Chapter 10 : The Past & Strong Point

Akari Agawa. That was the girl's name. Just like Hiroto, she was also an orphan. Her mother died when she gave birth, and her father followed four years later in a car accident. And just like Hiroto, Akari also grew up in Agawa's ramen stall. However, unlike him, she was the biological grandchildre of the old Agawa couple, making it hard for them to get along at the start.

To be honest, it shouldn't be like that. After all, Hiroto and Akari were just 5 and 4 years old when they first met. Even though it wasn't impossible, the chance of them to resent each other was pretty slim, considering they shouldn't know what it meant to be the biological grandchildren and the adopted grandchildren.

Unfortunately, just like how a good family usually broke up, it was triggered by the neighbor who couldn't control their loose mouth. They keep talking behind his back about how pitiful it was for the old Agawa couple to raise two children, how the adopted one would be neglected, how they would favor the biological one and something toxic like that.

The 5 years old Hiroto of course was affected by that. Thinking he would be neglected by Akari, he started to avoid her unconsciously. At that time, he felt resentment toward his 4-year-old little sister for snatching their grandparents' love, yet he didn't want to compete for it too. He always felt he didn't deserve their love because of his status as the adopted grandchild.

Looking back at it, Hiroto couldn't help but chuckle at how silly and overdramatic he was.

However, the problem that looked silly right now wasn't that silly back then. The resentment in his heart was like a cinder, a tiny ember smoldering almost completely unnoticed. As time went by, the cinder became an inferno, growing uncontrollably.

"Hiroto-kun, you need to stop this. Fighting wouldn't solve anything."

"Talk to us, Hiroto! Don't run away!"

"Honestly, what is this kid's problem?!"

"This is the third time he went to the police officer this year! This kid grew out of control!"

"Should we bring him to the physiatrist?"

Hiroto smiled bitterly whenever he remembered how stupid he was in the past. Since he was envious of his little sister, he grew into a violent boy, thinking that this was the only way for him to get more attention from his grandparents. Picking up a fight left and right and going into the police office nearby were something he normally did before. Hell, he even knew almost all the members of the violent gang in Tokyo, which was not something he should be proud of.

However, that didn't mean he was ashamed of his experience. This was something that shaped him into who he is right now, and even though it took a while, he managed to embrace his past peacefully. And it also took him a long time before he matured enough to realize what he did was wrong. After that, his relationship with his sister was slowly getting better as they kept getting closer like how a normal sibling did.

And if you were wondering where was the big event that made Hiroto realize he was wrong, no, we didn't do that here. He wasn't the protagonist of Shounen manga, there was no need to add some tragedy here.

"Hello?" The voice from his phone snapped Hiroto from his wandering thought. "Hiro-nii? Are you still there?"

"Sorry, Akari-chan, what have you said before?"

"Mou, Hiro-nii! How could you forget easily? You didn't pay attention to what I said, did you?" If Akari was in front of him, Hiroto could imagine she pouted childishly. "I just greeted you and asked how are you, and you have already lost in your mind. Focus, brother! If not, you will grow older faster than anyone else."

"I am fine, I am fine. No need to scare me like that." Hiroto chuckled wryly. "How about you? How is your high school life? Are you adapting well? Do you have any friends there? Is there anyone who dares to bully you? If there is, just say it to me! I will-"

"Okay, okay, I get it!" Akari cut in before he could finish his threat. "Jeez, Hiro-nii.. You don't need to be a helicopter brother. Some would say you are a sis-con."

Hiroto rolled his eyes playfully. "Hello? Is it the pot calling the kettle? It was obviously you who were a bro-con."

Even though they were close to each other, they still shared the classic sibling relationship, full of crude insults and jibs. They kept chatting and laughing for a while until Hiroto noticed the sun was already high enough in the sky. He widened his eyes in shock after he checked the clock.

"Akari-chan, don't you have any class? It's 7.30 o'clock already!"

"Of course, I have!" If they faced each other, Hiroto would be able to see the smug smile on his sister's face. "But I have already arrived at school! Unlike someone who was lazy even though he lived in a dorm, I couldn't afford that luxury. I have to wake up and walk early so I don't get late, you know?"

Hiroto rolled his eyes at the sniff he heard from the phone. "Well, good for you. Now you can stop acting like a sloth, right?"

"Hey, that's rude!"

"Who starts first?!"

After another round of bickering, Hiroto finally closed the call, not wanting to get late for the morning class. He stared at his phone for a while, his mind went blank after the call. Then, a smile grew on his face as he saw the wallpaper on his phone. There he could see himself smiling with Akari hugged him from behind. Their faces were red after snow-fighting for too long. This happened last year during the winter break when he had a chance to get out of the dorm and go back home.

Thinking of the happy memory, his mood lightened up as he hummed a song happily.

'Maybe Akari is right. I am such a sis-con.'

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The day passed pretty slowly, especially when there were math and physics subjects for the class today. Even though Hiroto was good at both subjects, that didn't mean he had to enjoy it. Hell, if not for his scholarship, he would rather follow the others and sleep in the class. However, he managed to resist until the bell rang, ending the long day in school.

However, it wasn't the end of the day for many people, especially the ones who were in the baseball club. The Kantou tournament was already in front of their eyes, and they needed to prepare for it.

When Hiroto arrived at the field, he could see it was already full there. Even though the time arranged by Kataoka-sensei for the official training was still in an hour, there were a lot of players who were eager to do extra training. That is because, for the next summer tournament, each team could register 20 players. With the addition of Furuya, the first team still had 18 players. There were two last spots that everyone tried so hard to get.

However, this wasn't the only reason why the field was so lively today.

*Clank!*

"Ground ball! Pitcher, go forward!"

"Second base! You still have time! Send it there!"

"YOSSHA! Nice steal, Asou!"

"Catcher, you need to instruct the pitcher faster! He couldn't see the runner's position!"

Yeah, the reason why the atmosphere was lively today was because of the first-year members' presence. All the senpai, no matter which year they came from felt responsible for guiding their junior. And since the coach hadn't arrived yet, there was no need to make a gap between each other.

For example, Kusonuki Fumiya, the reserved shortstop could be seen interacting with Haruichi. Even though Hiroto didn't know what they were talking about, he could make an educated guess. Besides pitcher and catcher, the other positions that needed to have a lot of interaction were shortstop and second baseman. As a shortstop, Fumiya took fancy of Haruichi's rough potential as the second baseman and decided to guide him more.

The same could be seen everywhere. It didn't matter how bad they lost in the intra-game before. Their senpai noticed and acknowledged their potential and were willing to guide them more.

"Come again!"

*Clank!*

"Fly ball! Pitcher, get ready!"

Hiroto saw the ball fly high but not too far from the mound. However, he was dumbfounded at the sight of Furuya tracing where the ball would fall blindly, not noticing he was still one step ahead of it. And right to his predicament, even though Furuya raised his mitt and was ready to catch the ball, it didn't go straight into his glove. Instead, it fell into the ground, and if it was an official game, there would be a runner on the first base already for this mistake.

"Idiot! What the hell are you doing?!"

"Keep yourself behind the ball and use your throwing hand to protect your eyes from the sun! This is the basic!"

"This is hopeless! He is just another monster idiot who only knows how to pitch."

Hiroto chuckled at the helpless expression of his friends on the pitch. Furuya is exactly the same as Sawamura. They both had their unique pitching style that was appreciated by Kataoka-sensei, yet they came out of nowhere. It was like the only training they had ever received was just to throw the ball as hard and as fast as possible. They didn't know the other basic skills all the players needed the know.

'Speaking of those two, where is Sawamura?' Hiroto pondered for a second, trying to search the whereabouts of his loudmouth kouhai. 'There is no way he would miss a chance to do an extra training. Is there any problem?'

However, just like summoning a devil, the moment he thought of Sawamura, the first-year pitcher popped up out of nowhere.

"Hiroto-senpai!" Sawamura greeted from afar. "Senpai, can I ask you a question?"

"Sure, ask away."

"What do you think is my strong point?"

"Your strong point?" Hiroto raised his eyebrows curiously. "Why do you suddenly ask that?"

"This is the task Shisou gave to me!" Sawamura answered out loud. "He said I need to figure out what kind of player I am to know which direction I should train myself."

"Shisou?" Hiroto had sweat dropped on his face. "Why in the hell did you call someone master?"

"Because he deserves it!" Sawamura replied to his rhetorical question firmly. "Don't you feel moved when you saw him work hard to come back after a long injury? His silent effort is admirable!"

"Aah…" Hiroto nodded in realization. It seemed Sawamura just got to know the inside story of Chris's rehabilitation process and was still in awe. "So, what did Chris-senpai say to you?"

"Well, he said, since I couldn't throw a fastball like Furuya or a nasty curve like Tanba-senpai, I have to find out what is my strength point. I have already asked a lot of people, but the answer is not what I hope for."

"Oh? Who did you ask?"

"Let me see." Sawamura took out a small note from his pocket and showed it to Hiroto. "The common answer is lack of common sense and baseball knowledge. But I think this should count as the weakest point, right?" He huffed irritably.

Hiroto chuckled a bit at his reaction, and it grew louder when he saw the names Sawamura asked were Kuramochi, Miyuki, and several players who were on the prankster group. Hell, Masuko even replied with 'like to steal senpai's pudding', which didn't have any correlation with baseball. Seeing the pitiful state of his kouhai, Hiroto decided to amuse himself.

"Well, let's think about it slowly. In your opinion, why did Kataoka-sensei take fancy on your pitching?"

"Because it was awesome! Hahaha!" Sawamura laughed cockily, gaining a disdainful gaze from whoever heard that. However, Hiroto ignored that and continued asking, "Why do you think your pitch was awesome?"

"Eh?" Now, Sawamura started to think. "I…. Don't know?"

"Think about it carefully." Hiroto guided him patiently. "The only time Kataoka-sensei observed your pitch was during the last game. What did you do that made him take fancy to you?"

"Because…. I didn't lose a single point until your turn?" Sawamura replied hesitantly.

"And how did you do that?"

"By sending them out one by one, of course!"

"And how was the process? Is there something special in your pitch?" A smile grew on Hiroto's face as Sawamra started to get closer to the answer he guided for. However, his guidance seemed to make Sawamura more confused, so he decided to change his strategy. "Think about it. Tojo-kun got blasted almost 20 times, and he had more speed in his pitch compared to you. So, how could you send your senpai out with a pitch that was weaker than Tojo-kun's?"

"I…. Don't know?"

"Well, maybe you could try to find the answer first." He patted Sawamura's shoulder. "Try to borrow the record of the intra-game from Rei-san and observe your pitch carefully. Is there something special in it?"

"Hmm…" Sawamura pondered for a moment before his face lightened up. "I got it! I will do what you said! Thank you, Senpai!" And just like that, Sawamura left instantly, completely forgetting that there would be training later. Hiroto could only shake his head amusedly at his kouhai's antic.

'Well, Sawamura-kun. I have already told you what you need to know. Whether you can find the answer by yourself or not depends on you. I hope you can grow faster and be a part of the team in the next tournament.'

Yeah. Even though Hiroto knew the answer lay in the direction change at the last moment, he decided not to tell Sawamura about that. He knew that the process of finding out the answer was more important compared to the answer itself.

"Senpai…" A flat voice suddenly greeted him from behind, snapping him from his daydreaming. When he turned around, Hiroto could see Furuya looking at Sawamura with jealousy in his eyes before saying, "Can you be my training partner?"

It seemed Furuya was getting threatened by Sawamura. Seeing his peer who was acknowledged by the coach getting closer with the first team members, Furuya didn't want to be left out. Hiroto also noticed that, and since he was free at that moment, he decided to amuse his other Kouhai too.

"Sure. Let's ask if the others were willing to be the fielders. It would be a good training."

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Author note :

Hey! I have written a few next chapters of this new story and posted it already on my patreon account. If you want to read it in advance, you can visit patreon(.)com/ZetaFaes .

You can read this story up to chapter 18, and I will try to update it faster. 

You can also read my other fanfiction, Kuroko no Basket: The Sixth man of Seirin Basketball Team up to chapter 156 on that page.

Thank you for your support! I appreciate it! :)

-Zeta Faes-