Home Run Ch. 01

CHAPTER ONE:

If one never tells a child that the sky is blue, it will take them months to figure it out. The child knows what blue is and they have some vague idea of what the sky is, but it takes children forever to recognize that the sky is a thing capable of having a color. Months to narrow down the difference between air, which is colorless, and the sky, which is blue. It's a strange science experiment for sure. Can't be too surprised by the results though. Even the human adult's ability to see what's right in front of them is laughable. The obvious can stare a man in the face for his entire life and it will take him years to figure it out.

An alarm blares from the bedside. A sleepy hand reaches out from under the covers, shaking from the cold. Blindly, it feels for the smooth plastic of the snooze button. Back to the safe warmth of sleep. This repeats throughout the morning. At least until Jun remembers what day it is. It's Monday. He sits upright, letting the covers fall off his shoulders.

Barely awake, he stumbles into his uniform. It's too big. He'd gotten a few sizes too big originally, in hopes he'd grow into it. Jun is eighteen now, it's his final year of highschool, if it doesn't fit now, it likely never will.

Jun makes a quick stop to the bathroom to make sure his hair covers his ear piercings before heading down the stairs. It's one of the few rebellious things about him. Mom reluctantly took him to get his first piercings, but he hasn't gotten around to telling her about the ones in his upper ear. His parents likely wouldn't kill him, but he is convinced they wouldn't approve, especially if he got in trouble for the minor dress code violation in class.

Both of his parents are sitting at the breakfast table, his father enjoying a cup of coffee while his mother finishes what's left of last night's dinner. Jun scarfs down a bowl of plain rice whilst his mom chuckles. Jun's father isn't quite so amused. The man is content to let Jun figure out the finer points of adulthood and not make a fool of oneself on his own. He merely raises an eyebrow, "up too late on the phone with your girlfriend again?"

Jun nearly chokes on his breakfast. His mother puts her hand over her mouth to hide the smile poking through. "No- Mika-San is not my- she needed help with math."

"Well, that's very nice of you, but you've got to go to bed at a reasonable hour or else neither of you are going to be any good with numbers come time for class."

"Oh, don't be so harsh. You were the same way at his age."

By the time his mother speaks, the little bowl is empty and in the sink. He grabs his bag off of the table and bows a hurried 'excuse me' before struggling to put his shoes on fast enough in the genkan and running out the door. At least, that was the plan. His mother stops him with a tug to the back of his uniform. She turns him around and pulls her son down to eye level. "Now wait just a minute. You're never going to get a girl to look your way with all that hair in your face."

"Mom." Jun can never really get a word in. She hands him a bento box.

"Remember what I said about the Christmas cake? It's not too soon to start looking, and you should have better luck if you look good yourself." The Christmas cake is an old metaphor for unmarried women, Jun always found the comparison odd. The old saying goes that a girl is like a Christmas cake because nobody wants her after her twenty-fifth birthday. It's horribly outdated, but Jun doesn't challenge it when it comes from his mother. She smiles and parts his hair down the middle and out of his face. "There you are."

"I've been here the whole time." He pecks her cheek and heads out the door for real this time. As soon as the door is shut behind him, he makes a run for it. His hair, ruined immediately by the passing wind. The chilly morning in Japan bites at his earrings and the back of his throat. Jun is terribly out of shape, thin as a twig and easily winded.

He stops to catch his breath, noticing an elderly neighbor of his struggling with a bag of fish pellets. Old man Ito-Sama, Jun calls him. He's a widow, dresses in very traditional clothing and keeps his long white hair in a bun. Usually he has a walking stick, likely to play up the old man shtick. Jun calls out across the street, "Do you need help with that?"

"No, no. I've got it." Ito-Sama looks like he's going to hurt himself. The rejection of help is clearly out of politeness rather than honesty. Jun takes a deep breath and jogs across the street, taking the hefty bag of fish food off the man's back. He hoists it up and into the wooden dispenser barrel he uses to auto feed the koi in his pond. It's a strange clock like contraption with gears and multiple moving parts.

Jun remembers thinking the old man was a wizard when he was younger. Everything about him is so strange, yet familiar. The old man stands up a little straighter and thanks Jun, inviting him in for hot chocolate, but Jun hasn't the time for any more detours. He doesn't even have time for this detour as is.

Jun arrives late to his homeroom, taking his seat in the back by the window. Cassidy-Sensei has just started role-call. She stands up front behind her little podium, dressed in a soft pink turtleneck sweater and a pencil skirt that's too tight. She's a foreigner. Jun can't tell where from. She teaches English, most English teachers are foreigners. He wants to say she's an American, but that feels like a bold assumption. He's afraid to ask. The woman seems out to get him enough as is. "... Junichi Shiro."

"Here."

"And late. Arriving before I call your name doesn't make you on time." She says. At least that's what Jun thinks she said. Her Japanese isn't great. Teaching English, she hasn't much reason to be any good in Japanese, anyway. "I'll see you in detention after hours. Am I clear?"

"Yes." Jun keeps his head down, peeking over to the empty desk on his left. That's where Mika usually sits. He furrows his brows. Hopefully, she didn't sleep through her alarm again.

"Mika Suzu?" The teacher looks up to see Mika slipping through the sliding door.

"Here!" She waves with a nervous smile as she heads to her seat. The teacher makes no comment about her lateness. It's only ever a problem when Shiro does it. It's clearly targeted, but pointing it out can only make it worse, so Jun keeps his mouth shut. Jun is the type that sits in the back corner, never says a word or causes trouble. If not for his family's reputation, he would blend into the background. He's polite, obedient and shy. It makes no sense. She smiles at him, occasionally compliments his hair, yet seems to take every opportunity to mark him for misbehavior.

The rest of the school day is unremarkable. Same classes, same people, same expectations. The only difference between today and any other day is that Jun doesn't get to go home with everyone else. He slides the door to his homeroom open to find his teacher without the sweater. He assumes she took it off when it warmed up. Her button up dress shirt is undone just enough to show her cleavage. Not an uncommon sight, with her in particular. She's always been the most lenient with the teacher's dress code. What strikes Jun as odd is the fact that he's the only person there.

He's the only person she called into detention. She made sure of it. She smiles like a hyena at fresh meat. Jun swallows thick. "Have a seat, Shiro-Kun"

He goes to take a seat in one of the desk chairs before she stops him. "On the desk."

"Like?" He knocks on the wooden tabletop.

"Yes."

He gets up from the chair and sits on the edge of the desk, confused. She walks closer, pulling at a necklace right above her cleavage. She bends at the hip, leaning forward, putting a hand on the desk for support as her bust pushes closer to Jun's face. "You see this?"

"Yes, Sensei." Jun puts his bag in his lap, shifting uncomfortably.

"Pretty isn't it?" The pendant at the end of the chain is shaped like a fish. It looks like something from a tourist trap.

"Uh huh" Shiro looks around. How long can she keep him here, anyway?

"You know why you're here." She says, but doesn't ask. It's not phrased like a question, even Jun doesn't buy that her Japanese is that bad. Her hand moves his bag out of his lap and touches his inner thigh. She looks disappointed to find the bag was not a means of concealing a boner. "You can at least act a little excited."

"Please stop." He pulls his legs together. Jun can feel his heart beating in his chest. What else can he do? If he plays along and someone walks in, she could blame him. If he fights her off, she could blame him that way too.

"Am I not pretty enough for you? Too old?"

"Stop." Jun is cut off by the sound of the sliding door opening. The vice principal gets an eyeful. The teacher stands up straight and backs away immediately in a desperate attempt to avoid being caught.

The older man in a formal suit yells something in English, clearly directed at the teacher. Jun pulls his bag back into his lap and stares at a spot on the floor.

The yelling stops, and a shadow of the man's figure looms over Shiro. He can feel himself sweating despite the sensation of his blood being made of ice. Jun doesn't even realize he's shaking as the vice principal finally says something in Japanese, "Are you alright?"

Jun nods. He manages to ask "Do you think I-"

"No. I don't. You're not in any trouble. You know where the councilor's office is if you need it, yes?"

Jun nods again.

"Good." He gives a supportive pat on Jun's shoulder. "You'd best be getting home now."

The walk home feels longer than ever. His feet heavy as he treads, cautiously stepping over the micro-ditches for runoff. He doesn't want to tell his parents about this. The paper in his hands gives him no choice.

He comes in the door later than usual. He doesn't even get his shoes off before his eyes meet his fathers. Leaning against the wall with a stern expression, Jun knows all too well. "I thought I told you to call if you'd be late coming home."

"Sorry." Jun clenches his fist around the incident report in his hand. He doesn't want to show his parents, but unfortunately they have to sign it.

"Your mother got worried enough to call me at work."

Jun tucks his shoes in their place on the shelf. He looks down at the paper in his hands briefly. Without making eye contact or even saying another word, he pushes the paper to his father's chest and runs up the stairs. The bedroom door slams behind him.

Jun can hear his parents talking downstairs. He drowns it out with headphones and an especially energetic song. He sits on his bed, looking across the room to his fish tank. It's huge and makes the fish easier to take care of. There are four goldfish with bulging eyes and a brain shaped crest on their heads. He's had them for ten years now, which is impressive until one examines the ramifications of this. He was so young when he got them they're saddled with the names 'One, Two, Red and Blue' all with the last name 'Fish'... in English.

He forgets for a while, gets some homework done, and goes to bed. Lying on the bed staring at the ceiling in the moonlight leaves little to be distracted by. The thoughts seep in through the membrane of the unprotected ear. Something is wrong with him.

Any other young man would've at least gotten hard, whether or not they wanted her wouldn't change the biological reaction to- whatever that was. He was supposed to feel something and all he felt was lost. Jun's had his fair share of random boners and morning wood, but he can't recall anything in particular that turns him on. He figures if anything would turn him on, it would be a woman trying to do just that. But it didn't. Should he see a doctor about this? What would he even say? 'Hello Doctor-Sensei, I think my sexy detection is broken'? That sounds fake and dumb.

The next morning rolls around too soon. Jun groggily makes his way through his morning routine. He steps foot into his homeroom class with bags under his eyes. There's nobody behind the podium this morning. Something sinks in his stomach. This can't be a good sign. A foreigner walks in, a new one. He's young and dressed in a polo and khakis. The students mumble amongst themselves, speculating about why there's a new teacher. The window to Jun's left looks very appealing right now. To stare out of or to jump out of, Jun can't decide.

He drowns out the sound of the gossip, looking at the birds nested in the window. They preen themselves and adjust twigs in the nest. It must be nice being a bird. Building their own houses, doing their own thing. No big companies to inherit or curfews to meet. Just a song to sing, some worms to eat and a sky to explore.

The replacement teacher introduces himself as Mr. Goldburg, and says that because this is an English class, he will be taking points off if a student refers to him using a Japanese honorific on his time. He can't say Cassidy got fired, but there's a silent understanding that this is the case. The previous teacher getting fired doesn't exempt anyone from having their tests handed back. Being a language class focused on retention, most of the questions are repeats. Even if Jun doesn't study, he can't do too bad. Or so he thinks. The permanent substitute seems to have finished his predecessor's grading. The pen color changes halfway down the page and also, unfortunately, he is counting answers wrong that Cassidy-Sensei had given him full points for.

He reaches a hand down and ruffles through his messenger style bag for the blue folder containing all of his previous tests for this class. Jun isn't going crazy. He has, in fact, been getting full points for the exact same answers. This is puzzling. The class is dismissed and Shiro stays behind. Awkwardly holding a stack of tests in his hand, he approaches Mr. Goldburg.

"Uhm- excuse me, Mr. Goldburg-" He has to stop himself from attaching an honorific onto his name. Shiro flips through the papers, only briefly looking up from them to see if the teacher even heard him. He has the man's attention. Hopefully, he won't dock points for Jun bringing this up in Japanese, "I think there's been a mistake."

Mr. Goldburg responds in what sounds like English. Shiro is admittedly not great with accents. The teacher says something along the lines of 'let me see' as he lifts the papers from out of Jun's hands. He flips back and forth between multiple pages. Jun watches as the teacher's face twists and changes. He seems confused.

"The repeated questions, the same answers, got full points on all the previous tests." Shiro points out, thinking maybe his teacher didn't notice. Junichi Shiro is wrong.

Mr. Goldburg beckons Jun to stand behind his desk with him. Pulling out a green sheet of paper, he speaks in Japanese to Shiro with a thick American accent. It's easier to understand than his English despite the accent. "The answers you've given have never been right."

"Huh?"

"Don't get too beat up about it. You're definitely not the only student in class who came up with these answers. You are, however, the only student that's been getting points for them." He flips through the papers again as if to double check. "I noticed this when I was finishing up my predecessor's grading, but I thought it was a fluke. Huh..."

The teacher points to a little hand drawn smile next to his grade percentage. "That's odd."

"I thought everyone got a smile." She seemed like the kind of teacher who puts encouraging notes on tests. Jun never thought anything of it.

"Not from what I've seen." Mr. Goldburg shrugs. Jun knits his brows together as his brain struggles to snap the obvious pieces of the puzzle into place. It all clicks at once with a wave of nausea. She's been fluffing his grade this whole time because she wanted him. The teacher raises an eyebrow. "Are you feeling alright?"

"I..." Jun collects his papers from the man's desk. "I have to go. Thank you."

Shiro ducks out of the classroom. Holding his bag close to his chest, he walks down the hallways, chewing the skin from his lips. The walls around him feel tighter than usual as he makes his way to the counselor's office. He's never been here before. He's not sure what to do. The door is closed. Does he knock?

Just as he's about to turn around and leave, the counselor approaches from behind. "Shiro-San, hello! Looks like I came back at the perfect time. Come in, come in." He holds the door open for Jun.

"Uhm..." The counselor, having the energetic and sunny demeanor of a large dog, somehow makes him more intimidating. "I can't stay, I have class-"

"I'll write you a pass. Come sit." He says as he takes a very relaxed seat behind his desk. His sleeves are rolled up, showing off a bunch of colorful rubber wristbands with phone numbers and positive slogans on them. He's the only male member of school staff outside of teachers that doesn't wear a tie or a blazer. "Close the door behind you? Thanks so much."

Shiro takes the seat in front of the desk, looking stiff as a brick. Jun didn't know councilors could do that. He fiddles with the hem of his uniform, staying silent.

"So, what brings you to my office?" The counselor dampens his energy a notch. "Is it...?"

"Do you-"

"The vice-principal told me to keep an eye out for you. Don't worry, I'm the only member of staff he can tell." He rests both his elbows on the desk and leans forward. "Is everything alright?"

"Uh- I think she- my grades? I think she boosted them."

"And how does that feel?"

"Suspicious." Jun picks at the buttons on his shirt, tracing his fingers around the edges.

"Suspicious? Why do you say that?"

"I feel like I look suspicious. I'm gonna get in trouble for it somehow."

"Did you ask her to fluff your grades?"

"No."

"Of course you didn't. If you did, you wouldn't be in my office telling me she fluffed them. I know honesty when I see it, Shiro-San."

Jun remembers how to breathe "Am I going to fail?"

"I only ever make corrections in a student's favor. All you have to worry about is catching up on the correct answers. Is that clear?"

Jun nods. It's a relief to hear, but he now has to worry about all of his future tests.

"Is there anything else on your mind?"

"Is it normal to get- uh excited when-"

The counselor tilts his head sympathetically. "It's a natural response. Most people can't help it. Don't beat yourself up about it, okay?"

"Okay." Jun bites at his lip. If arousal is the normal response, that means he isn't normal. "Thank you."

"You want that pass now?" Jun nods as the man is already writing it.

The week passes on as normal. He studies his hardest, but the next test score comes around, showing no improvement from the last. He can't seem to get past the auditory comprehension sections. If he's going to pass the class with a grade that won't earn him a flip-flop to the back of the head, he's going to need a tutor. Someone that actually speaks English.

This someone is what brings Jun to the front door of the Katsu household. The house is small, but nice, blending in perfectly with the middle class neighborhood. He takes a hand and knocks on the red door.

It opens with the sound of a small bell. Standing politely in the doorway is Mrs. Katsu. "Shiro-Kun?" She looks shocked to see him. "Hi! It's been ages. What brings you here?"

"Is uhm, Yuma-San here?" Yuma Katsu is an old friend of Shiro's. They were close as kids but wound up getting into different middle and highschools. At that age, proximity is everything, so they inevitably drifted apart. Jun remembers seeing Yuma cry on the playground after finding out he didn't make it into the same school as him and Mika.

Something about her demeanor shifts. Her eyes grow cold as she narrows them with suspicion. Her mouth turns downward. "Why do you ask?"