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“Oh, you’re here again!” The young lady with auburn hair up into a ponytail calls out to her when Chidori makes her way into the arena. She couldn’t quite catch what her name was, even though they’ve seen one another far too many times for comfort. Doesn’t matter, Chidori wasn’t here to befriend this girl.
“Hey, I was talking to you!” She calls out when Chidori hurries outside. She tightens the hold of her sketchbook when the field comes into view, along with the few already seated in a few sections. Please, have this one be open. She had to pull a few strings to ensure that she received the best seating for this game. Thanks again, Jin.
“Heeeeyyy!” She’s still going at it?! This is getting infuriating. “Can I ask you something?”
“I’m in a hurry.”
“Oh, come ooonn!” She groans. “I just wanna know why you come to these games all the time!”
Quite a noisy one. Was that any of her business? The first time they met, the young lady was awestruck about her attire (dresses are not ideal for sport games…) and expressed curiosity over her sketchbook. Then each time they cross paths, she makes attempts to interact with Chidori until giving up and meeting up with someone named Aigis. She thinks she’s seen Aigis a few times.
No one tried to steal her seat, perfect. Chidori makes herself comfortable in the front row and settles the sketchbook in her lap. Pencils and pens are tucked away in her skirt pocket, thumb is carefully placed on the page she needs to open when it’s time. No one was on the field at the moment, least no one that was important. Looks like it was the broadcasting crew.
There’s an hour until the game begins. Probably longer, the strangest delays always occur. She could spend this time sketching mundane things, such as the arena or the calico cat she ran into yesterday. Though none of that was enlightening her. Chidori did not want to use her minimal energy for a portrait she had no desire in. She wanted to draw him.
“Hey, hey, Miss.” And there she goes again. Chidori doesn’t respond and keeps her eyes focused on the vast field.
“So, umm…” The stranger clears her throat. “You like baseball?”
“No.”
Hesitation. “Huh, but why do you—” Commotion from down below cuts her off. Both Chidori and the stranger end up leaning forward and searching for the source of the noise, and for some reason, the stranger found their harmonious movements to be amusing.
A few of the baseball players began pooling out from the hidden doorway, with a certain someone leading it. Iori Junpei, the star player, was attempting to rouse up his teammates by swinging around his bat and hollering phrases that she could not understand. Some of them joined alongside him, while one kept urging him to tone it down. Takeba, one of the overseers of the arena, never fails to verbally pull at Iori’s ear.
The stranger calls out to Takeba. Both her and Iori look over and return the greeting. Ah, so her name was Hamuko. “Go kill it out there, Junpei!” Hamuko laughs. And even with the major distance from the seating to the field, Iori’s laugh sounded like he was right next to her.
“You know them?” Chidori mutters.
“Heh, now you’re interested?” Hamuko leans back in the seat next to her. “Yeah, they’re my friends from high school.”
Chidori adjusts the sketchbook in her lap.
“Me and a few others try to go to every home game. It’s hard for us to go to the away ones, but we never fail to get the best seats for the home one, thanks to Yukari.” She gestures to Takeba from down below. “And her girlfriend, who is somewhere. But I noticed some time ago that you also go to every home game.”
“Hmm, and you proceed to bother me every time.”
Hamuko shrugs. “I just wanna know why you come to them! Do you know one of the baseball players? Oh, perhaps trying to sneak a look at the baseball staaaarrr?” She ends her sentence in such a teasing manner with a small raise of her eyebrows. “I can help you with that, you know.”
“Stop talking.”
“E-Eh?”
“I said—” Chidori opens her sketchbook and angles it so Hamuko couldn’t look at it. “Stop talking, you’re distracting me.”
“But, you didn’t e-even…” And Hamuko’s words fade away into nothingness while Chidori begins her sketch work.
It starts off with scribbles, least that’s what they look like to her. If she were to show this to a stranger, goodness knows why, they would have no idea what was going on. When Iori started warming up however, the sketches began holding some sort of meaning. She drew his bat, his cap, his shirt and all the folds that appears when he twists and turns, and his poses. He moves so much that it may seem impossible to capture a good angle, though Chidori has been doing this long enough that she only needs to see him still in a specific position for a mere second and then it bleeds into her memory. What a pointless skill.
She flips through another blank page when the audience grew and the start of the game inched closer and closer. By the time it officially began, she was already five pages in, and she swore she heard Hamuko make a comment about it.
Chidori didn’t know how baseball worked. She didn’t give a damn about the rules and who won or lost. She only came here to see her muse in action. It’s been so long since she felt something while drawing, most of the time it’s only because she felt like it. Now with this drive…it brought such an aching feeling in her chest. One day she won’t be able to draw Iori anymore, for a myriad of reasons, and she’s unsure if she would ever find someone like him again.
Hours came and went, pages flew by, and the game came to a loud close. The crowd grew annoying and ear-splitting when Iori made a clean home run, and he ended his victory with one of the stupidest dances Chidori’s ever seen in her life. And here she thought Jin was a terrible dancer.
She still drew it though.
Chidori rises from her seat when the excitement dies down. She pulls out her phone to text Jin that she was ready to go, and then her message ends abruptly when Hamuko’s hands meet Chidori’s upper back. “H-Hey!” she hisses.
“This way! This way! This way!” Hamuko goes on shouting and pushing her downstairs. How in the world is she that strong? “Don’t try to fight me!”
“You little—” She cuts off when the contact of the false grass almost makes her close her footing. She manages to catch herself before anything embarrassing occurs, and a pair of warm hands touch her arm. “Let go of me,” she hisses and straightens her posture, now standing face to face with—
“Ahaha! My bad!” Iori laughs and holds his hands up in defeat. “I thought you were about to eat the grass there. By the way, it’s not that great.”
Takeba, who hurried over to Iori's side, huffs rather light-heartedly at Iori. “You don’t always have to say what’s on your mind, Junpei…”
“It’s about time that I meet my biggest fan!” Iori places both hands on his hips. “You’re at every home game of ours, huh?”
Chidori narrows her gaze. “There’s thousands of guests here every day,” she points out. “It’s near impossible for me to stand out.”
“Eeeehh…” he shrugs. “it’s not that hard to pick out your attire. Stands out, same with your staring and drawing.”
Iori should be keeping his entire focus on the game, not at Chidori. He must be playing tricks with her, and this was all Hamuko’s doing.
“Come to think of it…” Hamuko mutters. “I don’t think she’s ever looked at anyone else or anything besides you, Junpei.”
A pretty shade of pink paints his dirty cheeks. “Hehe, really now?”
“That’s what Aigis said.” Was Hamuko’s entire friend group watching her?!
“Well, nice to know that I am that much of an impact to you.” That damn laugh… “That is the main goal, after all! Oh, what’s your name? I can give you a nice autograph in that book of yours.”
“I do not want you looking at my scribbles.” She shoots a quick glance at Hamuko. “Same goes for you, I know you were trying to catch bits.”
“…It’s nice to see someone finding enjoyment in a hobby,” she mutters.
“I’m sure they’re great! I mean, if I’m the inspiration and all. Can I at least get a quick—”
“Junpei.” Takeba nudges his arm. “We gotta go. Um, sorry for cutting this meeting short, he needs to meet up with someone.” She forces a smile. “It was nice meeting you, uh…”
“…Chidori,” she finishes. “That’s my name.”
“Chidori…” Yukari nods. “Yeah, see you. I’ll meet with you at the parking lot, Hamuko!”
“See ya Ham-Ham! And bye, Chidorita!” Iori gives his childish waves while being dragged to the doorway. Excuse me? Chidorita? The two just met and he had the audacity to throw a nickname. They weren’t close. “Hope to see your drawings next time!”
Chidori mutters a weak goodbye that she’s certain that Iori couldn’t quite catch. Once he and Takeba were out of view, she held up her sketchbook, pressing on her chest, and heaved out a sigh. That had no reason to be so…exhausting.
“Thanks, I guess.” She nods towards Hamuko and takes her leave. Even though she was irritated with her invasiveness, the interaction gave her something to look forward to next game. Perhaps she should ask Jin to assist her with an away game, if it’s not too labouring…