Diamond No Ace: The Strongest Hitter

Chapter 145: New Year's Shrine Visit

As Wakana said those words, Sendo thought for a moment that Fumino had shared something with her.

It felt as if the treasure he'd raised for years was being taken away by a pig!

A feeling most parents might understand when their beloved daughter gets a boyfriend.

"Pfft, pfft, pfft!" Wakana couldn't stop laughing.

"Don't joke about that, okay!"

"So, do you still find her annoying?"

"Uh... not at the moment!"

"That's more like it!"

"What do you mean by that?"

"Let's not dwell on that. What exactly is Fumino to you?"

"If she's just a childhood friend, you wouldn't care this much! You two aren't dating, but you also don't let her date anyone else. That's way too possessive! So, what kind of relationship do you think you two have?"

"Hmm..." Wakana's question really stumped Sendo.

"Maybe... a younger sister? Or a daughter, perhaps?"

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"You see, when parents find out their daughter has a boyfriend, don't they get this urge to punch the guy into orbit?"

Sendo's explanation caught Wakana off guard, though she kind of understood it—basically, he was a classic case of a doting 'daughter-con.'

"Wait a minute! Daughter?" Wakana suddenly realized something.

"Hey, Aki! Since when did Fumino become your daughter? You're the same age, aren't you? And besides, Fumino's older than you!" Wakana pointed out with a sly tone.

"Huh?" Sendo froze.

"Don't tell me you never thought about that? I can't believe how your mind works!" Wakana said with an exasperated sigh.

Now Sendo was completely at a loss.

All this time, he had thought of Sawamura, Wakana, and the others as peers, believing he'd fully integrated into this world.

But today, he suddenly realized that someone so close to him, someone he treated like a child, was actually the same age as him!

"So this is what they mean by being too close to see the truth?" Sendo murmured.

"What?" Wakana didn't catch what he said.

"Nothing."

"Sendo!!!" At that moment, Sawamura burst into the classroom, interrupting their conversation.

"What's wrong?"

"Just now, Sasano-sensei told me I have to attend remedial classes during the winter break! What should I do?" As soon as Sawamura entered, the atmosphere turned noisy.

"Who knows?"

"Don't say that!" Sawamura looked incredibly pitiful.

"By the way, does our school even have a tradition of remedial classes?"

"Huh? Now that you mention it... I don't think so!" Hearing Sendo's words, Sawamura suddenly realized something and began to think deeply.

"Are you sure?"

"Of course! They didn't make me take any remedial classes last year—uh…" Sawamura realized he had let something slip and quickly covered his mouth.

"Hahaha! You didn't even pass your makeup exam last year, did you? This is hilarious! My stomach hurts!" Sendo, of course, didn't miss a beat.

"Stop laughing! Why is this happening to me?" Sawamura was on the verge of a meltdown.

"Who knows? Maybe you pissed off Sasano-sensei by sleeping in class?"

"You sleep in class too, don't you? You've got no right to talk!"

"But I didn't fail my classes."

"Ugh!" Sawamura imagined those words transforming into a giant boulder crashing down on him.

"And I even got perfect scores in all subjects."

"Ugh!" Another heavy blow!

Hearing Sendo's merciless remarks, Sawamura decided to leave the room.

"Hey, Eijun! I know the reason! It's because we won the championship. Sasano-sensei said she wants to maintain the school's reputation by improving your grades over the winter break!"

Just as Sawamura was about to leave, Aoki entered the room and overheard their conversation.

What an absolute abuse of authority!

But when Sendo heard the reasoning, he silently gave Ms. Sasano a thumbs-up in his heart.

"Brilliant, truly powerful!" Sendo secretly rejoiced.

With this noisy guy occupied during winter break, he could finally enjoy a few peaceful days!

Meanwhile, Sawamura stood completely petrified, as if turned to stone.

That evening, Wakana shared her conversation with Sendo to Fumino.

Fumino, who had always felt close to Sendo, couldn't help but notice there was always something intangible between them.

Today, she finally understood!

Wakana, on the other hand, was curious about why Sendo would have such a strange mindset.

Fumino explained to Wakana that Sendo had been mature for his age since he was very young, which might explain why he always saw her as a little girl.

Fumino, ever the literature prodigy, pieced together almost everything—except for Sendo's secret—just from a few lines of dialogue.

At the same time, Fumino made a firm decision in her heart: she would never let go of him!

...

Because Sawamura was dragged away by Ms. Sasano (in reality, a personal grudge due to Sawamura's attitude toward teachers at school), Sendo enjoyed a delightful winter break!

That is, until New Year's Eve, December 31st.

On this day, everyone gathered at Sawamura's house to celebrate his "resurrection" from his ordeal.

In front of everyone, Sawamura cried...

Sendo really wanted to ask about what had happened to him over the past few days, but in the end, he couldn't bring himself to ask.

"Dinner's ready!" Sawamura's mom called everyone to the table.

"Auntie! What's for dinner tonight?" Sendo, feeling completely at home in Sawamura's house, spoke his mind without hesitation.

"Pork cutlets and fried chicken! Aki, you and everyone don't get together often, so eat as much as you like!"

"Yes!" For some reason, Sendo always seemed unusually well-behaved in front of Sawamura's parents, like a pet cat.

Sendo's parents wouldn't be returning for New Year's, as they typically only came back to Japan during holidays.

However, in recent years, they hadn't returned at all.

In reality, Sendo had essentially grown up alongside his grandparents and the Sawamura family.

Their relationship was naturally very close!

From their grandparents' generation onward, the families had been dear friends for three generations.

After dinner, most people said their goodbyes and left, while Sendo's grandparents stayed to drink with Sawamura's grandparents, eventually staying the night.

Sendo, using his love for sleeping in as an excuse, decided to head home.

Unbeknownst to him, as he mentioned wanting to sleep in on New Year's, Sawamura's ears perked up dramatically, focusing intently on the conversation.

Riding his bike home, Sendo noticed the night sky was especially beautiful tonight.

This led to him stargazing in his yard until it was quite late.

"Crap, it's already this late? Oh well, I can sleep in tomorrow anyway. Time for bed!" he muttered, realizing it was already 2 a.m.

However, fate had other plans for him this year—his peaceful sleep-in was not meant to be.

Sworn under the starlit sky by two people two hours earlier, Sendo's plan was doomed!

...

New Year's Day, 8 a.m.

Ding-dong! Ding-dong! Ding-dong!

"Ugh... who is it? Waking me up so early on New Year's Day! It's only 8 a.m.!" Sendo grumbled, awakened by the sound of the doorbell.

Furious, he jumped out of bed in his pajamas, taking a few quick steps to the window.

And then?

Then he froze.

Standing gracefully at the door of Sendo's house was none other than Fumino Furuhashi.

Almost as if she sensed his presence, Fumino looked up and saw Sendo in his goofy dinosaur pajamas. She smiled brightly and waved at him.

"Uh..." Sendo immediately swallowed the words he was about to shout, suddenly feeling self-conscious.

He had thought it was Sawamura at the door!

Awkwardly, he waved back at her, though the scene looked utterly ridiculous.

Without bothering to change, Sendo shuffled downstairs, his dinosaur tail dragging behind him, to open the door.

"Yo! Happy New Year! What brings you here? Tokyo is far from here, you know! Hey!" Sendo said groggily, standing at the door.

"Didn't I already tell you I was coming to visit so we could go to the shrine together? I can't believe you're still sleeping! I got up early to catch the train here!" Fumino retorted, clearly annoyed.

…

Sendo had nothing to say in his defense—he had completely forgotten.

"Did you stay up late again? You night owl!"

"Uh... just a little."

"A little? Really?"

"Well... the old man was drinking at Eijun's house last night. I left late, and then I... uh... accidentally noticed how beautiful the stars were last night. Just a little accident, really..." Sendo suddenly realized he should not have mentioned the stars.

As expected, the moment Fumino heard "stars," she forgot everything else and started excitedly talking to Sendo about them.

…

Helpless, Sendo poured her a cup of tea to finally interrupt her.

"I get the gist of it! But even without those distractions, you'd still stay up late, wouldn't you?" Fumino teased, her cheeks slightly flushed as she exposed Sendo's habits.

"Yes, yes, I'm really sorry!"

"Alright, hurry up and change! Let's head out soon," Fumino said, pointing at Sendo's dinosaur pajamas with a smile.

"Fine~!" He could only agree reluctantly.

Ding-dong! Ding-dong! Ding-dong!

The doorbell rang again.

"Hahaha! Sendo, get up already! Let's go to the shrine together and pray for victory this summer!"

This time, it was unmistakably Sawamura.

Sawamura, who had overheard Sendo's plan to sleep in during New Year's, had orchestrated this surprise.

To avoid being scolded, he had even recruited Wakana before coming to Sendo's house!

What he didn't expect was that he was already late.

Ignoring Sawamura's loud voice, Sendo went straight upstairs to change.

...

"Happy New Year, Sawamura! Wakana!" Fumino greeted them warmly as she opened the door.

"Uh... where's Sendo?"

"He's changing. You two have great timing! We're just about to leave for the shrine. Come in first!" Fumino invited them in with a smile.

"Damn it! I was hoping to ruin that guy Sendo's lazy morning!" Sawamura muttered under his breath.

Except his "whisper" was anything but quiet.

"Come on in!" Wakana and Sawamura entered as Fumino welcomed them.

"If you really want to disrupt his sleep, come earlier next year!" Fumino teased, laughing as she shut the door.

"You heard that? My whisper!" Sawamura exclaimed, startled.

"If that was a whisper, then your whispers can be heard a hundred meters away," Fumino said with a sly smile, her eyes narrowing into crescent moons—a breathtakingly beautiful sight.

"Uh…" Even the usually carefree Sawamura blushed at the sight of Fumino's radiance.

Just then, Sendo came out, fully dressed and ready.

"Happy New Year, Aki!" Wakana greeted him cheerfully.

"Yeah. Let's go," Sendo replied, nodding.

As he passed Sawamura, Sendo suddenly reached out his left arm and locked it around Sawamura's neck.

"I heard you came here to ruin my sleep, huh?"

"Let me go, you sharp-eared monster!" Sawamura struggled to break free.

…

The commotion quickly settled down, and the four of them headed to the shrine for their visit and fortune-drawing.

...

"Stare…" Sawamura fixated on the fortune in his hand.

"Stop staring at it. No matter how hard you look, it's still a small blessing," Sendo said dryly beside him.

"This is too weird! Too weird! Why did all three of us get small blessings?" Sawamura finally couldn't hold it in anymore.

"It's a bit strange, but isn't small blessing still a good sign?" Wakana chimed in.

"Sure! As long as it says 'blessing,' it's still positive. Don't overthink it," Fumino said, patting Wakana on the shoulder.

"But shouldn't at least one of us get a great blessing?" Sawamura complained noisily.

"This shrine probably has very few great blessing," Fumino tried to soothe the situation, hoping Sawamura would quiet down as people nearby started looking over.

"Wait a second!" Fumino suddenly realized something. "Eijun, didn't you say three of us?"

"That's right! One, two… Hey, Sendo, where's yours?" Sawamura said, pointing at him, suddenly realizing he hadn't seen Sendo's fortune.

"…" Sendo shifted his eyes to the left, clearly avoiding the question.

A few seconds later, he reluctantly pulled out a slip.

Written boldly on it was great misfortune.

"AHHH!!! Why does it have to be like this?!" Sawamura screamed in shock.

"Pfft, pfft, pfft!" Fumino couldn't hold back her laughter, thoroughly amused by the scene.

"What should we do, Fumino-san?" Sawamura asked anxiously. As established earlier, Sawamura holds great respect for Fumino. "Doesn't this terrible fortune mean our national journey next year is doomed?"

"Looking at his expression, I doubt he was praying about the baseball team's summer tournament," Fumino chuckled lightly and explained to Sawamura.

Sawamura glanced at Sendo.

"Oh, I see! Then it's fine!" Just moments ago, he was on the verge of tears, but now he had completely bounced back.

"That was fast!" Sendo muttered, surprised. "But wait, you're really okay with just believing what Fumino said?"

"Whatever Fumino-san says is correct!" Sawamura declared with utmost seriousness.

"..." Sendo was left speechless.

And yet, Sendo had to admit, Fumino was spot on.

She understood him too well.

Just the way he averted his gaze gave away his true intentions, which Fumino immediately deduced.

"But still, isn't it a bit strange that all three of us got small blessings?" Sawamura's thoughts circled back to their fortunes.

"It's fine," Fumino said gently, patting Sawamura's head to comfort him.

"Alright!" Miraculously, Sawamura calmed down.

"Is this guy your pet dog or something?" Sendo conveyed silently to Fumino with his eyes.

Fumino shot him a glance—a look so enchanting that it could steal souls.

While Sendo remained unaffected, the nearby group of people seemed utterly captivated, as if their spirits had been taken.

The "small blessing" drama only lasted a short while.

Just a few minutes later:

"Yo! Sen-chan! Ei-chan! Wakana-chan! Fumino-chan!" The rest of the Akagii team arrived.

"You guys made it!" Sawamura, as lively as ever, greeted them.

"Yeah!"

"Did you draw your fortunes?"

"Yep! We all got great blessings!" Ohno said, flashing a peace sign with his right hand.

"Didn't you say this shrine rarely gives out great blessing?" Sendo nudged Fumino lightly in the side.

...

Fumino ignored him.

Sendo silently thought, I have a lot to say, but maybe I shouldn't say it...