That Old Man

"Pa!"

"Hmm? Did I fall asleep? That hurts."

Slumped on the desk, Sendou, who had been asleep, suddenly slammed the table and sat up, realizing that he had fallen asleep on the desk last night and his hand hurt.

"I remember last night, Fumino must have fallen asleep on the desk, and then what did I do? I..." Thinking of this, Sendou suddenly broke out in a cold sweat.

"I actually fell asleep looking at Fumino's face?" Then he blushed slightly.

"In other words... yi ye! yi ye! yi ye! I'm not a perverted lolicon, just a little bit of a cute lover."

"So, I fell asleep seeing happiness? Isn't that perverted?" Sendou suddenly said excitedly, halfway through his monologue.

"Does it count? Does it not count?..."

"It shouldn't, probably, definitely doesn't count, right? Liking cute and beautiful things is human nature. That's right, nature!!!"

"Phew! It's great that I'm not a pervert!" It's hard to imagine Sendou, who is usually calm and composed, having such a scene. Is it cute? Or is he more concerned about this matter?

"This is? My blanket? Is it Fumino? Hmph!" Only then did Sendou notice the blanket on his body, and finally smiled comfortably, but when he calmed down...

"Wait! Why does my blanket smell so good? This smell is... that's right, it's Fumino's scent.

You're still a child! A girl! You're only 13 years old! Why are Japanese boys and girls so precocious? Just kidding! But..." The last sentence was completely a joke.

"Furuhashi Fumino!!! What exactly did you do while I was sleeping?" Fumino downstairs heard this roar clearly!

"He said, what did you do? What did you do? Did you play a prank on him?" Wakaba asked amusingly.

"Bi, da!" Fumino didn't answer, just stuck out her tongue playfully.

"I didn't expect Akila to have such a side."

"He's always been like this!"

"So, his calmness in front of us is fake?" Wakaba teased Fumino.

"Not really, how should I put it? When he's serious, he's more reliable than anyone else, calm, composed, reliable, decisive! Usually, when he's alone, he's this kind of cute type!"

"I see!" Although she only understood a little, Wakaba vaguely felt some personality traits, but she didn't know how to describe them.

"So, what exactly did you do?"

"I won't tell you!"

"Okay!"

"Phew!" Fumino breathed a sigh of relief, her face flushed.

Neither Sendou nor Fumino are very straightforward in their personalities. Fumino is not only extremely naive but also sometimes very sensitive. After all, she is a literary genius, and her emotions are very delicate, but she can't see things clearly when they are too close.

"Okay, I'm going to train with Eijun and the others too." Wakaba said to Fumino after finishing cleaning the kitchen.

"Oh, sorry, I'm too clumsy to be of any help!"

"Don't say that, everyone has things they are good at and things they are not good at! And you study very hard too. I'm going out!"

"Thank you, Wakaba!" Fumino said in her heart and continued reading.

"How long have you been watching?" Sendou asked casually, having just finished getting dressed and coming downstairs, unsure of what to say.

"If you count before dinner, about 3 hours!"

"I see, you've been working hard all day!"

"Without talent, I can only rely on hard work!"

"You're right! Sometimes I really admire you, Fumino! My willpower is far inferior to yours! Keep it up!"

"Yeah!" Fumino replied, lightly tossing her hair, looking quite happy to be acknowledged by Sendou.

"So, why does my blanket smell like you?" The topic changed so quickly it caught her off guard.

"This..." Fumino didn't know what to say.

"Nani? Nani? What's going on? How did we suddenly get here? Could it be that I thought he looked cute while sleeping and secretly snuck onto his back to hug him?

Absolutely not ヽ(≧Д≦)ノ! What do I do?" At the same time, she was panicking inside!

"Could it be..."

"In any case, I'm sorry!" Fumino instantly knelt, trembling all over.

"Huh? Don't tell me you actually sprayed your perfume on my blanket as a prank?"

"Don't say it out loud!..." Fumino thought, her body trembling violently on the ground.

"Ah?" Fumino suddenly reacted and looked up at Sendou.

"Eh? Isn't that it?" Sendou was also a little confused!

"No, that's exactly it! Anyway, I'm sorry!" Fumino instantly prostrated herself on the ground again.

"Okay! I'm hungry, where's breakfast?"

"It's in the kitchen!"

"So, good luck with that!" Sendou said, heading to the kitchen to heat up breakfast.

"That scared me, good thing he misunderstood."

However, what Fumino didn't see was the smile on Sendou's lips as he faced away from her. Sendou really didn't know what had happened, he just said that to give each other a way out and define the situation.

As for what actually happened, although he was curious, if Fumino didn't want to say, Sendou didn't plan to force her. This matter would be put on hold for now.

This girl is really cute! Sendou thought to himself in the kitchen.

Fumino, as a liberal arts genius, is actually very good at reading people's expressions and is a bit of a schemer, easily embarrassed, but Sendou seems to be her natural counter. Sendou is even better at observing, while never outwardly expressing his true thoughts.

Today's training was as usual, but Sendou didn't appear at the small training ground in the afternoon. Today was the day he had arranged to meet with Coach Nakanishi.

Sendou, who appeared at the Wildcats Little League at two o'clock in the afternoon, didn't go in, but watched the players training outside, while reminiscing about his time here.

No matter how many years pass, the Wildcats are still the Wildcats, nothing has changed! But does he already have white hair? A nou o sang! (That Old Man) Sendou thought, looking at the training players and Coach Nakanishi next to them.

That's right, the Wildcats are still the Wildcats, the absolute kings of Kanto, with their iron-wall defense and everyone having their own suitable batting stance and technique.

This is the level of a Major League coach. Those who know the Wildcats understand that Coach Nakanishi gives different opinions and guidance based on the characteristics of each player, allowing them to grow rapidly in just a few years. When they retire, he even points out the direction of future efforts.

For example, he gives suggestions on the types of changeups for pitchers in Middle School, or the types of pitches and methods of practice to focus on after physical changes such as sudden growth spurts. It is this dedication and responsibility that makes the Wildcats' main players, who grow normally, highly sought after by major high schools in Tokyo, barring sudden exhaustion of potential or various other circumstances.

I originally wanted to use the Japanese pronunciation, "a nou o sang," to express that sighing, almost sentimental tone of That Old Man as the title, but then I thought better of it. Using pinyin for the title would be too much. Finally, the usual request for recommendations and collections! So sleepy, good night!