Save for a Rainy Day

Ichiro replayed that last pitch in his mind countless times.

And each time, he would try to change it. And each time, he would miss.

He couldn’t take his mind off of it. There were so many things that went wrong at that moment. An erratic team that was impossible to read and Ishida getting injured did not help with their team dynamics that game. Though, Ichiro was thankful that the younger pitcher was not seriously hurt. Apparently his nose had to be reset by the school nurse, and that didn’t sound comfortable at all. At least he wasn’t any worse for wear, minus a cut on his nose.

It didn’t really hit until then, but he was glad it wasn’t him on the mound at that time. He had been hit by several batted balls in the past, but that one was pretty bad. Thanking his lucky stars, he started to feel a little guilty that he was happy that it wasn’t him suffering.

Shaking his head, he thought about what was the most frustrating thing about that game. How his coach had snubbed him. Yes, Ichiro was man enough to admit when his game wasn’t at its best, and that game was definitely bad. But that didn’t mean he had to be passed over for their third string pitcher to take over for almost half of the game.

No matter how he thought about it, he couldn’t find a reason for his coach to skip him for someone who had never pitched at a level like that before. Thankfully, Takeda did fine for what he had done that game. Those final innings were close, and it was in no small part because the catcher had been able to keep up with them.

But Ichiro was more than capable of doing the same. He had shown it several times in previous games. It was the reason he was the starting pitcher for the team, after all. And still he sat out the rest of the game while the coaches took their luck with the freshman pitcher.

Frustration once again settled over Ichiro as he crossed his arms over his chest tightly. Turning his head to the side, he clicked his tongue as the game replayed once more behind his eyes.

“What’s got you in such a bad mood?”

The voice broke through the fog in Ichiro’s mind, causing him to quickly snap back into reality. Before him was Izumi, whose face was strikingly close to his. So close in fact he had to lean back in surprise at his sudden awareness of her presence.

“It’s,” he readjusted himself in the plastic seat outside one of the restaurants along the alley way, “Nothing. Don’t worry about me.”

“No!” Izumi rejected him, taking another bite of kushiage and then pointing at him with the now clean stick. She spoke through chews, “You are acting mopier than normal. Something is up.”

Taking the stick out of her hand, he dropped it into the proper receptacle with a sigh. “I promise you, it's nothing. Don’t worry about me.” He was going to add more, but in his slight delay between words, Izumi cut him off.

“It’s about your game yesterday, isn’t it?”

Ichiro’s eyes flew open quickly. He had known her for a couple of months, but it still surprised him how easily she could read him. It seemed like second nature to her to find his biggest annoyance and poke at it so casually. Seemingly aware that she hit the nail on the head, she shook her head.

“It’s alright.” She crossed her arms over her chest with a lecturing tone coming from her petite stature. “Loses happen. You aren’t going to win every time. The best thing you can do is keep your head high in defeat and pick yourself back up for the next game, right?”

Watching her act so calmly and rationally, while her smug smile was slowly creeping onto her lips as she slightly opened one of her eyes to see his reaction, made Ichiro scoff at her. “Yeah, thanks dad,” he rolled his eyes and took another sip of his fruit drink.

She in turn only narrowed her eyes at him with a puckered set of lips, “I will take that as a complement.”

Not wanting this conversation to go on a second further, Ichiro shrugged and changed the subject. “Are you having fun at least?”

The biggest of her smiles took control of her lips as her eyes grew wide in shimmering wonder. She nodded in excitement as the multicolored neon lights of the back alleyway reflected all over her.

“Yes, this is so exciting!” She pulled her wheelchair out to get a better look around her. “The lights, the smells, the food! Golden-gai is so much more than I ever expected it to be!” As she spoke, she pulled up another skewer and took a large bite of the fried meat. She squealed with pleasure as she chewed.

“I am just glad I was able to convince you to come here, instead of your other plan…” Ichiro grimaced at the thought as he took another sip.

“Hey, it's not my fault that the idea of Kabukichou is cooler than Golden-gai.” She pouted and took another bite off the stick.

He had no idea where she was getting that idea from. He agreed, the mystique of Kabukichou was indeed very enticing. But the worry about the seedier undersides of the place was more worrisome. The idea of having to explain to the cops why two underage teens were doing there when he had to report her kidnapping did not sit well on his conscience.

The scenes from Golden-gai hadn’t been much better. It was already just past dark, and they had experienced more uncomfortable situations than they had initially expected. Easily the most family friendly one was a man who was being dragged out of a bar by his friends with his pants off already. Covering Izumi’s eyes, he helped her steer clear of them.

They were pretty lucky, all things considered. The first couple of places they had poked their heads in to see if they could get a bite to eat instantly shouted them out. “No minors,” they had called to them as they shooed them away. Finally, one restaurant allowed them to order food as long as they sat outside at their dining area.

Reaching over and taking one of the kushiage, Ichiro had to admit, things hadn’t been too bad of an excursion. He was just glad that Izumi was able to get around on her own, even in the narrow alleyways. He couldn’t stop himself from smiling as she kept glancing around with wide eyes. She almost looked like a kid in a candy store.

Suddenly, she backed away from the table and moved to the center of the alley. Using careful hand movements, she spun her wheelchair in a tight circle. Some folksy music was playing from an old radio in one of the bars nearby, pouring out softly into the night air. Izumi giggled and hummed along to the song she clearly didn’t know at all.

Resting his head on his arm, he watched as she laughed her head off. That was until her wheels got lodged in a crack in the concrete, causing it to tip and her to fall sideways. Ichiro’s eyes went wide as he watched in slow motion her body heading towards the ground. He wanted to jump to his feet and catch her. But before he could even move, Izumi threw her weight to the other side and re-corrected her chair.

Clanking to a halt, her eyes were wide, and her arms spread wider, completely motionless. Realizing she was safe again, she glanced up at Ichiro and then busted out in laughter.

Feeling his heart sputter from speeding up then crashing to a halt, he slumped back into his chair, trying to catch his senses again. Breathing a sigh of relief, he tried to remain calm. But that was short-lived as he felt the corners of his lips curl up as his chest heaved with stifled laughter.

In a few seconds he too was laughing with her loudly into the sky above, while a couple passersby watched them carefully as they hesitantly walked around the two of them.