he could throw one hell of a precise pitch...” “Guess that’s me. Yeah, I was pretty good at controlling my pitches. But I quit the team fall of that year.” “Got an injury or something?” “No, it’s kind of a weird story... Summer of my second year, the day we won the semifinals at the prefecture prelims, I was basically a hero. I don’t mean to brag, but it was like I carried the team to victory all by myself in that game. It was really rare for our school’s team to make it that far, so the whole school was cheering us on. Everyone I came across praised me.” “Can’t imagine that at all, lookin’ at you now,” Shindo said doubtfully. “Yeah.” I smiled bitterly. I couldn’t blame him for that. Even I was incredulous every time I thought back on it. “Despite not having many friends at school and hardly standing out, that day made me a hero. It felt incredible. Except... That night, when I lied down in bed and thought about it, I felt this intense shame.” “Shame?” “Yeah. I was ashamed of myself. I was like, what do I think I’m getting so happy about?” “There’s nothin’ wrong with that, though. Of course you’d be happy after that.” “I guess.” He was right, there wasn’t a single reason not to be elated then. I should’ve just embraced it. But something deep in my mind crawled up and denied it. My mood instantly sank, like a overfilled balloon popping. “Anyway, as soon as that happened, the whole thing started to seem ridiculous to me. And I thought, I don’t want to embarrass myself any more. So two days later, the day of the finals, I got on the early morning train and went to a movie theater, of all things. And I watched four movies in a row. I remember the air conditioning made me so cold, I was rubbing my arm the whole time.” Shindo laughed heartily. “Are you a moron or what?” “A huge moron. But even if I could go back in time and have that chance