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“He’s going again today, huh?”
“Wait, going where?”
“One of his ‘evening walks’. Don’t tell me you had no idea, this is mostly your fault Furuya!”
“Should we tell him we know what he’s really doing?”
“Nah, I have a better idea.”
“Oh, do tell!”
For the past week or so, Sawamura left the school grounds every night after training only to come back exactly two hours later. Questions about what he was doing were quickly deflected which only lead to countless theories being spread around the Seidou dorms. Some thought he had found a girlfriend, others suggested he might just be going to a manga café to relax (strongly contested by many as he openly read manga at school already), and a few people proposed that maybe he had found a stray kitten somewhere that he couldn’t bring back to the dorm.
None of these theories seemed likely to anyone, but just thinking them up was a fun pastime. A few days ago however, someone had found out the real reason why Sawamura was going out so regularly and after long consideration as to what to do with that information, shared it with a friend and soon decided to follow their underclassman at a distance.
“No seriously, where is he going? And why do I have to come along as well?” Furuya asked trying to keep pace with Kuramochi and Miyuki who were already grinning in anticipation.
“Well, if we go alone he’s gonna complain that we just want to pick on him. If you’re there, he’ll probably be occupied trying to impress his rival~” Kuramochi answered, ignoring the first part of the question.
“I mean, that’s the reason he’s going there to begin with,” Miyuki added with a chuckle.
“Really though, that moron couldn’t have found a worse way to waste his money. And then he can’t even keep it a secret!”
“Heh, but I have a feeling today will be his last visit.”
After a few minutes of walking, Sawamura disappeared in a nearby building. And once Furuya saw the sign at its front, he suddenly understood his upperclassmen’s comments.
“A batting center. Really?”
“Yup. Probably doesn’t want anyone to see him try to stop sucking at batting,” Kuramochi replied matter-of-factly.
“Which is exactly why we’re here!” Miyuki chimed in.
The three of them waited five minutes before entering. They cautiously walked past Sawamura, who was already so absorbed in his training he didn’t notice, and settled down far enough away so they could watch him without being seen.
The pitcher was one of the last few still batting. The center would close for the night in just over an hour which probably explained Sawamura’s consistent time of return.
“Wow, his form still sucks. But if anything he’s focused,” Miyuki mumbled after watching for a short while.
“You think he would notice us if we stood right behind him?”
The mischief in Kuramochi’s voice seemed contagious to Furuya as it immediately spread over to Miyuki.
“Only one way to find out!”
At first they only stood behind him quietly, about two meters away from the net. As time passed and ball after ball made it past Sawamura despite his desperate efforts, they gradually grew bolder. First, they counted how often he would have already struck out, then quietly applauded every time he managed to make contact, and when even this didn’t draw his attention, they simply resumed their conversation as if he wasn’t even there.
“So Furuya, how does it feel that a simple comment from you probably made him spend half his allowance for the month here already?” Miyuki asked, not taking his eyes off of Sawamura in case he would turn around after all.
“I don’t even know,” Furuya answered as he tried to recall what he had said to the other.
“Speaking of money, shouldn’t this round be over soon?”
Kuramochi had barely finished his sentence when out of nowhere Sawamura made perfect contact with the ball and sent it flying towards the other end of the cage.
All four of them were speechless as the ball hit the ground but once Sawamura had processed what just happened, he let out a cry of joy as if he’d just batted in a game-deciding run.
Meanwhile, the group of onlookers, still unnoticed by him, applauded louder than before but it was an only half-sarcastic “Nice batting, Sawamura!” that finally made the pitcher turn around in dread as he realized whose voice it was.
“What the… WHY are you he—“
His question was cut short by a ball hitting the pitcher in the back and sending him to the ground, desperately gasping for the air that was just knocked out of him.
To anyone watching, there must have been a certain comedic nature to the scene. Still in pain, Sawamura cowered on the ground cursing like an old man as the ball machine relentlessly kept shooting balls over him. Kuramochi could barely stop laughing while Miyuki asked the pitcher if he was alright, trying hard not to laugh out loud himself, and Furuya stared in the opposite direction, pretending he didn’t know either of the other three.
As predicted, the end of tonight’s ‘evening walk’ came rather suddenly.
Sawamura spent half the way back in a headlock as Kuramochi berated him for whatever it was he meant to do there. Only with good intentions of course.
“If you wanna get better at batting, don’t just randomly swing at the ball by yourself! There’s plenty of people that can teach ya, y’know!”
“Yeah, yeah. But I wanted to surprise everyone.”
“Well, that last hit definitely took us by surprise,” Miyuki interjected before immediately remembering what happened afterwards and turning away to hide his grin.
Somehow Sawamura convinced the other three to not speak about what had transpired ever again. And so the sudden stop of his ‘evening walks’ once again caused a surge of rumors across the team.
The girlfriend theory suddenly seemed more plausible than ever as several people thought it was likely that whoever she was, she would break up with Sawamura after just a week. This definitely got a chuckle out of those who knew the truth but they said nothing more on the matter.
The talk about this was cut short anyway as soon after, Sawamura could often be seen practicing his swing at night with Haruichi and sometimes some upperclassmen. Even Furuya joined in occasionally though it wasn’t quite clear if it was out of a sense of solidarity or rivalry. Probably both.
But either way, it would be awhile before Sawamura returned to a batting center. Because as it turned out, Kuramochi had been right. All that he needed was already right there.