shortstop // kuramochi

0.4 // rumors

at the start of the second week, not much progress had been made on either fronts of maiko's life. 

her softball practice matches were good at best, but they weren't great, and co-coach sugome had already complimented tanito twice on her fielding. it was starting to get to her. she was giving her everything in the practice games, and working on her weaknesses at home. so why wasn't she seeing the results she wanted?

at school, things were starting to take a turn for the worst. she didn't have anymore chance encounters with kuramochi, but she did start to notice the eyes on her in the hallways. not to mention, the lingering eyes of the baseball team during morning practice. 

she noticed now that the pink-haired senpai who played second was also keeping watch on her, albeit less conspicuously than the others. she was more concerned about what he thought of her though, because he seemed to be the player growing closest to kuramochi. that is, next to the catcher he was always with. 

no one had come right out to say anything to her yet, so she couldn't be exactly sure what they were thinking of her. she had a sinking feeling it might have to do with her morning observations...

"—numbers are coming out in a few days, so—maiko? maiko?" hatagome called out to maiko, shaking her shoulder gently to pull her back into the conversation. "are you with me now?" 

maiko blinked, "sorry, what?" 

"the numbers are coming out in a few days! so i was wondering if you were up for some extra fielding drills before the last practice game to get ready?" 

"oh," maiko propped her chin on her palm, "yeah, that's probably a good idea...i'm not sure i've been impressing the coaches like i thought i could..." she trailed off. 

"is that what's eating at you?" hatagome furrowed her brows, "you've been off since this morning. has that been bothering you all day?"

maiko sighed, straightening out her back and leaning closer toward hatagome's comforting body. "it isn't just that. have...have you noticed anything weird about the way people are looking at me?"

hatagome's faced scrunched up in thought, "not that i've seen, but i'm not really the observant type off the field, y'know?" she bit her lip, "why? has anyone been bothering you?"

"not really. i just feel like eyes have been on me all day, and i can't say i like it." 

the lunch break was ending soon, so maiko thought she would use the bathroom before the next lesson. excusing herself from hatagome, maiko leisurely walked to the restroom as she pondered over her jumbled thoughts. 

had she been imagining things? was the stress of the softball lineup giving her paranoia? 

walking into the bathroom that afternoon would give maiko all the answers she needed, and some she didn't think she wanted. after opening the doors and slipping into the first available stall, maiko quickly got down to her business. as she was finishing, she could hear the door swing open and the voices of three girls ring out into the restroom. giggling and unintelligible words took up the space until one dominant voice cut across the others. 

"the baseball team has some good looking players don't you think?" the loudest voice asked.

"i've seen the players around in uniform after school, they're definitely something nice to look at" the second voice replied with a giggle. 

"the first year catcher is something else, isn't he? he's so attractive! we're not in the same class though," the last voice gave a short, resigned sigh with her statement.