Extension

Kuramochi looked up from his phone. "What did he say?"

--

30 Minutes Ago

Kataoka closed the door to his office. "I've noticed that you haven't been as sharp as usual during practice. It's affecting the team's morale. Are you injured?"

Furuya bit his lip as he sat down on the couch. "It's not that. I—"

"I don't want to hear any excuses." Kataoka rested his elbows on his desk, his fingers intertwined. "I don't care how talented you are. I will not let anyone, anyone, deprive this team of going to Koshien. If you have an injury, it will be in your best interest to tell me now."

Furuya remained silent as he thought of something to say. It was too early for him to come out and admit the truth, but he knew it was inevitable. He would have to expose himself and bear the brunt of his team's frustration. Strangely enough, he was prepared. He couldn't go back now.

"Two more days," he said. "I'll explain myself in two days. Can you wait until then?"

Kataoka nodded hesitantly. "I hope you're not pushing yourself too far. Thank you. You may leave."

--

Now

Kuramochi sported a mild look of surprise as he turned off his phone. "That's rare," he said. "I didn't think Coach would let you go without drowning you in questions. I figure he's cutting you some slack."

Furuya sat down on the carpeted floor, crossing his legs. Eijun wasn't here—probably begging Miyuki to catch his mediocre pitches or something—so he could relax a bit.

"Why's that?"

"He knows you've got potential. He understands that he puts a lot of pressure on us during practice, but it's only because he expects the very best. He wants to see us blossom into the finest players in Tokyo."

A laugh escaped Kuramochi's lips as he turned back to his homework.

Furuya thought to himself, a curtain of silence hanging over them.

'Potential, huh? I can only feel sorry for myself. I'm doing this to myself, but I don't want to feel like I'm responsible if something happens to the team.'

Kuramochi stopped working on his math equations and turned around. "Dude, I can practically hear the gears turning in your head. What are you thinking about?"

Furuya played with the hem of his socks as he spoke. "What will the team think of me? A pregnant fifteen-year-old, a boy, nonetheless? I don't want them to criticize me or anything—"

"Hey, cut that out!" Kuramochi lightly slapped his shoulder. "Don't make me laugh! Our team doesn't have judgmental asswipes, okay? You're gonna be fine with me around, so quit worrying."

"Kuramochi-senpai…why do you care so much? You're being really patient with me and it's unexpected, honestly."

"It's because I've been through—"

SLAM!

Eijun burst through the door with a menacing look, his lips swollen and glossy with saliva. "Kiss my ass, Kazuya! I'm never trusting you again!"

Miyuki appeared behind him, rubbing the red handprint on his cheek. "I said I was sorry! I thought you liked that!"

"You didn't have to bite it that hard! What am I gonna say if the senpai notice?"

"Just say that I hit you with a ball by accident."

"Babe, that straight up sounds like domestic violen—" Eijun stopped, seeing Furuya sitting on the floor. "Dear rival! What are you doing here? Do you have business with Mochi-senpai?"

Miyuki frowned.

Furuya looked back and forth between them. "'Babe'? Wait, you two are dating?"

Kuramochi sucked his teeth.

Eijun smiled cheekily as he plopped onto his bed. "Jeez, rival, you're late. We've been dating for a while now. Get with the program."

Miyuki quickly caught the look of disappointment on Furuya's face before it disappeared. 'Shit.'

The green-haired teen sprung up from his chair and slipped into his slides. "Four-eyes. Let's have a chat outside. I don't wanna hear these two kids quarreling in my ear."

--

Miyuki pinned Kuramochi against a vending machine. "What do you know?"

Kuramochi rolled his eyes. "What are you on about?"

"I know that you know something. Why was Furuya in your room? What were you two talking about?"

"Can't an upperclassman have a chat with his underclassman? Where's the harm in that?"

"Don't play games with me."

"At least I don't play with the heart of a pregnant freshman!"

Miyuki's eyes dilated behind his glasses. His hands began to tremble as they dropped to his sides. He staggered back.

"It was you. You're the one who dropped the condoms outside the indoor field. It wasn't Eijun. It was you."

Kuramochi's face scrunched up as he folded his arms across his chest.

"You're such a piece of shit," he spat. "What does knowing that do for you? Are you happy 'cause Sawamura doesn't know and you can continue deceiving him? What's wrong with you? That night at the karaoke bar, I should've done something to stop this. I guess now's my chance to make up for it."

Miyuki cocked his head. "Huh? What are you talking about?"

"I'm gonna tell Sawamura fucking Eijun that you got Furuya fucking Satoru pregnant while you two were dating. Get that through your thick skull."

Miyuki grabbed Kuramochi by the collar and shoved him against the vending machine again. He couldn't control his body. His mind couldn't understand the words that his friend had just said.

"No, you're not! You're not going to tell Eijun anything!"

Kuramochi freed himself from his hold and straightened his collar. "Convince me otherwise. With all the scummy shit you've done recently, Sawamura deserves to know the truth. I won't continue to let you hurt him when he's oblivious about everything."

"If you tell Eijun, he's going to blow up and it'll ruin me. I don't want that to happen. I don't want our relationship to end because of some damn pregnancy. Besides, is that really even my child?"

"Furuya's not the type to sleep around."

"Maybe that's what he wants us to think! Please tell me I'm right."

"Stop trying to inch your way out of this because it won't work, you selfish bastard. You got Furuya drunk and took advantage of him. He has feelings for you, damn it! How could you do that to him? I thought we were bros." Kuramochi sighed heavily as he turned and walked away. "I wasn't lying when I said I'd tell him. I don't care if it turns into a huge mess. You'll be the one to deal with it, not me."

--

11:35 PM

"Go to sleep!" Kuramochi snapped as he climbed onto his bed. "You're acting like we don't got practice tomorrow morning."

Eijun groaned, eyes peeled on the video game, mashing random buttons on the controller. "I refuse! I must pass this level first! Sleep can wait!"

"You got five seconds to turn that shit off before I come down there and do it myself! Five."

"W-Wait!"

"Four."

"Please, five more minutes!"

"Three."

"C'mon, don't be stingy!"

"Zero."

Eijun dashed the controller away and turned off the console. "I give, I give! Hold on, you didn't even count all the way down!"

"Who said I was going in order, dumbass? Now go to sleep."

"At least let me text Kazuya goodnight first."

Kuramochi watched as Eijun crawled over to his phone and saw his face light up with a bright grin.

"So disgusting," he whispered.

Eijun settled into his bed and laughed. "What's disgusting, senpai? Are you jealous?"

"Hell, no. It's just…how much do you love Miyuki? Like, on a scale of one to ten?"

"I don't think a scale could measure how much I love Kazuya. He's my everything. I mean, baseball always comes first, but he's such a powerful presence in my life! Sorry if you feel like throwing up, but that's how I truly feel about him!"

"Do you love him enough to get pregnant by him and have his kids?"

Eijun's face heated up. He looked down at his stomach and placed a hand on it. "G-G-Get pregnant? Definitely! If it was possible, of course! If you love someone, why wouldn't you want to have kids?"

Kuramochi closed his eyes as he smothered his face in his pillow. "Interesting," he mumbled. "You're so naive. You don't need love to get someone pregnant."

"H-Huh? What did you say? I couldn't hear you."

"It's nothing. See you in the morning." 'Miyuki…you have him wrapped around your finger and you don't even know it…'