Diamond Ace: Another Story of Sawamura

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"Hmm..." Rongchun picked up the hat and put it on, followed the manager, and said casually, "I'm a big fan of Chris-senpai. I want Chris-senpai's autograph."

"Hey! Chris is worthy of you!" The manager couldn't help but sigh, "You have such a loyal little fan."

"Of course." Speaking of Chris's fans, Rongchun believes that he is absolutely the most loyal, "I am definitely the most loyal number one fan of Chris in the world."

"Hehehe~"

Immersed in admiration for Chris, Rongchun kept praising Chris for all his strengths and how great he was, until they arrived at the cafeteria.

"..." Standing at this familiar door, he suddenly didn't know what expression to use to face those seniors. He hesitated for a moment and said, "Manager, can you help me call Senior Chris out?"

"Sure." The manager was about to open the door, but it opened with a swish.

"Oh, the manager... and a little kid?"

"Ah! Narita-kun, this kid is here to see Chris-kun."

"Hey!" Narita looked at the child who looked up, and retreated back to the cafeteria, pulling Eijun with him, "Chris, there's a kid looking for you."

"..." Rongchun suddenly became the focus of everyone's attention and stood there in a daze.

"Looking for me?" Chris looked at the kid wearing a hat and a mask, stood up and walked in front of Rongchun, "Are you looking for me?"

"..." Rongchun looked up at Chris, a senior from the first year of high school, whom he had never seen before. His hair was still down, his deep facial features looked a little immature, and his gentle smile was still as handsome as ever. 'The seniors all look so young...'

"Is there a problem?"

"Ah!" Rongchun reacted and took out the signature board and pen he had prepared in advance from his backpack, and held them in front of Chris, "Chris-senpai, please give me an autograph!"

"Oh oh oh~"

There were immediate exclamations and discussions in the cafeteria.

"As expected of Chris, he appeals to everyone, young or old!"

"Chris, your little fan actually came here to look for you."

"Damn pool noodles!"

In the end, Chris felt embarrassed by the teasing, so he signed his name to him and coughed awkwardly, "Thank you for your support."

"Wow!" Rongchun was so happy that his eyes sparkled after getting Chris's autograph. This was the first autograph of senior Chris.

"Hey! You just want Chris' autograph?"

"You can also have mine if you want~"

"I can do that too~"

"..." Rongchun looked up at the seniors surrounding him, feeling an inexplicable sense of oppression...

Finally, he took out a notebook and asked for signatures from every senior, even the manager. He made the manager laugh so hard that he almost asked to stay for dinner.

It took a lot of effort for Eijun to stand in front of Chris-senpai again and stood at attention solemnly, "Chris-senpai, can you shake my hand?"

"Sure." Chris smiled and held out his hand.

“Thank you so much!” Rongchun excitedly grabbed it with both hands, shook it a little, and noticed that Chris frowned.

"..." Rong Chun gently squeezed Chris's hand and then let go. Looking at Chris in front of him, he remembered the senior Chris who was tortured by pain. Rong Chun whispered with heartache: "Can I ask senior Chris some questions?"

"Huh? What's the problem?" Chris asked puzzledly.

Eijun grabbed the baseball in his pocket and looked at Chris-senpai in front of him, "Chris-senpai, do you like baseball?"

"...Like." Although he didn't know why he asked that, Chris took it for granted.

Perhaps this question was not very relevant, so Eijun thought about it and asked a more complicated question, "Do you want to play baseball forever?"

"I want to." For Chris, this was a matter of course.

Eijun was silent for a moment, "So, is playing baseball a happy thing for you? Are you happy?"

"..." Chris looked into the child's eyes and smiled, "Happy and joyful."

"..." Seeing his sincere eyes, Rong Chun smiled and said loudly: "Mom always told me that if I get hurt, I must tell you and go see a doctor!"

"Because if you don't tell me, something terrible will happen!"

Chris's face changed when he heard this and he tried to stop him, but Rongchun stepped back.

"So, if you are injured, Chris, you must tell us and go see a doctor, otherwise something terrible will happen!"

Eijun finished speaking in one breath, and the cafeteria fell into silence as everyone looked at him and Chris in confusion.

"Chris."

The supervisor who suddenly appeared looked at Chris seriously, "Where are you hurt?"

Attracted by the noisy noise of the students, Kataoka and Takashima came outside and saw a child asking for an autograph. They thought of letting them make noise for a while before saying anything else, but they didn't expect to hear this strange conversation.

The cafeteria fell silent again. Looking at the expressions of the supervisor and Ms. Takashima, Chris realized that he could no longer hide it. "Shoulder..."

"Chris..." Takashima looked at the child who had never bothered them, "Why didn't you tell us?"

"...Now is the most critical time. I don't want to affect the team because of myself."

"Chris!" The seniors who had been silent all stood up at this time, "Don't you believe us?"

"No!" Chris quickly explained to the seniors, "I didn't mean that."

"Anyway, let's go to the hospital first." Supervisor Kataoka didn't want to listen to his explanation for the time being, so he gave the final notice and then directed to Rongchun, "As for you..."

“Hey!” Rong Chun noticed the gaze and quickly dodged the clock hand on the wall, “Oh no! Mom will be mad if I don’t go back!”

Eijun took this opportunity to grab his backpack and ran, but was stopped by the supervisor, "What's your name?"

"My name doesn't matter! What matters is that mom is going to be mad! Aa ...

"Don't worry." Miss Takashima stepped forward and comforted him, "I'll take you home and explain to your mother. Where do you live?"

"..." It looked like he couldn't escape, but Rongchun still wanted to struggle a little longer, "I can go back by myself."

"She lives in Nagano!" As the only manager who knew where he came from, he naturally succeeded in defeating Eijun's struggle.

"Nagano! Then I have to take you back personally."

"Takashima, you should take him back first. It's getting late. I'll take Chris to the hospital for a checkup."

They are meticulous and have to wait for the results to come out before making detailed plans. Anyway, they cannot let the students feel uneasy for now.

"Okay." Takashima took Rongchun and left first.

Supervisor Kataoka then took a few steps forward and said, "You guys continue eating. I'll take Chris to the hospital. We'll tell you the results when we get back."

"..." As soon as he got in the car, Rongjun leaned against the window with his eyes squinted and didn't move. Takashima thought he was sleepy and didn't disturb him. He had to send this child home safely.

Then, they changed trains and Rongchun fell asleep leaning against the handrail as usual until he got off the train.

"Thank you for sending me back. I can go home by myself from now on."

"No, it's so late now, I have to take you home before I can feel at ease."

She really couldn't let such a young child go home alone so late, and she couldn't feel at ease unless she personally sent him home.

Rong Chun had no choice but to tell the address and continued to pretend to sleep against the car window. He really didn't want to talk. If he talked too much, he would definitely make mistakes. He had no choice but to be a quiet sleeping beauty.

He kept pretending until Rongchun had to get up and show the way home. Rongchun saw his mother wandering at the door from a distance and quickly got out of the car, "Mom."

"Eijun!"

Even though Rongchun was wearing a hat and a mask, his mother still recognized Rongchun at a glance. She walked up to him and hugged him, "Where have you been! Do you know what time it is now? Dad and grandpa are still outside looking for you. I'm going to call the police!"

She burst into tears when she mentioned her mother, "You just came out of the hospital, what if something unexpected happens again!"

"I'm sorry, I was wrong..." Rongchun hugged his mother tightly and apologized to her.

"I know I was wrong, but you're still here so late!" Mom let go of Eijun and checked if he was okay. Then she noticed Miss Takashima behind him and thanked her shyly, "Thank you so much for sending Eijun home so late."

"No, this is what I should do. This kid helped us a lot, so I should be the one to thank him."

"Really?" Mom looked at Rongchun who bowed his head to admit his mistake, and patted his head helplessly, "Excuse me, what should I call you?"

"I'm Takashima Rei."

"Ms. Takashima, I'm really sorry to bother you. It's so late now, how about you stay at our house tonight?"

"No, thanks. I have to go back and take care of some things."

"Where are you going back to?"

"...Tokyo."

"...It's almost twelve o'clock now." Sawamura's mother said with her head tilted.

What this means is, are you sure there are still buses back to Tokyo at this time? I'm afraid there is no longer even the last bus, and the bus you are taking is probably the last bus.

"..." Gao Dao understood what she meant. He thought that he hadn't brought anything with him in such a hurry, and it would be difficult to find a place to stay at this time. "Well... sorry to bother you."

"Come in first."

Sawamura's mother greeted Miss Takashima, then called her father and grandfather to come back, while Takashima called Kataoka.

After learning the whole story, the father, grandfather and mother who came back in a rage took turns scolding Rong Chun, but considering the presence of guests, they didn't say anything more.

The whole family, including Miss Takashima, had not yet had dinner, so they made a simple midnight snack.

It was already midnight when Rongchun finished his shower. He was sent upstairs on the pretext that the children should go to bed early. He took out the signatures of the seniors from his backpack, put everything away, turned off the lights in the room, and sat down at the table.

I stared blankly at the baseball and wishing card for a while, then turned on the desk lamp and started studying.

Until he was leaving for school in the morning, his family and Miss Takashima were still asleep because they had been drinking and chatting until the early hours of the morning.

Rong Chun prepared breakfast quietly and cooked some hangover soup. After finishing his own breakfast, he put theirs away and went out to school.

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