[Misawa] Dear Mr. Fox

After coming to the United States, there are very few opportunities to chat with Master like this.Not long after I first arrived, I took him to eat barbecue, who was not familiar with the place, counted as one time, and this time the youngest son’s birthday was counted as the second time.It was relatively late to propose joining the contract, but the signing negotiations went smoothly, and the worry about being sent to the minor leagues that the supervisor and teammates talked about did not happen.Not long after I came here in late February, I caught up with spring training. In the bullpen, there was a pitching coach who spoke Japanese more fluently than he did. The few contacts he had with his master were all about field experience and pitching skills. It was a big deal. One more question, what about the big leagues?After asking this question, seeing Sawamura's eyes start to light up, he feels a little relieved.

What a wonderful fate.Although I had longed for the big leagues when I was working hard at the Japanese job, I never thought that the opportunity would come suddenly in this way, and I could form a partner with my master.Maybe it can be regarded as the second turning point in my baseball life?

The first is high school graduation?

Chris's voice seemed as soft as the sleeping breath of the child next door.

the first time.

Sawamura paused for a moment.A little while apart.

It was the first time I went to Qingdao.Xiao Li, Vice Minister Takashima watched my game and came to invite me specially.I didn't want to go at all, I thought it would be good to stay in Nagano and play baseball with my friends.In order to strengthen my determination, I went to Tokyo to visit Seido for a while, and then met Miyuki.How can there be such an inexplicable person, I really just thought so at the time...

When I put down the cup, the reddish-brown tea in it swayed and returned to calm.The cup is filled with soft yellow light, which reminds people of the moonlight on the surface of Lake Michigan at this moment; and those ripples in the memory soon sink into the mud at the bottom of the lake.

It's the first time I've heard of it, so I'll tell you the story in detail next time.Waiting for you to tidy up a little bit.

It's so late.Only the light above their heads in the living room is still on, and there will be no buses in half an hour.You see, even about Sawamura, there are so many things I don't understand.But we have plenty of time.

However, if time is short, be sure to say the most important things first.

When leaving the master's house, Chris patted him on the shoulder and said, let's go to the World Series together.However, he added that he still has to wait until August to remain on the 40-man roster, and Sawamura must continue to work hard now.Of course, it would be best if he can still enter the 25-man list.Sawamura stood under the porch light at the door and listened, only felt that something was about to come up from his throat and block his nose, and his eyes swelled up with the inhalation.Let's get promoted together.He was the one who said that to Chris ten years ago.

Perhaps because of Master's encouragement, he got up early the next day to go for a morning jog in a nearby park.The left shoulder soaked in the morning air that has not yet faded from the cold night is still warm, and the blood flows all over the body, which makes him excited. He waved his arms and yelled a few times like he did in high school for a long time, causing a barking of dogs one after another. .When the sky is getting brighter, there is a reddish mist rising from the forest, and the humid and warm early summer is slowly coming from the south.

It's going to be a hot, long summer.

Sawamura briefly forgot the blank eight years, the business card with the unreachable phone number, the company with an unfamiliar name, and the name that suddenly appeared in their topic.He still has a lot of things that he can't think about, and he is no longer the yellow-haired boy who can't even remember the rules in high school.Play rate, ERA, strikeout and walk ratio, rescue success rate, 25-man roster, World Series.Sometimes I also think that it is August, and the other side of the ocean is exciting the cheers of Jiashiyuan.It seems that you can hear it no matter how far away you are.

New York away game.Ace seems to be in bad shape this time around.In the second half of the sixth inning, falling behind [-]-[-], Sawamura played.Under the starless night sky, the pale parallel light and the dazzling billboards on the stadium are as tense and scorching as the sun in summer.While taking a deep breath, he unconsciously looked around the auditorium. As expected of a big city, there were almost no empty seats.

But it's not the same as Chicago's home court.He couldn't tell.

On this day, Sawamura was in excellent form, frequently breaking his own record in ball speed, and shutting out every game.The aggressive pitching boosted the morale of the entire team's offense, and even the less loyal fans of the opposing team began to cheer for them.I thought it would take an extension no matter what, but in the end the game ended in the ninth inning with the dramatic score of Roosevelt's game.It wasn't until his teammates swarmed up to lift his feet and threw him into the air that today's hero finally came to his senses, and his loud voice exploded in the middle of the court, shouting louder than anyone else.

Still not the same.Today is different.

"Will Sawamura wander around New York City? It's a reward." Chris asked in the locker room.He nodded sharply.

No, it's better not to go with Chris. He just participated in the All-Star Game and even filmed a TV commercial. He will definitely be surrounded and immobilized on the street.

Teammates and coaches made fun of them, and Chris asked them all by the way, so it became a situation of more than a dozen people getting together to go to the bar.In view of the priority of going back to the hotel to sleep, they accompanied the "guy from the Japanese countryside" to experience the legendary New York subway.

Looking in that direction is Manhattan, and you can see the Statue of Liberty at a higher place. Let's go there.Of course, if you come to Tokyo, you will be the tour guide.

What about Tokyo?

Sawamura agreed humbly, walked away for a while, and was squeezed to the edge of the cordon by the crowd.There were also many people on the opposite platform, and two white lights burst out from the eyes that opened suddenly in the dark tunnel.There's a car coming in over there.And his sight was caught by something, like a chain tightened on two rails.

No.

and many more.

"Miyuki Kazuya——————————!"

However, the slender chains, together with his voice, were run over abruptly by the incoming train.While in a trance, the master seemed to give him a push.Sawamura turned around to push through layers of people, desperately ran up the escalator, if possible, he would have jumped directly across the railroad tracks to the opposite side.Even though the distance was so far, even if he was overwhelmed by the crowd, even though the man in a suit and glasses kept looking at the document in his hand without looking up, he still knew it was Miyuki.Incredibly, from the moment he stepped on the mound, he knew something was bound to happen today.

And it's probably something horribly bad.

By the time we got to the opposite platform, the train had already left.The overcrowded platform suddenly seemed to be emptied, leaving only lonely benches.Sawamura panted, looked around desperately, and paced back and forth uncontrollably with his feet.He would not make excuses for himself that maybe he was wrong, he was even inexplicably confident that Miyuki knew he was there.Even for a second, if only for a second that person raises his head to meet his eyes, and even responds to his call, then at least it is considered to have met, then at least some emotions that even he can't fathom can be conveyed— —

So what.

Just when Sawamura felt that he was going to squat down and cry out in the next second, suddenly a hand patted his shoulder from behind.

"Long time no see, silly village."

New York City really brought that guy for him.