"Ren…" a soft voice whimpered. "Ren, please wake up…"

"Mihashi-san?" a white-coated doctor opened the door, allowing light to stream into the dark hospital room. The woman in question looked up from her chair beside the only hospital bed in that room. It held her teenage son Ren, who lay in a peaceful slumber. The doctor flipped on the lights and the fluorescent bulb flickered above their heads. "It is not wise to sit here in the dark. It could damage your eyes."

"I'm sorry…" she muttered. "I didn't think about getting up and turning them on…"

"I understand your concern." The doctor said, picking up and flipping through the set of papers that had sat in the box at the foot of Ren's bed. "But his condition is good, save for the injuries he has sustained. We just have to wait until he wakes up on his own. There's nothing else we can do."

"…But it's been two days already…" Mrs. Mihashi's eyes welled up with fresh tears. "And he still hasn't woken up…"

"I know." The doctor returned the papers to the box. "But that means he's taking the time to heal himself. I'm sure he will wake up soon enough. However, in the meantime, your husband is here to pick you up and take you home."

"But what about Ren!" Mrs. Mihashi jumped up. The doctor put a hand on her shoulder and gently led her out.

"If there's any movement at all, we'll be sure to let you know immediately." He said. "Though for the time being, you might want to call his school and gather any materials he may need to catch up on his schoolwork."

Mrs. Mihashi nodded slowly. "Right… and his… his baseball team, I need to call them too! He's been missing for months, and just finding him is still good news! Though it might be a while for him to catch up… R-Regardless! I should at least let everyone know!"

"That's the spirit." The doctor closed the door behind them. "And don't worry, Mihashi-san, we'll be sure to call you as soon as we see any progress."

"Thank you very much!" Mrs. Mihashi bowed before hurrying down the hallway. It was very late; she hoped the other mothers were awake so they could know that Ren will be okay!

As they drove home, both of Ren's parents remembered back to that night four months ago. Ren had come home from baseball practice, worn out as he normally was, and was going to take a bath before dinner as he usually did. Both his mother and father were present in the kitchen when they heard his scream from upstairs. His father reacted immediately, while his mother took a moment to shut off the stove before following. When they reached their son's room, all they found were his baseball gear and uniform, along with his school books and utensils, and the towel he had been drying his hair with not a moment before. But there was one thing missing, and that was their son. They checked the bathroom and the rest of the second floor before accepting what they assumed to be the case.

Mihashi Ren was missing, taken right from his room on the second floor.

Of course, they notified the police immediately, but when they arrived, there was no trace of any suspicious vehicles or people in the area. Regardless, the authorities placed him on the missing person's list, and sent out a warning to the area telling families to lock their windows and for children not to go out alone. There was nothing else they could do.

Mrs. Mihashi could recall crying throughout the experience. Ren was her only son, and still just a boy. She could only imagine what would happen to him as the days slowly passed by one by one. The rest of the neighborhood sent their condolences, and the Mihashis had the support of the other families of Ren's baseball teammates. And of course, they weren't the only ones not taking Ren's disappearance very well. His entire team was devastated with the loss of their ace, however, thanks to Yuuichirou Tajima's frequent pep talks as Coach Momoe's tenacity in keeping the boys in working order, the team decided on dedicating every game, and every win, to Ren until his return. It made Mrs. Mihashi glad to know that they weren't giving up on him, and she knew that once Ren came back, things would finally go back to what they used to be like.

But she was wrong with that assumption.

When the two arrived home, Mrs. Mihashi immediately grabbed the phone. Mrs. Abe would be the first person she called, seeing as their sons formed the battery on their baseball team and were thus very close. She tapped her fingers anxiously as she waited to see if she was awake to pick up the phone. Eventually, after about seven rings, a voice that could only be Mrs. Abe answered the phone.

"Good evening, this is the Abe residence." She said. "Who may I ask is calling?

"Y-Yes, Abe-san?" Mrs. Mihashi said carefully.

"Oh, Mihashi-san?" the surprise was obvious in Mrs. Abe's voice. "How strange for you to call so late, is something wrong?"

"No, nothing's wrong." Mrs. Mihashi said. "My apologies if I woke you at all…"

"No, no, it's alright." Mrs. Abe replied. "I'm staying up because my husband is working late tonight, and I wanted to make sure he had something to eat before bed when he comes home."

"That's very sweet of you!" Mrs. Mihashi was always amazed with Mrs. Abe's kindness. How admirable! "Oh! I better not forget what I called you for! It's great news!"

"What happened?" Mrs. Abe asked on the other end.

"Ren's been found!" Mrs. Mihashi exclaimed, already shaking with excitement. Everyone's going to be so glad to know that he was going to be okay! "He was hurt and is still asleep, but the doctor says he's going to be okay!"

"That's fantastic!" Mrs. Abe replied. "Oh, but Takaya just went to bed, I shouldn't wake him up to tell him…"

"I'll wake him up for ya mom!" her youngest son Shun randomly appeared and disappeared from the doorway leading to the hallway, running to his older brother's room.

"Shun, he's had a long day of practice, let him sleep!" his mother called after him, but she was a second too late, for Shun had already burst into his brother's room.

"Nii-chan! Nii-chan! Wake up!" he exclaimed, bouncing from one foot to the other. Abe groaned in protest and merely turned over under his covers. Shun fumed. "Come on, nii-chan! They found Mihashi! You know: your ace!" At this, Takaya Abe jumped from his bed.

"They what?!" he exclaimed.

"Mom's on the phone with his mom right now!" Shun pointed out the door, and immediately, the catcher was sprinting down the hall, nearly skidding past the door his mother was standing in, still holding the phone.

"Is that true mom?" he asked. His mother nodded, and the teen could feel excitement, fear and an entire slew of emotions just build up inside, matching the intensity of the despair he had felt at the first news of Ren's disappearance. He tried to swallow down his tears as he asked his mother for the phone. Her mother smiled and handed him the phone, heading down the hall to put Shun back to bed.

"H-Hello?" Abe mentally smacked himself for the stutter, but the woman on the other end didn't seem to take notice.

"Good evening, Abe-kun." Mrs. Mihashi said. "I'm sorry for calling so late, did I wake you?"

"It's fine." Abe said. "But… did they really find him?"

"Yes, from what I've been told, an officer found him a few days ago and brought him to the hospital." She explained. "He wasn't terribly injured, just a lot of scratches and bruises, and no broken bones were reported either. I went in and honestly didn't think about calling anyone since I was waiting for him to wake up… But the doctor says he's going to be okay, he's only been sleeping so long because he's healing. The hospital said they'll call me if there's any progress with his condition."

"Have you called anyone else?" Abe asked.

"Oh, not yet. But it's late and they're all probably asleep by now." Mrs. Mihashi said. "Do you think you could tell your teammates tomorrow? I wouldn't want to wake anyone else..."

"Don't worry, I definitely will." Abe said. "And maybe we can all visit him when he wakes up. Would that be okay?"

"Of course." Mrs. Mihashi smiled to herself. "I'll keep you posted then."

"Thank you…" Abe sighed. His racing heart was starting to slow down. Ren was okay… Ren was going to be okay. "Thank you very much…"

"It's quite alright, Abe-kun." Mrs. Mihashi said. "I'll let you return to bed then."

"Okay…" Abe nodded and the two hung up simultaneously. At that moment, Abe's father strode in, looking very tired. He raised an eyebrow at his teary-eyed teenage son.

"Something wrong, Takaya?" he asked. Abe flinched and rubbed his eyes furiously.

"Nothing's wrong, good night!" he said, before leaving down the hallway to his room. Ren is okay. Ren is okay.

Nishiura's catcher didn't get much sleep that night. He was too busy thinking about what had happened to their pitcher over the past four months. What happened to get him hurt like his mother described? Was he really going to be okay? Has he changed over the time he was gone? All those questions managed to dizzy him into a fitful sleep, but it was enough to give him energy for school the next day.

Time to tell the team the news.