Daichi came down the stairs and saw that apart from Ai, no one was in the lounge. She had a blanket covering her, but the baby bump was still quite visible.
“Hey, have you seen Ken around.” Daichi asked.
However, Ai flashed him a dangerous look, causing him to shiver subconsciously. It was the same as Miho’s look earlier, except it was lacking the love and affection. This only made it feel far worse.
“Why do you care?” she replied coldly.
‘Yep… I guess I deserve that.’ Daichi thought, biting his tongue.
He wasn’t sure if Ken had spoken the truth to Ai yet, so he didn’t go into too much detail.
“I want to apologize to him.”
He saw Ai raise her eyebrow, but she still did not look impressed. “He’s at one of the batting cages downtown. You can search them one by one until you find him.” After saying so, Ai ignored him and returned to watching the TV.
Daichi nodded and thanked her before heading towards the front door. He grabbed his coat and called for a taxi.
“Hey, aren’t you that player for the Ligers?”
“Hey there, yes I play for the Ligers. The name’s Daichi, nice to meet you.” He said courteously.
“Wow, two baseball players in one night… My son is going to be go crazy with jealousy.” The man said, shaking his head incredulously.
Daichi’s body froze in the middle of putting on his seatbelt, “You picked up another player? Who was it?”
“Ah, it was that guy… Kane I think his name was. He signed this ball for my son.” The driver replied, showing the ball.
Daichi didn’t know who Kane was, but upon seeing Ken’s flashy signature upon the ball, he knew it had to be his brother. “Where did you drop him off? Can you please take me there!?”
His voice was desperate. He had planned on visiting every batting cage in the area until he could find his brother, but it seemed he didn’t have to now.
“Erm, sure thing.”
The taxi began its drive and some silence stretched out between the two.
“What was Ken’s mood like?” Daichi asked.
“Hmm? Who is Ken?”
“…”
After Daichi explained that his brothers name was Ken and not Kane, the driver looked extremely embarrassed.
“H—He looked a little sad when he got in, but he was fine by the time we got to the batting cages… Hey listen, would you mind apologizing on my behalf? I called him the wrong name quite a few times…”
Daichi assured the driver that he would do so and they soon arrived at the batting cages.
Daichi shook the man’s hand, “Thank you, you’ve helped me out a lot tonight.”
During the handshake, he slipped the man $300 in cash as a tip. Before the driver could reply, he quickly turned and jogged towards the building.
As he entered, he saw an older man behind a counter, but in the distance, he could see Ken surrounded by kids who were talking his ear off. His brother wore a warm smile and talked enthusiastically with the children while their parents watched by the side.
The sight was heartwarming, and only made Daichi feel even worse about doubting his brother.
“Young man, we’ll be closing in 10 minutes.” The old guy behind the counter said.
‘Ah crap…’
Daichi fished into his pocket and pulled out his wallet, fanning through the bills he had.
“Sir, would you mind staying open for another couple of hours? I’d be happy to pay you for your trouble.” He asked politely.
The old man shook his head, “Look kiddo, I don’t think you can make it worth my while—” his words were cut off as he saw the ten 100 dollar bills fanned out in front of him.
With the speed of a demon, the old man snatched the money right out of Daichi’s hand and casually sat back in his chair, checking if the bills were in fact real.
“Go in, tell the others that the place is closing.” He said, not even sparing him a glance.
“Yes sir.”
Daichi walked into the place and was noticed by Ken first. He saw a look of surprise come over his brother’s face, before it was replaced by sadness.
“Hey guys, the clerk said that the place is closing in a moment.”
“Awww… That’s such a bummer.”
Complaints instantly came out from the children until they noticed who had said the words.
“Oh my god it’s Daichi!”
The kids swarmed him, badgering him for an autograph.
It took another 15 minutes until he was able to usher the kids out of the place, but not before he signed an item for each of them.
Once the kids left, only Ken and Daichi remained.
“Hey…”
“Hey.”
There was an awkward atmosphere between the two, and it didn’t seem like it was going to clear up on its own. Even when they first became friends, it was never like this.
However, Ken was the first to speak up. “Are you up for hitting a few?” he asked, holding out his personal bat to Daichi.
Daichi looked at his brother before nodding, “It’s been so long since I went to a batting cage… I wonder how well I’ll do?”
Originally, Daichi wanted to apologize right away, but he decided to bite his tongue for now. This might not be something that he could simply apologize for and everything would be okay.
He stepped into the cage and squared up, taking a few practice swings before nodding towards Ken.
“Should we start off slow?” Ken asked.
“Alright.”
WHOOOOOSH
THWACKK!
The first ball was crunched by the middle of the barrel, rocketing into the nets. If the kids were here, they might have gone even crazier than they did with Ken’s hits.
As more and more balls came, Daichi began to get into the swing of things. His chest felt lighter and before he knew it, a smile began to tug at the corner of his lips.
Inwardly he knew, Ken had told him to swing for a while to reduce the tension he was feeling. He realized that his brother knew him like no other.
“Do you remember the first time we went to the batting cages together?” Ken asked, his tone full of melancholy.