Girl Next Door

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Several minutes later, in the pitch-blackness of the unconscious boy's head he heard a voice echoing.

"Hello? Are you okay? Hello?"

The boy wondered where the voice emanated from. Then after a few seconds he regained consciousness.

He woke up with a big headache and a sore body. He lay flat on the floor of the hallway and there was a girl bending over him, looking into his waking eyes. It was Hinako.

"Phew, I thought you were never gonna wake up," she said cheerfully.

Suddenly the boy's eyes widened as he uttered a whimper and tried to wriggle away from Hinako.

"Huh? What's wrong, kid?" asked Hinako, surprised. "Can't you talk?"

The boy uttered a short cry before frantically getting up from the floor and running away.

"Hey!" she called out to the boy as he ran. "What's wrong? Where are you going?"

 Hinako was truly confused. She wondered what the boy's problem was.

Less than an hour later, it was time for the students to be looking for some clubs to join. The freshmen eagerly looked for some clubs, since it was their first time here in Yoshiba. Kyosuke of course still wanted to join the baseball team, so he and Takeru headed over to the stadium and put on their jerseys. There they met Hiashi waiting for them in the middle of the field with the rest of the team.

"Matsumaru," said the coach with a small smirk. "Good to have you back."

"So, what are we gonna do today, Coach?" asked Kyosuke.

"Simple," replied Hiashi. "We look for new members."

"Say, Kyosuke," put in Takeru, "now that Saito-senpai's gone, shouldn't you be captain?"

Kyosuke's eyes widened a bit. He remembered Saito's words to him the previous year. He was the next best player in the team, so it was right that he should be captain this year, since no third-years showed up today.

"He's got a point, Matsumaru," said Hiashi, his arms folded. "You are the MVP of this team. You should be captain this year."

Kyosuke's heart thumped. He was to be made captain of the baseball team, and he was nervous, and at the same time, excited too. This was another turning point in Kyosuke's life as a baseball player. He then took a deep breath and spoke.

"Well, it doesn't look like I have any choice."

Many of the team members cheered after hearing Kyosuke's answer. They approached him and patted his back and complimented him.

"Hell yeah!" said Takeru cheerfully. "Captain Kyosuke is in the house!"

Kyosuke smiled.

"Well," said Hiashi, "what's the plan, Captain?"

"Um, well," replied Kyosuke after clearing his throat. He looked around and saw that his team was short of one member.

"Well, firstly," he continued, "we need an extra member."

The rest of the team realized it too. They had only seventeen players, and they need nine players for each half-inning in an actual game.

"Don't worry, guys," said Hiashi. "People will come. The extra member will be here in no time. In the meantime, we just wait."

"Yessir," replied Kyosuke.

The team then sat down on on the grass and waited for more members to come. But their waiting was in vain, for they waited almost forty-five minutes and not a soul came to the stadium, except for an occasional janitor.