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『Epilogue』
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A sigh escaped from Shinobu's mouth as she carried both her and [Y/n]'s lunch to the infirmary. Again.
Just like the numerous times she had done this before, she passed by the cafeteria. Paying no attention to the chaos called lunch hour, she continued walking to the infirmary with the purple and [favourite colour] lunch boxes in her grasp.
Shinobu stood in front of the infirmary door. Her fingers wrapped around the metal handles. Waves of Deja Vu washed over her as the door rattled against the railing when it was opened.
"Shinobu!" [Y/n's] cheery voice rang out. As if it was second nature, Sanemi stood next to the bed [Y/n] laid on. He glanced up at Shinobu's figure and left the room, comically knocking [Y/n] on the head before he walked out.
"See ya."
Now, [Y/n] and Shinobu were the only two in the infirmary. Dragging a nearby chair, Shinobu sat next to [Y/n]'s bed. The bed made a slight creaking sound when [Y/n] shifted her position to eat her lunch. Simultaneous clicks were made when both of them popped the lid off their container. The fragrant scent of homemade food wafted through the infirmary.
"Thank you for the food!"
However, neither of them touched their food. A faint frown was etched on Shinobu's forehead. And [Y/n], who seemed to notice this, set her food aside and gently pressed down on Shinobu's knitted brows.
"You're going to get wrinkles if you keep doing that. What's wrong?"
"How many times have you sprained your leg this month?" Shinobu's eyes remained downcast, staring at her lunch with a blank look instead of meeting [Y/n]'s gaze.
"Ah," Shinobu felt the warmth of [Y/n]'s fingers cradling her cheeks, guiding purple eyes to meet [eye colour] ones. "It's nothing serious, you don't need to worry about it."
"How can I not worry!? I care about you and seeing you get hurt, it hurts me too!"
[Y/n]'s mouth was slightly ajar, partly shocked from Shinobu's outburst and another part of her felt warm fuzzy feeling bubble inside of her because of Shinobu's concern.
"I'm sorry. I'll be careful next time." [Y/n]'s eyes softened. The pad of [Y/n]'s thumb stroked Shinobu's cheeks in circular motions, and Shinobu leaned into the palm of [Y/n]'s hand, enjoying the physical contact.
"Be safe for me, okay?"
"I will."
Another sigh escaped from Shinobu's mouth, except this time it was a sigh of relief and content.
"Also, do you know why I sprained my leg?"
"Why?" Shinobu tilted her head, curiosity and faint traces of concern swirling in her purple eyes.
"Because I sprained my leg falling for you!"
A wide smile stretched across [Y/n]'s face as if she had no shame for what she said. Shinobu's face had a light dusting of pink and a small pout.
The chair scraped against the floor as Shinobu moved even closer to [Y/n] and reached out for her face.
"Oh my, when have you been this lame." Shinobu tugged at [Y/n]'s cheeks, she too, had a playful smile on her face.
"Says the person who likes my lame jokes," [Y/n] teased back, squishing Shinobu's face between her palm.
"I'll never get tired of your lame jokes."
"Then I'll be sure to tell you them every day!"
"I'd love that."
"And I love you!"
And there in the infirmary was two girls pinching and squishing each other's cheeks, sharing giggles as their lunches slowly got cold.
Purple and [eye colour] hues gazed into each other, love and admiration sparkling in them as soft rays of sunlight flaked into the infirmary.
Love and lame jokes truly do go hand in hand.
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「Trivia」
✦ [FIRST BASE] [Y/n] actually slowed down a bit so that she could run next to Shinobu.
✧ During the scene where Shinobu and [Y/n] took the shortcut through the concrete platform, the part where Miyamura jumped over the gate from Horimiya and the part where Hotaru and Kokonutsu jumped over the hill from Dagashi Kashi were the main inspirations.
✦ [SECOND BASE] The girl Shinobu and [Y/n] met at the park was named Yae. This was a reference to Yae and Taro from the Giyuu gaiden.
✦ [THIRD BASE] Both Shinobu and [Y/n]'s necks ended up making a lot of cracking noise once they finally stopped sleeping in the gazebo.
✦ [HOME RUN] The baseball team actually knew [Y/n] was going to confess and that's why that particular match was very chill.
✧ They all actually planned and orchestrated it to make sure everything goes smoothly.
✦ [GENERAL] [Y/n] always asks Shinobu for kisses before her games as a good luck charm.
✧ Shinobu has only kissed [Y/n] on the cheeks as she's too embarrassed and refuses to give her a kiss on the lips...yet.
✧ [Y/n] gets really happy and excited when Shinobu comes to see her play her baseball matches. It gives her boosts of confidence and serotonin!
✧ Sanemi actually knew that [Y/n] and Shinobu had liked each other for a while and actually rooted for them (though he would never admit it).
✧ Sanemi definitely was [Y/n]'s hype man.
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「Extra art」
All art here belongs to me! (So please don't steal qwq)
Do excuse the inconsistencies LMAO some of these were drawn quite a while ago.
These are just some random doodles I drew while working on this book.
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「Afterword」
Thank you for reading Home Run!
I actually started writing this on July 23 then had to stop working on it for a while because of finals and school in general, I later ended up finishing this on 23 November.
First ever kny book that I had managed to finish (hell it's my first ever book to actually finish)!!
I'm gonna be honest this is low-key something I wrote just to satisfy my Shinobu simping ass (aka a very self indulgent fic LMAO)
I know that this isn't the most original story so please be nice to me HAHA (Though constructive criticism is most definitely appreciated! I'd love to hear y'all's thoughts on this)
One lil fun note is that after working on Home Run for a while I only realized that baseball bases had many sexual innuendos which was something I did not mean to at all. :'D
Once again, special thanks to kochoism for beta reading this book! She was very supportive and kind to me!! (Misaki if you're reading this hi!! Love you broski!!!)
Also happy new year!!
Also, also, again, thank you guys so much for reading and supporting me as well!
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