The Furuya Twins

17. Clockwork

Furuya woke up early, before his alarm went off. He's exited for today's game. The game against Akikawa, and their Ace, You Shunshin, also known as 'Clockwork'. Furuya admired his precision, but he knew Seido wasn't to be taken lightly. After all, they had Tanba, Kawakami, Sawamura and himself. And the seniors of course. And Satomi. Furuya sweat dropped. He knew his sister was very outgoing and social...but it was like she was flourishing at Seido. She was never this happy in Hokkaido. She never had trouble making friends, but everyone excepted her here at Seido, and they treated her like their little sister... some of them anyway. There were some exceptions. Furuya frowned. Like Miyuki. Everyone could see there was something going on with them, even though they thought no-one noticed. Maybe I should have a talk with him... Furuya thinks to himself. Maybe when things aren't so hectic? Don't want to lose sight of summer just yet. Better get ready, Furuya thought with a smile, if only it wasn't so hot. Just think about polar bears, and the nice, cold ice caps...

At the stadium, the Seido and Akikawa teams were warming up. Furuya was the starting pitcher, and it was soon noticed that the Akikawa batters weren't swinging at his high fastballs. He walks the first two batters and strikes out the third and fourth batters, getting a dissapointed "dammit... he recovered" from Sawamura, who was hoping to replace Furuya on the mound. Next up to bat is Mr. Clockwork himself, You Shunshin. Here he comes, Miyuki thinks, the key player of this team. "You made him throw breaking balls to loosen him up. Must be tough to be a catcher when the pitcher is stupid." Shunshin comments to Miyuki, getting into his batting stance. "Not really. I'm not afraid of a batter that's not going to swing." Miyuki replies, shocking Shunshin, who it seemed has underestimated Seido's battery.

Furuya's first pitch to Shunshin is a ball. This guy is applying a lot of pressure, Miyuki thinks to himself. Shunshin hits one of Furuya's high fastballs, and sends the two on base home, making the score 2-0. At Seido's next at-bat Shunshin keeps them from getting on base. When Furuya is on the mound again, the Akikawa batters try to wear him out by bunting, making him run to get the ball to move as much as possible. Tch, Satomi thinks, way to go low. Furuya is starting to feel the effects, and sings to himself 'do you wanna build a snowman?' with the hope that he will be able to cool his thoughts at least.

Furuya strikes out the next two batters, but walks the third. Sawamura is sent to replace him on the mound, but he doesn't want to go. I can't go when I let them get two runs, was running through Furuya's head. Sawamura reaches out his glove for the ball saying "Leave the rest to me." Furuya places the ball in the glove with obvious reluctance, and walks back to the dugout. Satomi can sense what Furuya is feeling, and gives him a pat on the back when he reaches her. Satomi leaves her hand there, and Furuya returns her touch for a few moments before sitting down.

The Akikawa batters are having a hard time timing Sawamura's pitches because his throwing arm comes out so late. If the batters can't time it, how does Miyuki do it? Satomi wonders as she watches them. He doesn't miss a pitch. Satomi had a dreamy look on her face gazing at Miyuki, and it was making Haruichi uncomfortable... his face was bright pink when he said "Uh, Satomi-chan, I think we should watch the game..." Satomi looked startled for a moment and then blushed. "Uh, yeah. Let's do that."

In the bottom of the fourth inning things start to look better for Seido, with Isashiki hitting long into left field and Shunshin walking Yuki. Masuko does a sacrifice bunt and Miyuki is up to bat. Shunshin calls the infield in to prevent runs. Trying to realign your gears by force? Bring it on! Miyuki thinks to himself. Miyuki quickly gets two strikes, fouling the second and third pitch. I accidentally swung at a high ball, I'm so lame. Miyuki thinks, analizing Shunshin. Your control is so amazing, making plays would be so easy if I paired up with you. What will the next pitch be? If I were his catcher, I'd end it with a low and away. Miyuki got it right and makes it to third, tying the game at 2-2.

Coach Katoaka makes his next move by sending Haruichi and Tanba to warm up. Tanba's warm up has Akikawa practically shaking in their boots, Satomi laughs to herself. And Sawamura is doing pretty well. In the bottom of the seventh Haruichi is sent in as a pinch hitter. He smacks the ball trough short stop and third, making it to first base, shyly pumping his fist. Sawamura reluctantly bunts, advancing Haruichi to second base. Kuramochi finally makes it on base (note- by error), and Ryosuke pulls off a squeeze play, making it to second with Kuramochi and Haruichi scoring. After that the clean-ups score another 3 runs. Seido wins.

After lining up the Seido players celebrate while Akikawa is in tears. Satomi was still in the dugout, watching as Miyuki called out to Shunshin to tell him he had fun playing against him. The Akikawa team apologises to Shunshin, but he just smiles. The crowed was sending their love to Akikawa, moving Shunshin to tears. A small bundle of pink suddenly launched herself into Shunshin's arms. "Don't cry Onii-chan!". The bundle of pink turned out to be Shina, the daughter of the Akikawa coach and Shunshin's self-proclaimed sister.

This was revealed after they had to drag Shina away from Satomi. She was clinging to Satomi's leg. "I didn't even see you Satomi-chan! You were here the whole time?" Satomi laughed. "Yes, I'm Seido's manager." This shocked Shunshin, who had also not noticed Satomi in the dugout.

After the game Seido headed to the bleachers to watch the next game, Ichidai vs. Yakushi. While Yakushi was warming up Satomi's phone pinged with two messages. The first one was from Todoroki: Satomi-chan! Look at the dugout! - Raichi . when Satomi looked she saw Todoroki waving in her direction like a maniac, banana in hand. Satomi laughed and waved back. The second one was from Sanada: We'll be seeing you at the next game Satomi-chan. – Sanada. Sanada was right next to Todoroki, and when Satomi waved he sent her a wink. Satomi's laugh had drawn the attention of the first string.

Ishashiki looked in that direction, and when he saw Todoroki waving and Sanada winking, he was confused. "Hey, why are those Yakushi guys waving at us? That tall one even winked at me!" Ryosuke gave an evil smile. "Maybe they think you're cute." Ishashiki's face turned red in indignation. "Never! They were probably looking at the fist years!" They all turned around to where the three first years were sitting; Furuya was half asleep and blowing snot bubbles, Sawamura was glowing from the praise he got from Chris and the coach, and Haruichi was trying to get Sawamura to put the ice pack on his shoulder.

They sweat-dropped. Probably not... they thought. Miyuki was sitting next to Satomi, and he saw the messages. He got an annoyed tick. He moved closer to Satomi and glared in Sanada and Todoroki's direction. Sanada and Todoroki were still communicating across the distance with Satomi, so they noticed Miyuki's glare. Todoroki sweat-dropped and got a confused look on his face, while Sanada gave a smirk and a small wave aimed at Miyuki.

How many Satomi admirers does it make now? Miyuki was thinking. There are the ones at Seido and Mei, but now these Yakushi players too? And what about Shunshin? Miyuki frowned. Shouldn't Furuya be more concerned about his sister? Just as Miyuki thought that and looked back at Furuya; he saw Furuya giving the Yakushi dugout an icy glare. He saw Yuki and Ryosuke do the same. Good. They're to many for me to manage alone, Miyuki thinks with a chuckle.

Satomi has so many big brothers, Miyuki thinks, giving Satomi a pat on the head. He gives a sweat-drop as those glares are turned to him. Well...that has its advantages and disadvantages...

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Author note:

Hi everyone!  I hope you are enjoying this story. Do you have a specific character you want to see more off? Comment and I'll see what I can do! 

Much love.