Chapter Text
It was a sunny Saturday afternoon. The sun sat high in the sky, looming above their heads. The air smelling of dirt and sweat. Bottom of the 7th, two outs, two strikes and one ball. Runner on second. Seido held the lead 3 to nothing.
Miyuki’s hair stuck to the back of his neck, body blazing from the heat his black gear was absorbing. Shifting slightly the batter squatted, preparing himself once more. His eyes snapped to the familiar golden ones on the mound.
Slowly, he moved his hands to ask for a fastball right on the outside. With the batter having no choice to swing he’d be eager to try and hit the ball.
Sawamura shot the catcher a wide grin, bringing his arms up. Everything that happened next blurred together.
His ball, rather than going outside moved straight down the middle. The batter, filled with hunger to connect with the ball, swung wildly at it. Just as fast as the ball appeared in front of the batter, it was already hit back out. Only, it was hit in the direction of Sawamura.
With little time to react Miyuki watched in what seemed like slow motion as Sawamura moved to cover his head, maybe even attempting to catch it. Only it skimmed the top of his glove, colliding with the front of his skull with a sickening crack.
In seconds, Sawamuras now limp body slipped to the mound, the dry dirt filling the air around him as he made impact. The stadium was completely silent for a moment, but before Miyuki knew it he had ripped off his face mask and sprinted to his pitchers side. As soon as he did his teammates on the field followed, everyone screaming his name.
“Sawamura!” “Eijun-kun!” “Sawamura-Senpai!”
Miyuki dropped to the ground in seconds, wrapping his arms around the boys body carefully to try and elevate him. He noticed the crimson blood leaking down the side of his face, a small gash where the balls imprint was, which was already started to bruise.
Within moments people swarmed around them, eventually he along with the other members were pushed away from him as they put his body on a stretcher. Miyuki noticed Rei heading out with the men bringing Sawamura out.
Kataoka waved them all in, although everyone was already rushing in anyway. Pained and worried looks seeped through their teammates.
As he started speaking Miyuki did not listen, his head immediately going back to play the sickening sound he heard as the ball made impact before Sawamura slugged to the ground.
Bile rose to the back of his throat. If he asked for a different call, that wouldn’t have happened. This was on him. His pitcher was hurt. Sawamura was hurt.
“Miyuki.” Coach’s familiar stern voice snapped him back to the present. “End this game as quickly as you can, but not enough to make mistakes.” He then turned to the rest of the team.
“I know we are all worried. But we need to focus on finishing this game first.”
Miyuki chocked back a scoff. If he had the choice he would walk out right now and go to the hospital. But all he could do was nod and lead the team to finish as fast as they could with no mistakes.
———
They finished the game as fast as they could, not letting a run in. As soon as they finished people were already lined up trying to get information and seeing if they could go to the hospital.
“You all will head back, clean up and eat dinner. There’s no use sitting in the waiting room anxiously waiting to hear news. Once I hear anything I will let Miyuki know immediately and he will inform you all.”
Miyuki sucked in a breath, how body already riddled with anxiety. His heart ached not being able to hear that loud shouting and laughter after winning a game. Or constant begging to catch for him because he played such a good game today.
Even as they got back he had no appetite to eat, and it seemed a lot of his other teammates did not as well. Despite the victory the mood in the cafeteria was somber. The only occasional noise came from Kuramochi when he yelled at a few first years for being too loud.
Miyukis tired eyes drifted around the room, catching Haruichi’s sad gaze. Sat beside him Furuya even wore a worried expression.
His fingers gripped his pants tightly, knuckles turning white as he bounced his foot up and down. No one had heard a word about how Sawamura was yet, so his nerves were eating away at him as he replayed the moment in his head.
It wasnt until the sharp ringing on his phone caught his attention, everyone’s head snapping immediately in his direction. Rei’s name and number illuminated the screen. For a moment, he contemplated stepping outside. But he doubted they’d let him.
With a pit in his stomach and a deafening audience around him he answered.
“Hello.”
“Hello Miyuki. Are you alone right now, or still with the team.” Her voice strained on the other end.
“With the team. Is he alright?“
“He suffered a concussion and got a few staples put in where the seams sliced his skin open. But...” he heard her take in a breath of air for a moment.
The silence seemed to stretch so long it made him want to vomit.
“Sawamura currently has temporary amnesia.”
His mind blanked, brows furrowing. “What do you mean?”
“He’s awake right now. But he has recollection of what happened. Nor does he remember who I am, what Seido is or who he is.”
Those words dried his mouth, anxiously licking his lips trying to find the words to say.
“Well.... why...—can we see him.”
“I’ll ask the doctors, but he’s incredibly scared right now. They probably won’t let anyone in until tomorrow, or at least until he calms down.”
Another beat of silence.
“Okay, thank you. I’ll let the team know.”
“Miyuki, when visitors are allowed I will let you know. This is temporary they said, so anything familiar will help him regain it faster.”
He just nodded, even though he knew she couldn’t see him.
“Okay, keep me updated. Goodbye.”
Sucking in a breath, he ended the call before gripping his phone tightly. All eyes were still trained on him, laced with worried expressions.
With heavy eyes and a glazed over glance, Miyuki addressed the eerily quiet room. “Sawamura has temporary amnesia.”
As the words slipped out of his mouth the room erupted in chaos. Everyone was yelling, trying to figure out what to do. Despite Kuramochi’s attempt at grabbing his Miyuki slipped out of the room and headed to his own unable to stop the headache from taking over.
———
He could barely sleep that night, mind racing with millions of thoughts and the picture of the loud mouth bright eyed brat stuck in his head. The fear in his eyes before he was hit. The disgusting sound the impact made. His body practically slinking to the ground.
When he dragged himself to practice the next morning, many of the players carried the same tired expression.
Haruichi’s eyes seemed swallow, dark circles under Kuramochi’s eyes, glazed over looks on the rest of the first strings faces. Even the first years seemed visibly shaken.
The absence of their loud mouth pitcher made practice much harder. There was no one to cheer them on as they ran. No one screaming at Furuya to pitch harder. No one begging him to catch his balls.
The mood eventually entangled into their practice, making errors in offensive drills, batting weaker than normal, making wrong plays and more.
After what felt like an eternity practice finally came to a closed. Most members already leaving to go shower, mumbling to themselves.
Coach stopped him and Kuramochi.
“They told us he’s more stable today and can see visitors. They wanted to wait until his family arrives but I think it would be better to start getting familiar faces in there.”
Miyuki just nodded, Kuramochi casting a glance in his direction before the pair trudged off.
“Are we going to see him?” Kuramochi asked.
“Do you think it would be a good idea for him to see us first. Why not Haruichi or Furuya.”
Kuramochi shot him another glance as if he knew he was bullshitting him.
”Oh please, you’re going to tell me you haven’t been worried about that idiot?”
Miyuki’s lips fell into a thin line, remaining silent which only earned a knowing look from his friend.
“Coach only said it’s temporary. Maybe if I put him in a headlock that’ll jog his memory.” Kuramochi said, belting out a laugh which just earned an eye roll from Miyuki.
Miyuki turned to make a hard right, walking away from Kuramochi.
“Oi where are you going!”
“To go see Sawamura like you said. So stop shouting and let’s go.“
This earned him a swift kick to the back of his legs and a grumbling Kuramochi beside him the whole way there.