Chapter Text
Seidou’s baseball team lay in shambles.
Their failure at today's game, which now forced an early retirement to their third-years, would be hard to overcome as the second-years still weren't up for the task to form a balanced team, as Kataoka and Ochiai had wrecked havoc as coaches, ruining the team dynamics completely. Having only a few first-years of decent quality enter this year after their repeated failures to show results, as many opted for better schools, didn’t help either. Also, the mental turnabout from the players themselves in a bid to gain their desired results, hurt them more than helped them in the end. But as they were the only ones the team had to rely on to protect their three years of baseball from now onwards, even these few first-years pondered the wisdom of entering this school’s baseball team. Their failure to gain their trust however, inevitably would cause the team to implode from within. In the end, Seidou was faced with an ace that wasn't trusted, a relief pitcher that got thrown aside one too many times, and a head-coach that only now began to see reason again. It had made for a disastrous season start.
Ochiai, Seidou’s assistant-coach, felt like the one he thought of as the unrivaled ace was, at this point, more than useless and resigned. Putting all the blame on Kataoka for not making him tough enough during the previous season while still putting unnecessary time and resources into players undeserving of it. With this opinion, he forewent his own responsibility in the destruction of the team. His final parting words “spending too much time on the, in his eyes, useless Southpaw with only sparingly lucky moments, was what naturally led to these results,” underscored his time at Seidou and after that, relieved them of his undesired presence.
Awareness of their bad decision-making only started to make itself known after having lost. Resulting in ending the third-year’s summer even earlier than the previous year. It appeared that the coaching staff had learned nothing from the disastrous results of the previous Spring Tournament. It had made the preparation time in-between tournaments unsatisfying to many, with everyone putting the blame for their lack of growth elsewhere. The wrong decisions kept getting wrong follow-ups and it was mind-boggling that no one in authority had seen it coming.
The team finally lost complete faith in their ace after underperforming in the latest matches; not to mention his cold and rude behavior towards others resulted in him being disliked by all new and old attendees. Even after the first-years quietly questioned the legitimacy of keeping this person as the ace when there were better alternatives, the coaches still stubbornly refused to reassign the ace number to someone else after the Spring Tournament fiasco, until it had been too late. Faced with a dead end, Miyuki grabbed the Seidou pitchers’ technical data records to compare them and found the reason they all had messed up quite quickly. One thing became crystal clear. Apart from the emotional leading, it was proven on a statistical level as well that they had the wrong ace. The thing everyone subconsciously already knew, even if Miyuki was wont to admit it, was now proven in black and white. After sharing this with the team however, they were now facing a different problem. Openly questioning the head-coach’s decision was impossible, therefore they tried to petition a change in ace via their captain, as Miyuki’s voice did hold weight when it came to these matters and carefully petitioned the case the other players were making at the meeting before the Summer Qualifiers started.
During the downtime in-between tournaments, a chance to reassign numbers after reviewing the results of previous tournaments, practice games, intra-squad games and practice was possible but, however carefully he phrased it, even providing hard data, it seemed hopeless. The whole coaching staff, courtesy of Ochiai, was dead set upon helping Furuya regain his footing and refinding his equilibrium again after losing in the Spring Koshien Tournament. They made sure Miyuki knew his responsibility as the starting catcher and captain and to do his utmost best to help their ace with this stumbling block as well. Like how he had done for Sawamura previously as well. After all, he was their team’s ace and deserved his consideration. The team had to concede defeat at the start of summer, as nothing had changed and their morale plummeted. For Sawamura, that meant enduring words and looks of pity, which made him feel nauseous. It wasn’t that they had truly recognised him, but he knew they only saw him as a tool to gain what they want, like how they treated Furuya before he became the ace and he hated it. Furuya had garnered all the sympathy from Kataoka he needed to stay in his seat after the latter read the words written in the canteen’s diary, and with the assistant coach a fervent Furuya-fan from the get go, their petition had been a lost cause from the start, but they felt like they at least had to try. Like Eijun already suspected, it wasn't because they suddenly felt bad for their relief pitcher but his data showed that he at least could bring them further than their current ace. Plus, he was much kinder, even if he was loud and annoying at times.
Therefore, it was to no-one's surprise, except for maybe the coaching staff, that Seidou lost in the Summer Qualifiers. Actually, they lost in the First-round of the Summer Regional Qualifier games. Their third-year’s summer was cut short due to biased opinions, bull-headed beliefs and a cultural lack of openly rebelling. The only one who had been unaware of anything being amiss had been the coaching staff and Furuya himself. Supported by the coaching staff, he never thought he was doing anything wrong.He was so completely immersed in his internal and one-sided fight during these weeks with his first and final Spring Koshien game counterpart, that he totally missed the declining support and lack of faith towards his person. His coaches believing in him and Miyuki still assigned to him was enough for him to not notice any upheaval within the team, assuring him of his superiority over Sawamura. It hadn't mattered to him that his off-season results were even poorer than his spring-season results. He would, after all, get his Koshien-level pitching back, and show his true rival, his Koshien counterpart, how much he’d improved. Meanwhile, he would make sure no other pitcher got any extra unassigned time in with his catcher. And because he was the ace and his results lacking, the coaches obliged and the Miyuki despaired, wondering what it was that pulled him to this player in the first place.
After their loss, some hard truths emerged but it was in vain. While the resignation of Ochiai was met with cheers, as no one, except Furuya, had liked him and no one was sad to see him go, the other coaches still appeared at a standstill, not knowing how to move forward from this disastrous result. Kataoka felt like waking up from a long dark dream but no apologizing or tears could appease the - retired - players, as they had lost their trust in him a long time ago. And that was one of the harsh truths about his person he had to face. For the first time he acknowledged he sacrificed the team for a single person after vowing to himself all these years to never do so, resulting in this outcome. Left with no other option in his mind, he chose the easy way out and he too resigned. He had lost all confidence in his own coaching abilities and combined with the lack of faith his players had in his person, this was what drove him towards his decision. Despite the shared responsibility between all of the coaching staff, he was still end-responsible for any decision made and here he failed spectacularly. The players, understanding the dangers that would arise for the continued existence of the Seidou Baseball Team, had pleaded with him to change his mind, stating it would only make matters worse. But, he didn’t believe them as the results and the players' attitude spoke volumes. How could he trust that one day they’d be able to trust in him again if he couldn't do so himself? Therefore, nothing anyone said to him in a bid to try and dissuade him from his decision was enough to sway him into staying. Signaling his complete incompetence as a coach with this last worthless decision.
The school’s principal had no problem accepting his resignation this time, so he went without looking back, a coward’s way out. The freshly retired third-years wondered if, after these disastrous results, pro-teams or even university offers would still be forthcoming. Many were afraid with nothing to show now, of diminished chances for going pro or even to be able to continue to play in college. The second-years were also in tatters. Facing a very long off-season again with few first-years to fill the spots, no head-coach and their senpai leaving, made for a difficult start in forming a new team and tackling the fall season later on. Especially when word reached them that several promising first years were contemplating a transfer to a different school. Technically it’s still the start of the new school year and they wouldn’t face any problems fitting in. Most of them weren’t on the active game roster at Seidou anyway.
All of this because of one diary entry and the use of double standards by the people they should have been able to trust the most. Seidou’s baseball club was facing its biggest crisis as of yet. The pressure of the times they almost made it to Koshien, then reaching that stage but not being able to maintain the status quo and then reverting back to the previous ‘challenger status’ remained bleak in the face of this new crisis, the internal meltdown of the baseball club. Many people wondered if this was the beginning of the end. Because, if their first-years really decided to transfer out to other schools, that meant at least one or two years without new players, depending on their reputation after this year. This would effectively destroy the club. Without players, no results and with no results, no new players. They would have to start from scratch and no matter how good Seidou’s image was, it could not save them in the long haul, let alone attract a coach willing to bet his reputation to try to pull Seidou out from the mud. That would mean an either inexperienced one, or one who only coached casually. A situation desired by no one. For two players especially, this crisis meant not only an end to their dream of reaching Koshien, but for Sawamura to win at Koshien together with Miyuki as the best battery in the nation.
After finally being acknowledged by this team, however it came about, their loss in the first-round and the retirement of the person he most wanted to be acknowledged by, hit him hard. Not even the encouraging words of his most beloved Chris-senpai could mend the gaping hole that this particular person retiring opened within him, even if he had barely received anything from that person in return. Now they would never be able to form that special battery he hoped to pursue when he chose to come to Seidou. He bet everything he held dear on this, leaving his friends behind, to be the fated partner that they promised each other to be on that first day they met. Instead, he was faced with betrayal, disparaging remarks, and a feeling of not belonging to Seidou, as no one seemed to trust him, or like him. It made him feel lost and inexplicably sad. He gave up so much to be here, to grow and to have fun playing baseball, but now he was questioning everything he'd experienced here and found himself disillusioned.
Miyuki meanwhile felt like he got hit by karma in the meanest way possible as, under his captaincy, the club had fallen apart. All the hopes and encouraging words Tetsu had bestowed upon him were wearing him down. He never even wanted to become their captain in the first place. But, after getting the role anyway, he also vowed to do his best for the team. However, even he had to admit that he failed spectacularly in that regard as he didn't even know what the 'team' consisted of in the first place if he intentionally overlooked players who could have helped the team grow. He had never in a million years thought that, after making one bad decision in that one specific Spring Tournament match, things would result in this. He should have fought for the better pitcher at that time since it all went downhill from there on out, and he had no way of stopping it. But as he honestly looked back, he knew they could have prevented this much sooner, even a year earlier. His character and reluctance to honestly deal with Sawamura clouded his normally genius observational skills and thinking and it became his and the team’s downfall. Of course, he knew he wouldn’t be held accountable for all of Seidou’s current hardships, as he had no sway over the coaches' decisions, but he could at least have given Sawamura a fair chance. At least then he could have prevented some of this if he had paid honest attention to the steady and amazing growth of the pitcher. As he was always close he thought he had a clear view and understanding the progress he made but, in the end, he didn’t see it in time nor did he want to see it. After all, it was easy to hide behind the coach’s decisions, as that lightened his workload and in the end he was blinded by his success in the Spring Koshien matches with the player actually assigned to him. Looking back, he also realized he got blindsided by the fact that he thought they still had time left for Sawamura to catch up to him. Meaning that he could focus on the pitcher assigned to him for now and leave the rest be for the moment. He just failed to notice in time when that pitcher did catch up. But, by then, it was too late. He’d missed his chance, the left-over time too short and the coaches’ opinions rigid. Thinking back to when he first met Sawamura, he scoffed when he realized they would never get the chance to become that one true battery he jokingly taunted Sawamura with when he caught those peculiar pitches on that first day almost three years ago. And he also had to swallow his bile when he realized that he didn't even deserve for that person to form a battery with him anymore, with the way he had treated him as not even his enemies were being treated this disdainfully, brushed off, disregarded, lied to and snapped at, as he acted towards the pitcher. He felt honestly disgusted with himself.
Some would argue they still had a chance to form a battery in university or after going pro but many, especially they themselves, knew that apart from academic differences, the path of sports is a murky one at best as one injury or one missed opportunity could end up destroying those hopes, dreams and careers forever. Not to mention that, because they rarely played matches together, the chances of getting invites to the same team were almost nonexistent. They had nothing to show as a battery apart from the occasional game. Those things reduced the chances of ever playing together again, to almost zero. One can only chase so far. And, most importantly, no one could bring back the sweet taste of hope to win their way to and at Koshien with the team that felt like family to many. High school baseball was something special and to be treasured, but it all lost its allure on that particular day. A day both pitcher and catcher wished they could redo. Not only this particular day but every day that led up to their current disaster.
And so it happened that the both of them feverishly wished to go back to that first day they met, that first hopeful encounter that had brought joy to them both, in hopes to change what happened, however non-existing that chance may be. And as Sawamura Eijun ran desperately around the A-grounds with tears streaming down his face, clouding his vision and causing him to stumble and fall down, Miyuki Kazuya sat dazed and withdrawn in the B-grounds catcher’s box. They both prayed, unaware of each other’s thoughts, for the same thing and, sometimes, just sometimes, there is an answer to those prayers. As Eijun was about to hit the ground, his last thought was that the floor was remarkably soft while Miyuki’s swaying caused him to lose his balance and he too fell down on something soft before snoring sounds entered his ears, as his vision was blocked by something stuck on his face.