grabbed the banana and replied, “First off, stop stealing my bananas. Second, let’s just see what kind of new meat we have to deal with before we go sticking our necks out to put our heads in the clouds.” He peeled the banana and shoved half of it into his mouth at once, taking a bite. “Don’t forget Jin is a pitcher too. He’s got just as much of a chance at ace as I do.”
They continued to chat as they walked to the first practice field, many of the new players already warming up before the coach showed up to line them up for introductions. A cursory glance told Semi more than enough about the new additions to the team: they all seemed, as per tradition, to be exceptional players, but the ones that caught his eye the most were the few new pitchers trading throws with each other.
In particular, the pitcher currently ignoring any other teammates in favor of throwing pitches to Ushijima in the bullpen. Semi furrowed his eyebrows as he tossed his banana peel into a nearby trash can on his way over to the dugout. Ushijima nodded in compliance with the kid’s request and Semi’s lips pursed as he put one foot up on the bench in the dugout to tighten the laces on his cleats.
He nodded his head toward the sight on the field and said, “Know anything about him?”
Tendou pulled one arm across his chest to stretch it out and said in reply, “I don’t know everyone, Semisemi. I just have a very particular brand of extroversion that allows me to procure greater amounts of information from people than the average person.” The look Semi gave him could have withered an entire rosebush. “Don’t look at me like that. Anyway, I think that’s Shirabu. Apparently he was a reliable pitcher in high school so I think we’re in good hands.” He switched arms and hummed. “He does seem pretty chummy with Wakatoshi, though. Maybe he’s got his eye on your spot.”
“Well, he can keep looking,” Semi said, unable to hide the sneer in his voice. “He can enjoy that big fat backwards K on his stats. I’ve worked too hard to lose first string to a freshman.”
“Methinks the lady doth protest too much.”
“Your accent is atrocious. And methinks the lady doth protest with enough paranoia considering everything the lady hath been through.”
Before Tendou could reply with an appropriately smartass comment, the coach stepped onto the field and called for everyone to line up with the returning players behind him and the new recruits in front of him. Semi fell into line next to Soekawa and one of the third years, hands behind his back dutifully as Washijou started from one end of the newbies and moved to the other, row by row. There was a good mix of students from all over Japan, as well as a couple international students that had come to Shiratorizawa on full scholarships much like most of the rest of the team, but Semi had his eye trained on the one Tendou had named as Shirabu the entire time.
When it came time for Shirabu to introduce himself, Semi couldn’t hold back the bark of laughter at how pretentious it was.
Washijou called out, “Next,” and Shirabu took a step forward before opening his mouth and yelling, “Kenjirou Shirabu from Ishinomaki High, and I intend to hold the ace number in my first year.” Soekawa slapped a hand over Semi’s mouth after the laugh slipped out to try to keep anything more from exacerbating the situation; thankfully, Washijou ignored him.
“Those are some big aspirations, son,” Washijou replied, arms crossed over his chest and one eyebrow raised.
Shirabu took a deep bow and said, “With respect, sir, I made it into this school with no recommendations specifically for baseball. I passed the entrance exam because I wanted to pitch for such a prestigious and powerful school, as well as pitch to such a distinguished and well-known catcher.” He stood back up and continued with, “So I won’t let anything stand in my way of doing just that.”
“I see.” Washijou turned his head slightly to look at the next player. “And you?”
“Taichi Kawanishi, also from Ishinomaki,” the boy replied, tired and with no discernible enthusiasm. “I’m here because Kenjirou’s mom pays me to babysit him and make sure he doesn’t get his ass pounded in by someone taller than him.” Shirabu made a small choking noise. “Oh, and I play second base.”
Washijou looked unimpressed.
Peeling Soekawa’s hand off his mouth, Semi said quietly enough for just him to hear, “We’re going to have an interesting year this year.”
[ Group Message ]
kamigata: I FOUND MY FUCKING PHONE HOLY SHIT GUYS I MISSED SO MUCH
kamigata: wait what time is it
kamigata: FUCK
kamigata: I MISSED PRACTICE
Semi fiddled with the lock to his room before shouldering it open, kicking it shut behind him and greeting the inhabitants of the room.
“Evening, Yoshi,” he said to his roommate. “And a good evening to you as well, Sir Squeaks-a-lot,” he said to the plain rubber duck sitting motionless on his desk.
If nothing else, after a year of living together, Morishima wasn’t phased anymore by Semi talking to his duck, which made him a damn good sport because things got weird sometimes. He regarded Semi with a raise of his hand and a, “How was practice?”
“Short,” Semi replied. “Mostly introductions then a whole lot of cardio. It’s mostly just a warm-up for tomorrow’s newbie hazing.” His phone buzzed in his pocket with a message and he pulled it out to read it. “We’ve got some interesting ones this year. One of them is determined to be the ace as a first year.”
[ New Message ]
:
?
semisemi:
semisemi:
“Don’t be too mean to him.”
He looked up from replying to his sister’s messages and put on a fake hurt expression. “Me? Mean? Never. I am the nicest person alive.”
Morishima didn’t miss a beat. “You’re an asshole.”
“Only sometimes.”
semisemi: don’t know yet, first real practice is tomorrow
semisemi: naturally
He replied with a matching heart and tossed his phone onto his bed before making quick work of unbuttoning his practice jersey and throwing it onto the back of his desk chair. As he pulled off his undershirt, he looked at his desk and squinted at it, looking to the left and right before turning around to look at Morishima. “What happened to my other ducks?”
Morishima spun around in his chair, pencil still between his fingers. “Oh. They were freaking me out so I put them in the drawer.”
“I thought I told you not to touch my ducks.”
“When the ducks interfere with my sense of personal safety when I’m alone, I touch the ducks.”
Semi shrugged. “That’s fair,” he replied, then slid open the drawer to retrieve the ducks. Once they were back in position on his desk (Sir Squeaks-a-lot flanked by a matching angel and devil set of ducks Tendou bought for him as a joke that backfired) he finished changing into a plain t-shirt and a pair of loose-fitting shorts, sitting down at his desk and opening his computer.
The program he had set up earlier that day before leaving for his classes was still running to optimize his system. Store-bought software was ineffective due to him building his own operating system, so he had no choice but to write his own code. Everything seemed to be working fine, thanks in part to a lot of rubber duck throwing a couple weeks earlier as he was trying to iron out all the issues with the code itself. But despite all his constant frustrations with missing semicolons, programming and coding brought him a sense of peace. It was nice to have something to do with his life that he actually liked doing in case anything happened with his fledgling baseball career.
He shut the lid on his computer again and bid Morishima goodnight before turning off the light on his side of the room. The true season started with practice in the morning, and he was ready to make it up to Washijou after the previous year’s tournament.
[ Group Message ]
kamigata: I’M AWAKE THIS MORNING
oohira: Look who found his phone for two days in a row.
kamigata: i seriously don’t know where it went
kamigata: like for real where the fuck does it keep going
kamigata: it’s like i set it down for two seconds then it grows legs and runs off to be in the circus
kamigata: it’s tiring
kamigata: but at least i’ll make it to practice today
kamigata: field 1 right??
oohira: Yes, field 1.
oohira: Make sure you eat all of your rice.
kamigata: sure thing dad