Forbidden Protege

Ch. 6: Family Chaos (Part 3)

"So," Keiji said, his demeanor shifting from relaxed to serious, "are you going to tell me how you got that bruise or am I going to have to guess." The four boys stiffened again, unsure what to do. Keiji hadn't been upset to find them in his house holding his daughter down, but they weren't sure if he would be okay with the fact that she was attacked while with them.

Alexia shook her head. "You can probably guess."

Keiji titled his head to the side slightly and narrowed his eyes. "A guy came up and started ragging on you for playing baseball so you punched him?"

Alexia chuckled, taking her friends off guard. "Not quite. I was standing outside the store with Haruichi-san when a group came up and started hitting on me. They didn't take a hint and when one of them went to hit Haruichi-san, I jumped in. I didn't throw a punch until they continued to shit talk him."

Keiji nodded then asked, "How many times did you hit him?"

"Just once. I probably broke his nose and I used my left hand," Alexia said. Keiji just nodded and took another drink of his water. Miyuki held his breath, waiting for a response.

"That's good then. I'm glad they backed off. Are you alright, kid?" he asked, turning his attention to Haruichi.

He nodded quickly. "Yeah, I'm fine. Um, I'm sorry that I let your daughter be hit," he said nervously.

Keiji just shook his head. "You don't need to apologize. I raised Alexia to defend herself and to not take shit. I'd be more upset if she let you get hit when she could have stopped it." He smiled warmly at Haruichi. "And thanks for cleaning up her cheek. Knowing her, she probably had to be held down so you could."

Kuramochi chuckled. "Yeah, she wasn't going to let us clean it up at first."

Keiji turned to smile at him, making Kuramochi relax more. "Honestly, I impressed that you were able to hold her down. She's a fairly good fighter. How you held her, do you know wrestling?"

"Yeah, I picked it up as a side hobby," Kuramochi nodded.

Alexia stood off to the side, happy to see that her father was taking to her friends. For the most part over the years he had trusted her judgement of people. He always told her she had a good sense for telling how a person was and he had even pushed friends away when they gave her a bad feeling. Most of the time, her bad feeling turned out to be true. It still made her happy to see that he seemed to genuinely enjoy talking to them. She cast a glance at Miyuki and started smirking.

"You know, Dad, when I told them you were a professional catcher, Miyuki-san seemed interested in meeting you."

Miyuki startled slightly and Keiji smirked at him. "Is that so? Interested in me as a fellow catcher?"

Miyuki cleared his throat and pushed down a rising blush. "Yeah. I was wondering what it's like to be a professional catcher."

Keiji smiled at him and motioned for him to sit as he took the armchair near him. Miyuki sat on the edge of the couch and Alexia sat cross-legged on the floor. Haruichi sat next to her and Kuramochi sat on the floor near Ryosuke.

"I had a bit of a rocky start, honestly. I had a lot of responsibility to shoulder straight out of high school. I ended up moving to America so I could get help. I played in high school, but most American colleges weren't too interested in that," Keiji said, giving the group a wry smile. "I managed to pass the test and got on a college's second-string team. Luckily, with the help I had, I could focus on playing, but I also still had other things to take care of."