Archive of Our Own

Chapter Text

"Ei-chan! Hurry up!"

Eijun peeked out the door and yelled back, "OKAY! I AM!"

The young boy sped up his movement after that. He snatched his bag and put on his shoes, not even bothered to tie them up.

"I'M GOING NOW, GRAMPS! MOM! DAD!"

"DON'T YELL SO LOUD, EIJUN!" Shouted Eitoku while holding up his rolled up newspaper.

"Enjoy your first day of middle school, Ei-chan!"

"I'M NOT THAT LOUD, OLD MAN! And, I will, Mom! BYE!"

The moment Eijun stepped out the house, it rang with silence. Chisa chuckled, "He sure is loud."

"That's what I'm saying!"

Well, not that you're any different, father-in-law. Chisa chuckled once again before she got up from the dining table.

—

Eijun gobbled up the melon bread in his hand. Nobu who sat in front of him stared in disgust, "Calm down, Ei. No one's gonna take it away from you."

"HE WILL!" Eijun glared at the drooling Yuuichi who was eyeing at his bread.

Yuuichi finally took off his eyes when Eijun finished it and whined, "Ugh, that's the last one canteen oba-san have in stock. I wanted to have a melon pan for lunch..."

"Not my problem. You're too slow!"

"How is it even out of stock?! It's first day of school! And our school doesn't even have that much student! I'm hungry..."

Eijun contemplated a bit before handing out half of his red bean filled bread to Yuuichi, "Here, then. Have half."

"I want melon. Not red bean."

"DAMN IT!" Eijun shoved the bread into Yuuichi's mouth, "Be grateful that this Sawamura Eijun is willing to share with y-"

DING

Eijun paused, about to ask what was that sound, when a bright light shone on his face. He winced a bit.

"Ei. What's wrong?"

「 Host found. 」

Eijun stared at the bright blue floating screen in front of him. Rubbed his eyes multiple times before turning to his friends, "Guys, what is this?"

Wakana glanced at the direction Eijun was pointing at, "What is what?"

「 System 637 will be at your service. You have been chosen to be the main host for the event "Diamond of Ace", you are on the path to becoming the finest baseball player there is! Here is your player's profile. 」

"This thing!" Eijun pointed stronger at the screen as if it would make a difference.

Akio tilted his head at what was at the end of Eijun's finger, "Nobu?"

"Hey! I'm not a 'thing'!"

"No! This, blue... Board? Screen?"

Wakana sighed and shakes her head, "He's hopeless."

「 To finish the event, you need to finish the main mission given to you. 」

「 Main Mission – Become the ace and lead your team to victory.

     Time limit : 2189 D 23 H 59 Min 02 Sec
     Reward : One wish of yours will be granted.
     Penalty : Death. 」

"WHAT?!"

"Ei-chan! Don't shout!"

"I'M GONNA DIE?!?!"

His 'new' classmates which all consisted of the neighbourhood kids, just ignored Eijun's scream. They're too used to his obnoxious silly antics.

—

Eijun sat crosslegged on his bed,  g̶l̶a̶r̶e̶d̶ stared at the screen. Not far long after the main mission screen. Another one popped out.

「 Daily Mission – Let's work on your physical stats!

     Run 0 km / 10 km
     Push-up 0 / 100
     Sit-up 0 / 100
     Pull-up 0 / 100
     Squat 0 / 50
     Plank 0 min / 10 min

     Time remaining : 17 H 12 Min 14 Sec
     Reward : All stats +0.2 level
     ! Failing to complete will resulted in a penalty. 」

He was still unable to process what happened. The time limit on the other one was more than two thousand days. That's at least more than 5 years from now. Still, the thought that he could die in 5? 6? years is haunting. But he could ignore it for the moment. This one though... Eijun got all of these during lunch break and the current time was 7pm. 17 hours left. Could he even do all of these things? If he didn't complete it, he would get a penalty? What was the penalty? What was this all even about? Was this even true? Was he just halucinating?

"Ei-chan! Come down and have dinner!"

His mom's call broke him out of his thoughts. Eijun shouted, "Screen close!" and gone the screen. It was something that he found out while messing around earlier at school.

Eijun jumped off the bed and ran downstairs, "I'm coming down, Mom!"

"Stop being so rowdy! The house will crumble down with the way you stomped down the stairs."

A handchop was delivered to Eijun's backhead as soon as he sat down. He hissed, "There's no way that would happen, Gramps!"

"You two are energetic as always." Eiji laughed fondly. "Anyway, how's junior high for you, Eijun?"

"Well, we only did introductions today. Which kinda useless because we all already know each other." Told Eijun.

"Oh, yeah. I guess that how it is when you live in a small town. I remember being in the same classroom with like 10 people all through elementary to high school." Chisa added.

Eventually they all drowned in conversations with occasional clatter of the cutlery. And Eijun, sweet short minded little boy, slowly forget about his impending doom.

—

As soon as the bell rang, Eijun shot up from his seat, scrambling to get out of the class.

"Where are you going, Ei-chan? I thought you brought a bento?"

"I need to go to the toilet!"

Without looking back, he ran for it. Not without bumping a few students on the hallway. Eijun sighed in relief while doing his business. Humming down a song he heard on TV when washing his hands.

DING

"Oh, crap. I forgot about this."

Eijun looked at what he expected to be a blue screen, instead it was blaring red.

「 You have failed to complete your daily missions. Penalty initiation. 」

"Wha-"

BZZT

Before even finishing his words, Eijun felt electricity shot through his whole body. Eyes almost bulging out, throat tightening up not letting anything out or in, Eijun grasped his chest painfully. With all of his might he let out a scream.

"ARGH! H-HELP!"

「 It's useless. When you are receiving a penalty, you are in a different time and space with anyone from this world. No one will come to help you, host. 」

Eijun glared at the almost mockingly bright screen.

「 I would suggest completing your mission in a timely manner. 」

"FUCK! YOU!" Spat out Eijun with difficulty.

WHEN WILL THIS END?!

「 20 seconds has passed. 40 seconds left. 」

It's not even half a minute yet?!

Time passed. Eijun could feel his consciousness leaving him slowly when suddenly all the electricity that struck him inside out, for what feels like an excruciatingly long amount of time, dissappeared in a second. Eijun gasped for air, coughing. His hand trembled. Because of the pain and a realization.

The realization that this whole thing was real.

And he would die if he didn't complete it.