All That Glitters

Baseball. Baseball was everything for Miyuki ever since he discovered the sport as a young child. So naturally, when he was presented with the chance to play baseball at a professional level he jumped at it. After all, how many people could say that they got to pursue their passions for a living? He knew it was rare and especially considering how not everyone had the chance to play a sport professionally. So he cherished the opportunity and considered it a blessing. A blessing that he thought that he would always be grateful for.

Miyuki didn't think much of how his future would be once he started playing professionally. He just figured that it would be just like always. Just like when he was in high school and then in college. Granted, the exception would be the level of plays and higher stakes. But that didn't daunt him since he was always up for a challenge. It was in his competitive nature and his goal was to become the star catcher of the Tokyo Giants.

Like every challenge in his life before he started playing professionally, he overcame them and with time he started gaining more attention in the team with his aggressive plays. He showed everyone his skills and quickly became a valuable member of the team. Leading to all the national attention towards him as the new young talented catcher. At first, the attention didn't bother him since it was something that he was already used to. That time around it was just on a broader scale, but it was manageable so he didn't let it distract him. However, with time the media attention just became more and more frantic. Things became worse when his team won the World Series thanks to his home run during the final inning just when he was at the old ripe age of twenty-three. After that, it was not only the sports media but also the tabloids and every single news station in Japan.

In the beginning, Miyuki felt overwhelmed. Never being one to like having attention directed towards him. Even in high school, he would be so awkward around the reporters whenever he was approached by one. But this was a totally different ballpark. Once the shock wore off, Miyuki dismissed the national attention and maintained his feet firmly planted on the ground. Baseball was the only important thing to him and he became a professional player to play the sport. Everything else was just noise.

His friends would tease him about being a "big star" and not to let fame go to his head because his arrogance was already too much to handle for them. Miyuki would only roll his eyes and tease them right back.

Fame was not something that Miyuki wanted nor was looking for. The only thing that he wanted was to play the sport that he was passionate about for a living. He initially thought that if he didn't pay attention to it then the press would get bored and then move on from him to another player. Someone that would be interested in playing along with their little game.

If only it would have been that easy.

With his newfound fame, everyone around him wanted to take advantage of it. Starting with his agent who was getting all kinds of offers for endorsements. Needless to say, Miyuki was not interested in any of them. He just wanted to play baseball. But his agent slowly but surely made him cave and Miyuki gave in. At first, he just thought that it would be only one time and that it would be an interesting experience for him. But one endorsement soon turned into multiple endorsements. And every single one of them was always deemed as a "great opportunity" and "too good to pass up."

Before he knew it, Miyuki Kazuya became a full-fledged celebrity. The star catcher of the Tokyo Giants and one of the most famous names in Japan with millions of followers across all social media platforms.

Him, popular on social media? Miyuki couldn't even take a decent selfie.

Soon he found out what people in the entertainment industry meant by "I'm going to have my people call your people." He had "people." it was no longer just his agent, then he got a publicist, then a personal assistant to keep up with his new hectic life, and ultimately a personal shopper since his personal style was lackluster at best. It was not strange to have bodyguards at times to deal with frantic fans if he was out in public at special events, or having a driver taking him to places, or a housekeeper to keep his place clean when he was out on away games.