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“Miyuki Kazuya!!”
Finally. Finally, there it was—the moment Kazuya had been waiting for all this time. He stopped in his tracks, grinning at the sound of that familiar voice, so obnoxiously loud that it was impossible to ignore. The sound steamrolled over the general murmur of the ceremony as if everyone else were whispering.
Kazuya knew, without a doubt, that on the day of his graduation ceremony, Eijun wouldn’t let him go without some sort of bold declaration. He’d been waiting for it, more excited to hear what Eijun had to say than he was over the moment he’d be handed his certificate. Of course it was an important part of his life, a physical symbol of his progress thus far, but Kazuya had been anticipating Eijun over everything else. Waiting with bated breath to hear what sort of promise Eijun would make while all whipped up from his swirling emotions.
“Pfft…” Kazuya had to laugh at himself for thinking so poetically. What was he, a shoujo romance protagonist? Eijun would know more about that sort of thing, anyhow.
Not to mention that Kazuya had a surprise of his own for his ace pitcher. Kazuya was waiting for them to be alone before he dared to say it—a promise to Eijun that he hoped would match whatever Eijun planned to share with him, too.
Kazuya finally turned around, having given the team his goodbyes, eyes lingering on Eijun suspiciously. He expected Eijun’s outburst to come any moment now, but when he started to walk away towards the direction of the parking lot, intending to seek out his father’s car, Eijun remained in his spot.
For a second, Kazuya wondered if he would follow or not with a pang of disappointment in his chest. He was relieved when those rapid footsteps came rushing up from behind followed by that loud call of his name, dispelling any fears that he had about leaving Eijun behind as nothing more than a high school memory.
“Don’t—what do you think you’re doing, laughing at me for chasing you down!?” Eijun stammered when he saw Kazuya’s broad smile, going cat-eyed with embarrassment and irritation. “You’re the one who gave your big manly captain speech and just walked away from me as if I were just some nobody!! Did you really think you’d get away with treating your battery partner like that!? You’re being a jerk right up until the very end!!”
“The very end, huh?” Kazuya echoed, head tilted to the side as Eijun came to a pause just a few steps away from Kazuya. His bright eyes shone like always, the gold a beautiful compliment to the cherry blossom petals that trickled down from the trees above them. How typical, Kazuya thought with a wry smile. The image was like right out of a fairytale. Kazuya tapped his graduation scroll against his shoulder. “Weren’t you the one muttering about endlessness over these last few months? What happened to that?”
Eijun stiffened a bit uncharacteristically. The bristling cat before him calmed down, the air around them taking on a more serious tone. Kazuya’s playful smile fell slightly as he focused on Eijun, heart picking up its pace. It was rare for Eijun to stop shouting in favor of communicating his feelings more earnestly, but he supposed if it was going to happen at all, now would be the perfect opportunity.
“Back then,” Eijun said, averting his eyes briefly as he looked to the side, “before the match against Inashiro…” Eijun frowned and Kazuya saw the way his hands curled into small fists. “You said that you were going to go pro.”
Kazuya’s heart jumped with surprise. His eyes widened, honestly dumbfounded. Eijun was too stupid to be a mind-reader—how did he predict what Kazuya wanted to talk to him about?
“What?” Kazuya didn’t know what else to say.
“To Furuya!” Eijun raised his voice again, lifting his troubled eyes to Kazuya. Only then did Kazuya see it—a subtle, yet unmistakable sheen of tears.
Kazuya felt his throat tighten with emotion. It was one thing to imagine this moment and laugh over his blubbering, cute kouhai, but it was another to really be living the moment and to see an unexpected tenderness in his eyes, something that Kazuya hadn’t prepared for.
“You told Furuya first,” Eijun continued, face scrunched up as he tried to hold back his tears. “A-And that really hurt me, you know! When I’m your ace! I-I know it’s selfish, but it showed me that—that you were already thinking about everything after Seido. After me.” Eijun’s lip wobbled and Kazuya had to swallow, trying to control his own emotions that were rising in his chest. “I wasn’t ready to think about that yet. I just wanted—just wanted to focus on the team. On us, for as long as we could.”
So he overheard us, Kazuya reflected to himself with a small sigh. It figured; no wonder he behaved so strangely for a while, always staring off into the distance, like his mind was elsewhere.
Kazuya glanced to the side, a small chuckle leaving his lips. Time to stop beating around the bush now that the cat was already out of the bag. Kazuya’s big reveal was already spoiled, so there was no more time for teasing and mind-games.
“You know, the only reason I didn’t tell you then was because I wanted to tell you now.” Kazuya looked back up, a smile tugging on the corners of his lips at the way Eijun stared at him, wide-eyed and frozen with shock. “It’s not because Furuya’s more important to me or anything. If anything, it’s the opposite.”
Kazuya straightened his posture and stepped over, then tapped his graduation scroll to the center of Eijun’s chest, much like he would have done with his catcher’s mitt. Eijun blinked down at it dumbly, then lifted those big, teary golden eyes up to meet Kazuya’s determined gaze. The idiot was clearly holding his breath and Kazuya didn’t want him to pass out from oxygen deprivation, so he wasted no time in getting right to the point.
“Go pro with me.” Kazuya made sure to keep their eyes locked, communicating just how serious he was to the pitcher he had been so honored to call his ace. “I know I’m being selfish by asking this of you. I don’t know if you’ve even thought of it, what you’re going to do once you’re standing here in my shoes a year from today, but… I’ll be looking for you over there, in the world of the pros.” Kazuya pulled the scroll away and slid it into his pocket. “Don’t keep me waiting too long, Sawamura.”
For a little while, Eijun was speechless, staring at Kazuya with that goofy, yet endearing expression of total dumbfoundedness. A tear trickled down his cheek at last, having been wavering there along his lashes for a little too long now, and the feeling caused Eijun to blink and snap out of his trance.
“W-What the hell are you doing, being a cool and suave senpai all of a sudden, dammit…!” Eijun sniffled as he wiped at his eyes, but in no time, he was over it.
Kazuya knew what was coming. He grinned, adrenaline rushing through his veins when Eijun met his eyes with that fire burning in his gaze, the fire that had sent chills down Kazuya’s spine from the very first pitch. When Eijun beamed at him, Kazuya lifted his chin, excitement for the future crackling in the air around them like energy waiting to burst.
“I’ll catch up to you in no time, Miyuki Kazuya!” Eijun declared, invigorated all over again. Just like he was meant to be. “You won’t even know what hit you!”
Kazuya laughed—truly laughed, from the bottom of his heart, joy overwhelming him from head to toe.
“I’ll hold you to that promise, Sawamura!”