Diamond Ace: Another Story of Sawamura

·

His nimble fingers fiddled with the baseball in his hand. The weight of the ball, the number of stitches, and the touch of the leather were all engraved in his mind.

He thought, perhaps apart from this ball, there was nothing else in the world that he was so familiar with.

The bumpy road made the people in the car sway back and forth, and in the dim car there were sounds of snoring and the usual sound of equipment rubbing against each other.

"Hmm..." Rongchun was dazzled by the sudden light shining on his face. He squinted his eyes, raised his hand to block the light and looked at the fool opposite him, "What's wrong?"

"The offseason is about to end, isn't it?" The guy holding the flashlight shone it on Rong Chun's face. "People outside are probably looking for you all over the world."

"Yeah." Eijun responded and squeezed the baseball.

"So, your birthday is coming soon."

"Yeah, but I haven't had that for years..." But the team will celebrate for him, so it can be considered as a birthday.

"Hehehe~ Apart from anything else, you're going to be thirty-one." He smiled and shone the light up and down on Rongchun's face, "You're also going to be an uncle."

"..." Rongchun didn't answer immediately, because the atmosphere around him was obviously ready to explode.

"Hey! Coyote, stop flaming around with the light!"

"What are you doing!"

"What time do you think it is now?"

"I'll tell you later if you want to play with the puppy!"

The originally quiet and tense car interior has become noisy and relaxed.

The snoring guy was suddenly woken up, and shouted in displeasure, "What are you bastards arguing about? Shut up!"

"Hehehe~" Rongchun looked at the coyote who was being punished by having his head pinched and his neck held, with a gloating look on his face. He begged for mercy but was still being kneaded by the two uncles on his left and right.

"Why, the uncles love you so much, but you're not happy?"

"Help...help..."

The coyote stretched out his hand to ask for help, but the people around him were unmoved and instead started to make a fuss.

"Oh, puppy bites on it."

"Hey!" Rongchun retorted reflexively, "I'm not a real dog!"

Just when they were having fun, a whistle was heard from the front seat of the car.

"Uncles, get ready and act according to the plan."

Following the order, the car suddenly returned to silence. Rongchun put the baseball in his pocket, took out his rifle and got ready.

As soon as the car stopped and the lights were turned off, the rear door opened and everyone got out quickly, concealing their whereabouts.

Rong Chun relied on night vision goggles to observe the situation within the visible range, and after receiving the action instructions, he followed the person in front.

Their target this time was a small drug lord that had recently emerged. Their camp was hidden deep enough that it was difficult to find it.

This place is still a long distance away from the target camp. Although the target this time is not powerful enough, the guards are very tight and large.

They had to start from a little further away and scout on foot.

The target was in the center of the forest and there was no other way to go. Rong Chun wanted to follow another team and take the water route, but he didn't like soaking in water for a long time, not to mention it was so cold...

In such a densely wooded area, it is easy to be ambushed, and naturally it is easy to ambush.

Along the way, they watched for opportunities to deal with several patrols coming from afar, and by the time they were close to the target camp, it was already late at night.

Although there were still many guards around the camp, some were already drowsy, while others were drunk and sleeping soundly.

"..." Hearing the crow's cry, Rongchun and Butterfly received instructions to draw their knives, quietly walked out from behind the tree, and covered the mouths of the two guards who had just arrived from behind.

After dealing with the two neatly, Rong Chun and Hu Die dragged them into the bushes and continued to wait for the next patrol to come, while waiting for the next instructions.

After dealing with the third one, Crow gave the order to move forward. I guess the Spider had dealt with it, so Eijun quickly sneaked in with the help of Butterfly.

After dealing with a few people who suddenly appeared, Rong Chun thought that the operation could be completed smoothly, but the sound of gunfire suddenly broke the silence.

"Puppy, proceed as planned."

"OK."

Eijun followed Butterfly, and the two of them quickly went around the house and attacked from behind.

Some people were killed before they could even react, but the flames burned even more fiercely.

The tranquility of the night was filled with continuous gunfire, mixed with wailing, shouting, and occasional explosions.

This continued until they had broken through every corner of this place.

The land filled with smoke fell into silence again when the early sun rose.

Now, they just had to do a final search, clear out the fleeing rats, and turn this rat's nest upside down.

"..." After searching the area he was in charge of, Rongchun retreated outside and saw the leader sitting on the hood of the car.

Seeing that there was no one around him, Rongchun walked over, but suddenly noticed that the person lying on his left side behind him was in a strange posture.

"leader!"

Rong Chun rushed over regardless of everything and hugged the leader who had reacted amid the gunfire. The two fell to the ground together and the gunfire stopped abruptly.

"Chief! Puppy!"

"Are you okay?"

The others who heard the shouting immediately rushed over and dealt with the man on the ground, and then gathered around them.

"I'm fine." Rongchun hugged the leader tightly in his arms and stood up to check if he was okay. "Are you okay? Are you hurt anywhere?"

"I'm fine." The leader grabbed his hand and motioned for him to stand up.

"Are you really okay?" Rongchun was still terrified.

"I'm fine." The leader shook his head and took off Rongchun's night vision goggles, gently touching his worried face, "It's dawn, deal with it and retreat."

"Yes~"

Seeing that everything was fine, everyone went to do their final finishing work.

"..." Seeing everyone ending the conversation with anger, Bai Lang smiled helplessly: "Are you okay?"

"Do I look like something's wrong?" the leader looked at Rongchun and asked.

"..." Rongchun looked at him, blinked and smiled: "You... look fine."

Soon, they got on the car for the return trip. The flames behind the car were brighter and hotter than the sun.

After completing this task, Rongchun left, calculating the time to go back and record an interview program, and then adjust his condition, and the off-season was over.

"it's here."

"Hmm..." As soon as he left the airport, Eijun was stopped by a familiar voice, and then he dropped his gift bag in shock, "It turned out to be Kuramochi-senpai who came to pick him up!"

"What? Aren't you happy that Senior came all the way to pick you up?!"

Then came the familiar sense of danger and feeling that Eijun was familiar with, "It hurts, it hurts...! Kuramochi-senpai! Of course I'm happy, very happy!"

Being stopped by the horn of the car behind him, Kuramochi let go of Eijun and said, "Get in the car. We are going straight to the recording of the show."

"Oh!" Rong Chun got into the car excitedly and closed the door a little harder.

"Why are you so excited? You're not a teenager anymore!"

"Kuramochi-senpai, my heart has always been that of a child."

"Really...seat belt!" Kuramochi reminded Eijun of his seat belt and saw that he had fastened it and drove off. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, nothing happened." Rongchun smiled and nodded.

Kuramochi was relieved when he heard that, ignoring Eijun who was showing off to him how much he cared for children, "Take a break, I'll wake you up when we get there."

"Hey! Kuramochi-senpai, don't you want to hear about my heroic deeds? I still have a lot to tell you!"

"Shut up and go to sleep!"

“Hey!” Seeing that he was about to pinch him, Eijun quickly dodged, “Kuramochi-senpai is driving! I know!”

Seeing that he was driving seriously, Rongchun adjusted his posture, leaned against the car window and closed his eyes.

The two have been in the same professional team for several years now, and Kuramochi joined earlier than Eijun.

After graduating from high school, Eijun chose to go to college in order to form a pitcher-catcher partnership with Chris.

He, who never attended classes, suffered a lot just to get into the university where Chris was studying. With the recommendation of the school, he finally got into that university.

After all the bumps and bruises, I finally achieved my dream of forming a pitching and catching partnership with Chris.

He entered the professional baseball league after graduating from university. He started out in the second team, but with his hard work, he was promoted to the first team within a year.

But Chris, who was developing well at the time, chose a higher goal, the major leagues.

Seeing that the contract had just arrived, Rongchun ignored the team's retention and the advice of his relatives and friends, even though Chris also advised him not to be so anxious.

But Rongchun still ran without hesitation, following Chris's footsteps to this unfamiliar country.

Although he failed to join the Giants team where Chris was, he was fortunate to be selected by the Yankees team where senior Kuramochi was. The fact that they were in the Western Conference and the Eastern Conference did not prevent Eijun from continuing to chase in Chris' footsteps.

Given his personality, he suffered a lot, took many detours, and struggled for two years before he got a substitute position in the first team.

After another three years of ups and downs, he gradually stabilized, had a stable number of performances, and had fans supporting him.

Everything started to fall into place.

Rongchun's family came from afar to watch his game, which made Rongchun very happy.

But they met with a traffic accident on the way and died in a foreign land.

At that time, Rongchun was preparing to play in the game and looking for his family on the court. He shot the entire game until the end and won the victory.

Then, the news from his family brought him to the bottom.

Rongchun finally proposed to terminate his contract with the team to observe mourning for his family. The team was reluctant to let him go, and after coordination, they simply demoted him to the second team.

Eijun still took an indefinite leave to bring his family's ashes back to his hometown. He sent a text message to Chris and Kuramochi-senpai saying "I want to take a break, don't worry." and then disappeared.

No one knew where he went. Just when the team had been waiting for a year and had lost patience, Eijun suddenly appeared.

In his first game after returning, he shut out all the batters and ended the game early in five innings.

Afterwards, he replied to Chris, "I'm back."

And for the first time ever, Chris replied with an emoticon, smiling and patting his head.

·