the next day, katsumi was by herself in the weight room. everyone was practicing fielding or batting, but she was doing rehabilitation stretches and exercises. she lay on the floor, slowly raising and lowering her left leg while her right leg was pulled up, foot flat on the ground.
"hey, katsumi." she smiled at akina as she stood over her head. "can we talk?"
"of course." katsumi sat up, taking akina's outstretched hand and standing. "what's up?"
akina leaned against the wall, frowning. "how did you... how did you know you liked furuya?"
katsumi blushed, "in truth... i- i really didn't. it just kind of... happened and before i knew it, i was blushing at the smallest looks and touches..." she trailed off with a smile. "why, do yo- you like someone?"
akina nodded, "i do. i..." she sighed, running her hands over her face.
"what's wrong? you can tell me, it's okay." katsumi smiled and put her hand on the girl's shoulder.
"you won't look at me differently?" katsumi shook her head. "i like haruno..." akina crossed her arms, looking down with red cheeks and teary eyes.
"i figured." akina's head shot up. "you two would be cute together." she smiled brightly. "thank you for telling me, though... i appreciate it."
akina smiled, rubbing at her eyes furiously. "now then! get back to stretching! you can't play in koushien if you neglect your knee!" she smacked the back of katsumi's head, earning a whine in response. "back to work, peasant!" katsumi rolled her eyes with a smile, lying back down. "hey... are you alright? about not being able to play tomorrow?"
katsumi frowned at the question, "do you want my honest answer or the one you want to hear?"
"the one i want to hear is the honest one."
"then no. i'm not alright." akina frowned. "i... i want to be on tha- that field. i want to face off with narum- miya. i want to wipe that stu- stupid little smirk off his f- face."
"why do you hate him so much? other than he's an opponent." katsumi shook her head.
"that doesn't matter." she sat up, fiddling with her brace and tightening it. "not anymore." akina opened her mouth to respond, only to be cut off by the sound of the door sliding open.
"hey, sumi sumi!" kuramochi's voice came from the entrance. "wanna come hang out in miyuki's room?"
"sure." the girl nodded, attempting to stand up by herself. her left knee gave out and she fell against the wall, akina's arms shooting out to support her as kuramochi ran over.
"careful, dumbass!" she scolded, supporting the girl.
"this is why i gave you a piggyback ride earlier." the boy snickered, crouching and making katsumi groan. she climbed onto his back without argument, waving goodbye to a chuckling akina. katsumi sighed and hugged kuramochi tightly, giggling when he struggled to open kazuya's door without dropping her.
"we're here!" he announced after thirty seconds of reaching for the door handle with his fingers.
"you could've just kicked the door with your feet, mochi-sen- senpai." the boy scowled, dropping her on the bed.
"ah, good! we were just about to send eijun and furuya to get drinks!" kazuya smirked, tossing a bag of gummy bears to katsumi.
eijun growled at the boy, before turning to katsumi with a smile. "what do you want, katsumi?" kazuya scowled at the change in aura and tone as katsumi smiled softly.
"i can come and get it." she went to stand, only to be bombarded by 7 boys yelling at her.
"like hell you will!" jun yelled.
"you really should get rest when you're not exercising it." yuki frowned.
"and you especially shouldn't just go for a drink run!" kuramochi cut in and masuko nodded, arms crossed and stomach growling.
"hyahaha! yeah, we have eijun and furuya for that!" kazuya's shoulders shook as he laughed.
"chocolate milk?" furuya, who'd been characteristically quiet, looked down at katsumi. she nodded with a smile as he and eijun left, ignoring the senpai teasing her about how he knew her favorite drink.
"shut up!" she smiled, pulling her ds out.
"hey, eijun left his phone!" kuramochi smiled, picking it up and scrolling through it.
"not your business, mochi-senpai." katsumi was ignored as the other boys crowded around him, eyes glued to the screen. a few minutes later, furuya and eijun returned, the latter gaping at his seniors.
"my cell phone!" he yelled, running forward. "why are you looking at it without my permission?!"
"what's wrong with checking on our junior's behavior!" jun yelled, getting in the younger boy's face.
"why are you angry?!" eijun retorted.
"it's kuramochi... he seems curious about your girlfriend." yuki smiled.
"ah! tetsu-sa-"
"i keep telling you, she's not my girlfriend!"
"oh? is that so? we'll confirm with her by email..." kuramochi smirked.
"yosh. lend me your phone. let's send your girlfriend a photo of your senpai." yuki grabbed the phone.
"huh?!" eijun gaped at the boys.
"alright!" kazuya smiled from aside eijun. furuya pulled katsumi from the bed and she squeaked, standing next to him as jun held the phone up with a grin. katsumi held two fingers up behind furuya's head, smiling softly as jun took the picture.
she sat back on the bed, picking her ds up as furuya sat next to her. the two blocked out the commotion of eijun getting beat up and yuki taking pictures of everything and everyone, the two of them more invested in katsumi's pokémon battles. "hey, you two!" the two looked up at kazuya. "get back to your own rooms!" he scowled, pointing at the door.
furuya lifted his head from her shoulder as he and katsumi watched the others leave the room. she frowned, nodding and limping towards the door. "furuya, can you-"
"of course." furuya cut kazuya off, picking an unsuspecting katsumi up and carrying her out the door. kazuya smirked as she gave no verbal reaction, instead cuddling into the pitcher's chest.
"see you tomorrow, love birds!" he grinned. furuya turned a bright red, katsumi a light pink.
"so... about last night." furuya whispered and katsumi looked up. "i... liked that. i really liked that." he murmured, keeping his eyes forward.
katsumi smiled softly, "i did too."
"although, we probably shouldn't do it often. my roommates didn't exactly believe my excuse that i was up and out before them." he frowned, trying to hug her closer.
"yeah.. plus w- we're not supposed to have boys in our dorms..." furuya nodded, setting her on her feet and hugging her normally. "goodnight, satoru."
"goodnight, katsu." he let go, allowing the girl to open her door. she got ready for bed, head turning at the sound of her phone going off. she picked it up with a hum, seeing a message from eijun. she opened it, smiling at the message.
eijun: hey, yuki took this when he had my phone
eijun: thought you might enjoy it
katsumi saved the image, face turning pink as she admired the photo of furuya's head on her shoulder.
˚* ੈ✩‧₊
"you sure you can walk by yourself?" kazuya asked katsumi softly. the girl nodded, smacking her water bottle against his arm as they walked through the stadium. they walked onto the field, katsumi following the players over to the dugout as the coaches bowed to each other.
furuya covered katsumi's ears as eijun took a deep breath, "we will win!" he yelled, making his teammates jump.
"don't you yell next to my ear!" kuramochi scowled and grabbed the boy's cheeks.
"the weakest dog barks the loudest." ryosuke chopped the boy's head.
"watch it, bastard!" jun yelled.
'make sure to drink water.' katsumi signed to furuya. the boy took a few moments to recognize the sentence, before nodding. she pulled on his jersey, waving him to lean down, and he did so with a small blush. "you've got this.." she whispered. he smiled, hugging her gently.
"thank you." the players left the dugout to line up, katsumi remaining seated in the dugout. she bit her lip nervously, grabbing her fidget cube from her bag and clicking it rapidly as the tension on the field rose.
˚* ੈ✩‧₊
"hey, aniki- uh.." katsumi cut herself off as she saw a few other boys in front of her brother.
"ah, sumi!" kazuya smiled. "i was just telling them how i'm going to seidou for high school."
"what are you doing for school, sumi sumi?" narumiya smirked at the girl. "gonna copy your big brother and follow him to seidou?" she frowned at the pavement below her, stuffing her hands in her pockets.
"lay off her, mei." kazuya scolded.
"can't she defend herself?" shirakawa rolled his eyes.
"you know she can't speak." carlos interjected.
shirakawa looked at the boy, "not without a stutter-"
"sh- sh-" katsumi silently cursed herself for stuttering. "shut up- up!" shirakawa opened his mouth to make fun of her, only to be cut off. "shittykawa." the boy's face turned as red as his hair, his fists clenching.
narumiya burst out into snickers and carlos stifled a laugh. kazuya chuckled, "yeah, you really are my sister." he threw an arm around katsumi's shoulders. "see you guys!" he turned his back to the boys, smirking down at katsumi. "you know, it wouldn't be such a big problem if you did follow me to seidou. then we could be a real unstoppable duo." he smiled, ruffling her hair. katsumi only smiled softly, staring up at the baby blue skies.
━━━━━━ ꒰⌗'͈ ᵕ ॣ'͈⌗꒱৩ ━━━━━━
thank you so much for 4k!! <3
⠀⠀ ˍˍ♡ ⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀
⊂⊂⠀ˊ ）⠀
⠀/⠀⠀|
⊂____ ⋂