Chapter Text
Asada Hirofumi, one of Seidou High School's new baseball recruits, sighs as he stares up at the sky on Training Field B. His shirt sticks uncomfortably on his skin and he’s trying not to fall asleep on the grassy area of the field after running six laps while dragging a tire like Sawamura Eijun, Seidou's ace, does.
His roommate and second-year senpai, on the other hand, is still running at a fast pace and Asada can see his vague silhouette on the other side of the grounds. The first-year idly wonders how long it would take for him to be as capable as Sawamura and his thoughts unwittingly drift back to the practice game they had yesterday.
The coach wanted the first years to gain more experience and has decided to let them play against a newly formed baseball team that mostly consists of their fellow age-mates from another school. With the informed knowledge that the other team has only been running for about two years and are still trying to get used with each other, the coach felt that the first years and a few of the second string members would be able to handle an opponent that can barely execute team plays.
He wasn’t wrong.
But he wasn’t completely right either.
Kariba Wataru has been assigned as their main catcher for the game. Asada has never really talked to him before and kind of felt awkward engaging in a battery with an unfamiliar upperclassman. He was a nervous wreck and couldn’t perform up to par unlike when Okumura Koushuu, his fellow first year, was catching for him during the intrasquad game. Meanwhile, Kuki Yohei managed to hold up his own and with his outgoing personality at least helped to put at ease some of the other first years when he was called to the mound. The game ended with Seidou winning with a score of 10-4.
He tried to relax. He really did! But somewhere along the way, he lost some of his control and either walked the batter or let them hit. He was lucky that the fielders haven’t made any big errors and the second string members supported them to the best of their ability. Kariba tried to help loosen up the building tension on his kouhai's shoulders but understood that it’s just the usual first year jitters that even he had when he first started playing. The seniors acknowledged that Asada just needed more experience and he’ll turn out fine after a few more matches. That aside, the first-year southpaw still felt frustrated that he was the reason for most of those runs.
He sighs in mild annoyance and tunes back in to Okumura panting next to him after trying to run with their senpai the same way he did and felt just a little bit envious that the catcher was already on first string despite the both of them being first years.
He knows that Okumura, Yui Kaoru and Yukii Masashi are just on another level altogether and their accomplishments during their middle school days speaks for itself. Those aforementioned skills have also been blossoming in Seidou for everyone to see. Asada just hopes that he can at least get the chance to really be a part of the team - it doesn’t matter if he only gets to stay in the dugout but it’d be nice to see Sawamura senpai’s pitching in an official game up close before his roommate graduates.
“You guys still breathing? Hahahahaha” Sawamura stares them down with a sunny smile and even as sweat drips down the side of his face, he doesn’t appear as winded as he should be; running fifteen laps around their training field.
‘Senpai really is a monster.’ Asada thought wistfully and without any negative connotation. ‘Bet it’d be great to have that stamina too.’
The other first years are scattered all around them picking up balls to put into crates, catching their breath after training or quietly gulping down a bottle of water. The sun has started to set; bathing everything in red, orange and yellow hues.
“How do you even do that senpai? I wouldn’t be able to eat dinner after running that many laps.” Seto Takuma, first-year second baseman, grumbles out loud, cringing when he inadvertently imagined himself struggling to swallow his third bowl of rice if he even dared to try.
Sawamura just laughed it off and waves a hand in nonchalance saying that he’s used to it. Seto then remembers that Kanemaru once told him how Sawamura’s the one who gets up the earliest and the last to leave the field for both his morning and evening runs with his own personally-claimed tire.
“Um senpai, Kanemaru-senpai said that you’ve been doing this since your first year?” The second baseman hesitantly asks with an inquiring glance and a shy smile.
Sawamura grabs a bottle of water from the nearby cooler and decides to sit cross-legged in front of them. The others have started to listen to them talk; although not attentively since most of them are threading on the thin line between sleep and the waking world because of exhaustion from the all-day practice and their thoughts drifting to random things. Half of them are simply daydreaming and wishing they're lying on their bed and not on hard ground.
“Oh yeah. I found the tire when I had to run for the first two weeks that I got here.” Sawamura responds with nonchalance. 'There’s no reason for me to hide it.'
Sure, he still gets embarrassed with all the stupid things he’s done during his first year and he wishes that he can turn back time and whack himself in the head but it’s already been done and despite all the struggles, he did learn a lot from those experiences.
That piece of information got Okumura to straighten up and furrow his brows before asking in confusion, “You just ran for the first two weeks? What do you mean? I remember that coach had a different training regimen for the first years after the initial evaluation and it wasn’t all running.”
The southpaw awkwardly chuckled at that and shook his head like he was banishing the memory away. “I made a mistake because of that tanuki catcher and stupid Mochi-senpai. Ugh! They made me late for the first day and we were scolded by Boss. After that, everything just kind of went downhill. I was still adjusting with being part of the team and actually having a coaching staff this time around so I didn't really know much about the hierarchy and team dynamics. I wasn’t allowed to touch a baseball for the duration of that punishment. It felt like hell, I’m telling you!”
“Wait. But I thought you played baseball during middle school senpai? You didn’t have a coach back then?!” Asada felt befuddled with that. How were they supposed to learn without a coach? How did his roommate even form a team without one?
“Nope.” Sawamura said popping the ‘p’ as he started chugging more of his drink. “My friends and I just loved baseball. We had an adviser but we mostly taught ourselves. Sensei tried to teach us for a while but it didn’t really work out so he just did his best to support us as much as he can. He even loaned some baseball books in the library to familiarize himself with the rules and the terminology commonly used during games. It was fine though. We were mostly playing baseball then for the fun of it and as much as I wanted to go to Koshien, my friends knew that they weren’t enough to bring me there. I tried to stay at Nagano but they convinced me that even if it’s not with them, they’d love to see me pitching at Koshien and that we wouldn’t stop being friends anyway just because distance will separate us now.”
“Huh. So that’s why you suck at batting and fielding.” Okumura stated with no preamble nor shame.
“Hey!! I’m trying really hard, you know!” The second-year yelled back as he went on a rant on how much he’s already improved compared to when he first came to Seidou. Asada simply watched on and wondered how much hard work his senpai had went through to be able to be the ace pitcher he is now.
He hopes someday that he can be like him too.
He startles a little when his senpai turns piercing eyes onto him.
“Are you okay, Asada? You look like you’ve been thinking about something for a while now.”
They still find it a little overwhelming whenever Sawamura’s voice takes on a serious tone and his face turns somber with no trace of his usual wide grin - those honeyed eyes barely reflecting any dominant emotion. Asada looks away at that and winces a little for being called out. He can feel Okumura, Seto, Kuki, Yui and a few other first years look at the both of them in surprise and barely-hidden curiosity.
Sawamura genuinely cares for all his team members and he may act loud, stupid and annoying most of the time but he also has his solemn moments. It’s just that most of those moments are spent with either Kariba, Kanemaru, Toujou (surprisingly) or his Mochi-senpai. He only ever had those before when he was with Chris but he has learned to show that side of him to the other people he trusts now too. He knows that most of his teammates won’t take him seriously anyway and they’re just going to think it’s some kind of prank or that maybe he’s sick or some other stupid mindless thing. It doesn’t really bother him anymore because he knows that he, at least, had those five people to lean on. But if his kouhais need him, then he’d gladly be a respectable senpai for once.
“Oh. No. I’m fine. Just… Um..” Asada fidgets feeling bare now that more people are paying attention to their conversation. He wants to ask. He wants to figure out if he’s doing anything wrong. He just wants to know how Sawamura does it - how he just forges forward without stopping and how he’s bringing everyone around him with him.
Sawamura smiles softly and quietly offers, “If you want to ask something, feel free to do so. I know I’m not much but I still am your senpai.”
‘Well, isn’t that surprising. I thought he just runs his mouth every time with no filter whatsoever.’ Okumura thought distractedly before putting his focus on his fellow first-year once more.
Asada stares at the pitcher he admires most. He bites his lip and thinks that there’s no harm in it. He has way too many things he wants to ask and to know and he feels like he can talk all night long but he settles for the thing that takes up his thoughts the most right now. He doesn’t think his senpai would make fun of him and he’s seen him talk seriously with Furuya before so he starts.
“I.. I didn’t do well yesterday. At the practice game. I was really nervous and kind of scared too. And I just.. I know I’m not all that good and playing on more games will help me with that. Of course, training every day is important too.” He grips the fabric of his pants and resolutely looks anywhere else except at his senpai, blinking hard to prevent a stray tear from escaping. “But how do you do it senpai? How do you pitch confidently out there once they keep on getting hits and have taken runs from you? Were you… Was it ever like that for you during your first year too?”
“Hm..” Seidou's ace looks at the big clock they have near the dugout and estimated that they still have plenty of time before dinner. He looks towards each of his underclassmen listening to them intently and sees that despite how drained and dirty they all are, they’re all waiting for him to speak. Their curious gazes pierce at his skin and even Okumura looks contemplative.
The first years blink their eyes in bewilderment when Sawamura laughs softly. It’s not the boisterous and confident chuckle that’s so loud they can hear it miles away. No, this one was soft and a bit fond and frankly, more mature that suits someone they call their senior. “Do you guys want to hear how someone from a no-name school got the ace number in a powerhouse like Seidou?” Sawamura eagerly asks with twinkling eyes of playfulness.
There’s only a number of them on the field now. The others were too tired and have decided to retire to their rooms before dinner, a few are carrying the crates and rakes back to the shed and a number remembered that they still have homework and laundry to attend to.
The ones who had enough energy to stay or are too tired to really move - Asada, Okumura, Seto, Kuki, Yui, Yuki, Kagami Kouta, Asahi Hikaru and Itou Taiga- all huddle a little closer so they can properly listen. They’re not going to deny how curious they are. After all, Sawamura was the pitcher who had beat The Furuya Satoru, monster rookie of their year, for the ace number. They’ve seen him pitch and knows how amazing he really is but they also want to know how that happened when he just said he never had a coach before and was mostly playing baseball for the fun of it.
How did an unknown pitcher from Nagano go to ace pitcher within a year?