Chapter Text
The practice stadium in the Miyagi district isn't as big as she thought it would be, granted it was considered one of the smaller stadiums within the area, but still if they closed off the outer ring of the entrance—it would be considered a fishbowl.
"How do you eat those things?" Miyuki wrinkles his nose in distaste at her guilty pleasure.
Hikari obnoxiously chomps on her matcha pocky sticks after that comment and huffs, "Just because your taste is as dark as your soul doesn't mean that others share that sentiment."
"...I don't think you're making any sense."
"Leave me alone," she nearly whines, "Okay. I only had four hours of sleep since someone refused to let me leave the Mario Kart tournament until they reached all nine rounds," she side-eyes Kuramochi who grins sheepishly.
"Kuramochi," Miyuki warns him sternly, "You knew we had a practice game today."
"Please," Kuramochi rolls his eyes, "We both know Hikari could hit any ball blindfolded."
"That's not the point," he says exasperatedly.
The fact that Hikari is gnawing on a pack of matcha pocky like a starved beaver, just to have something sweet in her mouth and to get the barest trace of caffeine all the while effectively ignoring the bickering second years is a bit unhinged. Because she's swiping at her eyes every five minutes and biting back a yawn; he wonders if she drinks coffee. He has a can in his bag, emergency caffeine he calls it.
"—of course, I drink coffee, Haruichi," Hikari rolls her eyes and scratches her cheek as they walk down the avenue, "But black coffee is disgusting okay, it stains your teeth, and it tastes like dirt."
"How do you know what dirt tastes like?" Miyuki asks half amused and half offended.
"The same way you know what victory tastes like," she quips back and bites back the smile when he nudges her shoulder with his.
.
Hikari thinks she's going to rot her teeth since she ate two packs of pocky back-to-back, she feels almost jittery, but still tired somehow. Like her brain is running on autopilot though her body is still on a livewire. She washes her hands in the nearest restroom and wipes her hands over her eyes—needing her vision to sharpen.
"Shit," she breathes and contemplates banging her head on the wall, which probably would send her into another parallel universe – again – and she really doesn't think she's mentally prepared for that, again.
Hikari inhales tiredly and walks out of the bathroom to search for her team.
Thankfully, she spots them standing in the middle of the damn street. Why? She doesn't know. She rolls her eyes and walks over to them. Her hat bobs over her head and she scowls—plucking it off her head, she runs a hand through her hair and shoves her hat backward. She's going to have to get them fitted, she thinks annoyed. With her hair long and messy, swaying against her back as she walks, the hat slides around unused to such friction, and weight.
"Why are you all standing in the middle of the street?" Hikari asks and makes her way through her team to see Inashiro standing in front of them.
She glances at Eijun who's turn between running and gritting his teeth; then she remembers the yips arc—it was painful to watch, and it broke her heart to see how much pain Eijun had to go through to get there, authors could be the cruelest types of people.
"You have a girl on your team?" Mei shrieks when he sees the number six on her jersey and Carlos takes a step closer in surprise.
Hikari ignores him pointedly and Miyuki hands her an iced drink when she comes closer, "Here."
She blinks at the cold drink and looks up at the catcher. She frowns, "What is it?"
"An iced latte," he says obviously.
Hikari takes a curious sip and her eyes light up at the taste. Soymilk, with a hint of vanilla, no sugar, and light ice. She stares down at her cup, "How did you know—"
Sawamura huffs triumphantly.
She curls an arm around his waist and pulls him closer, "You, are my favorite pitcher, remember that, Eijun."
He giggles—his distraught expression washing more and more away as she grounds him.
Hikari can visibly hear Furuya wilt and Nori frown.
"Okay, my favorite southpaw pitcher," she rolls her eyes and laughs under her breath when Furuya's aura brightens and Nori smiles.
Mei twitches.
"Satisfied?" Hikari raises a brow and takes a sip out of her latte.
Furuya nods briskly.
"I bought you the latte," Miyuki complains from the side and nudges her shoulder wanting some praise too.
"Jealous?" she grins and tugs Sawamura closer to her cheek.
Miyuki's face twists into an expression she can't name. His eyebrows furrow and the smirk he wants to give her smooths into a grimace, but his eyes burn with a certain wryness that could only be disconcerted as fondness or honesty. To sum it up, she can't tell if she hit the nail on the head or if he's actually ticked off that she's that close to Sawamura.
Hell, she's not sure how to approach the hornet's nest.
Hikari decides that it's safe enough to pinch Miyuki's cheek awkwardly and shyly—Kuramochi effectively breaking the atmosphere with his laugh.
"HELLO?!" Mei gets in her face, and she flinches back; releasing Sawamura to stumble toward Miyuki.
Miyuki, whose red cheek is comically red, puts a hand on her lower back to steady her and glares at Inashiro's ace.
"Can I help you?" she deadpans and twists her feet parallel to the catcher.
The blonde's eyebrow twitches.
"Why are you on the team?" he demands.
"Well, that was rude," Hikari drawls out and looks over at his team who look half ashamed, and half exasperated.
"Don't talk to Hikari-chan like that!" Zono growls and steps up with a puffed-up chest.
"Yeah!" Nori adds in after a few seconds and frowns.
"You have to appeal more, Nori-senpai!" Sawamura whispers loudly to the older pitcher.
"It's disrespectful," Nabe frowns and crosses his arms underneath his chest, "She hasn't done anything wrong."
"We apologize for our idiotic ace," Shirakawa says smoothly noticing the glares and darkening atmosphere.
"It's fine," Hikari waves it off and then narrows her eyes at the blonde. She asks blasély, purposefully ignoring his face, "By the way, who are you?"
Miyuki snickers and finds himself holding his chest over her shoulder. His arm slides up her back to her shoulder as he cackles hysterically. He pulls her closer, "You're so fun, Ito-chan."
"Shut up, bastard," Kuramochi rolls his eyes and glares at the team, "Ignore our idiotic captain. We can settle this at Koshien."
"Settle what, You-chan?" she adds more fuel to the fire because Mei is just that annoying, "I know misogyny when I hear it."
Mei pales at that and stammers, "I am not—I love women and women love me!"
She gives him a look, "Seriously?"
Carlos laughs in the back of him.
"They do!" Mei pushes Miyuki off of her and tries to intimidate her – the catcher doesn't budge just pulls her closer to him and warns the southpaw to keep his hands to himself – which is hard enough on his own considering that she's a good few inches taller than him.
She bites back a smirk and purposefully lowers her head.
Haruichi and Sawamura giggle in the back.
"You're a short one, aren't you?" Hikari hums and sips her latte obnoxiously.
"Oh God," Zono whispers to Kuramochi who eyes Hikari and Miyuki like a hawk, "There are two of them."
"Don't be ridiculous Zono," Kuramochi scoffs and then says quietly, "Hikari-chan is nothing like that rat bastard."
"Eijun," Hikari decides to cut off Mei's shrieking tirade and puts her arm around Sawamura's shoulder, "Let's play catch, a southpaw of your caliber can't be seen slacking, right?"
Sawamura nods obediently, "Yes, Nee-chan."
"Even though," she flickers her gaze over to Mei's just about to burst. She sticks the needle in, "Competition is pretty thin this year, you should still warm up, right?"
Mei screeches and Kuramochi scowls in defeat, "It's Miyuki who’s the bad influence, okay."
Miyuki laughs loudly and annoying, but he doesn't fight Sawamura for her shoulders, he keeps his arm around her waist.
Zono narrows his eyes.
.
"Yakushi," Hikari repeats and hums thoughtfully, "I don't remember them."
"We played them in the preliminaries," Miyuki points out in disbelief and looks down at the field where the school sign is.
She shrugs; to be fair, she doesn't remember many teams from the anime anyway. The only one she can really think of is the one Narumiya's on, only because Miyuki knows him and he's very, very annoying. She stirs her yogurt, "Not ringing a bell."
"Not even Raichi?" Sawamura wonders with shock, "He was crazy! And loud!"
"Are you sure you're not describing yourself, Sawamura?" Kuramochi asks with a snicker.
Hikari giggles and Miyuki's eyes widen at the sound.
He doesn't think he's ever heard her giggle before—judging from the looks on the rest of the team, neither have they.
It was girly and sweet and cute, he thinks in shock.
"Well, if I can't remember them, they can't be that good," Hikari continues before finishing her yogurt and then frowns, "I mean do you even remember how I played against them?"
The team goes quiet.
She turns her head to look at the rest of the team, confused at the sudden soundless atmosphere, her teammates exchanged looks with each other unsure of what to say—but not one of her teammates had answered.
Hikari flinches at the silence.
Ouch.
It shouldn't hurt that much, and she really shouldn't be thinking this way, but was she really so insignificant before she got sick? The fact that the entire team couldn't recall her presence while she was on the team or on the field, it hurt. It hurt to think that she was the only girl, but no one really took note of that besides the third years because they were the ones to really help her settle in, and even though they did that without anyone seeing...
"Ah," Hikari says lamely and smiles despite the sting in her chest. She glances at her hands, looking for an excuse to go for a walk or to just distract herself from the small wave of inadequacy that made her feel small. She grabs her half-empty sports bottle, "I think I'm going to go fill up my water bottle."
Hikari leaves just as the small sounds of complaints started and left the bleachers to find a nearby water fountain.
She doesn't look back.
.
Hikari tries to rationalize—she tried not to stand out when she was a first year, vaguely remembering Rei-chan's warning, and only until three-quarters of the second year she eventually fell into the spotlight, death by influenza. How pathetic, that it took a quick brush with death to get the attention she so secretly desired? She scowls.
But how on earth did she make the team, and no one remembered her playing on the field?
The water fountain sits in between a lamp post and a small bench. She jogs over, punches the button, and fills up her water bottle. She huffs when her hat topples off; her head is too small to wear the team's baseball hats. When she puts it on, it somehow tumbles off or leans too much over her eyebrows. She exhales and shoves the hat backward on her head—hair flying messily around her face.
She tosses her bottle to the ground; gritting her teeth she swears at her damn hair.
Even though Hikari's uniform is on and ready for the next game—her hair sometimes gives her trouble depending on the heat and she refuses to cut it. Hiding it away from the world would do the exact opposite of what she wanted. She runs her fingers through her hair and then fixes her cap.
Satisfied, she leans over to the fountain and takes a drink of water, so she doesn't have to take some from her water bottle.
But then she sees another pair of lips following the stream water.
Hikari's eyes widen and she coughs as she stumbles back.
Sanada Shunpei.
How the hell did she forget about him?
The second most attractive baseball player in the anime, she stares.
Then, almost like the devil, Miyuki's face with his glasses and stupid laugh flashes through her mind—right.
Sanada is fucking pretty. He's got the entire dark hair and dark eyes things going on, with the height and grin—good Gods, she needs a minute.
"You're wearing a Seido uniform," Sanada says quizzically.
Hikari gapes at him; is that the first thing he's going to say when he almost kissed her—when she wanted him to kiss her? She closes her mouth shut and then says lamely, "Uh...yeah."
"Who's uniform, is it?" he frowns.
"Mine?"
Sanada stares at her in disbelief and then he chuckles warmly, "Wait—you're on Seido's baseball team?"
"Is that supposed to be funny?" she raises a brow.
"Nah," he laughs, and her heart is singing, "I'm impressed."
"Yeah?" Hikari asks breathily and abruptly clears her throat; composure, find it. "I suppose you're not going to go easy on me in today's game, then?"
He raises an amused brow, "Do you want me to?"
She nearly giggles—why couldn't she be in love with Sanada?
"I think we'll give you a run for your money," she smirks and grabs her water bottle; she frowns at the school's logo on the bottle—remembering just what atmosphere she's going back to.
"So, then why did you look so upset earlier?" he asks curiously.
He was sharp, she would give him that.
"My team was being...annoying," Hikari says unpleasantly; they had hurt her even without meaning to.
Sanada frowns even more, "That bad you had to go fountain to get water instead of going inside the building?"
She blinks; she didn't even think about that.
He shakes his head in disbelief, "And no one defended you?"
"Boys...are dumb?"
Shunpei barks out a fit of laughter and she chuckles sheepishly—how embarrassing. He says this half-heartedly, "Want me to mess with them?"
Hikari thought about it for a moment and then she smirks, "I have a better idea."
"You know you're kinda hot when you make that face," he says shamelessly, a grin forming on his lips.
"Is that why you almost kissed me?" Hikari retorts back just as brazenly.
"Mostly," he laughs, pleasantly surprised by her heat, "Can never guarantee if I'll get slapped, though."
"I thought Yakushi was supposed to be full of bravery and fearless batters," she sighs dramatically.
He stares at her and asks abruptly, "Did you want me to kiss you?"
"I guess we'll never know," she smiles slyly and changes topic as she stares at a nearby clock, "How do you feel about this..."
.
Shunpei only kissed her hand—like a prince would and still it caused her stomach to erupt with butterflies.
He was good, she agrees begrudgingly with a stained blush.
"You were gone a long time," Kuramochi greets her with concern at the dugout, "Did you get lost?"
The fact that she can't look him in the eye tells her just how affected she was by Sanada. She clears her throat and looks at a point on his shoulder, "I'm fine—I uh, ran into someone while I was looking for the fountain."
"You're blushing," Miyuki says not flat enough to be considered dry, the end of his sentence tinges into confusion, "You never blush."
Sawamura, Furuya, and Haruichi stare at her intently.
"I ran into, uh the pitcher, from Yakushi," Hikari almost smiles at this face when she thought about Shunpei, because remembering his grin nearly dislodged her heart from her chest.
"Who?" Sawamura demands and his eyes widen, "Sanada-senpai?"
Hikari giggles lightly and scratches the back of her head before she puts on her baseball helmet, tucking her hair in the back of her head. She clears her throat, "About that, so—"
"HEY, GORGEOUS!" Sanada yells across the stadium with a stupid grin on his face, even his teammates were baffled, "MY FIRST PITCH IS GOING TO BE FOR YOU."
The entire team goes silent as she covers her face with the palms of her hands—she chuckles silently.
Shunpei was laying it on thick, but damn, he was good.
"That bastard better be talking about Miyuki," Kuramochi swears solemnly, and calmly, but the vein in his forehead throbs with the pulse of the speakers.
Really good.
She giggles.
—
"What." Zono turns to look at her, his voice calm, but his face anything but, "What exactly happened, Hikari-chan?"
"Well..." Hikari laughs sheepishly and takes a step back, "I don't think it's a good idea to tell you since...we have to play them."
"Did something unforgivable happen?" Sawamura demands and steps in front of her to grab her shoulders.
Miyuki's eyes widen.
"I WILL DEFEND YOUR HONOR, SENPAI!"
"Calm down," Hikari rolls her eyes and grabs her bat. Maybe this was a bad idea, her entire team looked ready to commit murder, regardless, of the fact that they practically implied that she wasn't significant to be remembered last year. She fixes her gloves, "Don't do anything that will hurt you."
Kuramochi laughs maniacally and glares daggers at the opposing team, "I guess we'll have to crush them."
Furuya nods eagerly.
"It's not big of a deal," she grumbles and listens to the coach's gameplay for this session; by the time he was finished the entire stadium had filled with people. Kanemaru glances at the pitcher who is boring holes into his teammate; he nudges Nori who frowns and tells Kuramochi—who scowls and throws an arm around her shoulders.
"YOU CAN'T HAVE HER, IDIOT!"
Coach Kataoka turns his head to glare at Kuramochi and asks gruffly, "What are you doing, Kuramochi?"
"The pitcher was flirting with her!" he snarls with a tick on his brow.
"Are you going to pee on her next?" Rei asks dryly.
Coach Kataoka swallows a laugh.
The entire team starts to complain loudly, nearly frothing at the mouth, and glaring at the Yakushi pitcher with such hatred she wonders how he didn't burst into flames there. Sanada just grins and winks at Hikari who's trying to figure out how to control her team. She tries to stop smiling because now he was just annoying her team, and there were only so many ways to calm them down.
"Did he do something, Hikari?" Miyuki asks her quietly; his eyes follow her form as she walks over to the steps.
Hikari very nearly sighs. She turns her head to look at him and was surprised to see his eyebrows furrowed and the gold of his eyes darken into a deep amber. It's the same pensive look he gives Sawamura when he's calculating the outcome of each pitch and how to maneuver his team to win the game. But more than that, he used her name—her first name, again.
There are different instances as to when he uses her name, she had noted, Ito-chan in general, but more seriously with her first name. It's different from how she allowed Sawamura to use her first name or how the rest of her classmates in the same year use her first name, always attached with an honorific, an affectionate tone, or familiarity.
Miyuki uses her name without anything but just his voice—there is no familiarity or affection; it is implied.
And maybe that makes her heart thump a little harder than it should because when Miyuki uses her name, there is an implied affection that is more obvious than the teasing manner her team uses it.
Because when Miyuki uses it, it feels different.
Hikari swallows and shrugs, "It's not big of a deal, besides—"
"You're up, Ito," Coach Kataoka drags her out to the field; she momentarily forgot that the rest of her team had been positioning themselves on the field while she thought about what to say to Miyuki.
"So, you are my first pitch," Shunpei laughs at that, and then his face morphs into his angry look—then Hikari remembers why he's her second favorite character. Miyuki's face doesn't look like that when he's angry, he just gets hotter, and she likes her guys with just a hint of unhinged...not too much. Because Miyuki's eyes burn brighter, and he gets all focused and intense—and she shakes her head. Gods, she needs to focus.
"Just pitch, Sanada," Hikari exhales and gets in position.
"That's Shunpei-kun to you," he laughs again.
"Not if Kuramochi skins you first," she mumbles as the catcher snorts from behind her.
Shunpei pitches a fastball one that breaks just as it hits the strike zone. Hikari hits it and the moment that it touches her bat the bat rattles in her hands, and she hisses as it fouls out. Her team makes a surprised gasp.
Hikari is going to have to catch the ball at the end to redirect the force, if it goes too close to the middle it's going to kill the velocity and sting her palms.
"You can do it, Ito-senpai!" Haruichi calls out from the center.
Kanemaru yells, "Smash it out of the field!"
"KILL HIM!" Kuramochi screams.
"You have some scary teammates, Hikari-chan," Sanada shudders playfully and grips the ball tighter, "Though they can't be surprised by your batting skills after all it's my pitch."
Hikari doesn't reply when he pitches his next fastball, low and away—she slams the ball up with the edge of her bat until it flies past center field and disappears. She drops her bat and laughs, "Yeah, but I don't miss."
Sanada and Raichi's jaw drops.
And she flies through the field as soon as the announcer yells, "HOME RUN!"
.
"Sawamura," Miyuki starts as he finishes gearing up and narrows his eyes, "Strike him out."
Sawamura stiffens, but glances at Ito-senpai who is avoiding Sanada's purposefully leering gaze with a muffled smile, and nods curtly.