Chapter Text
.....'Knock knock'...
Eijun woke up by the sound of knocking on his hospital room's door.
“Come on in”.
The door opened and a girl walked in. Eijun smiled at Wakana who entered the room and settled on a chair next to Eijun’s bed. “Sorry did I wake you up?” Wakana said as she watched Eijun sit up, rub his eyes, and stretch his arms.
“It’s fine, I should've woken up by now”. Eijun said as he looked at the only thing on the wall in front of him, a boring white clock, '8:30' it read.
“Congratulations”, Wakana smiled,”you get released today right, your parents couldn't come today because grandpa is still sick, so I came here instead to congratulate you on your release”.
Eijun looked at his hands, which were resting on his lap, he smiled a little,” thank you”. His grandfather started fainting, and getting fevers every now and then, ever since Eijun entered hospital.
Wakana has been his friend ever since she remembers, and she could tell that the smile on his face right now was a hurt one.
She understood him well, hence she could easily read his mind. He blames himself for what’s happening to his grandfather, but there is nothing he can do, ever since that day Eijun has been keeping everything to himself, all the sadness, all the regrets.
She remembers that day as if it was yesterday, that dreadful day she could never forget for the rest of her life.
Approximately three months ago....................
It was the last game for the third years of akagi's baseball team, it was the bottom of the ninth inning, the score tied, and with the count at three balls and two strikes, the pressure on Eijun who was pitching right now made him throw with all his remaining power, resulting in the ball moving higher than the catcher mitt, who was unable to catch it.
“Game set”.
“Well at least we all had fun”
“Yeah we played with full power”
“We have no regrets”
“...s..ry...”
Everyone in the team who were changing out of their uniforms, trying to lift each other's spirit up were now looking at Eijun who was just standing there with his head lowered, bangs covering his eyes. “Hey hey, no one is blaming you ei-chan, actually it should be us apologizing here, we feel like we were just in your way the whole game”. The whole team started agreeing, and apologizing while patting Eijun on the back.
“I’m really sorry”.
‘THUD’
“EI-CHAN”.
Everyone ran to Eijun who fainted on the spot, the team noticed Eijun 's heavy breathing and red face, he was running a high fever,” someone call the ambulance, this is not a mere fever”, the player who said that noticed Eijun 's shivering left arm, and his pained expression.
“Sorry Wakana”, back to present time Wakana, who was woken up from her memories by Eijun’s apology asked in surprise, “Why are you apologizing?”, “you came all the way to Tokyo just to visit me, I’m sure you had something better to do”, Eijun said with an apologetic smile.
At the Nagano local hospital the doctor advised Eijun s parents to send him to a hospital in Tokyo that specializes in treating injured sportsmen, that’s why he is now here in a hospital room in Tokyo about 3 and a half hours away from his parents and friends in Nagano.
“What are you saying Eijun, I’m very happy to see you, and I think it's worth the ride”, Eijun looked at her in surprise, then smiled his signature sweet smile, “plus I won't be able to see you after school starts since you will attend a school here in Tokyo”, Wakana said annoyed at the stated fact,”yeah I have rehabilitation so I must go to a nearby boarding school”, Eijun answered with a sigh.
“What was the name of the school again?” Wakana asked,” seidou high”, he answered.
“Seidou...”Wakana put her hand to her chin thinking and Eijun tilted his neck in confusion, and before he can ask anything.
“Aaaaah I remembered where I heard that name”, Wakana startled Eijun as she pulled a magazine out of her bag,” here I brought this magazine for you, I thought you would be bored in this room all alone”
Eijun took the magazine “thanks, but what was that just now, about remembering seidou's name?”
Wakana didn't say anything, but gestured to an article in the magazine that had Eijun widen his eyes and open his mouth.
It was an article about the amazing first year baseball catcher that goes to seidou “Miyuki kazuya”, Eijun said out loud unintentionally, “he's amazing isn't he, a first year student became a regular player on such a big team with so many talented players like seidou, this guy must be amazing”.
Wakana didn't notice the changing emotions on Eijun’s face, amazement, respect, and finally sadness. Eijun realized that even if they met he couldn’t pitch to this amazing guy's mitt.
In all the time he was in this hospital the doctors could never determine if he will be able to pitch again or not, saying that it depends on his recovery rate, and if his damaged hand will restore itself correctly. By the time he got to the hospital the doctors had operated on his arm and deemed that his arm can't be cured by medication right away, and they should wait for it to fix itself a bit before they can take the next step in the treatment.
Right now after three months he can move his hand a bit to do every day work, like eating, bathing, writing, etc...On his own. The doctors thought that he should be released to prepare for the first term of his high school life that starts next week, they didn’t want him to miss school because of the treatment.
After a couple of hours of them chatting, a nurse came over to tell them that it's time for him to finally leave, so Eijun who didn't know anything about Tokyo decided that they eat at the hospital’s cafeteria before leaving, they ate and talked about their friends back home, which was the only subject that made Eijun happy at the moment, after a while Wakana left on Eijun's request, saying he doesn't want her to reach Nagano when its nightfall.
They walked to the train station that was a ten minutes walk from the hospital, Wakana knew the way to the train station so she lead the way, he watched as Wakana got on the train to Nagano and waved goodbye at her when the train left the station.
He then went to catch his train, which was supposed to get him to school. After a thirty minutes ride on the train, he finally reached his school area, he took out a map the nurses gave him since he was bad at directions. He used to get lost a lot when he was little, it took him a whole year to finally remember where everything was in his hometown, and now once again he needs to memories a whole new city, it was like a nightmare to Eijun.
He reached the school after another ten minutes of walking, “fifty minutes from the hospital to school” Eijun took note of the time for future reference.
As he was walking on the school grounds, he was looking at the school's brochure, which contained a map of the buildings the school had. He was trying to get to the principal's office in the main building but this school is darn big and had too many corridors that he kept making wrong turns.
After finally reaching his destination, he knocked on the door, waited for an answer, before opening the door and stepping in to be welcomed by the principal and his assistant, he sat there only to get overwhelmed by rules and punishments and so on.
After nearly one hour of this, he was finally freed from the principal’s claws, he took out the brochure once more to look for the dorms, which - as he was just informed - had his stuff delivered to the day before.
He walked for a while getting lost every once in a while, until “ouch!”
Eijun dropped on the ground and started rubbing his forehead, he opened one eye to look at what he bumped into, it was a boy who wore a sweatshirt and a pair of training trousers, and he was rubbing his forehead too.
Eijun screamed inside his head when he saw the boy’s face, it was Miyuki kazuya the catcher he saw in that magazine this morning, he was missing the glasses but Eijun could still tell it was him, 'but what is he doing at school, students shouldn't be here yet, the semester starts next week, or is it something else for the baseball team, do they like have special training on breaks' Eijun was enthralled by that idea, his imagination was running wild till it got interrupted by a voice.
“Hey”, said the other boy, Eijun flinched and lifted his head only to meet an intense look the other boy was giving him, he was crouching in front of Eijun who was sitting on the ground, his face was close that it surprised Eijun, and by reflex, he fell back on his back once again with a scream. the other boy laughed at Eijun's reaction, but still he got up and stretched an arm to help Eijun - though he stretched his arm to Eijun's bag in the beginning and got corrected by him- , “sorry sorry, I lost my my glasses when I bumped into you, I couldn't really see you, so I had to come closer.”
“No no problem, no harm done on my side”, Eijun took the stretched arm and got up, he dusted his pants and turned to look at the boy in front of him.
“What about you did you get hurt? Sorry I wasn't looking in front of me so I didn't see you”. The other boy just smirked and said,” No I don't think I got hurt, but I would really appreciate it if you could find me my glasses I really can’t see you”, Kazuya said.
“Oh certainly wait a minute please”, Eijun looked around and found the glasses next to the catcher's feet, he tried to pick it up but the other boy who was dusting his pants moved his leg to reach a bit of dust he spotted on his thigh aaaand....
“CRACK”
Both of them stopped immediately at the sound.
“I stepped on it didn't I”.
“...Um...yeah...it's kinda...completely smashed”
Eijun got up to meet Kazuya's poker face, they stared at each other in silence for a while before the catcher sighed and started speaking breaking that silent moment,” can I ask you to help me one more time”.
“Uh yes, yes of course it's my fault this happened so please tell me if I can help you”, Kazuya smirked once again,”I do have spares, but it’s in my dorm, can you help me get there, I'm really blind without my glasses, I can walk out of the school get hit by car thinking I’m going the right way”.
Eijun smiled 'well I definitely don't want the baseball club to attack me for getting their regular catcher hit by a car' he thought to himself.
“Where is your dorm I'll find it on my map first, this school is so big so I'm pretty sure I'll get us lost on the way, so be prepared”.
“Hahahaha, it's okay I'm not in a hurry so you can take your time finding it, but don't get us hit by a car please will ya”.
“I won't promise you anything”, kazuya laughed again 'it's been a while since I laughed so much in one day- no in one conversation, this is a pretty interesting guy' he thought.
Kazuya took the map from Eijun he dug his face in it to see the places' names- Eijun laughed as he told Kazuya he was holding it upside down. He finally found the baseball club dorms and pointed at it so that Eijun can see it.
'There are separate dorms for the baseball club as well, this school really cares about this club so much'. Eijun thought.
They started heading there, got lost a couple of times indeed, and finally reached the dorms by nightfall. Kazuya told Eijun where his room was, and Eijun got them there.
Kazuya got to a drawer and pulled another pair of glasses, he put them on and turned to face Eijun. 'Ah he really is Miyuki kazuya from the article this morning' he thought. Eijun didn't realize that he was staring at Kazuya's face with his mouth open.
“What? You fell for my handsome face?” Kazuya said with a smirk.
this snapped Eijun from his daydreaming, a blush covered his face, and he frowned,” of course not what the hell are saying”, “hahaha you didn't have to scream so loudly though”.
“Eijun who was now glaring at Kazuya remembered something,”ah by the way, why are you here at school today aren't the students supposed to come next week? ”Eijun asked the question that was dwelling in his head for a while.
“I can throw the question right back at you you know”, Kazuya smirked.
“I'm here because I don't live in Tokyo and had to come early for personal issues”, Eijun answered trying not to hint anything about his condition.
“Then I'm here too because of personal issues”, Kazuya answered still smirking. But Eijun didn't take the bait, “oh is that so, well then”, Eijun bowed before he exited the door. Finally realizing as he looked at the diamond court in front of him that he was at the baseball club, so many memories rushed through his head that he forgot where he was.
“...h..y..........he......y........HEY”.
Eijun snapped and turned to the catcher who was snapping his fingers in front of Eijun’s face. “Are you okay you froze for a second there?”.
“Huh..Oh..oh yeah I'm fine, I'm fine, I just remembered something from a long time ago, well then sorry for bothering you I'll pay for your broken glasses next time, see you tomorrow Miyuki-senpai”.
With that, Eijun dashed at max speed leaving Kazuya with so many questions. 'What the hell was that!! he looked like he was about to cry, I wonder what kind of memory would make a guy like that make such a miserable face...oh I didn't even ask for his name'. Kazuya was about to close the door when the realization hit him, “hey how the hell did he know my name? And how can he be so sure we’re gonna meet tomorrow. Moreover, does he realize he's been running in the wrong direction? Isn’t he heading for the street?”. Kazuya stopped for a second in front of his room, 'why the hell is my mind filled with a guy I just met for the first time and talked with for a brief amount of time', he thought as he closed the door behind him.
The next day Eijun woke up in the morning with a big yawn, and his left arm aching. He had avoided hitting his arm on the ground when he fell twice yesterday, but maybe the after effects of the sudden movement finally kicked in.
He went to the small fridge in the room -every room in the dorm has two beds, two desks, a big cupboard, a small fridge, and a bathroom, pretty convenient he must admit- He took a small water bottle, popped a pill in his mouth, and drank some water, it was just some painkiller the doctor prescribed for him.
He left the room after taking a quick shower, brushed his teeth, and changed into casual wear. He started heading to the baseball dorms, he didn’t notice but there was a small smile on his face.
“Oh and you’re going to have your meals at the baseball clubs cafeteria since the lady that cooks there is the only one present at the moment.”
That was the last thing he heard from the principal the day before, it was nothing special at that time, but now that he knows there’s gonna be someone he can eat with he’s quite happy.
He didn’t know there were other people with special issues like him at school, so he was expecting to eat alone, not that eating alone was something new to him.
He stayed at the hospital for three months, in the first one there was a nurse feeding him and taking care of him 24/7, but after he started moving his left arm a little bit, they thought he could now depend on himself, so they stopped being there for more than just a check up on his health every day, sometime a family member or a friend would come, but those were rare occasions (considering the distance they had to travel in order to see him for a couple of hours).
But now, he’s finally gonna eat with someone, and not just anyone, it was seidou’s regular catcher, a person he looks up to.
He walked to the baseball dorms, it was actually the only place he knows the way to, he was stupid at directions, but once he knows the right way to a place, he would never forget how to get there, which was a lie he told himself, he just remembered the way because he never wants to forget it.
He reaches the cafeteria and starts looking around through the glass door, he was disappointed when he found no one inside, he opened the door and saw a head pop from behind a counter, it was the cafeteria lady, he greeted her with a smile, but he still looked sad not seeing Kazuya.
The woman notices and starts talking to him, “ooooh what a cute little boy you are, just wait a bit that boy will be here soon”, there was a huge smile on her face stating that she is glad with the reaction she got. There stood a surprised Eijun with a bright red face,”wh...what are talking about, it’s not like I’m disappointed that he’s not here”, Eijun stuttered, but still managed to make a full, understandable sentence.” Really I’m hurt “, Eijun nearly jumped at the sudden sound that came from behind him, he turned around to see Kazuya with a big smirk on his face leaning against the door frame” good morning”, he added before Eijun could say anything, ”d.don’t surprise me like that, and what do you mean hurt, I didn’t say anything hurtful at all……….. g.goodmorning”.
Kazuya moved from the door pushing Eijun along with him,” let’s just get some food and have a nice long conversation, I want to ask you a couple of questions”. Eijun let himself be dragged by Kazuya, they then got to the counter to get there food, it was a traditional Japanese style breakfast consisting of steamed rice, miso soup, and a variation of side dishes, like tamagoyaki (egg rolls), nori (dried seaweed), and pickles.
They sat across one of the tables, and dug into their food, they finished pretty fast, returned the utensils so they could be washed, and sat back at the table for that long conversation Kazuya wanted.
“So Miyuki-senpai what do you want to ask me?” Eijun was the first one to speak, he was definitely not expecting Kazuya’s finger in his face,” first off that, how do you know my name I don’t remember ever telling you?” Eijun who pushed the finger back at it’s owner,” I read an article about you that’s how I know, and shoving fingers at people is bad manners”. Kazuya snickered,” brat, talking with a tone like that when speaking to your elders, that’s bad manners right there”, Eijun frowned, he opened his mouth and was gonna have a comeback when Kazuya asked his second question,” wait I didn’t get to hear your name yesterday, and I was wondering what I should call you”, “Sawamura. I’m Sawamura Eijun”.
“Sawamura then”, at that moment Kazuya smiled a genuine smile that dazzled Eijun, which quickly went back to a smirk once he saw Eijun’s reaction,” what? Fell for my charming smile?” Eijun’s face couldn’t get any redder than it was, he was red up to his ears, he had a furious face, he looked ,’adorable? ‘, Was what went through Kazuya’s mind for a second, just a second, before Eijun started shouting at him,” MIYUKI KAZUYA YOU……GAAH”, Kazuya nearly dropped from his chair laughing, he held his sides ignoring the incoherent word (shouts) that came out of Eijun’s mouth.
The following week they spent talking about themselves, favorite food, movies, hobbies, music, Kazuya even lent him an album of his favorite singer that Eijun promised to listen to. Even though the conversations always ended up with Kazuya saying something that gets the other male to blush hard and start shouting at the him, they were having fun, so much fun, they were both lonely and alone, so when they found someone they can speak to they had fun.
Kazuya, who noticed that whenever he brought up baseball the other’s smile would disappear, decided to avoid the subject, he was curious, but he thought it would be better not to ask about it. Ever since he was little he could easily read people, he knew that this loud and obnoxious kohai of his was pretty fragile and sensitive on the inside.
He also noticed the boy leaving at the same exact time everyday even though he knew that there was nothing else they could do in school, so he wondered why the boy would leave to do nothing even though he could stay. Well Kazuya didn’t know for a fact that the boy had nothing to do, but if he had then the catcher would pay whatever to know the what that was.
The week passed by faster than Eijun thought, when he was alone at that hospital room, the normal day was a year for him, long, boring, and empty, but time seemed to pass by quickly when he’s by Kazuya’s side.
Sadly, the week passing meant the students who lived at the dorm are coming, and the main dorm's cafeteria lady too, which resulted in Eijun having no more excuses to talk to the catcher,” I guess that was it, we probably won’t meet anymore. he’ll be busy with his studies and his club, he will probably forget me soon enough”, even though those words stung him deeply , he thought it’s probably for the best, he should sever any kind of connection to baseball before it swallows him once again, and Kazuya was in the way.