Chapter 40: 40. 2 Years

*ONE YEAR LATER*

One year slowly passed by for Rei and the family. After some days, Shirogana left the family and went back to Tokyo to play the league finals. Rei was very sad to see Shirogana not beside him anymore, but still felt better as Shidou, Narumi and the siblings were with him and also very caring towards him.

The Match between Saitama Crushers and Hokkaido Breezers was a fast-paced game. Both the teams got runs one after another. The game went down to the last inning with the scored tied at 6. Even after the Breezers hit a home run in the inning, the cleanup the Crushers could bring it home with a 2 run HomeRun.

Shirogana had a very good match. He was able to coordinate with a pitcher making the runs and hits given to a minimum even with 6 runs being given. He was also great with the bat bringing in an RBI at a crucial moment with some doubles and singles.

That night was a blast for the Kamizato household. Narumi cooked up all their favorite dishes, and they all ate satisfactorily. Rei was sad when he got to know that Shirogana cannot come to Kami town despite the end of the season.

Shirogana had to continue to stay in Tokyo as he still needed to perform team activities such as training and prepare for the next tournament.

Rei's life continued normally with no hindrances. Meiko and Sora's club also played a tournament where Meiko was an extra player whereas Sora was not even on the team. Their team went to the regional finals and lost because of the lack of firepower in their lineup.

Both the siblings grew exponentially in baseball. Meiko threw faster and her precision only got better. She also learned several breaking balls helping her better. The only reason she wasn't on the starting lineup is that the main pitcher had seniority by his side. She was already a national level pitcher despite being in her 2nd year.

Sora got bigger this past year. He was now taller and more built. His power increased a lot, allowing him to be a future clean up hitter of a team. His fielding skills have also increased because of his center position. He was able to hit balls thrown at 70kmph speed in the batting cages without any problem.

Rei has not touched the baseball glove in this one year. He has always maintained a distance from playing baseball. He sometimes accompanied Sora and Meiko to their baseball practice but stayed away from the game. He always got dejected by this and it only caused more pain seeing everyone play happily.

Because of his special eyes, he would sometimes correct mistakes in their stances, allowing them to perform better. He also did not stop his daily quota of running and exercising. He could now cover the distance between the park and home in half the time.

Rei's sessions with Dr. Jim continued this one year. He meets the doctor 3 times in a month for his therapy sessions. Having gone through it for an entire year, Rei felt a little better. He could now sleep to an extent and talk about Tensei's death without panicking.

But he was still far from playing baseball. He tried twice, but the same thing happened each and every time he tried to play baseball. He was forced to play baseball twice during therapy sessions with Dr. Jim, but it finally yielded the same result. He slowly lost hope that he could play baseball ever again in his life, making him extremely disappointed in himself.

Rei also helps Narumi in cooking as he likes to improve his skills. Now, seeing that baseball is fading away slowly, Rei has taken up cooking more passionately. He especially likes to cook Italian cuisine, which was appreciated a lot in the family. He wanted to join the cooking club once he enters Middle school.

Rei daily came back from school together with Sora and Meiko. He treats them as his siblings. They were always nice to him and took care of him when he had problems

Over the years Rei has gotten closer with both Keiko and Mizuki. The entire family saw them when he invited them over sometimes to play. He has made none other friends for this entire year. He never tried as he felt sufficient with only Mizuki and Keiko. This was the same for Mizuki but Keiko was relatively famous in the grade due to her cheerful attitude.

Rei was always at the top of the grade with studies and the school appreciated him for it. Keiko was also good but was not up to Rei maintaining her position in the top 5, On the other hand Mizuki was always scraping by with the help of both her friends.

Mizuki won a competition in karate and Keiko painted better. Both of them were exponentially talented in the field and were called geniuses.

The relation between the three grew better and is now best friends. Rei has not told them about his father's death or that he was taken care of by the Kamizato family. He felt they didn't have to know about the matter even though they were best friends.

Rei got closer to Shidou calling him 'old man'. He often spends his time talking with him because it helps him to be at peace.

During his graduation, Rei did not get emotional as his only friends will join the same middle school as him in Sensen itself. The three friends had a grand party with their parents in a restaurant.

Rei met both parents of Keiko, who were very loving towards him and Mizuki. Whereas only Mizuki's mom could come because her father had important work to do. Keiko's dad was a worker in a company whereas her mom was a housewife like Narumi. Mizuki's dad owned an enormous company enabling them to be very rich and her mom helps in maintaining the company with her father.