Chapter Text
“I think I’ll be going to Seido High School next year,” you spoke softly, a cheeky smile on your face.
“Seido? Isn’t that a private school in Tokyo?” Your mother’s visage portrayed her confusion.
“Y-yea…that’s the school,” you mumbled looking at your feet, you felt bad about leaving your mother behind, but you needed to get into a good high school to ensure your future in a good university. “But don’t worry mama! I’ve applied for the academic scholarship! I just need to get it and you won’t have to worry about the expenses!” You snapped your head up beaming.
Your mother smiled warmly at you, “I know you’ll make it in dear.”
And make it in, you did, with a full scholarship. Your eyes brimmed with tears, you bid your mother farewell at the train station the following spring. “Go have an adventure,” she smiled.
oO0-_-_-_-0Oo
The prestigious Seido High School campus was large, significantly larger than the campus of the rural middle school you’d graduated from. You’d settled in rather nicely and your first month of high school was coming to a close. The testing period was approaching fast, and you were working incredibly hard to make sure you aced all of them tests when they came.
Establishing yourself as one of the more intelligent individuals within your class, due to your intellectual questions and adept answers, had earned you a great deal of attention from your classmates. When called upon to answer a question, your voice was firm and clear brimming with confidence, void of fear. Your answers were generally accurate, though you would occasionally answer a question incorrectly. The first time that happened the class was surprised-including a certain member of the Seido baseball team since you’d said the answer he’d had in mind as well. The teacher-she was new and had her own way of teaching the class-had then proceeded to ask you why your answer was incorrect. Trying to think up an answer himself, he found himself hitting dead-ends…where was the fault in his logic?
A scowl taking the baseball player’s features, he opted to watch as you squirm and meet with the same failure as he did. He eyed you warily, pitying your unfortunate position. You had been set up for public failure and humiliation. Quite the sadistic teacher they had, how could anyone expect a student to be able to figure out the answer on the spot? After all, this was one of his best subjects and even he couldn’t see where the fault was. Well, he leaned back a smirk gracing his features, he wasn’t perfect. Who knows-you might be able to surprise him. His caramel orbs watched you carefully. Now, how would you respond to this situation?
For a while, a pout shaped your features-ah you were in denial that you were wrong, the baseball player assumed as humans were naturally prideful creatures. Your eyes narrowed, as if the answer lie before you and all you had to do was grab hold of it; as if the answer were a restless fly buzzing around your head and you were trying to grab hold of it with your bare hands. Your eyes flared, as you hesitantly reached out to grab hold of the answer. That wouldn’t do-you were too slow and it whizzed from your grasp before you’d completely extended your hand. Again, your hand shot out with a greater speed, again the answer escaped your grasp. You didn’t hesitate before you began to attack the answer with an increased tenacity. Again and again and again! You would grab hold of that answer! You would figure it out! Your eyes widened as your focus increased.
The smug grin of the brunette baseball player who’d been observing you as you struggled slowly began to disappear. It was as he’d initially thought-there was too much pressure on you for you to be able to think clearly, the most you could do in such a situation was reject that you there was anything wrong with your initial answer. No matter how intelligent a person was, in situations with so much pressure it was impossible to fully expend the amazing powers of one’s mind. No-that wasn’t right, in your case you were simply too proud from being consistently correct, hence you would automatically forgo the idea that you could be wrong.
The baseball player breathed out quietly, glancing over to the teacher he wondered when she’d put you out of your misery. His warm brown orbs later returned to your figure lazily. His eyes widened as he saw the uplifted muscles of your face, a blinding smile shaping your features as you began to radiate waves of absolute euphoria. The correct answer rolled off your tongue along with why your original answer had been incorrect. The teacher nodded with a proud smile on her face, praising you for realizing your error and going on to state that this was a common error students were always led to make.
A sensation similar to that achieved by a massive object forcefully colliding with his abdomen consumed him, his jaw slacking a little to enable his lungs access to more oxygen. He’d failed to discover the answer independently? Yet you-you found it…and found it rather under such great pressure. How did you come up with such an answer? No-that wasn’t the reason behind this sensation…rather he, who read the personalities of multiple batters, had completely misread you. The caramel eyed boy stared at you intently behind the thick black frames of his glasses, a smirk shaping his lips, interesting.
oO0-_-_-_-0Oo
A practice game with another school had passed, and concluded with Seido’s victory, and the four-eyed baseball player’s capabilities as a catcher were now well known by the school population, earning him popularity with the female population of your year. A few had even approached him one lunch while you were in the classroom. “You were amazing yesterday Miyuki-kun!” They’d complimented him with cherry red cheeks, to which he responded with a chuckle and a polite, “thank you.”
He heard you sigh tiredly after the girls had gone off with giddy steps, giggling. He’d been paying more attention to you since your miraculous answer that one class. He heard you mutter about how, regardless the number of times you read this book, you still felt the same heaviness of heart upon completing it. If you felt miserable after finishing it why did you read it more than once?-Miyuki’s eye twitched slightly. What kind of book was it to make you read it even if it left you desolate? Was that a…bug on the cover? What kind of stuff did you read? How many times had you read that book? Why were you reading the same book more than once? What was so amazing that made you read it again?
As questions regarding your taste in literature continued popping within his head, you were called to the office over the speakers, interrupting his train of thought. You closed your book and left it face up on your desk before leaving the classroom. You’d barely stepped out of the room when whispers regarding you filled the room. “[Surname]-san was called to the office? I wonder why, she’s always very respectful to the teachers,” a girl questioned.
“More like she idolizes them,” a boy nearby responded.
“No, I think she just really likes learning,” a second guy sweatdropped, and seeing all the confused looks he received he continued, “I caught her talking passionately about lattice structures with the chemistry teacher…I’ve never,” he paused, “I’ve never seen anyone smile so brightly while learning.”
“You’re right, generally she’s always serious, but then whenever she answers a question wrong she looks so happy,” one girl added.
“It’s like she likes knowing that there’s more to learn isn’t it?” Her friend laughed.
“I heard she’s here on an academic scholarship,” the second male student supplied.
“Why do you know so much about her Tachigawa-kun?” The girl who’d started the whole conversation eyed him suspiciously.
“W-why?” He choked. “W-well, y’gotta admit, she’s kinda cute.”
“EHHHHHH?”
“It’s not like I’d actually date her!” The second guy-Tachigawa was it?- quickly denied forming an “X” with his hands in front on his face. “She’s got this unapproachable air about her-and! And…I feel like a piece of shit for trying to hit on her!”
Miyuki snickered to himself at the boy’s intimidated state, which went on unnoticed as the group gossiping about you became rowdier. Getting up and out of his seat, he placed his hands in his pockets and lazily sauntered over to your desk where you’d left your book, this was his chance to get his answers-without having to ask you about it directly. The Metamorphosis? Miyuki had never heard of this book before. The title was in English as well…were you actually reading an English novel? Impressive.
Unthinkingly his hand extended out and grabbed the book. Flipping it open, he could see little scribbles of Japanese all over the pages-even those you hadn’t read this time around yet. He’d actually began to read the first page, wondering what this short novella was about. He’d become rather immersed in the absurdity of the story. From what he understood from the notes and his fair knowledge of English, the main character was stupidly dedicated to his horrid family which couldn’t properly appreciate him.
“Do you find the story interesting?” He jumped-that voice was unmistakably!
Snapping his head towards the person who’d asked the question, he looked down to see you. You had an eerie smile on your face. You’d caught him! “I have the Japanese version of the novella,” you kneeled and began to rummage through your school bag, “it was originally written in German, but I don’t know German, so I thought that maybe the English version would be closer to the original…but I don’t have a good enough understanding of the language to appreciate the style,” you finished, standing up and handing the brunette catcher a book.
He chuckled nervously, which was very unlike him, before saying, “thanks, I’ll be sure to return it to you when I’m done,” while rubbing the back of his neck.
“When you do we can talk about it if you’d like!” You beamed. “The style is absolutely amazing! Even if you don’t know the philosophy behind the story, you can still appreciate the writing!”
At the time, Miyuki hadn’t realized it, but The Metamorphosis was an important treasure of yours.
oO0-_-_-_-0Oo
It turns out you’d been called to the office to be offered a position in the newly developed peer tutoring program that Seido had implemented a few years ago. It was originally developed to aid baseball players who were struggling with maintaining their marks, however it had progressed into helping anyone and everyone who needed help with their homework.
The Seido catcher had congratulated you on earning a position, now much more comfortable with conversing with you after the incident with The Metamorphosis. “Thanks!” You’d chirped your cheeks burning at the compliment…and then, “I don’t think we’ve been properly introduced, my name is [Full Name].”
At that the bespectacled boy chuckled lightly, you were rather modest, “I’m Miyuki Kazuya.”
“Miyuki-kun?” You questioned. “Wait a second…you’re on our baseball team right? You have to be really good at baseball then!”
“Heh-hee! That’s right!” He grinned.
“Sports have a psychological aspect to them right?”
How did you know that? You didn’t play any sports. His eyes had narrowed eyeing you suspiciously.
“What I mean is-uh…how do I say this?” You groaned, thinking he didn’t understand. “Well uh..um..uh-it’s like! URGH!”
The genius baseball player simply smirked at your smaller frame. There was something incredible amusing about watching you struggle to vocalize your thoughts. “What position do you play in baseball?” You asked suddenly.
“Catcher.”
“The guy who catches the pitches?”
“Yep! That’s me!” He donned quite the grin, “I do a lot more than ‘catch pitches,’ though” he quoted you with a slight edge in his voice, “catchers play a very important role in fielding and are just as important as the flashy pitchers who get most of the credit.”
“Really? I’ve never really watched a baseball game, so I don’t know much about the game!” You responded anxiously your face shifting into a look of pure horror and you shrunk before his radiant eyes. “I’m so sorry if I offended you before! I’m really, really sorry!”
Your eyes burned with your failure to blink for the past few minutes. Your lungs clenched painfully as your lips parted slightly to enable air to enter your restricted airways. Your throat drying up, you felt your heart solidify into a piece of metal that plummeted to the void which formed in the pit of your stomach, leaving the tips of your toes and fingers ice cold. Your stricken orbs gazed into the depth of those of the boy before you, the memory of his intense, poorly concealed, disappointed glare branded within your memory.
Your brain dismissed his response was to your frantic apology as background noise. Ignorance-due to your ignorance, you’d offended an individual. How could you have been so ignorant? You went to a school loaded with boys aspiring to become phenomenal baseball players-a baseball school if you will-and yet you didn’t know more than the most basic of basic knowledge and had no deeper appreciation for what these players stood for. Ignorance was the source of all sadness in this world…you wouldn’t-you wouldn’t allow someone else to suffer due to your ignorance.
You apologized once again, except with less enthusiasm than before, and politely excused yourself. You weren’t going to remain ignorant any longer. The next time you faced Miyuki, you’d be knowledgeable about the sport he and the school dedicated themselves to.
“If I attend Seido I should at least know about the basics of baseball!” You grumbled to yourself once you left the classroom.
Miyuki’s face took on a huge grin with your departure. You hadn’t heard a word he’d said after you’d first apologized. Were you really sorry? Also you just ran away-what was up with that? Well either way-you were rather eccentric for someone with your reputation. Wait-actually your reputation made you seem psychotic…
…what was he to make of you?
oO0-_-_-_-Oo
“Ryo-san you’re late!” An olive haired male called to his rose haired upperclassman.
The left side of the upperclassman’s lips curled upwards in response. “I came across something very interesting in the library.”
“In the library?” The impolite underclassman questioned flabbergasted. “It wouldn’t happen to be a girl would it?”
“I guess that’s about the only interesting thing you’d be able to see in a library huh?” A nearby male suggested.
“It was a girl,” Ryosuke hummed in response, “a girl jumping up and down to see the titles of books in the baseball section of the library.”
“WHAT?!” The two boys choked their faces exploding with a red color as they imagined the scene.
“What she cute? What year? What homeroom? What’re her three measurements? How cute was she?”
“Dunno,” the eager underclassmen plummeted to the floor in disappointment at their senior’s response, “but,” the smirk on the rose haired male’s face became sinister, “when I helped her out she asked me: ‘sports have a psychological aspect to them right?’”
At that time the third spectator, who’d been silent for the entirety of the conversation’s eyes widened behind his specialized prescription sports glasses. There was only one girl who’d ask such a question and he knew precisely who it was.
The brunette smirked, pleased with this piece of news…You may be ignorant with regards to baseball, but you weren’t afraid to acknowledge your ignorance-rather by acknowledging your ignorance you were enabling yourself to learn…to improve! His smirk shifted into a wry smile as he looked in the direction his senior had come from. Proceeding on to the practice, your enthusiasm towards learning about the catcher’s favorite sport opened up an energy reservoir he hadn’t known he’d had until it revealed itself to him during his practice that afternoon.
oO0-_-_-_-0Oo
You’d been tutoring quite a bit now. Evidently you were a good teacher, because more and more students were coming to see you afterschool for lessons. Also, because you always offered more help for those who wanted it, students from all the first year classes would come to see you during lunch, leaving less and less room for Miyuki to talk to you, much to your relief, as you were afraid you’d have to face him before fully understanding baseball. The catcher instead resorted to watching you interact with the other students.
Usually students wouldn’t ask each other for help unless they were close friends, however throngs of people went through their classroom with questions for you. The reason was incredibly obvious. Every time a question was posed at you, you never ridiculed the asker, but instead complimented them, even when the question was ridiculously silly (in Miyuki’s opinion), stating it was because they were thinking too hard. You smiled at each person who came to you, even though he could see you were exhausted and wanted to eat.
Another thing that stood out had to be how you answered the questions. You would never directly give the answer but would instead guide the people to the answer and whenever they thanked you would respond a wide grin on your face, “You did everything yourself! Have more confidence in your abilities!”
Observing your tutee’s responses to your encouragement, the baseball prodigy thought you also had the makings of an exceptional catcher.
oO0-_-_-_-0Oo
Miyuki seated himself on the table his fellow first years on the Seido baseball team were seated. Glancing slightly to his left he noticed the tension within an aspiring side-arm pitcher’s shoulders. His eyebrows scrunched up as he stared blankly at his food before him. The tempo of his jaw was the equivalent to that of gigantic rollers working to press thick fabric at a clothing factory. “Oi Nori- are you okay?” The prodigious catcher questioned.
“H-huh?” Said boy jumped in surprise, earning the attention of his upperclassmen at the table. “Y-yeah I-I’m fine…” he mumbled with wide eyes, before he set down his bowl of rice and chopsticks, “actually…uh, uhm, I have a question,” he swallowed thickly, “when a girl’s stomach grumbles in front of you three times what should you do?”
Silence weighed down upon the shoulders of the boys surrounding the innocent pitcher. “Was she cute?” The olive haired boy to the pitcher’s left asked quietly.
The boy’s face beamed red in response. “KAWAKAMI YOU IDIOT!” A bearded upperclassman barked.
“That was a once in a lifetime chance! When a girl’s stomach growls you should immediately offer to buy her a meal!”
“Kuramocchi’s right! You should have brought her with you to have dinner with you here!”
Surprised by the tenacity of his teammates’ responses, Miyuki blinked blankly. “Wait, wait, Nori,” he called for the poor guy’s attention, “what happened?”
“Well…”
oO0-_-_-_-0Oo
You’d been shuffling your way through the library hurriedly trying to get to your dorm to make it in time for dinner before you’d have to come back for the next wave of people to tutor, as night time was the baseball players’ time. You only did both sessions twice a week-and they were random depending on your work load. Either way, dinner was within a restricted time period, if you didn’t make it in time you wouldn’t be able to eat until next morning. With your stomach walls grinding against each other…the latter option did not appeal to you-not one bit.
Hence you were rushing to get some dinner before you had to return to help out some more. However, on your way out of the library you came across a boy around your age yanking at his hair, his eyes glaring at the textbook before him. Intrigued your eyes gazed over the pages of the textbook he was staring at flustered. Hey! You had the same book! You guys must be in the same grade! Wait- it was! Oh you loved that subject!
“Having trouble? It’s a really hard concept to wrap your head around, so a lot of people have a hard time with it,” you chirped.
Looking up at you from his seated position, the boy’s face bloomed red. “So what are you having trouble with? I can help you if you’d like,” you smiled at him eagerly looking over his work.
“Uh-uh-uhm-uh I-I-I,” Kawakami’s mind purged itself of all sense it previously housed, “well, it’s, uh, it’s this problem,” he indicated using his finger unable to articulate his thoughts into words.
Bending over the edge of the table perpendicular to the shy pitcher you calmly read the problem. “Well, I always start by listing out all of my variables-too many words make my head hurt and confuse me,” you spoke calmly.
Slowly, the boy unwound himself becoming more comfortable within the atmosphere you created. He began posing questions and confessed that he actually didn’t fully understand the concept you were discussing. Within half an hour Kawakami understood the entire concept, you encouraged the asking of questions and did a thorough job of answering them. Hence you decided to encourage him to answer a question independently. At that your stomach growled in complaint to your neglecting it. The brunette pitcher blinked at you, and it was your turn to blush. “Oh don’t mind the sound, it does that all the time,” you smiled waving your hand in a dismissal. You weren’t lying, your stomach did growl regularly-when you were hungry that is.
The aspiring pitcher had barely completed the question before your stomach sang again. He raised his head, starting when your eerily wide smile met his line of view. When you proceeded to punch your stomach as though attempting to prevent it from complaining anymore, he broke out in cold sweat. However in response to your attempts to silence it, your stomach growled a third time. “A-are you sure you’re okay?” Kawakami asked again.
“It’s perfectly fine! It just has hidden musical talents that it demands to have recognized,” you laughed nervously, “anyway how’s the question coming along?”
oO0-_-_-_-0Oo
Up until the end of the story, the entirety of the dinner table had remained quiet. Now that Kawakami’s recollection had reached its conclusion…everyone collectively blinked before Miyuki began to laugh joyously. Soon enough he had tears in his eyes and was clutching his stomach. Meanwhile Kawakami’s face flared for the umpteenth time that day. However he wasn’t given enough time to feel humiliated by the catcher’s laughter, instead he was bombarded with Kuramocchi and the second years’ furious complaints and recommendations should he ever be lucky enough to have this situation reoccur.
“Oh!” Kawakami suddenly remembered something. “I think she likes baseball!”
“WHAT?!” The boys cried out.
“WHY DIDN’T YOU PROPOSE TO HER RIGHT THEN AND THERE?! SHE’S THE PERFECT WOMAN!” The olive haired short stop cried clenching a fist.
“She,” the pitcher cast his gaze downwards, sighing dejectedly, “she was asking me about the catcher position- saying stuff about how none of the books she’d read could explain it properly…even though she didn’t know what the position was like-she could tell that it didn’t explain everything properly.”
At that all the boys at the table looked towards the catcher, who had an enormous, cocky grin slapped across his face. Considering the behavior Kawakami had described, he guessed it was you. “The guy who catches the pitches?” Was what you’d said that time…his grin stretched-you really had been sorry. Considering your behavior that day, you must have gone straight to the library after your conversation with him.
For the remainder of the night he’d been drilled for answers that the team never drew out of him as his only response was an arrogant snicker.
oO0-_-_-_-0Oo
“I’ve found the woman of my dreams!” A silly short stop claimed as he bounced to practice with his fellow first year teammate about a week after the incident with Kawakami.
“Oh really?” The brunette eyed him cynically.
“Yep! She’s cute, smart, and best of all!” He looked at the catcher with stars in his eyes. “She likes video games!”
“Is that all you’re looking for in a woman?” Miyuki asked incredulously.
“What more is there to look for?”
Honey eyes gazed at the olive haired boy beside him warily. “She asked me if she could come watch our practice to learn more about baseball! She really is the perfect woman!”
The conversation was cut short as they approached the baseball practice field. However Miyuki decided to keep an eye out for a female spectator.
oO0-_-_-_-0Oo
“Interested in learning about the catcher position?” A feminine voice asked you from behind as she eyed the notes you were taking regarding the armored individuals you were observing.
You quickly snapped around to look at the individual who’d caught you. It was a well-endowed, formally dressed lady with glasses. “Uh…yeah,” you responded nervously, “I kinda…offended this guy in my class…and he plays the catcher position…so the next time I face him I want to be knowledgeable of his position.”
“Oh is that the case? Well, how about you join me in observing the catchers in the scrimmage we’ll be having between the first and second-string players?” She asked with a confident smirk, using her index finger to push the bridge of her glasses up her nose.
“Y-yes please! I’d love to!” With this, you would have done all that you could to learn and would be able to face that catcher in your class with confidence that you wouldn’t repeat the offense.
Fortunately for the boys in the bull pen that you had been observing prior to the lady coming to talk to you, her voice was loud enough for them to hear your conversation. The one boy that had prompted all of the research you had conducted thus far had also had the privilege of overhearing your conversation, a smirk shaping his lips. You were really amusing. How you detected that slight irritation that day… you really would make quite the catcher.
oO0-_-_-_-0Oo
Your eyes narrowed at the articles in front of you. You scribbled down some notes on your notebook, papers with your research littering the ample desk space of the Seido library desks. You ran your hand with your pencil in it through your hair irritably. You’d done way too much research, honestly why had you even bothered to go so far? The look your classmate had given you about a week ago flashed through your mind. Your body was consumed by cold sweat, the tips of your toes going cold as a chill wrapped about your spine. You breathed in and out to calm yourself down, looking down at your notes yet again.
“Yo! [Surname], whatcha up to?” Chocolate eyes roamed over your notes as a head poked over your shoulder.
“KYAA!” You jumped, your heart thumping loudly in your ears, a hollow feeling consuming the pit of your stomach. You immediately slammed your upper unto the desk with your arms extended in hopes of covering up the contents of the research papers. “M-M-M-Miyuki Kazuya!...kun!” You exclaimed, all color draining from your face at the sight of the tall male who looked down at your awkward pose.
The brunette snickered at your reaction, inducing an embarrassed heat in your cheeks. “Y’know, if you want to learn about the catcher position all you had to do was ask.” He’d seen your notes! Shoot!
“OI! This is a library! Keep it down!” A librarian scolded.
“S-sorry!” You called out.
“Don’t apologize and just shut up!”
The two of you were completely silent after that. Your heart continued to beat with a force as though it desired release from the bounds of your rib cage, your body growing colder with each second. When was this guy going to leave? You weren’t ready to face him yet! You-you-you…you’d done enough research to know that the catcher was the player who led the defense, an essential and incredibly important position though not as flashy. You should be ready to face him with confidence…but after that slight malice he’d shown you that one time…
“No need to be so tense,” he grinned smugly, as if sensing your distress, “I don’t bite,” he paused, his grin shifting into a more analytical one, “but still that you could tell I was annoyed when I was trying to cover it up…not bad.”
Such were the beginnings of a long, long journey together.