Chapter Text
✧
Another day, another game with pitchers who can’t do their job.
And who do they blame for their faults?
Their catcher.
Kazuya is tired, both physically and mentally, of this team, this responsibility, this baseball.
He never thought he would get tired of baseball someday.
Those catcher gears, that brown mitt, that metal bat were his life, and to feel so numb walking on the massive field he has grown to love since he was young makes him feel some type of way.
The negative type.
Where’s that satisfaction whenever he catches a ball from a pitcher’s nasty pitch? Where’s that excitement whenever he hits a ball from the opponent’s pitch and has a possibility of scoring a home run?
Why can’t he feel any "fun" anymore?
Arriving at his apartment at close to midnight, Kazuya was extremely exhausted.
He had just sat and bore his coach’s scolding for another half an hour after the team’s meeting for not playing the best he could.
Was it his fault that the pitcher refused to listen to him and threw a fastball instead of a slider as he called in their last inning?
For god sake, he even saved them by tying the score after a 2-run homer in the 8th inning, but all he received was envious glares from his teammates and the coach's criticism for something that’s not even his fault.
It’s unfair.
Sighing, Kazuya quickly takes a shower and heads straight to bed, not caring that he hasn’t gotten any food in his stomach for the last ten overtired hours and will probably not have enough energy for tomorrow's morning practice.
Putting on his eye mask, the worn out catcher only needs half a minute to be in deep sleep, where he can dream of living his ideal life, far from reality.
He can be with a good team, a good coach, a good pitcher.
That’s when he meets the man of his dreams, literally.
Kazuya didn’t expect to dream about a match between the final two high schools at Koshien.
But he isn’t complaining, though. Someone catches his eyes.
A pitcher, who resembles the sun so accurately, is standing on the mound.
With a grin so bright that it glows brighter than a million stars combined above the night sky, a voice so full of confidence and volume that can make anyone’s spirit light up with just a sentence, and those eyes, those golden brown eyes, so full of determination and passion for the sport he loves, it is clear that everyone is naturally drawn to him.
At that particular moment, the amber-eyed man knew he had fallen in love, hard.
As if feeling someone’s fixed gaze on him, the pitcher makes eye contact with Kazuya, who’s sitting on the middle fifth row of the stands, which can be easily be seen by the players on the field, and smiles dazzlingly while mouthing:
"Watch me."
Breaking the mutual gaze, the one standing on the field nods at his catcher’s call with a mischievous smirk that shows how much he likes the call and begins to wind up.
Wait, how can he keep balance with that stance-
Bam.
"Strikeout looking! Batter’s out!"
After a moment of silence, a loud roar is heard from the tanned pitcher, and that’s when everyone snaps out of whatever daze they were in.
The southpaw's teammates then run up to him with tears of joy while the stands give both teams rounds of applause for the amazing, heated finale.
"He did it! Sawamura Eijun, who’s carrying the number one on his back for this season, struck out Komadai Fujimaki’s fourth batter with a pitch we’ve seen him struggle with before, a cutter! It was unexpected that the battery would choose a pitch so daring this late in an important game. The last inning ends at 1-0, with a single run concluding the outcome! This year’s Koshien champion is Seidou High, their first victory ever since they first stepped into the Koshien stadium as a playing team."
A high-speed cutter ball to the high inside corner, which caught the last batter off guard and fell after leaning back too far to avoid getting hit by the hardball.
If Kazuya wasn’t sure what he was feeling earlier, he was completely sure it was love now.
Eyes meeting, Eijun beams at him as if saying, "See? It’s worth it to watch me!" making Kazuya huff out a genuine laugh for the first time in a long while, amused by the golden-eyed actions.
But again, life’s unfair, and all good things can’t last forever.
He closed his eyes to catch his breath for a second, and right after that, he was greeted with darkness due to his eye mask.
For a moment, he forgot it was all a dream.
Sitting up, the undergraduate takes off his eye mask and immediately squints his eyes to protect them from the rays of sunshine seeping through a small space between his curtains from not being properly closed.
The brightness reminds him of someone, a particular southpaw he fell for in his dreams.
Sawamura Eijun, huh? What an interesting pitcher.
Kazuya's lips twitch before curling upwards into a small smile.
"We'll meet again, my ace."