Essence of Eugeo

It wasn’t until halfway through the final class period of the day that the rain began to come down. As soon as he heard the light pitter-pattering of raindrops hitting the windows next to him, he glanced outside. As always, his mother had been correct. He was truly grateful that he had his umbrella with him since it looked like the rain wasn’t going to be letting up any time soon. In fact, it appeared that the rain was starting to come down even harder.

A soft groan from the boy behind him had Mihashi craning his head around to look at him. Tajima, too, was looking out the window, but his expression clearly showed displeasure at the appearance of the water droplets falling from the sky.

“Yuu-kun, what’s wrong?” The pitcher asked quietly, doing his best to make sure their teacher didn’t hear him. The last thing he wanted was to get them both in trouble.

“Mom told me to bring my umbrella, but I didn’t think I’d need it…” the third baseman explained with a heavy sigh, his head drooping. “I know I don’t have far to go, but still...”

He trailed off and let his shoulders slump forward in defeat while another sigh passed through his lips.

“I have… mine! We can share!” Mihashi told him in a slightly louder voice, more eager about the idea than he probably should have been.

“Ohhhh! As reliable as ever when it comes to rain!” That was an odd way for Tajima to put it, but Mihashi couldn’t exactly argue. After all, he was right. Because of his mother, he always had an umbrella when he needed it. He had walked more than one of his teammates home under the protection of his umbrella before. “I’ll take you up on your offer, then. And since it’s Monday, you can just wait out the rain at my place.”

“Ahem.”

Both of them froze and slowly looked up to find their instructor looming over them threateningly. She wore a menacing smile that had them sweating bullets as they continued to stare up at her, unsure how to react. As soon as she opened her mouth, they both let out a screech at the same time.

“We’re sorry!”

After receiving a rather lenient punishment from their teacher, the rest of the class time passed uneventfully, and, along with Izumi, they made their way out of the classroom. Along the way to the room where they held their weekly team meetings, they met up with the boys of class seven and mingled amongst them until they arrived, finding the rest of the club members already inside.

Immediately after the meeting ended, the duo headed out into the pounding rain, their shoulders pressed together underneath of the umbrella’s cover. Their conversation was mostly mindless nonsense as they strode through the rain, making the short journey from their school grounds to the Tajima residence.

Rounding the corner into the long driveway up to the main house, Mihashi stopped in his tracks as he felt his boyfriend grab his hand. The umbrella slipped from his hands and landed in a small puddle beside them, splashing muddy water onto their pants.

Suddenly, a mouth was pressed against his own, cutting off whatever it was that he was about to say. He couldn’t remember what that was because of his mind being completely wiped of all thoughts the moment Tajima kissed him. Both of his partner’s hands promptly shifted up to either side of his face, keeping him from pulling away, even though that was furthest from what he wanted. The moment the kiss ended, Mihashi felt his knees give out, but he was kept on his feet by his partner’s hands grabbing his shoulders.

“W-What was... that for?” He asked between short, shallow breaths. It wasn’t that he found the kiss bad, but it came out of absolutely nowhere, and he wanted to know why. Once he had steadied himself a bit, the third baseman released his shoulders and bent over to pick up the discarded umbrella.

Tajima’s response to his boyfriend’s question was short, sweet, and simple.

The next thing he could clearly remember was waking up beside Tajima the following morning, wrapped in each other's arms and completely naked. His partner wasn’t awake just yet, but the warmth of his body was comforting. He felt safer in that moment than he ever had before, like there was an invisible, impenetrable protective bubble surrounding them. The soft, continuous whirring of the fan, combined with the comfortable warmth of the bed, was lulling Mihashi back into a deep slumber when he was suddenly jolted fully awake by the obnoxiously loud, blaring alarm clock on the bedside table next to him.

Quickly slamming his hand down on the clock to turn it off, the pitcher twisted around, tangling himself in the bed’s sheets as he checked to see if Tajima had been awoken by the noise. He found the younger teen propped up on one of his arms, his mahogany eyes locked on to Mihashi’s face, looking almost as though he hadn’t even been asleep.

“Have you been awake for long?” Mihashi asked quietly, a bit nervous from the intense stare he was receiving.

“Mmmmm… Not really,” Tajima replied in a slightly louder voice. He pushed himself up into a sitting position and leaned over to press a quick kiss to his partner’s pale lips. A small but audible breath slipped past his lips before he pressed his forehead lightly against the pitcher’s. “It was before the alarm went off, and only a little bit before you woke up.”

“H-How did you know I was...?” Mihashi responded, trailing off before he could get the entire sentence out. Although his speech had gotten much better over the past two years, there were still occasions where a stutter would work its way in and impede his thoughts. Of course, Tajima was still able to understand what he wanted to say, no matter what.

“Your body does this cute little shaking thing just before you wake up!” Tajima told him, a playful grin dancing on his face as he pulled away and rolled off of his bed to get ready for the day.

Mihashi let out an indignant squeak, feeling like he might just die from the embarrassment welling up inside of him. He crawled forward quickly, determined not to let his boyfriend run away after telling him such a thing. However, having previously tangled himself in the bedding, his movements were hindered, leading to him falling face first into the floor below. Tajima let out a small cackle at the sight, having already finished dressing himself.

By the time Mihashi had fully extracted himself from the bedding, Tajima was already out of the room, telling him to hurry up. He gave up on trying to catch the other third year and quickly threw on the remaining clothing he found on the floor, but he was puzzled to find one of his socks missing. No matter where he looked, he couldn’t find it. However, it was Tajima’s room, so having an article of clothing just disappear was not an oddity. Instead of spending more time searching for it, he removed the one he’d already put on and chose to simply take a pair out of his partner’s collection.

Leaving his boyfriend’s bedroom, he began to make his way to the main room, certain that he would find him there. As soon as he entered, he was greeted by an enthusiastic chorus of good mornings. All of the members of Tajima’s family were there, sitting down for breakfast. Considering the fact that he knew how their family meals could get, it was a rather uneventful and silent one. Rather than that, it seemed almost as though none of them could look at him.

As they were preparing to leave for their morning practice, Mihashi finally got up the nerve to ask what was on his mind.

“Yuu-kun, did I... do something wrong?” He inquired hesitantly, not sure if he was prepared for the answer he might get.

“Hm?” Looking up with a frown after he finished tying the laces of shoes, Tajima tilted his head to the side in confusion. “What made you think that?”

“No one is looking at me…”

Tajima stared at him blankly at first, but the moment he realized what Mihashi was talking about, it showed clearly on his face. His eyes glittered mischievously as he attempted to hold back his laughter.

“You don’t remember anything from last night, do you?” He asked, snickering slightly at the extremely nervous shake of the head that he got in return. “You were loud last night. Really, really loud. I’m pretty sure your voice echoed through the entire house.”

“If I find him, I’ll send you a message,” Izumi called out to the third baseman, receiving only a wave of the hand as acknowledgement that the older boy had heard him. He took off in the opposite direction, straight out the door at the end of the hallway. He would search the entirety of the school grounds if he needed to. He and Tajima shouldn’t have spoken so harshly to their teammate. Out of everyone, they knew best just how timid he was. Now they were paying the price for their mistake.

Izumi’s first thought was, of course, to check the practice field and the surrounding areas. He checked absolutely every spot he believed Mihashi could be hiding; unfortunately, the boy was in none of them. Making sure to keep his head on a swivel, he jogged back across the campus. When the school’s detached buildings came into his line of vision, he came to a halt and contemplated the area. There were plenty of secluded spots along the buildings, providing him with enough of a reason to check.

Not even a few seconds after walking into the trees, a tiny figure came bounding forward, colliding with the center fielder. Izumi toppled over backward, the other person being dragged down on top of him. The first thought that entered his mind was that the person was extremely light and rather boney. As soon as he recognized the person, it became clear why.

“M-Mihashi?”

“Izumi...kun!” Mihashi hastily retreated from where he had landed, getting off of Izumi and standing back up. He offered a hand to his boyfriend, wanting to help him to his feet since he was the one who knocked him down.

Izumi accepted the offered hand, and let himself be pulled to his feet. It was then that he took in Mihashi’s disheveled appearance. His clothes were heavily wrinkled and covered in dirt and dust while his hair was littered with crushed bits of fallen leaves. The sight that caused him pain, though, was his face. Tear tracks as dry as a drained lake were clearly visible on his pale cheeks, leading from bloodshot eyes to his rounded jaw line. Never before had Izumi felt as much self-loathing as he did in that moment. He and Tajima were the cause of this.

He could feel Mihashi preparing to release his hand, but he refused to let go, sandwiching the pitcher’s heavily-calloused hand between his own slightly larger ones. Izumi’s head drooped forward, and he clenched his eyes shut tightly, trying to burn the previous sight into his mind. The same mistake would not be made again.

“Izumi-kun, I… I’m sor--” Mihashi’s apology was cut off abruptly as his hand was finally released and Izumi’s arms wrapped tightly around his shoulders.

“Don’t.” Izumi voice was muffled as he rested his face against one of his boyfriend’s shoulders and clung to him tightly. His entire body shook when Mihashi circled his own arms around the outfielder’s waist and buried his own face in the crook of his neck.

The warmth of the pitcher’s body enveloped him, and he almost regretted the moment he pulled away. He felt his phone vibrate in his pocket and suddenly jolted as he remembered that he promised to let Tajima know if he found their partner.

He pulled out his phone and quickly tapped out a message, letting the third baseman know where they were. As soon as he finished, he took one of Mihashi’s hands into his own and pulled him into the shade of one of the biggest trees in the wooded area. He sat down and tugged lightly on the other’s arm in order to pull him down. Once he situated the smaller boy between his legs and Mihashi had leaned back against him, he wound his arms loosely around his partner’s waist.

They sat in silence while awaiting Tajima’s arrival, both perking up the moment the sound of crunching grass filled their ears. The smallest member of their trio skidded to a halt in front of them, his slim chest expanding and contracting as he breathed heavily, taking in the sight of the one he had been desperately searching for. Izumi could easily tell that Tajima was having the same kind of reaction that he had several minutes earlier.

Moving forward briskly, the third baseman quickly settled himself into Mihashi’s lap, but instead of hugging him, he forced a frantic kiss against the blond’s slightly parted lips, startling him.

“Oi, Tajima!” Izumi exclaimed, having also been shocked by the sudden action. There was also the possibility that he was slightly jealous, having resisted the urge to do the exact same thing earlier.

When their mouths parted ways, Tajima apologized. Under the light of the mid-day sun, his mahogany eyes clearly reflected the pain he felt. Then came the apology that both of them needed to express.

“Sorry for going off on you like that earlier,” he began, leaning forward to press his face against Mihashi’s neck. “We shouldn’t have done that. We were complete dicks, and you didn’t deserve that.”

“But!” Mihashi spoke loudly and more confidently than they had ever heard from him before. “You only said those things because you were worried!! Because you c-care about me!”

“That may be…” Izumi replied hesitantly, his embrace tightening as he remembered Mihashi’s face when he ran out of the classroom earlier. “But that doesn’t excuse what we did.”

A heavy silence fell between them, and before any of them could think of what to say next, the school’s bell rang, signaling that their lunch period had ended. Begrudgingly, they began their journey back to their classroom. Before they entered the main building again, Mihashi suddenly stopped, causing the other two to halt in their tracks as well.

“I can’t... promise I’ll never do it again.”

Both boys sighed simultaneously at his proclamation. Tajima ruffled his hair and Izumi placed a hand on his shoulder while he spoke.

“We know. Just… promise us you’ll try to be more careful next time.”

“I can do that,” Mihashi replied with a nod and a nervous, wobbly half-smile. “Thank you for w-worrying about me.”

At that, Tajima and Izumi looked at each other, massive grins spreading across their faces as they spoke together.

Sakaeguchi had been one of the people who best appreciated their relationship from the very beginning. They were such a positive influence on their pitcher and showed him the kind of love he deserved to have. In his eyes, there was no reason for him to oppose it.

He wasn’t sure when exactly his heart and mind had separated on the subject, but there came a point when even being near them while they were together left him feeling as though someone had gutted him. He was a fairly practical guy, so it didn’t take him very long to realize what was happening. Somehow, he had managed to fall in love with Mihashi.

Acting on his feelings was not an option. Mihashi’s heart belonged to Tajima and Izumi. He knew that. He saw how happy Mihashi was when he was with them. Sakaeguchi would never forgive himself if he ruined what appeared to have been one of the best things to ever happen to Mihashi.

Even if he wasn’t the one Mihashi loved, he would do whatever he could to make him happy. This often seemed to come in the form of acting as sort of relationship counselor when something went wrong. The trio never went to anyone else when they were having problems. It was always Sakaeguchi.

The very first one of those incidents had been during their lunch period on a normal school day in late October. Having left something on one of the benches during morning practice, he went to retrieve it during lunch break. In order to get back to the main building quicker, he cut through the area with the detached buildings. The moment he discovered Mihashi sitting against one of the buildings’ walls alone and curled in on himself, Sakaeguchi knew that something was wrong.

“Mihashi?” He inquired hesitantly, his voice heavily laced with concern.

When the smaller boy lifted his head, the second baseman’s heart almost broke at the sight before him. His eyes were puffy, red, and wet as tears continued to slide down his cheeks, dripping off slowly and landing on his knees. He mumbled something, but Sakaeguchi was unable to make out what he was trying to say. Instead of asking Mihashi to repeat himself, he simply sat down next to his pitcher, ready to wait for him to settle down before asking him about what had happened.

Even though his heart was going crazy in his chest and his shoulder felt like it was on fire in the spot where it pressed against Mihashi’s, he waited patiently and silently. He listened to the sound of his friend’s laboured breathing and occasional sniffle, not saying anything until it had all stopped.

“Do you want to talk about what happened?”

It took a few moments for Mihashi to gather his thoughts before he managed to speak, albeit in a broken voice and a broken sentence.

“M-m-made Tajima-kun… Izumi-kun… angry…”

Sakaeguchi found that rather… inconceivable. Tajima never seemed like he was capable of getting angry at Mihashi, and Izumi had an unbelievable amount of patience when it came to him. He had to have done something exceptionally bad for them to get to such a point.

However, it became clear once the pitcher explained what happened. He could understand why they were upset with him and felt a bit agitated himself once he fully learned what Mihashi had done.

“Aren’t they upset because you put yourself in danger?”

At Mihashi’s blank, confused stare, Sakaeguchi continued to speak, adjusting himself so that he was facing Mihashi with his entire body while explaining exactly what he had done wrong.

“If things had gone badly, you could have really gotten hurt, Mihashi. They’re upset because they care about you and don’t want to see you hurt.” Neither do I.

Terrified realization dawned on the pitcher’s face, and he quickly leaned forward until his face was only a few inches from Sakaeguchi’s. The second baseman’s heart skipped a beat, and he ended up falling backward in shock.

“Sakaeguchi-kun…! Thank you!”

“Y-yeah…”

The second baseman could only watch as the other boy hastily got to his feet and ran off in the direction of the main building. Sakaeguchi was left on his back, bewildered by what had just occurred. He turned onto his side and curled forward, clutching at the front of his t-shirt right above his chest. He knew that he had sealed his fate.

“Why don’t we spend some time together, missy?” He continued to ask her as he followed her down the sidewalk.

Shinooka was terrified, but the only thing that she could think to do was continue to ignore him and not show that he was getting to her. That was the plan to which she had been intending to stick. Of course, the older man wouldn’t just let her go, so it was only going to get worse for her from there.

“Oi, listen to me!”

Her mind went blank as the man threw an arm in front of her and proceeded to corner her against the side of a building. Her body trembled in terror as she felt her back hit the wall behind her, her harasser towering over her. She glanced around out of the corners of her eyes, trying to find a way to escape. There was nothing.

“So? How about it, girly? Spend some time with me,” He insisted, the corners of his lips curling up into a twisted grin.

“...alone…” She was trying to talk her way out of this situation, but her voice could barely get above a whisper.

“Ah?”

“Please... leave me alone…” She repeated, still trying to keep from making eye contact with the man. Looking him in the face would do nothing aside from make her even more nervous and give her attacker a thrill.

“The fuck did you just say?” A fist was slammed down next to her left ear. She flinched and curled away, still refusing to look up.

“L-Leave her… alone!” A much smaller hand entered her field of vision along with a voice she had come to know quite well over the course of the past several months. She finally lifted her head and saw her team’s timid pitcher standing next to her, his right hand placed on the older man’s arm like he was trying to push him away from her.

“Mihashi...kun…”

Encountering Mihashi outside of school wasn’t an usual occasion for Shinooka. Most of the time, she wouldn’t say anything to him because he looked like he was busy, probably with errands from his parents. She never thought he had noticed her before. Even if he hadn’t, she was immensely grateful he saw her this time.

“A-Are you okay, Shinooka-san?” He asked nervously, glancing back at her. He looked as terrified as she felt, and Shinooka couldn’t exactly blame him for that. Even though he was taller than her, the older man looked like he was as big as the two of them combined.

“Hah?! You supposed to be her boyfriend or something, midget?”

“Y...es!” He sounded extremely hesitant in his response. She knew it couldn’t have been easy for him to lie like that, but a sudden warmth flowed through her at his single-word confirmation.

Everything suddenly took a turn for the worse when a fist connected with Mihashi’s nose. Shinooka let out a small scream as the baseball player stumbled backward, letting go of the man’s arm and grabbing his face.

“Tch! Fucking weakling.” The guy moved away from Shinooka and toward Mihashi, about to go in for another punch. The manager was desperate to keep that from happening and quickly started calling out for help, stopping the man in his tracks. Her shouting caught the attention of a nearby police officer who began running toward them.

“You’d better hope I never see you again!” Her attacker threatened them both before taking off down the street away from the officer.

By the time he arrived, the man was long gone. Shinooka spoke to him, efficiently recounting the events of what had previously transpired. He tried to talk to Mihashi as well but was barely able to get more than a word out of the boy.

A few minutes after the officer left, Mihashi began to settle down a bit. The manager took this as an opportunity to speak with him. She started off by thanking him for stepping in and then asked him why he did it when he knew it could get him injured.

“Some things… more important than... p-pitching!” Those words, seemingly spoken innocently, sparked something within her.

Never would Shinooka have thought that, out of everyone, the tiny pitcher with no confidence would be the person that she ended up falling for. Saying that it was completely unexpected for her would have been an understatement. It was far from disappointing, though. Mihashi was a kind person, as he had just shown, and someone who worked hard for the things he loved.

When she looked back on past events, it became clear to her. His hard work, as well as his kindness and inability to hate anyone were what drew her to him. He was always working to improve himself, not necessarily just for himself, but also for the rest of the team. He was like sunshine, the blinding ray of light that brought about warmth and happiness to those around him.

It was amazing to watch Mihashi grow as a pitcher, but it was even more amazing to see how his interactions with his teammates had changed over the course of the year. When Shinooka thought back on it, that combination could have been what initially brought about her feelings for the timid boy.

“Mihashi-kun… You know…” She began, grabbing onto the loose sleeve of his sweatshirt. “When you told that guy you were my boyfriend--”

She was cut off as Mihashi let out a loud squawk and immediately apologized for lying about that.

“N-No! I didn’t… dislike it,” She trailed off after mumbling those final couple of words, but she knew Mihashi heard what she said by the way his body stiffened. “In fact… I was wondering if you maybe wanted to… make it the truth?”

As soon as she finished speaking, Shinooka whipped her head upward, looking directly at Mihashi’s face. They stared at each other for a moment, their cheeks an almost identical shade of pink. His eyes were wide and his mouth flapped open and closed soundlessly. Finally, unable to speak, he gave one single, sharp nod of his head.

They broke their eye contact after that, both of them turning their gazes in directions opposite of each other. Neither of them could think of anything to say to the other after that, and both of them stood in silence, just staring off to the side. Mihashi, surprisingly, was the one to break the silence.

“Do you… want me… to w-w-wa-walk you home... Shinooka-san?” He inquired, stuttering in a way Shinooka hadn’t heard since he first joined the team. He really had matured since then, and she found it kind of cute that he was stuttering like this not because he was afraid, but because he was embarrassed.

“Chiyo.” She said simply, a small smile spreading over her face. “Everyone else has started using first names, so… You should call me Chiyo.”

Shinooka could’ve sworn he had stopped breathing while trying to process what she was saying. The cogs of his mind weren’t visible, but when it finally registered, it was almost as if there was a massive explosion inside of Mihashi’s head. His face could have easily been mistaken for a perfectly ripened tomato.

Learning that they spent Mondays together stung a bit, but he already suspected the two of them spent more time with each other outside of club activities and class. They were best friends. Everyone knew it, including him. But the moment Izumi heard them call each other by their first names, he knew the distance between them was far more than he initially thought.

A dull pain pierced through his chest as he realized that Mihashi wasn’t even referring to Tajima by his full first name. It was a nickname. Not Yuuichirou. Yuu-kun. He hoped the bitterness that he felt wasn’t showing on his face as much as he thought.

Please don’t leave me out.

“I’m Kou-chan. It’s my nickname.” Damn. If that didn’t sound desperate, he didn’t know what did. “Kousuke is also alright.”

How did he manage to make that sound even more desperate? His actual given name was “also alright?” Smooth. Really smooth. The outfielder wanted to bash his head against a wall until he forgot about this.

“So Izumi-kun is Kousuke…” Izumi froze in place, his heart thumping so strongly that he thought it might actually pop out of his chest. He could feel the blood rush to his cheeks. Quickly turning his head away, he covered his face with his hands, knowing that it was a very visible shade of some colour between pink and red. How could Mihashi calling him by his first name affect him this much? The only thing he knew for certain was that he wanted to hear it again. He coughed and turned back to look at his classmate.

“S-s-s-sorry… K-Kou-chan?” Mihashi asked nervously, misinterpreting Izumi’s reaction as dislike for what he called him. The pitcher took a small step back, trembling slightly.

Hearing Mihashi call him by his nickname would have been wonderful if it wasn’t for the reaction that went with it. His heart sank, and he bit the inside of his lower lip. He knew he shouldn’t think about it because Mihashi was always timid like that, but to see him cowering away because of him was disheartening.

He’s never afraid of Tajima.

Izumi shook his head roughly, trying to get that awful thought out of his head. He shouldn’t compare himself to Tajima in that subject. Tajima was that guy on the team that everyone could get along with because of his abnormal friendliness. He would be the first to admit that his teammate was more friendly than himself. He always thought the pitcher was comfortable around him, though. Was he mistaken in that assumption?

“Either is fine.”

It turned out to be a junior high game between two schools that, as he expected, he had never heard of before. When he first arrived, the score was terribly lopsided, and it only got worse as the game progressed. 11-3 in the bottom of the 6th inning. There was no way Mihoshi Gakuen’s team was coming back from this. Then again, it didn’t exactly appear as though they were trying.

Tajima frowned. He would admit that the guy’s pitches were awfully slow and not terribly effective, but the pitcher, Mihashi, was the only player on their team that looked like he was still putting in any effort. On the other hand, his teammates were completely hanging him out to dry; the rest of the defence wasn’t even bothering to chase after simple pop-ups or easy grounders. Even if they knew they were going to lose, they still should have give it their all. No words of encouragement were exchanged either. He felt a pang of pity as Mihashi hung his head and curled in on himself slightly.

It wasn’t much longer until the game ended, and, as anyone could have expected, Mihoshi was the losing team. Five more runs had been added to the opposing team’s score in that short time, leaving the game with a final score of 16-3. It was arguably the worst and most lopsided game Tajima had ever seen. The pitcher’s effort was admirable, but, in their sport, a game can’t be won by a single player. If someone wants to win in baseball, they have to play as part of a team, a cohesive unit. There was no teamwork, no cohesive unit, on Mihoshi’s side.

It became fairly clear to Tajima how Mihashi’s teammates felt about him when he watched them leave the field. Almost as though there was an invisible barrier between them, none of other players would come within about a three-meter radius of him, instead speaking to each other in hushed whispers while glancing back at him occasionally. He felt sick just from watching it. Unfortunately, there wasn’t really anything he could do about it. He sighed and made his way to exit the stands.

Tajima paused for a moment and coughed as he remembered that he never exactly told his family where he was going. When he left, the only thing he told them was that he was going to explore the area. This place wasn’t too far from where they were staying though, so they would probably figure out where he went quite easily. If they really got worried, they’d call him. That hadn’t happened yet, so he supposed that not returning just yet was still fine.

It was completely by coincidence that Tajima passed by the entrance to the locker room that Mihoshi was occupying, finding Mihashi sitting under an overhang by himself. His knees were pulled up to his chest, his arms wrapped around them and his face buried in them. The pitcher’s ball cap sat loosely on his mop of sandy blond hair, threatening to fully slide off and land on the ground. It had probably been nudged off when the peak hit his knees.

“Hey, you.”

The boy yelped and jolted at the sound of Tajima’s voice, his head shooting up and accidentally connecting with the concrete wall behind him. The clean-up hitter took a quick step back in shock as the other boy curled in on himself again while he rubbed the back of his head, his eyes watering slightly from the pain. “Sorry! I didn’t mean to startle you like that! Are you okay?”

Mihashi blinked up at him owlishly and proceeded to look around before pointing to himself wordlessly in confusion, as though he wasn’t expecting someone to be talking to him.

“Yes, you,” Tajima verified with a small nod. He repeated his question, still wanting to make sure the pitcher was okay. The last thing he wanted was to cause this guy, who already had an awful day, a head injury.

“I-I’m… okay!” Mihashi assured him, clearly speaking louder than he meant to if the way he quickly covered his mouth with his hands was any indication.

“That’s good!” Tajima responded with a bright grin. However, his smile didn’t last long as Mihashi could only respond to his exclamation of relief with a small nod of his head. The tiny third baseman leaned back against the wall and propped one of his feet up behind him as a loud silence filled the area around them. “Why do your teammates treat you like that?”

Mihashi tensed slightly at the question and nervously chewed at his bottom lip.

“Th-That’s not--” He was quickly cut off by Tajima’s sharp voice.

“It’s obvious that they don’t treat you well. They didn’t help you at all out there. They can’t do that and then blame you. I play baseball, too, and that’s not how they should treat a teammate.”

More silence.

“I’m not… g-good,” Mihashi stuttered out nervously in a barely audible voice, his gaze falling to the concrete walkway beneath them. He clenched his eyes shut and tried to shrink in on himself, continuing to speak in, unbelievably, an even softer voice. “...Never win any games...”

Tajima contemplated the blond’s broken sentences for a few seconds. This kid had no confidence in himself. Although, he supposed that might be unavoidable with the combination of losing games as badly as today’s and his teammates’ treatment of him. If Tajima had to endure that all the time, he was pretty sure even his confidence would be stripped away little by little.

“Never winning isn’t an excuse for them to treat you like that. They’re just as much at fault for not giving you any help. There were plenty of hits and runs that could have been prevented if they had actually put any effort into their fielding. Even the best pitcher would lose with fielders like that.”

There was more silence between them as Mihashi couldn’t think of anything to say to discredit Tajima’s words. Although he was about to say more, the third baseman was stopped by a loud voice calling his name.

“Ah! Grandpa!” Tajima lifted his hand up in the air and waved wildly at the elderly man standing several meters away. After taking a couple of step towards his grandfather, he halted in his tracks and turned back around. He startled Mihashi once more by grabbing his left hand and pulling something out of his pocket. It turned out to be a pen, which he used to scrawl his email address on the back of the pitcher’s hand before giving him a big grin. The third baseman took off before the the blond could say anything. He twisted around to look back at Mihashi and waved to him while calling out in a loud voice, “I’m Tajima! We should talk more about baseball!”

“Y-yeah!! I’m… Mihashi!” A small smile formed on Mihashi’s face while he watched the other boy leave just as quickly as he had arrived.

0~0~0~0~0~0

Their first email exchange occurred a little less than a week later. Tajima had arrived home from an intense practice, collapsing on his bed and closing his eyes when he heard the small pinging sound that signified he had a new email waiting to be opened. He let out a small huff, half-expecting it to be spam and half-hoping it would be from the boy he had met in Gunma.

He flipped open his phone, and, when he saw the message, he let out a small yell while bolting upright in his bed. This was exactly what he had been waiting to see. His eyes sparkled with delight as he opened the message. It was only a few sentences long, but Tajima didn’t find anything wrong with that. He was far too excited to finally be getting an email from Mihashi. Of course, if anyone asked him why he was so excited to be getting an email from this kid, he’d have no real answer to give them. The pitcher interested him a lot, and Tajima felt as though the guy could really use a friend.

“Hello, Tajima-kun,” It began. He grinned. What a simple way to start off an email. “Sorry for not messaging you before now. I hope I’m not bothering you at a bad time.”

While he was happy to finally get an email from Mihashi, his mouth twisted in displeasure at the final sentence. Bothering him? Tajima was the one who gave him his email address. If he was going to be bothered by it, he wouldn’t have given it to him. He figured it was another side effect of the way he was treated by his teammates. The teen clicked on the reply button and began rapidly typing out a response.

“Yo, Mihashi! What’s up? Also, don’t worry! You’re not bothering me! I want to talk to you! (๑•̀ㅂ•́)و✧” Tajima paused and read over it once more before shrugging and hitting send. Reading something like that might give the other boy a bit of a confidence boost. He hoped.

Tajima wasn’t expecting another email that night, but, to his surprise, Mihashi was actually decent at responding quickly. The two of them managed to have a fairly decent conversation about baseball, everyday life, and other things they both enjoyed, including cute girls. They continued talking into the early hours of the morning, and, as they discovered when they both ended up falling asleep in class, that was a mistake.

It became a sort of ritual for them, waking up to messages from each other in the early morning hours. Messages were occasionally sent during the day, but both of them were third year junior high students who were attempting to balance baseball and preparing for their upcoming high school entrance exams. However, when they returned home for the day, the conversations would once again begin.

As time continued to pass, Mihashi began to open up to him more. Specifically, more about the situation with his teammates. When he learned about the pitcher’s teammates threatening to break his arm, Tajima was beyond upset. Even though he wanted to help, there was nothing he could do from another prefecture. It was possible that he could visit him, but that would require telling his parents. They would want to know why, and, if he told them, they would want to get other people involved. Mihashi didn’t want that. Even though Tajima disliked it, he would respect his friend’s wishes. The only thing he could do was let time pass and hope nothing happened. He felt powerless.

That was the last thing Tajima heard about Mihashi’s teammates. He wasn’t sure if that was supposed to be a good sign that they weren’t causing him any problems or if Mihashi was simply reluctant to tell him about it after his previous reaction.

0~0~0~0~0~0

“I’m going to take the entrance exam for a high school in Saitama.”

A little less than a week before New Years, Tajima arrived home to find this short message sitting in his inbox. Tajima’s entire body vibrated as he read over the message again and again. His face felt like it might split in half from how widely he was grinning. Quickly hitting the reply button, his fingers shook as he excitedly typed out his response.

“Which school????”

Tajima smashed his finger down on the send button with far more force than he should have, but he couldn’t bring himself to care. He needed to know if it was near any of his choices. It was unlikely, considering the amount of high schools in Saitama, but if he was, they might actually be able to hang out in person. He bounced eagerly on the balls of his feet while waiting for his friend’s response.

A few minutes later, there was a loud ping as Mihashi’s response arrived. The clean-up hitter let out a loud yell at the sight of the single name the other had written.

“Nishiura.”

Tajima almost dropped his phone as he read over the single-word response. He could barely believe it. His top choice school, the one right next to his house, was the same one that Mihashi was trying to get into. They could see each other every day. They could be teammates and play baseball together! Just the thought made him shiver.

“That’s my top choice!” Tajima rapidly tapped out on his phone’s tiny plastic keys. “I guess I might see you at the entrance exams! Let’s both do our best to make sure we can get in!”

Their conversation continued on like that for a while. When Tajima asked Mihashi if there were any other schools in Saitama that he was going to try to get into, the pitcher explained that his only options were Nishiura or continuing at Mihoshi. That seemed absurdly restrictive to him, but he supposed it wasn’t his place to judge the choices of someone else’s family. The only thing he knew for certain was his excitement at potentially seeing Mihashi in person again. Of course, while he wanted February to get there quickly, he was also dreading it because of the exams. Studying had never been his forte, but he knew that Nishiura was ranked pretty high in terms of academics, so he was going to need to work hard.

0~0~0~0~0~0

Unfortunately, the duo didn’t have the chance to meet when they took Nishiura’s entrance exams. However, when they announced to each other that they got it, Tajima knew he would have plenty of time to see Mihashi, the person who had become such an important part of his life over the past several months, in person for the next three years. They would get to play baseball together and have fun doing it. He would make sure that Mihashi didn’t have a repeat of junior high. No one would bully him on Tajima’s watch.

Around a month later, the long-awaited first day arrived. The night before, the two promised to meet up at the school’s front gate in the morning to check their class assignments together. Unsurprisingly, Tajima was the first to arrive. The moment he spotted Mihashi’s unmistakeable mop of blond hair, he made a beeline for him. He cried out the boy’s name and launched himself at the poor, unsuspecting pitcher, causing him to topple over sideways.

“T-Tajima-kun!” Mihashi exclaimed with a slight stutter as the other teen removed himself. As soon as he got back to his feet, the timid boy dusted himself off before picking up his bag and slinging it over his shoulder. He nervously glanced up at Tajima. “D-Do you wanna… go look at the c-class assignments?”

“Yeah, let’s go!!” The third baseman agreed with a wide, toothy grin. He snagged Mihashi’s hand and took off toward the bulletin board that was decorated with the class listings. The speedy athlete made sure to keep himself at a slower pace so the other baseball player could keep up.

When they arrived at the board, both teens were shocked by the massive size of it. The number of classes alone was amazing. They decided to split their search between them. Mihashi would look through the first five classes in their year while Tajima would skim over the names in the others.

“Ah! I’m in class nine!” Tajima exclaimed after finally locating his name. A few seconds later, the kanji of Mihashi’s name also entered his field of vision. “You are, too!!”

“Really?” Mihashi’s face lit up at those words, turning his gaze to class nine’s roster. As he found his name hidden amongst the dozens of other students’, he turned to his new classmate, his lips wobbling a bit before curving into a smile.

Tajima’s heart thumped harshly in his chest at the sight. An abnormal rush of adrenaline flowed through him, and his face began to rapidly heat, making him duck his head in order to hide the pink flush in his cheeks. He was confused about the giddiness he felt, but he couldn’t exactly label it as something bad.

0~0~0~0~0~0

The first few days passed rather uneventfully for both of them, and the first day of club activities quickly arrived. Mihashi had been fidgety through the entire day, and when the final class had been dismissed, he looked like he was ready to bolt, and not in the direction of the field. Before he had the chance to escape, Tajima took his classmate’s right hand into his own, causing the blond to stop and look back. The third baseman pressed their foreheads together.

“It’ll be fine,” he told the pitcher confidently. They stared at each other wordlessly before Mihashi gave a short nod.

“Yeah…”

It was a simple thing, but it managed to settle the timid teen down a bit. That was what was most important. Any sort of reassurance he could give to his friend was good for his confidence, he had discovered.

“Well? Wanna go meet our teammates?”

Tajima was about to release the blond’s hand, but he winced as Mihashi’s grip suddenly tightened. Leave it to a pitcher to have such a strong grip. He knew the other teen wasn’t even using his full strength, but it was still a bit painful.

Tajima grinned through it as they both spoke at the same time, a mixture of nervousness and excitement leaking into their voices.