𝐣𝐮𝐝𝐠𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 [𝐟𝐮𝐫𝐮𝐲𝐚 𝐬.]

𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐲.

katsumi sat next to kazuya, who was watching the recording of their game against inashiro. katsumi, however, was watching kazuya with concern. he'd been watching the game over and over, all day.

"aniki..." she murmured. "you've- you've been wat- watching all d- day.." he ignored her, biting at his thumbnail as he watched eijun throw the dead ball that hit shirakawa. the door slid open and kuramochi walked in. katsumi turned, smiling weakly at him. he returned it, looking over at the older miyuki sibling.

"you've been replaying the game all of yesterday and today." the shortstop piped up. "although i think it's good to keep it in mind... but... isn't it enough for now? the senpai who form the core of our team are retiring..."

"our strength is no longer enough." kazuya muttered. katsumi cocked an eyebrow, her pupils constricting.

"huh?" kuramochi raised his eyebrows.

"the team, including myself... even though we have such reliable senpai on our team... we still didn't achieve victory.." kazuya said. "the unwavering cleanup hitter is no longer around... neither is our ace. at this rate, koshien will be beyond our dreams for our generation."

kuramochi gasped quietly and katsumi shot up, her chair sliding across the floor and falling back. "are you stupid?" she scowled.

"are you?" he shot back.

katsumi growled and gripped the table, "we- we can still get to koshien. there a- are plenty of second string players who are strong en- enough to get us to that stage."

"did you not hear what i just said?" kazuya frowned. "sumi, we don't have the batting power, the pitching power- hell, maybe even the fielding power. and it doesn't help that one of our players is injured."

"so- so, you don't have faith in us?" she spat, leaning forward and gripping the table tighter. "you don't... y- you don't have faith in us. you don't have faith in me." she whispered lowly.

"hey, guys-" the two ignored kuramochi.

"sorry, but it's hard to keep faith in pitchers who don't have full control, an outfielder with a shot knee, and a batting order that won't be anywhere near what it was." kazuya's voice raised slightly and katsumi's heart clenched.

"you're being too pessimistic." she muttered, knuckles turning white from her grip on the table.

"we'll you're being too optimistic!" he shot back. "that's your thing, isn't it?! always pretending that everything will be okay, well maybe it won't." he yelled and katsumi took a small step back, eyes wide.

"hey, miyuki, just-"

"well, o- one of us has to be." she muttered under her breath, walking away from the boys and towards the door. "because if someone isn't, the whole team will fall." she opened the door, faltering slightly when she saw kawakami in the doorway. "sorry, senpai." she brushed past him, lip quivering as she walked away.

she ran her hand over her face, taking deep breaths. "fuck. fu- f- fuck- fuck." she groaned softly, leaning against the wall of a nearby building. she pulled her knees up to her chest, burying her face into her thighs. she repeated the word into her legs, stumbling through the syllables, unaware of two nearby figures.