94. Friendly Match

Going into Sora's room, Rei noticed Sora studying and knocked on the door. Sora lifted his head up from the books looking like he went through a war with them and asked, "What is it, Rei?" with a relief expression.

Rei chuckled, seeing his expression as he knew Sora wasn't one of the intelligent people in the bunch and had problems with his studies. He was always a barely pass student and if lucky sometimes he got good marks. Sometimes his friend, the student council president, Uchiyama Katsuro, came over to teach him.

"Nothing, you do not have coaching tomorrow, do you?"

"No, the coach gave us the weekend off. Do you have anything planned?"

"No, I also have a day off and I was hoping if we both could call up some people for a game, like a friendly neighborhood match."

"Nice idea, I will send a message telling people who are free can come."

"Ok, tell them to come to the nearby baseball park and we can play there."

Rei nodded and closed the door. He went to his room and picked up his phone and opened the chat group with some team members he was familiar with like Daichi, Akira, Suzaku and others and sent a message to everyone to meet up near the park to play some baseball.

As he sent the message and kept his phone on the bed, the phone vibrated continuously and he checked to find replies already coming in. Most of them could not make it, but he could round up 8 people. He then told them to meet him at the park by 10 and turned his phone off before going to sleep.

*NEAT DAY*

Waking up the next day, Rei did not go for a jog. He slowly woke up and noticed the time was still 7 and went out of the room, towards the washroom. He slowly washed his face and brushed his teeth.

After removing the remaining drowsiness he had from his sleep, Rei slowly made his way towards the living room. He noticed Shidou reading some newspapers while the television was playing some local news.

"Oh! Rei, you are already awake," said Shidou, closing the newspaper.

"Yes, I woke up just now." sitting beside him.

"What do you have planned for today?" turning his head to look at him.

"Me and Sora are calling some of our teammates to see if we can play some baseball together in the park later."

Shidou simply nodded and walked out of the room to do his daily walk outside. Rei remained, watching the news until he heard Narumi calling for everyone to eat. Turning the television off, he made his way towards the Dining room and sat down on his chair, while she set everything up.

Across from him was Sora, scratching his hair while yawning.

"So, How many replied to your message last night?" asked Rei.

"10 people will come, including Izumi. Are we going to play with a softball?"

"Yes, that would be better. It's just a fun match, so it wouldn't matter."

Having 18 players was enough to play a match with no substitutes. Narumi served them the food and a jovial atmosphere continued, with Narumi asking both of them their plans for the day.

After having dinner, as Rei and Sora made their way to their rooms, Narumi asked, "Are you both going to eat outside?"

Looking at each other, Sora answered, "Yes, mostly."

"Ok then, remind me to give you both some cash to treat your friends too."

"Alright, Oba-san." and both of them went into their rooms.

Noticing he still had some time left. Rei opened his notebooks to get some studying done. He never forgot to study, even when he played baseball. It was one of the valuable things his father, Tensei, taught him about, 'Rei, do not get consumed only by baseball. Even studying is important for a player.'

After some time he heard his door knock and he stood up to open it. As he opened it, he noticed Izumi standing on the other side.

"Why are you still studying? It's already 10:30." noticing the books on his desk, questioned Izumi.

Rei immediately checked his phone and found out he had been studying for too long and quickly closed his books. Changing into a sweatshirt, Rei took his catcher's kit and got out. He noticed Sora already with a glove and bat in his hands, and all three of them made their way out.

Remembering that Narumi told them to remind her, Sora excused himself and went to the living room. After receiving some money enough to give a pizza party for all of them, Sora came back.

All three of them continued towards the park, talking between themselves about the baseball league happening. As they reached the field, Rei noticed Akira and Suzaku already waiting for them.

"Oh! Akira, you came," said Sora, making his way towards him. Sora, Akira, and Suzaku knew each other and were in the same class in school.

Noticing Sora go towards them, Izumi turned to Rei.

"That is our captain and Ace of our school team. All three of them are in the same class, so they know each other." briefly telling him.

Izumi nodded and both of them also went towards the three. Rei quickly introduced Izumi to Akira and Suzaku.

"So you are the Ace, Sora always talks about," said Akira.

Izumi nodded and looked towards Suzaku and said, "Rei told me you are the team's ace."

Suzaku nodded and stretched out his hand, giving Izumi a good handshake, "I heard your pitches are very quick."

"Yes" nodding his head.

All 5 of them continued to exchange with Suzaku and Izumi chatting about pitching while the other three talked about baseball in general. After 10 more minutes, a few more people made their way into the park and Rei noticed it was Daichi, Tanaka, and a few others from the club. Even Suzuki came today to play with them.