Chapter Text
At first, no one really noticed.
Life at was always loud. Between early morning practice, endless drills, batting practice, and the occasional shouting match on the field, everyone had their own routines. Off days were rare and precious. Most players used them to sleep until noon, eat like they were starving, or wander around town.
But after a few weeks, something started to feel… off.
“Oi,” muttered one morning as he stared at the empty bed across the room. “Where the hell did he go now?”
The bed belonged to .
Again.
It was their third off day this month, and every single time, Sawamura had vanished before sunrise.
Kuramochi scratched his head, annoyed. “This idiot can’t even wake up for morning practice without screaming alarms, but suddenly he’s an early bird?”
Across the dorm hall, the mystery was starting to spread.
“Maybe he has a girlfriend,” someone suggested.
“Impossible,” another replied immediately.
“Yeah,” said a third voice. “Sawamura would’ve bragged about it to the entire Tokyo metropolitan area.”
Even looked mildly curious when the topic came up during lunch.
“He disappears every off day?” Miyuki asked, pushing up his glasses.
“Like clockwork,” Kuramochi said. “And he’s gone the whole day. Comes back late evening like nothing happened.”
“Did you ask him?”
“Of course I did.”
“And?”
Kuramochi scowled.
“He said he was ‘training.’”
Miyuki laughed.
“Training where?”
“That’s the problem,” Kuramochi said. “He wouldn’t say.”
Now that people were paying attention, the pattern became impossible to ignore.
Sawamura was still his usual loud self during practice. Still yelling. Still arguing with Miyuki. Still declaring that he would become Seidou’s ace.
Nothing had changed.
Except the off days.
He would disappear before sunrise… and return after sunset.
And no one knew where he went.
After the fourth time, Kuramochi had enough.
“That’s it,” he announced one evening in the dorm room. “Next off day, we’re following him.”
“Following him?” Miyuki asked, amused.
“You’re curious too, don’t pretend.”
Miyuki smiled.
“…A little.”
The next off day arrived quietly.
Before dawn, the dorm hallway was dark and silent.
Except for one door.
It creaked open slowly.
Sawamura stepped out, dressed in casual clothes instead of his usual baseball gear. He glanced left, then right.
Satisfied, he quietly slipped out of the dorm.
Five seconds later—
Another door opened.
Kuramochi peeked out.
“…He’s gone.”
Behind him, Miyuki yawned.
“Well? Let’s go.”
They followed him through the quiet Tokyo streets.
At first, nothing seemed strange. Sawamura took the train like everyone else. He didn’t act suspicious. He didn’t look nervous.
If anything, he looked… calm.
Which was strange in itself.
“Since when is he this quiet?” Kuramochi whispered.
Miyuki shrugged.
They trailed him through two train transfers and a ten minute walk.
Eventually, Sawamura stopped.
Both of them froze.
In front of them stood a massive campus gate.
Tall iron bars.
Stone pillars.
And beyond it—wide pathways, lecture halls, and towering buildings.
A university.
Sawamura walked straight to the entrance.
He showed something to the security guard.
The guard nodded.
And the gate opened.
Sawamura stepped inside without hesitation.
The gate closed behind him.
Kuramochi and Miyuki stood outside in stunned silence.
“…What,” Kuramochi said slowly, “was that.”
Miyuki adjusted his glasses, staring through the gate at the campus beyond.
Students walked across the grounds carrying textbooks.
Some wore lab coats.
Others held stacks of research papers.
Sawamura had completely disappeared among them.
Kuramochi tried the gate.
Locked.
“Excuse me,” he said to the guard. “Can we go in?”
“Student ID?” the guard asked.
“…We’re from Seidou.”
“Then no.”
Gate closed.
End of discussion.
Kuramochi turned to Miyuki.
“Well,” he said.
Miyuki smiled slowly.
“That answers nothing.”
If anything…
They now had even more questions.
Why was Sawamura entering a university campus?
How did he even get permission?
And what exactly was he doing there every off day?
Kuramochi crossed his arms.
“That idiot better start talking.”
Inside the campus, far beyond the gates—
Sawamura Eijun walked into a quiet research building.
And greeted the professor waiting for him.
“Good morning, Eijun-kun,” the man said.
Sawamura smiled calmly.
“Morning, sensei.”
And the door closed.
To be continued.