Eijun's Twin

Bus Time

The next day I woke up and Eijun was gone. So were Masuko and Kuramochi. I frowned and got out of bed. I sat on the edge of my brother's bed and tried wrapping my own arm but it was very poorly done and terrible overall so I just decided to go without the wrapping and sling today.

When I made it to the practice field the first string team was doing some pre-game ritual. They ended it with screaming for a very long amount of time which after a few moments had given me a painful headache. I made my way over to stand with Rei.

"Coach Kataoka would like you to observe the game and take notes." She told me, I nodded and she handed me a notebook with a pen. I gladly took it and carried it with me to the bus.

I took a deep breath when I saw the bus. I took one look at the thing and tried to turn around and walk away, but Rei was there and she turned me back to the bus and helped me get on.

Rei had me sit with her and the second I sat down in the seat my breathing got shallower. I quickly pulled out earbuds and plugged them into my phone before playing music as loud as I could and closing my eyes.

Even though we weren't moving, I was still terrified of cars in general. Trains were okay, planes were also okay. Anything but a vehicle that moves on the road and has four wheels where it can be hit by other four wheeled vehicles.

I flinched when the bus jerked when it started moving.

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I sighed with relief when the bus stopped and was one of the first people off. I followed Rei to the stadium and sat down in the dugout with the other coaches. They started their warmups and soon the game kicked off.

I watched the first two runners get on base. The first batter was Kuramochi, I didn't know who the second batter was though. Now Miyuki was up to bat, he had one ball and two strikes.

Their pitcher went for a slider and Miyuki took a crack at it. My eyes followed the ball until it hit the fence caging in the stadium, a three-run homer in the first inning.

Soon they got their outs and our team took the field. The score was 4-2 by the time they got all three outs and came back in.

We made it around our line up and Kuramochi was up to bat again. On the first pitch he bunted down the third base line. The pitcher ran forward to collect the ball and by the time he did, Kuramochi was safe on first.

Then Kominato went up to bat. I only learned his name because the announcer said it. He showed bunt right away.

"Pull back." I murmured.

I watched the pitch fly from the pitchers hand straight down the middle and Kominato pulled the bat back and took a swing, hitting it just between first and second.

"How could you tell what he was going to do?" Oota asked, I had learned that he was the club president.

"Feet positioning." I said it so quietly I thought for sure I was going to have to repeat myself.
"What about his foot positioning?" Kataoka looked down at me through his sun glasses.
"If he was going to bunt he would have turn his feet to point toward the pitcher and rotate his hips all the way for more momentum with running upon contact, but his feet were still pointing towards the other batting box in the standard hitting position and his hips were closed to the pitcher. It's easy to read."

No one said anything after that and the game continued. The next guy that went up to bat was announced to be Jun Isashiki. When he stepped into the box he shouted something to the pitcher, I didn't hear what though.

He made contact with the ball and sent it to centerfield where it dropped, bringing in Kuramochi. The next guy to go up was announced.

Yuki

This was the boy that cleaned my hand after he found me bleeding. This was their cleanup hitter and their captain.

I watched the ball soar to left center when it made contact. The game continued at a high pace with no low points. It was like you look away for one second and you had missed an entire inning.

The score was now 9-5. Ichidai was batting and we were in the bottom of the 4th inning. The outs went quickly, and I was slightly impressed with Miyuki's arm. He did a throw down to second from his knees and it had no arc, but then again all catchers are supposed to have an arm like that.

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The game ended with a win for Seidou, 13-9. I decided I was going to walk back to Seidou and Rei let me.

My walk was nice and peaceful, not nearly as bad as the bus ride was. I made it back to the dorms very late, around mid-supper time and my leg was hurting to the point that you could hardly call it limping as it was more like hopping.

I took a quick shower while no one was around and then went back to the dorm without dinner as I couldn't go in front of anyone like this. I needed to get back to my dorm room before someone saw me. I hopped to our dorm door and pushed it open and slipped inside before closing it again. I got changed into pajamas and got into bed just before Eijun bursted in and flopped down onto his bed.

He was followed by the other two and they all seemed to go to sleep too.

Thank god. That would have been something big to explain to Eijun. He thought I was all better for the most part...