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The first hint that something was not quite right came when Izumi popped his head into their classroom and said "I'd go check on them if I were you" in the carefree way of one who knew something bad was about to happen and someone else was going to be held responsible. Abe and Hanai closed their books in the same move, and went to look for those they knew, through the kind of ESP that came with too much worrying over and because of someone, had got themselves in trouble.
Class 9 was waging war against itself in the Leafy Yard.
By that point it was impossible to tell how it had started, although it soon became clear that Tajima had dragged Mihashi, Hamada and a dozen others into what looked to be the most organized group. Not that it mattered at that point: most participants were dripping wet, and it didn't look like the water balloons that were circulating would make much difference.
Hanai sighed inwardly at the thought of what would befall them should a teacher happen to walk by. End of the summer tournament notwithstanding, the baseball team had no need to get in extra trouble, especially when the lowering temperatures only seemed to sharpen Momokan's sadistic tendencies.
He was about to step in and validate his reputation as 'no fun' when a water balloon, thrown by a member of the handball club who had managed to sneak his way around, made a beautiful arc towards the back of Tajima's head. Mihashi yelled a warning, but there was nothing for it and the balloon crashed on impact, splashing three members of Tajima's team as well as drenching him.
A triumphant yell rose from across the yard, and Tajima turned around, a hose in his hand, looking fiercely determined to exact revenge for the offence he had just suffered. "KOJIMA!" he yelled vengefully, and Hanai should have made his move then, but for a second his gaze remained stuck on Tajima, the smile on his face and the twinkle in his eyes as the sun pitched a rainbow through the water flowing from the hose.
"Too late," Abe groaned, jolting Hanai back to the moment right before a teacher's voice demanded what in the world was going on there.
Hanai rubbed at his forehead, feeling a headache coming on. He should have seen it coming, really. What in the world had he expected when interrupting the three freshmen whose heads were bent over the source of their attention and fevered whispering? He should have known, and he should have sent someone else to deal with it. Why was he always so reluctant to delegate?
Now the three of them were standing in front of him, looking down in helpless embarrassment mixed with a hint of defiance, and he held the porn magazine between two fingers as though it was likely to burn him.
He'd never had to deal with this before, and for good reason. A year ago, back when the Nishiura baseball team had been made of nothing but rookies, he would have participated in the hubbub instead of being the repressive authority.
So how to go about it? Nice and understanding, as Sakaeguchi would have done? Or harsh and unforgiving, the way Abe dealt with pretty much anything that wasn't Mihashi?
"Where did this come from?" he asked, stalling for time in the hopes that the right way to handle this would come to him.
All three of them looked at their feet with renewed ardor. It wasn't as though Hanai didn't know, anyway, and he was about to ask them what they thought Momokan would have done if she'd caught them instead when Tanaka looked up, met his eyes. "It's my fault, captain. I brought it."
Well. That was an entirely different problem.
Hanai sighed. "Teraoka, Unami, you can go this time." They both looked relieved for half a second before guilt took over, but they were still out the door in less time than it took Hanai to think that Tanaka had just earned himself the undying loyalty of two of his peers.
"I realize you didn't mean any harm," Hanai said once the door closed on them. "But this is a lot more troublesome than you think. We have a girl on this team. In fifteen months since the team was formed, how many times do you think we've had to prevent Shinooka from being exposed to--" he searched for the appropriate wording, and settled on "—Tajima?" He ignored the sharp intake of breath. "It's been a constant group effort. Shinooka is a great manager, and she deserves better than this." He shook the magazine once for emphasis. "I hope you can remember that in the future."
Tanaka bent low at the waist, promised it would not happen again, and he was almost out the door when Hanai called his name. "It was a very loyal thing you did, taking responsibility for this."
"Captain?" He sounded almost genuine, too.
Hanai held his gaze for a moment. "Don't lie to me again."
Tanaka opened his mouth, then seemed to think better of it and stepped out, leaving Hanai with a confiscated magazine that burned a hole in his bag the entire way home and throughout the evening as he attempted to focus on his homework.
He gave up around midnight, closed his books and stared at the bag for a minute, wondering what to do with the magazine now. The best thing to do would be to do away with it, toss it in a trash can somewhere between home and school, but in the meantime...
He couldn't be expected to resist completely, could he?
Still, he waited until he was in bed, the light dimmed so as to be invisible from the corridor, before opening it.
And closing it immediately. Although he'd never made a habit of looking at them even when they were making the rounds in first year, Hanai owned his own small collection of swimsuit editions. This, however, was on an entirely different level.
The woman on the first page had been wearing a skimpy dress and nothing else, leaning back on a couch with her legs spread open. Hanai swallowed, and flipped the pages again. It was a story, if it could be called that, and it only took five frames for the woman to open the door for a pair of hunky men – even shorter for both to lose their clothes and start fucking her over the couch. By that point Hanai's right hand was already down his pyjama pants, stroking loosely. As his grip tightened and his eyes glazed over, he wondered how Tajima did it, if he kept staring at the pictures until the very last moment or let his imagination drift, if he'd ever gone so far as to see the picture of the woman being taken from behind, nothing showing but her back and ass and the point where the man's cock entered her.
His hand clenched over the page when he came, ripping half of it off.
Disgusted with himself, he threw the whole thing under his bed with the other ones, and tried not to think about anything as he cleaned up.
By the next morning, he'd managed to push it far enough from his mind that it came as a surprise when Tajima jumped over his back while they were changing and asked in stage whispers when he could get his magazine back.
Hanai was sure he heard Tanaka groan in dismay.
"I don't know what you're talking about," he said, and shrugged the pest off. Tajima pouted, and while it made Hanai feel a little uneasy, it was still better than having to face him while handing him back damaged goods.
"Don't look yet, don't look yet... Now! Left!"
"What, the one with the Hello Kitty top?"
"No, you idiot, the one with the dress!"
"Which... oh! Oh yeah, I like her. Mihashi, what do you think?"
Hanai gritted his teeth, and said nothing. He'd been all for the idea of going to the mall with his teammates of the first hour with the express condition that no one would talk about baseball, and it was good practice for Tanaka to stay back and handle the other first-years. But the way this was going, Abe was sure to start yelling at the others' antics, especially when Tajima was trying to pull Mihashi in the conversation. All he needed to do was wait a little, and they'd be forced to stop and have a conversation that didn't revolve around girls, girls, girls.
"Hmm. Her hair's too short," Abe commented. "Her friend, now..."
Hanai threw him a betrayed look, to which Abe answered with a shrug and a what can you do? expression. Hanai felt like crying.
Izumi sidled closer, lips wrapped around a straw. "Not interested?" Hanai blinked, and looked back to where their teammates were busy being gross.
"It's just not my thing." Izumi's mouth twitched, and Hanai scrambled to explain. "I mean, it's not like they're even trying to talk to them, so what's the point?"
"Sometimes it's nice to take a break and just look?" Izumi gazed at the group, where Tajima and Mizutani had apparently reached a point in the debate that required a physical proof of the value of someone's point. "Tajima, stop being gross," he snapped towards them.
It made Tajima let go of his stranglehold to pout at him. "You don't even know what I was talking about!"
"I can guess," Izumi retorted with a flick of his hand. Mizutani, meanwhile, had taken the opportunity to steal Tajima's chair, which provided a much better vantage point than his.
Of course, Tajima immediately endeavoured to get it back. Izumi sighed, and turned to Hanai with a vaguely contrite face. "Come on and participate, captain. It's good for the team."
Hanai followed, and even managed to voice a few opinions, although most of them consisted of calling Tajima a pervert and pointing out that the girls who gathered the most votes were already hanging on a boyfriend's arm until Mizutani, Tajima and Sakaeguchi all turned to him to yell that he was missing the point.
Maybe he was, he reflected that evening. Maybe it was weird that he didn't see a point in just staring at a girl's physical attributes without paying attention to her character. What did that get them, exactly? Especially Mizutani, who could talk all he liked but had still had the worst crush ever on Shinooka not that long ago, to the point that he'd been incapable of talking to her for weeks without mumbling and shuffling his feet.
There was light rain the next morning, and Momokan decided that a little cold water wouldn't hurt anyone; to her credit, she was out on the field with them the entire time, but that hardly served to get over his grouchy mood. He lingered in the shower after practice, too focused on trying to clear his head of this inexplicable frustration to pay much attention to the comings and goings of his teammates around him. Something made him snap back to attention, made him notice that his eyes had been wandering beyond safe zones, and now Izumi was standing in front of him, water trickling down his shoulders from his hair, an eyebrow raised at him.
The first thing in Hanai's head was shit, he knows, except he wasn't even sure what that meant. A moment later Izumi was heading out, toweling his hair dry and paying no attention to him. Hanai closed the tap so hard he wasn't sure anyone would be able to open it again, and made his way to the heap of his school clothes with his eyes fixed straight in front of him.
He was pulling his pants on when Mihashi, Tajima and Tanaka came in, late as always. "... but then even Hanai got into it eventually, right Hanai?" Tajima threw an arm around his neck. He smelled of fresh sweat. It wasn't supposed to be a good smell, just like the weight against him wasn't supposed to feel nice, and Hanai wanted to run, scream loud and long and hide forever.
Instead he shrugged Tajima off, put his shirt on, and went to class.