Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

She was very aware of her own mortality and don't think for a second that didn't scare the shit out of her.

The virus itself had mutated beyond belief, even her thoughts, were muted, almost as if someone threw a blanket over her head and rendered her drowsy.

Blessed, was it? To have such a peaceful death, almost like falling asleep, she couldn't feel anything, thanks to the medication, and lack of self-awareness. But was it, to go out like this? She'd always imagined that she would go out kicking and screaming or in a daze.

But like this?

This felt tragic.

She closed her eyes and wondered if she would ever open them back again.

.

"—waking up," a gruff voice sounded from the corner of the room.

"—the doctor!" a woman's voice yelled from across the room and she groaned in her bed.

Clearly, she wasn't dead, not when there are a chorus of people screaming in her head—her poor, pounding head.

Death should be merciful.

She fell back asleep.

.

"Hikari-chan!" Rei sighs in relief and sits back in her chair, "You're awake. You gave everyone a scare going in and out of consciousness like that. You're lucky that Miyuki found you on the field, this could've been a lot worse."

She blinks blankly and wheezed; she felt like she was underwater, "Who?"

Hikari?

Who the hell is Hikari?

Squinting her eyes, she looks up at Rei—Rei who looks so very familiar. Rei, who, looks like a character from Ace of Diamond. She blinks again, the same anime she binged to pass the time while she was sick. But that's impossible, so perhaps, she's hallucinating or—or she's just very, very sick.

It's time for the Gods to put her out of her misery—a painless death because she's not sure if she's sane now.

"Hikari-chan?" Rei repeats slowly, more alarmed than confused, "Are you alright? Do you remember what happened?"

She stares at her hard.

"You weren't feeling well a week ago, you kept going to practice, and thought that some exercise would get rid of the bad feelings. But you collapsed in the field and Miyuki saw you on the ground on his way back to the dorm. You had the flu—a bad case of the flu. We had to hospitalize you until your fever broke and then we moved you back to the dorm."

To her shock, bits, and pieces of what had happened appeared in her mind. Almost like a flashback memory but faded at the edges like a polaroid.

Did she really die?

She blinks hard and looks at her hand that curled into a fist while she listened—a new hand!

This was clearly not her body; she thinks in shock.

Did she really die?

Was she reincarnated?

She felt weak as she was in the hospital—the other hospital. Her body felt like an alien and not. Discombobulated. She still had her height, her legs were still longer than her torso by about six inches, but she had more muscle and a certain agility that she never had before.

"I'm going to get the doctor," Rei announces suddenly and runs out of the room. 

She takes the opportunity to look for a nearby mirror and gapes at her appearance.

Well, she looked like herself, just fit and more.

Animated wouldn't be a good word, but for some reason, she felt like she was being punished.

A high school student?

Again.

Just when she was on the brink of going to college—she got sick and died.

Gods, she was dead.

But wasn't she supposed to forget her death—at least her other life?

She flops back in her bed; well, it could be worse.

She could've come back as a praying mantis.

.

Hikari Ito.

She shakes her—Ito Hikari.

That's her name—this world's name, and she won't lie. She can't very well remember her original name, and it should scare her, but the logical part of her wonders—why should it? She gets to restart her life in the anime that she binged watched till the end.

She rubs her face.

And apparently, she was the first baseman on the men's baseball team. First baseman, on the men's baseball team, though she's a girl, and judging from her new physique she must've been damn good. Which was ironic because she was nowhere near athletic in her past life. She's damn well going to take advantage of her new form.

Once the spectators had left her room, Hikari rummaged through her drawers and was flabbergasted to find such ugly clothes.

Was she supposed to look like a man as well?

She's going to have to do something about this wardrobe change, apparently, this new world's creator wanted her to look like a potato sack. It's not going to happen, she vows irritatedly. Her products feminine products were basic, drug store stuff, no wonder her hair felt like it would catch on fire.

Even though she played like a guy, it doesn't mean she should look like one.

Maybe if she acted pathetic enough, Rei-chan would do her favor.

.

Hikari grinned at the shopping bags, of course, it worked.

Rei-chan got exactly what she wanted and used the baseball team's money to help their sick student out—how she loved to exploit the rich.

.

Hikari felt almost normal after a shower, using her sweet-smelling shampoo and moisturizing conditioner to make her feel somewhat normal. She tossed on some sweats, more form-fitting, and a school sweater. She exhales, it was time to face the music.

And to find food.

Now, if she could use this world's muscle memory to help her figure out where the cafeteria was.

"—I-Ito-senpai!"

Hikari turns her head to see a boy with messy brown hair and a loud voice run up to her.

"Ito-senpai! You're alive!" Sawamura – he really is adorable in real life – exclaims in obvious happiness.

"Barely," she replies dryly and nearly howls at the irony. "I was on my way to get...lunch?"

"I'll escort you!" Sawamura chirps and hooks an arm through her elbow.

Was he always this loud?

She did skim through some episodes, so maybe she never really picked up on it. She walks slowly, trying to get used to her gait, her stride is quicker and more powerful than her other body's—she curses quietly, things never could be easy, could it?

Thankfully, Sawamura seemed to catch on and matches his speed with hers.

"You know, Ito-senpai," Sawamura starts off and looks pensive as he goes on, "Everyone was really worried about you. Especially Miyuki-senpai, when he saw you on the field, he nearly sprained his knee trying to get to you, and then when they told us that you caught a strong strain of the flu and had to be hospitalized—it was tough to go out and train."

Hikari blinks—Miyuki did?

Unfortunately, much to her distaste and excitement, Miyuki was one of her favorite characters. She despised him because he was such a shit, but if that man wasn't one of the smartest and most talented members of the team. And he was so attractive it made her want to strangle him, maybe Sawamura could help her with that, if he sat on him, maybe she could wring his cocky, gorgeous, frustrating self.

Smart, pretty men with just enough unhinged were her type and this truly is bad karma.

She wonders what her relationship with him is like in this universe.

"I didn't mean to worry you," Hikari says slowly and memorizes the path they take to the kitchen, "But I don't ask to get sick, Eijun-chan."

Eijun-chan just slips out and judging by his face it was the right wording.

Maybe assimilating wouldn't be too hard.

"I know, senpai," he nods more to himself than anything, "We're just going to have to watch you more carefully."

Hikari opens her mouth and furrows her brows, "I'm sorry—we?"

Sawamura slides the door open and exclaims, "Guys, look who's awake!"

Hikari wasn't prepared to see the entire baseball team all at once.

Chapter Text

Miyuki watches Hikari shrewdly.

The entire team does.

She's walking slower than usual, her hand grips Sawamura's elbow as he leads her to an empty seat, and Furuya practically runs to get her a tray of food. She's dressed...oddly as well, more like, well, a girl. With black tights and an oversized sweater, she almost looks cute. She brushed her unruly bangs back—a bit similar to a particular Yakushi pitcher.

"Kazuya," Kuramochi says from the corner and frowns, "Does she look a little slower to you?"

"She was hospitalized for a week, Kuramochi," Yuuki points out quietly.

Miyuki inwardly agrees. He hasn't seen Hikari since they brought her back from the hospital. He had to force himself to not search for her, knowing that if he did, his brain would try to fill in the gaps to the questions that he had, and he knows he won't like the answers once he starts to speculate.

"It's going to take her a few days to snap out of it," Jun adds after a moment.

"—and an extra serving a tempura," Sawamura claps his hands and puts another plate in front of her, "Your favorite!"

Hikari stares at the tray of food and pales. She knows she can eat a lot of food, but she hasn't been moving or doing anything really. So, seeing a big bowl of rice, miso soup, tempura, katsu, and curry has her stomach churning.

"Seeing your face is making her sick, idiot," Miyuki speaks up, stands up, and pushes a hand on Sawamura's face. He gets rid of the tempura and katsu, "And she shouldn't be eating oily food or she's going to throw up again."

Hikari's face twitched—so he did see her throw up and announced it to the entire room.

When she gets the chance, she's going to break his teeth.

Miyuki was even more attractive in real life; she's never felt such rage and passion for a man before. She can feel her face pinken—in anger or embarrassment she can't tell. Once she's a hundred percent, she swears, she's going to give him hell.

But she can't look at him for too long because then she'll remember and think about what made him so attractive to her in the first place.

Hikari feels a headache take place behind her left eye; she puts a hand over her eye hoping to alleviate the ache; this was too much.

"Do you have a headache again, Ito-senpai?" Haruichi asks after a moment and quietly glares at Sawamura.

"Yes," she smiles dryly and hooks a thumb next to her, "He's right here."

Kuramochi snickers as Miyuki yelps in offense.

Hikari takes a small bite of the soup and hums in delight. She eats very slowly, but she notices her hand has a small tremble every time she lifts the spoon. She huffs irritated, one more day of rest and this should be gone.

Miyuki sees her tremble and looks at her with pressed lips; a snide comment on the tip of his tongue.

Thankfully, Chris was able to change the subject. "You gave us quite the scare, Ito-chan."

"I think I scared myself," she says to stop herself from looking at Chris; she fears for her sanity. "I can't remember what happened or that week."

"At all?" Furuya asks shocked.

Hikari shakes her head and takes a small bite of rice. Sawamura rushes to get her some hot tea. She chews slowly, "No. I tried, but I just get a pretty big headache."

Miyuki looks at her carefully, "They had to hospitalize you."

"I remember the IV," she says suddenly and rubs her left hand, "I still have the bruising from that."

"You had a very high fever," Chris says dispassionately. "You were careless, practicing while you were sick. The doctor here couldn't bring your fever down, so they had to take you to the ICU."

Her eyes widen at that.

"When they told us that you had a strain of the flu, we thought it would be over in a few days," Kuramochi adds, "But we didn’t know that there were multiple strains. Coach was losing his mind, we had to cancel practice for a few days because we couldn't focus."

Hikari froze at that.

"Rei-chan," Sawamura puts a pot of tea in front of her to avoid looking at her with wet eyes, "Rei-chan thought you weren't going to make it."

Hikari inhales sharply—the entire team looked at her grimly and at that moment she realized just how important she was to the team. Miyuki poured her a cup of tea and handed it to her shaky hand. She has to say something, she knows.

But she can't say anything to make this better, can't do anything to make this better, instead, she pats Sawamura on the head and says quietly, "I'm sorry I worried you all."

.

A few days pass and bits and pieces of this world's memory form a timeline in her head. Her personality, for one, was a big adjustment. This world's personality for her, was her if she didn't express her true self, but she had done so in her past life, and she wasn't going to let anything change that—new body or not. Now that she had battled death and lost—

—she shook her head exasperated, bad analogy.

Now that she has a second chance—she's going to make sure she lives properly.

Coach put her on a simpler workout routine, just so she can get herself back in shape, and then start with the boys.

But much to her delight, and the coach—she snaps back into shape after the weekend.

"Are you sure you're okay to run with us?" Kuramochi asks for the nth time.

Hikari rolls her eyes, "For the eighth time, I'm fine. The doctor cleared me, kaa-chan."

She can practically see the vein pulsing in his forehead and grins, "Bye now!"

She starts to run next to Zono, and that's when she hears Mochi complain loudly to Yuki-senpai and Miyuki that her coming back from the brink of death has her sounding like, Miyuki.

Which is not too far off.

Miyuki and she have similar personalities, however, she's much nicer in certain aspects, and empathetic.

Miyuki is—

"Oi!" Miyuki calls out next to her, his glasses glinting silver in the sun, and hits her shoulder with his, "You're starting to slack off, princess."

Hikari's eyes widen and she stutters half outraged and half in disbelief, "P-P-Princess? Who are you calling princess?"

"Well, ojou-sama, when you got sick, it was I, who very chivalrously lifted you into my arms like Sleeping Beauty and rushed you to the doctor. I practically ran an entire twenty minutes while carrying you to safety," Miyuki explains dramatically.

"I don't know if I should be shocked by your knowledge of fairytales or horrified by the fact that you think of yourself as some type of knight," she replies owlishly and makes the turn around the lap.

"Did the flu change your personality?" he flushes almost embarrassed, but he looks surprised by her quip and snark.

"Why?"

"You're cheekier," he says with raised brows and sneers, "Meaner."

"Guess you're just rubbing off on me," she smirks at his shock and picks up the pace until she's neck and neck with Zono.

She really does love this new body and the way she can bend it to her will. Miyuki wasn't exactly comfortable with Hikari's new personality change, then again, he had never really been that close to her in the first place. Not for the lack of trying.

Hikari thinks she might really start to love baseball.

Well, she shouldn't be too surprised—of course she would fall in love with baseball after waking up in a sports anime about baseball.

Hikari learns that while her pitches are not too terrible, her true strength lay within batting and analyzing.

Her other body was a keen observer, analytical and methodical in thought—which transferred over to her current body and embodied those thoughts. A win, truly. Her arm on the other hand was a weapon, her upper body exercises helped cut her form into one that she could use for different positions.

Maybe this was a more dramatized version of her perspective, but she felt like she could almost see the ball – any type really – at any speed in slow motion. Maybe she finally damaged part of her brain that couldn't recognize her visuospatial function, but fuck that, this was better than anything she could've imagined. Because her batting accuracy shot up to at least above eighty percent, depending on her stamina and strength.

"You're batting is much more accurate than before," Kuramochi says with mild surprise, "I thought after a bit more training you would be back to normal."

"I can't explain it," Hikari muses and wipes the sweat from her brow, "But I think being sick did something to me."

"Good?" Kuramochi cringes at the question.

"Maybe," she sighs, "Or maybe I needed a break from your tyrant catcher."

Sawamura snickers in the background.

"Water? Hikari-senpai?" Furuya hands her a cup of water and waits patiently for praise.

She nods and takes the cup of water, "Thank you, Furuya."

He frowns but doesn't say anything otherwise.

"Gather around kids," Coach Kataoka calls out from the bench and crosses his arms as everyone runs towards him. "We have our first training practice of the fall with Osaka Seiseisha High School in three days. Our line-up is going to follow like this, Furuya starts us off, Sawamura pitching from inning five, and Kawakami pitching at the end."

Hikari scratches her cheek; Sawamura got over his yips, now that it's a new school year the seniors are technically still here but not a part of the team. The timeline has her brain going all fuzzy now, the new wolfy catcher isn't here yet—so perhaps in-between season two and season three.

"Ito," Coach looks at her shrewdly, "I want you to bat first."

Hikari's eyes widen, and the entire team watches with bated breath.

"Your accuracy and batting have shot up miraculously, Yuuki has praised your quick recovery, and even Chris had quite a bit of notes," he continues, "What do you think?"

Batting first meant setting the momentum, she thinks, outraged, Kataoka must have a lot of faith in her. She can feel the silence like a blanket around her, and the pressure. The pressure is insane. She deflects, "Seiseisha High is the one with the southpaw pitcher?"

How did she know that?

Coach's eyes widen and nods, "Yes, they were runner-up at the Spring Tournament."

Hikari makes a noise of acknowledgment and thinks. The coach was leaving it up to her to make the decision and it was suffocating. The sudden switch in emotion, to giving her the option, it was giving her brain too many choices to choose from. There were so many outcomes to calculate, so many plays she had to think about, and how her presence would affect the field.

She could back out now—she could say no and have someone else do it.

But she didn't want to do that either.

She put a hand behind her lower back and fisted it; then another hand enclosed around her fist and gave it an encouraging squeeze. She couldn't see who it was, but she was glad about it. "If you think it's best, I'll go first."

Coach nods.

.

It was Miyuki who held her hand from the back. He glances at her suspiciously, confused, "You hesitated. If this was any other game, you would've jumped at the chance."

That doesn't sound like her, Hikari thinks.

Hikari would never jump into something without knowing how it would end.

"I don't want to get sick again, Miyuki," Hikari doesn't look at him, again. For she will forget her words and then probably run away screaming at the demon dressed like a devil—devil not an angel. She inhales shakily, "That week was the most terrifying time of my life."

Miyuki startles at that.

"Pushing myself after healing could set me back and I never want to feel like that again," Hikari blends the two worlds together. "I wanted to die."

And I did.

And maybe Miyuki didn't deserve her brutal honesty or her unabashed thoughts. She saw him flinch, but she also the stress and worry she put there. The thing is, having these conversations, with someone who is just as guarded and contemplative as her, made it harder to understand people. Granted, she has an easier time opening up to most people than Miyuki, but that's only because the people who earn that privilege are the people who will be or are going to be close to her.

Miyuki just has to recognize that.

Hikari grabs her bat and puts it on her shoulder, "Sawamura is looking for you, Miyuki," she turns and starts walking back to the dorms, "You should go find him."

.

Tonight's dinner was udon and grilled fish. She was thankful for her little, personal dorm tucked away from any loud, rambunctious boys. She was even more thankful that her dorm had a private shower and bath. After a long shower and introducing her hair to a new hairdryer, she felt remarkably better after practice.

"Hikari-chan," Kuromochi leans up against her arm when she picks up a piece of daikon radish. He hesitates, remembering her previous brush-offs and excuses when he asked this question. Still, he asks anyway, and prepares for disappointment, "Do you want to play Mario kart with me after dinner?"

Hikari shrugs, "Sure."

Kuramochi blinks in shock; she said yes.

She tucked that piece of information away for later.

"You know how to play video games, Hikari-senpai?" Sawamura's eyes sparkle.

"Yep," she takes a sip of her sports drink, "I play mostly puzzle, action, and immersive games. I also like the mindless racing ones too, but I usually have to be in a mood to play video games."

"Why?" Haruichi asks suddenly and tilts his head, "I play video games all the time with my older brother."

"How to explain it?" Hikari takes a bite out of her fish, "Video games help me get rid of my excess energy, just like how you run around the field with a tire around your stomach, Eijun-chan."

"You get excess energy?" Miyuki snorts.

She taps a finger to her temple, "Up here."

He nodded in comprehension; he was surprised to know he wasn't the only one. "I understand that; I usually walk around campus when that happens."

"I like staying warm," she laughs – for the first time in a while and the entire room can feel her energy like a ray of light – and eats another piece of fish, "So, I play my switch until my eyes get tired. Too much training isn't good for me."

"Hikari-senpai! How can that possibly be true?" Sawamura leans over her so violently that she flinches backward in surprise, Miyuki is quick to put a hand in between her shoulder blades and settle her.

Miyuki glares and his fingers press into her spine, "Sit down, you idiot."

"Don't crowd her, you brat," Kuramochi glowers and pushes him back into his chair.

She sits back up and clears her throat, "Eijun-chan, I don't think I need to give you a lesson in biology..." he stares at her owlishly, half in embarrassment and half in confusion. She scowls, "...or maybe I do."

Miyuki snickers but drops his hand from her shoulder blades to adjust his posture, his knee presses behind her back just in case she flinches again.

"Girls need to have a certain amount of fat in their body," she says slowly.

Furuya blinks, "Why?"

Hikari makes a wounded sound into her hands.

Miyuki's snickers turn into a fit of roaring laughter—she doesn't know why she does it, but it feels right to elbow him right in the gut, and if she didn't have a will of steel she would have yelped because his abs were more than just hard, they were there.

Miyuki coughs at the sudden jab. He never knew her to be violent, but who knew what lay under the shy ones? Haruichi was a prime example, with Ryou-san being his brother and all, his personality could be just as twisted if pushed a certain way.

"Girls need a certain amount of fat in our body to regulate our hormones," Hikari tries to sound as scientific and clinical as possible but judging from the way Haruichi is blushing she doesn't think she had. Trying to this conversation as neatly as possible, she coughs, "It's why we get cold easier and, um," she tries to wrack her brain for facts she learned in health class. She scowls and loses her patience, "Listen, I am not going to have a sex ed talk with you all. Okay, you should've learned this in middle school. If you have any questions, I'm sure you ask your beloved senpai for help."

She points to Miyuki who stops coughing and Kuromochi who takes a sudden interest in his fish.

Sawamura glances at Furuya and then Haruichi. Despite his blush, he steels himself, "Miyuki-senpai—"

Miyuki high-tails it out of the cafeteria with Kuromochi hot on his heels.

Hikari has to take a sip out of her sports drink to prevent herself from cackling as the trio scrambles to find their upperclassman.

"What a bunch of idiots," she huffs, and Kanemaru snickers in the corner.

Chapter Text

As the week goes on, Hikari's memory is becoming more and more solid. Herself, in this world, was more indifferent, quieter, and shyer when it came to her teammates and comradery. She never allowed herself to interact with her teammates outside of training or practice or a game. She believed that it was pointless and that she would only protect herself in the long run.

Hikari sounded like she was twelve years old—she thought distastefully.

Having reached the end of high school and the beginning of college in her previous life, she had shed that skin, the one that she thought to be impenetrable, and became more faithful to herself. She never had this type of companionship in her old school and maybe if she did, then Hikari would've felt free and open with other people. But, growing up doesn't mean forgetting who you were, it meant becoming someone better than who you were.

Her teammates were pleasantly surprised that she had been hanging out more with them and involving herself with the team more—that she had been opening up to them.

Being a girl on the men's baseball team meant that teenage boys interacting with the opposite sex were awkward and loud and weird.

But Hikari, Hikari felt different.

She didn't drown them in femineity, nor did she force herself to become more masculine; she was just Hikari.

And this allowed her teammates to mesh better with her.

When Kuramochi asked her to play video games with him, she accepted, and even told him a little about herself. He was pleasantly surprised, but then she mopped the floor with him at Mario Kart and smiled mischievously at him—it sent cold shivers down his spine. It reminded him eerily of Miyuki when he was fucking with the batters, and he had exploded internally that her new personality is going to cause him palpitations.

There weren't allowed to have two Miyukis' on the team; the world would implode.

Miyuki, on the other hand, was a pain in the ass.

Hikari gritted her teeth.

She remembered, vaguely, how Miyuki would try to get under her skin. How he would poke and prod her but felt mildly disappointed when she didn't react. How he looked at her in awe as she struck the bat, and the ball went flying into the sun. She never allowed him to get close to her, because she had a feeling that if she let him stick around, he could latch onto her like—like an unwanted disease and she would never be rid of him.

Well, jokes on her, Hikari thinks sardonically.

From the moment she saw Miyuki, she knew her life – both of them – would never be the same again.

—

"Kuramochi," Hikari starts off with her controller and drifts into the corner of the ring; Haruichi jumps in front of her after dodging Mochi's shell, "You suck."

Kuramochi growls, "It's not my fault! Haruichi always gets the good mystery boxes!"

"Your aim sucks, then," she corrects and almost smiles when she hears Miyuki chuckle in the back of her. She has avoided looking directly into his eyes for a while, but she's sure her luck will run out one day. "For the love of the Gods, can you at least jump when you get to the ramp?"

"Ito-chan is good, isn't she, Sawamura?" Jun pats her shoulder gently before rounding on the first year, "That is how good you're supposed to get, you brat!"

Haruichi agrees as Sawamura makes a wounded sound, "She's very good, I didn't know you can play so well, Ito-senpai."

"Well," Hikari tucks a strand of dark hair behind her ear and grins, "I can't give away my secrets that easily."

After crossing the finish line, Hikari's phone buzzed from the side of her. She frowns and places the controller on her lap before unlocking her phone.

It reads:

From: Papa

Hikari-chan, we should go to the zoo this weekend! They have a special on the tiger exhibit. What time can you sneak away from practice? I think it would be a good idea to get some fresh after that scare.

The thought of having parents never crossed her mind since she arrived in the universe. Granted it's only been a week, but, if she was really that sick, why didn't her parents visit her? It makes her sad and very much upset now that she thinks about it. She rubs the side of her face before tossing the remote to Furuya, who looks at her in surprise when she stands up. She clears her throat, "I think you should practice, Furuya. You need to learn to at least keep up with your senpai.'"

Hikari grabs her cell phone from one of the spare beds.

"Hikari-senpai," Sawamura flushes at the sight of her legs. Hikari has taken to wearing long, oversized sweaters, and occasionally short biker shorts when she feels like it. Apparently, she never used to wear such trendy clothes or form-fitting clothes. Always wearing bulky clothing and men's sizes. Ill-fitting and unconfident.

Hikari nearly snorts—not again.

If she was good enough to get on Seido's baseball team, then she had nothing to be embarrassed or ashamed about.

"...aren't you cold?"

Hikari stares at him and then raises a brow, "Do my legs bother you, Eijun-chan?"

The first years blush brightly.

"N-No! It's just," Sawamura swallows and looks over at Furuya for help—Furuya ignores Sawamura and focuses on the controller in his lap, "You never used to wear stuff like this."

There are a lot of things she could say in response to this, but she feels multiple eyes on her. Her personality had changed quite drastically since she was sick, so they had a right to be suspicious. But then again, they were teenage boys, shrewd they might be, but they weren't that good.

Dying had a funny perspective.

"You never used to be a reliable pitcher, but you are now," Hikari says instead and grins when steam erupts from his ears, "Things change."

The muscles in her legs flexed when she turned to walk out the door and nearly cackled when she slides the door—since she ignored Miyuki for the entirety of her time in the door; she calls out, "Take a good look Miyuki, I doubt you'll see a pair of legs this close again."

She left as soon as she heard Kuramochi and Sawamura roar into a fit of laughter.

.

Hikari's father had stage three kidney cancer.

She remembers this after staring at the text message for a good five minutes.

That's why he couldn't come; if he got sick it would've worsened his condition.

She would ditch practice every Saturday to spend the day with her father. He was attending chemotherapy and following a strict diet. Her mother died when she was young, an accidental drowning in Naka Lake. Her foot got caught in a patch of coral and kept her there. Hikari couldn't remember all the details, she was roughly four years old, and her father took on the burden of being both a mother and father.

Her father used to take her to America every summer until she turned thirteen. Her grandmother lived somewhere on the East Coast, that's when he took her to her first baseball game, and since then she begged to go to another game—and then another. It was one of the very few things that her father bonded her over with.

But then he taught her to play, and everything just accelerated.

Her father looked at her like she was the sun. Everything revolved around her, extra practice, tons of drills, the best uniforms, and cleats. She remembers each summer going to the mixed baseball camps in America, her grandmother would scoff every time she came home with dirt all over her clothes but could never quite scold her when she babbled over the game and how she beat all the batter's records.

It was her father that pushed her for the better, who took her dreams and put them in a pocket for safekeeping.

Then he was diagnosed, and baseball took a seat on the back burner. Her personality became quieter, and more closed-in, as she wanted to spend time with only her father, and friends became less and less relevant. Indifference became her way to cope, and soon she avoided anyone that didn't have anything to do with her and her father.

Her father refused to let her put her dreams on hold—refused to let her stop living her life now that he was deteriorating. He saw what it did to her, how the light in her eyes dimmed as the days passed and only flared when she played baseball.

Her father was the one who marched into school and practically steamrolled the coach to put her on the baseball team. Hikari had been mortified, but she was hell-bent on not leaving her father when high school came. Seido was the closest school. Her father was both exasperated and proud of her stubbornness—from her mother, he complained.

Coach Kotaoka gave her one chance—her father beamed.

One chance was all she needed, he bragged.

Hikari hit nine out of the ten balls their star pitcher threw at her.

But he was right because the moment that she hit five consecutive home runs the coaches and managers had started to formulate a plan—the team had stared at her blindly comparing her to Tetsu and immediately wanted to know more about her style.

Hikari had clammed up, unfortunately.

She was that fast, but she was more flexible and lighter than the players on them. She would be a real weapon once he started to sharpen her, Coach Kotoaka took it to the board—which really wasn't necessary, not when the results spoke for themselves. After seeing her test scores, they had to put her on the team.

Once her acceptance rolled in, her father helped her pack and sent her to her dorm.

She didn't want to leave her father home—didn't want to leave him.

But he told her, it would be good for her, that she needed to, in order to take over the baseball world.

Her father was dramatic, but he was never wrong.

Hikari doesn't realize she was crying out on the baseball field until she felt her legs slide from the metal bench, her tears silver and blue.

.

Miyuki followed her to the field discreetly.

("—some of us are tired of juice, Sawamura!" Miyuki grinned and walked out of the room under the pretense of going to the vending machine. But what he really wanted to do was follow Hikari, for her safety, of course.

Her personality had completely shattered since catching the flu—or maybe he was truly seeing Hikari for the first time. She spent more time with the team, teased the younger students, and used her sharp tongue more than once.

She used to be so shy, so cold, and so indifferent to him and the team. She was softer to the younger students, he thought distastefully, even then, but now her shell cracked, and out came a fire he had no idea how to put out.

He wasn't sure if he wanted to put it out, no because her confidence melded into arrogance and that was something he embodied.

Miyuki gritted his teeth at her stubbornness; he wished she would rely on him. She doesn't rely on anyone, even when she was sick, on the brink of death—!

His eyes widened.

On the brink of death, he repeated.

What do you have to fear now that you've seen death and lived?

Miyuki, suddenly, understood her a lot better.)

He watched her cry into her hands, he wasn't close enough to hear her, wasn't near enough to see her facial expression, but he saw tears run down the palms of her hands. Saline glistening silver and blue shards under the moon. He watched her inhale slowly, take out her phone, and hit call on the phone.

He heard a whisper of her laughter when she started to talk into the phone and the wind blow through the air.

Miyuki waited a long time before she decided to go back to her dorm—amber eyes following every move.

.

"No more tears," Hikari whispers to herself in the mirror. She has nothing to cry about, not anymore. She smoothens her hands over her deep red long sleeves and shoves the shirt into her ripped jeans. It's going to be cool today, her baseball cap never truly fit the size of her small head, instead, she wore it backward and slipped on some sneakers that would be easier on her legs since she was going to tour the zoo.

Hikari had taken a scissor – every time she thinks about this move, she is reminded of Haruichi chopping off his bangs, Tanba's bald head, and Masuko forgetting the clip – and cuts the split ends. Blunt chops make her hair look wilder than it already is, but the bangs that frame her face had been her main focus.

She wanted them to look into her eyes.

Weekend practice is optional, and Hikari took that at face value. Only her coach, Rei-chan, and very few staff members knew of her whereabouts on Saturday. They encouraged it and since the practice game was tomorrow, this would allow her to rest before the game.

She smeared on some red lip gloss which was redundant since breakfast would remove it, but the stain is what she was going for anyway. She was a bit pale from yesterday, so hopefully, this would liven her up a bit. Hikari grabs her bag from the side of her desk and walks to the cafeteria.

"A lighter fare, Hikari-chan?" one of the cooks asks her gently.

Hikari smiles, and the cook is starstruck by the brightness of her expression – Hikari later realized that she was even more subdued than she thought, well, times are a changing – and nods, "Yes, I won't be training today."

The cook hands her a tray with toast, jam, two boiled eggs, and slices of thick-cut bacon. She also includes a side of yogurt with fruit and honey. She also hands her a thermos of milk tea and winks at the amount of sugar, "We don't have cute girl athletes to spoil here, take it, Hikari-chan."

Hikari is going to take advantage of being the only girl—she grins cheekily.

When she takes a seat at the table, Sawamura's eyes sparkle at the sight of fresh fruit, and soft milk bread.

Miyuki looks at her in disbelief, which prompts her to drizzle some honey on a strawberry and eats it slowly in front of him; triumphantly.

It shouldn't have aroused him as it did amuse him.

Hikari picks her moment carefully. This was the moment where she can look Miyuki directly in the eyes without choking. She takes the time to outline the topaz of his eyes, hidden behind thick-framed glasses, the sharp cheekbones, the messy chestnut hair highlighted with flecks of gold, the quirk of his lips, and his strong jaw. She swallows thickly, she knew he would affect her, but she didn't know how rattled she would be after the fact.

It was a miracle she didn't choke.

"This is blatant favoritism," he complains and looks at his bowl of fish soup.

She snickers and licks her thumb, "It's called jealousy, Miyuki."

Miyuki watches her tongue capture the honey on her thumb—her eyes widen fractionally at the sight.

He's dangerous.

Hikari could feel goosebumps flutter on her cheeks and went back to slide some jam over her slice of toast.

I need a break—a long break to get my head on straight, that was way too much information for my brain.

"Milk bread?" Furuyu whispers longingly.

"JAM?" Kuramochi yelps and leans over her tray predatorily.

"Go away, Mochi," Hikari teases gently, but shoves him back into his seat roughly.

"...can I have a strawberry, Hikari-senpai?" Sawamura asks loudly, he looks at the fresh fruit with such longing, red-cheeked and bright-eyed.

Haruichi stares at Sawamura in disbelief.

Miyuki snorts already knowing the answer to that question.

Unfortunately, or maybe not so much she wasn't sure. But much to their skepticism, Hikari offers him a strawberry dipped in honey, mostly because she really is a sucker for him and his character. A sweet sunshine with golden retriever energy weakens her resolve.

However, the fact that Sawamura reached over and took the strawberry from her fingers with his mouth was too much for her poor brain to process.

Kuramochi sputters, like a cold engine, and Haruichi couldn't look at anyone.

She could feel the phantom touch of his tongue on her fingertips, she shivered in repulsion – the criminal action – and wiped her fingers ardently on Miyuki's sleeve—which broke him out of his stunned stupor.

He hisses, "Oi! What the hell are you doing, Ito?"

"Getting rid of his germs," she says flatly and ran her nails over his forearm—internally relishing in the muscles there.

Her face is red, she can feel it burn through her makeup, and she transformed the squeal building in her throat into a pitiful growl.

"I'll catch his stupidity!" Miyuki argues hotly, grabs her hands, fingers intertwined with his – for just a moment, she categorizes the callouses in his hand, the strength in his fingers, and the way his hand itself swallows hers – but she twists her hands and rubbed the back of her fingers against his face.

"Well, that's not my problem!" Hikari prods back, loving the way his stubble – he shaves?! – pricks her digits, then quickly releases her hands to sip her tea; hopefully, she'll scald her throat and force herself to calm down.

Because her heart should not be beating so fast.

Sawamura stares at them blankly.

Kuramochi decides to change the topic before he has to leap across the table and strangle Sawamura for his animal instincts. "Why did you get the good stuff anyway, Hikari-chan? You're supposed to get the meal set we all get."

"Well, I'm not going to practice today," she points to her outfit and finishes her bacon, "So, I don't need that much food."

"Again? You always skip Saturday practice," Miyuki scowls a tad irritated by her dismissal; his face still tingles from her brief caress.

"It's not mandatory," Hikari snorts and gets up, "Besides, I do have a life outside of baseball. Saturdays are days that I take off, regardless."

"Do you leave campus?" Haruichi asks curiously.

"Yes," she pulls off her hat and lets her hair fall back in wild waves. Miyuki's fingers itch to touch the blunt edges of her hair, and Kuramochi nearly swallows his fish—whole. The entire baseball team watches her fix her hair, inwardly reeling in shock at the sudden difference in her looks, the confidence in her shoulders, and the way her hair frames her face.  Hikari slides her hat backward; her outfit more feminine and trendier than they've ever seen it.

"Where do you go?" Kuramochi asks this time.

Hikari shrug and slips on her bag, "It depends," then she smiles mischievously, "I don't plan the dates."

The atmosphere crescendos, from surprised silence to a loud exclamation of overprotective words and threats—to other words that she tunes out.

Hell, she didn't think they'd feel protective judging from the way she had previously skittered away from them and their antics, but then again, things weren't the same. Hikari almost smiled; she quite likes the way she can rile them up.

Brassy orbs lock onto her back as it leaves the room.

Miyuki can feel a tick form in his brow at the dramatic reveal and he doesn't know why.

Chapter Text

"How was your date?" Miyuki asks with a certain bite – the white enamel of his teeth glints like a blade against the sunlight – as she finishes her warmup.

Hikari keeps her hair in a tight bun and not the heavy waves that she finally tamed her hair to be. After years of cheap hair products and harsh chemicals, her hair has finally decided to behave and bend to her will. Keeping her hair down and free would hinder her vision and make her even hotter—especially underneath the high sun.

"Pretty nice," Hikari muses and sips on a cup of water, "We went to the zoo."

"The zoo?" he demands flabbergasted and cocks his head to the side, "That's date material?"

"I'm not very picky," she snorts and puts her cup down. She glances at him and smirks, "Is this fishing?" she lays it on thick, purposefully just to see his eyebrow twitch, and judging from the quirk of her lips—he can see the playful attempt, but his irritation is much stronger. "Are you jealous?"

Miyuki snorts and opens his mouth—

"—don't say anything you'll regret, Miyuki," Hikari warns him before he could lash at her callously, with his tongue, "I'm not like the rest of the team."

He snaps his mouth shut and stares at her with wide eyes.

Hikari forgets how well she knows him, especially with the way she extensively Googled him in between anime seasons. She could use it to her advantage, it would be like cheating, she thinks, but in the end, does it really matter? As long as she was one step ahead of him, she could avoid convicting herself as a murderer via strangulation, no matter how much he deserves it.

Him and his pretty eyes, sharp tongue, and smart brain.

Ugh, Hikari scowls, his proximity was a cruel and unusual punishment.

She turns her head to look at Kawakami quaking in the corner of the bench. She didn't have much interaction with him this week or at all since, but that doesn't mean she can ignore him. She shoots Miyuki an annoyed look one he responded with a proud grin when he sees her eyeing the side-arm pitcher. She walks over to Kawakami a bit awkwardly.

"Nervous?" Hikari asks and takes a seat next to him.

"A little," Kawakami reveals and looks at Sawamura who's warming up in the bullpen, "I don't have as much as energy as Sawamura-kun."

"I don't think anyone does," Hikari exhales wryly.

Kawakami chuckles and looks at her clumsily, "Do you, uh, get nervous?"

Hikari blinks at the question.

It was a good question.

Why wasn't she nervous?

Hikari has never played an actual game before. This was her first one, granted it was a practice match, but it was still a match that was with people other than her teammates. For the first time, Hikari felt comfortable in her own skin. She felt like she could do it. Her father had filled her with no confidence, but reassurance.

It was an emotional day for her, meeting this universe's father, but like anything, she took to him like a duck to water after him.

It felt like she knew him her whole life, and perhaps, she did.

It was the right choice, to see him before her game.

He filled a lot of gaps in not her memory, but in her emotions and it anchored her. Forcing her to integrate with this world until she was striding in this universe and not running. Hikari did well under pressure, she thrived under it, but physically she had always felt like she was walking on a ledge. She would tense, tighten, and forget to breathe sometimes.

Now, now it felt different, maybe because of her training or her copious amounts of analyzing, but she felt comfortable.

"I'll tell you a secret, Nori-chan," Hikari starts and eyes Miyuki who's been watching her from the corner of his eye. She smiles sheepishly at the pitcher, "I don't go on dates on Saturdays. I spend the day with my dad."

Nori's eyes widen.

"I just like to mess with the idiots on the team—especially Miyuki. Don't look at me like that, you know he deserves it," she snickers and shrugs, "But, talking with someone about your doubts or anxiety helps make them seem less scary. It doesn't have to be your family obviously, but it helps lessen the burden." She hums, "I used to get nervous, but I work hard, my dad reassures me, and I have fun. What else do I have to fear?"

Nori nods his head in understanding and frowns, "So, talking about your nerves helped you?"

Hikari nods, "It also helps to remember that you are part of a team, so you're never really alone. Even if you mess up, your team is right behind you."

"It sounds simple," he frowns again.

"It's not," Hikari chuckles, "That's what makes it fun, I think. Learning how to trust yourself is one of the hardest lessons to learn, why do you think Miyuki is so talented? He's an idiot, but he knows well enough that while he has to lead the team with his plays, he can't be the entire team himself, and this allows him to be more self-aware of his weapons."

"His weapons?" Nori asks startled.

"The team, Nori-chan," she answers blasély, "Miyuki will lead us to Nationals, but how useful we make ourselves is up to us. So, trust in your team because the team trusts you."

"Thanks, Hikari-chan," Nori smiles up at her and the tension leaves his shoulders in one small swoop.

Hikari ruffles his hair – her teammates gaping at the interaction, burning with silent jealousy that Nori gets the affectionate gesture – and stands up to talk to the coach. She finds it amusing that her teammates want her attention, they were like a bunch of puppies, and she grabs her bat from the bench.

"Nice job," Miyuki says quietly from the corner and smiles at the ease of tension.

She raises a brow in question.

He nods to Kawakami.

"I don't need any praise for taking care of a teammate, Miyuki," Hikari says blankly, but snorts in turn, "Besides, isn't it your job to reassure your pitchers?"

He shrugs awkwardly, "I'm more of a pick my moments sort of guy."

"Coward,"

"Because I'm stingy with my praise?" Miyuki raises his brows in irritation.

"Among other things," she scratches the side of her cheek and glances at Furuya nodding off in the corner. "Nori isn't the most self-confident, but it's enough to have his catcher believe in him."

"That's not something I can help him with," he denies that notion and glances at Sawamura, "That's a mental roadblock that Nori has to get through on his own; if he doesn't believe in his pitches, why should he be on the team?"

It's the fucked-up type of explanation that Hikari had been expecting, she had been wondering when she would hear about Miyuki's shitty personality. Truth be told though, the more Hikari learned about him, the more she realized that Miyuki really didn't have a shitty personality—he was just a smartass. Because if he really was an asshole like most people claim he was, he wouldn't have set aside a slot for Nori to practice his pitches with him, he would've handed him off to Ono or a second-string catcher.

"Because even you can't deny that he's valuable, despite your bitching," Hikari nearly grins at the look of shock on his face, as if he didn't expect anyone to understand his hidden answer, but she knows him, and there will always be a point in her arsenal for that. "His mental state is your responsibility, no matter how much you want to deny it—to me at least"

Miyuki bites the inside of his cheek and exhales; she's right and he hates that she is. "Fuck, you're the worst."

She grins then and says, "Thank you."

He startles at that—because the lightness in her voice and the sharpness of her teeth mirrors his and that's enough for him to laugh.

"At this rate, I'll make a better captain than you will."

He stares at her, confused, "I'm not Captain."

"Not yet," she smiles secretly.

.

Hikari sees the first pitch come at her in slow motion.

Her creator was quite generous, giving her such a skill, or maybe her brain had been damaged from her illness. In other words, she wasn't about to kick a horse in the mouth at her newly acquired gift. It was a pitch that curved low and to the outside, so she takes a half-step further and swings high and up.

Hikari blinks when her bat makes contact; a home run.

This is what victory felt like.

A home run.

She repeats the word, dazed.

Then—she snaps out of it.

"Oh shit," Hikari yelps and starts running through the bases—she can't believe she forgot to run.

Hikari was so shocked at her obvious talents that she nearly forgot to run. She practically skipped to home base – something she'll save when her opponents are really starting to piss her off – and runs to the dugout. She high-fives Sawamura and takes a seat on the bench.

"Well done, Ito," Coach Kotaoka praises with a nod and turns to Haruichi who's going out next.

Miyuki jeers playfully, "You forgot to run; I thought only Sawamura would do something like that."

"Cut me some slack, Miyuki," she rolls her eyes and huffs, "I was on the brink of death not too long ago."

Miyuki presses his lips together.

What Hikari didn't realize is that Miyuki – nor the rest of the team – did not like to remember her on the brink of death, delirious with a fever, sweat mapping the back of her neck, and her uncontrollable trembling.

It was traumatic, to say at least.

Miyuki is the one that held found her, nearly stumbling down the metal bleachers to get to her. It was Miyuki who slid against the field, to place a trembling hand on her clammy forehead, who called out her name in a blind panic, who lifted her into his arms and sprinted to the Captain's Office. It was Miyuki, whose heart twisted in his chest when she leaned her head into the crook of his neck and curled up against him like a wounded cat. It was his name she whispered when she was delirious with a fever.

And she just kept mentioning it, like—like it was nothing.

"You okay, Miyuki-senpai?" Sawamura frowns at his pensive face.

Miyuki shakes out of his thoughts and smirks, "Worried about me, Sawamura?"

Sawamura scowls, "You look constipated."

He grimaces, "Just get on the mound, idiot."

.

Hikari had never actually seen Miyuki play—in training or in a game in this universe nor had she seen Eijun either.

This was more of a learning experience than anything. The battery that they formed was practically untouchable. Eijun follows the catcher's lead without a moment's hesitation. Miyuki's grin is feral and bright, the pitches he calls for are calculated, wild, and just downright nasty.

He wants to push his pitcher while antagonizing the batter.

She finds herself mirroring the feral grin on her face.

"You're starting to act like Miyuki-senpai, Ito-senpai," Furuyu comments from the side quietly.

"Huh?" Hikari blinks and then points to herself with her thumb, "Me? Act like that menace?"

"You," he pauses to flush, "You smile more, now, and you spend time with us."

She blinks again, "Well, I apologize if I've given you the wrong impression, Furuyu. But I realized that I don't need to protect myself from my team."

"Protect yourself?" his eyes widen, and the entire team cocks an ear up to hear too.

"Being a girl on the men's baseball team is no walk in the park," she explains and points at the reporters in the stands, "If I'm not careful there could be tons of scandals—I mean, lots of weird scandals, and comments. I was careful, not to cause too much trouble, I didn't want to put any of you in a position that questioned your character. I thought if I kept my distance that there would be no cause for a problem. But then I got sick, and well, I stopped caring. There are so many more important things to worry about."

Furuyu nods eagerly.

"If I can't trust you as a team to have my back when something goes wrong, how can I trust myself? Baseball is a sport that you can't play by yourself," Hikari continues and watches him carefully, "So, I'm not going to worry about the possible consequences or the...unsavory things reporters print about me. We're a team and I should've remembered that you have my back—besides, you can't play baseball by yourself."

Zono starts to sob in the middle of her explanation, "WE'RE SORRY WE DIDN'T REALIZE, HIKARI-CHAN!"

Hikari chuckles nervously and starts to inch away from the rest of the baseball team who starts to tear up.

"WHY ARE YOU ALL CRYING?" Sawamura calls from the mound with a confused look.

She hides her face behind the water machine.

.

"Okay, so the aux cable goes into this port, and then I should connect this wire to the speakers," Hikari mumbles to herself; so many wires to figure out.

Her father spoils her. He buys her a new present each Saturday, she likes the attention, and she doesn’t deny the presents either—especially not when he feels guilty that he can't spend more time with her. People have different ways of showing affection, she's just lucky her father shows them in many ways.

There's a quick three-layered knock at her door.

"It's open!" Hikari calls out and grabs the zip wire to tie the rest of the cables together before roughly yanking herself out.

"HAH? How is your room so much cooler than ours?" Kuramochi exclaims jealously and glares at the small couch in the corner of the room.

"Cause I'm a girl?" she raises her brows and grabs the screwdriver to finish closing the back of the box.

"Are you sure we're allowed to be here?" Sawamura gripes, "I thought we were banned from her room since it's the only one on the baseball's team that's away from the rest of the dorms."

"Calm down, Sawamura," Miyuki rolls his eyes and takes a seat on the bed, "After all there are witnesses."

Hikari snorts, stands up, and pockets the screwdriver into her small toolbox, "And the door is open."

"Right."

"So, what brings you three to my room?" she asks casually and pushes the speaker back against the wall.

"Is it true that you held back interacting with us because of the media?" Miyuki doesn't mince words. He looks at her blankly and it's frustrating that she can't read him; especially with a topic as serious as this one.

"Furuya," Hikari sighs suddenly realizing who was responsible for this.

"Zono, actually," Kuramochi clarifies.

"Ah," Hikari hesitates before crossing her arms underneath her chest and looks Miyuki directly in the eye, "Yes."

.

Miyuki jumps up from her bed and nearly snarls. Honey eyes narrow to a pinpoint of amber. he walks up to her, and she squares her shoulders in response. He demands, "So all the times we've asked you to hang out, all the times we asked you to join a cram session, a team party, the arcade—to hang out," he wants to root the hair out of his head, "To boost morale and integrate with the team. When you said no it—it was to prevent a scandal?"

"It was to protect the team," she recites and scowls "Do you think I like wearing baggy clothes? Hiding my face as I walk down the street? Washing my hair with soap so it looks like a deranged raccoon? Holing up in my room like a hermit? Trying to squash any type of feminine look of mine for fun?"

Well, part of it was true, she thought, but they didn't need to know that. Most of her habits and behaviors associated with her father sort of died out the moment she started living in the dorm.

Miyuki frowns.

"I had to protect the team and the school's reputation," Hikari exclaims frustrated. "Do you think I don't hear the rumors? The comments? The gossip about me? I either look like a shapeless blob and play good baseball, or I look somewhat attractive and have the media explain that the only reason I'm on the baseball team is because I slept my way in."

Miyuki's rage is almost tangible as Kuramochi yells, "But it's not true!"

"It doesn't matter," she huffs, "The damage would have been done and the school's reputation—the team's reputation would've been up in smoke. I was warned before I started, you know," she presses her lips together, "Rei-chan said the media is harsher on women, and a girl who got offered a scholarship to play on the men's baseball team raises too many questions."

"Rei-chan told you this?" Miyuki asks quietly and he starts adding the variables which immediately leads to six.

"Yes," Hikari says tiredly, "She wanted me to be prepared."

"But that's not fair, Hikari-senpai!" Sawamura shrieks outraged.

"It never is," she shrugs and doesn't look at them when she continues, "I know it seems like I don't care about the team, but I did my best to shield you from just how aggressive the limelight is. I mean what happens if any of you got drafted or scouted? Would you want these rumors to follow you?"

The room falls quiet after that, and Hikari grimaces.

"See?" she turns her head to look at them, "You can't."

Miyuki looks at her hard, but then tilts his head and considers, "But you don't think that way, not anymore."

"No, I don't," Hikari sniffs and points the medal in the corner, "I'm the best batter on this team and no one can say otherwise—not since we became second years. My batting average is over the eighty-fifth percentile, and now, that we're in the media, we can get a lawyer to handle any story or rumor before the press can take it and toss it into the wind. Before, we had no protection."

"Against the team's reputation?"

"About anything that prevents me from being part of a team," Hikari shrugs and looks at Miyuki, "If I can't trust the team to have my back, then there's no point in me staying here, is there?"

Miyuki takes a half step closer, and she shifts until her spine is ramrod straight, she's a few hairs shorter than him, so her lashes could possibly brush his nose if she leans in close enough, and her mouth dries at the intensity of his gaze.

There are no words to describe how one feels under the intensity of Miyuki Kazuya. To be captured and held in his orbit is how she often thought about drowning. The overwhelming current and the strength that it holds when gripped. Its tendrils wrapping around her body, her focus, each pore on her skin is alive and aware of the danger it prevents.

"Good," Miyuki praises gently, yet his gaze is anything but, and he leans back just a touch, "You do learn."

Her eye twitches – mostly to distract him from the red that flushes her ears and cheeks something she's going to have unpack that later – and scowls, "You better watch that tone in your voice, Miyuki."

"I don't know what you're talking about," he grins knowingly, but still holds a cloud of seriousness around him.

Hikari tongue ties here, she doesn't know what else to say without sounding like she's rambling or—or she's not sure. All she does know is that Miyuki is far too close for her brain to actually work and there are too many witnesses around should she choose to strangle him. But now, her conscience is thinking that maybe she revealed too much information and that Miyuki is going to do something—say something to the board and his coach.

Hikari furrows her brows, "Don't do anything stupid, Miyuki."

Golden eyes widen and he takes a step back in surprise, "How do you—?"

"I'm not an idiot," she states flatly—like she wanted to before, and tugs on her ponytail to stimulate her brain cells, "Now, get out because I have to shower, and that show isn't free."

.

Miyuki was torn between being furious and embarrassed. He pinches the bridge of his nose in an attempt to find his composure. He never even considered the fact that the board would've warned her about keeping her distance, never even thought about how she would be perceived on the team. It was an oversight on his part, all the poking and prodding he did as a first-year because he was an immature kid—he exhales.

Because the truth of the matter is that Hikari is a girl playing a man's game and that was a vulnerable position on its own.

It took a literal brush with death for him to realize just how important and good Hikari was for him and the team.

"Fuck," he mumbles and breaks left to enter the Coach's office. He gets straight to the point, "Coach, did you know why Ito-san was so distant when she was a first-year and most of our second-year?"

Coach Kotaoka sighs and rubs his face, "You might as well bring the entire team in."

Chapter Text

"I JUST WANNA SCREAM AND LOSE CONTROL!" Hikari yells into her brush as she jumps around the room. Her new speaker was amazing and after all the loud noises that she had to deal with in the dorm, she was glad she had something to use to drown out the boys' obnoxious screaming. Somehow, there were moments like these where she was glad that she gets a redo of high school, and she's sure she's going to regret thinking that when she has her trig exam tomorrow.

Dressed in an oversized baseball shirt, pink fuzzy pants, with a cat-eared headband holding her hair up and fuzzy white slippers—Hikari was truly living her best life.

When she spins around, she closes her eyes, grips her hairbrush tighter and she screams-sings into bristles as the chorus hits.

Then Hikari opens her eyes and shrieks when she sees half the team in her room and the others trailing at the door. Mortified, she flushes up to her hairline, and opens and closes her mouth in rapid succession, "W-What are you all doing here?!"

They tremble, faces a burnt red, and Sawamura walks up to her—defiant of their stances in the back. His face is also a burnt red, but he is determined as he grabs her brush and screams-sings into it as the chorus hits.

Hikari's eyes brighten, her fingers grip onto his forearms, elated that she has kin – she'll have to research extensively on adoption papers – and a possible fan of hopefully multiple singers. She beams at him and spins around until they are back-to-back– momentarily forgetting the peanut gallery in the back of the room – and screams with him, "RUN AWAY—YEAH!"

The rest of the team can't help themselves, they burst into a fit of roaring laughter. Kuramochi is banging on her bedrest as Miyuki hunches over nearly crying against the wall. Hikari hits pause on the speaker, but the rest of the team is still breaking over in a fit of laughter. She flushes even more and screeches, "WHAT IS SO FUNNY?"

"I c-can't breathe," Miyuki coughs and falls onto her bed when she glares at him with the cat ears. He roars, "My abs!"

"Then, hurry up and die, already!" Hikari shrieks and roots her fingers in her hair; maybe she should just jump in a hole. The embarrassment alone is more than enough to cause her to run for the hills screaming.

"You-You're so cute, Hikari-chan!" Kuramochi wipes away a tear and chuckles violently.

For some reason, the word cute sounds more like an insult than anything. Even Haruichi and Furuya were giggling in the corner.

"Shut up! Eijun-chan is the only one who has good taste in music!" Hikari says hotly and grips his arm tightly. Sawamura nods righteously, still blushing, "You all are—are—!" she can't find the words, "Annoying!"

Miyuki takes deep breaths but ends up snickering at her headband, so she takes it off and chucks at his face.

"What are you all doing here, anyway?" Hikari exhales trying to cool her face.

Zono clears his throat but can't look her in the eye when he answers, "We, uh, we spoke to Coach Kotaoka."

She furrows her brows, "All of you?"

"The entire team," Nori clarifies and shakes his head, "Rei-chan pretty much gave us a run down."

"On...?" Hikari turns her head to look at Miyuki who quickly sobers up, "Oh."

How awkward, she cringes.

"We decided, Hikari-senpai," Sawamura starts off roughly contradicting the brightness of his eyes and the red of his cheeks, "That the baseball team is going to protect our only girl teammate!"

Hikari stares at him blankly as the entire roars in agreement.

She grabs the pillow that Miyuki is leaning on – who complains about the sudden movement – whacks Sawamura in the chest, and growls, "I don't need protection, you idiots!"

"Yes, you do!" Kanemaru yelps and then whispers hotly, "You're a girl!"

"Well spotted, Kanemaru!" she quips sharply and ignores Kuramochi's cackle, "I can take care of myself, thank you very much! I have been doing a fantastic job of it myself for as long as I can remember."

"So, you just decided to pass out on the field in the middle of the summer with the flu for the hell of it?" Miyuki decides to cut in and draw out the heat of the room like an open window. He smiles sharply, "If so, I mean you're doing a fantastic job."

The atmosphere shifts, just like that.

A cold fist of humiliation crawls into the back of her shoulders and she inhales, "That was one time, Miyuki."

"And it was almost your last," he responds just as coldly.

"What Miyuki is trying to say, at least horribly," Kuromochi cuts in and glares at the catcher, "Is that while you can take care of yourself, you have us to rely on. Yeah? You have your team, remember?"

Hikari presses her lips together; she did say that.

And what's even worse is that she wants to smile—because how lucky is she to land in such a place?

So, she sighs dramatically and stares up at the ceiling, "I wish you all would stop being weird."

"HAH?"

"I think Ito-senpai is embarrassed," Furuya adds quietly.

"She is blushing really hard," Miyuki comments with wide eyes and then grins, "I think you're being weird, Ito-chan."

Hikari grabs her pillow again, which prompts the rest of the team to run out of her room, laughing and yelling. She whacks the baseball cap clean off Miyuki's head, the remaining circumference of the pillow hits his forehead, and shakes his glasses. The pillow knocks the breath out of him as he topples over, his back flat against her mattress and hair floating waywardly.

"Say it again, you animal," she hisses and hovers over him with her weapon.

He quickly adjusts to his new line of vision smirks and puts his hands behind his head casually, "If you wanted me in your bed, Hikari-chan, all you had to do was ask."

She sputters and feels steam practically escape her ears. Miyuki is flirting with her. Miyuki Kazuya, with his pretty hair and face and eyes and—and it's real. Only in her wildest dreams would she conjure up such a scenario, the one anime character who infuriated and made her smile like no other.

Miyuki laughs joyfully at her face and sits up suddenly. He's in her personal space, she remarks absently and blinks slowly now that he's serious. He promises quietly, golden eyes looking curiously and he half-smiles, "We won't let anything happen to you, Hikari. You're a part of us now, right?"

Hikari doesn't say anything, not when he gets up and grabs his cap that landed near the foot of her desk. He turns, puts his hat back on, and chuckles mischievously, "This year is going to be fun."

He leaves her room and takes the warmth with him.

Hikari puts her hands on her warm cheeks and thinks, utterly horrified by the fact that her crush on the catcher hadn't died:

He said my name.

.

"Can you put some glitter on it, Hikari-senpai?" Sawamura asks as she paints another stripe of dark blue nail polish on his ring finger.

"I was going to do the same," Hikari says lightly and cleans the edge of his cuticles with her thumb, "Do you want to match? I have some silver stars."

He beams like the sun and nods furiously, "Of course!"

Hikari narrows her eyes as she finishes her thumb and rolls her shoulders before leaning back. She drops the brush back into the bottle and tries to focus on her right hand. Like most people, her right hand is her dominant hand, so she can't help it if her left-hand shakes as she brushes a coat of dark blue on her right hand. The attention to detail and strokes is twitchy at best, but she thinks that she's good enough—or at least better than most people who don't polish their nails.

"Do you ever ask for help?" Miyuki asks suddenly, dropping into the seat in front of her.

Hikari startles at that and air hisses through clenched teeth as the dark blue paint crosses diagonally into her cuticle.

He grimaces apologetically and takes the brush from her fingers. He ruefully cleans her ring finger with a wet wipe before layering her nail with one smooth coat. She's silently impressed at his deftness, though she refuses to admit it outwardly, instead she asks, "How many times have you painted your teammate's nails?"

"I taught Bakamaru and Furuya twice and did Kuramochi's when he got blisters on his fingers," Miyuki answers after a moment and cleans her pointer finger with the wipe, then he glances at the bottle of chunky, glittery, silver nail polish from the side of the table. "The sparkles aren't very necessary, are they?"

"Some of us like having nice nails," she rolls her eyes and flickers her gaze over at Sawamura who was frantically waving his hands—keen on getting his nails to dry so she can shimmy on the shimmer, "And Eijun-chan is very into colors."

"The idiot wouldn't know subtlety if it hit him in the face,"

"My ears burning MIYUKI KAZUYA, stop talking about me, you tanuki!" Sawamura complains with a scowl from the other side of the room.

Hikari bites back a grin at that and lifts her nails for inspection when she hears the bottle click close. She hums in surprise, "Not bad, Miyuki."

Miyuki doesn't respond but looks at her other hand—the one glittering with stars and sparkles.

She leans in a little closer.

For a second, Hikari thinks she can the same stars and sparkles in his eyes, reflecting in a sea of gold and amber.

Then, Sawamura steamrolls over Miyuki, shoving him out of the way callously, and leans over the table eagerly waiting for his coat of glitter.

The moment—if there really was a moment, pops, like a balloon.

.

Hikari gasps breathlessly as she bends over in the middle of doing laps. Her lungs are on fire. Every muscle in her legs had stiffened to the point where she felt like they would rupture should she move. The moment, she turned the corner, her stomach ached, and her mouth felt like sandpaper. Her chest is burning, and the sun is far too hot on the back of her neck.

"Are you alright, Ito-senpai?" Furuya pauses his sprint to look over her—Furuya who could hardly keep up his stamina through two innings had stopped to look over at her.

"Furuya," she says hoarsely and grabs his shoulder, "Do me a favor and drag me to the dugout."

And comically, that is exactly what he does.

Furuya grabs her by the shoulder and quite literally drags her across the track field until they reach the metal bars of the dugout. The shade is a welcoming hug, but she's overheating in the middle of fall. Furuya grabs a sports drink from the cooler next to the gate and hands it to her.

"HIKARI-SENPAI!" Sawamura's voice crescendo's as he gets closer, and she puts her head in between her knees to muffle out the sound.

"Someone, please, turn him off," she groans and wishes the pain in her chest would ease.

"Eijun-kun, stop screaming," Haruichi chides quietly.

"Hikari-chan?" Zono calls out from the side, "Are you alright?"

"I haven't run—like really sprinted since I got sick," Hikari wheezes and sits up to slowly sip her sports drink. She puts a hand on her back, "My chest is on fire."

Miyuki – when did he get here? – puts a wet rag behind her neck and holds it there as he tells Nori to get the coach. He crouches in front of her and looks at her with furrowed brows and sharp gold eyes.

He's beautiful when he's concentrating, she thinks ruefully.

"Are you still in pain?" he asks softly, breaking through her thoughts like a house of cards.

Hikari presses a hand to her chest and answers just as quietly, "Not as bad now, no."

Miyuki nods and maneuvers the cold rag to the sides of her neck. He wipes the beads of sweat that map her skin and keeps her grounded until the coach gets there. Fortunately, it was not too long, she didn't want to get her thoughts wrapped around Miyuki and realize just how affected she is by just his presence.

Coach stands in front of her and the doctor is with him too.

"Shirt. Off," the doctor orders and grabs her stethoscope.

Sawamura blushes a violent red.

"I have an undershirt on, you idiot," she remarks irritated, and ignores Miyuki's chuckle as she unbuttons her jersey.

Haru-sensei puts her stethoscope against her chest and encourages her to take deep breaths. She follows instructions and when she puts the stethoscope on her back underneath her shirt, she flinches at the cold temperature. Miyuki's hand curls over her knuckles unconsciously, and she inhales shakily.

"Your heart is slightly inflamed," the doctor confirms.

Hikari's eyes widen; she nearly strangles Miyuki's hand with her grip as she starts to panic. His thumb runs over her knuckles soothingly and doesn't complain when her nails dig into his skin.

"It's very common, especially since you got one of the nastier strains of the flu," she continues and glances at her chart, "It's very slight, so no running for a week. Running will exacerbate your symptoms—you're going to have to slowly build back up your endurance and speed. For any cardio you do, be sure to wear a mask or a scarf so you catch pneumonia. Very light exercise and stretching should be fine."

Hikari sighs in relief and releases her death grip on Miyuki's hand.

"What about playing?" Coach asks and eyes the hand in her own.

"She can play; judging from her batting, she doesn't need to do much running," the doctor hums, "Just build back up her endurance and speed; slowly. If you feel your chest is burning, something hot or cold should shock your system back to normal. Sometimes this can be psychological."

Hikari nods, "Thank you, Haru-sensei."

Miyuki nods.

.

"Slow and controlled, movements," Kataoka instructs and leaves her to it.

Hikari looks down at the pool of mud she's knee-deep in. She cringes, the mud that is going to track over her room is not a welcoming thought. She traded in her cute white pants for black spandex shorts and a long sweater.

Since Dr. Haru gave her diagnosis, Coach Kataoka had spent the rest of the afternoon and piece of the morning coming up with a new training regime for her. It focused on strength training, less cardio, and more baseball practice. This training regime is to only be followed in the late afternoon and evening, avoiding the sun and a case of possible pneumonia.

One of the new circuits is high knees in a pool of mud.

She glowers at the pool of mud; her abs better be made of steel after these sessions.

Hikari lifts her knee close to her chest and switches over. Her balance is off, and this exercise will strengthen her core and agility, as soon as she gets a tempo in. Lifting her arms up, she quivers with her balance before slowly hopping in place, switching over her legs every two seconds. Slow and controlled meant more energy, and fast and awkward meant more stamina. Since she wants to increase her stamina, she's going for the slightly quicker steps.

"You're amazing, Hikari-senpai," Sawamura's voice appears abruptly, she nearly slips but adjusts her footing.

"It's not that fun," she pants and is glad that she's not as nearly as out of breath as she was earlier, "I promise."

"Is this new the training circuit?" Kuramochi adds from the corner.

"For me," Hikari exhales roughly and brings her knees higher to her chest.

"Aren't girls supposed to think mud is gross?" Miyuki points out amusedly.

She doesn't look at him, "Don't you have something to do?"

"But this is so much fun," he says gleefully.

She glares at him this time.

Furuya looks at her in awe, "Can I do that?"

"I WANTED TO ASK FIRST!" Sawamura butts in.

"Ono wanted to catch for you, Sawamura," Kuramochi suddenly remembers and snickers, "You better go find him, because he said if he didn't find you, he would find Furuya."

Sawamura takes off like a bullet with Furuya hot on his heels.

"You shouldn't lie to him, Youichi-chan," Hikari chuckles and slows down her pace.

"Then why are you laughing?" Miyuki inquires lazily, he frowns at Kuramochi's new name though.

"I didn't say that it wasn't funny," she breathes and then puts her hand on the ground, "Ok, I think I'm good here."

"I think you can go an extra ten minutes," Miyuki chimes in with fake enthusiasm.

"I think I can drown you in here,"

"But where would you hide the body, Hikari-chan?" Kuramochi cackles and ignores Miyuki's whine.

"True," Hikari laughs and then groans as her toes curl uncomfortably, "But it's starting to get cold—alright, help me up, boys."

Miyuki wraps an arm around her waist and Kuramochi grabs her hands as they pull her out of the mud; literally.

"Oh!" Hikari gasps as her legs wobble and nearly slams into the grass knee-first. Gravity truly was a bitch, the resistance from the mud and the sweet taste of normal pressure had her scrambling to figure out how to use her legs. Plus, the slippery nature of the mud made it just that much harder.

Miyuki's arms tighten to a bruising nature, and he sets her up straight.

"This is going to hurt tomorrow," she cringes and lets Miyuki help her stand.

"I can't believe you let us help you, Ms. Independent," Miyuki snickers as he helps walk to the fountain.

"I can still kick you, Miyuki."

Kuramochi laughs and grabs her stuff from the grass. She sits on the ledge of the school fountain and grabs a rag from her training bag. She dunks the rag in the fountain and starts removing the mud from her legs. She scowls when they eye her oddly, "I do not want mud anywhere near my bed."

"Gross," Miyuki wrinkles his nose.

Kuramochi sighs, "I'm going to go run to the bath; we have another cram session if you want to come by later, Hikari-chan."

"If my legs work later, I'll be sure to stop by."

He chuckles and pats her on the shoulder before leaving.

Hikari continues to clean up the rest of her legs, dunking her rag into the fountain to start the other, when she brings her legs up to get closer to her skin, she swears silently, her legs tremble, unused to gravity now that she was out of the mud. Miyuki snatches the rag out of her hand and wipes down her legs for her. She gawks, "Miyuki, what are you doing?"

"Cleaning your legs," he states the obvious and continues to skim down her legs. One hand, wide, rough, and calloused cups her calf as the other hand gently cleans the mud. He's very thorough when he gets in between her toes and the slope of her heel. He switches legs and moves carefully down her arch, "It's pathetic at how slow you are and how weak your legs are. You get one week of rest and suddenly you don't know how to do anything."

Hikari gapes at the stream of insults, though laced with amusement, it still stung, so she grabbed her cap, filled with water, and flung it at him.

And maybe that went too far.

Because he sputters in shock and wipes the water from his face quickly. He gawps at her and the little impish smile that curled on her lips at his dumbfounded expression does it for him. He cups his hands, dunks them in the water, and splashes her. She squeals and starts to splash more water on him and then they're having a water fight in the fountain with the sun setting behind them.

Laughter and shrieks of glee emerge just as it dies, shivers take over, and Miyuki curses; praying that she doesn't get sick again from his momentary lapse in judgment.

He doesn't think he can handle it again.

Chapter Text

Hikari cringes as she takes a seat at the breakfast table, the muscles in her thighs and stomach pull. Even after a shower and a long soak in the tub, she could feel her muscles starting to tighten and bunch. It hasn't even been an entire day yet and while they don't have practice today, it's going to be hell walking to class.

"Nice skirt, Hikari-chan," Kuramochi's teeth glints under the light, "But won't you get cold?"

"I can barely walk," she replies wryly and cringe when she shifts in her seat, "I hardly care about the weather."

Her ass is going to be cold, there's no doubt about it, but nothing will compare to the pain she feels in her lower body. She takes a bite out of her bread and sips on her miso soup, hoping that she will retain some of the heat from her breakfast. Salt-pressed fish and pickled daikon. She nibbles on her toast and dips her fish in some yuzu before taking another bite.

She swallows her tea and watches Sawamura in awe inhale three servings of fish.

"I doubt he's human," Miyuki's voice is loud next to her ear and her leg jumps in surprise. She turns to see Miyuki sitting down next to her, his leg pressed against hers' underneath the table and Zono appears in front of her complaining about the lack of sun they were getting today.

Hikari's chopstick pierces through a sliver of tofu. She quickly finishes her grilled fish before sipping the rest of her soup and blanches when Nori hands her another plate of fish. She scowls, "You do realize I am not a human vacuum, right?"

"Hikari-senpai! You must eat to build muscle!" Sawamura interjects passionately and then points to his arm, "See!"

"Come talk to me when you've actually hit a baseball," Hikari sniffs, and Miyuki snickers next to her.

Kanemaru sniggers in the background.

She gives her plate of fish to Zono and takes his soup instead. Zono blinks at the switch and watches her sip the soup slowly. His face heats up in embarrassment and he stammers out, "W-Would this count as an indirect kiss?"

Hikari chokes on her soup and coughed in distaste as the rest of the second-years laugh at her face. Miyuki enthusiastically thumps on her back, and she winces at her sore muscles. "What are you? Twelve?"

Kuramochi complains about his abs and thumps the table in front of him. She scowls at their mirth and stands up abruptly to take her tray back to the sink. She thanks the cooks for the food and stomps out to the school. The pain in her muscles lay forgotten as she thinks of new ways to strangle Miyuki.

.

Hikari ignores Miyuki in class, which in turn forces him to tug on the back of her hair. Small and delicate, he tugs on very few downy strands so that they feel more like a prickle than a yank. Asou watches the interaction uneasily and glances at Ono who sees what he sees—Miyuki acting like a primary school student.

Hikari doesn't wear pigtails, but it's damn close.

She wonders just exactly how much trouble she would get in if she spun around in her chair and stabbed the catcher's hand with her mechanical pencil. The team would practically fall apart at the seams and suspension—while intriguing meant that she would be very, very bored staring at the wall of her dorm. On the flip side, Hikari doesn't really need to pay attention in class since she knows most of the material having been a graduate before. Unfortunately, trig, on the other hand, she barely passed—and that was by some miracle that she managed to just touch the pass rate.

However, she's in history class now, and her mind would wander if Miyuki would stop tugging on her hair.

So, when the teacher tells them to split them up into groups, Miyuki grabs the bottom of her chair and yanks her toward him. She yelps as she nearly, violently topples over, but Miyuki's instincts are far sharper, so he stills her the moment she's within arm's reach. He smirks at her, his glasses glinting silver as he snickers at her outraged expression. Kuramochi is not amused at his classmate's mood swings, so he takes a seat next to her in a show of solidarity.

"You're so annoying," Kuramochi scoffs.

Hikari nods rapidly and pulls her hair closer to her; rubbing the strands soothingly because her scalp tingles with gentle stings of pain and it hurts...in a good way which disturbs her more than she would like to admit.

"Ito-chan was ignoring me," he sings, and she grabs her pencil akin to a knife.

"Some pestering her, you bastard," he scowls and grabs the textbook, "How about you use your four eyes and look for the answers?"

Hikari coughs to hide a giggle and looks over at her worksheet—that's already completed.

"How did you—" Miyuki's eyes widen at the short answers and references.

Hikari pretty much ignored high school in her previous life. She did her work, didn't do extracurriculars, and spent most of her time binge-watching anime. There wasn't much to do in school than to do work and get good grades so you can high-tail it to a new school, with new people, and in a new environment. High school was brutal, and she rather shove the outcast slash lonely memories in a neat box and push it in the back of her brain.

Hence her stellar grades and quick fingers.

"You know for a catcher," Hikari starts off and flips through her textbook, "You're pretty stupid."

Kuramochi muffles a hyena laugh into his sweater.

"Tch, it's better than being a nerd."

"I'll remind you of this when Sawamura says something stupid," Hikari bites back and grins when she sees him fighting back a smile.

.

"What kind of underclassman are you all?" Hikari groans and rolls over on her stomach, "You can't even give me a massage?"

"B-B-But, Hikari-senpai! It's not—" Sawamura flushes to his eardrums and whispers in a small scream, "Not proper!"

"I'm wearing sweatpants!" she complains and she's not above abusing her senpai privilege; muscle cramps scare her more than period cramps. If she has to bully the first-years' into using their fingers and strength to straighten out her muscles she will gladly do it.

Furuya swallows his embarrassment and pushes down on the back of her thigh with the heel of his palm. He inhales when he feels it push back, "You're really tense."

"I know," Hikari hisses in pain and curls her fingers into a fist.

Sawamura scowls at Furuya's imitative and takes her other leg, pressing down harshly and poking and prodding the muscle until she makes strangled noises of pain. Haruichi, not wanting to be outshined, takes her back and massages her much gentler, but it's hard to focus on that when Furuya's fingers feel like lead feelers.

"What are you all—" Kanemaru stares at the trio who's trying to knead their senpai into the ground. "Are you trying to kill her?"

"That is not how you massage your teammate."

"MASTER!" Sawamura greets them excitedly and releases his death grip on her calf.

"Chris-senpai?" Hikari peeks up from her position on the floor to see Miyuki, Chris, Yuuki, and Kanemaru staring at them from the doorway.

"Ito-chan," Chris looks disappointed, "You didn't stretch."

"I fell asleep," she winces and tries to sit up without yelping in pain. She uses the pain to momentarily distract herself with how pretty her senior is. She forgot how gorgeous he is and memories of him helping her as a first-year flashed through her mind. Chris-senpai was her first crush and while the crush died rather quickly since Miyuki overtook her tunnel vision—she can't help but still feel a bit shy around him.

"We thought Furuya finally snapped and was going to knock out Ito-chan's light," Miyuki says amused, and pushes on her shoulders which pulls at the muscles on her spine, thus creating a shockwave effect in her upper and lower back.

The hot brush of pain flared at her hips, trailed up her spine, and hit her brain with the force of a sledgehammer. She swears loudly and crumples into a ball abruptly. She exhales through clenched teeth, her nose rubbing the carpet harshly and, she hisses, "That hurt, Miyuki!"

"Oh," Miyuki's eyes widen when he sees the white-knuckled grip on her hands and quickly helps her lay on her side. His hands are gentle despite his grimace, "Oh, shit. I thought you were being dramatic, sorry."

Chris tells the rest of the underclassmen to get heating packs, patches, and water bottles.

Hikari glares at him with tears pricking her eyes.

"...I said I was sorry,"

.

After Miyuki's hiccup, Chris practically ordered him to be her new massager.

Hikari had to hide her face in a pillow to muffle the incredulous laugh that wanted to bubble up her throat at the innuendo. But first, Chris demonstrated his masseuse skills and teachings to his underclassman, by using her as a guinea pig. Though, she's positive that guinea pigs have never felt this type of bliss before.

"The muscle mass in women is less than men, they are also more sensitive in certain places of their body," Chris explains and lifts Hikari's arms up comically, "See how her posture slouches when her arms raise," Sawamura nods determined and quickly takes down notes, "Put your knee behind her back, have her drop her arms back once you've secured her spine and pull back."

"She has bad posture," Kuramochi points out.

Hikari swears to the Gods that she heard her spine crack.

The third years make a sound of surprise; they heard it too, and the horror that her back could've been dislodged shows.

"Once you adjust her spine, you want to dig your thumbs into the back of her neck, gently at first, and then adjust the pressure as you go along the tendons," Chris instructs and runs his fingers down the back of her neck and shoulder-line.

Hikari's face heats up when he presses down the muscles parallel to her spine, rather than the pin pricking of thumbs, its smooth strokes, and hard pressure.

"Her back is sensitive and if you press too hard, you can bruise her," Chris glares at Miyuki who pales and when he twists his fingers just right, Hikari's eyes droop and she drops her head in between her knees. "See how relaxed her back is?"

Furuya nods rapidly.

"Now, for her legs," Chris pushes Hikari until she's flat on the floor and gives her a pillow to rest her head on. Hikari eagerly waits for Chris to put his magical fingers to work. "Using lotion is a good idea since it helps the friction, but Ito-chan is not close with any of you—so don't use it and make her uncomfortable."

"But you're using lotion..." Sawamura interrupts at the bottle of lotion in Chris's hand.

"Because I am close with her," Chris smirks and Hikari covers her face to muffle her laugh. The entire team shouts at their beloved senpai, who runs the silky lotion on his hands before sliding up her sweats to reach her calves. "Calves are not really sensitive, so you can put more pressure on it, but if they are hard...like this," he points to the stiff muscle, "Tell her to breathe first and then press; otherwise you will get kicked. In the face."

"Is he being serious?" Kuramochi asks disbelieving to Miyuki.

Hikari inhales slowly and then bangs her fists into the ground when he presses into the tense muscle. She muffles a scream when he does the other leg, "Once you used most of the pressure on her calves, use less and less until her legs feel more pliable."

"Does it hurt?" Haruichi asks Hikari worriedly.

She grits her teeth, "Better than Furuya's fists."

"What about her thighs?" Miyuki asks both amused and nervous—his grin is ruined by his blush.

Hikari shoots him a look.

"Always massage the back of the thighs, that's where most of the muscles are," Chris explains and shoves her pants back to where they were. He uses the jut of his palm to press down on the back of her thighs easing a strain that she didn't know was there. "You can be rougher here, because if you're not then her muscle will not bounce back, and you want it to bounce back."

She exhales when he presses harder, and she counts the fibers in Kuramochi's carpet.

"Better?" Chris asks her when he switches legs.

She gives him a thumbs up.

"Another thing," Chris adds and rolls her over so she can bring her knees to her chest in a long stretch, "Talk to her—if you're hurting her, it's not working," he flickers his gaze to Miyuki and frowns, "Do you understand, Miyuki?"

Jun tries to muffle a chuckle, but when he sees that the catcher looks as if he swallowed a lemon—he burst into laughter which causes the rest of the boys to laugh.

"Chris-senpai," Hikari exhales tiredly when she drops her last leg and smiles at him lazily, "Have I told you that you're my favorite senpai?"

The seniors bristle at that; Yuuki wants to know if he gives her his last piece of gum if she would change her mind, and Jun lay heartbroken on Masuko.

Miyuki gains a tick on his brow.

"I thought that was supposed to be a secret," Chris says amused.

She laughs.

"Nonetheless, I am honored."

"WHY IS HE YOUR FAVORITE?" Jun yells.

Hikari stares at the offended group of third years before turning to look at the first years who had stars in their eyes.

"I approve, Hikari-senpai!" Sawamura salutes.

"Isn't it obvious?" Hikari ignores their complaints and stands up; pleasantly surprised by how most of her pain has eased up. She snickers, "He's the prettiest."

And Miyuki's expression was so offended that she couldn't help but laugh at his transgression.

.

Slowly, but surely, Hikari's endurance and stamina rebuild themselves. She got cleared to start her running warm-ups with her team and increases her cardio exercises. Batting practice was her favorite type of training.

Now that she had assimilated with her new skill – being able to see the ball come at her in slow-motion – she was able to accurately hit the ball no matter the trajectory. This had impressed Coach Kataoka, seeing as she hadn't missed a hit since. She hits high and long, the ball flying up into the air and hitting the net until it disappears; a sure way to get a home run.

Kataoka puts her into rotation with Sawamura, having batted for him, while Miyuki instructs him in the back of her.

"I'm sorry in advance for the flyballs," Sawamura apologizes hastily and eyes her gear.

"Why am I being punished?" Hikari mumbles as she gets into position.

Miyuki coughs but doesn't say anything to her. He calls out, "Okay, give me a low and away!"

Sawamura inhales and pitches the ball right over her head.

"HOW WAS THAT AWAY?" Hikari yells and ducks even though the ball hits the pen.

"Sorry!"

"It's just a little high," Miyuki corrects easily and grins at her face.

"A little?" she looks at him in disbelief, "That wasn't away, that was above."

Miyuki huffs an amused breath, but switches position, "You're way too tense, idiot."

Sawamura inhales slowly and tries to focus.

"Again,"

Sawamura pitches another ball, it's better, but Hikari sees it coming and adjusts her stance so she can hit it.

"That's better," Miyuki continues and throws the ball back.

This goes on for a few hours before Hikari gives up and goes back for lunch. She drinks two bottles of water before chomping down on some riceballs. Working out in the sun and training really whets her appetite. She takes another skewer of yakitori before Miyuki sighs dramatically, "That wasn't cute."

"What would you know about girls?" she scoffs and grabs another riceball but eats it slower.

"She's got a point," Zono laughs at Miyuki's scowl.

"Kuramochi tells me that you try to run away when a girl speaks to you," she continues and grabs another bottle of water.

Miyuki ignores her and grabs her bottle, "Isn't that enough water?"

Hikari pauses and looks at her three empty water bottles. Huh. Maybe she was thirstier than she thought. She frowns, "I'm still thirsty."

"Maybe you need to eat more," Zono wonders and hands her his bowl of pudding, "You like sweets, right?"

"Zono," Hikari sniffs and then smiles at him, "Zono, you're so nice. Learn from Zono, Miyuki."

Zono chuckles sheepishly and scratches the back of his head not sure what to say. Miyuki huffs, grabs his pudding from his tray, and slaps in front of her too. Hikari stares at him as he childishly continues to eat his lunch, not once looking at her, yet his leg is pressed against hers under the table.

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.

Chapter Text

"I still don't understand why you won't tell us what he did," Kuramochi grouches and leans over the head of her chair. She scowls and looks out the window. Miyuki was suspiciously quiet, even though he shoved Sawamura out of the way to take a seat next to her on the bus. The pitcher had griped and shrieked and complained, but no one could say anything the moment he hung over the seat from behind her and glowered.

"If I tell you, will you shut up?" she huffs and crosses her arms under her chest.

Kuramochi opens his mouth to agree obviously and Miyuki interrupts him with a snort, "Don't make promises you can't keep."

"Tell us Hikari-senpai," Sawamura says lowly and growls, "We'll kill him if he put his hands on you."

Furuya agrees.

Hikari raises a brow just as Miyuki takes a sip of water and quips, "And what if I wanted him to put his hands on me?"

Miyuki choked and coughs into his elbow; the group of boys who were crowding her flushed furiously. He wheezes with tears in his eyes and scowls, "You did that on purpose."

She laughs and purses her lips, "He didn't do anything; he tried to kiss me."

"YOU'RE NOT ALLOWED TO KISS ANYONE UNTIL YOU'RE THIRTY-FIVE!" Kuramochi screams with Sawamura right next to him.

"WHO'S KISSING HIKARI-SENPAI?"

"IT'S THAT TRASH PITCHER, ISN'T IT?"

"I have a dad already, I don't need another one," she snorts and grabs a box of pocky from her bag, "Besides, it didn't happen, so calm down."

Miyuki grabs a stick and munches unbothered, "Yeah, calm down, idiots."

Hikari gives him a weird look and takes a bite out of a stick of green tea. Once the peanut gallery goes back to minding their own business, the tension in her shoulders leaves, and she grabs another stick of pocky to take her anger out on. Telling her team about...kissing apparently means that she needs a chasity belt and must sleep in a nunnery.

"Did he really try to kiss you? Or is Sanada just trying to mess with us?" Miyuki asks after a moment of complete silence, he glances at her with sharp gold eyes, and she should've known better than to think that he wouldn't be immediately suspicious.

"He did," Hikari nods and leans against the window, "While I was drinking from the water fountain."

Miyuki frowns, "You shouldn't leave alone or leave the team to go somewhere unaccompanied; tell me and I'll go with you."

She says in surprise, "Miyuki..."

"It's not safe," he affirms and looks away, "Besides now that you're prettier than me the team is going to be even louder."

Hikari stares at him. She doesn't know how to reply to that, and even more, she didn't want to touch that comment with a pointed stick even though she wanted to say something; anything. But her mind had been scrubbed dry but that comment, so she does the one thing that can reroute her emotions. She changes the subject entirely, "You were right though; Sanada did want to mess with the team, why do you think he was acting so stupid on the field?"

He snarks, "Did you tell him to do that?"

"Why do you think I would do that?"

"Because we hurt you," Miyuki snaps irritated.

"You did," Hikari confirms quietly and takes another stick of pocky. The fact that she can't read Miyuki is making this conversation so much harder, she sees him soften, but his mouth presses into a stubborn line. She continues, "Even so, Sanada wanted to defend my honor," she rolls her eyes, "But it wasn't entirely untrue, Sanada is gorgeous."

"Excuse me,"

"What?"

"I'm the pretty-boy catcher."

"What's your point?"

Flabbergasted, he opens and closes his mouth comically, before narrowing his gaze, "So you did want him to kiss you."

"At first," Hikari clicks her tongue and then she looks bored, "But then I saw him on the field and I'm glad I didn't. He looked...a little insane."

Miyuki snickers, the anger evaporating after a short rainstorm, "A little?"

"A lot, okay," she rolls her eyes, "I like my guys with a touch of insanity—not too much."

"Just a touch?" he grins meanly and shoves her shoulder with his, "Are you still going to talk to him during training camp?"

"Of course, he'll be even prettier!"

"Now, you're just saying stuff to hurt me."

"When did this become about you?"

.

"This...This isn't the school?" Haruichi says confused and glances at the surrounding environment. There aren't any stores or lights or even grocery shops nearby. Only a small sign where the bus stops at and with dusk approaching fast, the day was becoming more and more creepy. "Are we lost?"

"Surprise!" The president yells and opens the door to run out on the ground.

Hikari crawls over to the window, her nose pressing against the window as Miyuki hovers over her shoulder. The rest of the team leans over to that side of the bus. She narrows her eyes, "It looks like an inn."

Miyuki rumbles near her ear, "A bed and breakfast?"

She shivers despite herself.

"As a gift for winning the series of tournaments, the school would like to treat you to a night stay at Toka's Hot Spring!" The President bows dramatically and Coach Kataoka nods encouragingly.

There's a chorus of cheers and exclamations and Sawamura and Furuya fight to leave the bus. Hikari rolls her eyes but grabs her duffle from the overhead rest and pulls it over her shoulder as she steps down the bus. Miyuki grabs it without looking at her and heads toward the inn.

Hikari blinks at her empty shoulder and then scowls. She doesn't know why she's angry, just that Miyuki is even more annoying when he's being nice—which tells her that she needs to sleep because clearly, she isn't functioning correctly. Because he's never nice—nice which is a relative term, he's decent, but he isn't nice, she thinks abruptly. Or, maybe he is nice and she's just not seeing it, or—she glances to the right where he nods sparingly to the coach—or maybe he's just different with her. 

Or she's tired and hungry and her brain is just coming up with these scenarios that don't make a lick of sense.

Which is weird.

"Mixed baths?" Sawamura reads the sign in confusion and the entire team turns to look at her.

Rei stares at them hard as the rest of them flush brightly at the sign and Miyuki looks almost intrigued.

"Absolutely not," Hikari scowls and grabs her bag from Miyuki—practically stomping to the women's section.

.

"You idiots are going to get sick," Hikari frowns and roughly dries Sawamura's hair before crawling over to Furuya to do the same. Thankfully, Haruichi's hair dries the moment a wind brushes past it. She breathes and stands up suddenly, unfortunately, her hair needs more than a towel to dry it, so she twists it into a cute little towel bun.

"What? Are you going to ignore my hair too?" Miyuki watches them creepily from the other side of the room and inquires his question obnoxiously, his glasses glint a pale milk color under the florescent lights, he raises his hand petulantly—beckoning for her to come closer and give him some attention.

"How needy," Kuramochi mutters to Ono.

"I didn't realize I had to group you in with the underclassman," Hikari sniffs, but walks over until she's kneeling in front of him and puts the towel over his head, "I'll have to remember that for later."

Part of her is shrieking with glee that she finally gets to touch Miyuki's hair; she wants to remember each strand of soft hair and how fluffy it is to itch her palms. Another part of her is yelling at her, darkly suggesting that she finally has the opportunity to scalp him, scalp him for causing her so much frustration and anger. She must reign in her expression, mostly because—wait. She blinks, "Miyuki, can you see me without your glasses?"

"Not really," he admits, "I'm nearsighted."

"Your glasses are foggy," she points out obviously and pushes the towel down his neck to get the ends of his hair, "You should clean them."

Miyuki takes off his glasses and places them next to him, "I'll let it cool first."

Hikari swallows when he looks at her—well, he's not really looking at her, but she can take this opportunity to shamelessly stare at him while drying his hair while he's oblivious to it all. Golden eyes with a darker ember at the pupil, framed by thick brows and dark lashes; they are devastating. She wonders, how nervous she would feel if she were under his scrutiny because the intensity of just looking at them is enough to have her hands tremble.

His face is hard and soft at once. Hard enough to see his cheekbones, his jawline, and the strength of his neck. Yet, he is soft enough to see the tenderness of his cheeks, tinted in a soft rose from the heat of the bath, the gentle slope of his nose, and the fullness of his pink lips. She glances at his neck; she could end his life right here, strangle the life out of him, and put herself – and many other victims – out of their misery.

"I can feel you glaring at me, Ito-chan," Miyuki says nonchalantly.

"I'm contemplating," Hikari leans back and drops the towel from the ends of his hair to wrap around his neck. Her own towel that soaked up much of the water from her own head topples over, heavy, and flat as it hits the ground. She tugs on the towel around his neck and the pressure of the pull has him leaning over her. She finishes miming a tying motion around his neck and whispers, "Murder."

"Mine?" Miyuki isn't fazed by the limited space, instead, he puts on his glasses so he can see her clearly, and nearly swallows his own tongue. Her hair is crumpled, wet, and wavy as it curls around the sides of her cheek and falls down her back in a gentle slope. A few beads of water escape her bangs and runs down the slope of her jaw.

"Possibly," she shrugs, grabs her wet towel, and tosses it against the rack. It leaves a hard smack against the rail and vibrates with the force.

He yelps and put his glasses on, "Did you drop the towel in the water?"

"Be thankful I didn't toss it at you, Miyuki."

"Your yukata is pretty, Ito-senpai," Furuya says after Miyuki cringes at the towel leaking on the floor.

"Thank you, Furuya," Hikari smiles at him and walks towards the door, "Let's get dinner, boys. I heard Coach Kotaoka ordered a ton of nabe."

"MEAT!"

"Use your inside voice, Sawamura!" Kuramochi yells and kicks him on his side.

"I don't think he knows what that means, Mochi," Miyuki chuckles from behind him and closes the door.

.

"Here," Miyuki puts a few strands of vegetables in her bowl, "You like enoki mushrooms, right?"

Hikari hums and takes a bite out of her pork.

"Sawamura, eat your vegetables and I see you hiding your bowl of rice, Furuya," Miyuki scolds and takes a riceball.

"What are you, my kaa-chan?" Sawamura scowls but chomps on a bundle of chrysanthemums.

"Hikari-chan, looks pretty, right, Mochi?" Zono elbows Kuramochi just as he's about to grab a dumpling, that Zono steals.

"Hikari-chan always looks pretty," he hisses and grabs his dumpling back from the thief.

Hikari hears this and pauses mid-bite of her mushroom—Miyuki catches her expression from the corner of her eye and frowns. The look on her face is hard to decipher. It is equal parts upset and resigned; he turns to look at Sawamura who presses his lips together in understanding and the pitcher puts a piece of tempura in her bowl.

She smiles at him and grins shyly.

Miyuki scowls.

Hikari puts her mushroom back in her bowl and takes a helping of noodles. She sips her broth while ignoring the ruckus around her, if she could focus on eating maybe she can see if she disappears. But the more she thinks about it, the more she loses her appetite. She grabs a piece of meat from one of the bowls and dips it into some yuzu before eating it. If she can't eat the regular stuff, maybe she can just bulk up on the protein and soup.

Miyuki puts a piece of shrimp in her bowl; she pauses and stares at it.

Cracked, tail and head-off.

Hikari turns her head to see him peel some more and put it in her bowl. He doesn't even look at her but makes sure she has enough protein and Kuramochi who's watching the entire fiasco with keen eyes huffs. He nips playfully, "Are you going to peel some for me too, Miyuki-chan?"

"I'm sure your cute underclassman can fulfill that need very quickly, after all, Sawamura's been taking your tempura since we sat down," Miyuki doesn't miss a beat.

Kuramochi yells in outrage and Sawamura laughs sheepishly.

Hikari picks up a crab leg and murmurs to him after Nori puts the rest of the vegetables in the pot, "You don't have to do this."

"I know," Miyuki says without looking and grabs a lotus root to nibble on, "I want you to rest your fingers, Sanada's pitches are brutal."

Hikari hides a smile but takes a bit more out of her udon. "So, you don't feel guilty then?"

Miyuki looks at her from the corner of his eye, "About what?"

"Not remembering me," she continues just as quietly.

Miyuki huffs a breath and takes a block of tofu to put in her bowl. He drawls, nice and slow. "Don't be an idiot, Hikari."

Her eyebrow ticks in irritation.

"I could never forget you."

Hikari turns her head to look at him with wide eyes, she does this unabashed because Miyuki would never address emotions or feelings straightforwardly, it was just in his nature to be emotionally constipated and aloof.

But imagine her surprise when Miyuki turns his head and looks straight into her eyes.

.

Miyuki sits out on the back porch and stares at the night sky with a pensive look on his face. The picture of Hikari's face when no one interjected about how her performance the last time she was out on the field, is an image he couldn't get out of his head. It looked pained, but she was still smiling even though he was sure her heart was breaking. He had frozen—mentally and physically. He didn't know what to say nor did anyone else, and that guilt ate him when she decided to pull back.

It felt like she was physically pulling away from him—from them.

"You know," Hikari's voice interrupts his musings, as she leans against the wooden post with a piece of coconut-flavored ice in her hand, "They say people who don't like sweets are soulless."

"Sugar isn't very appealing to me," Miyuki snorts and then finishes, "Besides, people who do like sweets are a glutton for punishments."

"Icies aren't that bad," Hikari rolls her eyes and takes a seat next to him. "Kuramochi is looking for you."

"For what?" he asks quizzically.

"Don't know, something about street fighting," she replies absently and nibbles on the popsicle.

Miyuki has to physically turn his body to avoid looking at her lick at the coconut icy. He flushes despite himself – he fights for self-control and loses miserably knowing that the sight of her pink tongue curling around the icy will forever be grained in his brain – and grits his teeth. He forces himself to relax and exhales slowly, "And you didn't want to see what it's about?"

"Seems like it's an all-guys thing," Hikari responds bored, and licks the drops that fall onto her fingers, "No girls allowed."

"How mean,"

"It is," she chuckles and takes a bite out of her popsicle, "Besides, I could use some quiet time."

"What did you think I came out here for?"

Hikari blinks, the icy in her hand burns her fingertips, enough to sting her finger pads with a numb spritz. She opens her mouth and then closes it—unsure of his mood. It's best not to push it when people get in a weird atmosphere, she stands suddenly and flicks her hair back trying to sound as nonchalant as she did when she started, "I'll leave you to it, then."

Miyuki nearly cracks his neck trying to look at her, he reaches out and grabs her hand. Unaware of her own swiftness and oblivious to his own strength, Hikari stumbles backward until she finds herself sitting across the catcher's lap. The yelp died in her throat the moment she caught eyes with him, gold under the beaming moon.

Chapter Text

"S-Sorry," Miyuki breathes but it's barely a whisper, the black of his eyes nearly eclipses the gold of his iris and his hands tighten on her arms on instinct.

Hikari shakes her head and glances at the icy that's a hairsbreadth away from splattering on her. She tosses the popsicle into the nearby pond, her sticky fingers remaining as evidence from her late-night treat, her hair flying with each wave of her wrist, until she settles and the waves of her hair rest against a little past her mid-back. She swallows, "I thought you wanted to be in the quiet."

"It is quiet," he says lightly but makes no move to remove her from his lap. "And you're not very loud."

"I'm surprised you're not exhausted," she says easily though she doesn't move an inch because her spine is stiff, and her hands sit lamely in her lap. "After the second inning, you put a lot of pressure on them."

Miyuki notices the awkward posture she adopted just seconds ago, he presses a hand on her lower back and slides up to mimic the curve of her spine. Her muscles instantly relax and mold into the length of his arm. She thanks him silently by allowing her head to lean against his shoulder, not quite curling into him. He shrugs, "They were pissing me off; I think Sawamura was more tired than me."

"The idiot just can't control himself," Hikari chuckles and vibrates through his body in a soothing rumble, "But that's what makes it fun."

Miyuki's eyes widen at that and then he grins bright as the stars, "Exactly."

Hikari is starstruck by his intensity, and his luminosity; her breath hitches. Despite all her inner turmoil and musings, nothing could prepare her for the way Miyuki's eyes darken from actually hearing her breath catch in her throat. Thinking fast, she tries to wrack her brain for something—something to cut the tension. She stammers, "F-Furuya!"

"What about him?"

"He's uh," Hikari inwardly yells at herself to think faster, "Mad at...me?"

"Why do you sound confused?" Miyuki asks amused.

"It's Furuya," she says a bit more evenly, more flatly.

"Ah,"

"Is that your explanation?"

"I don't have one,"

"The Great Miyuki Kazuya doesn't have an answer? Shocking."

He smirks at her, more confident, and drawls, "You think I'm great? I'm flattered, truly."

"I will toss you in this pond," Hikari warns him with narrowed eyes.

Miyuki tightens his arms around her, pulling her closer to him until her forehead brushes the underneath of his jaw and she's nestling closer to his chest rather than the shoulder. He scoffs, "Like I'll give you the chance."

"If I start bench-pressing it'll be over for all of you,"

"I'll spot you; can't let myself slack because you're batting average is getting better."

"Jealousy is adorable on you, really."

"I really love that you keep complimenting me," Miyuki hums pleasantly even though he knows she's fighting to strangle him, "For the record, you're pretty hot too."

Hikari could hardly wrap her head around this.

HE'S. FLIRTING.

WITH ME?

MIYUKI KNOWS HOW TO— of course, he does, what else would I expect?

Hikari wants to scratch her brain and search for answers. She doesn't remember Miyuki spending time with any female characters in the anime—aside from the managers, and that's very brief regardless. His sharp tongue and sarcasm send them running; she knows she gives as good as she gets which is what makes it so easy for her to get along with Miyuki. He knows it too; she thinks now that he's gotten a taste of her personality.

Miyuki's fingers, callouses from years of practice, rub absent circles on her shoulder blade. Despite her yukata, she can feel his strong fingers caress her through the thin fabric, though not as lovely as it would be if it were his bare fingers, but the light pressure against a gentle fabric feels more sensual than anything else her brain would conjure up.

Hikari cannot stop the shiver that runs down her spine when he caresses a path down a sensitive line of skin behind her shoulder.

Miyuki pauses and shifts under her lap. He concludes incorrectly, "You're cold, let's get you inside."

She can't help but feel relieved now that he effectively cut the tension, but she's disappointed, nonetheless. She doesn't say anything, not when he helps her stand and puts his hand on her lower back to guide her back into the inn. She really can't say anything, not when he's maneuvering her down the halls, and then pauses when he passes a suspicious door.

Hikari turns to raise a brow at him.

He chuckles sheepishly, "I uh, I don't know which one is your room."

"And this one," Hikari points to the one he glanced at oddly, "Is...?"

Miyuki slides the door open to see the entire baseball team asleep, sideways, horizontal, vertical, diagonal—any logical and probable angle, snoring away, and covering the floor. Hikari looks horrified and then sees Sawamura sleeping upside down next to the shoji door. "How on earth do any of you sleep?"

Miyuki whines and stomps his foot on the floor—lightly, as to not wake any of his teammates, she notes lightly. "Oh, c'mon! Why couldn't Coach split us up into rooms?"

"It's the weekend, Miyuki," Hikari deadpans and then slides the door shut. She sighs and scratches the back of her head, "Over here."

She leads him down the left and into another corridor. Hikari slides the door open, and Miyuki's mouth drops when he sees a futon. A futon. A futon with a very low bed frame nestled in the corner near the window, with a small table and cushions surrounding the table in the middle of the room.

"You have your own room and so much space?" Miyuki scowls and glances at the private bathroom. He huffs childishly, "And it's quiet!"

"Well," she snorts and ushers him in to close the door, "I am the only girl."

He rubs his face in frustration and mutters something about captain privileges.

Hikari opens one of the cabinets in hopes of finding some extra blankets or pillows. This one lay empty. She blinks rapidly, "Huh?"

Miyuki follows her figure as it goes to another cabinet, which also remains empty.

Then Hikari opens the cupboard above her bathroom – quickly running her hand under the water to get rid of the sugar from her icy even after Miyuki offered to go with her to get a new one – to find a pillow, but no extra sheets. She tosses the pillow at him and starts quickly looking into every drawer, cabinet, and closet she could find. Miyuki's puff of breath makes a deflated sound when the pillow smacks him in the chest. Still, he drawls out awkwardly, "Uh, what are you doing?"

"Looking for sheets," she scowls at the last empty drawer and glances at her futon. Her face burns a bright red, but she grits her teeth and growls, "If you tell anyone I did this for you— I will strangle you."

"...do what?" Miyuki asks after a moment and tilts his head in confusion.

Hikari smacks her forehead with the flat of her palm. She glances at her outfit, there's no way she's going to be able to throw on her jersey and go to sleep. She'd be far too nervous to relax, and she won't be relaxed if she must sleep in this robe, however, the sheets are thin enough that she doesn't have to worry about her legs becoming trapped.

She goes over to the futon and crawls underneath her sheets. She twists until she faces the window and scowls, "Get in."

Miyuki's brain screeches to a grinding halt.

He stares at her immobile body, flabbergasted. She can't really expect him, to get into bed, with her, right? He inhales wrong and starts coughing. His eyes water and he grips his pillow harder and flushes, "You can't expect me to—it's inappropriate!"

Hikari turns over to look at him with an emotionless face, despite having red cheeks, "It's not like you're going to jump me in my sleep, Miyuki."

"That's beside the point!"

"Where are you going to sleep, genius?"

Miyuki snaps his mouth shut and frowns. "Outside."

She snorts, "And then you're going to get sick and bring the team down, genius. Just get in."

Still, he hesitates.

Hikari narrows her eyes.

Face brighter than a stop sign, Miyuki walks over to the futon, fixes his pillow on his side of the bed, and crawls in. He swallows thickly before laying his head on the pillow and covering up. He's still tense though like his muscles don't know how to calm down now that a girl is lying next to him in bed.

He can smell her. The scent of her hair, blackberries, and something warm like powder. The heat of her skin radiates like a beam across his skin, and he wants to get closer. He wants to sink into her warmth like an anchor and feel the slope of her cheek with the pad of his thumb.

"Comfy?" Hikari teases playfully.

"Shut up," Miyuki scowls and nestles deeper into the sheets.

"You could go back to your room, I'm sure Furuya won't mind sharing," she cackles mischievously, and her laughter vibrates the futon.

"You know," Miyuki turns over to look at her with furrowed brows, "You're pretty calm about sharing a bed with a guy."

"I have shared my cousin's bed before," Hikari points out with a wrinkle of her nose, "How different could it possibly be?"

"Do you think of me like your cousin then?" he asks with a raised brow.

She cringes, "Absolutely not; I don't want to strangle them on a daily basis."

He scents blood, so he leans in closer and smirks,  "So, you think about me on a daily basis?"

Hikari fixes her hair on the pillow, so it fans out rather than it tangles around her throat like a piece of a fraying rope. It also gives her a moment to think about her response, "You have selective hearing, don't you?"

"Hurtful, Hikari." Miyuki teases.

Hikari's brain doesn't give her permission to ask the question that's been burning on her tongue, but she doesn't it anyway, "Why do you do that?"

"Do what?"

"Switch between using my first and last name," she clarifies and tenses her lip; her underwire is digging into her rib.

Miyuki stares at her. He wasn't expecting that answer and he hums thoughtfully, "I suppose I like the way you would give me your full attention when I say it."

Hikari's eyes widen and then she huffs, "Attention-seeker, much?"

"Not really," he says casually and furrows his brows, "I only want yours."

She blushes at that and swallows. She asks mostly to herself than anything, "Why do you make your answers so complicated?"

Miyuki teases lightly despite not understanding the question—at least not in the context she's thinking about, "Does it make you mad?"

"Of course," Hikari snaps; the butterflies in her stomach don't just disappear, they stay and collect like a handful of budding flowers.

"Good," he says assertively, and his eyes are honey-gold, "Then that means that you're thinking about me."

She can't—her brain is buffering and then she decides to change the subject entirely.

"Close your eyes," Hikari demands hotly.

Miyuki gapes at her one-eighty and his heart pounds in his chest, "What—why? What are you going to do?"

"Just do it!"

Miyuki flushes in response and doesn't move; almost expecting something.

There's a ruffle, a grunt, and then the sound of something like plastic hitting the floor. Hikari sighs and shifts over in the bed, "Okay, you're good."

Miyuki's eyes snap open and he eyes the room suspiciously, "What did you do?"

"Honestly, Miyuki. Don't ask questions you don't want the answers to."

A little after midnight Miyuki fell asleep with Hikari slowly saying something to him—something silly, something nonsensical and then felt warm fingers brush his face. It prickled his consciousness enough to realize that she had carefully removed his glasses and placed it just above his head for easy access. He inched closer then, until his nose nestled into a few strands of her sweet-smelling hair and fell asleep against the warmth of her skin.

And he slept hard.

.

Miyuki felt his awareness pull him from the long dregs of sleep; muffled yelling, and Sawamura's annoying voice. He groans, deep and low in his chest, and brings himself closer to the warmth of his bed even more. He nestles deeper into the space there and uses his arms to bring it closer to him.

A feminine sigh tickles the nape of his neck, and the gentle curve of the warmth molds into him. Soft and sweet, when he moves his head to rest closer, he inhales a mouthful of hair—coughing violently he turns his head to remove the obstruction abruptly. He snaps his eyes open and is very much awake now that his sudden brush of death by asphyxiation had ended. He blinks away the thin film of sleep that covers his eyes and is very aware of Hikari's hands pressing flat the bare skin of his chest from the gaping hole of his own yukata. Miyuki uses his free hand to grope for his glasses above his head and once he puts them on—he searches for his other hand.

His runaway hand, which is attached to his arm is wrapped around Hikari's waist, securely holding her against him, her head rests against his shoulder, her nose pressed against his throat, his lips just a touch away from his pulse, and her hair tumbling backward like a pool of ink.

Miyuki's breath hitches.

Hikari sleeps soundlessly, her face smoothened by the kind tendrils of sleep, and he finds himself finally accepting the mere fact that she was beautiful. Her expression at peace, with dark lashes and smooth cheeks. Her nose scrunches up adorably when he shifts a little closer and then settles when she presses her mouth firmly against his throat.

His pulse hammers like a maddening thing.

Miyuki thinks he can stare at her for a long time and never be bored. Not when she looks like this and at ease near him; he tangles his fingers in her dark hair, stroking the soft strands with the barest pressure. She makes a high, keening sound and arches her back to flop over on her stomach in response.

He muffles a laugh.

The door slides open, "Hikari-chan, have you seen Miyuki? Kuramochi says that he hasn't—"

Miyuki stiffens at Rei's voice and like a scolded puppy he turns his head to see the assistant manager's glasses glint silver under the morning light. He chuckles sheepishly, but then Hikari wakes up then with a loud groan. She sits up abruptly and wipes her eyes, "The idiot is here, he crashed since the boys' room was disgusting last night."

"I see," Rei answers coolly and Miyuki stumbles out of the bed to inches towards the door, before slipping on something.

The something that made that weird thwacking sound when Hikari threw it against the wall and his eyes were closed. Miyuki picks up the thing and the thing—he flushes brightly and wishes the world would swallow him—the thing was a pink lacey bra and Rei is right there. He squawks, "You—this is what made that sound last night?"

"You can say bra right Miyuki, it's not that hard," Hikari yawns and then stretches her arms above her head.

Miyuki tosses the scandalous item of clothing and high-tails it out of her room before his heart gives out and he falls on the floor in a dramatic heap.

.

"I hope you two were being safe," Rei murmurs to Miyuki who blushes so hard he thinks he broke a few capillaries in his cheeks.

Miyuki yelps and drops his bag underneath the shelf of the bus's trunk with more force than necessary. "We—We didn't do anything!"

She adjusts her glasses and smirks before walking over to sit next to the coach.

Hikari eyes Miyuki oddly as she sits in her window seat, her headphones resting around her neck, and drawls out, "Why are you acting so weird?"

"I am not!" he huffs and then scowls when he realizes this is the only open seat. He takes a seat next to her and whispers furiously, "Rei-chan wanted to know if we were being safe."

Hikari snickers, "You do realize she was joking, right?"

Miyuki stares at her disbelievingly, "What?"

"If I knew you were going to be so embarrassed about this, I should've done this earlier," she laughs and grabs her box of pocky. Her voice drops into a whisper, "Though I would be embarrassed to if I was caught snuggling up against you."

"But you did!" Miyuki flushes in indignation.

"Liar."

"It's the truth!"

"Somehow, I don't believe you."

Miyuki makes a wounded sound in between his hands but can't help but laugh at the ridiculousness of this entire situation; what's even worse is that sleeping beside Hikari had been the best night of sleep he's ever had since coming to Seido.

Chapter Text

Something changed, Hikari thinks.

Miyuki is bit more...normal now. Or, as normal as he was before – she likes to dub it the one-bed trope because, honestly, it really was – in the anime. He doesn't hesitate with her now or inch awkwardly around her when odd subjects are thrown into the conversations. Still.

It was odd.

She couldn't put her finger on it, but something was different.

"You have got to be joking," Hikari deadpans as she reads the requirement list for graduation and cringes in defeat. Of course, ballroom dancing was a requirement, it had been in her other life—maybe this was an international standard. Hopefully, it wouldn't be something too traumatic. Sometimes, she gets flashbacks from her square-dancing lesson in her first year of high school and it makes her sick.

"Ballroom dancing lessons for an entire week?" Miyuki comments with a frown.

"It could be worse," Kuramochi snorts, "Could be a whole season and we could be playing soccer."

Shirasu snorts.

Nori flushes and groans, "And we're going to be paired with the third years."

"There are no positives for this," Hikari announces and drops her head on her desk, "If we don't pass, we don't graduate."

Somehow, this was the final nail in the coffin.

.

"Chris-senpai!" Hikari's eyes rose at his casual stance from the corner of the rooftop and then another figure rose from the corner, "Yuuki-senpai! You're here for the ballroom...dancing?"

"Yes," Yuuki nods and glances at the trio of first-years hiding in the corner, "Apparently a couple of the first-years and the baseball managers were also picked for this class."

"On a rooftop?" Nori asks curiously.

"It's whimsical, Kawakami-san!" Their instructor quite literally pops into thin air, he wore a foreign outfit with red tassels and shiny sequins. His name was Shitara Kohei, he was on loan to the high school from Tokyo University—apparently, he was a finalist in the fifth season of Dancing with the Stars. He smiles sheepishly, "And the other dancing slots were taken."

Hikari shudders at the possibility of doing square dancing, again.

Surely, the gods were not that cruel.

"Most of the instructors in this school will be focusing on the basics," Shitara explains and grabs his speaker from the side of the fence. "In order to break up the monotony of their basics – the waltz, foxtrot, and the wretched square-dancing – we will be focusing on a very...exhilarating part of ballroom dancing."

"Exhilarating?" Miyuki repeats dryly.

"Well, only certain people will find it exhilarating," the instructor blinks and then turns to Hikari who's dressed appropriately for class, meaning that her skirt and regular loafers should do. "You shall be my star."

Hikari blinks as the first-years chuckle in the corner, "Huh?"

Shitara grasps her hand and pulls her to the center of the floor. She yelps but allows herself to come to a stand-still in front of him and she looks at him with wide eyes. He pulls at her sweater, and she takes the cue to toss it next to the speaker. "You look the most coordinated out of all the girls."

Miyuki snickers and Sachiko huffs.

"Uh," Hikari says intelligently.

"One of the reasons we're going to use the rooftop is because everywhere else was filled."

Kuramochi slaps his forehead.

"We are going to be learning a Latin style of dancing. No waltzes and traditional ballroom dancing for this group!" Shitara claps his hands and pushes Yuuki into the middle of the room. "Yuuki-kun here had some instruction from a colleague of mine in his second year, so he'll be leading the boys, and assisting your movements."

Hikari flushes as Yuuki's arm slides behind her back and tugs her closer to him. He says confidently, "I will lead."

Shitara clicks play on the speaker.

Hikari doesn't even need instruction, because Tetsu leads her just as easily as walking. Her feet, her body, and her hips follow his movement. He was a little stiff, more worried about propriety than fluidity, but she couldn't hold it against him. She gets more comfortable with the music as time goes on, then she's spun into Chris's waiting arms who was way more comfortable with pulling her close to him.

Hikari squeaks as he spins her and her skirt flies with her. It looks more professional, and more fun, and she laughs when he dips her. His hands trail up her hips, her sides, and the sides of her breasts as she becomes more comfortable with dancing. Then he spins her free one last time and Miyuki has her in his grip.

Miyuki molds her to him, her hips against his, one arm wrapping around his neck rather than his shoulder and his fingers interlock with hers. He spins her and turns her around so they dance like a pair of shadows in the candlelight, his hands are never far from her hips, sometimes they trail up to her waist, up her arms, and then spins her back so he can dip her more scandalously than; with a hand sliding up the curve of her knee to the slope of her thigh.

Hikari's skirt ruffles after a spin and her breasts are flat against his chest as they move in a circle. He brings her closer to him and she doesn't know how much farther she can wrap herself around him until she gets lost.

"You're supposed to switch partners, Miyuki-senpai!" Sawamura scowls from the corner, partnerless.

"No," Miyuki says easily and spins her around until her hips are flat against his front, "Find another partner, idiot."

"But I want Hikari-senpai!"

Hikari yelps when he dips her again, her leg high in the air and her head just inches above the ground. She looks at Miyuki with wide eyes and he curls her leg around his hips before pulling her up. His eyes are scorched ochre, "She's mine, Sawamura."

.

"You sure have Miyuki-kun wrapped around your finger, Ito-san," Sachiko scoffs from the corner of the room.

Hikari pauses mid-buttoning of her shirt and turns around. "Excuse me?"

"He refused to dance with any of the other girls," Natuskawa adds uneasy with Sachiko's accusation.

"And that is my fault, how?" Hikari snorts and finishes buttoning her shirt; of course, she's going to get ambushed by that bastard's fan club.

She's an actual protagonist now.

"You were hogging him!" Sachiko exclaims with ire.

"Don't be ridiculous," she shakes her head and runs a hand through her long hair, "If you have an issue with how Miyuki treats his fan club, take it up with him, don't get me involved with his nonsense."

Hikari knows she's being bitchy but if she wasn't starting to feel attacked—Sachiko complains that they are managers—then she would've taken a more rational approach.

Natsukawa frowns, "Don't you think you're acting a bit arrogant? You're not that great."

"But I am," Hikari raises a brow, and Haruno gapes, "If I wasn't do you think I wouldn't be on the baseball team? I'm not here to fight a girl over a boy who doesn't know how to talk to women. That's on him, but if you want to impress Miyuki how about you start recording some stats? He thinks only about baseball and not stupid things like—like dating."

"You sound like you don't like dating?" Haruno frowns.

"There's no point in it," she muses, "We're in high school—what's going to happen in the next few years?"

"That's a bleak way of looking at things," Natsukawa looks at Sachiko who is at a loss for words, "If Miyuki asked you out, would you say yes?"

"He won't ask me out,"

"But if he did—"

"Nationals are the most important thing to him," Hikari cuts her off and grabs her bag, "Why would I want to compete with that?"

.

Hikari stabs her katsu with more force than necessary, even Sawamura was terrified by her switch in emotions and carefully puts a hand on her shoulder. "H-Hikari-senpai, are you okay?"

Hikari exhales slowly and then turns her eyes to Miyuki who jumps at her malice. She puts her chopsticks down and points a finger at the catcher. She scowls, "You. Are the cause of all my problems!"

"What did the bastard do now, Hikari-chan?" Kuramochi demands and gets angry on her behalf.

"Yeah, what did I do?" Miyuki agrees with wide eyes.

"Your little fan club—girls!" Hikari glowers and waves her hands dramatically, "Ambushed me on the way to the locker room and history class because you refused to partner with anyone else during lessons!"

"How is that my fault?" he snorts.

"It's your fan club!"

"So?"

"So, partner with them for the rest of the week."

He scowls, "Absolutely not."

"Why not?" she demands frustrated.

Miyuki looks almost angry at her. Almost as if he's being forced to explain himself aloud. Angry that she doesn't immediately know how he feels or how he thinks. He glares at his plate and bites, "Because they suck."

Haruichi makes a noise of shock—unused to Miyuki's true ire.

"Miyuki!"

"I don't see why I should have to partner with them when I have you," Miyuki grimaces, and Kuramochi stands up abruptly at the venom in his voice.

Sawamura watches the verbal volley with shock. He's never seen Miyuki—nor heard him at least sound so vile. Sure, he's been a pain in the ass and has had a shitty personality since he's known him, but he'd never sounded so cruel before.

Hikari's mouth drops and then snaps shut. She narrows her eyes and grits her teeth, "So everyone has a turn during lessons."

"They can fail then," Miyuki scoffs and grabs his energy drink from the table. He glowers at her icily, "I'm not giving you up for anything."

Hikari watches his back as he leaves the cafeteria and then turns to Kuramochi with a confused look, "Is he mad at me, or...did I miss something?"

Kuramochi looks in the direction where Miyuki left and has an unreadable expression on his face, "I don't know."

.

She needs a break. After all this drama, she would like to disassociate baseball for a while since she's currently associating baseball with the team and the team includes Miyuki. So, when her father texts her that night, she sighs in relief and eagerly waits for the weekend.

And on Friday night she receives a package followed by a note:

From: Papa

Hikari-chan, the opera starts at 7 pm, it's short, but I think it will give us enough time to grab dinner afterward. I'm thinking French! What do you think, dove? I tried to find that one dress that you liked when you were a kid—the lady store tells me that they don't sell princess dresses but assures me that you will like this one. See you soon!

Her father has good taste, Hikari hums, and pulls the dress out of the box.

A deep blue strapless dress with a hidden slit. She gapes. Maybe her father didn't pick out the dress, maybe the sales lady did, because the slit is questionable for him. He sends her a pair of gold earrings that her mother used to wear before she got pregnant – Hikari had this weird habit of not liking anything on her ears – and a pair of heels she left at home.

Hikari smiles and goes to take a shower. She takes very good care of styling her hair, in loose gentle waves so it doesn't catch against the satin and uses her makeup sparingly. If her father decides to indulge in his new smartphone, she'll have to deal with taking pictures with flash, and who knows how good these products are?

After securing her earrings, she moves to slip on her dress, and then she reaches for the zipper—

Her eyes widen as she grapples to pull it.

You have got to be joking.

She can't reach the top!

Hikari nearly pulls her arm out of her socket fishing for the zipper, the exertion crawls up her face and she abruptly comes to a stop; not wanting to sweat her makeup off or cause her hair to frizz; she takes a breath.

"Okay, Plan B," she affirms and grabs her cell phone from her desk—she takes a moment to truly decide if this is the right person to ask for help.

She does it anyway.

To: Eijun

Eijun-chan, can you stop by my dorm for a minute? I need help with something and do NOT let anyone know or follow you.

Hopefully, he can get here in one piece, but luckily for Hikari, she doesn't have to wait for long because, after two minutes, there's a brief but an anxious knock at the door.

"Hikari-senpai! Your favorite underclassman is here to save the—woah," Sawamura's monologue cuts short when he sees her new look.

"Eijun-chan," Hikari spins around, "I need you to do me a favor; I need you to zip me because I can't reach the stupid zipper."

"Oh," Sawamura grabs the zipper and yanks it up quickly, "There you go."

She could practically hear the steam coming out of his ears.

Hikari sighs and smoothens out her dress. She fixes her a little bit before spinning around to look at Sawamura. He looks at her in awe, a red flush staining his cheeks, and smiles shyly, "Pretty...you look—you look like a princess, Hikari-senpai."

Hikari blushes at the compliment and pecks him on the cheek, "Thank you, Eijun-chan."

Sawamura starts to malfunction, unfortunately.

"Did anyone see you?"

He shakes his head quickly, "N-NO! I left Miyuki-senpai's room to go to the vending machine."

Hikari nods, "Okay—wait, why were you in Miyuki's room?"

"Cram session."

"Ah," she hums and grabs her clutch and heels. She looks at the door and instructs, "Okay, now I need you to go out and clear the way. No one knows that I'm going out and I really don't want to explain myself to them—so I'll wait two minutes before I leave the dorm. If you don't text me by then, I'll assume the path is clear. Got it?"

"Yes, ojou-sama," Sawamura bows gallantly and practically leaps out of her room.

Hikari hates to think that she might only like Miyuki calling her that.

.

Sawamura skips down the hall with that stupid dopey look on his face he gets when he learned to relax on the mound. His face his still flushed, with Hikari's lipstick mark on his cheek, and the sweet smell of her perfume wafting him. He sighs dazedly and looks down the hallway; nods to himself.

The coast is clear.

He walks down into the main lobby and—

"What is wrong with your face?" Kuromochi asks horrified.

"You have that stupid look on and we're not even playing," Jun joins in with a sneer.

Kuramochi glowers at him, "Well?"

"Is that...lipstick on your face, Eijun-kun?" Haruichi asks with hot cheeks and wide eyes.

"HAH?"

Sawamura, not expecting a swarm of questions – or the main string since he left the room and hadn't returned for over five minutes – immediately grapples for his phone in his pocket, yells when Kuramochi puts him in a headlock and Isashiki grabs his phone.

"It is lipstick!" Kuramochi yells and shakes him in his headlock, "Are you cheating Wakana-chan, idiot! Do you have any idea how good you've got it?”

"Sawamura isn't stupid enough to cheat on Wakana," Zono defends him, but then looks at Miyuki who's snickering and twirling his cap on his finger, "Is he?"

"WHAT KIND OF GUY DO YOU THINK I AM?" Sawamura yells and tries to get out of the headlock, "And give my phone—"

The sound of a stumble and a not-so-quiet swear made them lessen their antics, but nothing could prepare them to see Hikari walking down the hall into the lobby with a slip of a dress, heels in her hand, and her other hand holding up the bottom of her dress, so she doesn't trip. The deep blue gown looks like the night sky wrapped tight around her body, her hair flowing behind her like a banner and her lipstick is the exact shade on Sawamura's cheek.

Kuramochi drops Sawamura in shock.

"H-Hikari-senpai," Sawamura starts and grabs his phone from Isashiki's slack grip, "I tried to text you, but Cheetah-senpai head locked me and Spitz-senpai grabbed my phone and—"

Hikari looks up at the sky, begging for patience, but the delicate stretch of skin causes Miyuki to drop his hat in shock—not that it didn't fall the first time, but this time instead of catching it in his hand, it falls to the ground. She sighs exasperatedly, "I should've known better."

"You look beautiful, Ito-chan," Yuuki breaks from the fishbowl and smiles, "The prettiest member of the baseball club."

Hikari flushes and scratches the side of her cheek, "Thank you, Yuuki-senpai."

"Where are you going, Ito-chan?" Chris asks curiously, "Your dress looks very formal and obviously you look prettier than usual."

"Ah, I'm going to the opera," Hikari answers and takes a few steps forward; Kuramochi nearly loses his mind when he sees the high slit on her right leg.

Miyuki's brain fries at the smooth expanse of skin, he can see the thick cord from the inside of her thigh, the hollow where the muscle and bone swim and he wants to taste the inside of the dimple—wondering if she'll smell as sweet as her shampoo. The long curve of her calf to her bare toes is a visceral image that will follow him in his dream tonight.

"NO, YOU'RE NOT!" Kuramochi yanks off his track jacket to cover up her leg, "You can't go out looking like that!"

"I will have you know, Kuramochi, that this dress was a gift!" Hikari scowls and kicks his jacket away.

"That doesn't explain the lipstick on Sawamura's face," Isashiki grumbles and glowers at the slit.

"He zipped my dress up," Hikari doesn't turn to see who asked that question, she feels the back of her dress instinctively, and a cold chill hover over her throat when she feels the zipper down a quarter way and the hook undone. She narrows her eyes at the pitcher, "Eijun, tell me that you hooked my dress at the top when you zipped me up."

Sawamura pales, "A...hook?"

Hikari flushes so quickly she nearly topples over as she clutches her dress to her to her chest, she attempts to scramble backward as Kuramochi and Jun hold the pitcher up to send him into outer space. Miyuki moves before Chris can even blink – because the second-year catcher knows that if he gives Chris an inch, he will take a mile and Hikari whether he likes it or not is someone he does not want to share – and walks as casually as possible could towards her. He pulls her hair to the side, stands behind her, and puts a hand flat on her lower back before pulling the zip up.

Furuya watches aptly and because Furuya is watching, Sawamura does too, and then Haruichi—suddenly the entire team is watching.

Miyuki's fingers grab the hook and the latch before putting it together—a blunt fingernail accidentally digs into the line of her spine, and a quiet gasp leaves her as he apologetically smooths the dig with the pad of his index finger. He brushes her hair back with gentle fingers and asks now that he sees the shoes in her hands, "Why aren't you wearing your shoes?"

"It... they hurt," she says lamely, but thanks him quietly for helping her with her dress.

Miyuki looks amused at her answer.

Yet, he grabs her heels and kneels in front of her.

"Miyuki," Hikari inhales and steps back, "What are you—"

"Give me your foot," Miyuki pats his thigh.

Hikari flushes but gives him her right leg, the one covered in satin, he slips on her heel and fiddle with the clasp until the dainty buckle is secure. He looks up and quirks a brow, "Good?"

She nods.

"Next foot."

Kuramochi and Jun watch gawkishly.

Hikari parts her dress to give him her other foot, unbalanced by her heel, she wobbles and grabs onto his shoulders for support. He stills for a moment, her fingers dig into his deltoid, the slit of her dress exposing more soft skin for him to touch, he lets her find her balance before slipping on her other shoe, hand caressing the length of her calf before fastening the strap. He nods in approval; he grabs her hands and helps her stand.

Miyuki judges critically, eyes hovering over her figure like a live thing, "Perfect."

Hikari swallows thickly and doesn't look at him now that he's scrutinizing her. Yuuki surprisingly is the one to break the tension, he whips out his phone and smiles impishly, "It's time for pictures."

Hikari whines as the entire team fights for the first picture; she feels very much like her parents are taking pictures of her prom day, and she hates that she loves it, "Oh, have mercy Yuuki-senpai."

"I'm sure Tetsu doesn't know the meaning of that word," Chris chuckles, but takes the first picture with her.

Chris catches Miyuki scowling, eyeing his hand on her lower back, and narrows his eyes in distaste.

How interesting.

Chapter Text

Is this the last one?" Hikari groans for the nth time and walks a little closer into the light now that the sun is going down.

"Miyuki needs one," Yuuki explains and glares at the catcher.

Miyuki looks torn between being sheepish and smiling triumphantly.

"I'll join in!" Sawamura runs to the frame, but Chris puts a hand on his shoulder and stops him in his tracks.

He shakes his head, "Let Miyuki take a picture with our star batter."

Sawamura pouts, but agrees, nonetheless.

Miyuki walks up to Hikari; she angles herself a bit until the light is hitting her face and the slit of her dress falls perfectly. He wraps an arm around her hips, before sliding a heavy hand up her waist, and slowly tugs her until the curve of her body is pressed against his thigh and the tapered length of his torso.

"Ito-chan," Chris instructs, "Can you put your hand on his chest and turn a bit more towards him? It looks a bit awkward."

Hikari swallows and presses a hand to his chest; she spins on her heel until her shoulder is perpendicular to his.

"It would look better if Miyuki wasn't wearing sweats," Yuuki murmurs to Chris with a sniff.

"We can't make a Christmas card that easily, Tetsu," Chris whispers back with a twinkle in his eye.

Yuuki takes the picture.

.

From: Papa

In the car, dove!

"Well, I have to go," Hikari sends a quick test to her father and slips her phone into her clutch. "If I'm back early we can play some video games, okay You-chan?"

Kuramochi's eyes sparkle.

"Are you going on a date, Hikari-chan?" Nori blushes at the new use of her name but continues to look at her curiously.

She stares at him for a moment, oblivious to how many heads turn to look at her. Her eyes widen at Nori's unasked question, "Yes. My date is waiting. In the car."

"How many dates have you been on with this guy, and we haven't met him yet?" Sawamura narrows his eyes, and she hates how everyone suddenly agrees with him.

"Not happening," Hikari says flatly and examines the area for the quickest escape route. She finds it and Yuuki stands in front of her solidly. "Yuuki-senpai?"

"I think we should meet him," he says firmly.

She blanches—before shaking her head, "No. Absolutely not. There is no need to—"

Furuya watches in shock as Hikari refuses to listen to Yuuki-senpai.

"I'm leaving and you are all not going to follow me, or—or I will tell Rei-chan," Hikari warns darkly and leaves with her head held high.

Chris watches her leave with a frown on his face, he turns to look at Miyuki who hides his eyes with the glint of his glasses but couldn't quite cover his scowl. The main catcher grits his teeth and turns away from the rest of them, Yuuki exchanges a look with the third-year catcher before asking, "Nori, how did you Ito-chan was going on a date?"

Nori stammers at being put on the spot and scratches the back of his head, "She might have mentioned it a while ago—Coach gave the okay. It's why she leaves every Saturday."

"Coach Kataoka knows?" Miyuki and Sawamura demand in disbelief.

"I doubt he would let her leave every Saturday without knowing where she's going," Ryosuke adds in from the back of the crowd; he refrains from adding most things to the group, especially when it was much more fun to observe Miyuki and Hikari's interactions.

"I think we should pay Coach a visit," Jun chuckles lowly and marches to the pen with the rest of the underclassmen hot on his heels.

Miyuki takes a moment to go over all the information. Kuramochi watches him from the corner of his eye and glances at Nori who shrugs. Miyuki bores a hole in the path the three underclassmen take. He struggles and sighs, "Are you coming, Kuramochi?"

"Heh, I thought your heart was as black as your soul," Kuramochi snickers and throws an arm around his shoulder.

"I think we're all concerned about Ito-chan date," Chris adds to take away the heat from Miyuki, "If she's been dating him since first year, it should be pretty serious."

Miyuki stiffens underneath Kuramochi's arm and Nori swallows, "I think she'll be fine."

"Have you met him, Nori?" Yuuki asks from the corner.

"Ah," he scratches his head, "Well no, but from the way she talks about him..."

Nori wouldn't betray Hikari's confidence in him by blurting out her secret, but the guys were taking it too far. If he could diffuse the situation then it would be better for both of them, but Miyuki is winding up tighter and tighter. Normally, it would be harder for him to get a read on the catcher, but something changed.

"C'mon," Masuko grabs his bat and then glares at the door, "Let's see coach before we decide to—"

"Murder him, of course," Ryo chuckles from the corner.

Haruichi shivers at the collective agreement.

.

"Ito's date?" Coach Kataoka raises furrowed brows.

"Yes, boss!" Sawamura slams his hands on his knees and nods earnestly, "Nori-senpai said that you give the okay to let Hikari-senpai go on her dates on Saturday, which is why she's not at practice."

Rei exchanges a look with the coach, "We did."

"So," Kuramochi leans in from the other side of the coach, "He's a good guy, then? We don't have to threaten him?"

"Well, we wouldn't trust her with anyone else?" Kataoka replies to that question with another question, one bordering on confusion.

Miyuki's eyes narrow in anger, his eyes black as night. Ire seeps into his blood and settles into the back of his brain. His jaw twitches, he sits in the middle of the coach with his arms crossed underneath his chest, and his mouth pressed in a thin line. He tries to disguise his rage by sighing tiredly – but even Kuramochi can tell it's more of a frustrated exhale – throws his arm over the sofa before drawling out an explanation, "She gets new clothes from her date—shoes, makeup, he even bought her a speaker set—the newest addition from Hachiro's electronic store. How do we know that he isn't taking advantage of her? She refuses to let us meet him; we can't let our teammate hang around some guy who wants to buy her—or use her."

Chris looks at Miyuki whose jaw is twitching under the weight of his words. Furuya nods in agreement and Rei looks at the Coach.

They burst into a fit of laughter.

Miyuki blinks in confusion and Kuramochi gapes.

"W-WHY ARE YOU LAUGHING, BOSS?"

"He is not taking advantage of Hikari-chan," Rei muffles her laughter with a cough, "He came to us for permission before he started taking her out."

"You've met him, Rei-san?" Haruichi asks with furrowed brows.

"We have," Coach Kataoka affirms and wipes the side of his cheek.

"Who is he?" Miyuki scowls, "It's Sanada, isn't it?"

"Sanada Shunpei?" Rei furrows her brows, "I didn't realize Sanada-kun was interested in Hikari-chan."

"Who she goes on her dates with is none of your business," Kataoka puts a pin in this discussion before it can derail into something the players can't take back. "All you need to know is that she's safe and he's good for her."

Miyuki stands up abruptly and before he could leave, Rei adds in shrewdly, "And if you want to know who he is, you should ask her, otherwise trust her judgment."

.

"I didn't know Miyuki would be so mad at me for keeping him out of the loop," Hikari whispers to Nori after lunch.

"Me neither," Nori also gets the cold shoulder, but he wasn't used to it from his teammates. Apparently, Miyuki and the underclassmen were the ones who were keeping their distance. Kuramochi surprisingly was the neutral party and while the upperclassman was a bit annoyed, they didn't hold it against her.

Even during their running practice, Miyuki leads the group and refuses to let her run near him. Kuramochi sees the tension and the surprised, but grim look on her face before she drops her pace to run in the back of them. He didn't agree with Miyuki's icing out tactic, for one, she doesn't deserve it, after all the shit that has happened to her in the last year, she deserves some benefit of the doubt, hell, she deserves to be trusted. The shortstop didn't want to watch Hikari crawl back into her shell after finally breaking out of it.

Kuramochi drops his pace to match with hers and she smiles at him tensely. He whispers, "Don't take the bastard's mood swings to heart, he's just mad that he doesn't know everything."

"PICK UP THE PACE IN THE BACK!"

Kuramochi curses, but glances at Hikari from the corner of his eye—he might be made from bamboo, strong and malleable, but she was made from steel and that was unbreakable.

—

What happens is next is even worse; the third-years graduate and Miyuki is promoted to Captain. Coach Kataoka was adamant about keeping her and Kuramochi as vice-captain—co-vice captains were stronger together than the one, which meant that they could overthrow the tyrant should they need to. Hikari had protested saying that she doesn't want the responsibilities of a vice-captain, but Miyuki made a smart-ass comment that forced her to take up the mantle.

Rei had scolded Miyuki privately for that which had made him more solemn than hostile.

"If he wants to act like a child, You-chan," Hikari glances at him and grabs her bat, "I'll treat him like one."

Hikari does her batting practice with the machine, effectively blocking out what any of her classmates would say to her. She doesn't miss, swinging high and upwards, then she switches the machine to spit out balls that shift after they've been thrown and uses her bunting technique. It's rusty, she thinks with a grimace, she prefers to strike hard and out of the way, but that means it would be easier to get a foul.

The coach had said that we don't need brute force if we're on the defensive, that if we have runners on base, we need to get them home and while a home run would do it, if your stamina runs out then it's a finished game.

But striking balls hard and fast is a good way to get out of her frustration; she grits her teeth.

If she thinks of each baseball as Miyuki, then her aggression and speed should work out in her favor.

After batting practice, it was time to wish the seniors good luck and a congratulations on their graduation—while it felt premature as they had a few months to go, they wouldn't have that much time considering their college entrance exams and interviews. She bows her head to Yuuki-senpai and thanks him for helping her as a first year when she never really interacted with anyone much with anyone, even then. He pats her on the head and tells her, "You better give Miyuki a hard time when we leave."

Hikari giggles and promises to do so.

To no one's surprise, Sawamura bawls when Chris ruffles his hair and says that he will be watching him.

But then he hugs Hikari when he turns to face her and she mumbles into his shoulder, "Thank you, for everything."

Chris smiles at that.

"SAVE SOME FOR THE REST OF US, HIKARI-CHAN!"

Hikari rolls her eyes and continues to go down the line.

"Don't wait too long, Miyuki," Yuuki warns him and glances at Hikari before patting him on the shoulder.

Miyuki's eyes widen, "Tetsu..."

"She's not going to be there forever," Chris tells him patiently and shakes his hand in a promise.

.

Hikari can't sleep; even after eating dinner and doing the rest of her homework, she feels a sort of restless energy that she can't help squash. She grabs a new pair of matching sweats, her earphones, and a bottle of water. She sees Miyuki peeking from behind a wooden post in the cafeteria from the reflection of the metal door—like some type of stalker. She completely ignores him, which causes him to bristle, and she hides a snicker by putting in her earphones.

A run will help clear her head; she thinks.

Her pace is slower on the track rather than a regular run, more of a light jog than anything. Hikari purposefully blasts music in her earphones to avoid hearing the outside world and so the only thing she has to focus on is her breathing. At night, solitude is potent, amplified by the shadows of the trees and the glint of the grass.

With all the noise blocked out, the only thing that's left is her own thoughts and that makes her want to weep.

Hikari had forgotten how lonely she was before she died. She started to forget her past life the more she integrated with her current life, she doesn't remember her parents, her family, if she had any siblings, her favorite food—none of it. She does remember being put on the back burner in high school, she remembers being miles ahead of her classmates, and that her intelligence was often a slight against them, personally.

Now that Miyuki is essentially shouldering her off—she remembers more and more why she didn't want to get involved with the team. It was for reasons like this; her father was going to leave her one day, and her team would too. She didn't need the attachments, even if it made her feel good temporarily, because in the end, she was always going to be alone, and the pain that came with that was lasting.

Hikari gasps for air as her jog had turned into a run—when did that happen? She turns the corner and wipes the sweat, or maybe it was tears from her face. The pain distracted her momentarily from her brain and that was good for her.

She pauses for a moment to bend her head in between her knees and takes a few deep breaths. After a moment, Hikari groans and flops on the grass in between the track. The grass is cold against her skin, it bites into her skin, but it's not enough to chill the heat in her face. She stares up at the sky, yanking out her earphones, and scowls at the stars.

Hikari flinches when she hears a thud against the metal bench, she turns her head to see Miyuki scramble to get to the track and slip down the last step of the bleachers. He stumbles and runs towards her. Miyuki, hair astray, glasses tilted awkwardly, eyes wide and his mouth bitten red. He yells-warbles, "Hikari, are you okay?!"

She stares at him slowly and frowns, "What? I'm fine. I just finished running."

Miyuki's sigh of relief nearly forces his shoulders into his chest, he presses a hand against his face, before using the momentum of his body to sit on the grass beside her. He fixes his glasses and runs his hands through his hair. He swallows, "Do you know what it was like to find you that night? Passed out on the grass last year?"

Hikari's eyes widen when she realizes what caused his state of nerves. A small tendril of guilt runs through her stomach like a live wire. He's seeing her swallowed by a fever, laying on the grass unmoving, and unresponsive. She's surprised she didn't hear him yell, but then again, he must've been so scared he could hardly make a sound. She gives him a moment of privacy and swallows, "You never told me, about that night."

"I don't like to remember it," Miyuki admits quietly and removes his hands from his hair, "I went to go find the first-years and then I saw someone laying on the grass. When I realized it was you, I called out to you, and you didn't respond. Then I remembered how you were acting odd earlier, almost as if you were sick. So, I walked down the stairs and I called out to you again and you still didn't respond. Then you coughed and I ran to get to you. You were so hot, your face was red, and you were shivering so badly. I ran with you in my arms to find the coach, Rei-chan had taken your temperature, and she was scared because it was too high. They had to call the ambulance."

Hikari turns her head to look at him, the blades of grass from her vision covered his legs and part of his arms.

"I would never forget the paramedic thanking me, he said that if I waited an hour again, he didn't think you would make it. He said you caught the deadlier strain of the flu," Miyuki breathes and looks up at the sky, "You almost didn't make it; the doctors said that if you didn't respond to their treatment, they hoped your will was strong enough to make it through the night."

Hikari runs her hand against her cheek and looks up at the sky, "I don't remember any of it. I don't even remember why I went to the field."

Miyuki turns to look at her, but she doesn't look at him—she doesn't think she's strong enough to stomach his expression.

"I know," he confirms, "That day, I realized just how easily I could've lost you. I could've lost you before I had you."

Hikari's throat dried the moment he confessed.

"I spent a lot of time trying to poke and prod you to become closer to the team. It was necessary to have the bond of trust, but you were reliable as a batter, and we got too comfortable with that. When they told us that we might lose you, the team couldn't—I couldn't train knowing that you were fighting for your life. All we felt was regret, regret that we didn't try hard enough to make you feel more comfortable, but Sawamura, the idiot said that you wouldn't leave without a fight."

She smiles at that.

"I prayed that night. It was the first time in ten years," Miyuki says quietly and looks away, "I haven't done that since my mother died."

Hikari stills: she didn't know that one.

She knows that Miyuki's relationship with his father was not a great one, he ended up taking care of him more often than he should, but he never heard anything about his mother. She licks her lips, "How did she die?"

Miyuki starts at the question, he takes a moment before he answers, "Breast cancer."

"Mine drowned in a lake," Hikari relays easily.

He looks at her in surprise, "A lake?"

"We have a lake house in Okinawa, it was my mother's; her grandmother left it to her when she died. We went one summer, I was about three, I think. I forgot my slippers in the water, and I had this thing at the time, where I would wear shoes all the time, and walking on the dirt felt really gross to me."

Miyuki snorts.

"So, I cried," Hikari remembers the memory almost as if it were yesterday. The sound of the cicadas, the hot sun, and the smell of burnt sugar. "My kaa-chan laughed and said that she was going to get it. I cheered because kaa-chan always indulged me when I was small, she said that I won't be a baby forever. So she went back to the lake; I waited for her to come back, and she never did."

Miyuki is somehow closer to her than she realized, she could feel the heat of his knee near the side of her rib. He radiated warmth and her body unconsciously yearns for it, now that the sweat dried and her body is significantly cooler.

"They found her the next day," Hikari reveals tiredly, "Her leg got caught in a piece of seaweed or coral—I don't remember. She never had a chance and if I wasn't stupid enough to cry about a pair of shoes; she'd still be here."

"You were a baby, Hikari," Miyuki reminds her gently, "You can't be stupid enough to think that you were responsible."

"Facts don't change, Miyuki," she sighs, "Perspectives do."

Miyuki quiets at that. She can feel him make a noise in agreement, a vibration through the earth, her body rumbles against it, a current against a ship; it feels like she's drowning. "You're pretty wise, Hikari."

"Consequences of almost dying," Hikari shrugs and looks up at the sky, "Papa is like that, I think."

"Your father?"

"Hm," she doesn't want to tell him, but she continues despite that, "Ever since my mother died, he tries to live a full life. He wants me to do the same and I don't think I ever understood how he had so much energy. On days like those, he reminds me of Eijun-chan. I think when I got sick, I realized just what my dad was trying to tell me."

Miyuki understood, but he still asks, "That was another thing; why didn't your dad come to the hospital when you got sick?"

Hikari stills at that; not yet. Not yet, she thinks. He doesn't get that piece of her, not now. That part of her is soft and vulnerable. It's easy to bleed and she can't patch herself up that quickly. She inhales, "I didn't want him to. He saw his wife leave him; he doesn't need to see his daughter leave too."

Chapter Text

Miyuki realizes then, just how strong Hikari is, how she held herself up together, with steel and patches of paint. She doesn't pull as easily as she used to, she pushes now, and he hates how she reminds him of himself when she does that. They've been through similar things and their perspectives have changed based on these events.

He rubs his face; she's still a better person than him, which makes this so much harder.

"I don't apologize often, at least formally," Miyuki starts off harshly, but he swallows, "But I felt a little jealous that Nori knew about your...dates rather than me."

Hikari wants to tell him that they aren't that close, but Miyuki probably knows that, and he doesn't need that thrown back in his face.

Miyuki thought that there may be something—after the inn, but he ran away from that emotional situation before he could truly dissect it.

He doesn't let anyone get too close and she does the same, but she wonders, that after all of this is said and done—if he's going to remove that rule from the playbook entirely.

It's wishful thinking, Hikari thinks, that Miyuki might actually like her.

But it isn't possible, baseball had been his life since he was small and cute—when his hat was too big for his head.

He insults the girls to keep them away from him, they get offended naturally – though some like him even more even after that horrifyingly enough – some snap back at him, but he doesn't exactly care for their response.

Hikari gives as good as she gets and that is why Miyuki gets along with her.

Sawamura was a special case, however; they had a partnership he's not sure that anyone would truly understand.

Hikari knows she may never be close to him, the way that she wants to be—the way she always thought she could be.

She'll settle for being his friend.

"Nori is my secret keeper," she says amusedly; she glances up at the sky and nods, "He understands in a way that not everyone can."

"If he's your secret keeper," Miyuki scowls, "Then what am I?"

"My captain, idiot."

Miyuki throws his jacket at her; partly to keep her warm because he can see the goosebumps on her arms and the other to muffle the urge to laugh. He's forgiven. He knows this when she smiles at him and he knows that he doesn't deserve it, but he'll work to be worthy of it.

.

Miyuki never explains most of his behavior, just the scenes he deemed were important. He never explained about the dancing and partner conflict. He never clarified his possessiveness towards Hikari when she danced with their senpai. He never spoke about his demonstrated aggressiveness towards Yakushi—to Sanada in particular, besides his obvious flirtations which the team decided to band together and eliminate him from their presence.

Those were actions that he kept to himself, close to his chest and the back of his head so he can take it apart later.

Kuramochi figures this because there's a hesitation in the way he approaches Hikari, almost nervously, and it's not his Captain.

It's not normal.

He needed to intervene, because it was disturbing, and he won't watch this train wreck go on.

So, when no one was looking, Kuramochi grabbed Miyuki by the back of the collar, like an owner picking up a cat by the scruff of his neck, and hauled him into an empty classroom.

Kuramochi practices Sawamura's breathing techniques and turns to him with a tick in his brow, "Look Miyuki. I don't know what's going on with you and Hikari-chan, but you aren't acting like a bastard and it's terrifying the rest of the underclassmen. Just go back to being an ass, okay, at least we'll know what to expect."

"Worried about me, Kuramochi? I am flattered," Miyuki smirks.

Kuramochi blinks: maybe he didn't need to do anything. "Did you apologize to Hikari-chan?"

He scratches the back of his head, "Sort of."

Miyuki was that one bastard that refuses to let people know the most important things, but if it was going to cause tension in the team, Kuramochi had to step in and say something. Moreover, he's not going to let anyone know if he made a mistake; that's just how Miyuki has always been. It always pissed him off, how private he would get despite being so close.

"Just don't act weird," Kuramochi demands instead and opens the door, "Or you'll bring the team down."

.

Miyuki was starting to give her whiplash.

His mood swings wore like a pendulum. In one moment, he was reflective and open with her - on the field when it was just them – the next morning he acted like she was an alien, but then Kuramochi dragged him into an empty classroom to do who knows what and he returned to his more arrogant self.

Whatever Kuramochi said or did, fixed his previous problem; she just hoped it would last.

.

A few weeks passed and golden week was suddenly upon them. Soon it would be the summer and Hikari wasn't looking forward to the summer training camp hell that their coach is going to put them through. Sawamura was looking better and better, but Furuya was starting to cripple under the weight of the expectations of being the Ace.

Hikari sighs, boys.

Being an ace isn't a privilege, it's a burden and the sooner they recognize that they can start approaching that number with a different mindset.

"I'm going to work with Sawamura," Hikari frowns at his sudden intensity at his textbooks, "He grew a lot from last year; you and the coach were particularly harsh with him."

Miyuki blinks, "Well, he was shit."

"You should know him better than that. When he gets in his head, you know how he acts," she frowns. She really was pissed with the way the anime handled that, from season two into three, mostly the beginning of season three, Miyuki and Coach Kataoka were particularly horrible him to him. It broke her heart to see them break his heart and things didn't get much better when Miyuki put him on the backburner.

"That's not an excuse," he replies.

"It's not, but it's understandable," Hikari grimaces and grabs a mitt, "No one deserves to be kicked down when they're already on the ground."

Miyuki's eyebrows raise and he bites the inside of his cheek; he thought he was doing a good thing, by giving Sawamura space and focusing on Furuya. He never thought that it could be translated into neglect. The fact is, Furuya, is spiraling.

"I'm not the greatest catcher or—" Hikari pauses and her thoughts come to a screeching halt. She looks at her mitt in shock. If she could see the ball come at her in slow motion, how different would it be from catching? This opened a tin of possibilities that she never even once considered.

"Hikari?" Miyuki questions at her slight pause.

She grins impishly and tightens her grip on the mitt. "I have an idea."

Hikari takes off to the bullpen; maybe if she gave Miyuki a run for his money it'll kick him in the ass and get him to work. But more than that, she wants to see if this would really work—if she could really do this.

"Eijun-chan," Hikari starts off and looks down the bullpen, "Do you want to throw to me?"

Sawamura's eyes widen, "A-Are you sure? Hikari-senpai? You're not a catcher."

"How hard could it possibly be?" she shrugs and smirks when Miyuki's lips thin, "Right Miyuki?"

"Trying to show me up, Hikari?" he raises a brow, but her eyes widen at him; he never uses her first name. At least, not in public. Their teammates pause their practice to look at him with wide eyes.

"If I show you up, then you aren't a very good catcher," Hikari quips back after a moment, she looks at the suit and chuckles nervously, "By the way, how do I put this on?"

"I'll help you, Hikari-senpai!" Sawamura yells from across the room and he starts to run towards her; Miyuki stops him by putting a hand in front of him halfway across the bullpen.

"Stretch, you idiot," Miyuki retorts lightly and grabs the gear, "I'll help her put it in—on," Kuramochi bites back a laugh, "You'll probably choke her."

Sawamura scowls and Hikari nearly swallows her tongue at the mischievous grin he gives her when he crouches on the ground to put on the leg guards.

He did that on purpose.

"Put what in?" Furuya mumbles from the corner.

Hikari flushes brightly and bites the inside of her cheek to distract her from the mischievous glint in his eyes.

He removes her cap, combs her hair back with his fingers, tucks strands of dark hair behind her ears before fitting the face mask over her head. He comments lightly, "Your hair is getting longer."

"I know," she huffs a breath, "I don't want to cut it."

Miyuki doesn't reply but pulls to strap tighter against her back and untangles her hair. "You're ready."

Hikari nods and turns to face Sawamura. She grabs her mitt and tightens it on her wrist. Crouching in front of the pen, she slides her leg to the left, "Give me a strike."

Miyuki moves to the side of the pen and watches curiously.

Sawamura nods. He inhales slowly and gets into position; he swings the ball down.

A fastball, Hikari sees the ball fly at her, but then it moves to the left.

There.

Hikari grabs the ball, and she hisses at the force.

"You...caught his fastball?" Kanemaru says in disbelief.

Miyuki stares at her in shock.

"I'm not going to lie," Hikari starts and throws the ball back at him, "I don't think I was ready for the strength of the ball. Give me a cutter, inside."

He throws another, but this one was harder, and she grits her teeth as she feels herself being pushed back.

"A four-seamer to the batter's knee!" Hikari calls out and she shifts her weight to grab the four-seamer that stumbles through time.

"I'm going to have to ice my hand after this," she hisses and throws the ball back, "Okay, um."

"Two-seamer," Miyuki adds helpfully.

Sawamura nods and throws another pitch, but it breaks just as it hits the home plate. Hikari curses and pops up on her ankles to grab the pitch as it bounces before tossing it back. She hates breaking balls in general; they were so much harder to control, unfortunately. It doesn't matter if she can see the ball's trajectory, slamming the bat against the ball before it can break makes the angle harder to track.

"That was Miyuki's catching style," Kuramochi says with wide eyes and yelps as the entire bullpen looks at her in shock, "How did you learn that?"

Miyuki smirks knowing the answer already—it's because she watches him.

Copying another player's style requires significant scrutiny and observation. For Hikari to copy Miyuki's catching style or in this case an improvised version of his catch for a breaking ball, meant that she had to study his body movements and him. She would have to spend hours looking at footage just to figure out his plays, that's something Watanabe does, but Hikari very rarely looks at relays.

This meant, that Hikari would have to be looking at him—scrutinizing him at every game, practice match, and training session.

Miyuki felt like he was on cloud nine when he reached his revelation—which then caused him to choke on his own spit. Just because Hikari watches him, and observes him, it doesn't mean that she was interested. For all he knew, she could be interested in Sanada, he thinks distastefully. But furthermore, why was it so important to him that she liked him or at least liked him more than her teammate?

Miyuki knew the answer, but to recognize that answer meant throwing away those principles and the defenses that he spent years building.

He had said it once and maybe he'll say it again.

Win or lose, the battles of my heart had already been decided.

Maybe it'll be okay to let one person in.

Miyuki inhales and looks up at his ceiling; he closes his eyes and plans his next attack.

.

On a Thursday that's when Hikari's secrets begin to escape the banded wounds.

"Hikari-chan?" Rei calls for her from the training grounds.

Hikari turns her head, she wipes her forehead, before dropping her bat near her water bottle and waits. The entire team turns to see her after Rei calls her and exchanges look with everyone else. She twists her hat until it's backward in response.

"Coach wants to see you," she says after a moment and leaves the grounds.

She frowns, but passes her mitt toward Sawamura, and jogs over to the office.

Miyuki follows her in his peripheral vision; she doesn't come back for a long time.

In the evening, Miyuki stops by her dorm room, he brings her bag and water bottle. The one she left out on the field. He knows she's in there, the lights on and so is the faint sound of music. He fluffs his hair abruptly, straightens his shirt, and knocks on the door. Two loud knocks.

He counts five seconds before Hikari stumbles to the door and opens it.

Miyuki blinks rapidly at her appearance. He's not used to seeing her in a nightgown—those pretty, satin nightgowns that he sees advertised in the mall brochures. Hers is a mint green, with thin straps, a trim of lace in the v of the top, and loose enough to hitch at the curve of her waist and hips.

But what makes him chuckle is the thick, black cat-ear headband that's holding up her bangs and opening her face.

"What?" Hikari sounds exasperated and exhausted, more so at his chuckles.

His fingers grasp the cat's ears and gives it a gentle tug. He smirks, "Cute."

She flushes at the slight and she pulls off the headband wincing when it knots at the end. Unfortunately, she needs the comb to yank out the tangle, so she ushers him inside, and grabs the comb from her dresser.

Miyuki clears his throat and puts her gym bag near the bathroom door, "You left your bag and water on the field."

Hikari clears the knot from her hair and sighs before tossing it on the dresser. She looks at her bag before nodding, "Thanks. I forgot."

"I know," he replies dryly and takes a seat on her bed. Truthfully, he also forgot, Sawamura didn't though. He and Furuya were fighting over who gets to return her belongings back to her and receive her welcoming praise. Miyuki took it instead and made excuses of having to discuss some captain stuff—fortunately, Kuramochi wasn't there to deny the plea.

Hikari stares at him. Him on her bed. On her bed. It was the first time she's seen him on her bed, not the first time she's ever shared a bed with him – though outside of school – but this is the first time he was on her bed, in their dorm, without anyone here or anyone knowing.

"Hikari," Miyuki says and she nearly shivers.

Hikari clears her throat and grabs her bathrobe from the back of her door. She slips it on and tries to regroup. She turns around and sits on her desk chair, "I take it that you're not just here to bring back my stuff."

Straight to the point.

Miyuki almost smiles and shakes his head, "No. I wanted to ask what Coach wanted. You were gone for a long time, the underclassman—were concerned."

And me.

I was concerned.

But he doesn't say that aloud.

A shadow falls over Hikari's eyes and Miyuki's golden eyes watch the cloud settle and evaporate. A furrow falls in between his eyebrows, he doesn't push for more information, but he knows that something is bothering her, and it pulled her out of the fields. He watches her fingers twist in her robe, he wonders if she slips it on to protect herself—from the cold, from him, or from what had happened.

He doesn't know.

"Coach had to give me some news," Hikari explains slowly and glances at her phone, "It wasn't very pleasant, but I was expecting it."

A cryptic answer, Miyuki concludes.

"I see," he says and leans against her pillows. He smirks when her eyebrow twitches, he twists on her bed until he's lying on his side, and drawls, "A very detailed explanation."

Hikari gives him a flat look; she's minutely surprised that he doesn't press, but the thought is as fleeting as a dandelion. Sometimes, she doesn't think she'll ever figure him out and maybe that's okay. It's what makes being around him so nice.

Then the music in her room changes, her playlist shuffles to her a smoother, more charge-filled atmosphere, and suddenly it's hard to look at Miyuki in the eye.

"You have a tv?" Miyuki's eyes widen at her set-up in the corner, the mid-sized plasma sits in the corner of her bedroom.

The mood zaps like a fried bug.

She rolls her eyes, "Of course I do."

"It wasn't here last time,"

"My dad shipped it to me," Hikari explains and shrugs, "I don't watch tv at home anyway, he thought it might be better for me to use it here."

"Well, put on a movie," Miyuki demands and shifts over so he's closer to the wall, "What are you waiting for, get in."

She gapes at him for a moment and glances at her television. She puts her hands on her hips, her matching robes part in the middle at the rapid action, "Let me guess, Kuramochi is holding a streetfighter competition in your dorm."

"Guilty," Miyuki lies smoothly and then he whines, "C'mon, I just want to relax, and they are all so loud."

Hikari rolls her eyes; she hits off on her speaker and grabs her remote from her nightstand. She pulls the sheets down, he slips under just as easily as she slips into the sheets, and she grumbles, "You're a glutton for punishment."

He snickers, "I vaguely remember saying the same."

"Is your memory going, Miyuki-oji?"

"Kazuya," Miyuki says it without really meaning to.

"What?" Hikari asks puzzled as she turns to look at him with her nose scrunching up.

Miyuki realizes that he could take it back, but the more he thinks about it, he doesn't want to. He slips an arm around her shoulders to pull her closer to him, until her hip presses up against her abs and her head is parallel to his shoulders. He repeats, "Call me Kazuya."

Hikari blinks at him, her heart thuds in her chest when he bores his eyes into hers. The golden ring eclipses into amber and they are gorgeous under the lamplight. His fingers drum a gentle rhythm on her shoulder bone. She exhales a chuckle before putting a hand on his forehead in an attempt to buy some time to figure out her response, "Are you feeling, okay? No one calls you that."

"Kuramochi does," he raises a brow under her hand, but feels the distance when she moves her hand back.

"When he wants to strangle you," she says dryly and turns on the television. He feels his fingers pull at the blankets, he tugs the sheets up and makes sure she's comfortable and tucked in. Her face feels hot, but she can't look at him because she can smell him now.

All around her.

He smells like rain after the storm, like the woods, and icy snow. He smells like comfort, cold and sharp, but the heat of him is enough to warm her bones. It's overwhelming, she thinks frantically, his scent engulfs her in a golden haze, and she breathes it in deeper.

"Do I need a reason for you to call me by my name other than that I want you to?" Miyuki whispers a few breaths away from her ear and his fingers run look circuits down her bicep.

Hikari swallows her gasp, and she tilts her head until she sees him hover over her like a star. She licks her lips and her brain rattles when she sees his eyes trace her movements. She tucks that piece of information away for later, much later when she has the time and brain cells to dissect that. She half-smiles now, wryly, a touch amused, "I don't think you can handle me, Miyuki."

Miyuki's eyes widen in delight and the smirk that he gives her showcases his gorgeous teeth, "I've already slept beside you, I don't think I'm too far off."

"You also turned tail and ran," Hikari rolls her eyes and then shifts under the blankets. She hisses, "Your feet are like ice, idiot!"

"Warm them up, then," Miyuki snorts and pulls her closer against him until her head is nearing the curve of his chest and she can hear his heartbeat. He's nervous too—not nervous, excited, and determined. He doesn't get nervous; Miyuki gets frustrated, but never nervous. It's enough to reassure her, that this is okay.

"As if, I am not your space heater," she grumbles and flicks through the channel before she lands on a re-run of an old drama—much to her surprise Miyuki knows the name. She snorts, "You know the old housewives’ dramas?"

"I used to watch them with my kaa-chan," Miyuki answers easily and she winces internally at the sting, "When she started to get sick, we would watch them, and make fun of the characters."

Hikari giggles and Miyuki feels more than see, her laughter rolls into his lungs like a spring shower. It's light and airy, sweet to his ears, and his fingers rub the satin of her robe. There's a small sliver of disappointment, that she's wearing the robe, and that he can’t compare her skin to the satin of her gown.

Another time, Miyuki thinks.

Hikari is more amused by imagining a baby Miyuki, with his head so small that his hat keeps falling off his head, curled up to his mother, and making fun of the character's dramatic acting. He would probably point at the screen and laugh when the daughter-in-law fall down the stairs or huff at the mother-in-law. She scoots down further until she's resting on his chest and turns up the volume. She peers upwards and Miyuki's heart skips a beat. Her dark lashes are heavy, half-lidded, and wonderous as she looks at him. She asks him almost sweetly, "Still want to watch?"

Gorgeous, he breathes.

"Of course," Miyuki smirks and makes himself more comfortable in her bed. Head on her mountain of pillows, he's surrounded by her scent and Hikari. He rumbles low and husky, "It's an experience that you have to try."

Hikari hums with a light blush and turns back to watch the television. Miyuki's heart is strong and sure against her ear. His hands are warm and gentle, never once do they stop caressing her.

He had been all she ever wanted, but never thought she could ever have, because who was she trying to catch a star?

She would burn before letting him fall.

Chapter Text

Hikari wakes up to Miyuki's face and it's a miracle that she didn't make some sort of outraged noise. It's a damn wonder that she didn't even flinch at the sight of him. And it's a marvel that no one came to look for him. She wonders what they would think, think of Miyuki when they see her all wrapped in him. She has a leg slung over his hips, he has a hand resting just above the swell of her ass, her cheek smooshed against his catcher's shoulder – honestly, if she really were thinking she would've leaped back, banging her head against the wall at the possible injury she may or may not have caused to his shoulder – her hand fisting his shirt in front of him, and his other hand flat against her upper back.

He's getting past my defenses, Hikari realizes.

Hikari will never deny the fact, could never the fact, that she is disgustingly attracted to Miyuki because she is. Since the moment she's first seen him, she saw a star burning full forward into a small cluster of cosmoses. She saw too much and not enough. But she would've never acted on these feelings, she never would've even thought twice about revealing them—they were meant to stay hidden and eventually die out.

She was happy to have him in her life, never to have him treat her more than anything other than a friend. She was determined to go to Nationals with him, to win the tournament, to be there with him when he's glowing in all his glory. She was content with losing contact with him after graduating high school—she expected it.

Because she knows life without it.

But the problem is that Hikari is now getting a taste of more—she's getting a taste of what could be, of what can be, she's getting the sweet taste of hope, and it will make her greedy. She will want for him, hunger for him in ways she may never be able to truly articulate, and the desire for him will swallow her whole.

However, when the moment does come and Hikari finally sinks her teeth into him  –when she knows him in ways that no one will ever know – she may never be able to let him go because how could she, when bliss felt like him when he felt like home?

She won't be able to survive it.

This time it would kill her, and she hopes that she'll stay dead—because knowing what lay unattainable is so much more painful than being in the realm of his light.

"Please," Hikari whispers inaudibly; begging, pleading him not to take her over the cliff, "I'm not that strong."

Miyuki's brows furrow; he's waking up.

She presses her nose into his chest, hoping he'll think her asleep, that he'll forgive her for speaking her thoughts—her prayers allowed.

He makes a small, sleepy, adorable sound and shifts until his chin rests on the crown of her head. His fingers slide up her back until they tangle in her hair, digits pressing into her scalp as he strokes—she grits her teeth, her toes curl into the sheets and it's so hard to force the shudder that runs up her spine. He presses a warm, lingering kiss to her hairline, and her hip abductor twitches at the feeling.

Hikari's eyes are wide open now; her lower lashes brush her cheek. The heat of his body seeps into her skin like his eyes; honey, thick and sweet curling into her blood with heavy drops and she's like a delayed livewire. Each brush of warmth makes her want to jump out of her skin, yet they are delicious enough to want her to wrap up around him like a blanket.

"Hikari," he mumbles sleepily; she doesn't know if he's answering her or if he's stating a fact.

But her heart pounds like a maddening thing when he pulls her closer.

Hikari doesn't peer upwards, because if she does, she would've seen him open his eyes and look at her with watchful golden eyes.

He heard her.

.

Kuramochi is loud and obnoxious in the morning, though he dorms with Sawamura, he couldn't find Miyuki, and it pissed him off. He slams his fist on the table, "Where did you go, you bastard? Zono said you didn't crash in his dorm room, and you always crash there!"

Miyuki snickers and takes a bite of rice, "I found a new place to sleep—this time I won't be kicked out of my own dorm room."

"We didn't kick you out, idiot!"

"You all are so loud it's unbearable," he complains and slices through his katsu. He eyes Hikari from the corner of the table, she's picking at her rice, nibbling on some fruit here and there, but he can tell that he's on her mind, and that puts him in a pleasant mood. Still, he wishes she would eat more. He passes her another bowl of miso soup since her bowl is empty.

"Is this what a full night's sleep does for you, Miyuki?" Nori asks amused and takes a bite out of his stir-fry.

"Amazing isn't it," Miyuki grins, "It was the best night's sleep I've ever had, even Sawamura wasn't able to find me."

"Sawamura would find you?" Ono asks in disbelief.

"He would come to the dorm around five in the morning and ask Miyuki to catch for him," Nori snorts.

Sawamura blushes in the corner and stabs his katsu violently, "He's always so stingy at practice! I have to catch him unguarded."

"You're all insane," Hikari mumbles and nibbles on a piece of tofu.

"Are you alright, Ito-senpai?" Furuya asks hesitantly, his dark eyes looking at her oddly.

She stares at him for a moment. Unfortunately, she doesn't know how to answer their concerns. That was partly her fault for trying to deal with everything. Ever since the new training sessions, fighting with Miyuki, and making up—it had taken all her energy to keep her grades up and work on batting. Not to mention, her father's cancer had gotten worse—it was progressing, but the doctors assured her that despite the disease her father's fighting back with everything he's got.

It makes her anxious, like she's constantly on edge, and one blow would topple her over.

Furuya was sweet in an I-want-to-be-a-grown-up type of way; it reminded her a lot of herself when she was growing up. His pants are too long for his legs; she smiles, "I'm fine. A bit tired."

"Didn't sleep well, Hikari?"

Sawamura's eyes widen at the lack of honorific—lack of everything really.

His teammates pause their meals to look at Miyuki.

"I did," she forces herself to not blush and to not look at his smirking self, "I think it's the heat."

"Make sure you drink a lot of electrolytes, Hikari-senpai!" Sawamura reminds eagerly.

"That's a big word, Sawamura," Kanemaru snorts. "Did you Miyuki-senpai teach you that?"

Okumura's eyes widen at the usage of her full name and demands, "You call your senpai by her first name?"

Sawamura blinks, "Yes?"

Hikari snorts, "Don't worry, Okumura. Eijun-chan has made himself my adopted son."

"I can call you kaa-chan if you want!"

"Absolutely not."

Miyuki scowls, "When did we adopt that idiot?"

"Who is we?" Hikari sputters with a tick on her brow.

Kuramochi exchanges a look with Zono.

"Me," Miyuki's thumb points to him and then flips to point at her, "You."

Hikari scowls, "You can have Furuya, Eijun-chan is mine."

He narrows his eyes at the phrase.

"They are fighting over me, Harucchi!" Sawamura sings with glee to his teammate.

"I chaperoned them when they had to go piss," Miyuki says flatly.

"Well, I hope so! I hope they aren't comfortable with me going with them," she shudders, and Kanemaru muffles a snort.

Haruichi flushes in embarrassment.

"Are you two dating?" Yui asks curiously.

The entire team's conversations come to a screeching halt. Hikari gapes at the first year and Kuramochi bursts into a fit of uncontrollable laughter, Zono following, Shirasu, and the rest of the third years. Nori is the only one that notices Miyuki's annoyance.

"Are you joking?" Kuramochi cackles, "Hikari-chan would kill him five minutes into the relationship!"

"Hikari-chan is way too good for Miyuki," Zono adds with a chuckle.

"Oi," Miyuki slips an arm around Hikari's shoulder and pulls her closer; she swallows a gasp at the sudden tug. Her knee bumps into his and her baseball hat tumbles off her head. Her hair wraps around her arm and curls over his shoulder. He narrows his gaze and dares, "You don't think we would make a good couple?"

"Miyuki," Hikari hisses and drops his hand from her shoulder to hold her higher up at her waist.

He ignores her.

"You do make a very attractive couple," Nori comments lightly; hoping to diffuse some of the attention.

"Very pretty," Furuya nods and then frowns, "If you adopted Sawamura, why did you not adopt me?"

Kuramochi's jaw hits the table.

Hikari racks her brain for an answer, "Because you don't call me Hikari-senpai."

"Oh," he says and blushes before nodding firmly, "Alright, Hikari-senpai."

She holds her heart as if it's been shot by something; she won't ever reveal how cute she found that and how wonderful it is to find Kuramochi choking on a bite of rice. She swivels her head to face Miyuki who's absolutely loving the chaos. Her nose brushes his and she blinks at the sudden luminosity of his eyes, "We can share custody of Furuya."

"Done," he grins.

"Um..." Haruichi pinkens more than his hair and grabs the edge of his sweater, "What about me?"

Kuramochi falls to the floor dramatically.

"They've corrupted the second years," Nabe says with amusement and then glances at who remains, "Well, almost all of them."

.

Later that night, Hikari walks into the lobby wearing a satin pajama set. It's pink with long sleeves and long pants. It's detailed in the breast pocket, with roses and some other floral print. The entire team pauses their laughter to look at her and then at the duffle bag she's carrying; she drops it to the floor.

"You look pretty, Hikari-senpai," Furuya says quietly.

She smiles tiredly.

"It's not Saturday," Kuramochi points out absently.

Miyuki's eyes remained glued to the weekend bag.

"I know," she scratches her throat and breathes, "I'm going away for the weekend. Well, I'll be back Sunday night."

They stare at her in shock.

Hikari inhales, "Um, he wants to meet you all—the team."

"The guy your dating?" Miyuki asks, but his voice sounds strange—like he's underwater; like his brain is numb and he doesn't know how words are supposed to come out of his mouth.

She nods hastily and fiddles with a loose strand of hair. She swallows, "Coach is with him out front."

Kuramochi stands up abruptly, he grabs his bat and grins as the rest stand up too, "Let's go scare the shit out of him."

Sawamura salutes.

Hikari blanches with horror and then hisses, "Behave. All of you!"

Miyuki is the first to walk, a shadow covering his eyes, as he strolls out the door and the rest of them hurriedly follow behind him.

Hikari swears quietly, she grabs her bag and jogs down the stairs past her teammates—hoping to at least cut the momentum.

She gets to the car in record time. Coach Kataoka nods calmly to her eager father who's speaking so quickly, she's not sure how he hasn't choked on air yet.

"Papa," she whispers frantically, "They are on their way."

"I can see that," he says amusedly and watches a flock of boys, some with baseball bats and others with mitts walk down the stairs of the school.

Miyuki's eyes widen as he takes in the sight of the older man resting against the car. He has short dark hair, a kind smile, sort of frail, but his energy is one that could match Sawamura's. This old man is the person Hikari was dating?

He feels faint, is he having a stroke?

"Boys," Coach Kotaoka starts off and grabs their attention, "I'd like you to meet Hikari-chan's father, Ito Daichi."

Sawamura stares, "Oto-san?"

Haruichi blinks, thinks with slight horror, just how well Hikari-senpai and his aniki would've gotten along if he gave her the chance.

"Oto," Kuramochi tilts his head, "San?"

"It's very nice to meet you all. I've heard so much about you," Ito-san smiles warmly and bows his head.

"It's nice to meet you, Ito-sama," Nori says strongly and bows his head, ever so slowly the rest of the team follows Nori's lead.

Miyuki turns his burning gaze to Hikari who's been slowly inching behind her father, sweat mapping the back of her neck.

"So, all the Saturdays that you've been going on dates...you were with your dad?" Sawamura asks owlishly.

"Dates?" Ito-san asks his daughter with amusement, "Is that what you've been telling your team?"

"Well," Hikari chuckles nervously, "That's what you've been calling them, Papa!"

Ito-san beams and pulls her into a bone-crushing hug, "It delights me to hear you say that princess!"

He presses a loud kiss to her cheek, and she can't help but cover her face with her hands and, whine pathetically red, "Pa-pa!"

The team chuckles at the play and the surprisingly embarrassed Hikari. Kuramochi coos, "I didn't know you could be so cute, Hikari-chan!"

Hikari growls and looks at him with narrowed eyes.

"Put your bag in the car, Hikari-chan," Ito-san urges his daughter gently and winks, "Now, let's see how long it takes you to find your present in the front seat."

Her eyes light up, "A present?"

Hikari hesitates and watches her team warily.

"I mean if you want the present to melt..."

She runs to the passenger side.

Ito-san chuckles at his daughter.

"You spoil her, Daichi-san," Kotoka shakes his head.

"She is my only child," he shrugs his shoulders. Ito turns to face her team and bows his head again, "I want to thank you all for taking care of Hikari-chan. Ever since I was first diagnosed, the light in her eyes had grown dimmer, and she built a shell around her. Since she started going to Seido – after bullying your Coach here because really my daughter is much better than most amateurs – she's become more like the Hikari-chan I remember. A beaming light, a sure pathway into the darkness."

The team stares at him in shock.

"Your diagnosis?" Miyuki finally asks the question that's been burning on his tongue.

Ito-san's eyes widen, and he huffs in surprise, "You don't know," he shakes his head and brushes it off,  "Well, no matter. Still, I would like to thank you, boys, for taking care of her when I couldn't."

Before any of the boys could say anything, Ito-san slipped into the car and drove out of the campus.

Miyuki turns to look at his coach and the entire walked behind him. He frowns, "Coach?"

Kataoka sighs.

Chapter Text

He was diagnosed with kidney cancer a year before she came to this school.

Miyuki walks back to his dorm room.

He does a combination of treatments, some of them are more strenuous, and Saturday is his only off day.

He throws his hat on his desk.

It's why he couldn't see her when she was sick; if he caught the flu, it would've exasperated his symptoms.

It topples over.

Hikari asks for each Saturday off to visit him; she knows that she can't see him during the week due to his treatment plan.

Miyuki throws himself on his bed.

He wants to spend each free moment with his daughter—Hikari is the same.

He inhales shakily.

This Wednesday his diagnosis turned for the worst; he has hit stage four.

Miyuki rubs his hands down his face.

He collapsed outside the hospital. The doctors are going to give him a more aggressive treatment plan; the good news is that it hasn't spread very far.

She didn't tell him.

But Hikari-chan has been preparing herself—she doesn't think he'll last very long.

How could she?

This weekend was terrifying for her. So, we gave her the weekend. You will have to tell me where her head is to play in the next game, Miyuki.

The very same reason he couldn't talk to anyone about his mother; it was painful.

Miyuki inhales shakily and shoves the pillow over his face.

.

Hikari arrives back at the dorms Sunday evening, just before dinner. She was a bit mortified how her teammates followed her out the door, bringing baseball bats and mitts to meet her date—her father. She supposed she deserved it—purposefully misleading them about whom she was spending her Saturdays with. To be fair, they deserved it.

Especially Miyuki.

Hikari sighs as she opens the door to her room and drops her bag on the ground before tossing her small messenger bag on her desk. She groans and flops on her bed, her back slamming against the mattress—except it isn't a mattress, but a person. She yells out in surprise and twists over the lump to the other side of the bed.

Miyuki smirks and twists his head to look at her from his position on her bed.

"What are you doing in my bed?" Hikari pants, her hand lying flat against her beating heart.

"Technically, I'm on your bed," he corrects with a snicker and sits up to judge her position on the bed—nearly hanging on the foot of the bed, "And you're hanging off the rails."

"You nearly gave me a heart attack," she breathes out unevenly and rubs the bridge of her nose, "How did you even get in here?"

Miyuki swings the key from his index finger.

"You have a key?"

"Coach always gives me copies," Miyuki shrugs, "Perks of being a Captain, I guess."

Hikari stares at him in disbelief, "Well, give it back. Do you know how creepy it is to know that you have a key to my room and can pop in whenever you want?"

"The same way I know that you don't find it creepy," he retorts easily and shoves the key into his pocket.

"So, now you're a mind-reader?"

"Comes with being a catcher," Miyuki sings and leans back against the headrest.

Hikari scowls and crosses her arms underneath her chest, "And what am I thinking now?"

"You're thinking that you want to strangle me, but you know you can't because we need to go to Nationals," Miyuki drawls out amused and then sobers up just as quickly, "You're also thinking that you're tired."

She stares at him.

"You're tired of having to worry about your father and constantly worry about your team. You're worried about being able to eat dinner later because you just had a chocolate donut, you're worried about having to teach Sawamura some new pitching because your hands are small and delicate and those balls burn through the mitt," Miyuki grabs her ankle from the bed and tugs her closer, "You're worried that whatever is happening in between us will disappear the moment you stop thinking about it."

Hikari could hardly breathe, for the intensity of his gaze sucks up the air around him, everything is pinpointed on her, like a meteorite, and she can't deny him just solely because he was right. She thought about him all weekend, wondered if what was happening to the in between them was all in her head—if she was somehow reading too much into things.

Her father generally had so much energy that it was almost painful to leave him when he was doing so well, but at the same time, she needs a break from reality.

"Why are you here, Miyuki?" Hikari asks quietly, expression drawn and worn out.

Miyuki's eyes widen at her sudden loss of energy, "I came to see you."

She watches him shrewdly and says, "You know, after you spent the night here, I decided to let you know who I was meeting on Saturday. I wanted to trust you with it—trust the team with it."

"Why did you let me believe that you were going on dates for this long?" Miyuki offers in return.

"To piss you off," she grins when he scowls at her.

"Well, it worked," he grumbles annoyed.

Hikari shrugs, "Better than letting you know what was really happening."

"With your dad's diagnosis?"

She stiffens and somehow the distance between them seems so much bigger, "Coach told you?"

"Your dad did, actually," Miyuki corrects and frowns, "He mentioned it, but Coach had to clarify it."

"I see."

He watches her carefully. She doesn't look at him directly in his eyes, instead, she focuses a point over his shoulder. He can't read her; not like this. So, he leans over quickly, too quickly to allow himself time to think, and pulls her into his arms. She gasps when he hugs her tighter, her fingers grip his back from underneath his arms and his hands are big and warm around her back.

"You don't have to tell me if you don't want to," Miyuki breathes into her ear and shoves her face into the crook of his neck, "But don't shut me out."

"It was just easier not talking about it," she exhales harshly and tightens her grip on his shirt, "Because talking about it makes—everything real."

He drags his lips over the contours of her cheek, and she so desperately wants to crawl into his lap and sink into the sureness of Miyuki Kazuya, but her limbs are frozen, tense with unwanted tension and second-guess.

He doesn't push her but pulls her in that much closer.

.

"You can have my extra pudding, Hikari-senpai," Sawamura pushes her vanilla pudding towards her tray.

"You can have my strawberries," Furuya puts his fruit on her plate.

"Do you want some more tea? I'll get you some more tea," Kuramochi scrabbles to the other side of the cafeteria.

"I'm not sure if I'm enjoying this or if I'm a little terrified," Hikari whispers to Miyuki as the rest of her team trips over to give her extra stuff. She was a bit miffed that her whole team knew about her family situation, but she was amused at how they were bending over backward to assist her in any way possible. The power she holds is tempting.

Miyuki chuckles and eats his rice quietly.

"Our next match is with Seiko Academy?"

"Thursday," he answers.

"How's your injury, Furuya?" Hikari asks suddenly.

Furuya glowers, "Fine."

"It hurts," Haruichi supplies helpfully.

Hikari hums at that; Sawamura and Nori are going to have to pitch for this game and depending on Furuya's condition Coach might just throw him in for the final inning. She glances at her full tray and devours her fish and rice. Her pudding lay untouched for now until she decides to put Sawamura out of his misery and swallow the sweet. Hikari sips her tea and when she moves back to grab her pudding from the side of the table, she feels a sudden, familiar, dull, pain stammer over her lower stomach.

She flinches.

Miyuki pauses mid-bite, but apparently, he isn't the only one that caught the flicker of pain.

Zono did too, "Hikari-chan?"

Another one, she thinks with mute horror, as she feels a familiar wet slide in between her thighs, "Uh, I'll be right back."

Hikari high-tails it out of the cafeteria and breaks for her dorm room.

She runs into her bathroom and swears when she sees the faint bloodstain on her underwear. She swears violently, it's late. Hikari had been able to control her periods for weekends and have them draw towards the end of the month, but with the stress she had been putting her body through, Hikari had forgotten to take one of her pills.

She's just lucky it didn't stain her uniform.

Female bodies were just so strange sometimes.

She grimaces and grabs a tampon from her stash. They say periods should be lighter due to rigorous exercise, but most of the time, it's a lie. There are far too many factors that can change that statement.

Hikari pops a painkiller with a bottle of water from her dresser and scowls when she sees Miyuki on her bed.

"You do know that you have your own bed," she enunciates.

"But yours smells so much nicer," Miyuki smirks and nuzzles into her pillow.

She blushes, "Some of us shower,"

"Oi, are you saying I smell?"

"I'm saying lots of things,"

He shakes his head and glances at the bottle of painkillers sitting on the corner of her desk. He frowns, "Are you alright?"

"Worried?" she smirks.

"Yes," Miyuki says simply.

Hikari's smirk slides off her face and she's faced with an uncomfortable realization. She tucks a strand of hair behind her ear and waves it off, "I'm fine. Just a stomachache."

"You've been eating too much sugar," Miyuki scowls exasperatedly and stands with his hands on his hips, disapproving. "I knew this would happen sooner or later; see this is why I don't eat sweets. Things like this happen."

She looks mildly offended, "Sugar has nothing to do with my stomachache; I probably just pulled a muscle or something."

He grows even more concerned he grabs the ends of his hair in frustration, "Then you should be using heating packs, do you have any? Never mind, I'll go grab some from the training rooms."

"Miyuki," Hikari starts and blinks when he glares at her. She coughs, "I'm okay. I promise I'll just do some light training or something."

"Hikari,"

"I swear, Captain," she rolls her eyes and grabs his shoulder; pushing him out of the room, "I'm a Vice-Captain too, you know. I can't be pushing myself too hard."

"You're right, instead, you're pushing me," Miyuki snorts and switches tactics by side-stepping to the left and looping an arm around her shoulders when she stumbles forward and pulls her against his chest. He narrows his golden eyes, "If I see one sign of hesitation, I'm pulling you out of training."

"I don't enjoy this manhandling,"

Miyuki pokes her cheek with his thumb and grins, "Then why are you smiling?"

.

A decidual cast.

That's what they called it.

Hikari was in so much pain throughout practice that she had to take a timeout and go throw up in a nearby trash. That's when she felt something pop out of her, for a moment, she feared the worse, feared that her entire uterus just popped out. Irrationally thought of the most terrible things that could happen to women since she found diagnosing websites. She nearly had a coronary when she saw the mass and frantically called Rei-chan.

Apparently, it was completely normal, and she would eventually have to switch her birth control. Hikari wasn't a fan of taking medication, but training with the men's baseball team meant that her body would be stretched in more ways than she could count. Her cramps were bad even before going to school, but with the right medication she was allowed to control how her period should run and minimize the amount of scrutiny she would get—if people found out that she was receiving special treatment – having more off days or specialized training – by just being a female, then they would put the team under more fire, and try to find a way to remove her from the team.

Hikari wasn't going to allow that.

Just this time, it didn't do so well—she groans and rolls over on her stomach.

For preventive measures, she had Sawamura steal Miyuki's key to her room, and give it to her. Hikari wanted to wallow in pain and her own misery—alone.

The cast is coming out in fragments and Hikari must wallow in her bed until the time passes. She cringes as another wave of pain hits her lower back, she moans, "Never again."

She'll get the implant, but for the love of the Gods do not make her take any more hormones.

Hikari never took birth control in her other life, she never really had the need for it, but now this body is fighting muscle and fat in a brawl to the death.

Then, there's a sudden tap at the window. She blinks from her balled-up form and stills waiting to hear another tap. The latch clicks and Hikari nearly breaks her neck to look out her window. Miyuki is outside her windowsill with some type of metal wire, he slides her window open, and breathes heavily as he flops over the ledge—a large plastic bag in his hand.

"How the hell did you—" Hikari honestly gapes, stands up abruptly, and pushes Miyuki aside to look out the window, "What the fuck, Kuramochi? This is the second floor!"

Kuramochi grins at the explicative and salutes before running away with a crazed laugh, "Good night, Hikari-chan!"

Hikari shuts her window before spinning around, she grabs the front of his shirt and yanks it towards her. She growls more fed up than she has been in this life, "Kazuya, what are you doing? You're lucky you didn't fall! You could've broken your neck, you idiot."

Miyuki's eyes widen at the use of his first name and the fact that he's just a few paces away from kissing her right on the mouth, but he curbs the temptation by holding up a plastic bag in front of her. He clears his throat, "I brought food."

She eyes the plastic bag for a moment, releases his shirt, and stomps over to her bed. She curls back up on her bed and wraps her fuzzy blanket around her arms, "There better be pocky in there or I'm kicking you out the window."

"I have katsu with curry, snacks, drinks, and ice cream," Miyuki smiles apologetically and puts the plastic bag on the desk. He takes a seat on her bed and puts her head in his lap. He asks softly, while running his fingers through her hair, "How are you feeling?"

"Like I got socked in the stomach," she groans and flops back onto the bed tiredly.

"What happened? Sawamura said you threw up in the trash on the field," he wrinkles his nose and grimaces at her retreat back into her mass of fluffy pillows.

Hikari sighs: what does she have to lose besides her dignity? She gives him a flat look, "My birth control stopped working."

Miyuki's brain stops functioning and repeats dumbfounded, "Your...what?"

"My birth control," she scowls, "I missed a pill, and my entire system has gone crazy. I'm waiting for the rest of my uterus to fall out, but I am being punished because instead of one huge lump, it's coming out in small pieces. Now, I'm lying in bed with cramps from hell, I'm nauseous and I don't know if I want to eat a fried banana or salted fish, okay," she sniffs and rolls back into a ball, humiliated, "I just want to lay in bed and be miserable."

Miyuki takes a minute to process, and he asks, "Why are you taking birth control?"

"For my cramps, to control my period so it doesn't interfere with any games," Hikari pauses and then adds in with a hint of a snicker, "And because I live in a dorm with a bunch of boys—honestly, Miyuki, do I need to spell everything out?"

There are far too many things Miyuki could say, could comment on, and none of them would be appropriate. His head hurts just thinking of the possibilities. Instead, he inhales deeply and pulls out two dinner bowls. There's an extra bag of salted pretzels, nothing too unhealthy that could upset her stomach, and a bag of popcorn. Hikari sits up, her pajamas today are an oversized baseball jersey and fuzzy socks—that is all Miyuki could see.

"Here," Miyuki gives her a bowl and hands her a ginger ale. He pauses before grabbing his bowl and turns to ask, "Do you have any cramps?"

Hikari kind of hates how composed he is, and how normal he's acting because she feels so horribly awkward. She considers the question, "Not at the moment, it comes and goes."

Miyuki grabs a mat from inside the bag—her eyes widen at an electric, heated pad.

He clears his throat and chuckles sheepishly, "I had a feeling that something like this was happening—I uh, obviously didn't know how bad."

"That's," Hikari pauses and watches him plug the cord of the heating pack into the wall, "That's really sweet, Kazuya."

Almost disturbing.

Miyuki wrinkles his nose at the word, but it fails to make it completely on his face, the sound of his name rolling off her tongue is enough to brighten his smile. "Why do you make that sound like an insult?"

She squashes the urge to smile.

Hikari takes a moment to assess the situation. Miyuki scaled her window to give her food, bring a heating pack, and—and what else? She draws a blank. Her breath hitches when a wave of pain washes over her lower back and stomach. Miyuki notices her wince of pain and presses his lips together in a tight line. He ignores her protests and in one smooth stroke, he gently rolls her over on her stomach so the mat will rest right under her lower belly.

He hits max heat on the remote.

Miyuki then notices just how short her baseball jersey is, an old model that rode high on her upper thighs exposing miles and miles of smooth skin. He carefully smooths down her shirt, carelessly running his palm down a strong thigh, and inquires in disbelief, "How many nightgowns do you have?"

"A lot, but I haven't done laundry yet," Hikari bites a shiver when the callouses of his hands catch on her skin and curls her toes in her sheets when he slides his hands up her lower back. His fingers are nice and slow on her bunched-up muscles, fingers digging into her lower back and massaging the tension away in slow circles. It's a nice pressure, but not hard enough to make her whimper in distaste. "Chris-senpai's lessons have worked wonders on you."

"I'm not an idiot,"

"Debatable,"

Miyuki scowls and twists awkwardly to press his thumbs into her spine. He pauses, "Do you mind if I—"

"If you what?" Hikari mumbles into her sheets.

There's a moment suspended in time. Miyuki's hands are heavy and warm on her back. He exhales roughly before he swings a leg over her thighs, her eyes widen when she feels his weight brush her bare thighs, his knees bracketing her hips, and his hands cover more skin now that he's on top of her.

Hikari has to pinch herself, discreetly, to know for sure that she isn't hallucinating.

This is real life? Hikari thinks in disbelief.

Miyuki's finger slides over a sensitive patch of skin, just above the swell of her bottom, and she flinches when her pulse jumps in her throat. He stops and asks, "Hurts?"

She opens her mouth and closes it unable to answer his question without wanting to melt into the ground. Her fingernails fist into the sheets, her face sports a bright red blush, and she swallows a garbled yelp to think. She clears her throat and answers roughly, "A little."

Miyuki makes a note of that and lessens the pressure, but this time, she thinks exasperatedly, it's worse, because the catcher lessens the pressure into a caress, and it tickles the back of her brain.

Hikari needs a distraction—something to take her mind off Miyuki's weight, his scent, and his hands—his strong and capable hands pulling her apart at the seams, and she knows that she wasn't a saint in her past life so why on earth—

She inhales deeply, "By the way, how did you get Kuromochi to lift you up to my window?"

"Well, he told Sawamura he was going to do it, and I pointed out that the idiot would break his neck—so then he would get Zono to lift him, but Zono had a meeting with an advisor," Miyuki starts off and slides his hands from the curve her waist to the rounded part of her hips, "And then Furuya offered, but his stamina isn't the best and Haruichi is too short."

"So, you were the last option?" she snorts almost offended.

"That," he agrees and pushes her hair to one side of the bed. His fingers trail down the elegant curve of her neck, "And I'm the only one that knows which window leads to your room."

"That's a bit stalker-ish, Miyuki," Hikari replies lightly.

"Not really," Miyuki hums and presses into the dimples of her lower back. She yelps at the suddenness and nearly jack-knifes Miyuki off the bed. He expected her reaction however, he pushes her upper back into the mattress and tightens his thighs against her hips to still her. "Not when I've slept in your bed."

Hikari grits her teeth; he planned that.

And she can't find herself to complain because that one pressure point eased most of the tension in her back and he can feel it.

Hikari sighs as he flips her over onto her back, she looks at him with a frown, her hair a cloud of smoke on the bed, her jersey slipping off her shoulder and her legs tangled under him. She snaps her fingers at him, "When I feel better, I'm going to hit you."

Miyuki chuckles and slides his hands from her knees, up her thighs to the sides. "How are you feeling?"

She exhales and lolls her head to the side to see the food sitting on her desk, "Better."

"Think you could eat?"

Hikari wrinkles her nose at the sound but thought better of it. She responds tiredly, "I don't know, I haven't been able to keep much of anything down."

Miyuki doesn't look happy at that answer, but he doesn't say anything, merely sets their meal up. He watches her like a hawk, making sure she takes the appropriate bites and sips her drink slowly. Only then does he start to eat as well.

Chapter Text

"Clean-up...batter?" Hikari stares wide-eyed at Coach Kataoka.

He nods, "I should've made you clean up batter after last summer, but I wanted to evaluate skills before. It'll take some of the pressure off Miyuki and help him focus. Your batting average is the highest in the prefecture."

"Huh," she didn't see this one coming, but it makes sense judging from how good her batting has gotten. She looks at Kuramochi who's trying to swallow his laughter and then at Miyuki. She bows lowly, "It's too much stress for you to handle, Kazuya. I suppose I can help our highly-esteemed Captain."

Kuramochi couldn't help it, he bursts into a fit of manic laughter, "The Great Miyuki Kazuya is becoming an old man!"

Hikari hides her laugh by sipping on her water.

Miyuki scowls and throws an arm around her shoulder, "You better not strike out at any of our games, Hikari."

"I'm not your underclassman, Miyuki, tell it to someone who listens," Hikari pulls his ear and relishes in his yelp.

"As if your Vice-Captains would respect you, bastard," Kuramochi laughs and throws an arm over his shoulders, "We should overthrow the tyrant, Hikari-chan!"

"The fountain looks very nice this time of year,"

"If you toss me in you will be running laps until you pass out,"

"Is that supposed to scare us?"

Kuramochi cackles and pushes him out the door. Hikari laughs but follows the duo with her bat hanging over her shoulder.

"They have a nice companionship," Kataoka comments.

Rei narrows her eyes, "Do you think...Miyuki and Hikari-chan...?"

He rolls his shoulders and lets out a sigh, "They are seniors and it's their last year. If any of them are going to fool around, I rather it be them."

"That's...surprising, Tesshin,"

"As long as it doesn't affect the team, and I doubt it will—I cannot complain," he frowns and looks at the window, "Besides, Ito is going to need all the support she can get if things get worse before the end of the year."

Rei grimaces and looks at the paperwork, "Did you find a lawyer?"

"Should be here within the week,"

.

"To Hikari-senpai!" Sawamura lifts his cup of juice in the air and beams, "For dethroning Miyuki-bastard as the clean-up batter!"

Hikari bows dramatically and cheers with her bottle of water, "Thank you, Eijun-chan!"

"Speech!" Zono yells from the corner of the room and the entire room choruses it back.

She chuckles nervously and waves it off, "It's not that big of a deal, please."

Miyuki snorts and smirks at her apprehension; he blocks her escape with an arm, "Ah-ah, you got the position of clean-up batter, now you have to make a speech—remember, Vice-Captain?"

Hikari glares at him and glances at the room. She takes a step on the chair and bores holes into the catcher, "Miyuki sucks and I will gladly take the mantle as your clean-up batter starting—when is Seiko's game?"

"Tomorrow," Furuya adds helpfully.

Hikari gapes, "Tomorrow?"

Miyuki snickers.

It had been a little over half a week since Hikari had gotten sick, most of the second years were suspicious, and an extra week after since Seiko had to push their game back due to bad weather. So, it was almost a solid two weeks of practice she had gotten before she has to switch positions to clean up batter, but that didn't mean she was shocked at the dates.

Hikari sighs, "I'll do my best, so Sawamura you better get some strikeouts."

"But I'm pitching tomorrow, Hikari-senpai," Furuya points out with a frown and Sawamura raises his brows in shock.

Miyuki narrows his brows.

Oops.

She forgot about the timeline.

"We have very talented pitchers on the team," Hikari coughs and grabs the back end of the chair to step down, "I'm pretty sure Sawamura will pitch at least one inning and you aren't completely healed, are you Furuya?"

Furuya stiffens.

Miyuki's golden eyes turn to him.

How did she know, and I didn't? he thinks curiously.

.

"Nervous for tomorrow?" Miyuki breaks her out of her thoughts and takes a seat next to her on the bench.

Hikari shifts her grip on her ice pack and puts the pack closer to her neck than her shoulder. She snorts, "I don't get nervous, Miyuki."

He scowls.

Lies.

She slips off her socks and puts her aching feet on the cold floor. She exhales and shifts her ice pack, "Though, Seiko Academy is a bit concerning."

"Why do you say that?"

"The team is huge!"

Miyuki laughs at that and leans back into the wall, "That's what you're worried about? Their size? This isn't wrestling, they aren't going to tackle you."

"They have a reputation for being rough, idiot," she rolls her eyes and shifts her stance so she can throw her legs on his lap, "The second-years are going to get thrown around like a bunch of dandelions."

Miyuki slips his hands around her feet and massages the line of her arch. He watches with mild interest at how her toes curl when he presses into her arch a bit rougher than he's used to. She inhales sharply when he does it again and it's hard to wipe the smirk off his face. "I'll tell them that you think they're a bunch of wilting flowers."

"You know they like me more,"

"I'm their captain,"

"You say that like it's supposed to mean something,"

"There's no need to be rude," Miyuki chides her lightly and massages her other foot.

Hikari drops her head back until it rests against the wall of the locker room. She's glad that the rest of the team went straight to the dining hall instead of the locker room, she needed a moment without them running around and yelling. But it's something she thought about too soon, because not even a moment passes by when the door slams open Sawamura yells at Furuya that he's going to take a bath and walks into the locker room.

Stark naked.

Hikari shrieks.

Sawamura's face pales to below zero.

She hits her arm under the ledge of the locker, swearing violently she pulls her other arm towards herself, but her other arm is oddly wrapped with the ice pack and Miyuki grabs her before she could cause any more damage to herself. He fists his hand into the back of her hair and shoves her into his neck as she moans in horror. Legs curl over his lap as she tries to erase the memory from her brain.

"What do you think you're doing, Sawamura!?" Miyuki yells and she can practically feel his vein pulse beneath her mouth; she wants to run her tongue along the ridge.

If she had more sense, she would realize that this is the first time she's heard more than felt Miyuki yell. The bastard never gets physically angry, which is what makes him such a good captain, and now that she's heard it—she's not going to be able to get out of her head. Then again, anything Miyuki does makes him just much more attractive to her anyway.

"I-I," Sawamura stammers and then grabs a towel to wrap it around his waist, "I WAS GOING TO SHOWER."

"Why are you running around naked, you idiot?!" he scowls and pulls Hikari closer to his chest.

Sawamura doesn't answer but runs to the shower with his towel drooping down his waist.

Hikari buries her head into his neck when she hears the silence and whimpers. His hand presses against the back of her neck, fingers brushing the lines of her neck, his other hand flat against her lower back, legs thrown over his strong lap, and her heels tucked behind his knees. Miyuki huffs in relief his fingers digging into her lower back as he calms down.

A few moments pass before burst into a fit of laughter—proud, manic, hysterical laughter.

Hikari pulls back from his rumbling chest, her cheeks red and hot, and yells, "This isn't funny, Kazuya!"

Miyuki cackles, his eyes tear up, tiny crystal drops catch at the corner of his glasses, his entire body shuddering with the force of his amusement. He coughs and sputters, "He—He's so stupid!"

"Stop laughing at me, you ass!" she cries and hides her face with her hands.

He laughs even harder and complains about his abs.

"Why don't you just choke and die?!" Hikari glowers and then whines, "I think I'm traumatized."

Miyuki coughs and wheezes, "I never saw it up so close before."

She snorts and then imagines the number of times that Miyuki had seen Sawamura naked in the bath. Then again, the entire bath was clouded in steam and condensation. She wonders if he could even see it, with his glasses since he was so nearsighted. His ignorance startled a giggle out of her, a giggle that Miyuki heard, and when he looked at her, she laughs into his neck.

A blind Miyuki was infinitely funnier than a keen-eyed one.

.

"I told you they were huge," Hikari mumbles to Miyuki who snickers from behind her as they stared at their opponents.

"Miyuki-senpai," Haruichi starts off and stares at Hikari who sits in between Miyuki's legs. "Um, what are you doing?"

"Fixing her hair," he answers smoothly and tucks a few strands underneath the platt, "If our new clean-up batter strikes out it will be because she's blind."

She slaps his knee in response.

"I can't tie my hair in a bun under my helmet; it's too thick," Hikari says and leans back so he can twist the hair into another loop, "Kaa-chan decided to braid my hair instead."

Miyuki snickers and tucks a strand of hair behind her ear, "I'm concentrating."

"Is it me or have Hikari-chan and Miyuki gotten closer?" Kuramochi murmurs to Zono.

Zono frowns, "I think we all see it."

Shirasu raises a brow, "When did that happen?"

"When we weren't looking, I suppose," Watanabe comments lightly.

"I don't know if I like this," Kuramochi frowns.

"There," Miyuki finishes her braid with a small elastic and drops the coil of hair down her shoulder.

Hikari blinks at the braid and then turns to look at him from the ground. Miyuki's eyes widen at her position, leaning against his thighs, elbow on his knee, and face pensive. She tugs on the end of her braid and raises her brows, "Not bad."

He scowls, "Are you using my glasses as a mirror?"

"Maybe..."

.

"They have a girl on their team?" Ogawa whispers loudly to one of his teammates.

Hikari twitches.

"Um, Hikari-senpai," Sawamura interrupts her and he shifts on his two feet awkwardly; could hardly look her in the eye as he blushes a bright red, "About—"

"—nope," Hikari shakes her head and denies it before she can even think about last night, "I'm not listening to this."

Miyuki swallows a laugh from the corner.

"B-But—"

"I will forgive you when you give me a strikeout otherwise, we are not talking about this," she repeats firmly and goes to sit in the corner until she's ready to bat.

Miyuki sits next to Hikari as they observe Seiko Academy and their pitching. She wasn't wrong, he thinks. They do look big. With a ton of muscle and height—they could squash Sawamura if he wasn't paying attention. According to Watanabe, Seiko students wait until the very last moment to swing, and they swing fast.

"Even if they swing late, they could overpower the pitcher," Hikari comments lightly and looks at Furuya, "He's going to have some trouble."

"If I can't keep him calm," Miyuki agrees quietly, "He's been resting his leg, but I don't know how he's going to be on the mound."

"You're going to have to lead a strong defense," she muses and scratches her cheek, "I have a feeling their offense is going to be tough to beat."

"Most likely," he sighs and curls an arm around her shoulder. His fingers thrum a quick rhythm on her bicep and drawls out, "You know, as my Vice-Captain you're supposed to reassure me about my leadership skills and tell me that we're going to win."

"Kuramochi!" Hikari calls out for the switch-batter before goes out on the field.

Kuramochi raises a brow at the arm wrapped around her shoulder, walks over, and glares at the captain, "If you don't want me to saw off your arm, Miyuki...stop harassing Hikari-chan."

"I don't hear any complaints," he smirks.

"I'm complaining right now, you bastard!"

Hikari rolls her eyes but makes no move to shake off his fingers, she jabs a thumb in Miyuki's direction, "Your captain needs some encouragement."

"HAH?"

She laughs.

"You need a pep talk?" Kuramochi demands in disbelief, "Since when?"

"I don't like how you are all picking on me," Miyuki scowls and drops his bed back onto the bench. Then he looks up at Kuramochi and the rest of the team hears, "But not a pep talk, we are going to do the roar."

Hikari sits up immediately and walks to the back of the bullpen, "Let me know when you're done with that."

"Absolutely not," Nabe grabs her hand and pulls her back as they start to huddle, "You're a part of this team too, Hikari-chan."

"But I don't want to!" she yelps and tries to scramble away.

"Tough," Shirasu chuckles.

"Please, this is so lame," Hikari whines and Miyuki puts an arm around her neck to bring her into the huddle.

"I know," Miyuki snorts, he puts a hand on his heart and says, "But Coach asked me to, so pay attention."

Hikari cringes and waits for Miyuki to start their stupid little roar.

.

Miyuki makes one hell of a captain, Hikari thinks.

Even if the cheer was a bit lame, it did a lot of justice to her team's morale, even Haruichi looked more alive than Furuya.

Furuya was excited though, his pitch was a little high, and there was that extra ball. However, if Miyuki can keep him on track, they should have the momentum.

Kuramochi is up to bat first and she looks up at him with shrewd eyes—and one run with Shirasu landing a hit. 

Hikari grabs her bat and waits for Haruichi to land a run.

"Bring him home, Hikari-chan!" Nori cheers from the side.

She waves her hand Miyuki squeezes her shoulder before she jogs up to the base. She inhales slowly, adjusts her cap, and looks up at the pitcher. He looks minutely confused at the fact that a girl is on the plate, and she presses her lips together when they hear her name and her new position as clean-up batter.

Kojima winds his hand up and then swings down.

Hikari sees it before she feels it.

A fastball, inside.

She takes a step back and swings high and fast.

Hikari drops the bat and runs before the announcer yells, "HOME RUN."

She slides to home base without really needing to know, but she wants Seido to see her braid wave in the air like a banner when she gets that run.

She high-fives Haruichi when she meets in the dugout, "Nice job, Haru-chan."

He blushes at the nickname and smiles.

"There she is," Kuramochi grins and shoves an arm around her shoulder, "Our clean-up batter! That was a nice arc, I thought that cutter was going to go left."

"It wasn't a cutter," Hikari wrinkles her nose, "It was a fastball, very inside."

Miyuki pushes Kuramochi's arm off her shoulder so he can wrap his arms around her shoulder blades, he snorts, "She's our Vice-Captain, of course, she's going to be good."

"You thought I was going to suck a few days ago!"

Miyuki snickers, "And you believed me?"

Hikari elbows his gut and goes to sit down, "Go get Furuya on the mound before I decide to strangle you."

"Of course, princess!"

She tosses her mitt at him which expertly dodges.

.

"HE'S HUGE," Sawamura chokes as Ogawa climbs onto the mound.

He eyes Sawamura for a moment and then looks at Hikari with wide eyes—his expression then changes and she's not sure what exactly is that look he's giving her. When he pitches, he's still looking at her, but all his pitches are balls.

"Is it me, or is that guy staring at me?" Hikari asks Miyuki as Haruichi is at the plate; she grabs her bat and stretches.

Miyuki turns his head and narrows his eyes from behind his glasses. He hisses, "What the hell is his problem?"

Haruichi walks to the first plate and Hikari walks to the batting area.

"The batter doesn't matter! You can throw balls!" the catcher yells out to the pitcher.

Ogawa nods, but still, his eyes are hot against Hikari's form, "Right."

Hikari lines herself up at the plate and waits for the ball.

Ogawa winds himself up, he looks more focused than usual, stomps on the field, and throws the ball. The ball cuts through the air like a knife. But this time, the ball is not flying into the strike zone—it flies outside.

The ball hits the back of her shoulder. She swallows a small scream and grits her teeth—the pain of the ball travels up her back and to her head. She shakes the noise out of her ears as she breathes heavily like the wind got knocked out of her, and pinches her face; she's going to get a bruise tomorrow.

Apparently, her team had been calling out her name while she was trying to block out the sting of the ball.

Miyuki looks livid; she was a bit terrified to see what the rest of the team looked like since Sawamura was frothing at the mouth.

She smiles pained but gives them a thumbs up as she walks to first base.

Miyuki is up next to bat and it's enough to ease her mind. He swings down center field, and she makes it to third base. Zono is up now, and she hopes he's calm enough to think carefully because he looks pissed.

.

"Honestly, I'm fine," Hikari says for the nth as she takes off her undershirt, her entire team makes an unknown noise, one between a scream and a gasp. "I'm wearing a sports bra, you idiots!"

Miyuki helps lean forward when the doctor pushes down on her shoulder blade. She hisses when the doctor pokes at the sore spot and hears Miyuki grind his teeth from his position in front of her. He helps her sit back up when the doctor announces that he's finished with the examination.

"She's fine," the doctor concludes and rubs his chin, "There is some bruising and I suspect it will get worse tomorrow, but nothing is broken. She can still play. Ice it when you have a chance."

Coach Kotaoka nods, "Ito, how are you feeling?"

"I'm fine," Hikari grumbles when Miyuki helps her slip back on her undershirt. She buttons up her jersey and stands up, "It's a touch achy, but I'm not in any pain."

"If I see you hesitate even for a moment, I'm pulling you out," he warns.

Hikari salutes.

"I can't believe he hit you," Kuramochi scowls and grabs her an ice pack.

"It was probably an accident," she demurs and accepts the water bottle Haruichi gives her.

"He was glaring at you earlier, remember," Miyuki snaps and grabs the back of his head, "I knew something was wrong, he was acting weird and even more aggressive than he was when Furuya was pitching."

Sawamura presses the ice pack to her shoulder while she sips on her water.

"He has a powerful arm, Miyuki," Hikari tells him thoughtfully, "I don't know if I want to find out how he is on the field."

Miyuki reigns in the urge to kick the bench.

.

Though, Hikari should've really remembered, that in this part of the anime, Miyuki is the one who really got hurt.

Chapter Text

Watching Miyuki getting run over in front of her and watching Miyuki get run over from far away were two different things. She can physically feel the atmosphere drop and the dugout cool. Hikari never imagined how it would feel now, now when she sees him tumble on the field, and curl into himself almost like a ball. She never could imagine how quickly her heart could stop, nor the whiplash of desire she felt when he looked at Ogawa with a cutting gaze and defiantly held the baseball in his hand.

However, her concern for him trumped any minute kindling of wanting.

Hikari's irritation toward him skyrocketed.

She remembered now, how he refused to let anyone know that he injured himself. She remembered how he held himself tight and proud, how he had to lead the captain to the semi-finals and beyond. But she sees him congratulate the other team with his head held high as he profusely sweats and breathes through the pain.

She can hardly look at the opposing team as Miyuki is gritting his teeth to stomach the pain.

Hikari puts a hand on his back and bows with him.

.

Hikari shoves him onto the bench, stands in front of him, removes his helmet, and puts her fingers through his hair. She ignores his yelp, twisting and turning his head until he grabs her hands and pulls it in front of him. Furuya watches with wide eyes. She startles at the quick motion and looks down at him.

"What are you doing?" Miyuki asks owlishly, ignoring the spasm on his side.

Sawamura nods rapidly.

"Checking for brain damage," Hikari says flatly and tugs her hands out of his, "Well, even more brain damage."

Kuramochi cackles in the corner.

Miyuki huffs but doesn't say anything in response. She allows him to rake his scalp with her fingers, he drops his head and rests it on her lower belly as she continues to search for any bumps. She swallows when he adjusts his position, his breath hot against the small opening in her jersey, and before she could really lose her brain cells, she takes a step back.

"So?" he raises a brow and misses the way his head rested against her.

"Fine—as fine as your brain was before," Hikari says wistfully and takes a seat next to him as the rest of the team congratulates their pitchers, Furuya more than usual. Miyuki inches closer to her, just until his knee is flat against hers and he exhales tiredly.

"Later," she says suddenly.

Kuramochi's nose twitches: he cuts a glance to the duo.

Miyuki turns to look at her, but she keeps her gaze straight ahead.

"Come to my room, later," Hikari clarifies, quietly.

The switch-batter stiffens.

"You act like that's something unusual," Miyuki huffs amused, and bares his teeth to the ground.

"Yeah, but," she cuts him an unreadable look, "This time I'm actually inviting you."

Kuramochi's eyes widen at the play-by-play, and he wonders if anyone else knows that Miyuki's been sneaking off to sleep in Hikari's room at least four nights out of the week. He said that he found a nicer place to crash when he has video game marathons or cram sessions, but he didn't realize that place meant Hikari's place. He grits his teeth; aren't there rules against this?

But the real question is, what does he do about this?

.

Kuramochi watches Miyuki suspiciously walk out of the baths. Surprisingly, he took a quick shower and skipped the bath altogether, which is something he normally doesn't do after a game. He's a pedant for preaching about taking long baths after a game, icing muscles, and using heat packs. However, today he decided to forgo that and secretly sneak into Hikari's room.

"What is it?" Miyuki asks smoothening out his t-shirt and grabbing his sweater he left in his Vice-captain's room.

"Nothing," Kuramochi violently turns the page of his manga and glares at him.

"You're a little..." he trails off confused, "Weird."

"I'm weird?"

"You just ripped that page, Kuramochi," Miyuki points to the tear in his book.

Kuramochi scowls and winces at the page; Jun was going to kill him. He slams the book on his bed and crosses his arms underneath his chest, "If anyone is going to be weird, it's you."

"What did I do?" he demands offended.

"You're happy," Kuramochi says, disgusted.

Miyuki blinks rapidly and opens his mouth then snaps it shut, "Am I not allowed to be happy that we won the game?"

"No," he shakes his head, "Yes. You're not acting shitty...or a pain in the ass in general. You didn't even take a bath, are you turning into Sawamura?"

Kuramochi put some pressure on him, but then he gave him an out mostly because this is a conversation that he does not want to have with him—he rather takes his chances with Hikari. But with Miyuki he probably would get a straight answer; he has a headache just going through the motions.

"Me? Act like Sawamura?" Miyuki snickers and grabs his phone from the counter, "A meteor would have to hit the earth."

When he shuts the door, Kuramochi flops back on the bed and groans, "That's what I'm afraid of."

.

Miyuki nearly jogs to Hikari's room, his excitement overshadowing the pain in his abdomen. She was right, before, it is the first time she's invited him into her room. He absently fluffs his hair and promptly wants to kick himself for acting so—so stupid. He grabs the keys – that Sawamura stole for Hikari and that he stole back from her room – and opens the door.

Hikari stood in the middle of the room. She leans against her wall wearing sky-blue satin nightgown, a strap falls unceremoniously down her shoulder, the blue glinting silver against her lamplight, her hair tossed back in wild waves as she looks at him with a raised brow. Much to his delight and horror, her robe is nowhere to be seen.

"Well," Miyuki starts off and closes the door without looking back. He smirks a bit shocked d at her posture, "Isn't this a nice surprise."

Hikari stares at him blankly for a moment. Then, she starts to walk towards him, gracefully, predatorily, her long legs unhindered by her lack of slippers. Miyuki, out of instinct takes a step backward and then another until she has his him backed flat against the door. His eyes widen in shock at her forwardness, his heart thumps hard in his chest, his mouth dries at the way she leans in, the way her scent surrounds him, the way her hair slips over her shoulders and brushes his arm with nothing more than a whisper.

Miyuki's fingers remain slack at his sides if she leans just a few degrees upwards, her lips will touch the underside of his chin, and all he would have to do is tilt his head—

—her hand slides under his shirt and presses into his upper ribs—

—he chokes on a breath and bends over in pain just barely missing her forehead.

Hikari scowls and pulls back, "I knew it."

"What the fuck, Hikari?" Miyuki wheezes and grabs his side in pain. She grabs his hand and pulls him to her bed. When he finally sits, she grabs the ice pack she has in one of her drawers, climbs on the bed, and pushes it toward him.

"I knew you were lying," she scoffs and has him lay on his side facing her, "Really, you think you could lie? To me?"

He grumbles and groans something unintelligible, "I'm a Captain, I can't just..."

"Just?" she asks with a raised brow.

Miyuki doesn't answer.

Hikari stands up abruptly and hunts for a pair of sweats. She grabs her hoodie and some track pants, "I'm going to get Coach, this is ridiculous, Miyuki."

Miyuki sits up suddenly and grabs Hikari before she could sprint to the bathroom. He pulls her back to the bed but misjudges the angle from which he pulls, and she topples over him. The satin of her nightgown feels like nothing with her on top of him, her hair fanning over him like a cloud and she gasps when she's pressed chest to chest with him. Her knees bracket his hips, and her arm is awkwardly placed parallel to his face and the other hand pushes against the bed to prevent herself from crushing him.

"Don't tell him," Miyuki rasps, a palm wraps the back of her neck and pulls her close until the scent of her skin is all that he could smell. Her hair, a prison of darkness, and her eyes are the only source of light. He slides his hand down her neck, to brush his knuckles down the bumps of her spine and back up to the nape of her neck. He whispers against her cheek, "Don't tell him, Hikari."

.

"Your phone is buzzing," Hikari grumbles into his neck and flips over to curl into the pillow.

Miyuki groans and curls his hand over her hip to pull her back against his chest. He moves her hair from her face absently and buries his face into her neck. He presses his lips against her throat, his nose curving over the lobe of her ear, and gropes for his buzzing phone. He squints at the blurry buttons before clicking on the answer button and pushing it to the other side of his head. He answers huskily against her ear and grins when he feels her squirm when she feels his breath.

"Hello?"

"MIYUKI!" Kuramochi screams into the line.

Miyuki winces and holds the phone away from his ear, "Why are you shouting, you idiot?"

"WHO ARE YOU—" he takes a deep breath, "Where the hell are you and Hikari-chan? Practice started fifteen minutes ago!"

His eyes snapped open, and he nearly flops off the bed. He swears violently as he nearly tosses Hikari on the floor; he hasn't done this since he was a second-year. "Shit. I completely forgot I thought we had an off day."

"WHAT KIND OF CAPTAIN ARE YOU?"

Miyuki hangs up the phone and puts on his glasses.

Hikari groans and curls back into her bed. She shoves her pillow over her head and secretly inhales his scent. Then Miyuki yanks the pillow off her face and tugs on his track pants. He exhales, "Hikari, wake up. We have practice."

"No," she mumbles and buries her head into her pillow.

He stares at her for a moment and then yanks the blankets off.

Hikari shrieks at the cold air hitting her bare legs. Miyuki was both prepared and surprised to see her bare legs as if they weren't tossed over him while he was icing his ribs. She grappled for her sheets and scowls, "I told you before, I am not flashing you! That show isn't free!"

Miyuki flushes but grabs her ankle and pulls her to the edge of the bed. Her nightgown flares up at the force and she presses her toes into his injury, and he immediately releases her ankle to hold his stomach. She immediately starts to crawl back into her bed, but Miyuki is faster despite having the wind knocked out of him.

He yanks her back.

And naturally, they struggle for dominance, until Miyuki uses his lower body weight to pin her back to the bed and scowl, "Hikari, we are late."

"We don't have practice today, Miyuki!" she glares and tries to wiggle from underneath him until he pushes her deeper into the bed and then gasps when her hips are effectively pinned.

"Kuramochi blew my eardrum about practice," he exhales into her throat.

"I already texted coach last night," Hikari says breathily, "We don't have to be on the field until noon."

Miyuki's eyes widen.

"I don't think Coach told Kuramochi," she squirms underneath him and he adjusts his weight until her toes touch the cold floor, "He wanted to use the morning to assess Kuramochi's leading style."

He groans and rolls over.

Hikari inhales shakily and presses her legs together.

"I suppose we can't go back to bed."

Miyuki can say he deserved that whack with the pillow.

.

If Hikari didn't skip ahead during the anime, she wouldn't have had such a hard time placing the things that were supposed to happen during this Yakushi game. She knows that Miyuki scores the last home run, which is what leads them to Nationals, but honestly, she can't handle an injured Miyuki and a whistling Sanada at the same time.

Her brain needs to focus.

Hikari mostly ignores Sanada's cat-calls other than the minor slip—something she doesn't think she can forget; she just cleans up the pitcher's enthusiasm with enough home runs to get them through the next inning.

Earlier:

"Did your waist get smaller?" Sanada suddenly says next to her ear as his arms slip around her stomach. "I don't think that's going to do much for your balance, Ms. Clean-up Batter."

She flinches at his voice and flushes hotly when he pulls her close to his chest.

Miyuki turns to face the pitcher and his eyes burned a reddish gold when he saw his hands sliding over her hips, just as he was about to do something—say something, Sanada was yanked to the side by Kuramochi. Kuramochi dug his finger into his chest and tilts his head and Sawamura grabs his bat as he pushes into his sternum, “You better have a reason for harassing our teammate."

Miyuki takes advantage of this opportunity to sling an arm around Hikari's shoulders and pull her close to his chest. He bites, clipped, and with a smile, "Get out. Now."

Kanemaru flinches at the ice in his voice but continues to hold his ground as Zono rages against Sanada.

Miyuki wraps his other arm around Hikari's waist possessively as the rest of his team continues to threaten Sanada.

"I thought you liked, Sanada," Haruichi suddenly comments.

"I do," Hikari agrees and stiffens when Miyuki's nails dig into her shoulders, "But, not the way that he wants me to."

At least not anymore.

.

"Is he an idiot?" Hikari mumbles as Nori snorts at Sanada's blatant provocation. Sawamura pitches another change-up and then a fastball inside; Miyuki's game-calling have gotten nastier as the innings had gone by, particularly with Sanada.

"Hikari-chan?"

"Hm," she mumbles and watches another ball foul out.

"Are you dating Miyuki?"

Hikari pauses mid-breath and grows still at the question. She wasn't dating him; ridiculous, she nearly scoffed.

But then she thought back to all the times when it was just her and him. When he would randomly show up in her bed, when he would curl up behind her and take a nap—it was just supposed to be a nap, but then it turned a night and the nights. He thought about him learning to braid hair so she could be comfortable playing out on the field. She thought about him scaling up her window to bring her food and massage her back when she had cramps. She thought about him comforting her when the subject of her father came up, she thought about the almost kisses they shared.

How they were almost together.

It felt almost like a dream, Hikari thought dazedly.

Yet, it wasn't.

It was a second chance, and she can never explain why she was terrified of taking that leap.

"I don't know."

.

Sprained oblique muscles.

Now that Miyuki is really putting himself through the grinder, his injury was becoming more and more obvious, which meant that his team was starting to notice. The doctor assessed him carefully and took down notes. Coach Kataoka asked, "Did you know, Ito?"

Hikari grimaces and looks away from the rest of the team, "Yes, I've been getting him to ice and heat, but he refuses to stay still."

"And you didn't think to tell us this, Ito?" Rei uses her last name and Hikari flinches at her tone.

"I told her not to," Miyuki frowns at Rei, he dislikes the way she speaks to her, and from the way Hikari folds herself inwards she probably feels even worse. He presses his lips together and somewhat glares at the assistant manager, "If I can't lead my team to Nationals, then what use am I as a captain?"

There were a few more scolding words that Hikari didn't pay much attention to, not that Miyuki's cool and collected answers weren't doing a lot, but the third years were pissed that he didn't say anything.

Hikari sighed.

Now, she must watch him complete his home run, dive in front of the plate, and wheeze in pain because he can't get up.

Hikari didn't even give herself a second. She leaps over the dugout and runs up to the field to grab Miyuki after he slammed his fist against the ground to cancel out the pain. She grabs him over his waist, and he breathes heavily into her ear, and she whispers pained, "You idiot, why can't you ever just listen to me?"

Miyuki hears the pained question, the exhaustion and worry in her voice, but he can't look at her face for the shame of it all. Instead, he leans heavily on her and kisses her throat in apology. Her breath hitches and she helps him walk to the dugout, Kuramochi watching from the side as she keeps one arm around his waist and the other on his stomach.

.

"I can't be a Captain anymore," Miyuki whines pitifully, "You two can be Captains, you'll be better at it."

"Is he dying?" Kuramochi asks concerned and helps him into the cab.

"If only," Hikari takes a seat next to him in the cab and pulls him until he was resting against her shoulder, "He keeps mumbling that he doesn't want the responsibility anymore."

Kuramochi sighs, "Want me to meet you at the hospital?"

She shakes her head, "Take care of my boys, yeah? And make sure they ice; Sawamura always tries to run."

Miyuki and Kuramochi hear the words that come out of her mouth and their breath catches in their throat at the term of endearment—she may not realize what she said, but they do, and still, their smiles are enough to light up the world.

Miyuki buries his head into her neck, and she puts a hand on the back of his head while he breathes heavily.

Kuramochi closes the door shut.

Chapter Text

"That's Captain Ito to you, Miyuki," Hikari leans back into the v of his legs as he continues to braid her hair.

He tugs on a strand of hair for her arrogance, but smiles anyway, "I thought Coach Kataoka was going to give Kuramochi the proxy."

"Yeah, but I'm prettier."

"Well, if that's all it takes," Miyuki says dryly and looks down at her when she looks up, "I'm glad to know that you think I'm prettier."

Hikari laughs and he smiles even more, "While that may be true, I don't want the captain position."

"Why not?"

"Too much responsibility," she squeaks when he tugs on her hair, harder this time.

"You're not going to let me live that down, are you?"

"Never," she leans back down.

Three weeks of rest.

Miyuki stares at the rest of his teammates who up their training.

And he's benched.

Hikari does a great job putting the rest of the team to work. She starts the runs and has Eijun lead the laps as she jogs from behind. Even Nori had been burning with the need to pitch. But it was odd to be benched like this and to see everyone around him train—especially his pitchers.

"Don't you think those three are getting along too well?" Miyuki asks Hikari loudly as she swipes her forehead with a towel.

She glares at him, but the trio of pitchers runs to the bullpen, "Does it bother you when your team gets along?"

"There needs to be healthy competition."

"Shouldn't you be doing something?" Hikari tosses him the notebook, "Like studying up on some stats?"

"Are you saying that you don't want me here?"

"I'm saying a lot of things," Hikari rolls her eyes and picks up her bat, "You can either count how many balls I hit, or you can read."

"But we're celebrating tonight," Miyuki complains but follows her anyway to the batting area.

"Exactly," she presses and looks for her cap. She rummages through her bag and side pockets, "Tonight...so that...means there...is plenty of time... to train."

"What are you looking for?" he frowns.

"My hat," Hikari says confusedly and opens her empty side pocket, "I thought I packed it."

"You mean the hat that never fits your head and always flies off your head every time the wind blows?" Miyuki asks amusedly.

"The sun is bright, Miyuki. I need something to—" her voice is promptly cut off when she feels a cap being placed forcefully on her head. She glances up to see Miyuki hovering over her, hair wildly ruffled, it takes her a minute to realize that he gave her his hat. The one from his head.

"How many times have I told you, to call me Kazuya?" he asks lowly and brushes the side of her cheek with his thumb when she blushes at the question.

"Not nearly enough," Hikari retorts hotly.

Miyuki smirks and takes a step back, "I'll remind you of that."

.

"Are you wearing a skirt?" Sawamura gapes at her legs and blushes at her outfit.

"Oh? You know what they are called, Eijun-chan?" Hikari teases him lightly and crosses her legs. It's nothing too odd. A dark miniskirt with a Seido jersey and her fuzzy slippers. Even the managers were wearing somewhat of a festive outfit.

"Will you not be cold, Hikari-senpai?" Haruichi asks after a moment, his ears tinted red.

"No," she denies and grabs a cup of juice, "I tend to run warmer after practice, I'll be fine."

Furuya nods, "Hikari-senpai has a lot of muscle."

This prompts Kuramochi to tumble over and demand that they feel his muscles, as did Zono, and the rest of the third years.

Hikari chuckles and decides to go hunt for some food. She spies a platter with tempura in a plate of sushi and she makes a beeline for that. She eats about half a dozen tempura rolls before she makes her way to the dessert table. Just as she's about to munch on a fruit tart, Miyuki appears from behind her, "Where are you putting all that food?"

She nearly drops her beloved fruit tart. She turns and glares, "Can I not eat in peace?"

Miyuki snorts and then chokes when he sees her skirt, "What are you wearing?"

"Is Eijun-chan the only one who knows what a skirt is, really?"

"It's almost winter!"

"So?"

Miyuki frowns and then glowers at the very few members who watch her legs warily. He pinches the bridge of his nose and grows torn between blatantly ogling her legs or covering them with his jacket so he can ogle at them in private. The other cause for concern is that it is almost winter and the faint memory of her sick, that he had almost exorcised from his brain, twists unpleasantly in his stomach. 

Hikari takes her plate of sweets and goes to sit on the abandoned sofa on the other side of the room. It's awkwardly placed, the odd green microfiber couch, away from the small groups of people, but it'll give her room to eat and to think. However, she notes with minute annoyance and delight, Miyuki follows her to that sitting area. She takes a bite out of her cake after curling a leg underneath her bottom, "Aren't you going to eat?"

"I ate earlier," Miyuki replies and takes a seat next to her, "I can't eat as much since I'm not training otherwise, I'll get sick."

She makes a noise of agreement and nibbles on a shortbread, "It's driving you crazy, isn't it?"

Miyuki turns his head to look at her, "What is?"

"Not being able to play baseball," Hikari teases lightly and picks up a strawberry.

He swallows as he watches her take a bite into the fruit, she takes notice in how his gaze shifts to the fruit, and she very deliberately takes her time. She nearly giggles with how flustered Miyuki starts to get and licks the corner of her lips when the water from the fruit breaks. He turns his head and tries to focus on something other than—than that.

She laughs this time and licks her fingers, "You're too easy, Kazuya."

Miyuki glowers at her, but takes the challenge as he spreads his legs until his knees touch the side of her thighs, and drawls, "Do you enjoy flirting with me?"

Hikari coughs on her tart and squawks, "You think I'm flirting with you?"

He raises a brow, "Aren't you?"

"You think that's flirting?" she asks in disbelief and grabs her water bottle from the floor intending to wash away the heat that wafts the back of her head.

"What would you call it then?" Miyuki presses and leans against the sofa and grabs a strawberry to chomp on, "Provocatively eating fruit in front of me."

"You're the only one who thought it was provocative," Hikari rolls her eyes and then glances at the red fruit in front of me, "Because if I really wanted to put the moves on you...I would do this."

Hikari licks the pad of her thumb with her eyes locked on his and deliberately wipes the corner of his mouth—the stain of the strawberry's nectar a bright red against the pink of his lips. What she didn't expect is for him to envelope her thumb in his mouth and suck the remaining juice from her finger. Her brain fills with static, ears humming as she pulls back and hopes beyond hope that no one saw him do that since they were in public.

But she really isn't that lucky, the managers of the baseball team watched them with an open jaw and a broken stutter.

She buries her face into a nearby pillow.

.

Miyuki and Hikari were teetering off the edge somewhere deep into the unknown. Technically, he started it, is what she would like to point out. She may have suggested something that night in the inn, but she never thought that he would make it a thing—their thing. Crawling into her bed without him had started to feel uncomfortable, hearing him talk days on in about the second years were the moments when she was glad to bask in the attention of the very wildly acclaimed catcher.

He's so cute though, she thinks because when he's happy—really happy, he can't shut up.

Hikari has to be careful now because Miyuki's affection whether it be mental or emotional is starting to seep into physical and he doesn't quite give a damn who's looking.

.

And the lines—the livewires that she drew in the sand were crossed the day Narumiya decides to put his own plans on the ground.

When Hikari thinks of this, later, she'll wish that the sparks that started this fire had begun differently. She'll wish that she didn't fold that quickly, like a house of cards, slipping before anyone could marvel at the columns and slants. Yet, at the same time, she couldn't regret the way things happened then and after, because they skipped a few steps and really, if she had to think about her and Miyuki, doing things in order was just never really their style.

.

"—KAZUYA!"

Hikari could hear Narumiya's voice like a clock striking twelve, loud and obnoxious rattling off the spaces in her sinuses.

What's even worse is that trio of shenanigans is with them, followed by Zono, Kuramochi, Watanabe, and is the entire team going to see what Narumiya and his lackeys are up to. Kanemaru takes his duties of keeping an eye on Hikari very seriously, ever since the day she met Sanada – she's very much sure Kuramochi threatened him – he's been watching her like a hawk. Especially now, since Narumiya showed up at the tournament.

She slaps her forehead and prays for patience; she decides to ease Kanemaru's stance and walk over to the team. Instead of hooking an arm around Miyuki's arm, she loops an arm around his waist and nearly swallows her own tongue when she feels the indents of his abs through the thin shirt. She pretends to yawn, "Boys, why are you still outside?"

"ITO!" Narumiya snarls and then bores a hole on her hand on Miyuki's waist, "What's this, Kazuya? A fangirl disguised as a mediocre player?"

Kuramochi growls as Miyuki's eyes narrow, "Don't you dare talk to Hikari-chan like that, Narumiya!"

Her eyebrow ticks and Miyuki rests a hand on her lower back. She smiles cold enough to cause even the third years to shiver, "Well, well, if it isn't little Bo Peep and the rest of his sheep."

"She's got jokes now," Carlos smirks and glances at the rest of the team before eyeing Mei, "Weren't you jealous that Miyuki was paying attention to her and not you?"

"Seriously?" Zono snorts, "That's what's making you upset?"

Sawamura muffles his snicker into his hand as he leans into Haruichi's moving shoulder.

Miyuki frowns, "Give it a rest, Mei—we're almost through with the winter, why would I ever even think about transferring?"

Hikari muffles a laugh at the ridiculous attempt at poaching, "That desperate, Narumiya?"

He really can't take no for an answer, she thinks amusedly. It stung his ego, and his pride so badly when Miyuki refused to join him at Inashiro, but it felt even worse when tournaments roll around different semesters and Narumiya couldn't convince him to transfer to join his team. And he can't help but be a dick to everyone who doesn't follow his line of thinking.

But he doesn't answer, he doesn't even say anything, he doesn't have to, not when Hikari's line of vision completely topples over.

"Wait—" Hikari's voice of confusion notches into a small yelp as she holstered over someone's shoulders and judging from the speed, she assumes it's Carlos, and she shrieks when Inashiro follows, "KAZUYA!"

Miyuki's eyes widen at the switch, his brain slowly processing the chain of events, and when Kuramochi starts after Carlos, he follows suit, then Seido does as well, and the entire team splits into holding down the other Inashiro players in place while the other set follows Kuramochi and company.

Hikari shoves her fist into the batter's back and grunts when he locks her knees under his armpit, "Put me down, you asshole!"

"You're a wild one, aren't you?" Carlos drawls and pulls her tighter into his inner body. "For the record, I'm just following orders."

"I don't care if the Prime Minister told you to kidnap me, put me down this instant—!" Hikari's tirade breaks into a shriek when she's suddenly thrust up somewhere and down before Carlos puts her down and leaps somewhere that she can't pinpoint with hair flying in her face and the blush rushing in her head.

The moment she settles herself and looks around—she stiffens, her heart dropping into her stomach.

"Welcome to Inashiro's mini-training camp," Narumiya laughs maniacally from the ground and points to the boot-camp like training obstacles. "Depending on how long we're staying in the area, Inashiro is very generous with our training, including making sure we have some type of set-up to prepare for our tournaments. This is our circuit."

Hikari could hardly breathe for how high she was up. Carlos had tossed her into a small ringed platform that circled high on a tree, there were no ladders, no steps, no ramp—nothing. Or maybe there was a ramp but judging from the flat board on the grass that she can't help but jump from feeling horrifically intrigued to terrified. The only thing that she saw to could possibly lower her to the ground was a rope and not even a real rope—a thick corded rope that would swing to the next obstacle.

She's not even breathing properly, she realizes vaguely. Her fingernails dig into the tree trunk as her head dizzily tries to come to terms with her new environment. If she took even more than three steps out from the trunk of the tree, she would fall. Fall and fall until her back hits the ground until her skull cracks and the edges of her vision fade to black. 

"I never want to hear you call me a Ken Doll again," Narumiya sneers darkly.

Hikari can hardly hear him; she feels like she's underwater. Her ears are buzzing or is it cloudy? It feels far away and muted. Her face is hot, and the back of her neck is wet. Is the ground moving or is it her? She can't answer all these questions, her hand digs deeper into the bark of the tree, they cut her skin and prick her, but she can hardly feel the sting of pain when the world is closing in.

"ARE YOU IGNORING ME?" he scowls.

Hikari can't breathe—she can't breathe, the world is starting to haze at the edges and her heart is pounding.

"Mei," Shirakawa starts off and sounds uneasy, "Mei, doesn't she look...kind of pale?"

"What are you talking about?" Narumiya turns to face him and furrows his brows.

"I don't think this is a good idea," Yabe agrees nervously.

"Get her down from there, now," Tadano snaps hastily and breathes heavily; when he sees her pale even more, "Mei, we could get disqualified for this."

"What? For bringing her to the circuit?" he snorts and puts his hands behind his head, "This was disappointing, she's all—"

A rustle of footsteps comes from the left and Kuramochi appears with Miyuki hot on his heels. Sawamura, Furuya, and Haruichi pause to take in the training circuit. Kuramochi is itching to snap his fist into Narumiya's face, but finding Hikari was first.

"Up there!" Haruichi points to the tree where Hikari was clawing at.

Kuramochi swears violently.

"Come to see the great Ito fail our training course?" Narumiya snorts and Haruichi has to grab Sawamura from landing a punch in his face. Golden orbs flare into a hard caramel, but he can’t do anything not yet—Kuramochi doesn't even stop him but calls the rest of the team to let them know that they've found her.

Miyuki doesn't even turn to look at him, he jogs up towards the tree, his eyes widening more and more as he takes in Hikari's stance. When she starts to sway and weaken in front of him, he swears violently. Miyuki grabs the rope and starts to climb the rope until his palms are burning. The moment his foot touches the platform, he scrambles forward and sees it more clearly. Her nails bit into the tree trunk, blood slowly running down her palm, and he doubts she could feel anything.

"Hikari," Miyuki says calmly, he can hear the shallow breaths, the way her knees lock and falls onto the platform without her consent. He flinches violently at the sound and leaps forward until his hands are on her thighs—fearing that she might slip off the platform and tumble onto the ground. "Hikari, Hikari—can you look at me?"

Hikari, locked in her own head, registers the warm hand on her leg, the sudden weight ground her for a moment, and then she flickers her eyes up to see Miyuki crouching in front of her.

Miyuki swallows his nerves as he assesses her state of mind, she was slipping away, he can see it in the blown-out ring of her pupil how pale her lips had gotten, the beads of sweat running down her temple and the faint tremble her body relays. He can't think of the worse; he has to get her out of there. He smiles faintly, "Hey princess."

Hikari furrows her brows, almost like she's confused.

He inhales and puts his hand on the arm that's dripping with blood, "Can you let go of the tree for me?"

She shakes her head violently and inches closer to the tree.

"—okay, okay," Miyuki placates quickly, a touch panicked, "How about you give me your other hand first, then?"

Hikari grabs his hand, quickly, violently, too uncontrolled to be anything about a slap, but Miyuki grabs her hand and travels up her arm until he hooks his arm around her waist, "Okay, I need you to give me your other hand."

She shakes her head, and her lips press together—a whimper breaking through her previous mute voice.

"It's alright," he soothes her gently, as one would a child, and grabs her hand that had a death grip on the trunk, "It's me, babe, I'm not going to let you fall."

Hikari watches him almost like she believes, but she does believe so she lets go of the tree and leaps for Miyuki. Miyuki barely manages to hold himself still, pushing his weight into his lower body until and brings her hand to his shoulder while he hauls her up. She molds herself into him as he brings her up to a standing position, burying her face into his neck as she takes deep, gulping breaths.

Miyuki adjusts her so she can keep her injured hand away from the tree, she uses this tiny move to instinctively curl herself into him. Wrapping her arms around his neck into a hug and burying her nose into his nape as she tries to find some sense of control. He doesn't have a choice; he can't coax her to follow him, and she whimpers when he rubs her back soothingly.

Miyuki grabs her legs, and she follows suit and wraps her legs around his waist tightly. There would've been a sly comment about that he might have sung if he weren't so worried about her near catatonic state. He grabs the rope to climb down, slowly dropping in altitude, her tightening grip on him feels more suffocating than anything, even the moment he lands on the ground.

Hikari starts to shake now, which prompts him to nearly panic, and he grips her thighs even tighter searching for a place to have some privacy.

Narumiya, chidden and a little more than remorseful, "Kazuya—"

"Not now, Mei!" Miyuki growls blackly and his teammates flinch at the venom in his voice; the catcher was known for his cool head and now they can't see that in his teammate, not when his anger is starting to seep from his pores.

Mei recoils.

Kuramochi grabs her bag from the ground and hands it to Miyuki. His eyes widen at the blood leaking down her elbow and grits his teeth, "I'm going to tell coach, there's a tree just a two-minute walk east of here—secluded. I'll text you when it's okay to come."

Miyuki nods, thankful the shortstop was with him.

"Boys with me," Kuramochi orders and starts reparations.

The catcher tosses the bag over his shoulder, it's a comical sight, with Hikari hanging off him, like some kind of limpet, but he slides his hands up Hikari's thighs to wrap around her hips, and this time her shaking becomes more violent, and he practically runs to the tree that sits on the hill overlooks the building and is out of sight.

Then, in the violence of her trembling, Miyuki feels tears, hot and wet drop into the nape of his neck. He drops her bag on the ground and shifts her legs so that when he sits down, she's sitting on his lap, knees curled into his ribs. Harsh, bone-rattling sobs leave her breath as she cries into his neck.

"It's okay, it's okay," he whispers. Miyuki is so entirely out of his depth. He's never seen or heard Hikari, cry not even seeing tears leave her eyes when she laughs or eats something spicy. This was something else. This was wailing, painful, harsh crying—hard enough to feel her heart breaking, and all he can do helplessly is hold her close.

He makes soothing sounds, his hands stroking her hair, the back of her neck, and the sides of her hips. Hikari's breath is starting to stammer again, like she can't get enough air in her lungs, her shaking becoming more and more frantic. Miyuki holds her back straight and brings her hands above her head, trying to force her to put more air in her lungs—she wheezes, "Bag."

Miyuki dives for the bag and pulls it closer. Her fingers shake as she pulls the zipper to her side pocket open and pulls out a bottle of pills.

Golden eyes widen at the white container.

"O-One," she wheezes and hands him the bottle.

Miyuki opens the bottle and hands her one pill. He grabs the water bottle from her bag, opens it, and hands it to her. She shakily takes a sip, thankfully, she stopped crying, but couldn't stop trembling, and he takes note of this. He pulls her into his arms and squeezes her tight, hoping that if he holds her tight enough, the rattling will stop, and she would feel more solid.

Hikari doesn't speak, just rests her trembling body into Miyuki's solid, warm form and waits. Eventually, the shaking subsides as the medication kicks in, and she slumps against his chest, exhaustion dropping into her shoulders. Miyuki relaxes when she does, and she feels the tears burn her eyes.

"How are you feeling?" he asks quietly.

She sniffs and wipes her eyes, "Stupid."

"Hey," Miyuki calls out softly and tilts her chin up so she can look at him. His eyes tell her so many things, that he's a mixed between worried, concerned, and scared, "You aren't stupid. Sawamura is stupid."

Hikari laughs wetly at that.

He grins weakly at that and tugs a strand of hair behind her ear. He glances at the pills in her bag and then strokes her arms carefully, "What—Can you tell me what happened?"

She swallows and leans against his shoulder, "I had an anxiety attack."

Miyuki's eyes sharpen and he puts two and two together, "So those, pills..."

"Anti-anxiety medication," Hikari confirms and swallows, "Emergency medication."

"Emergency medication," he repeats tiredly.

"It gets bad sometimes," she says quietly and can't look him in the eye when she says this, "I don't really use them, the last time I did I think I was fourteen—when it was my mother's anniversary. I always keep them with me for reasons like this."

"I don't like heights," Hikari continues monotonously, "It's one of my worst fears. I didn't tell you, but when they found my mom in the lake, I was standing over a cliff. I saw them pull her out and..."

"And you wanted to fall in too," he finishes with an unreadable expression.

She shakes her head, "No. No, I didn't—I didn't want to end up like her...I didn't want to leave Papa alone."

Like she did.

There will always be some part of Hikari that resented her mother for being too kind, for being too nice to her daughter, if she had put her foot down and forgotten about her slippers maybe she would still be here. Maybe she would still be alive for her to see her today. Maybe, she would stay with her when Papa left.

Miyuki exhales quietly, "Does Coach know?"

"No," she pauses, "Rei-chan does. I never used them since I started going to Seido, but...now that I have, I can't play in the match."

He stiffens.

"Sorry," Hikari whispers when she feels a course of anger falls through him.

"Don't apologize," Miyuki frowns and then exhales slowly in regret. He rubs his thumb over her cheek apologetically, her eyes are cloudy, but calm, "Your reactions are slower, I assume your timing is too."

"My reactions are duller and response time is slower," she admits and shrugs, "It makes me tired."

"You're still not playing," he doesn't even phrase it as an order, but as a simple fact.

Hikari rubs the side of her face and winces at the sudden throb; she sees the splinters and the blood drying on her fingertips. "Oh."

Miyuki's anger is a slow thing to ignite, but once it starts to burn, no one is safe.

His phone buzzes.

Chapter Text

Eventually, when they get to the locker room, Miyuki's hand wraps around her hips, his gait awkwardly trying to keep up with her slower movements. She's slower, much quieter, and more than capable of walking herself, but he keeps an arm around her. His hand still holds her bag, yet he feels like he's herding her toward the locker room.

For her or for himself; he's not quite sure.

For once, Hikari can't say anything the moment the team looks at her with concern—it reminds her of her first day when she managed to get out of bed after being hospitalized. How they nearly tripped over themselves to see if she was okay, but never really saying much other than looking at her owlishly. Miyuki helps her – though she doesn't really need it – to the bench when Coach Kataoka dismisses everyone, including Miyuki – who bristles at the short command – and crouches in front of her while the rest of the team sans Rei-chan and the doctor, waits outside.

"How bad was it, Miyuki?" Kuramochi asks after a moment, resting his head against the wall, and looks up at the ceiling.

Miyuki looks down at the floor and refuses to look at his teammates when he says, "I never want to see that look on her face again."

"Narumiya has gone too far this time," Zono growls and wrings his water bottle, "Even his team!"

Sawamura scowls and looks out the window, "Hikari-senpai couldn't even hear us when we called out for her."

Haruichi presses his lips together, "She was scared."

Miyuki grits his teeth. He can't believe that Narumiya would go so far as to taunt Hikari, hell, sometimes he can't even believe that this is the same boy he used to catch for. He can hardly recognize him under all that arrogance. Hikari and Narumiya had more of an antagonizing relationship, she never really involved herself much in Narumiya's antics other than keep the younger members away from his antics, but Mei had never liked how Kazuya softened himself around her—how he was around her.

Soft and vulnerable, in a place that Narumiya could never touch, not even with a six-foot pole.

"Coach said he wanted to talk to Hikari-chan before they spoke to Inashiro's Coach," Kuramochi says and squats on the floor.

"Why would they wait?" Furuya demands.

Watanabe scratches his cheek and decides to answer, "There's a chance that they might see this as a scheme to remove Inashiro from the tournament, and if the media gets a hold of this, they could use it against us by using the fact that Hikari-san is a girl."

Miyuki's golden eyes widen under the assumption.

"Are you saying," Sawamura swallows thickly and questions in incredulity, "That they might not believe her?"

"Hikari-chan warned us about this," Kuramochi reminds Miyuki with a permanent tick on his brow, "She warned us these things might happen, but I never wanted her to be right about it."

The catcher inhales slowly and tries to cool his worsening ire.

Coach slams the door open, and Rei follows with red-rimmed eyes. The team straightens up immediately, but Coach only has eyes for their captain. He tells him, "Ito is benched for the rest of the week. Her hand needs at least a week of recovery. You're going have to sub in as clean-up batter, Miyuki."

Miyuki nods tightly as the doctor leaves the room.

"What about Inashiro?" Kuramochi demands frustrated.

Coach pauses and turns his head to hide the expression on his face.

Rei clears her throat and answers for him since Kataoka can't quite find the words, "Inashiro will be dealt with privately until we have...the resources that we need, we cannot hold them accountable."

There is a stretch of silent disbelief.

"Are you saying that you're going to let them get away with this?" Sawamura snaps outraged.

Miyuki kicks his foot off the wall and walks into the locker room as Sawamura and the rest of their teammates rage against the injustice of it all, he shuts the door and knows that they probably won't hear it. Hikari is sitting on the bench with her head in between her knees, her hands threaded in her hair and the sound of her shallow breaths filtering through the air.

He crouches in front of her and grabs her injured hand gently.

Hikari looks up to see Miyuki looking at her with a pensive expression, he swipes the tears away from the curve of her cheek, and as he stands up, he tilts her head up and she looks up at him with wet eyes. He says tiredly, "I hate seeing you cry."

"I hate that you have to see me cry," Hikari replies wetly and sighs exhausted, "I'm tired of crying."

"Then why are you?"

"Because this is so—mortifying, Gods," she sniffles and runs her hand through her hair as she leans back, "I have to be benched because of Narumiya and now I messed up my hand! Now, the team will know and they're all going to treat me differently! If I just, if I paid more attention—"

"This isn't your fault, Hikari!" Miyuki retorts angrily, he knows very damn well he's going to need more than a few hours to digest this day because he's not coming up with anything very intelligent to tell her. Not with his adrenaline and emotions colliding pendulous—Newton's Cradle but edged in gold and not silver like the cold that radiates from his irritation. "This is on Mei, not you."

"It doesn't matter!" Hikari inhales a sob, and she doesn't know how to stop being upset. "He practically humiliated the team—me, and now I have to stay out of our games this week because Narumiya went after me when I didn't have my guard up—when I was vulnerable and now, I have to pay for my own mistakes."

And it takes a little more than ten minutes for Miyuki to understand the position Hikari is in and just how dangerous it is to the team—to the school.

He understands how hard Hikari has worked to make herself feel safe, how she has tried to imagine every scenario that she might be put in, how she would have to handle herself, how to conduct herself, how she would have to handle her teammates and represent her team. They were solely theoretical, but still a possibility. Yet, she had never been prepared for them to happen and if they did, how would she respond?

The vein in Miyuki's throat pulses. It infuriates him that she has to go through this. She should never have to feel unsafe with her team—never. She was comfortable with them, she had said that, and she felt safe, but she was still hurt when she was with them, and that thought would burn in his stomach until he could fix it.

But the thing is, he doesn't know how to fix this.

It angers Miyuki, to know that he doesn't know how to help her, how to give her, her peace of mind again. Because now she's going to be jumping at shadows and looking around warily, she's going to be on edge and stressed. It's going to make her batting harder to control and getting her to relax will be even worse.

The shame and sadness waft off her and Miyuki feels his heart break when the light in her eyes dulls.

He understands what she's been trying to tell him all those months ago, how her position is a privilege, a blessing, and a miracle—it's still a risk.

Hikari puts on a brave face, for her teammates, for her team, for him, but there are moments he sees her when the edge of the glass is so thin, he can see the pained patches of her smile through the gleaming light.

Win or lose, the battles of my heart had already been decided.

He had said this before, and it still rings true.

Miyuki grabs the back of her neck and kisses her.

.

Hikari tastes like salt and green tea.

Like the ocean and those godforsaken pocky sticks that she nervously nibbles on. Salt for her tears that pulled on his heartstrings, but she still managed to look beautiful even when she felt like a ship wrecking through the shores. Her lips are soft and warm, and Miyuki is greedy when he kisses her.

His lips were dry, chapped from gnawing on them absently, but they were deliberate when he traced her cupid's bow, pressing longer, lingering kisses to the sides of her lips, and the surge of triumph that flushes through him when she kissed him back is like a meteorite. She's less certain, but no less passionate when she kisses him, almost like if she doesn't kiss him, he would drift off into the wind and she would have nothing to anchor him to her.

Miyuki's hand tightens at the back of her neck, his fingers thread through her hair, blunt fingernails digging into the back of her scalp. The small prick-point of pressure lessens the tension in her shoulders, and she trails a hand up his stomach to fist into his shirt against his sternum.

They pull back, gasping for breath, heaving, forehead against forehead, and his nose just brushing the tip of hers.

Miyuki can see his future in the dark of her eyes and so he writes this oath with the gold of his, " “You are one of the strongest people that I have ever known, Hikari. The team looks at you like a light, you know?" His fingers trace a path of determination down the side of her jaw, and she shivers when he drags his lips down her cheekbone. He softens his voice, "A guiding light that will take them far and away. Don't let anyone take that away from you."

.

Hikari wonders if this is what it feels like to be drunk.

Her brain feels like it's pleasantly floating, the stress in her shoulders is non-existent, and her face is still warm. She's very aware that her medication is at its peak, her voice has a slight slur which shouldn't be that endearing – she side-eyes Miyuki who tries to muffle his chuckle when her tongue flops over a word carelessly – and endearing it is, to have Miyuki hover over her, but not suffocate her. She wants to mark this day down though because it feels astronomical.

Miyuki Kazuya kissed her—if she didn't feel so dopey, she would have giggled hysterically.

She really is a shoujo protagonist. 

But he kissed her—which, which is unprecedented, she rationalized with minute horror. Miyuki had no time to date or even possibly think about romantic entanglements of any nature. His life had always been about baseball and just baseball. For him to think of anything or anyone—outside of baseball is a world she doesn't know how to navigate. There is no playbook or wiki guidelines for this.

What if he regretted it?

She almost feels sick.

What if he did regret it, Hikari may never be able to recover from that possible train wreck, because the fact of the matter is that pursuing something with Miyuki was probably more terrifying than dying, and that said a lot about her own mental state.

This heart, she thinks and subtly covers her chest, is mine.

If she gave it to Miyuki with all her hopes and dreams, with her thoughts and emotions, with her never-ending loyalty and blind devotion, and he broke it, Hikari would never be able to put it back together again.

Hikari had lost so much in her life, her father was hanging on the edge of the unknown and she couldn't bear to lose Miyuki, Miyuki who had been such a constant in her life.

"Okay?" Miyuki's voice is almost like a piercing nail, it cuts through her thoughts just as effectively as a pin on a balloon.

She looks up.

Miyuki has his catcher gear on, but his golden eyes are deep amber and she's warmed from his touch, from his voice. He eyes her hand on her chest and she swallows, "Yeah, just...tired."

She catches a swatch of wheat-yellow in the stands and she stiffens beside her calm heartbeat. Her eyes try to trail the brush of a fair-haired boy, but she loses him in the row of players. She switches focus to Miyuki, "He's in the stands."

Gold burns to ochre and he hums calmly, "Don't look at him."

"I'll reign in the urge," she says flatly.

He smirks and fixes his sleeves, "You could focus on me."

"I thought pitchers were supposed to be egoists," Hikari raises a brow.

Miyuki laughs at that and drops a kiss to the corner of her mouth. He grins at her shock and his teammate's gapes, "How can I not be an egoist, if I got what I wanted?"

.

"No,"

"But—"

"—again, no."

"Ito-senpai," Kanemaru nearly whines at the injustices of it all. His guilt of losing her in his sight of vision felt like a rope around his neck and Miyuki's near homicidal rage that he felt the moment he had when he walked Hikari back to the stand was comical compared to Hikari's cool expression. He heard her slur, just a little when they started to walk to the dugout, and he tried to avoid making assumptions, but it wasn't hard to put the pieces together.

At least, until Miyuki decided to kiss her in front of everyone in the dugout.

"Why don't you ask your fearless captain?" Hikari deadpans and leans against the railing.

"Miyuki-senpai will laugh at me."

She smiles at that, and he feels his breath catch in his throat; maybe she really did like Miyuki.

She has horrible taste, obviously, but he sees the way Miyuki watches Hikari—the fact that he always watches her. Like he's trying to put the pieces of a never-ending puzzle together, a puzzle that he may never be able to put together, and accepting that as the standard.

But something is different now.

Aside from the kiss, Kanemaru shakes his head, something is much different now.

"I couldn't tell you what he's thinking," Hikari finally says and glances at the catcher's back with a knowing smile, "I couldn't even tell you what he's planning on doing, but I think that's a conversation for me and him to him."

Kanemaru understands that, but still.

Still, it's different.

"Is he good to you?"

Hikari startles at that and looks at him with wide eyes.

"Cause..." Kanemaru trails off not wanting to bash his upperclassman, but wanting to protect her all the same, "Sometimes he's not."

"Not good?" Hikari quirks a brow and chuckles at his flush, "I know, but most of the time I'm not good either."

"But you don't mean, what you say though," he insists.

"I don't say anything to purposefully hurt you all or to see any of you hurt," she agrees and scratches the side of her cheek, "Miyuki looks out for you all and says annoying things to bond with you, like an Oji-chan," she giggles and Kanemaru's eyes widen, "He would do anything to help the team, regardless of how you might feel or how he might do it."

"Does he do that with you?"

Hikari doesn't say anything for a moment, she thinks about it, carefully, and hums, "It's different, for me."

Kanemaru stares.

"We have very similar personalities, I think," Hikari chortles at Kanemaru's incredulous expression, "Obviously, it's not the same, because you all like me more. But I can handle anything he throws at me the same way I can throw anything at him, and he'll take it at face value. We have an understanding there."

"And it's still different," he finishes somewhat amused.

"Well, I think he likes me more," she smirks and twists her hat until it's backward, "So that might have something to do with it."

Kanemaru is sure that he wouldn't understand the extent of their relationship until they've come to terms with it, but he might not understand it even after.

.

"You did well, Eijun-chan," Hikari ruffles his hair and ignores the star in his eyes at the praise. "Your crossfire pitch could use some work though."

Sawamura pouts "I know," and then he looks up at the sky triumphantly, "But my batting is getting better!"

"Don't get cocky, Sawamura!" Kuramochi yells and kicks his behind.

"Very nice fielding, Sato-chan," she praises with a half-smile.

Furuya flushes at the nickname and dazes out the moment she finally gives him his deserved nickname.

"You're going to give the second years a big head, Hikari-chan," Zono scolds lightly.

"Ah, they deserve it," Hikari waves it off and stumbles a little now that she's in the sun.

Her hat which was sitting back on her head, suddenly twists and she yelps at the change in her field of vision. She gasps despite that the fact that she doesn't need to and looks up. Miyuki stands in front of her, with a smirk, his silver glasses do nothing but accentuate the ember of his eyes, sweat running down his jaw, and removes his face guard to allow the beads of grey to run a path down his throat.

"Don't I deserve some praise too?" he asks wryly and looks pointedly at the two pitchers, "I had to deal with them for most of the innings."

"Yeah, but you actually like it," Hikari smiles tiredly at that, "Don't think you need any praise if you know you're going to do a good job, Captain."

Miyuki blinks at that and smirks at her backhanded compliment; for saying the opposite, because he knew he would say something similar to that too.

Hikari's eyes are a little cloudy, but they tend to be anyway, at least when she's looking at him, he notes.

Still, he cups her cheek and kisses her anyway.

And the peanut gallery erupts into chaos.

Chapter Text

Miyuki takes his time in the bath.

The stress of today had finally made its way into his deltoids and he could feel it traveling to his neck and back. He exhales deeply and rests his head on the back of the stone as he thinks. He decided to take his bath last, wanting to run through the tape of the game, and promptly ignored his teammate's comments about him kissing Hikari.

Narumiya, he thinks darkly, had crossed a line.

Miyuki never thought he could do something so callous—maybe he did, but never to this extent.

Not to Hikari.

Seeing Hikari up in that tree, grappling for her life by the uneven bark, looking so lost, so pale—so terrified made something in his chest seize up. Miyuki could see the beads of sweat sliding down her throat, her jaw, it reminded him of that day—the day when he saw her lying on the ground, pale and sweating and shivering and all his rational thought flew out the window because he knew he had to get to her, and he had to get to her now.

But then Hikari looked at him the moment his knee slammed into the wood, she looked at him as if she didn't know him, as if she couldn't see him, for lack of better thought. His words wouldn't touch her, no matter what he tried, so he touched her, grounded her with his hands before he managed to extract her hand from the bark—blood and all slipping down her hand, he felt sick seeing the wound, worse knowing that he doubts she would be feeling it. 

Hikari still grabbed onto him, and only by sheer will, did Miyuki manage not to topple backwards. With a strong lower body and a powerful core, he stayed upright and pulled her close when she snaked her arms around his neck. He had stood up, relishing in the sting of his calves, and exhaling when she wrapped her legs around his waist.

Miyuki worried. How could he not, when she was trembling so violently, even when they were on the ground, Hikari couldn't—she couldn't let go of him, didn't know how to. When they left, when it was just the two of them, when she knew they were alone, she felt her fall apart in his arms because she didn't trust anyone but him to see her like that. That told him something.

It told him that trusted him, that she was safe with him, and that she didn't want anyone to see her the way he saw her.

Miyuki leans over the bath and puts his chin under his hand.

Hikari then pulled out a bottle of pills and Miyuki nearly thought the worst—which really isn't anything new, but, when concerning their clean-up batter, it is.

What's abysmal, is seeing Hikari, calm, but pliant in his arms, and not by her own will. It was just a little terrifying, he thinks. No worse than seeing her cry, he felt absolutely useless watching her cry, all he could do was hold her close and hope that all the pieces that felt broken would magically stick back together. He scowls; he wishes his brain would've worked faster.

Still, those pills could be dangerous, and though she said that she doesn't use them—if something else does happen, what will happen if he isn't there to get them to her?

Miyuki grits his teeth; catastrophizing while in the bath seems so redundant, how troublesome.

He runs his thumb over his bottom lip.

Gold eyes glitter like lanterns and he smirks; that kiss though, he can't believe he stuck out for so long.

If he knew how she tasted from the beginning, he would've kissed her the moment he started sleeping in her bed. The smell of her, coupled with her taste and the texture of her skin—he shivers. It would never be enough, he realizes greedily. He would never get enough of her, 

There's no going back now, Miyuki thinks happily.

.

Miyuki almost trips on his slipper as he stumbles into her room.

Hikari lays sideways on her bed, a bowl of popcorn near her ribs, her pearly white nightgown hung off her shoulder, her hair still damp from the shower – she didn't bother to dry it this time – so it seeped into part of her satin dress. If he focuses for a minute, he can see the faint color of breasts behind the fabric and he coughs violently.

She pauses from mid-reading of her textbook.

Miyuki stares at the cover: The Foundations of Trigonometry.

"Are you reading our math textbook?" Miyuki asks in disbelief and crawls into her bed.

"Yes,"

"For fun?" he squawks; clearly, he didn't know her as well as he thought he did. "Seriously?" he tilts his head in mild incredulity and leans back against her pillows.

She turns her head to look at him, the delicate skin of her neck out for display and the sweet v of her dress a welcoming sight. She drawls, "Do you have something against reading?"

"Well, no," Miyuki pauses and glances at the odd way she's holding her book. Her good hand is holding the book in the bind, between the pages, and her other hand holding is holding the other front cover. It's an awkward position and couldn't be all that comfortable.

She's not...really reading the math book, is she?

She can't be.

Slowly, he lulls her into a false sense of security and then he strikes. Miyuki snatches the book from her hands scrambles quickly to his side of the bed and finds another smaller book hiding in between the pages.

He snickers, he knew it!

What he didn't expect was for Hikari to leap toward, him in a desperate attempt to take back her the book.

She all but dives toward him, her face a bright red as she tries to snatch the book from his hands, and he chokes on his breath as she hangs over him like the moon. She attempts to grasp her novel from his mischievous fingers, but he turns the table, tossing her textbook into her desk chair, he keeps the novel close to his wrist as he brings his knees to her hips and flips over, using just his core muscles.

Hikari has the wind knocked out of her—though she can't tell for certain, because Miyuki usually manages to leave her breathless.

Miyuki hovers over her, a star just barely out of reach, and he holds onto the book—knees squeezing her hips in place. His mouth lingers over hers and he can't resist the temptation; he captures her lips smoothly, tilting so his nose hugs the indent of her cheek, and his glasses drop just a smidge. His fingers curl into the pillow beside her hair and her head whites out from the heat of him.

Hikari's inhales turn into a soft hum when he runs his tongue over her bottom lip. He can feel the vibrations in his mouth echo into his sinuses, a shudder runs through the length of his spine as he drags his lips over the corner of her mouth to give her a tiny nip. She yips at the sting; he grins when she chases his lips despite the tiny prickle.

Miyuki pulled back to wash his breath over his mouth, his lungs burned pleasantly, but nothing would ever remove the satisfaction of seeing Hikari's eyes look at him glassily, her cheeks a soft flush and swollen lips.

Then he flips open the book while she's still reeling from the kiss, and she yelps at his audacity.

"Is this," he smirks with teeth, and it grows wider when he sees the half-naked guy on the front cover, "Is that what I think it is?"

"How am I supposed to know what you're thinking?" Hikari squirms underneath him, but he's effectively pinned her down so that she can't do anything but cover her face with her hands as he pries upon her dirty little secret with one hand.

"It's—"

She covers his mouth with her hand and narrows her eyes at him despite her bright blush, "Don't say it."

Miyuki nips her fingers and runs his tongue down her palm to her wrist, Hikari flinches back in shock. He chuckles cheekily, "So, you do know what I'm thinking about."

Her hand tingles, caught, and she can't say anything back.

“Porn?" he snickers when she sinks deeper into the pillow and runs his tongue over his bottom teeth, "I never thought you’d read something so…scandalous.”

"It's not like I watch it!" Hikari retorts hotly and looks away from him, while muttering, "Unlike some people."

He flushes, the tables effectively turned, and he denies it, “I don’t watch—" she gives him a flat look and he sighs irritably, "Who told you?”

"Kuramochi, obviously," she reminds with a raised brow and wrinkles her nose, "Says that you two...stumbled upon it."

"He means I watched it against my will," Miyuki snorts and glances at the book, "Why do you even have this? You have me."

Hikari's eyes slowly widen at the implication and then she uses her injured hand – a cheap shot, he thinks bitterly – to grasp the book hanging above her head. The curve of her breast becomes more prominent against her dress, and he swallows watching the elegant line of her body arch up. She points to the cover, "You're not exactly a mafia boss who lives off the murders of his enemies."

"Is that what turns you on?" he deadpans, “Crime?"

"I have a thing for slightly unhinged guys that look like criminals," Hikari flushes but she's able to look at him directly in the eyes this time. She bites back with the same quip, "What's your excuse for watching porn? When you have the real thing in front of you?"

Miyuki smirks and leans down, his hands sliding over her hips; the book clatters next to the bowl of popcorn, “Are you the real thing though?”

Her eyebrow twitches, “If that is a sly comment against my body—!”

"Are you the real thing," he pauses "for me?” Miyuki asks this time, his tone is different this time, and it changes everything.

They aren’t talking about it, but they are talking about it which is—it’s something they know how to do well. Asking without asking, it's why they get along so well, it's how they can read each other without breaking down any of their defenses. Because instead of smashing those through with their bare fists, they leap over, and knock on the door.

Hikari’s breath hitches, “Do you want us to be?”

A strand of brown hair brushes the side of her cheek, “Are you going to answer my question with a question?”

She glares, “Are you going to answer?”

Miyuki licks his lips and pauses trying to think of the right thing to say. He whispers against her cheek, “I want this to be the real thing.”

Hikari smiles shyly, “I do too.”

“Not Sanada?” Miyuki asks in a rare sense of unease—he still remembers the way she looked at him, but then he'll remember the way she brushed him off the next time.

“It’s always been you, Kazuya.”

Miyuki kisses her again in an attempt to swallow his delight, his triumph because nothing could ever quell the surge of happiness that pierces through the cavity of his chest.

.

Hikari stares at her food with a blank look and then looks at her bandaged hand. Mortification and nervousness flood her system as she realizes her new predicament. How on earth is she supposed to use her chopsticks now?

To save face, she drinks her bowl of miso soup, hopefully, it gives her enough time to think of a solution.

"Hikari-senpai!" Sawamura greets sunnily and takes a seat in front of her, "How's your hand?"

"Ah," she says and scratches her face, "It's a bit sore, but it's not that bad."

"So are my ribs," he nods pointedly.

"Your ribs?"

"Kuramochi-senpai had to hold back Eijun-kun from punching Narumiya," Haruichi fills in from the side of him, "Senpai said if he couldn't punch Narumiya then he couldn't."

She swallows a laugh; sounds about right.

"But Kuramochi always wants to hit someone," Miyuki takes a seat next to her and the back of her neck warms when his knee presses up against hers from the table. "So, it's nothing new."

The entire cafeteria quiets at the sound of Miyuki's voice. They turn to look at him in an odd mix of aggravated and confusion. Miyuki looks owl-eyed at the glares that are being sent his way.

Looks like they didn't forget that kiss yesterday, Miyuki thinks amusedly.

Hikari doesn't like that smirk on his face; it spells trouble.

Furuya even glares at him.

She takes a sip of her miso soup, pointedly ignoring her bad hand, and glares at the bowl of rice in front of her. 

Miyuki – who only has eyes for her – notices the frustrated energy that Hikari is pouring into a bowl of rice with a deadpan expression.

What did the rice ever—

Golden eyes widen in realization.

Hikari's bandaged hand rests in her lap while she sips her soup – which was probably disappearing the more she kept her mouth occupied – and ignores the wandering eyes. Miyuki didn't realize that it was her dominant hand that she injured, so doing most mundane tasks might be a struggle for her—such as eating. Now, he thinks mischievously, his team would really have something to complain about.

Miyuki turns in his seat until he knocks knees with hers, he grabs her chopsticks and her bowl of rice. Hikari stares at him in disbelief as she suddenly realizes what he's going to do, he smirks at her, and picks up a bite of rice before holding it up to her mouth. He prompts with a warm voice, "Well?"

Sawamura practically foams at the mouth, "What are you doing to Hikari-senpai, you— you tanuki!"

"Feeding her," Miyuki replies deadpan, and her mouth drops open at his nerve.

She nearly choked when he put the rice in her mouth, clearly forgetting to breathe.

Haruichi flushes at the scene in front of him.

"He's feeding his girlfriend, Sawamura," Kuramochi drops that piece of information coolly before taking the seat next to her and raises a brow at him challengingly, "What do you think he's doing?"

Miyuki's brows furrowed—they didn't have the dating conversation, but obviously, it was implied unless the short-stop was insinuating otherwise. He bites the side of his tongue at Kuramochi's sharpness, daring him to acknowledge their relationship when they have yet to discuss it – at least openly – is a play that he respects and admires. Of course, he knew, the catcher thinks, he wouldn't be his Vice-Captain if he didn't suspect otherwise.

"Her hand is injured, idiot. Do you want her to starve?" Miyuki answers without looking at Sawamura.

"So, you're dating Hikari-senpai, then, Miyuki-senpai?" Furuya asks quietly—the entire team hovers closer to hear the answer.

Hikari was glad that she wasn't asked any questions, even so, she turned to look at Miyuki with a raised brow; amused.

Miyuki's torn between laughing and scoffing at her boldness. He snarks, "I don't just kiss anyone, Furuya."

And the cafeteria erupts into chaos.

.

Hikari slams her good hand on the table and scowls when they all quiet down, "If you all want me to treat you like children, I will. You will ask questions after breakfast, and if I hear one word of gossip, you're running laps until you throw up, got it?"

Miyuki bursts into laughter and she hates how she wants to smile at the sound of his careless mirth. He grins at her with his bright, golden eyes, "You're amazing, Hikari."

"I will stab you in the face with these chopsticks," she warns him – the cause of all her problems – as she squashes down the urge to smile like a ninny.

"Yeah, but if it's you," he smirks and grabs the chopsticks from her hand, "I might like it."

"I think I'm going to throw up," Sawamura gags and takes his tray to the back of the cafeteria—Furuya and Haruichi following as well.

Kuramochi makes a noise of disgust and embarrassment before squeezing in at Zono's table.

"Well, that's one way to get rid of them," Miyuki snickers and feeds her a bite of fish, "I'll have to keep that in mind."

"If you're going to think of ways to torture them, you might as well make a list," Hikari says after swallowing a bite and glancing at them discreetly, "Laps seem like they make the cut."

They shiver.

Miyuki and Hikari exchange dark grins.

"They're perfect for each other," Haruichi says warily.

"Isn't this illegal?" Kanemaru says desperately, "Are you two allowed to date? Especially since we're on the same team. I mean does Coach know?"

Miyuki blanks.

"Oh," Hikari hums and sips the rest of her miso soup, "He does. He's okay with it."

"HAH?" Kuramochi had expected more of a fuss.

Miyuki stares at her in shock.

"Though," she smirks as he feeds another bite of rice, "I'm pretty sure Coach is going to pull you aside, Kazuya, probably threaten you a little. When he does, let me know, so I can watch."

He's so blessed, he thinks and wipes a stray grain of rice from the corner of her mouth, to have someone that can keep him on his toes like this.

"I thought I was supposed to be the one that's trouble," Miyuki inserts instead and holds a strawberry for her to take a bite out of.

Hikari wraps her lip around the strawberry and takes a bite—red stains her lips and his fingers. Her tongue curls against the bottom of her lip in response, "But I'm so much better at it."

He has to stop himself from dropping down and kissing her right there—he licks the fruit juice off his thumb, "We'll see."

.

"I am disgusted," Kuramochi says dramatically, but really, he's happy for those two psychos.

The pining was going to make him throw up, seriously.

Chapter Text

"Summer training camp," Hikari pants as she turns around the corner sharply, "Sucks."

Miyuki laughs breathlessly and nearly stumbles when he rounds the corner, "Reminds you," he pants, "Of our first year?"

"I think," she breathes and turns another corner, "I blocked it out," inhale, "Too much trauma."

He laughs again and then coughs, "Stop," Exhale. "Making me laugh," Inhale. "I don't have enough," Pant. "Air."

Coach Kataoka is a demon, she affirms confidently. She finishes her twenty laps and bends down to breathe heavily. After Miyuki had healed, Hikari had gotten her bandage removed, and now training felt ten times worse. Which really shouldn't matter when it comes to cardio and running laps, but somehow, this training circuit reminds her of a prison routine.

Lunges with a set of dumbbells, a leg up on a wooden bench as she pushes all her weight into her thighs. She huffs and switches legs, ignoring Furuya's rasping breath next to her. She's going to need one of the first years to massage her legs after this—if they're awake that long.

"Give her the bar," Coach Kataoka tells Zono.

Hikari grits her teeth, hell, she'll be lucky if she can get up tomorrow.

She tosses her dumbbells to the side and stretches her legs while Zono grabs the barbell. She has batting practice after this and then lunch. She wipes her hands on her pants before picking up some chalk; no, he truly is a demon.

Zono helps her balance the barbell on her shoulders—she winces at the bite of metal and rolls it on the top of her back.

"Three sets of reverse lunges followed by deep-seated squats and then narrow-seat squats," he orders and waits for her to get into position.

Hikari inhales slowly before she starts her lunges, Coach Kataoka nods in approval before barking at Kawakami to use his knees when picking up the ball.

When her leg workout is over, she can hardly walk, her lower body trembles as she walks over to the center field.

"Help her stretch, Miyuki!" Kataoka barks from the side.

Miyuki drops his bat and jogs over. He winces at her wobbly legs and puts her into a sitting position. She hisses when he pushes on her back, and she reaches for the middle in between her legs. "A monster, that's what he is."

"If I don't fall asleep after my shower, I'll massage you," he chuckles and helps her adjust her legs to stretch.

"My ass is on fire," Hikari groans and gives Miyuki her leg when he pushes her knee up to her chest, "How many more days of this?"

"Eight," Miyuki answers almost remorsefully, "Next leg."

She switches legs and then puts both feet in between his hands as he stands up to stretch her up ninety degrees.

"I can feel you staring, Kuramochi," she gasps and yelps when Miyuki digs his fingers into her calves, "Kazuya that hurts!"

"Give it a minute," he says calmly.

"This kind of reminds me of this video that Miyuki and I were watching—"

"—you mean the porn that you forced him to watch?" Hikari breathes through her teeth and drops her legs to the ground when the catcher releases them.

"You know?" he gapes.

"Kazuya doesn't keep secrets from me," she chuckles and takes Miyuki's hand to help her stand; he pulls her hard enough that she stumbles towards him, and he uses that momentum to kiss her on the cheek.

"Especially when she can tell when I'm lying," Miyuki hums and walks back to the batting area.

"You two are disgusting," Kuramochi grumbles albeit a tad jealous; Miyuki always gets the girl.

.

"Only four fouls," Coach Kataoka nods in approval and glances at the trajectory, "You need to up your strength to accommodate for your speed. I know you want to swing fast and long, but if we can increase your strength, you can maximize home runs by a clean-up batter."

Hikari sighs knowing where this is going, "Strength training?"

He nods, "Go clean up, lunch is ready. I will start you on some new circuits after."

She inclines her head and cringes when she feels her legs start to weigh like lead. Thankfully, Sawamura is closer to her other teammates, she waves at him and calls, "Eijun-chan!"

Sawamura blinks and walks over, his pace stumbling into a light jog. She doesn't know where on Earth he gets his monster stamina – maybe it was because he's a country boy – and energy from, but she's not going to complain if he can do her this small favor. She smiles tiredly as he walks up to her, tilting his head sideways, reminding her of a small, eager puppy.

"Hikari-senpai, did you need something?"

"Eijun-chan," she lets the exhaustion leak into her voice, "If you carry me to the cafeteria, I will give you my last box of banana pocky."

His eyes widen and glances at the catcher who is far—far away. Miyuki wasn't paying attention, fortunately, and he inquired almost nervously and minutely excited, "T-The last box?"

Hikari nods and grimaces, "I can’t feel my legs since using the barbells. I'm afraid I'll fall if I move even an inch."

"Wouldn't Miyuki-senpai get mad?"

"For what?" she asks incredulously.

"That I'm carrying you?" Sawamura frowns.

Hikari snorts and shakes her head, "No. He'll probably be grateful, I don't need him to worry about me, right now. He has enough of a burden, being Captain. Besides, if he gets mad, I'll just kick him—well, more like strangle him."

Sawamura nods and crouches so he can haul her on his back. Hikari wraps her arms around his neck and her legs around his waist and yelps sharply at the pull of muscle, "This hurts, Eijun-chan you better hurry it up, I think I might get a cramp."

He stiffens and yells, "Hold on."

Sawamura takes off at the speed of light, Hikari bobs behind him like a rag doll shrieking at him to look out for spare baseballs. Miyuki turns to see Sawamura running like a headless chicken and the rest of the first years look on with wide eyes. Hikari is holding on for her dear life he thinks with an amused huff, though that amusement dies when he sees how high the pitcher's hands are up on her thighs.

Clearly, Sawamura needs more strength practice.

.

"I—think if I eat another bite, I'm going to be sick," Hikari looks faintly green at the next scoop of rice Haruichi hands her.

"The adrenaline," Miyuki agrees, but powers through and eats his second helping of fish. "At least drink your soup."

She whimpers and buries her face into his neck while he casually eats his fish.

The sound of a bell rings through the cafeteria, a girl dressed in a red uniform pops in and calls out, "Delivery! For Ito Hikari!"

Hikari cautiously raises a hand, "That's me."

"I didn't know you can order food?" Miyuki frowns.

"I didn't," Hikari answers in shock.

The girl hands her a plastic bag with one item in it and asks her to sign for the package. She nods in thanks, "There's a note inside, by the way."

Hikari blinks and she leaves the cafeteria, but not before giving Furuya a onceover which he flushes over.

Haruichi giggles.

She glances at the plastic bag and grabs the package—it feels like a cup. Her eyes widen at the pretty pink of the cup, with whipped cream and chunks of fruit. There's a straw in the bottom of the bag too.

"Is that a milkshake?" Zono asks longingly.

Hikari grabs the note from the inside of the bag, Miyuki's chin rests above her shoulder as they read the small message together.

Princess,

Tesshin-san tells me that you're going through a tough training camp this summer. I know how you dislike eating in the summer, so I thought this might cool you down. It's a strawberry milkshake for athletes! The lady said it's filled with tons of protein and no sugar. Tell me if you like it, Dove. I'll send some more.

Love,

Papa

"A strawberry protein milkshake!" Hikari giggles with stars in her eyes and pops the straw into the cup, "Thank you, Papa!"

The rest of the first years burn with jealousy.

"Ito-sama is so nice," Sawamura pouts, "Hikari-senpai, did you know Ito-Papa sent us new sweaters for the winter?"

"He did?" she says surprised and drinks her milkshake.

"That was Ito-sama?" Furuya asks with shock.

"I didn't know your father was a sponsor or that he sent stuff for us," Kuramochi adds in from the corner with a pensive look on his face, "Is this what he meant when..."

Miyuki gives him a look.

He promptly stopped talking.

Hikari's eyebrows narrowed, "Did Papa say something to you all?"

"Is this why you don't like me calling you princess?" Miyuki changes the subject entirely and quirks a brow, "Because your father calls you that."

"Yes," she says flatly and picks up a stray strawberry, "Also, I feel like you're making fun of me when you call me that."

"But I am."

Hikari smears whipped cream on his nose and shrieks when he wipes his nose on her cheek; his mouth kissing the corner of her cheek so he can clean up the rest of the sugar. She can't hide her smile unfortunately and it makes him grin even more. He keeps the second piece of information on her note for later.

For now, he'll hold her until they start training.

.

"No nightgown?" Miyuki asks amused as she opens the door in a spare Seido jersey.

"I haven't done laundry yet," Hikari scowls and limps to the bed.

He closes and locks the door shut. He frowns when she throws herself on the bed and lays face down on the mattress with a miserable groan.

"What did Coach do to you?" he asks mildly concerned and takes a seat next to her.

"New training circuit—it's specialized given that I'm a female," her voice is muffled by the blanket, "Barbell training, more running, and chest exercises."

Miyuki winces, "Where's your lotion?"

She points to a bottle near her desk.

Miyuki grabs the small jar from the corner of her desk and crawls back onto the bed. Unscrewing the cap, he gives the lotion a sniff and his assaulted by the scent of blackberries, something powdery, and spicy like cinnamon. His mouth waters when he realizes this is the purple haze that Hikari practically bathes in, he wonders if he'll be able to taste it on his tongue.

He shakes his head, abruptly.

She's in pain right now, so he needs to focus.

He grabs a good smear of the lotion and warms it up in his hands before sliding the silky liquid up her calves. He yelps, "Your calves feel like rocks."

"I know," Hikari groans and drops her head to the side, "I haven't been able to relax since that last run."

Miyuki inwardly curses: if he doesn't loosen her muscles, she's going to be in pain tomorrow and have a hard time sleeping.

This means, that he isn't going to sleep, and that leaves way too much free time for him to even think about practice tomorrow.

"Why aren't you stiff?" Hikari asks with a sigh as he removes a knot from one of her calves.

"I made Furuya give me a massage," he says absently.

"Don't those hurt?" she wonders in disbelief.

"Yeah," he chuckles and slides down her ankle to get her feet, "But they are effective."

Miyuki grabs more lotion and starts the other leg. His thumbs slid up the back of her knee putting pressure on the lowest part of her thighs. He hesitates for a moment and asks, "Hikari?"

"Hm?"

He opens and closes his mouth before asking, "Is it okay...if I move...higher?"

This is a bit different than before, before he gave her a massage when she was wearing a thin nightgown and his hands were over her clothes. This time his hands were going to be on bare skin, and he'd finally feel just how soft she really was.

"Yes," she says calmly as if there wasn't a worry in the world, she grabs the back of her jersey and lifts it up until it reaches right under her behind, "Though, I have to warn you, my thighs will probably be worse."

Miyuki gapes for a moment, but he remembers what Chris said before—how much trust can dictate how much space she gives him to work in.

Hikari never hesitated.

He swallows, and a faint flush brushes the back of his ears, but all he does is adjust his glasses and grab a thicker amount of lotion. He warms up the sweet-smelling cream in his hands before rubbing in the lotion onto her thighs. He gawps at the hard muscle underneath satin-covered skin. "Shit, how tense are you?"

"I told you," Hikari grunts and wiggles a little to get his hands to slide higher up. This small movement causes her jersey to ride over her behind and—and he notices with a choked breath, that she isn't wearing pants. She can feel the cool air brush over her bottom and her cheeks flush at the sudden exposure, but she's not going to mention it.

She trusts Miyuki.

"Hikari," Miyuki breathes out heavily when he sees the deep blue, lacy underwear and squeezes her thigh warningly, "Are you trying to kill me?"

Hikari grins though he can't see it, "There are much better ways to do that, than this, Kazuya."

He groans low and deep.

Composure, he thinks firmly, find it.

"Do you always wear sexy underwear?" Miyuki asks casually and presses harder on her hamstrings, his thumbs feel like two stones rubbing in firm lines.

"Not when I'm training," Hikari admits lightly and grunts, "You can press harder, Kazuya. I'm not going to break."

"I don't want to give you a bruise," he confesses, but is rougher on her muscles and she finally relaxes into the harsher temp.

"No one will see it," she points out and arches inward to stretch her leg.

"Not the point," Miyuki reminds her and starts on the other leg, "How do you feel?"

"My legs feel much better," Hikari says after a moment and moans softly when he presses harder into her hamstring, "They don't ache as much."

"But your back hurts, doesn't it?"

She coughs, "To be fair, there isn't a part of me that doesn't hurt, but my legs and back have been the worst because of the barbell."

Miyuki hums and pushes her sweater higher until he realizes that she isn't wearing a bra and that she's practically, no—nearly, naked. He's almost uncomfortable with how trusting she is towards him. Still, he's not one to kick a gift in the horse's mouth, he slides his hands up her back, still damp with lotion and presses into the knots of her back.

Hikari sighs into the pillow, the line down her back becoming more and more prominent, and he leans in to feel the temptation of the dip beneath his lips. He drops a soft kiss on the line and smiles when he sees goosebumps prickle her skin. She can feel his smile on her back as he drags his lips over her back, underneath her shoulder blades before he flips her over and takes her in.

Her jersey rides up higher than she would like it, but she wonders what would happen if she pushed Miyuki.

"You're going to ruin our team uniform for me," Miyuki breathes heavily, he drinks in the lazy length of her in, his hands sliding over her hips and thighs.

She grins sluggishly and raises her arm for him to grab; he eyes it cautiously before she takes it and pulls him down. He just barely misses ramming his teeth into her chin, she adjusts his neck so she can kiss him slowly, her fingers trailing up his shoulders and tangling in the back of his hair.

Miyuki groans into her mouth and she nibbles on the corner of his lips. She's taking more of an active role now, he thinks. Her thumb curls underneath his ear and he shudders against her. Then she smirks and he can feel it against his tongue. He pulls back to gasp and shifts when he feels him start to—to get excited. He pants, "Wait—wait. We're going too fast."

Hikari blinks cloudily at him, "Are you okay?"

"Are you?" he demands incredulously.

"I'm fine," she looks at him confused and grimaces when she realizes, "Sorry, I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable."

"Uncomfortable?" Miyuki yelps and leans back for a moment, "Have you done this before?"

"Done..." Hikari trails off puzzled before she finishes, "Sex?"

He flushes but nods.

"Well, no," she shrugs and glances at him, but maybe he doesn't have as much experience as she does, granted it wasn't much. Yet, judging from how much baseball and training take out of his life, she doubts he had a clue about the opposite sex, "But I trust you, and if you aren't ready for something you should be able to tell me."

Miyuki opens and closes his mouth; flabbergasted. His ears tint pink, and he sighs, "Shouldn't I be the one saying that?"

Hikari laughs and pushes him to the side of the bed. She moves closer to him and curls her knees so she can give him a respectable amount of space—her nose brushes his, "But you are right. We are moving too fast. I mean, you haven't even taken me out on a date."

Golden eyes widen at that.

"And you haven't even had the awkward boyfriend-to-dad conversation," she adds with a smirk.

"Shit," Miyuki swears and leans back into her pillow, "If your dad knew that I was sneaking into your bedroom..."

"Maybe...don't tell him that?"

He exhales shakily and sits up, "I can't believe I'm going to say this, but I want to do this properly."

Chapter Text

"I'm not a fan of sugar," Miyuki says politely accepting the cup of tea Hikari made for him.

"Hikari-chan loves her sweets," Daichi says almost fondly and sips his tea, "She got her first cavity when she was eight, you know. She made sure to brush her teeth every night after that."

"Papa," Hikari chides gently despite a flush brewing on her cheeks.

Miyuki smiles impishly at that, the thought of a younger Hikari wearing a sash around her mouth and the ends of the sash plopping on her head like a bunny is an undoubtfully cute picture. He could almost imagine her bright eyes and red cheeks. The pout she would give when she can't have any ice cream to soothe the swelling and the smile she would give when she gets a popsicle.

It's almost too much for his heart to bear.

Hikari eyes Miyuki warily. She will be the first to admit it, she did not expect Miyuki to demand to meet her father, not that they hadn't met before, but officially. As her boyfriend, she grimaces inwardly. In her head, it sounds juvenile, but they are both seniors, college is right around the corner, and—

—the future is filled with so many holes and possibilities that Hikari never really allowed herself to think of after.

After.

It was a foreign concept.

She and Miyuki never spoke about it afterward.

Hikari never got this far in the anime—the manga.

She blames the animation studios.

In this time, Inashiro was banned from the future tournament after the pending investigation turned out to be true—it was a bittersweet feeling at Seido. The team was vindictive and ecstatic that they had avenged their only female teammate, but Hikari still felt uncomfortable with this information going public. 

Miyuki had smoothened things over then with the team, and the coaches and fully distracted her for weeks on end, but she knew that the relationship between him and Narumiya was something he had to deal with on his own, and she couldn't push him to talk about it. 

But then what?

What happens after they win Koshien? What happens when the spring comes, and they have to prepare for graduation? What happens after graduation? What does she do after? Where will she go? What happens to Miyuki? Does he get scouted? Will he get drafted?

What happens to them?

These were questions Hikari never thought about answering.

She had been completely fine with the way things were going in school, and where the team was headed, because she knew for a fact what was going to happen. She knew that they were going to Koshien, that they were going to win, that their team was going to make it. She was eager and excited, never nervous, never anxious because she knew in her bones that things were going to be okay because that was written in stone.

What happens after?

After?

After that Hikari has no idea.

And that's when the fear settles in.

Hikari stares at her tea in mute horror.

Oh god, what has she done?

Her father is going to die, eventually; she knows this.

It's part of the human life cycle.

It's not as morbid as she thinks it's going to be, but it's still painful. She knows this, his disease has taken a turn for the worse, and she needs to prepare herself. She doesn't know how, though, she thinks, because death is a concept that she is very familiar with. She's not afraid of what lies ahead, but Hikari is just not ready.

She isn't ready to let her father go.

And it's the worst thing to think about.

Hikari came into this world with knowing death, knowing how she died, how she came into this world, but she doesn't know.

She doesn't know how to be that person on the outside, how to watch someone die—she isn't strong enough to handle it.

Hikari has avoided thinking about this for the longest time because she doesn't know how to approach any of this.

She wants to cry and scream because why does she have to deal with this?

Why is she being punished?

And then Miyuki, Hikari tightens her grip on her teacup, what is she going to do about him?

They are going to graduate soon, and their paths will diverge from summer into fall. The leaves will change, the air will grow colder, and it won't be the same anymore. Hikari has loved him from the moment she saw him, but he is Miyuki, and love is a concept he hasn't bothered to explore since he found baseball while his mom lay dying in the hospital. She can't impose her feelings on him like this.

Miyuki is a star.

A bright, burning star that radiates with a light that leaves you in awe.

Stars aren't meant to stay on earth and dull—they shine the brightest in the dark.

He'll get drafted, Hikari thinks, and she smiles bitterly, who does she think she is—trying to catch a star?

Because when Papa leaves her and Miyuki finds his place in the universe, Hikari will be all alone.

Again.

.

"I've been calling your name for the last five minutes," Miyuki says with concern, it's hands that touch hers that bring her out of her train of thought.

"Huh?" Hikari blinked and looked up to see him sitting next to her, "Where's Papa?"

"He went to grab some snacks," he shrugs and intertwines his fingers with hers, "Now, what are you thinking about?"

She stares at him perturbed.

"You had that thinking face that you do when you're trying to solve a very hard problem," Miyuki clarifies and then smirks, "It's kind of cute, but only when you're not trying to cry."

Hikari swallows and glances at their hands.

How ironic, she nearly scoffs, for Miyuki to be able to read her as easily as she can read him.

"Babe," Miyuki says gently and she flinches at the term of endearment. He doesn't use it often, but when he does it tugs on her heartstrings. "What's wrong?"

"What," Hikari licks her lips and sighs, "What are we even doing?"

He furrows his brows, "Meeting your dad?"

"Ok, but to what degree?" she sounds harsh, and she hates that she does, but she can't afford to beat around the bush. Not when she's so close to giving herself to him, "What then?"

Miyuki stares at her shrewdly and squeezes her hands, "I'm going to ignore that first sentence because I can practically see your anxiety."

Hikari deflates; she hates him.

Really, she does.

"Miyuki—"

"—woah. You better drink your tea and wash your mouth before properly addressing me."

She rolls her eyes, "Kazuya."

He grins, "Better."

"What are we doing—like," Hikari pauses not sure how to breach this, "I don't understand."

"Did you hit your head somewhere?" Miyuki asks in disbelief and puts a hand on her forehead, "You almost sound like an idiot."

She scowls, "I will hit you."

"Better," he affirms and raises a brow, "Are you having an existential crisis?"

Yes.

"No," Hikari shakes her head and growls lightly, "We haven't...Kazuya, what about after?"

"After?" Miyuki frowns, "After lunch? I figure we would go back to the dorms and watch a movie, but I'm pretty sure we have an evening practice simulation."

Oh God, why is this so hard?

"What happens after Koshien?" she says flatly, and he stills at that, "What happens after we graduate? What are you going to do? What are we going to do? Is there going to be a we? You might get drafted and Papa," she swallows, "Papa might not have that much time left and—"

"Where is this coming from?" Miyuki whispers loudly and grabs her forearms. His golden eyes are almost wild in coloring and his jaw hardens, "What the hell do you mean is there going to be a we? Are you stupid? Of course, there is!"

Hikari blinks at him and is stunned silent for a moment before she shakes her head, "There is a reason I do not think about the future! Okay, I don't know—" she glances back at the kitchen, "I don't know what I'm going to do when Papa leaves me, okay?"

Then she starts to cry because the terror of being alone again is almost suffocating.

Miyuki's eyes widen when she starts to shake, and he wastes no time pulling her into his arms. She buries her face into his neck, and he pulls and pulls until she feels the flat planes of his chest against her breasts. He presses kisses to her shoulder, her throat, and her cheek. He sighs into her hair, "You're so ridiculous. What makes you think that I'm going to be able to leave you after we graduate?"

"You're going to go pro, stupid," Hikari sniffles and rests her cheek against his shoulder.

"Obviously," he rolls his eyes and presses his temple against the crown of her head, "I'm not going anywhere without you, Hikari."

She stares at his throat, "What does that mean?"

"Did you listen to anything your father said a few minutes ago?"

"In case you haven't noticed, I was having a meltdown," Hikari snaps and grips his waist even harder.

Miyuki pulls back to drop his forehead against hers, and that stupid smile is on his face.

"What? she asks wetly, her brows furrowed.

"Your dad," Miyuki whispers like it's a secret, his thumb brushing the corner of her lip, and his eyes glitter like diamonds. He grins wide and annoying, mischievous, and childlike. "Basically, gave me permission to marry you."

Hikari feels the floor drop from under her feet.

.

Miyuki thinks that might have broken Hikari.

Or maybe her father did.

"—Rei-san would be your guardian should I pass before you are legally an adult," Daichi says almost unbothered. "Tesshin had the lawyer come to school last week and sign the necessary paperwork."

Hikari stares at him.

"—also, you have a trust set up in your name. The house is yours and there's enough money to last after university and a little more after that," he continues nonchalantly as if speaking about his demise isn't the most horrifying thing.

It is.

But it's not too.

Miyuki glances at both warily, Hikari a bit more in concern as she's frozen solid.

"I already gave Kazuya-chan my permission," Daichi says with a shrug.

Hikari twitches and Miyuki stares.

"He promises to honor, protect, and cherish you, which is all I can ask for my future son-in-law," he finishes his spiel dramatically and with a smile, "I know that you two are fairly young, so things may change in the future, but apparently his mind has been made up, and he would have no one but you. I have grilled Kazuya-chan on his intentions with my precious daughter, and he has answered them most thoughtfully. I have no complaints. I also hear he's a fantastic cook! You will never starve; I only regret not being able to see my grandchildren before—"

Hikari falls to the floor.

.

"What did you do to Hikari-senpai, you tanuki bastard?" Sawamura snarls and shakes Miyuki like a rag doll.

"She looks catatonic!" Kuramochi hisses and Hikari stares at her bowl of rice blankly.

Miyuki chuckles sheepishly and waits for Sawamura to put him down before he grins mean and annoying, "Ito-sama gave me permission to marry her."

The cafeteria falls silent, and Hikari's head drops to the table as the entire room erupts into a chorus of shrieks and confusion.

.

Her father had been planning this for a long while it seems.

"What do you mean permission?" Zono asks with disgust, "As if Ito-sama would ever hand over his daughter like that!"

"Yeah!" Sawamura scowls and pats his chest, "Besides Ito-sama likes me better anyway."

And the laugh Miyuki lets is annoying even to his own ears.

Hikari inhales slowly.

.

Okay, maybe she doesn't have to marry him.

Hikari allows Miyuki to lead her around the baseball team, practice, and school. This is the first time she's taken such a long time to process, well, everything. Honestly, cut her some slack, reincarnating into a character in a sports anime and processing that her only living parent is dying while juggling nationals and her baseball-obsessed team is enough to drive anyone insane.

Now add Miyuki and Miyuki and Miyuki forever.

It had sunk in.

Papa was telling her, that if she ever wanted to marry Miyuki, that if she wanted to be with him forever, even when her father wasn't here to see her—if she wanted Miyuki to be by her side for everything and anything, it would be okay, because her father given her his seal of approval.

That is what her father meant.

It didn't have to mean forever if she didn't want it to.

Hikari relaxes into her chair in History class, Miyuki eyes her thoughtfully; the thing is, what if she wanted it to be forever?

Hikari looks over at Miyuki who gives her a tiny grin, but the wink is what does it for her.

He's so stupid, she thinks exasperated, but she can't help but love him.

.

Hikari never liked having her life planned out for her, but she cannot deny how relieving it is to have some form of a plan laid out for her.

Especially with the knowledge and power she has over the remaining end of her senior year.

Rei brought the lawyer and her father into the coach's office to sign off his will, and guardianship once Hikari assumed the legal age and used the coach as a witness. It's a precaution, not necessarily a reality, Rei tells her. Miyuki waited anxiously outside the office for her and when she walks out; he turned to her, and he didn't have to say anything.

Because Miyuki understands.

Hikari throws herself at him and hugs him tightly.

He presses a kiss on her cheek, and they walk to her room.

.

Christmas is spent with their families respectively, but the New Year is right around the corner and Hikari can't really deny Miyuki when he says, "I want to start the New Year with you next to me."

So, they go to the temple near Miyuki's home.

"Pretty," Miyuki says quietly, his fingers sliding over the silk of her obi, and smiles at her, "I always wanted to know what you looked like in a kimono."

Hikari rolls her eyes and swipes her thumb over his cheekbone relishing in his blush at the uncharacteristically soft display of affection. She asks with a tiny smirk, "Do I live up to the fantasy?"

He grins sly and cheeky, and just as he's about to open his mouth and say something probably scandalous—she puts a thumb over his lips.

"Don't answer that," she warns him without any real heat and her breath hitches when he presses a kiss to the pad of her thumb, "I walked right into that one."

Miyuki laughs regardless and presses his face deeper into the palm of her hand. He flickers his gaze to a nearby clock and reads, "Ten minutes."

Hikari blinks and looks up, "Has it really been almost a year?"

"Doesn't feel that long," he comments lightly and nearly frowns when she drops her hand from his face.

"What? School?"

Miyuki looks at her carefully and shakes his head, deciding not to venture into that rabbit hole. That was a conversation for another time. Instead, he wraps an arm around her waist and pulls her to another section of the temple. The one where it's colder near the koi pond, where the red bridge looks more like blood and the wood takes on a bluish tint.

"Us," Miyuki says instead, his arms wrapped all around her, her back against his chest and he rests his chin on her shoulder as they stare out at the river, "I feel like I've known you my entire life."

Hikari bites the inside of her cheek—it's not like he's wrong. But those were semantics, she thinks childishly and leans her head back, resting her head on his shoulder. "This year feels the longest."

A moment passes, "Why?"

"So many things have happened," she muses and looks at the stars reflecting in the water, the one to the left is the brightest—she'll name him Miyuki.

"Hm," Miyuki hums close to her ear, and she shivers despite herself.

He tightens his arm around her, "Cold?"

"A little," Hikari admits quietly, afraid to ruin the stillness of the night.

He nuzzles a little closer and she melts a little at the gesture. He presses his cheek against hers, and she swallows at the warmth.

"Earlier, what did you wish for?" she finds herself asking.

Miyuki huffs an amused breath, "If I tell you, then my wish won't come true."

Hikari rolls her eyes and says wisely, "Wishes only come true if you want them bad enough."

He pauses at that and turns to look at her. She shifts her weight to turn in his arms, pressing her hands to his chest. She nudges her chin up and looks at him curiously. He asks with mischievous gold eyes, "Speaking from experience?"

She traces his cheek with the pad of her thumb, brows furrow in a pensive expression, but her movements are tender and gentle. It slips into the curve of his smile and brushes the bottom of his lip. She smiles knowingly and looks up at him, "Yes."

Miyuki's heart thumps in his chest at the implications.

"What?" Hikari furrows her brows, and he swipes his thumb over her forehead, smoothening on the creases and sliding long digits into her hair as he tilts her head to look at her with a better angle.

"You know," he starts off quietly, "I've only had one goal since I started Seido and that was to go Koshien. It was a short-term goal, it was a temporary goal, but I wanted it so bad. I didn't need to make friends and hold hands with my teammates as we skipped merrily to the end."

She blinks at him.

"But I find myself looking at a more permanent goal," Miyuki drawls with a touch of irony.

"Permanent?" Hikari frowns, "What? I already know you want to go pro."

"Well, yes," he shrugs and slides his fingers down her scalp, "I've always known I wanted to go pro, I made those choices alone, and by myself with a realistic plan set in stone. I learned what I needed, I found my tools, and I worked hard to get where I am. These were things that I didn't need to plan because I knew that I would get there. But lately, I've been thinking about it more and more. The future."

"Is this because of Papa?" Hikari asks with a raised brow. "You know that it was more of a hypothetical case, right? I mean, I didn't realize that that way until a few weeks later."

"After your...week-long delirium, I would hope so," Miyuki snorts.

Hikari whacks him on the chest with her palm.

He presses a kiss to her nose in response, "It started with your dad asking me about my intentions and honestly, I tuned out a lot of the vague threats," he chuckles and tugs on her hair lightly, "I couldn't answer your questions then because I only knew then, that I couldn't imagine a future without you in it."

Hikari blushes lightly at that and swallows at that confession, "So you've said."

Miyuki spells it out, "So, I've adjusted my plans."

"Really?"

"Yes,"

"And what are these plans of yours? "Hikari rolls her eyes and grins, "Sounds absolutely diabolical."

"Well..." he smirks.

"Kazuya!"

He kisses her forehead then and she really does melt into him at that. It was an oddly sweet gesture, pressing her face into his chest, he curled her tighter into him, wanting to make a space for her in between his heart and lungs. He reiterates, "These plans that I've made before going to Koshien, I made them alone—and..."

Hikari stills at that, and she peers upwards.

"...and I'm not alone anymore," Miyuki says quietly and slides his hands down her hips.

The crowd starts getting louder from the temple. The cheering, the sounds of clapping, and the music get louder. She tightens her grip on his kimono and stares at him, "Kazuya, what...?"

"What I'm trying to say," he blushes despite his frustration, "Pretty badly, is that Koshien is a temporary goal and that I want a more permanent goal. I...want something permanent."

"Permanent," Hikari repeats quietly and looks at him with stars in her eyes—because he is her star.

"I'll always have baseball," Miyuki says and drops his head, "But it's you, I will want forever."

The clock strikes twelve and Hikari leans up to seal that promise with a kiss.

Miyuki keeps her close to his heart, away from the cold of the wind, and in the dark of the night with nothing but the fireworks burning bright above them.