With the season ended, I found myself kicked out of the dormitory and trudging back to my parents' shabby apartment.
As I relaxed under the kotatsu for the first time in a while, my sister approached me with her usual bluntness. "Hey, big brother. When will you buy me an apartment? Let's make a lot of money quickly and move out."
She didn't understand how tough it is to succeed as a professional baseball player. I tried to explain that only a handful of players make a lot of money.
"But you got a big signing bonus, didn't you?" she asked, her eyes wide with naivety.
"Have you forgotten?" I reminded her. "More than half of my signing bonus went to paying off our parents' debts and your high school entrance fees and tuition. And that expensive school bag you're using? That was my gift for you."
Despite her noisy and demanding nature at home, my sister seemed fairly popular at high school. If she didn't talk so much, she might even be cute.
During the off-season, our annual high school baseball club reunion took place at a Chinese restaurant near our school. When I entered, most of my former teammates were already there, except for Yamazaki.
"Hey, congratulations on your first appearance and your first pickoff attempt," Yanagida, who played right field, greeted me.
"Thanks," I replied, grabbing a beer bottle to pour him a drink.
Just then, Yamazaki walked in. "Hey there, poor people," he announced, a grin on his face.
It was strangely refreshing to see how much he'd changed. This season, Yamazaki had been in the rotation with 8 wins and 3 losses, and his annual salary had increased from 12 million yen to an estimated 26 million yen.
"You're late. As punishment, you have to pay all our membership fees," Hirai teased him.
"Sorry, sorry," Yamazaki said with a laugh. "Because of my success this year, I was given permission to buy a car, so I went to see a Jaguar."
"Hey, Takashi. Congratulations on your first pickoff attempt," Yamazaki said when he saw me.
"Thanks. Have a beer," I offered.
We all had a great time, reminiscing and catching up on our lives. Some of us went professional, others continued playing baseball in college or at work, and a few quit baseball to take over family businesses. Despite our different paths, being together made it feel like high school again.
"By the way, Yui-chan isn't here today?" Yamazaki asked.
"Did they break up?" Hirai speculated.
"You didn't come because you didn't want to see Takashi, right?" Kasai teased.
"No, it's not that," I explained. "She has a nursing practice today that she couldn't miss. She said she was sorry she couldn't see all your gloomy, worn, scruffy faces."
"That's a shame," Kasai said. "I didn't come to see Takashi. I just wanted to meet Yui."
As we laughed and shared stories, I couldn't help but remember meeting Yui last week and going to the beach in early winter.
"Hey, Yui," I had said.
"What?" she replied.
"I still love you and I want to see you every day if I could," I confessed.
"What? Why are you so serious?" she asked, a smile playing on her lips. "I feel the same way."
"But I think I'm on the brink of whether I can survive as a professional baseball player," I admitted.
"Yeah," she nodded.
"So now I have to focus on baseball," I continued.
"Yeah," she agreed.
"So the only time I can see you is in December, during the off-season," I said.
"Yes," she confirmed.
"You probably feel lonely," I said.
"Yeah. To be honest, there are times when I feel lonely. There are times when I really want to see you. But..." Yui turned her gaze towards the sea. "But just seeing your accomplishments in the newspaper or on the website, and occasionally seeing you working hard at the minor league facilities, is enough to make me happy."
"..."
"Because you playing baseball is cooler than anyone else. More than any actor, idol, or handsome guy."
"Huh? Maybe I'm not good looking."
"Well, no comment," she said with a laugh. "Anyway, I'm your biggest fan. If you lost your first fan after going professional, then I'm your first original fan. You may not know this, but I fell in love with your playing at first sight when I was in junior high school, and I've been a fan ever since."
"What, when you were in middle school?" I asked, surprised.
"That's right. You didn't know, did you? I went with a friend to cheer on our baseball team and saw you, the shortstop for the opposing team."
"Oh, I didn't know that."
"At that time, our middle school team was weak, and we lost in the fifth inning. But you were the only one shouting, jumping on every hit, playing to the best of your ability. I admired you and wanted to become the manager of the baseball team at Gunjo University High School."
"Is that so."
"I'll say it now. When I was in high school, the captain at the time, Yamazaki, and Hirai all confessed their feelings to me. But I've only had eyes for you... Takashi, you're really insensitive."
Our high school baseball team was strong, and there were many who wanted to be managers. At the start of my freshman year, about 20 people wanted to join, but one by one they quit, and only three, including Yui, remained until the third year. Out of the original 20, Yui was by far the cutest and the most popular with her seniors and peers. So I couldn't really say anything and just watched from afar. However, when we were in our second year, we happened to walk home together after a practice match, and somehow we ended up going to see a movie together. After that, we started meeting up more often and naturally began dating.
Remembering our conversation, I couldn't help but grin.
"Hey, your creepy face has gotten even creepier," Yanagida said.
"Shut up. Come on, drink," I laughed.
The night passed with friends I hadn't seen in a long time. As an aside, the cost of the after-party was reluctantly paid for by the wealthy Yamazaki-kun, who wore a sour look on his face. There are some good points to having successful friends.
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