Kuramochi Does His Service

The Same Day - 1:30 PM

"Where the hell is your umbrella?! And wait, why are you crying like that? Aren't you supposed to be relieved or something? Get it together!"

Eijun whined as Kuramochi hurled a towel at his face in place of a fatal karate chop to the neck. "I'm sorry, Mochi-senpai! I tried to act all cool and told Kazuya that I didn't need it! I'm gonna get sick now! Why did I do that? I'm such an idiot!"

"What you should be sorry about is how you've just figured that out!" Kuramochi sucked his teeth as he watched Eijun dry himself to the best of his ability. "You had one job, Sawamura—to return a champ after telling that four-eyed bastard off. Well, did you? How did it go? How'd he react?"

Leaning against the wall, Eijun sighed. "I said that he broke my heart and that I didn't need him anymore and that he needs to be a better father for Furuya's sake and that I didn't need his apology because he never loved me and that I gave my body so easily to him and that he used me for sex and that…yeah, that was it!"

"I think you broke the world record for the longest run-on sentence in one breath," Kuramochi remarked. "You're a blubbering mess. Relax and take it slow. What did he say in response?"

"He tried convincing me that he did love me, but I couldn't take it anymore. I didn't let him speak that much because I knew he was feeding me lies, and I've had my fill of lies."

"So what's the issue?"

"I…I DON'T KNOW WHAT TO DO NOW!" Eijun shouted, throwing the towel to the floor in a fit of confused rage. "I SAID ALL THAT HOT STUFF, ACTING ALL COOL, BUT HOW IS THIS GOING TO PLAY OUT? I HAVE TO SEE HIM EVERY DAY! PRACTICE AND SCHOOL ARE GONNA BE AWKWARD! WHAT ABOUT BATH TIME? HE HAS TO SEE ME NAKED!"

Kuramochi covered his ears, grimacing. "First of all, stop talking in caps lock! My ears are gonna bleed! Second of all, I don't see why you're complaining about this. Breakups happen and so does awkward shit, so you need to get used to it. Miyuki's obviously still gonna be a big part of your school life. You're also a battery.

"Unless the two of you reach an arrangement with Coach, you're gonna have to deal with his pretty face for another year or so. Y'all may not be romantically involved anymore, and there might be lots of tension and hostility whenever you're around each other, but you'll need to set it aside for the sake of peace on the team.

"This is the worst situation to be in and I can't possibly begin to imagine what it feels like, but you did the right thing. Someone needed to put Miyuki in his place before he caused any more mayhem, and I'm glad you had the strength to do it for both you and Furuya. I know how much you loved that guy.

"You told me you saw a future with him and I just felt so shit because I knew what he had done. I couldn't tell you back then. It weighed on me for days, but I'm actually relieved that it turned out this way. You got to show Miyuki that one, he's a piece of shit that even flies wouldn't sit on, and two, that you deserve better. You did well."

Eijun slowly walked over to his bed and sat on it, his clothes still dripping with rainwater. He felt his heart flutter in response to Kuramochi's words. Not only were they unexpectedly kind and supportive, but they also put his mind at ease. On his walk back to his room after confronting Miyuki, doubt and worry had struck him without hesitation.

He had been uncharacteristically patronizing and aggressive and wondered if he had scared him. Breaking up with Miyuki seemed like the perfect thing to do at the time, but he had spent almost no time thinking about the consequences. How was he going to break the news to Wakana, his parents?

How was he going to function without someone to spend nights with, someone to tame his fiery spirit on the mound? How was he going to function without someone he thought he'd be with forever? All those doubts had been washed away by Kuramochi.

The shortstop was right—he was going to have to be mature and deal with it. He figured it was going to sting for a while, but it was all part of the healing process.

Kuramochi glanced at the time and grabbed his bag. "Well, as I said earlier, get it together. It's time to head back to class, so hurry up and wear your spare uniform."

Eijun looked up at him with a weak smile. "Is it alright if I stay here? Only for today, I promise. I don't feel like going to school right now. I'm not in the mood."

"So you're telling me you wanna skip afternoon classes to sit here and mope and do fuck all? You're telling me that? Are you insane?"

"With all due respect, yes. I need some time alone."

Kuramochi withheld the violent urge to force Eijun out of the room and drag him to school. His watery puppy eyes had finally done him in, and he knew that he needed a well-deserved break.

"Fine, then. I'll let you off for today, but you better not be crying when I come back! That's no fun for me. Make sure you change out of your clothes, alright? I'll get you some medicine in case you fall sick. I'll bring you dinner as well."

"W-Wow. Since when were you so caring, Dad?"

"Just trying to be what I could've been. See ya."

Before Eijun could ask what he meant by that, Kuramochi ruffled his hair, opened his umbrella, and sprinted back to school.

--

4:45 PM

"Yes. Yes, that's fine. I completely understand. I'll speak to him about it after this call. Yes. Thank you very much." Rei hung up the phone and spun around in her chair to face Kataoka. "The board said they'd be willing to have a conference with us next week. That's the best they could do to squeeze us into their schedule."

Kataoka nodded. "That's fine. We need as much time as possible to hear from Furuya and Miyuki about this situation. This also gives us time to keep Furuya away from the media. If the news somehow manages to get leaked, he won't be safe for very long."

"What do you mean, safe? Are you implying that Furuya-kun might get hurt?"

"Not exactly, but people on the outside do have their own agendas. Once they hear that their shining prospect will no longer stand on the mound, from a pregnancy, nonetheless, they'll be disappointed and take their anger out on the school. Worst case scenario, they'll end up taking matters into their own hands."

Rei shook her head. "No…that's terrible. We can't let that happen, Kataoka-san. It was Furuya-kun's decision to keep his child and we should see to it that his determination bears fruit. Yuki-kun and Isashiki-kun have entrusted us with this matter, so it's only natural that we do our best to take care of it, right?"

Kataoka stood near the window, observing the weatherly chaos that was unfolding outside.

"Indeed. This might be the most challenging issue we've ever dealt with, but we'll try our hardest to ensure the well-being of our students. We have no choice. We're teachers, after all."

--

8:15 PM - Dinner - Cafeteria

"Kuramochi-senpai," Furuya said as he sat next to him, tray in hand. "You weren't here during lunch, but Sawamura went to talk with Miyuki-senpai. Do you have any information on what happened?"

"Someone's nosy," Kuramochi sang, eating his second bowl of rice. "What makes you think that I know what happened?"

"You're both roommates and I'm pretty sure Eijun-kun either spilled the beans by himself or you threatened him into telling you," Haruichi reasoned, a small smile on his face. "We're his friends, so I think we deserve to know if anything major happened."

'There was so much attitude behind that I could've sworn I was talking to Ryo-san,' Kuramochi thought, gulping. Setting down his chopsticks, he cleared his throat.

"Fair enough. Well, as you can obviously tell, Bakamura's not here right now, so he's probably still sulking. He and Miyuki talked about their feelings, Bakamura thinks that Miyuki never loved him and only used him for sex, blah, blah, blah. In essence, they broke up. Happy?"

"Do you think Miyuki-senpai loved Eijun-kun in the first place?" Haruichi asked. "It seemed genuine, so I never suspected a thing."

"Same here," Kuramochi said. "I think he did love Sawamura, but then temptation struck him at the karaoke bar. Furuya happened to be there and he had no reason to hold back, so he went for it. His being drunk sounds like a legitimate excuse, but it really shouldn't be. Miyuki's not dumb; he knew exactly what he was doing. That fucking scumbag."

Furuya gazed at his lap, suddenly losing all appetite. "If I hadn't given in to Miyuki-senpai so easily, he and Sawamura would still be in a relationship, and everything between us would still be the way they were—normal. Our lives would be normal.

"However, our lives are anything but normal anymore and it's because of me. I traded my chance at becoming the ace to become a parent. Am I selfish? Am I no better than Miyuki-senpai, betraying everyone's expectations?"

"Cut that crap out," Kuramochi said sternly. "Where's the happy and remotely sly Furuya Satoru I saw yesterday? He must've disappeared because all I see is a subpar replacement and I don't like it. Stop blaming yourself, damn it. We can't change the past. Our job now is to deal with the consequences and make the best of this situation.

"Yes, people are going to be hurt, people are going to refuse to accept the truth, but we can't lump ourselves together with them. This is our reality and we need to overcome any hurdle that comes our way. We can cry and feel sad and whatnot, but there's a point in time where we have to suck it up and show everyone that we can rise above this. Ya hear me?!"

Furuya and Haruichi looked at each other with mildly shocked expressions. They had never seen their upperclassman speak with such vigor before.

Where did the lighthearted and delinquent-like Kuramochi Youichi they knew go?

--

11:26 PM

"The least you could do is knock," Miyuki said as Kuramochi opened the door to his room and walked in.

"Enough with the snarky attitude. I just came to look for Sawamura's umbrella."

"He told me he didn't want it."

"That's cool, but I'm not him. Where is it?"

Briefly looking up from his book, Miyuki pointed to the corner of his room. "Over there. The red one next to my bat."

Kuramochi grunted as he bent down and retrieved the umbrella. "The only way you can salvage what you've done is to…actually be a father, you know? Take responsibility. I thought you were maturer than this. All you've done so far is panic and ruin relationship after relationship. You're not the Miyuki I became friends with."

Miyuki closed his book and put it on his desk. "Does it look like I have feelings for Furuya?"

"No, but you were definitely feeling him up that night."

"Was that supposed to be a joke?"

"Yes, but that's not the point. My point is, I don't care if you like Furuya or not. You don't even need to make physical contact with him. All we're asking is for you to be supportive and to help him raise the child once he gives birth. What, don't tell me you can't even manage to do that?"

Miyuki sucked his teeth. "Eijun already told me that; I can't be bothered to hear it from you. At this rate, I might go deaf."

"Oh, shut up, bitch. You're such a letdown." Kuramochi turned to walk out the door. "You deserve every condescending word Sawamura said. You're just lucky he didn't hit you. I've been teaching him some moves."

He left.

Miyuki exhaled dramatically as he leaned back in his chair.

'Well, I've really done it now. This isn't good. For fuck's sake…'