Chapter Text
Miyuki looked up from where he was sitting, trying to suppress the eerie feeling he always gave himself when he was able to just sense the atmosphere around him. It was a skill he had picked up over the years from always being the odd man out, and now he was using it to figure out why his teammates were so tense during their regular old practice session.
His eyes scanned the field until he saw a boy in an obnoxious yellow sweatshirt and ripped blue jeans standing next to Rei. His hands were cupped around his mouth and he seemed to be shouting about something to those around him. They were only a dozen feet away so Miyuki studied the unfamiliar kid, and watched his lips as they moved.
["Look at his belly! He looks like an old man!"]
Seeing as how he was with Rei, Miyuki assumed she had scouted him and was giving him a tour of the grounds. Judging by his looks, he was probably only a little younger than Miyuki and infinitely more rambunctious. He kept a close eye the boy's body language and the words he was speaking since his voice was too low at this distance for Miyuki to really understand.
The boy proceeded to pat his stomach while Rei seemed to be trying to stop whatever catastrophe he was starting. ["I bet he's at least forty years old! There's no way he's in high school!"] What the heck was this kid yelling about? Rather, who was he yelling about? Miyuki looked at the other players, trying to figure out what was going on.
But his question was answered when he saw Azuma approach the boy. Oh, that kid was in deep shit now. Of all the players so mess with he had to start a fight with Azuma. Either the guy had guts or he was just an idiot. Miyuki assumed it was the latter until he saw the determined look on his face. There was a spark of both passion and anger in his golden eyes.
["You can't play baseball by yourself!"]
Miyuki smirked as the two went toe-to-toe. He could no longer see the boy's face with Azuma blocking the view, but he got the gist of what was going on. And when he saw Rei propose the two solve their differences on the field, Miyuki was all for the upcoming battle. He grabbed the baseball lying next to him and spun it on his finger, tossing it up and catching it.
"This sounds like a lot of fun... Rei-chan, can I catch his pitch?" He asked, drawing everyone's attention to him. Azuma shouted something about him being cocky. Miyuki couldn't deny it and laughed. "Well excuse me, but you've been on a high horse lately. You should play with us kids and go back to basics."
As Miyuki changed into his catcher's gear Rei came to stand next to him. "I'm glad you volunteered," she said. "His pitches are a bit peculiar. He himself doesn't even know what he has, but I think you can draw out his potential." Well that certainly piqued his interest. It wasn't often Rei gave such high praise, especially to someone as... enthusiastic as the kid seemed to be.
"You must have high hopes for him," he said, glancing over at the boy as he stretched. Rei only smiled in response before walking off, so Miyuki finished putting on his last shin guard and called the boy over. "Hey kid! Let's warm up already."
The boy ran over and Miyuki tossed him the ball. He caught it with surprise in his mitt, gripping it in his hand. "First time using a hardball?" Miyuki asked and the kid nodded. Well, no surprise there. The kid was still in junior high so he'd probably only used rubber balls. As Miyuki took his position behind the plate, the boy took the mound.
He threw some warm-up pitches but as far as Miyuki could tell, there wasn't anything special about the way he pitched, except maybe the fact he was a southpaw. His speed was average at best, so he wondered why Rei-chan was interested him. What was so peculiar about the way he threw?
"You should be warmed up now," Miyuki said, tossing the ball back to his pitcher. He jokingly asked Azuma to take it easy on the kid, but he knew there was no chance he would. He heard Azuma's muffled response of "no way," and held his arms open, signaling that the kid could throw what he wanted. He was way too stiff and Miyuki figured Azuma would knock the ball out of the park.
The kid began began his windup, but right before he released it he brought his arm further down, causing the ball to hit the ground above home plate. He had somehow been able to change his aim at the last moment...
Calling a time out Miyuki ran out to the mound, covering his mouth with his mitt.
"Why'd you pitch it there, kid?" He asked and the boy covered his own mouth as well. His words were too quiet to hear and Miyuki couldn't see his mouth to help figure out what was being said. Rolling his eyes, he smacked the mitt away. "Why?" He asked again, and the kid frowned.
"I-I just felt like he'd hit it."
Miyuki laughed at the fact he was spot on. "That's his best spot~ if you pitched it there, he definitely would have hit it out of the park." The boy stared at him in both shock and annoyance. "But you're interesting... so you'd rather a ball than a hit?" He asked, and the boy turned red in embarrassment.
"You got a problem?!"
Miyuki only laughed harder. "Haha! I like you kid! Though to be honest, you were so stiff, I thought it would best for him to get a hit for you to loosen up." The boy paled at the thought, so Miyuki made a fist and tapped it against his forehead, still grinning at the boy.
"I'm not an idiot!" The boy exclaimed in response, pointing to Miyuki, then making a circle with his thumb and index finger, while his remaining fingers were held up. He finished Miyuki off with making a victory sign with his thumb between his index and middle finger. It was Miyuki's turn to pale. The kid had understood his sign language, and even called him a fuck in return.
"You... understood me?"
"Yeah, my grandma was deaf. I'm no expert at it, but I get by," he said, shooting an accusatory glace at Miyuki. "I at least know enough to understand when I'm being called an idiot."
Miyuki shook his head in disbelief. This was the first time he'd met another player that knew his language. His team had taken it upon themselves to learn a few basic signs that pertained to baseball, but it wasn't as if he could actually converse with them. He hated to admit it, but it was pretty refreshing.
The boy looked at him, question in his eyes. "Are you..." his words trailed off, as he pointed to his ears. Miyuki nodded, tapping the side of his head.
"An accident as a kid... I can't hear for shit unless you're right in front of me."
"Then how do you-"
"I've gotten pretty good at reading lips-"
The kid suddenly flinched, looking back at Azuma, and Miyuki followed his line of sight. He saw that the third year was yelling about something, probably telling them to hurry up. "Anyway, we have more pressing matters," he said, pointing back to Azuma. "Let's slay this monster together from here on out!"
"Eh?! No way, I bet you're on his side!"
Miyuki put his hand on the kid's shoulder. "Learn to accept the goodwill of others."
"Don't touch me!"
Miyuki slid his arm around the pitcher's neck, pulling him close. "Anyway, what can you throw?"
"I pitch fastballs for life!"
"... Seriously? Ahaha! This is great! I'm even more motivated now!"
"Damn you! Don't make fun of me!"
Miyuki could only continue to laugh. It had been a long time since he had so much fun. He didn't know if it was because of the boy's pitching, his personality, or the fact he understood him. He didn't treat him any differently after finding out about Miyuki's situation, and he was thankful for it.
"Just leave it all to me, I know his batting strategy."
"Stay out of it! This is between me and him!"
"Oh? Then do you plan to play baseball by yourself?"
That got the kid to stop struggling Miyuki's hold. This guy seemed to be the straightforward type of person. Of course, he was also obnoxious, maybe a bit egotistical, and thought highly of himself, but he also cared for his team. It might make him one hell of a pitcher one day. "I don't know what kind of baseball you were playing, but the best pitches are produced by the catcher and pitcher working as one."
The boy seemed to be looking at Miyuki in a new light as he continued on. "I'll draw out your full potential. Just trust my mitt and throw your best. Let's get going, partner." The look the kid gave him wouldn't ever leave Miyuki's mind, it was priceless- his eyes open in shock, maybe even wonder. Miyuki doubted he'd ever had a real catcher to work with before.
And when he walked back to the plate, and glanced back at the kid only to see him blush in embarrassment... yeah, life was good. Miyuki lived to mess with others, and this kid made it all too easy.
He crouched down behind the plate, holding his mitt up. The kid took a deep breath and Miyuki could see the focus in his eyes. He brought his right leg up high, and pitched with all his strength. It was a strike, right down the middle, and Azuma didn't even swing. Apparently, he just wanted to see if the kid could pitch a strike.
"Nice ball!" Miyuki called out, tossing it back to his pitcher. Now that Azuma was ready to swing, he'd have to change up the locations of the pitches. Thankfully his new partner delivered where Miyuki asked, and Azuma missed hitting the ball dead on, so all the hits were short or foul. It had taken a while, but Miyuki had figured out why that was.
The kid's shoulder and wrist were flexible, and his arm was like a whip. Because of that, he could put a lot of spin on the ball when he released it, giving him a moving fastball. That, combined with the fact his shoulder comes out late, gave him a fast release, meaning it was hard to time. A double-whammy.
But after a while the kid starting smiling brightly, enough to make Miyuki smile in return when together they shut down Azuma.
~NEXT SEASON~
There was a barrier between them all, one that was transparent, yet tangible. He could reach out and touch it, see those behind it, yet never get through it. And he'd tried, fought like hell to break it down, but it wouldn't budge. It was a mystery to him, how to destroy it.
Then again, maybe there wasn't a way.
Miyuki would never admit to it, not in a million years, but he'd been feeling out of place on the team. Maybe it was the fact he could be a cocky, condescending asshole. Or, maybe it was because there was a pretty massive block in communication between him and the others. One that barricaded him away from his team.
They'd come up with ways to work around it, sure. And it's not that he didn't appreciate all the effort they'd put forth to make him feel more at home, in fact, he'd never expected them to go so far. But there was still something missing, something he couldn't explain. Perhaps he just wished there was someone there who could understand him, someone to make him feel normal.
Maybe if there was, that someone would have remembered to actually wake him up that morning.
But there wasn't, and here he was, ducking behind the storage shed on the baseball field out of view from the rest of the team. It was the first day of practice and all the first years were introducing themselves to the coach. At least, he assumed that they were. It wasn't like he could hear them.
Now the question was how could he sneak into the line without the coach noticing? He'd already been scolded enough for being late to other practices (for the same reason of people not waking him up), and he didn't want to sit through another lecture. He sighed, taking off his cap to run his hand through his hair.
"Those jerks did it on purpose!"
Suddenly hearing a voice next to him made him jump in surprise, since it had been a while since someone scared him like that. He looked to his left to see a kid who was somewhat familiar. He was a first year if he had to guess, crouching down beside him. His shirt was halfway tucked out of his pants, and his hair was an absolute mess.
"Sh! Are you a moron? Shut up before the coach hears us!" Miyuki whispered, smacking the kid in the back of the head. He grabbed him by the back of his collar, dragging him toward the shed. The boy fell back into the siding, and Miyuki could feel the vibration from the sound run up his back, as he was leaning against the shed as well.
When the boy looked up at him, recognition dawned on his face. "Miyuki Kazuya!" He exclaimed, pointing at the catcher. It took him a moment to figure out who this kid was, but when he really looked at him, he remembered.
"You're that kid from back then," he recalled. The boy that pitched to him against Azuma. He laughed at the memory. "What the hell are you doing here?!"
"I go here!"
Miyuki did the same thing he'd done when they first met: signed to him that he was an idiot. And as expected, in return, he got called a fuck. He didn't plan on seeing this kid again, yet here he was. There wasn't a chance he'd tell the kid, but he was kinda glad he joined the team, for multiple reasons.
He studied the boy's lips as he mumbled about something... Apparently, his senpai hadn't woken him up that morning. Well, it looked like they were in the same boat, two peas in a pod. The kid turned to face him, and Miyuki noticed the bags under his eyes. "Long night with the senpai?" He asked, betting that some of the second and third years were up to their old tricks.
"Kuramochi-senpai had me play video games with him all night, and didn't bother to wake me up!" He exclaimed, as Miyuki carefully registered the muffled words he heard. He wasn't surprised that Kuramochi was the culprit behind this poor boy's imminent demise. He Miyuki let slip a light laugh, thinking of a way to get out of his current predicament.
This poor kid was in for a rough first day.
He crawled over to the edge of the shed and peeked around it, seeing that the first row was about to finish introductions. Signaling the kid to come forward, he pointed toward the lines of first years. "See how the intros are going? Down the line? Wait for the last person in the row to finished, so when it goes the the next row in back, everyone will be focused on that kid. Take that chance to run into the line. But don't get caught! You have to be sneaky!"
The boy mouthed the word sneaky, and whispered, "like a ninja." Miyuki laughed, and patted the kid on the back.
"Yeah. Now get ready, it's almost time."
Sitting up, the boy positioned himself in a ready position. Miyuki carefully watched as the last kid in line finished his introduction. "Now!" He gave a nudge to the boy, who took off frantically running. Miyuki admired the nice sprint and enthusiasm, but unfortunately for the first year, that wouldn't keep him from ruining the plan.
"HEY! THIS GUY'S LATE AND IS TRYING TO SNEAK IN LINE!"
Miyuki ducked back behind the shed, and made his way around, snickering to himself. He could hear the kid getting scolded as he snuck in line with the other first-string members. Using him as a distraction worked pretty smoothly, if he did say so himself.
At least, he though it did, until Ryousuke elbowed Miyuki in the arm, nodding toward the coach, who was heading over to them. Okay, maybe it hadn't gone as smooth as he had originally thought. "For trying to sneak in line, you can join him in his running, Miyuki. And you too as well," Kataoka said, pointing to Kuramochi and Masuko. A collective groan from the three of them set them off running with the angered first year, who fell into line beside him.
"THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT! YOU ASSHOLE!"
Miyuki laughed, while Kuramochi kicked the boy in the back. "It's your fault you brat! What kind of idiot are you?!" The boy quickly regained his balance afterwards, however, and pulled ahead of the group. "Get back here Sawamura!" Kuramochi yelled, chasing after the first year.
Turning to Masuko, Miyuki asked his senpai a question. "So he's your new roommate?" Since Masuko was punishing himself for an error on the field, he wasn't talking. But he pulled a paper and pen out of... who knows where, and wrote his answer down. Yeah, Sawamura Eijun-chan.
He said the name in his head a few times, to make sure he'd definitely remember it.
"Miyuki Kazuya you asshole, this is your fault! Don't fall behind!" Called Eijun from the front, signing out letter for letter that Miyuki was a j-e-r-k. Laughing, Miyuki signed back that he was a b-r-a-t, while Kuramochi and Masuko looked on in confusion.
They didn't need to know what they were saying to each other. It had been so long since Miyuki could use that language with someone else, and he wanted to keep it between him and his pitcher. It would be their own form of communication, for the battery he planned to form with Sawamura.
Things were going to start getting interesting.