Wavering

Furuya's mind went blank.

His world stopped for a moment, a quick second rather, as he tried to comprehend Nurse Akagi's words. It didn't make sense to him. He didn't understand. He racked his brain for any possible explanation but came up empty-handed.

Nurse Akagi waved her hand in his face. "Furuya-kun, are you there? Are you alright?"

The pieces of Furuya's world came back together as he snapped out of his trance and looked at the woman in front of him. His eyes were wide with confusion. Fear.

"Sensei…what do you mean, pregnant? Is this some sort of trick? How is that even possible? As far as I'm concerned, I'm male."

Nurse Akagi shrugged. "I'm just as stumped as you are, to be honest. I've never seen this in my life. Cases like these are extremely rare and most of them aren't even documented." She placed her hands on the teen's shoulders and gave him a questioning look. "I know I asked you this before, but are you sure you aren't sexually active?"

"I'm positive," Furuya said, his eyes narrowing. "I've never slept with anyone." He paused, his face softening a bit. "What am I supposed to do?"

"It's all up to you," Nurse Akagi said with a warm smile. "First, find out what happened. You had to at least have sex for this to occur. I don't normally encourage teenage pregnancies, but Seido has the medical equipment to handle them just in case. Even though you're a boy, things can be arranged. Come back to me when you have your answer."

Furuya slowly got up, bowed, and made his way to the door. As soon as he opened it, he flinched at the sight of Eijun's wide grin. "What are you—why did you wait for me?" 'Oh, no. Did he hear everything?'

Eijun cackled, his hands at his sides. "Hahaha! I went to use the bathroom and I just came back! What took you so long in there? Did Sensei diagnose you with Restingbitchface-itis? Do you have AIDS?!"

Sighing in relief that his rival hadn't eavesdropped, Furuya walked past him. "Don't say stuff like that so casually, it's inappropriate. And you're too loud. Let's get back to class."

Eijun's jaw dropped. "Ah, you didn't answer my question! So you do have AIDS! Looks like I'm gonna become the ace by default!"

"Don't be so sure of yourself."

--

9:06 PM - After Practice

Furuya dipped into the tub, the warm water soothing his aching and screaming muscles. He tried to take it easy during practice despite the complaints from his teammates again. He couldn't afford to harm the baby that was growing inside of him, if there even was a baby.

'I still can't believe it,' he thought. 'This can't be. Me, pregnant? I've never had sex and even if I have, I don't remember. What am I going to do? I can't keep playing baseball like this. At this rate, I'll have to—'

"Ah, it's the monster rookie with a slump that's pissing me off!"

Furuya didn't even bother to look up as Miyuki closed the door to the bathhouse and dipped in the water a few feet away from him. "My slump is pissing you off?"

Miyuki removed his glasses and set them on the tile floor, snickering. "Why, of course! I can't have fun when I'm only catching Bakamura's pitches. I need some diversity. You're killing me here."

The raven-haired teen rolled his eyes. "What do you want? You don't normally bathe at this time."

Miyuki swam closer to him, a stern look on his face. "I know. There's no need to keep on hiding it."

The hairs on Furuya's neck stood as he stared into his amber eyes. They were glinting with a certain seriousness he had never seen before.

'Does he know? I didn't tell anyone.'

"You're not going through a slump. You're slacking on purpose."

"H-Huh?"

Miyuki burst into a fit of laughter as he slapped Furuya on the back. "Haha! I bet you probably realized how frustrating being the ace will be, with all those people relying on you to carry the team! You're just trying to decrease the amount of attention you get! What a genius!"

Furuya looked at the catcher with a blank face. "Are you kidding me? You're laughing? You had me worried for a second."

"Worried? Why would I have you worried?"

"Because I'm—" The pitcher's breath hitched as a sharp pain surprised his stomach. He turned away, groaning. "Ow…"

Miyuki reached out instinctively, putting a hand on his back. "Whoa, are you okay? Stomachache? Do you need to see the nurse? Hey, answer me!"

Furuya shook his head as the pain vanished. He hoisted himself up and grabbed his towel, leaving the bathhouse. "I-I'm fine. I'll be g-going now."

"You're having pains 'cause you're not eating enough!" the bespectacled teen yelled after him. "You gotta eat or you're not gonna last through practice!" 'Something's definitely not right. I should keep an eye on him.'

--

Cooped up in his bed, Furuya's eyes darted back and forth across the laptop screen as he searched for the answers to his dilemma.

"That was way too close with Miyuki-senpai," he muttered. "If he finds out, that's definitely not good. I should be more careful in the meantime. I shouldn't make it obvious."

As the minutes passed by, he was slowly getting discouraged. Nothing useful about male pregnancy was popping up, only online stories and prank videos. Drumming his fingers against the keyboard he came up with an idea.

"I guess I should search it up normally."

Typing 'How to tell if I'm pregnant?' in the search bar, he clicked on the first website and read through the article.

"Have you and a partner recently made love? Do you think you're pregnant? Here are some common symptoms to see if you are!"

-Missed period

-Loss/increase in appetite

-Nausea

-Tender breasts

-Headaches

-Constipation

-Mood swings

-Fatigue

-Pain in abdominal area

Furuya tightened his blankets around him as he read through the symptoms over and over again, trying to make sense of them. "I'm not a girl, but a lot of these do apply to me…I really am pregnant, huh?"

Closing his laptop, he turned off the lamp and shut his eyes, waiting for the lull of sleep to wash over him. He couldn't stop thinking about the first sentence from the website. It was bothering him, pestering him.

"Have you and a partner recently made love?"

"I don't remember anything. I haven't been with anyone, but why does it feel like something's missing? I don't remember…"

--

The Next Day - 8:55 AM - Mathematics

Resting his head on his palm, Furuya looked out the window as the teacher rambled on about the significance of polynomial functions. It was a cloudless, bright, baby blue sky, baby blue, baby...

He pouted in frustration. He couldn't even look at the sky without being reminded of his situation.

'I have to do something about this. I can't keep this baby. I won't let this take baseball away from me.'

In the seat next to him, Kominato Haruichi twirled a pen between his fingers as he focused on the pitcher. "Wow, you're thinking hard. That's rare for someone who pretty much has a one-track mind."

Furuya waved his hand dismissively. "It's nothing. I was thinking about a crab omelet."

The pink-haired teen rolled his eyes playfully under his bangs. "Of course. But hey, did I tell you the good news? There might be another one of me at Seido in the future."

"What do you mean?"

"My mom's pregnant!"

Furuya's heart skipped a beat. "Pregnant?"

"Yeah! Isn't that great? Aniki will finally have someone else to patronize."

"Do you think…she'll be happy to give birth again?"

Haruichi's smile faded away. "Huh? What are you talking about?"

Furuya turned towards him, his lips pulled tightly. "Will she regret having another child? Will she be glad to take care of it even though a lot of bad things might happen?"

Haruichi leaned back in his seat and thought about it for a while. "I mean, she's already had two of us, so there's no doubt that she can handle another. My mom is a strong person. She can do it. Why'd you ask?"

Furuya resumes looking out the window, his hand on his stomach.

"No reason."

--

5:00 PM - Afternoon Practice

"Nice pitch!" Miyuki shouted as he threw the ball back at Eijun. "What's with the sudden new groove? Have you finally been blessed by my godly presence?"

Eijun caught the ball with a smug look on his face. "My dear Kazuya, haven't you heard? I'm gonna become the ace by default!"

"And why's that? Is it because of Furuya's slump?"

The brunette walked over to the bespectacled teen and covered his mouth with his mitt. "Tsk tsk, aren't you mistaken! What slump? He has AIDS!"

Miyuki sweat-dropped. "Enough with the jokes, Bakamura. You can't say stuff like that so casually, you'll get in trouble."

"I'm not joking! We took our physicals the other day and he took forever. I asked him if he got diagnosed with AIDS and he ignored my question! Doesn't that seem suspicious?"

The catcher ruffled the pitcher's hair. "Stop saying that! Also, knowing the fact that like, everyone ignores you, I hardly find that convincing. Looks like you're gonna have to become the ace by actually putting in the work, silly."

Eijun puffed steam from his nostrils as he stomped back to his side of the bullpen. "I call bullshit!" He pitched a crossfire. "Now that was a strike!"

"That was a ball."

"Damn it!"

As he gave Eijun a sign, Miyuki couldn't help but steal a glance at Furuya who was missing all of his catches.

'Eijun may be a bit dense, but I think we're both noticing a change in Furuya. I just gotta figure out what. And fast.'