Hikaru was now sitting on the bench, to Hikaru it was hotter just sitting here than actually playing. Since Seidou was up by eight in the fourth inning Coach Kataoka had brought Hikaru, Miyuki, Eijun, Furuya back to the dugout...Miyuki, however, was in the dugout with Furuya trying to get some of his power out. Eijun seeing Furuya throwing pitches wanted to throw some to….so like always Hikaru was dragged out to the bull pen by Eijun. Hikaru and Miyuki watched as Eijun started a fight with Furuya.
“Eijun leave him alone.”Miyuki said
“But I’m overflowing with Ardor!”Eijun said
“Then you can keep shouting until you lose your voice.”Miyuki said with a laugh
Hikari smirked at Miyuki’s comment. Hikaru heard the noise of the ball hitting the bat. Hikaru smirked when he saw Yuki hit a home run bring in another runner. This made the score Seidou 10 to 0….The game was called in the fifth inning. The Seidou members were now standing outside of the stadium with their bags. Their fans were standing across from them. Hikaru had found himself stuck beside Miyuki and Kuramochi.
“Nice game!”
“We’re gonna come cheer for you again!”
A group of girls were standing there and shouted:
“MIYUKI-KUN!”
Hikaru and Kuramochi looked at each other’s in discussed.
‘What do they see in him?’Kuramochi and Hikaru wondered.
But the two were shocked when the girls turned and shouted:
“HIKARU-KUN! WE LOVE YOU!”
Hikaru gained a thin line of blush, but it was easily hidden. Hikaru went to reach for his beats, but a voice caught his attention.
“Good. You’re all here.”
Everyone turned and saw Coach Kataoka walked up to the group with Rei and the club advisor behind him.
“After you finish stretching, grab lunch at the bleachers.”Coach Kataoka said
“YES SIR!”Everyone shouted
“We’re all staying…..to watch the next game. The team that wins…will be our next opponent.”Coach Kataoka said
Hikaru, Kuramochi, Miyuki, and Ryosuke paired up and did there stretching. Kuramochi and Ryosuke walked with Hikaru and Miyuki to get lunch. Somehow Kuramochi and Ryosuke got their lunch before Hikaru and Miyuki.
“Were going on ahead Miyuki, Hikaru.”Ryosuke said
“Alright Ryosuke-Nii we will be there as soon as we get our food.”Hikaru said
Ryosuke and Kuramochi nodded then left. Finally Hikaru and Miyuki got to order.
“What did you get?”Miyuki asked as the two walked to pay
“Ah, I got water and a sandwich.”Hikaru replied
Miyuki smirked. Right as Hikaru went to pay some money shot in front of Hikaru. Hikaru looked to see Miyuki paying for Hikaru’s lunch and his. While walking back the two ate their lunches.
“You didn’t have to pay for mine.”Hikaru said
“No problem…oh wait right here.”Miyuki said
Hikaru was confused, but stood there and finished off his sandwich. He threw it in the nearby trash as Miyuki walked up with a cup.
“Here I promised remember.”Miyuki said handing Hikaru a cup
Hikaru looked at it then back at Miyuki.
“It’s a vanilla shake I promised!”Miyuki cried “Remember, I promised when we were watching other teams I would buy you a vanilla shake.”
Hikaru smirked and started to sip on the shake as they met up with the others.
“Took you long enough.”Kuramochi said as Hikaru sat down behind Kuramochi in-between Haruichi and Miyuki
“Sorry Kazuya started flirting with some girls...”Hikaru said
“MIYUKI!”Kuramochi cried
The others ate their lunch and were now ready to watch the next game.
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All of Seidou members were now back in their school uniforms. Hikaru sipped his milkshake in a bored like manner.
“Take a good look at Akikawa Academy’s pitcher.”Miyuki said “He has something you guys don’t have.”
“Ball Control? Ability to limit his power in his pitches? A catcher that doesn’t laugh at his own jokes? The ability to actually field a ball correctly while on the mound?”Hikaru asked
Yuki, Jun, Ryosuke, and Tanba smirked at what Hikaru said while Kuramochi laughed loudly. Miyuki turned to Hikaru and went to reach for the vanilla shake, but Hikaru licked his hand.
“Ew, Hikaru.”Miyuki said as he turned back to the others while he whipped his hand on his pants
“Hikaru, you should pay attention also.”Yuki said
“Alright….sorry Kazuya, please continue to teach your students.”Hikaru replied
Chris opened his note book to a page then started to recite from his page.
“An exchange student from Taiwan, Shunshin Yeung, Second-year. “Chris said
“He’s not Japanese?”Eijun asked
Hikaru sighed.
“Isn’t that what exchange student normally means brother?”Hikaru said
“He originally came to learn Japanese, but was introduced to Japanese baseball and fell in love with it. He stays later than anyone at practice, and he studies more than anyone to make Japanese baseball his own. He has hunger…He has that untouchable aura. And amazing control from his everyday practice.” Chris read “People call him clockwork.”
Hikaru looked at their pitcher; he was thin in Hikaru’s opinion. Hikaru watched Akikawa pitching closely…the more balls that Shunshin Yeung what shocked Hikaru was that he threw three balls in the same spot.
“That was one ball outside the strike zone.”Hikaru said “Not even an idiot would throw three pitches in the same place…”
Eijun and Furuya were shocked after watching the game…It wasn’t long before the game was over Akikawa winning 3 to 0.
“Three to zero. They defended their early- game runs.”Yuki said “After they scored, the fielders started playing differently. “
“Yeah, controlling in and out, “Jun said “and keeping the pitch low. The other team only got five hits. “That just shows how much faith the team has in him. The game’s three days from now, on a Wednesday.”
About that time Hikaru stood up suddenly, and reached behind him and grabbed his bag. With the bag securely on Hikaru’s shoulder, he started to leave.
“Hikaru where are you going?”Chris asked
“Practice…Beating Akikawa won’t be easy…the more time we waist admiring them, the more they are going to be practicing to beat us.”Hikaru replied “This one will not be so easy.”
The other regulars smiled and followed after Hikaru.
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Later that evening after showers and food the regulars met in the lunchroom to talk strategy.
“Their ace, Yeung doesn’t throw many breaking balls, but he’s thrown curveballs and forkballs to get strikes. His speed is only around 130km/h, but what we need to worry about is his clockwork-like control.”Chris said then turned to the white board behind him. “From in-high to out-low, and out-high to in-low. He uses the diagonal very well to keep the batters guessing. He’ll probably never throw anything near the middle. “
This didn’t set well with Yuki or Jun.
“The key to beating him will be how well you can stick to your swings, without being tossed about by his pitching to the corners. “Chris finished
“Swinging with hesitation will only give more confidence to the pitcher.”Coach Kataoka said “No matter what he throws, swing without hesitation. You must remember that. One more thing, to put damage on a clever pitcher like him, we need speed and bunts.”
With this being said Kuramochi and Ryosuke smirked a dark smirk.
“You two can put pressure on him by getting on base.”Coach Kataoka said
“YES SIR!”Ryosuke and Kuramochi replied
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The next day at practice everyone was working on bunting, and hitting outside low pitches and in high. Hikaru sighed at all the reporters….Kuramochi had told Hikaru to stay away from reporters and if he ran into one, be careful with what you say. Hikaru was working on bunting when Kawakami walked up to him.
“Ah, Hikaru….can you come help us in the bullpen please?”Kawakami asked
“Sure…Do I need my batting stuff?”Hikaru asked
“Yeah…I think you already have a feeling why we need you.”Kawakami replied
Hikaru smiled and nodded, the two walked to the bull pen.
“You did great in the game by the way.”Hikaru said
Kawakami turned to the youngest Sawamura and was shocked. He found a light blush growing on his face, then he started to rub the back of his neck in a nervous manner.
“Uh….thanks….”Kawakami said
Hikaru smiled and replied:
“No problem…”Hikaru replied
The two made it to the bullpen, and Hikaru felt himself sweatdrop at the sight….but instead of making a comment Hikaru started to laugh.
“DON’T LAUGH HIKARU!”Eijun cried
Hikaru heard the reporters mumbling about the Sawamura Twins together…But Hikaru ignored them…Hikaru knew why he was here. He walked to the batter’s box in front of Chris and pulled the fully padded Kanemaru back by the collar of his uniform. Then Hikaru stepped in it. Hikaru then pointed his bat at Eijun and said:
“Brother enough playing! Let’s have a real match.”
Eijun got serious and shouted:
“ALRIGHT LET’S GO HIKARU! BUT DON’T COME CRYING TO ME WHEN A BALL HITS YOU!”
“YOU’RE AN IDIOT!”Kanemaru cried
Eijun threw the ball, Hikaru barley moved his head as the ball flew by it.
“I’M SORRY HIKARU!”Eijun cried
Chris had caught the ball and threw it back to Eijun.
“Thank you for doing this Hikaru.” Chris said “We were not getting anywhere with Kanemaru. But it was too tough of a job for him.”
“It’s not that big of a deal, I would help my brother any way I can…that I seem interesting to me…..Plus Kuramochi was getting on my nerves.”Hikaru replied
Chris got his glove ready for the next pitch, and a smirk was now placed on his face. Hikaru smirked to then look at Eijun and said:
“Let’s go brother! Show me why you’re a pitcher!”
Eijun smirked then said:
“HERE I COME HIKARU!”
With that Eijun got his pitch ready then he threw it…The pitch flew, but Eijun had made his ball have more of a curve, the ball flew straight into Hikaru. Hikaru barely budged….But Eijun was freaking out.
“HIKARU! I’M SO SORRY!!!!”Eijun cried
Everyone was shocked….Kawakami was pitching also, but he saw Hikaru getting hit.
‘Poor kid.’ Kawakami thought
Tanba was throwing with coach so he didn’t see the accident. Miyuki had lost Furuya….Miyuki was stuck going to find him. When Miyuki found him he was asleep in the weight room. Miyuki couldn’t believe his eyes.
“WAKE UP!”Miyuki shouted
This woke Furuya up from his nap.
“You’d better be done with running.”Miyuki shouted
Furuya sat up weakly and said:
“I am.”
“Get out here! You need to pitch in the bullpen.”Miyuki commanded
“No, it’s hot today.”Furuya replied “I’ll be there in a little while.”
“Of course it’s hot!”Miyuki cried “It’s summer!”
Miyuki finally got Furuya out of the weight room.
“Are you going to be okay? You didn’t finish your meal yesterday, either.”Miyuki said “If you don’t eat right you’re not gonna last. This summer is going to be hotter than usual, so you better get used to…..”
It was then that Miyuki realized something……He quickly turned back Furuya.
‘That’s right.’ Miyuki thought ‘He just came from Hokkaido this year. To him. It’s the first summer in Tokyo.’
Miyuki couldn’t believe he didn’t realize that sooner. He felt sick to his stomach as he saw sweat flowing down Furuya’s face.
‘Could it be….His body isn’t use to this temperature?’Miyuki thought
Now that the two were back in the bullpen, Miyuki couldn’t get his mind off of what he just found out. Furuya threw ten balls, and then Miyuki stood up and said:
“Alright let’s call it a day.”
Hikaru was crouched behind Chris holding his side in pain.
“I can still pitch.”Furuya said
“It’s fine.”Miyuki said “Just cool done and rest.”
Hikaru had been pulled back to fielding practice so now Chris and Eijun were playing catch.
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That night at supper Hikaru could was holding his chopsticks weird. Miyuki sat beside him and looked at him confused. Hikaru at his supper and then left, Miyuki followed after Hikaru quickly. Miyuki found Hikaru sitting by the drink machines.
“Oi, are you okay?”Miyuki asked walking over
Hikaru looked up at him.
“uh…yeah…..”Hikaru replied
Hikaru stood up and went to walk off, but Miyuki reached out and grabbed Hikaru’s wrist. It was then that Miyuki noticed Hikaru wince. Miyuki pushed up Hikaru’s long sleeve shirt and was shocked to see bruises the size of baseballs.
“How the heck did this happen?”Miyuki asked
“I was filling in a batter for brother…..”Hikaru replied
“Are there more?”Miyuki asked
Hikaru opened his mouth….
“Don’t lie!”Miyuki said with a fierce look in his eyes.
Hikaru only nodded.
“Show me.”Miyuki commanded
Hikaru lifted up his shirt a little and showed Miyuki the first place that Eijun’s ball hit.
“You are such an idiot for filling in that position!”Miyuki cried
Hikaru smirked and said:
“They will be fine by game day. Heck, I’ll be fine for practice tomorrow….but on another note…uh how long are you planning on holding my wrist?”
Hikaru pointed at Miyuki’s hand that was tightly holding Hikaru’s wrist. Once Miyuki saw that he was still holding onto Hikaru’s wrist he quickly let go…Miyuki then quickly turned his face away…Hikaru was confused at why Miyuki did that…but Miyuki had to hide this…for some reason or another when ever Miyuki was around Hikaru, at certain moments, a blush would cover Miyuki’s face… Miyuki would normally just laugh it off and no one would notice it.
“Are you okay?”Hikaru asked
Miyuki’s heart was pounding in his rib cage…if his heart was a pitch, Miyuki didn’t think he would be able to catch it. Miyuki turned to Hikaru quickly and thumped him in the head.
“Of course I’m okay, I have to be after all I’m awesome!”Miyuki replied
Hikaru sighed then sent Miyuki a smile.
“Just keep thinking that.”Hikaru replied then walked off
Miyuki’s heart was pounding harder now than before…and he knew his face was crimson….About that time Miyuki heard a laugh he really didn’t want to hear.
:”What are you doing out here?”the voice asked
Miyuki turned and started to walk back to his room.
“oi Kazuya don’t ignore me!”Kuramochi cried
“Go to sleep Kuramochi!”Miyuki replied
Kuramochi scoffed and said:
“What’s biting him?”
Miyuki couldn’t think straight, nor did he want to think the thoughts that normally came with the symptoms he had.