The Story Of Forever (Todobaku)

The Heart of a Hero

A/N: I know the driving age in Japan is 18, but we're just going to pretend it's 16 because Katsuki needs a car for plot reasons 😅

~SOPHOMORE YEAR~

Katsuki arrived two hours early.

He pulled into the abandoned parking lot in the black pickup truck his parents gifted him for his sixteenth birthday. It was an older model with over 50,000 miles under its belt, but Katsuki loved it as if it was brand new.

Having his own vehicle provided a freedom Katsuki desperately craved. He could go wherever, whenever, without relying on a ride. It was about damn time, since having his mother drive him to and from his girlfriend's house got old months ago.

As he hopped out, he was hit by the smell of nostalgia and freshly cut grass. He spent more hours on this field than he did in any of his tenth grade classes so far. Though unlike before, Katsuki exerted all this energy toward his childhood pastime simply because he loved it. He didn't have to prove anything to anyone, not even himself. All he had to do was give his best effort and he'd still walk the earth with his head held high.

That realization was the only reason he felt worthy enough to put on a Heroes uniform again. True heroes gained notoriety not from any single skill, but from how they carried themselves.

Last year, Katsuki's obsession with elevating his baseball prowess kept him from focusing on one key element: being a good teammate. Katsuki only cared about Katsuki. His unreached potential, his future career, every priority he had involving baseball was in his own interest.

That's why he failed.

While getting kicked off the team devastated him, it was the push Katsuki needed to comprehend how toxic his mindset was. And, after much reflection and developing new interests, he vowed to return the following year with the heart of a hero.

He'd be at every practice. He'd encourage his teammates. He'd smile in defeat and view his losses as motivation to improve rather than a setback. And he'd stop caring about whether he was good enough to go pro or not.

The truth was Katsuki's chances of playing in the major leagues one day were slim. It was tough to accept, but once he did, he was left with two options. He could quit now, or he could enjoy the few remaining years he had to play his favorite sport with his friends. The choice was easy.

Time was still Katsuki's greatest enemy. The older he got, the faster his days flew by. That was why Katsuki started stretching in the outfield long before anyone else showed up. If he only had three seasons left before leaving baseball behind forever, then every minute counted.

By April standards, the weather was miserable. The sun caught stage fright and hadn't appeared from behind the clouds in days. A brisk wind swept east and had no sign of letting up. Given the positioning of UA's baseball field, hitters definitely had the advantage over pitchers today.

With his long sleeve Under Armour shirt conserving his body heat, Katsuki proceeded to circuit exercises. He breezed through the rotation, though the purpose of this workout was to warm up rather than provide any strenuous physical activity. While Katsuki gave one hundred percent, he didn't want to overdo it and risk an injury. So he kept his warm up routine to low impact exercises, Dynamight's sophomore album Stun Grenade blasting from his iPhone speakers to keep him motivated.

When Keigo arrived, Katsuki had just completed his jumping jacks. The abysmal weather conditions were irrelevant now as his blood was fiercely pumping. However, to be fair, Keigo's smile was closer to sunshine incarnate than a smile should ever be.