"Miyuki..." the coach addressed his catcher and received his attention while Sawamura was laughing loud and smugly as if conquering the world on his own. "Do you think you can handle Aoki's pitches?"
"Yes, of course", Miyuki answered with his usual arrogant confidence. "However, this time I'll have to admit I might need some time to figure things out and to adjust. Sora's style is complex and very unique. We'll also have to come up with a few special signs and strategies. Not to mention, if he doesn't stop having secrets, I won't be able to know his full repertoire. I have to be filled in what he can and what he can't do in detail. If necessary, I'm gonna have to push the matter by challenging him like Sawamura does right now to get to know his limits. Sora's very stubborn"
Coach Kataoka nodded in approval.
"Do that. I'm leaving Aoki in your care"
"I appreciate it"
While Miyuki tried to suppress his smirk in front of his head coach, Kuramochi beside him threw his captain an all too well-knowing side glance. Takashima only fixed her glasses once again and called Sawamura over. The brown haired southpaw bowed deeply before she was able to scold him.
"Boss, I Sawamura Eijun humbly apologize for disturbing your practice!" he exclaimed in his over-exaggerated voice. "I want to volunteer on running laps as a proper punishment!"
"Idiot, if you volunteer for it, it's not gonna be a punishment anymore..." Sora deadpanned from her place on the bullpen-mound.
"Hyaha, true!"
"Sawamura-kun..." Takashima started, making the pitcher fix his posture.
"Yes, Ma'am!"
"I understand that you wanted to help us acknowledging Aoki-kun's full potential, so I think this time a punishment won't be necessary", she went on with a sigh. "However, if I ever see you catching without any protectors again, I will personally exclude you from any upcoming matches. You will be running laps for the rest of the season, do I make myself clear? We don't need irresponsible pitchers who risk being injured!"
Sawamura gulped and his body shivered under the female scout's stern gaze.
"C-Crystal clear, Ma'am!"
The coach crossed his arms over his broad chest and nodded his head once with a pleased grunt.
"And next time you ask before you barge into my practice! If you've got something to say, you come to me or one of our staff members first!"
"Yes, boss!"
"Resume your practice!"
"Roger that!" the young southpaw saluted and hurried back to Kawakami, Furuya and their practice catchers.
"He's being more obedient recently" Takashima remarked, only earning another grunt from her superior.
"Aoki, Miyuki!"
The two students exchanged a glance before awkwardly lining up in front of Kataoka and Takashima.
"You will be practicing as a battery from now on! Aoki, you will be a relief and also a practice pitcher for our team. As long as you're not needed on the mound, I will use you infield as well. Be prepared to play either position anytime"
Sora blinked, flabbergasted.
Wait... Did that make her a regular player? No, right? Was sitting on the bench to wait for relieving and occasionally playing infield a regular position already?! No way, right? RIGHT?!
Miyuki grinned. "Yes, Sir"
"Ah and Aoki..." Kataoka added stoically. "I expect you to inform us and your catcher about every important detail of your pitching without fail"
"Err... U-uhm... S-Sure", the young girl sweat dropped and put up a fake smile which was a piece of cake due to her acting skills.
Without further ado, the coach and his scout turned their backs on the pitchers and catchers in the bullpen and Kataoka started scolding the rest of the team because he obviously didn't give his permission for the boys to stop practicing only to gawk at Sora's pitching instead. With threats and his dark demanding voice, he made them return to their batting cages as fast as possible.
Sora still being in a slight daze glanced briefly at Miyuki who only raised an eyebrow at his newfound partner.
"So... Does he mean... right now?! Or...?"
"Sora..."
She cringed at his sweet teasing voice and his knowing grin.
"Yes, captain?" the blue haired girl responded equally fake friendly.
"You tried to trick me"
No, you dumbass, I tried to save your sexy lil' pretty boy ass!
"Heh, now you notice..."
The catcher's eyebrows shot even higher and an amused glint appeared in his caramel eyes.
"You know, I appreciate the thought of wanting to look out for me, but I'd appreciate it even more if you just trusted me enough to pull it off together"
So, he noticed...
"C'mon, you're just upset that you didn't notice yourself that I outsmarted you with my strategy and that Eijun actually had to call your attention to it with his stupidity", the young girl half-joked, but only received a flat look of annoyance from her catcher.
"You just admitted that it was intentional, ya know..."
"Yeah, so?"
Sora's mischievous smirk only grew wider as she recognized how the brown haired captain had to suppress the twitching corners of his mouth and failed spectacularly when he finally let out a slight chuckle. He shook his head about her attitude.
"You forced me to tell my story in front of half of the team and that was on purpose as well, so stop whining now, when at least my plan didn't even work out in the end", she countered, crossing her arms over her chest.
"As much as I enjoy playing our little game with you Sora, now that we're a battery and even coach has ordered us, I guess we should start trusting each other a little more, no? At least when it's baseball related" Miyuki suggested, adding his last sentence intentionally since he knew trust wasn't exactly Sora's strength.
The blue haired girl sighed, knowing that he meant well and relaxed her body stance a little bit.
"Kaz..."
"Hm?"
"Trust only works both ways, ya know"
"Huh?!"
The catcher's expression faltered, his eyes went wide.
"You do recognize that while you know my whole life story by now, I literally don't know anything about you, right?" the young girl questioned very softly. "The one having trust issues and some kind of a background story isn't only me and of course I know that. And it's also not just about you, Kaz. Also Mochi, the Kominato brothers or even Furuya do carry their burden. I at least care enough to notice such things, but I have decided not to pry. Because it's not only rude, but it can also cause emotional damage instead of helping, even if your intentions are good. Some things better remain unspoken, I just respect that. Unlike you guys, if I may add... I still don't really understand why I of all people on the team had to be the one spilling my guts to you guys before you finally left me alone! You don't even talk to each other about deep shit like that and I'm the member who arrived last"
"Because you were being reckless and collapsed and we were worried to death. And I just offered to keep it baseball related from now on..." Miyuki gave back matter-of-factly.
Although he'd really rather not just keep it at that... Much to his own surprise. Baseball was all he ever had wanted after all.
"Yeah, no can do. A bit late, captain. You're the one who started all that and stuck your nose into my business, then see it through until the end. No easy way back now"
"Heh... Are you so sure about that?" her captain smirked cockily as always. "You really have to want me in your life, Sora"
"Until I had my revenge that is"
The blue haired girl grinned right back at her captain, causing his heart to flutter once again, but this time he didn't give it much thought, other than truly enjoying it.
"C'mon pitcher, we've got work to do or coach's gonna skin us alive"
Sora sighed and held out her fist to her catcher.
"Alright, partner", she agreed still reluctantly. "Don't make me regret it"
Miyuki bumped his own fist against hers without any hesitation.
When finally practice, dinner, the late time practice and showering was all over and the young girl had successfully rejected Kuramochi's attempts to talk her into a videogame night, bedtime had come rather quickly for her and she sat on her bed without moving for a while, reviewing everything that had happened to her that day. She thought about calling her brother and talking it all over with him, but she was exhausted and tired. Not only physically, but also mentally. She hadn't even changed out of her boy's attire yet.
The rain outside started quite out of the blue and the blue haired girl groaned in annoyance. She hated rain! Additionally, a heavy wind seemed to blow and weird noises could be heard through the door crack. There wouldn't be a thunderstorm now, would there? Sora gulped nervously. She was extremely afraid of thunder and lightning and she was all by herself in her dorm room right now. A panic attack sure as hell wouldn't be very pleasant in that kind of situation.
Of course just as she had that thought, a flashing white light appeared outside and she flinched. Only a second later, the loud rumbling of thunder seemed to shatter her eardrums. Sora screamed and crouched, breaking out in a cold sweat of fear. Desperately she tried to cover her ears with her hands and squinted her eyes, but her whole body started trembling uncontrollably.
The next combination of thunder and lightning followed and the young girl collapsed to her knees, sobbing. Her heart raced wildly and she wished for someone to come and rescue her. A guardian or an angel or whoever... Wait a second! Guardian... Eijun!
Very carefully she crawled over to her bed where she left her phone and picked it up, only to let it fall down on the carped because her hands were shaking way too much. Sora tried again and hid under her desk with her phone grabbed very firmly when the next series of heavenly rage filled the air. The blue haired girl gasped and cowered in the hindmost corner in an embryo position while fumbling around with her phone to make a call.
The blue head prayed that Sawamura would pick up at that time and that he wouldn't be asleep already. With a way too flat and shaky breath she waited and barely was able to listen to the tooting of her phone.
"Oi Sora, s'up?! That stupid Bakamu-..."
"Oh, thank you, dear Gods in heaven!" Sora interrupted and didn't even pay much attention to the voice or to the words as she was just so relieved that someone had answered the call. "Eijun, can you come over please? Like right now?! I really need you here...!"
She screamed the words out as fast as possible, clouded over with something that appeared to be a fear for her very life and when she heard another thunderstrike, the young girl squealed and let her phone slip out of her hands and on the floor once again. The call was interrupted, but she couldn't care less. With her hands on her ears and her eyes shut she remained in the corner under her desk, rocking her shivering body back and forth and hoping that her brown haired friend had heard her and would come to her rescue.
At the same time in Sawamura's and Kuramochi's dorm room, the green haired shortstop threw the phone of his roommate back on his bunk and sprinted to the door. He had answered Sawamura's phone when he had seen Sora's name on it because the young southpaw was out to brush his teeth before going to bed. They just had both been in the middle of preparing to go to sleep, but now Kuramochi was wide awake.
Something in Sora's voice had alarmed him, even scared him. The blue head had obviously been afraid and on top of it, the call had ended with a scream and a thud and then only silence.
Without even bothering to put on other clothes, a jacket or even shoes, the shortstop dashed out of the door in his pajama and ran through the corridor until he had found the right entrance to Sora's dorm room. He barged in as always, without knocking or asking and searched for the cause of his friend's fear.
"Sora!" he called slightly panting. "Oi, Sora!"
Kuramochi heard faint sobbing and froze. It sounded so weak and vulnerable that his stomach almost turned upside-down. Slowly he walked into the room. It wasn't very big and didn't provide enough space to hide very properly, so there were only two options left. Under the bed or under the desk, if you didn't want to squeeze yourself into your wardrobe.
The green head kneeled and peeked under the desk, not nearly prepared for what he was about to see. It almost broke his heart. His blue haired, always so cheeky and mischievous friend was crouched down in a corner, knees pulled to the chest defensively, ears covered with the hands and eyes squinted, but tears still flowing down the reddened face. The blue head's body was rocking in a steady rhythm as if to calm down, but still clearly trembling and being moved by the sobs.
Kuramochi held back his cursing and reached out for Sora's wrist. Upon the contact of his gentle touch, the young girl jolted and her teary bright blue eyes flew open with sheer panic until her vision focused on a familiar face. She panted heavily for air, but let the green head pull her out of her small lair.
"M-Mochi...?!" she mumbled quietly, voice almost breaking. "What are you... I mean... Why?!"
He gave her a lopsided and slightly forced grin, but patted her head with the hand that was not holding her wrist.
"Sawamura was out, so I took the call", the green head answered softly with concern still in his tone. "What's up with y-...?"
But before he could finish his question, lighting flashed again and with the menacing sound of thunder, Sora jumped and her hands were latching on the fabric of Kuramochi's shirt, desperately searching for something to keep her grounded.
When she could control her breathing better once again, she noticed what she was doing and forced her shaking fingers to let go. She took a step back and wiped her tears, hoping that she wouldn't look too pathetic in front of her friend.
"A-Ah sorry, Mochi..."
"Idiot, what are you apologizing for?" he whispered and closed the distance between them again, wrapping his arms around the blue haired girl protectively. "C'mere, it's alright now"
Sora let out a long breath before crying unrestrained into Kuramochi's chest while he held her very tightly with his strong arms. With every new sound of thunder outside, her body tensed up once again and the green haired shortstop squeezed her carefully.
"I'm here", he reassured again and again until the young girl was able to calm down at least a little bit.
"Hey, don't you have earbuds?"
Sora looked at her friend, still confused, but nodded her head and looked at the top drawer of her desk. The shortstop waited until the next thundering was over, let the blue head sit down on her bed and picked up her phone and the earbuds. He gestured for her to scoot over and the young girl did without complaint.
Kuramochi switched off the light, climbed into the bed next to Sora and gave her the earbuds to put them in.
"Choose something that can make you relax a little", he advised.
She nodded, still a little insecurely, but searched through her playlists until she had found something that she thought might work. After pressing the play button, Sora nestled up to her green haired friend and put her head on his chest before she closed her eyes.
Kuramochi stiffened first, but tried to remind himself that the blue head was scared to death, so he put his arms around his friend once again and pulled the blanked over both of them. The green haired shortstop watched his blue haired teammate lying on his chest, the short and thin body still trembling. He could feel that Sora's breathing was irregular and shaky, so he started to caress the blue head's arm a bit awkwardly. Guys usually didn't really do stuff like that, did they?! Was it weird for him to want to stay the night? Sora didn't seem to mind it much, but with that much panic, logic wasn't to be expected.
After some time, Kuramochi noticed the soft body clinging to him for dear life relaxing and the blue head's breath got deeper and slower. A very quiet snore escaped Sora's mouth and the shortstop smiled genuinely. He took the phone and the earbuds away, set the alarm for the next day for morning practice and maybe he also pulled his blue haired friend a little closer than necessary, only because he liked the scent so much.
In the middle of the night, the young girl blinked and rubbed her eyes, still half-asleep and confused. She noticed that the thunderstorm had stopped, only the rain could be heard now, but she also recognized that she was pressed against another very muscular and well-defined male body. Her heart almost jumped out of her chest when she realized that it was Kuramochi.
"M-Mochi...?!"
"Yo", he yawned quietly, but didn't allow her to move away from him since his hug was quite firm.
"You're still here?"
"Yeah, couldn't possibly leave ya alone like that now, could I?"
"Sorry to make you worry. I didn't mean to, ya know"
"Yeah, of course I know. You really need to stop apologizing"
Sora chuckled slightly.
"So, you've finally found out about my most embarrassing secret now. Tell me the truth, just how pathetic did I look?"
"Hyaha! Pretty much", the shortstop joked back and grinned a little sleepy. "But it's only you and me here, so it's alright. No one else will notice"
"Mh, thank you"
"Nah, c'mon... But why are you so afraid of a thunderstorm? It's only weather, right? I mean, don't get me wrong, I know that many irrational phobias do exist, but... Dunno, that was just unexpected, I guess"
"Ah, that... I almost died as a child, so yeah... think it's a trauma or however you'd want to call it"
"Wha-...?! You almost died?! Sora!"
Kuramochi's body tensed up and his grip around her got even stronger.
"Yeah, we were playing out in the fields when we were little. Ten-nii was with us too. We didn't really think much of it when the rain started. Sure, it caught us by surprise, but summer rain in the country isn't so unusual. We were hiding under a big and very old tree and wanted to wait until the rain would stop, but instead it grew into a thunderstorm", the blue haired girl explained while she remembered the scene from her past. "Ten-nii was the oldest in our group and he was very cautious, he immediately told us to get away from the tree since it was the only one on the whole field and it was pretty huge, but it was already too late. While everyone was running from it, a lightning strike hit the tree and it burst into flames. I was still too close to it and the tremor and the loud noise made me topple. Ten-nii turned back to get me when a burning branch cracked and fell down. Luckily, my brother had always been pretty fast. Hadn't he reached me just in time back then to pull me out of the way, that branch would have crushed me..."
"Holy crap!"
The green haired boy's hand started stroking her gently again. It was almost strange how comforted, warm and safe Sora felt with the shortstop. Even though they were kinda... in bed together...
Really wrong way of thinking in that kind of situation!
"Was that with your not-friends?"
The young girl snickered and nodded her head.
"Yeah, when everything was still okay between us... Good old times"
"Tch!" Kuramochi clicked his tongue in annoyance and thought for a moment before he came to a certain decision and sighed. "Ya know, I can relate to your situation, Sora. I know how much it sucks to find out that your friends betrayed you. I actually meant to tell you earlier, but somehow it was never the right moment..."
Sora looked up to her friend with her big blue eyes, but it was too dark in the room to see his expression.
"Mochi, you don't have to..."
"No, I want to", he cut her off. "You shared so much with me, with us. And... I'm the only one who knows the reason behind your job and now also about your phobia... I feel like telling you too. So, like... I mean so that you have something only you know about me as well. Uhm... mutual trust...? Or somethin'...? Dunno... Makes sense?!"
Kuramochi cringed inwardly. He sounded like an idiot! But it was true that he felt special since the blue head had shown him so much trust to confide those little things to him that no one else was supposed to find out. Not even Miyuki as the captain or the reliable third years or the coach and Takashima. So special, that his heart was all aflutter once again and his face started to heat up significantly. The shortstop was just glad that it was dark enough that the blue head wouldn't notice. And suddenly he was very well aware about the fact how damn close Sora was to him and that he had been caressing and hugging his friend the whole time... Well, shit!
The blue haired girl on the other hand was beyond astonished because that had been her discussion with Miyuki just a few hours earlier during practice. Trust only works both ways... Well, she was glad, that at least one of her teammates actually realized. Or cared enough...
"Have you talked to Kaz?"
"Huh?! No, why? I don't need that guy's permission to open up to ya, do I?"
"Ah, no of course not. That's not what I meant. Sorry I interrupted you, Mochi. Never mind!"
The green head grumbled displeased. Now his curiosity was already piqued.
"What is it?"
Sora sighed desperately. Of course he couldn't just let it go, so she summarized her short conversation with the brown haired captain.
"That's why it really does make so much sense to me what you just said, you know. Not that I ever would've asked you, but... I appreciate your thoughts. I honestly do", she concluded.
"Sora..."
Shit, his heart ached! Really bad. Just what the hell was happening to him?! Kuramochi sucked in a sharp breath when he recognized that his blue haired teammate squeezed his hand and began intertwining their fingers with each other. He gulped, but squeezed back. And then he started talking about his Junior High delinquent career, his fellow yankee friends and everything they had been through together until the moment he had realized that they had used him and thrown him away shortly before he had been scouted into Seidou.
"Oh, Mochi! I'm so sorry..." the young girl whispered sadly and put her arms around her friend to comfort him.
Tears were starting to flow down her cheeks again. It was almost the same that she herself had been through. And Kuramochi of all people! He was such a good guy. A bit rough around the edges, sure, but actually so kindhearted, caring, loyal and strong. The shortstop didn't deserve such treatment. She sniffed softly and nuzzled into his chest. If he needed her support, he would get all he wanted. And he took everything gratefully, hugging her back and pulling her close until he noticed his shirt was getting wet.
"Oi, Sora... Are you crying?"
She snuffled and pulled away a bit in embarrassment.
"No!" she claimed stubbornly and earned a disbelieving chuckle.
"Sure do", Kuramochi teased with a grin. "Stop that, I'm fine"
In fact, it was almost killing him that the blue head cried for his sake.
Sora hiccupped. (Hell, wasn't that cute?!)
"Liar!" she accused him. "Y-You only wanted to protect them! And they...! How the hell would anyone be fine with that?! 'Cause I'm not!"
"Hyaha! Well, maybe you can understand me now", Kuramochi gave back more lightheartedly. "Just so you know, I'm beyond pissed at your damn not-friends too! But you always tell me to calm down. That's also not workin' out very properly..."
The blue haired girl wiped her tears and scoffed.
"Figures..."
"C'mon, we gotta sleep now. We have morning practice tomorrow"
"Ugh, yeah... Wait, did you activate my alarm?"
Kuramochi let out a loud yawn.
"Yup"
The shortstop pulled the blanket a little tighter around them and adjusted his position. Sora's eyelids were already getting heavy.
"Mochi..." she mumbled, but it was very faint.
"Hm?"
"Thanks..." her quiet voice trailed off and her hand reached out to hold onto the fabric of his shirt once again.
"I-Idiot... For what?! Or rather, that's my line here!" Kuramochi complained flustered and got even more fidgety when Sora nestled her soft body against his while dozing off.
"Mhh... you're sooo warm..." the blue haired girl sighed, entering her dreamworld already without noticing. "...feels good..."
The green haired boy's head nearly exploded and so did his heart. There was no way in heaven or hell that he would be able to get any more sleep that night!