ᴾʳᵒᵐⁱˢᵉ 𝙹. 𝙸𝚜𝚊𝚜𝚑𝚒𝚔𝚒

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Ryouma looked uncomfortably at the Seidou gates. He was beginning to have second thoughts about coming here. Not because he didn't want the job, which included free Milkshakes and money every month, but because he didn't want to see his brother.

Ryouma may have missed his brother's phone call yesterday. He hadn't forgotten him, exactly, but he didn't believe he could talk to Ryosuke without informing him what was going on.

Ryosuke and Ryouma have always been best friends who could never lie to each other. For the longest time, everyone believed they were twins until Ryosuke went to Seidou.

"Are you all OK, Kominato-kun? Is your leg bothering you?" Rei asks, softly inspecting the young man. "No, I'm just nervous," Ryouma shakes his head. Rei breathed a sigh of relief. They'd been standing a lot today, and she didn't want to worsen his pain.

"I'll fetch you some water if you stay here. While I'm gone, you should attempt to relax your nerves." She quickly gave him a brief bow and dashed away. Ryouma moaned as he sat on the seat, his gaze fixed on the sky. Is he truly interested in working here? It appears to be a lot of effort. Particularly with all of the baseball guys on the squad.

"Hey!"

Ryouma disregarded a voice in the distance, figuring it was usual practice. "I wonder what we're having for dinner?" He wondered if his mother prepared spicy curry.

"Why are you thinking about dinner instead of practice?!" From alongside him, a rough voice shouted out. Ryouma turned his gaze to observe a shortish young man who was both short but taller than him.

"You're not dressed, and the coach is asking everyone to gather on field A," he said with a gruff grimace. "Never imagined you'd be the slacker now hurry up!" he yanked Ryouma to his feet. He yelled as he dragged him to the dormitory.

"I'm not sure what you're on about, Spitz." Ryouma grinned, gently tilting his head to seem innocent. "It appears you're attempting to appear all high and mighty, but don't underestimate me because of my height!" He spoke while leaning in closer to his upperclassmen.

'He believes I'm Ryosuke.'

'This isn't like Ryosuke to skip practice then act like this,' he thought as he handed Ryouma some clothing, "Hurry and put on your uniform, I'll wait outside." He turned hurriedly to depart, shaking his head.

Ryouma took a step back and glanced at where his classmates previously stood. "I shouldn't attempt to duplicate Ryo." As he looked at the uniform, he argued with himself, "But it would be a terrific learning opportunity to learn about the team!" he reasoned as he began putting on the outfit.

"What could possibly go wrong?"

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'Fuck! Everything went wrong!' Ryouma expressed as he ran around the baseball field with the first string.

'I'm never impersonating Ryo again! I was expecting the coach to shout at us and call it a day!' As he stumbled behind the first string, Ryouma yelled in his head.

Every stride he took sent an electric charge through him. His legs felt like they were on fire. He pushed himself off his left foot and landed on his right. He grimaced. His mind went blank, and all he could think of was the pain pouring through his right foot.

"Fuck!" He began to tremble. The anguish became more intense, like hot metal piercing through his skin and into his muscles and bones.

"Get yourself some water! We'll be practicing hitting and fielding next!" Ryouma dropped next to Jun, the young guy who had pulled him to the baseball field, and Yuki, ad he shuddered.

The agony surged through his brain, blinding him with whiteness and making him disoriented.

"Are you all right? You've been away?" Yuki muttered worriedly, drawing Jun's attention to the two. Ryouma waved them off with a phony smile. "I'm simply drained from yesterday," he says. He lied in the hopes that his brother would do anything.

"Oh that makes sense, I mean you did stay up late watching a lot of your horror movies," Jun shuddered, remembering why he didn't enjoy watching horror movies with Ryosuke.

"Okay, I want the fielders to be ready to go. I'd want you three to bat, Ryosuke, Yuki, and Chris! And Tanba, you may pitch," the coach said as he moved towards the dugout, the managers close behind. As Ryouma grumbled, Coach Kataoka moved out of the way of the players. His leg was in excruciating pain.

Stepping up to the plate, he grasped his bat. 'Fuck, I wish Ryo or Rei were here right now to help me,'

Tanba pitched, and Ryouma watched as the ball curled and dropped slightly into the catcher's mitt. "He's got a beautiful curveball," Ryouma said as he examined the catcher and pitcher.

'The catcher must think I'm surprised,' he thought as he looked down to see the catcher smirking. 'The catcher is undoubtedly going to ask Tanba for another curveball,' Ryouma complained.

Ryo grinned as he stretched out his legs and pulled his arms all the way back as Tanba elevated his leg again, dragging his arm all the way back before following through with his throw.

'There!' He thought as he began swinging his bat as the ball curved. The ball soared towards the outfields, where the third and second years rushed to capture it, only to fail when it struck the fence.

Everyone gazed in disbelief as Ryouma went to his knees, the pain in his leg escalating from stiffness to scorching, blinding anguish quicker than he could blink. "Fuck!" he exclaimed.

"Coach! I received the documentation you instructed me to get." Another voice yelled, jolting everyone out of their trance.

Ryosuke Kominato, lo and behold, has finally arrived. "Huh? Why are everyone gaping at me?" He asked. "Ah! Like in the movie, there are two Ryosuke's!" Jun screamed as he drew Yuki in front of him.

"Wait, two?" Ryosuke and Ryouma both said at the same time, dumbly staring at the man.

"Your teammate is an idiot, Ryo," Ryouma muttered as he supported himself with the bat. "I kno-Wait!" he said. Ryosuke turned around to find his brother flashing him a goofy smile "Oh, Ryo...how come you're here? ha," Ryouma chuckled dryly, his brother's gaze hardening.

"Ryouma!" Another voice yelled, causing everyone to turn around to see an enraged Rei. "Hey guys, nice to see you here, Takashima-san, Ryo," Ryouma said, attempting to appear innocent.

Ryosuke spoke out, his voice tightening and making Ryouma wince. "It was his fault, he brought me here believing I was you and warned he'll kick me if I attempt to skip," Ryouma stammered, pointing at Jun. "I tried to explain!" Ryouma pretended to cry.

"What?! I didn't do a thing!"

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