Chapter Text
What would you do if you had to come back at the worst moment of your life? The moment that marked your life forever, that even after months or even years, you still have nightmares about what happened, that you realize how full of yourself you were, until you had the rug pulled out from under your feet?
Well, for Sawamura Eijun, his first year at Seidou was centered around a lot of those moments, not wanting to exaggerate, but it's true. Come on, he already got off to a bad start on his first day of training, when he arrived late for the presentations, and if, it wasn't bad enough, he still fell for the prank of the person who made him go to Tokyo, he fell for his words and ran up to the field stealthily, only to hear a scream behind him and he was caught by the coach. After that he was not accepted on the team and had to run for a few weeks. There was also that moment where not only did he insult Chris-senpai, but he also insulted him in front of Miyuki Kazuya a few days after meeting the third year, which was a huge mistake for the way the eldest acted after hearing his outburst. Or when he broke, after taking a Homerun from another first year, in the quarterfinals and was forced off the mound. What I mean by all of this is that if it had been at one of those times he would have been ok but no, the world decided to go against him again, he went back to the moment that destroyed his being and affected him and still would. for a long time.
~//~
Eijun didn't know why he had returned, he was confused and shaken, one minute he was getting ready for bed, mentally preparing himself for the Draft that would take place the next day, and then upon opening his eyes, instead of facing a roof, he came across something worse.
The first thing to notice on your return would be the sound. The distinct sound of a ball hitting something, but instead of it being a bat, or what he wanted, the catcher's glove, it was the sound of a ball hitting a helmet, he recognized that sound so well, one that haunted him to death. every moment he was going to throw or when he closed his eyes to sleep. He was terrified, it could only be a nightmare, a nightmare so vivid. 'Please make this a nightmare!' thought Sawamura, but he knew it wasn't, no, that nightmare had haunted him too many times to differentiate between dream and reality. The wind that caressed him where the sweat gathered on his face, the tiredness of throwing under the sun, in the biggest hot day of the summer were some of the indices that indicated that this was not a dream. The second thing he noticed was the batter lying on the ground, fallen after being hit by his pitch, the pitch that should have hit Miyuki's glove but never reached her. And then Shirakawa roared in victory, roared for breaking the first-year pitcher, roared for the mistake Sawamura made, for the pressure he imposed on himself. And the 'DeadBall' along with the batter's roar stuck in his mind, repeating itself over and over again, mocking him.
A memory then flashed through his head, drowning out the roar and the word he feared so much. The memory of his senpais crying, of Masuko-senpai leaving the dorm and Boss saying that he had Yips and that he should train separately from the team, that he couldn't touch a ball, and those memories brought the ember that had gone out of his eyes. Eijun didn't understand what was going on, but he didn't have time to think or understand, his team, the team he thought would never have the chance to play together again was coming towards him, towards the hill where he was. and all he could do was look down and try to calm down.
Miyuki looked at the pitcher on the mound, he was worried, especially when he noticed that Sawamura's eyes were once luminous, were now cloudy and lifeless, and when he and the team had reached the mound the pitcher was looking down. Sawamura did his breathing ritual to calm down, after a few seconds he looked up to where his team was waiting for him, where his drum partner was waiting for him. And then the golden eyes focused on him, the glow had returned, as if it had never gone away. A burning and unfamiliar glow was looking at him, Kazuya didn't know what to do, he thought the talkative pitcher might have broken after the deadball, but instead he looked fine, as if he'd never hit the batter. Kazuya looked at the bench, specifically at the coach, waiting for him to make some move, Sawamura looked fine but better not to risk it and then said pitcher spoke.
The only thing that came out of Eijun's mouth was a heartfelt "Sorry!" it felt like an apology for having hit the hitter, and it probably was, but there was also a weight in those words, it was an apology for having ended the senpais summer, for letting the pressure take over him. Everyone looked at him, not expecting the slightly loud tone of voice, in fact everyone expected the pitcher to be in a very big shock, but before they could say anything, Eijun's voice rang out again.
"Sorry! I-I let the pressure of the hitter hit me, the pressure of Narumiya Mei's pitches hit me!" He looked down in embarrassment before looking at all of his companions again. "I..." Catching some breath before continuing. "I'm fine, if you still want me on the hill, I can keep going, and instead of letting the pressure fall on me, as an individual, as if it's my only responsibility to carry, I'll trust you to protect me, something that I should have done it from the beginning!" His voice had a hint of a confidence in his companions that shook them all.
His teammates looked at him with a look of disbelief with his attitude after a deadball, but they couldn't help but be happy with his kouhai, after all he will just admit his mistake and not only that, he made a sincere apology and still wanted them trust him to continue and take them to Koushien. Miyuki awaited orders from Kantoku, waiting for him to make a substitution move, which did not come, as if to show that he trusted Miyuki's decision to decide whether the pitcher could continue, as the players themselves seemed to have regained the spirit they had lost, Kazuya gives a sneer, not believing the coach's decision. Well the weight and tension that seemed to have hung over the campers was gone with the few words of the loudmouth in front of him. But it was still there, he noticed.
Kuramochi laughs before kicking his roommate, "Kyahaha! So you realize it's not just you on the field? Did you forget your Bakamura catchphrase?" And he took one more kick just to emphasize his words.
"Kouhai's Abuse!" Eijun yelled, relaxing at his senpai's action. Before I could continue, Leader-senpai spoke. "Sawamura! There are seven people watching your back and a logo in front of you, if there's one thing that can help you, it's trust us and shoot like you've been doing so far! If they score, we'll just have to double score."
"L-Leader-senpai" Sawamura looked at him with admiration in his eyes. "I, I know I made a mistake, and we're not in a good spot, but I completely trust the campers behind me as well as the person in front of me. So please continue to defend my back while I have full focus on the hitter. in front of me." Then, surprising his companions even more by bowing.
"E-Eijun-kun" Haruicchi said surprised by his friend's words and attitude.
With that everyone realized that they couldn't betray the faith that their kouhai placed in them, they knew the pressure that Sawamura, a first year must be feeling, even more in his first official tournament, they were demanding a lot from him, and well, as optimistic, loudmouth and loud that he was, he was also someone who could cave under pressure, but he rose up in front of him and was ready to face this calamitous situation, along with his companions.
"SA~WA~MU~RA." yelled Jun from center field, as everyone turned to look at him, he continued. "1 RUNNER, I'LL ONLY ALLOW ONE MORE RUNNER, MORE THAN THAT AND YOU'RE DEAD, DO YOU HEAR ME?"
"EH!!! But Spitz-senpai, it would be hard not to hear you!!" Sawamura yelled back.
"Who are you calling Spitz?" Eijun hadn't realized that his banter not only relaxed him, but the team as well.
"Oy, oy" Someone in the stands commented.
"Kataoka will keep him even after that deadball??"
"Is this the correct decision?"
"They still have Kawakami."
"That's what you can put a first year on."
"They look excited on the mound, like the pitcher never hit the batter."
"I thought he would have broken by now."
These were some of the comments that Seidou's team heard, they were frustrated with the comments but understood to some extent what they were talking about. However, it would be premature to change a pitcher in this kind of situation, they didn't know if Kawakami would have what it took to overcome that situation, even more so as a pitcher who didn't have much confidence in himself and tended to destroy himself, but keeping Sawamura was also risky, he could throw another deadball, but the campers seemed to have relaxed with something the loudmouth said, and right away they could see the said bending over and getting kicked by Kuramochi twice. Not only that, but he was yelling at Isashiki which shocked Seidou's side.
"Oy! Sawamura." yelled Kanemaru. "Don't bother the senpais."
"Y-that's right, Sawamura"
"Just relax baka!!!"
"Trust senpais to protect your back"
"Don't worry too much and just keep doing what you've been doing"
Seidou's side began to bellow in encouragement to the first year as they saw that Kantoku had no intention of replacing him. They tried to be louder than the audience who shouted some mean words at the youngest. Kazuya heard everything in silence, both the games on the field and what was happening in the stands, the referees told them to go back to their seats to resume the game. When everyone started to return to their places behind the pitcher, Kazuya spoke up.
"Sawamura!! You realize we're facing the cleanups now and not only that, we have the worst runner we would ever want on base." Giving a glance at Kamiya who was at first base, before looking back at the younger one.
"Is that supposed to encourage me you SHIT Tanuki???" Sawamura yelled looking at him with cat eyes.
"I just want you to know what we're facing now Baka! I need you to focus on me and my calls, don't think about anything else, just look at my glove and everything will be fine."
"Yeah, but I'm pretty sure if the hitters hit the field, the campers will figure it out. The bigger issue is getting them forced to hit the field instead of hitting out of the park." Sawamura smiled broadly, slightly challenging Miyuki with his eyes.
"Oh! He! Are you challenging me now Sa~wa~mu~ra?" Kazuya asked with a shitty smile on his mouth.
"Eh?" Feigning confusion while looking at the catcher, Eijun watched the moment Miyuki reached out her gloved arm before touching her chest, towards her heart, before speaking again.
"Well, well! There's not much we can do, but trust my glove! You won't let me down now, will you mate?" Kazuya gave a slight smile, still with the glove touching Sawamura's chest. "Let's eliminate some monsters then!" And walked away heading towards home plate.
Eijun smiled, remembering the moment when they took out Azuma-senpai, the first time they formed a heat and prepared for the call of the first pitch.
Kunimoto looked at all that unraveling on the mound and snapped his neck before looking at the next batter and giving his orders. "They're going to continue with the first year. He's already broke under pressure, and I doubt he'll be okay after that deadball, so get it over with. If we go into extra innings, it's our game."
"Hai Kantoku!!" Was heard from Inashiro's bench as the third batter stowed away in the batter's box, taking up the entire plate. Putting pressure on the pitcher.
'Now, how are we going to deal with this hitter?' Kazuya thought as he bent down and tapped his glove, noting the batter's posture. 'Well, maybe this one...'