The Furuya Twins

31. The Importance Of Polar Bear Plushies

Flashback

"Happy birthday Satomi, Happy birthday Furuya!" Two smiling faces were beaming at the Furuya twins, with a gift in each of their arms. Satomi looked at the gift wrapped in sparkly pink paper, eyes wide with anticipation. The gift was bigger than Furuya's, and she couldn't wait to see what it was. Furuya was showing his eagerness with a shining aura; if he had a tail it would be wagging. His eyes were focused on the blue and white wrapping paper, his expectations to get something cute were high.

After giving their exited thanks, they tore open their presents. Satomi took out her brand new pink bat and pink glove out with wonder on her face. "Ahhh! Thank you, thank you, thank you!" she yelled in excitement, jumping up and hugging both her parents. She carefully put both back into the box and checked to see what Furuya had gotten. Furuya's back was turned towards Satomi, but she could see he was holding something with care.

As she took a step around to see his face, she saw a white fluffy polar bear plushie on his lap. Furuya was staring at it with a soft gaze, stroking it's soft fur. The polar bear plushie had a baseball cap and t-shirt on. The t-shirt even had the number 1, with Furuya on it. "Onii-chan! Your polar bear is so cute! Did you decide on a name?" "Yes I did. His name is Snowy."

The next day they decided to take their presents with them to school, to show everyone the nice gifts they had gotten. Satomi showed off her cute pink bat and glove, and Furuya showed everyone who wanted his cute polar bear plushie- just to look though, no touching. There was cheerful chatter in the class. Everyone made sure to admire Furuya's Plushie Snowy from afar- except one boy.  This boy had been eating chilli-cheese fries and forgot to wash his hands. With these chilli-cheese fries stained hands, he dared to touch Furuya's plushie.

The noise died down. Everyone held their breath. Furuya's white polar bear plushie now had a huge chilli-cheese stain on it's once white head. "WHAT DID YOU DO?!" Satomi shouted at the boy, her eyes sending fire. Furuya's aura was all dark and depressed. He stared in disbelief at his beloved plushie that is now stained on its cute face.

"I thought you were our friend Ren! How could you do something like this?" Satomi asked Ren, tears gathering in her eyes. Furuya and Satomi had only turned 5 years old on this birthday, so this was A VERY BIG DEAL! Even Furuya had tears in his eyes. Poor Ren was shocked, and was looking at his chilli-cheese smeared hand in horror. "What have I done?!" Ren yelled, falling to his knees. Furuya gave Ren a glare. Satomi took Furuya's and and walked away, giving Ren a glare over her shoulder. Furuya went with her quietly, gazing sadly at Snowy. This was only the start of Ren's rocky road to try to redeem himself to the Furuya twins.

End of flashback

The day after the festival Furuya thought back to that fateful day Ren had dirtied his beloved Plushie Snowy. Snowy was never the same after that incident; chilli-cheese stains were hard to get rid of. Because he was reminded of that memory Furuya's aura was fired up even before practice started. Sawamura was quite startled when Furuya blazed past him. He thought they had bonded some more at the festival. "OI FURUYA! DON'T BE LIKE THIS! AREN'T WE FRIENDS NOW?!" Sawamura shouted after him. Furuya froze and looked back, his aura losing a little bit of its intensity.

"It's not you." Furuya said, his eyes blazing again when he thought of the root of his anger. Sawamura was confused. His face looked like one big question mark. He looked completely lost. Haruichi appeared and put the pieces together. "Ah, Furuya, do you mean it's about that Ren guy?" he asked. At the sound of 'Ren' people appeared out of nowhere. "Ren? Who is this Ren?" Yuki asked "Ren? REN WHO?!" Isashiki shouted. "That guy from the festival? Does he want to die?" Ryosuke asked. Haruichi sweat dropped. "Sempai, aren't you guys retired...?" Haruichi hesitantly asked them.

"WE ARE! BUT WE HAVE TO LOOK AFTER SATOMI!" Isashiki said. Yuki, with his arms crossed nodded his agreement, his face very serious. I would have thought they came to help us train, but they just came for Satomi, Haruichi thought. He just shook his head. He took Furuya and Sawamura to the practice field, they were almost late!

What is happening? Satomi thinks to herself as she watches the practice of the new team. Kawakami is still out of it after their loss against Inashiro, and now even Miyuki made a mistake, shocking everyone by making a misthrow. We really need to step up our game for the scrimmage against Saitama Sakai, Satomi makes some notes on her clipboard.

After practice Satomi finds Furuya waiting for her in her room. He looks at her with determination in his eyes. "Catch for me?" he asks. Satomi smiles. How can she deny him when he's that motivated and determined? After their practice Satomi goes to sit on the bench at the practice field, placing her glove next tot her. She admires how Furuya tries so hard to improve. She's so deep in thought she gets startled when Miyuki suddenly sits next to her.

"Kazuya... Don't scare me like that!" she says, lightly shoving his shoulder. Miyuki gives a chuckle and puts his arm around her shoulders, pulling her closer. "Are you okay? What happened during practice?" Satomi asks Miyuki carefully. Miyuki gives a sigh. "I guess I was thinking about problems instead of focusing on the practice. Next time make sure to properly focus." Satomi is somewhat satisfied with this answer, but adds. "You know I'm here to help you, right?" She says this looking in to his eyes. Miyuki's eyes are on Satomi's lips, and he moves closer. Just as their lips are about to meet they hear a "Uh, cough, cough."

Startled, they both look behind them and see Yuki, Ishashiki and Ryosuke. All of them are glaring so hard at Miyuki that he reluctantly removes his arm from Satomi. "Don't you think it's a little late? Shouldn't you be getting some extra rest as the captain, Miyuki?" Yuki asked. Satomi hid her laugh behind her hand. Miyuki gave a sigh and gave Satomi a helpless look as he stood up. "I guess... Good night Satomi." he said, and quickly gave Satomi a kiss on the cheek before running away laughing.