Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

It was a captain's job to never show their tears. Eijun knew this well, better than most junior high schoolers wanted or needed to know. At the end of their seasons that were always cut short, he had never shown a weak face to his team... Until now. Tears streamed down his face, as for the first time, Eijun's emotions were clearly displayed to everyone watching. It wasn't a mask made up of loud words and intense facial expressions, it was real and messy.

Eijun's teammates from Akagi Junior High were all in shock. Their infallible teammate, who to them seemed to always have insurmountable strength, had finally broken down. To them, this showed that he was human, yet it allowed them to feel closer to the boy who had connected them all together through his love of baseball.

"Everyone... I'm sorry, I couldn't take you to Koshien!" Eijun scrubbed at his eyes as he waited for their criticism. Though it came from the wrong people...

"Pft... Hahahahahahaha."  The other team broke into sniggers as they pointed at Eijun's team. "You, a team of people who can't field or even catch proper pop flies? How were you planning to get to Koshien? Like we'd ever lose to a team like you." Eijun clenched his fists together, teeth grinding and eyes flashing in anger. 

"You can say anything you want about me... But don't you dare say anything about my team!" And he lunged, grabbing the opposing captain and slapping him right across the face. With each slap he gave his opponent or even the umpires, he didn't necessarily feel better, rather he felt like he was at least defending his teammates. 

In a way, it was almost kind that their season was over, judging by the way that Eijun was slapping people on the diamond left and right. Surely, even if it wasn't over, it would have been, then by disqualification for violence against opposing teams. His team was struggling to hold him back from continuing his rampaging beat down, and Wakana's words were doing absolutely nothing to calm him. 

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He was a senior in junior high, which meant that his career in junior high baseball was over. Like his teammates, he wanted to go the same high school, but he knew that the most likely was not an option. He wasn't as smart as his friends, and the KO incident (as they had started to call Eijun's beat down) would make it hard to find a high school willing to accept him.

So, knowing what he did, Eijun began to work on the only thing he really did know how to do, baseball. It surprised his parents and grandfather, when Eijun suddenly started reading baseball manuals, and watching games. After all, it was more fun to: "Play instead of watch baseball." 

Eijun laid, spread on his bed flipping through the Baseball guide to pitchers for dummies. While the title was pretty mean, the information was super helpful to him.

Every pitcher has a natural throwing angle, which is the angle between the arm and the hand at the moment just before the ball is thrown. While the actual mechanics of the throw can be changed, the natural pitching angle should be kept like it is found on the pitcher. Changing this angle, can cause injuries, and other problems for the pitcher in the future. 

As Eijun read this, he swung his hand slowly through his pitching motion to visualize where his angle was. 

The form of the pitcher, however, is something else entirely. Based on the physique of the pitcher, this is where height and body size come into play, the windup its self is changed. For example, southpaw pitchers in the past have used their glove arms like a wall if there shoulders  and  joints are flexible enough. This particular form, can only be used by the most flexible of southpaw pitchers. 

Below the excerpt, there was a small diagram showing the pitching form and how to do it. Eijun marked that page as something to come back to, before continuing on to look at more possible pitching forms to work on.

Eventually, Eijun got the section about types of pitches, which included directions and breaking balls as well.

There are many ways to pitch a ball, that much is clear. However, for a pitcher to truly become useful, they must learn how to control their pitches. The first and most common pitch, is a four seam fast ball. The ball is gripped with the index and middle fingers set on or across a line (cross-seam) of the "horseshoe" seam that faces outward, i.e., away from the pitcher's body. The thumb is placed directly underneath the ball; it rests on smooth leather with the base of the thumb overlaying a seam. This is also called the rising fastball because of how it gives the illusion that it is rising at the plate. However, it is sometimes common for pitchers that do not have proper coaching to have something called a moving fastball. This is because of the grip that they may apply to the ball before the throw. Grips such as the eagle, circle, palm, Vulcan, four seam, and two seam can change the way the ball "breaks" as it reached the plate. (Four more information on grips, go to page 86). 

When it comes to breaking balls, it is important to learn ones that fit you as a pitcher. You may think that you want to learn a shuto, but if it doesn't fit you as a pitcher, you can risk breaking your form. So, when you pick a breaking ball(s) choose wisely, and stop immediately if it doesn't feel right with your form.

Here gain, Eijun marked this page, before deciding to go outside and work on what he just read. The book had had spoken about an exercise called shadow pitching, which seemed like something that he should try.

"MOM! I'M TAKING A TOWEL OUT TO THE YARD!" He yelled as he snatched the object and ran out of the door.

"Be careful, Eijun! Be back for dinner okay?!" But by then, he was already gone.

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'Okay, so I need to balance on one foot, and shift all of my weight to my front foot. Use my right arm like a wall, and swing my arm all the way down.' He grunted as the towel smacked his leg.

He repeated this over and over again well into the afternoon, not noticing that the sky was starting to darken. 

'One... Two... Three' again and again the loud smacking of the towel was heard, rhythmically swooshing through the summer air. When Eijun, stood up for a short break, he gasped looking at the sky and falling out of his practice induced trance. "OH CRAP! MOM'S GONNA KILL ME!"

He snatched up the towel and sprinted into the house, making large smacking noise when he slammed the door open. 

"TADAIMA!" He shouted.

"Shut up!" His grandfather shouted, a little quieter, as he punched Eijun across the room. "Some of us enjoy the peace!" the older man glared at Eijun making him tremble a bit.

Eijun held his hands up in surrender as he looked at his mom and dad.

"Eijun, wash up before dinner, make sure you clean everything!" His mom shooed him into the bathroom, as his father made interesting faces behind his back. In order to keep himself from laughing and getting his dad in trouble, he quickly pivoted and sprinted up the stairs.

"Eijun! Don't run in the house!"

"Sorry mom!" He slowed down, his short dark hair swishing as he slowed down.

Chapter Text

Okay, so maybe it wasn't as easy as Eijun originally thought it would be to learn more pitching from only a book. Practicing was great and all , but it was definitely harder than it sounded. Eijun grumbled as the ball curved away from the wall at the last second.

Recently he had discovered that his weird pitch was actually a moving fastball, something that he could hone... maybe?  Either way, with his minimal training in baseball during middle school he knew he had a lot of work to do if he wanted to play anywhere in high school. So he started somewhere easier. 

First Eijun decided to get some money for basic equipment. Things like medicine balls, weights and other training equipment were expensive, so he spent his mornings doing chores for his neighbors. Which is what lead to the meager pile of training items he had in his yard. plant tape, for the Sawamura crops helped him make a makeshift strike-zone on the wall, for him to practice control.  And so he had a rough practice area that would help him get better.

Eijun cried out in triumph as he finally got a ball to not veer away from the wall. He released a deep breathe before collecting  his ball and fingering it to ingrain the grip in his mind. The four seam appeared to be ball that wouldn't break... or at least not as much as his other balls usually did. However, He knew that while learning grips were great, he would actually need to watch someone pitch a breaking ball before he could try it himself. So for the first time in his life, Eijun prepared to watch baseball, and not just play it. 

"MOM I NEED TO USE THE COMPUTER REALLY QUICK!" He rushed into the house quickly wiping his feet on the door mat, before sprinting to the computer desk as if it was the home plate and executing a beautiful dive into the chair... at it would have been perfect if Sawamura Eitoku hadn't been watching.

"Brat! You better watch what you're doing. You could've knocked me over!" Eijun felt the punch to his head before hearing his grandfather. Sawamura Eitoku was a stern man, who had many wrinkles from smiling and frowning. The frowning was probably a result of Eijun's shenanigans as a child... and even now.

"Ah, sorry grandpa." Eijun winced apologetically before turning back to the computer. Eitoku huffed before moving out of the room, muttering about disrespectful brats, and still having a strong body.

Eijun sighed booting up the computer before biting his lip to figure out a plan of action. He opened up the search bar and typed in Baseball Pitchers, before shaking his head and typing in Southpaw baseball pitchers high school Japan. The super long search parameters came in handy when the results popped up. First there was an article about someone called Narumiya Mei, a star pitcher for Inashiro Industial High School; Then there was a small bio on some pitcher from a school called Teito whose name was Taiyo.... Eijun snickered slightly at the closeness of the names before scrolling down to the rest of the page. He ended up picking the article about Narumiya Mei, because that Teito dude happened to be a sidearm pitcher.

Narumiya Mei, also known the Prince of Capital is known for his flashy pitching style of breaking balls, and fast balls. As a first year, he became a regular, and then the ace of Inashiro. However, when the team reached Koshien this year, they lost in the early rounds. Narumiya's pitching style is centered around a fast pace, and aggressive pitches that are called by his pitcher Harada. 

The rest of the article went on the explain Narumiya's fanbase, and how cool he was. By the time he was done reading the article, Eijun had noticed a link at the bottom to the game and scrimmage schedule for their off season and in season play. Eijun's eyes widened as he realized that there would be a game that upcoming weekend. Just then, the door slammed open, startling Eijun from his reverie. 

"Eijun, there is someone here to visit you! Get downstairs right now." Eijun staired at his grandfather confused. Wakana and Nobu knew that he was busy this week, so it couldn't be his friends-

"Eijun Stop moping and go right now." Eijun sighed before shuffling down the stairs at a moderate pace. When he reached the sitting area, he immediately took notice of the unkown person present. 

She had dark brown hair, an athletic build and a pair of glasses that gave her a calculating look. The way she dressed indicated that she was probably someone from a professional field. She looked up at him when he coughed to get the room's attention. 

"Sawamura Eijun-kun. My name is Takashima Rei. I am a scout for Seido High school in Tokyo." She took his left-hand in hers feeling the callouses on his fingers that indicated the hours of practice he put in for baseball.

"Seido? that prestigious school? How do we know that you're not some fake?" His father questioned. She slid over a professional looking business card as evidence before pushing up her glasses. But before she could continue, Eijun's mother also interjected.

"Why would a school like Seido want Eijun? After the incident, we didn't think that anyone would want him." She frowned.

"I could see this when he was slapping people, but his technique and flexibility indicated his skill as a pitcher...." As she was talking Eijun zoned out.

'Why  would anyone want me to play at their school? I know that I've been working... and improving, but we lost every single one of our games. Besides, I promised my friends that I'd take them to Koshien... I can't break that promise.'

"I can't go..." He said quietly looking down, something that was abnormal for him, "I promised everyone that I'd take them to Koshien... and besides, you don't need to go to a fancy school to play baseball, you can play anywhere." Eijun's family glanced at each other before brining him into an Emergency family meeting. 

"You should go Eijun, this might be your only chance to go to high school."

"You'd be hard-pressed to find a school or even a team in Nagano that would take you after the incident."  The comments came flooding in, until Eijun finally had enough.

"ENOUGH!" He shouted shocking everyone present, "Can I at least visit the campus first? If I a go there, and I mean if, then I want to know what my prospective teammates might be like."

Takashima-san's glasses glinted as she smirked. "In two days, you may visit the campus, I will pick you up from the station so that you can check out the equipment. My card has both my email and number, please contact me if you have any questions." With that she bowed, courteously before leaving.

Not even a second later Eijun's mother pounced on him causing him to squeal. He wasn't very tall in the first place, in fact his mother was taller than him, so he nearly fell when she jumped on him.

"Mom, I'm not promising that I'll like it, or even that I'll go... I still have that promise I made to my teammates about Koshien. Either way, I guess I'm just going to check it out..." He sneakily looked at his grandfather before adding, "By the way, Grandpa, you didn't think that I would get an option for high school... For a reward, can you take me to watch the Inashiro versus Ichidai baseball game?" He gave his grandfather a pleading look.

It took a moment, but once his words sunk in, his family gasped. Two strange things had happened today. First, a recruiter came for Eijun, and now Eijun wanted to watch baseball?

Then there was pandemonium.

Chapter Text

Eijun had started to keep a journal about his progress in baseball and he filled it out with his training menus, discoveries, and goals. Ever since his discovery about his moving fastball, Eijun began to actually think about the mechanics of baseball. With the visit from Takashima-san from Seido, he began training even harder... even if he was conflicted about whether he would go or not. 

So far, his pitching notes included his find about different pitching grips, and how they changed the way his ball broke. This idea came from his book, and when he really though about it, he realized that he hadn't been consciously gripping the ball in consistent places or ways. Although, it was easier said than done. As of now, Eijun could only control the four and two seam, and he had trouble figuring out how to stabilize the others. EIjun also had some pitches that he wanted to learn like the slider, cutter and change-up but as of now, he knew that without proper instruction it was not going to happen.

This morning, Eijun excitedly packed his travel sports bag with his mitt, and a spare practice uniform with cleats just in case. Although he had some trepidations about this trip, he wanted to make sure he was prepared for anything. 

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Seido's baseball fields were bigger than he thought they would be. Eijun completely ignored Takashima-san as he bounced excitedly from alien equipment to clean cut baseball diamonds.

"UWA! What's this? I don't even know what it does..." Eijun's eyes sparkled at the sight of the equipment. Takashima-san smirked and pushed up her glasses, knowingly. Seeing this, Eijun spluttered, "You don't need fancy equipment to play ball, you only need a ball, a bat, and a mitt." He huffed turning away from her.

"OI Kawakami, throw like you mean it. My grandmother could throw harder than you!" A fat man? or was it a boy...? looked like he was bullying a smaller player who was almost cowering on the mound, Eijun knew the feeling well.

Whenever his middle school team played a team with bigger, better and stronger players, Eijun felt like he wanted to hide. Eventually though, he found strength in his teammates, and realized that as ace he needed to feel the weight of everyone's expectation on him. When he came to that epiphany in his first-year, his ball started to carry a heavier weight that it didn't have before. His pitches were stronger and moved wilder at the plate. Although... When he thought about it now, it didn't seem to do much for him is his last game. Eijun sympathized with the pitcher, so he had to speak out. He just couldn't help himself.

"Hey who's that fatty? He looks like some kind of monk.... Are you sure he's a high schooler?" Eijun started to try and instigate something to draw attention away from the poor pitcher who seemed to be trembling. The older boy's head snapped in his direction like a whip, and before Eijun knew what was happening they were chest to chest... or rather belly to chest.

"Who do you think you are calling my cute belly names?" The boy said, stepping forward to intimidate Eijun. Of course, Eijun being as dense as he was, it didn't really work.

"My name is Sawamura Eijun! Don't you know that baseball is a team sport? You can't play by yourself, and you should treat your teammates well!" Eijun's eyes glimmered with intensity, and blazing with stubbornness. He absolutely hated anyone who was mean to their teammates. Eijun was the captain and ace of Akagi's baseball team, even if he didn't feel like it after the loss, so above all else he hated that these elites were allowed to be careless with their teammates. It made his work seem irrelevant, and unimportant.

While he was thinking, he completely missed the side conversation between Takashima-san and the boy...

"Azuma-kun, please forgive this boy, he's from the country. He doesn't really know what he's saying. Do you mind teaching him a lesson?" 

"Sure, but I'm not letting him off the mound even if he starts to cry for his mother." Takashima-san winced almost unnotably, except for the twitch of her face. Eijun's head moved from side to side in disbelief. He was only here to watch not to challenge someone. However, he knew that if he did want to go here, he wasn't sure yet dammit, then he would need to prove himself. And what better way to do that than to strike this bastard out? 

"I accept! You better not disappoint me old man." Eijun petulantly crossed his arms squinting his eyes at Azuma.

"Oho, this sounds interesting. Mind if I catch for this guy Rei-chan?" A guy with messy brown hair and sports glasses said as he lounged against the fences a little ways away from where the confrontation was.

"Ah Miyuki-kun, I'm glad you asked, this guy has some interesting pitches. I'd like you to try and draw out his potential." Takashima-San whispered conspiratorially. Miyuki smirked, his eyes sharpening on Eijun due to the praise from Takashima-san.

"Well kid, we better get going yeah? Lets get you changed and warmed up." Eijun nodded and followed Miyuki, swinging his bag over his shoulder. He was definitely glad he decided to bring his gear.

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"Okay brat, so what do you throw?" They were playing catch to warm up Eijun's shoulder for the challenge. 

"I pitch fastballs for life!" Eijun yelled. Miyuki grasped his stomach and curled over laughing.

"Seriously!?" He cackled amusedly, "You're interesting, you know that?"

"As actually, I throw a moving fastball, and have a two and four seam. I can sometimes control the direction that it breaks in, but I'm still working on that... My most uncontrollable moving fastball is my palm-ball. Um, and I have a weird pitching form?" Miyuki calmed down and nodded. 

"Well the only way that we can test that is having you throw to me right?" Miyuki crouched down on the mound curiously holding his mitt out for Eijun. His eyes widened as that ball seemed to go off course, and suddenly broke into the zone. 'His arm is so late... It's almost like the ball seems to go faster than it is. "Interesting. Where can you throw in the zone?"

"I can throw the corners, but I'm better with inside pitches." Miyuki nodded before coming back up to Eijun.

"Can you go over the basic signs for the pitches?" Eijun nodded at him before showing him the general signs for his moving fastballs, and the placement signs.

He paused, "I don't actually have signs for the palm ball, four and two seams. Uh, my catcher on my old team couldn't handle them well, so we sealed my grips." Eijun fibbed the last part, not wanting this catcher to know that he was literally worked out these pitches over the last month or so.

"Ah, ok so let's do four fingers for the four seam, two for the two seam, and a fist for the palm ball." Miyuki quickly flashed the new signs as he said them. Eijun puffed out a breath and nodded.

"Well let's go do some monster slaying!" Miyuki said, and lightly tapped him on the shoulder with his mitt.

Chapter Text

The first thing Eijun noticed as Miyuki sat behind the plate was his smirk that twisted his features into something akin to a mischievous demon. Miyuki's brown eyes glinted with the steel of someone who knew that they were good at what they did. Eijun breathed in before exhaling forcefully to relieve himself of unnecessary thoughts. Then he readied himself for the signs that would come his way.

'fastball high and to the inside?'  Eijun interpreted the signs quickly and cringed slightly looking at the fierce glare on Azuma's face. The large man (boy?) looked somewhat like a monster who could likely breathe fire. 'Calm down idiot' he thought to himself, 'don't let your imagination run away from you. Focus on the first pitch.'  Eijun licked his lips before settling into his windup and getting ready to pitch the ball.

As he brought his body through his pitching motion, he focused on letting the ball go at the last moment to get the most power into his pitch. Just as he was coming to the end of the motion, he got a horrible feeling that Azuma would hit his ball. Being the stubborn person, he was, Eijun forced his arm down, throwing the ball into the ground rather than letting his pitch get hit.

***

Kazuya's eyes widened as he saw the scrawny junior high kid forced his pitch into the ground. He still caught the ball (obviously) and started to cackle madly. Gesturing up to his roommate and senpai, he called a timeout before sauntering over to the mound where the interesting pitcher was glaring, golden, eyes shining as bright as the sun.

"Oy Miyuki! You should have talked before we started." Azuma growled in annoyance. Kazuya just waved his arm at him dismissing him and riling up the large senior even more.

"You just threw that pitch into the ground on purpose didn't you." Kazuya stated firmly as he stepped onto the mound covering his mouth with his mitt. The kid's eyes widened before sharpening into a glare the fire in his golden eyes seeming to illuminate the mound around them.

"I felt like if I threw that pitch, then that guy would have gotten a hit off of me." The kid huffed.

"Oho?" Kazuya's eyes steeled themselves, "So you threw that pitch into the ground just to avoid him hitting it?" He cackled a bit, "Well you're not wrong. That course I just asked for is his favorite pitch to hit off." The kid's glare seemed to burn even brighter for a second and Kazuya froze seeing the beginnings of an ace that somewhere in the future may come from this guy.

"Whose side are you on Miyuki Kazuya?" The kid shouted fists clenched. Kazuya who usually preferred to be cold to his teammates, could not help but laugh at the boy who had suddenly barged into his practice and disturbed his monotonous day. His teammates who were crowding around the diamond that they had taken over for the 3 at bat challenge looked disquieted at the sight of Kazuya's face openly showcasing his joy at playing ball with someone unique and interesting.

"I'm on your side partner." Miyuki emphasized the word enjoying the flush it brought to the loudmouthed kid's face.

"Yeah well I don't need you to beat him" The boy huffed, pouting slightly as he crossed his arms.

"Oh? Well weren't you the one who said that you can't play baseball without a team kid?" Kazuya stared him down intensely before saying, "The best pitches are a work of art created by the pitcher and catcher working together."

"First of all, my name is Sawamura Eijun. Not kid. And secondly, I-" He flushed even more before sighing in resignation. "Yeah I did say that didn't I?" He smiled softly before looking back at Kazuya who was for once smiling and not smirking.

"All right then, Sa-Wa-Mu-Ra let's slay us a monster yeah?"

"Sure thing partner!" Miyuki couldn't help the laughter that escaped him when the b- Sawamura threw his words back at him. So, Kazuya tapped Sawamura on his breastbone with his mitt before making his way back the plate.

***

Kazuya squatted grimacing as Azuma's furious countenance glared down upon him. He snickered lightly, shoulders shaking in his mirth. The kid ("My name is Sawamura") was getting more and more interesting with every moment, and he couldn't help but be excited to catch for him. Squaring his shoulders once more, Kazuya signed the pitcher with his left indicating that they should use a palm grip for the next ball and a low strike to the outside corner.

Sawamura breathed in before starting his windup and swinging his arm all the way through. The ball, although not the fastest he'd ever seen, still traveled at a good speed towards the plate. Azuma swung, but the ball changed course above the plate dropping even lower, and going right into Kazuya's might. Kazuya grinned to himself before throwing the ball back to the loudmouthed kid pitcher and asking for the next ball.

***

They only did 11 pitches, but for Eijun those 11 pitches changed his life. They had won the 3 at bat challenge striking out Azuma 3 out of 3 times. For Eijun, that solidified his desire to go to Seidou and form a battery once more with the catcher Miyuki Kazuya. However, he first needed to find a way to not disappoint his junior high friends by telling them he wanted to go to Seidou.

It turned out that he needn't have worried. While he was at his recruitment session, his grandfather had bragged to nearly everyone in the town, meaning his friends already knew. Having been his friends since he was little, they knew nearly everything about Eijun and his innate desire to be the best pitcher and play baseball forever. They couldn't fault him for wanting to follow his dreams, and so they chose to support him, even if it meant they might not see each other that often.

So, with only a couple of months left until the start of preseason, Eijun had sent his decision to Takashima-san. He would be attending Seidou High school in the Spring.

Chapter Text

Shortly after his visit to Seidou, and his decision to attend school there in the Spring, Eijun increased his training regimen to include more stamina training, lower body and core strengthening exercises. He hoped that this would increase his power, and speed. From his books he learned that the best way to increase the weight behind a pitch was to increase the transfer of energy from your legs upwards. Nori-Senpai the pitcher who was being bullied by the demonic man/boy, Azuma, had given him his LINE contact information, which made Eijun's life more interesting now that he had someone serious about baseball to talk with.

***

The pitcher who  Azuma  was talking to stared at the junior high student in a mix of shock and awe. Kawakami  Norifumi  was disappointed in  himself  for not only failing to stand up to himself, but also having a student one year younger than him stand up to  Azuma . Nori worried his lip during the three at bat  challenge  and  his breath caught when the junior high student roared  during  the 11th pitch. Three out of three  outs  were completed showing an undisputed victory over Azuma-Senpai.

The kid turned and captured him in his golden gaze, freezing Nori in place. The small brunette held out his hand now a the complete opposite person to the intense aura that had surrounded him earlier.

"Hopefully that guy won't  bother  you anymore! GWAHAHAHA!" His rambunctious laugh rang through the practice field where all of the team stood in shock.  Azuma  was a draft pick and this kid had struck him out like nothing.  To be fair though, most of it was probably a mix Miyuki's game calling and Azuma-Senpai  underestimating  the kid. Still to be struck out...

"Ah... Kawakami  Norifumi . You can call me Nori... and honestly I'm more worried for  Miyuki . He's the one who has to room with Azuma-senpai." The kid's face went slack in awe.

"And he still helped me face him down? Wow, that catcher has some serious guts." He snickered golden eyes glittering. "In fact Miyuki-Senpai sounds like a tanuki to me! My name is Sawamura Eijun by the way! It's nice to meet you Nori-Senpai."

"Nice to meet you  Sawamura . Did you need something from me?" Nori tilted his head in askance.

"Can I get your LINE information? I'd like to  talk  to someone who goes here about school, and it's be nice to talk to another pitcher!"

***

Nori-Senpai \(^.^)/: Sawamura how is training?

Sawamura: It's so-so, I want to learn how to better control my pitches, but I keep losing power when I do that... (=.=). How's training been for you? Is Azuma-senpai bothering you or Tanuki-Senpai?

Nori-Senpai \(^.^)/: Well it seems like you should talk to your coach? Personally to increase my speed with my control coach devised a training menu for core strength. Miyauchi-Senpai (He's a catcher) always says that if you get the fundamentals of your form down, then everything else will improve too! Azuma-Senpai hasn't really bothered me since your visit haha. I think you taught everyone an important lesson about teamwork. They've really been rallying around me.

Sawamura: I'm glad to hear that Seidou is improving for you! That really makes me feel better. I was super nervous about my decision to attend in the Spring. I've actually been working on strengthening exercises lately, but my school doesn't have a coach, so it's really hard for me to get advice. Plus it's closing down at the end of the school year.

Nori-Senpai \(^.^)/: Sorry to hear that. You must feel really sad... :(

Sawamura: Yeah, but there isn't much I can do about it. OH I completely forgot, but my gramps is taking me to Ichidai vs. Inashiro this weekend. I'm sooooooo excited. I get to see a real southpaw in action!

Nori-Senpai \(^.^)/: Narumiya Mei is an amazing pitcher but he has an ego the size of the solar system lol. Also what do you mean a real southpaw? Aren't you one Sawamura?

Sawamura: I guess I am hahaha. Well I got to go my gramps is yelling at me!

Eijun set down his phone and ran down the stairs three at a time, socked feet skidding to a stop in front of the table.

"What's up Grandpa?" The older Sawamura scowled before letting out a sigh.

"Eijun... If we are going to that game this weekend, you better be on your best behavior and complete your chores on TIME!" Eijun squinted and looked around in bemusement.

"What chores Grandpa?" The older man swatted him across the back of the head and murmured about how much of an irritation he was.

"Look at the table what do you see?" Eijun's eyes brightened in recognition.  He rushed to set the table just as his mom called that dinner was ready. He smiled and shrugged at his grandfather innocently when he finished.

"Yes, yes we are still going to the game. Now go wash up for dinner you brat!" Eijun scurried away quickly to the nearest sink.

***
Ichidai vs. Inashiro: Meiji Jingu Stadium

Eijun looked around in awe of the big stadium he and his grandfather were currently seated in. Somehow they had managed to get seats right behind to home plate where he could observe the pitchers throughout the game!

In the first inning, the pitcher who came out of the dugout for Inashiro was Iguchi Yuudai a second year. Using curve balls, shutos, and sinkers mixed with fastballs, he managed to keep the Ichidai batters under control. Until the third inning where they got a 2 run homer off of him. They weren't able to hit in the earlier innings but they had gotten used to his pitch.

It was in the fourth inning after the stalemate was broken that the ace, Narumiya Mei came out. He was shorter that expected, possibly the same height at Eijun currently, but his presence seemed to be so much bigger than anyone else there. Eijun watched as Narumiya managed to get out all of Ichidai's batters in the inning, living up to his nickname: The Prince of Capital. 

In the 6th inning Inashiro scored 2 runs to even out the score using tactics and big hits from the clean ups. The team looked more energized than they had at the start of the game.

'So this is what a real ace is like,' thought Eijun, his eyes wide with excitement. 'I know that I was the ace of my team... but I was nothing like this.'

In the 7th, 8th and 9th innings, Inashiro made a decisive blow winning the game 8-2. Ichidai was never able to catch up, or get runs off of Narumiya.

***
Eijun's eyes sparkled as he ran out of the stands to the front of the stadium. If he ran fast enough maybe he'd be able to see Narumiya in person

"Eijun where do you think you're going! Get back here brat!" His grandfather yelled in annoyance. However, Eijun wasn't paying attention. His eyes were on a blonde boy wearing an Inashiro uniform.

"AHHHH! NARUMIYA MEI!" Eijun yelled pointing a finger at him. The entirety of the Inashiro team turned to look at him confused. Narumiya looked the most befuddled out of all of them.

"Ahh! Screaming child." He responded at a more sedate tone.

"You're sooooooooo cool..." Eijun started to blabber on and on complimenting Narumiya's performance. The First-year ace in return was turning pinker and pinker as his team watched in amusement. Their ace was usually pretty hot-headed, and self-assured, but something about this kid's earnestness and innocence was making him kind of embarrassed.

"Oi kid what did you want?" Carlos asked confused.

"My name is Sawamura Eijun. I'm a southpaw as well. Can you help me pitch better?"

"You... hahahahahaha! Oh my gosh hahahahaha" Narumiya cluched his stomach as he bent forward laughing. After a couple of minutes he stood up still chuckling a little.

"Well you are adorable... and the same height as me, so sure I'll help you. Come back to Inashiro with us. Coach won't care as long as we are doing something productive. You can show me your pitching form!" Narumiya said while pinching his cheek.

"Thank you Narumiya-Senpai!" Eijun bowed.

"Oi at least call me Mei-Senpai, and I'll call you Ei-chan." Eijun shrugged completely used to that nickname.

"Okay Mei-Senpai, I need to let my gramps know!" Eijun broke into a dead sprint towards the older Sawamura.

"Grandpa, I'm going to Inashiro to practice!" He promptly recieved a head slap for his efforts. 

"Oh you are, are you? And you didn't think to ask before doing something like that? Just how are you planning on getting home then. Huh brat?"

"Yes please let me stay Grandpa! I'll take the 16:00 train back to Nagano I promise!" Eitoku sighed his hand coming up to rub his forehead.

"Fine, but those brats better take you to the train station. Or knowing you, you'll get lost. Here is some money for the return ticket. Don't forget to be on the train by 16:00." Eitoku held out his hand dropping money into Eijun's grasp.

Eijun stopped to hug him and then was off again running towards the high schoolers who looked like they could blow him over. The blonde one who was the same height as him hooked an arm around his shoulder and lead him away. As Eitoku watched him leave with the older boys he sighed.

'They grow up so fast... huh'

Chapter Text

Ever since the meeting with Narumiya Mei... ('It's Mei-Senpai idiot.') Eijun's baseball life had gotten infinitely harder. The first thing that he had said after seeing him pitch to Harada-san ('Ei-Chan, Harada-san is practically an old man, we call him san not senpai' ) was that he had no core stability and that he needed to improve his balance in order to increase the power and stability of his pitch. So, with the addition of a brand new training menu courtesy of Mei-Senpai, Eijun set out on a journey to improve his physique for Seidou. The training menu included a multitude of core, hip and leg exercises, as well as conditioning to help improve his stamina. The workout itself  took him approximately an hour and a half, leaving Eijun with an hour to pitch against his board set up. 

Since the Inashiro game, he had stayed in contact with Nori-Senpai and Mei-Senpai  which meant that he had a growing collection of pitcher friends! Eijun had never had many friends who were as into baseball as he was (his Akagi team didn't count, they joined for him and not for themselves). Though, without a catcher there was not a lot that Eijun could do to improve his game sense and ability to communicate. His former teammates tried their best, but Eijun's pitches were still too hard for them to catch and besides, they were studying for entrance exams unlike Eijun who would be getting into Seidou via baseball scholarship.

So, the summer break transition from junior high to high school went bye quickly with much improvement on Eijun's end. The Hellish training menu from Mei-Senpai and Harada-San took up much of his time and to it he added daily runs, which meant that every evening Eijun would slowly tremble his way up to his bed after bathing and then immediately conk out. It became common for Eijun's grandfather to proudly (and secretly) watch his only grandson race towards his dream. For Eijun's parents it was nice to see their son working towards a positive goal after his harsh defeat and the subsequent beat down of an opposing team. 

***

Mei-Senpai (~˘▾˘)~: Ei-Chan! How's the training going? Have you decided what high school you are going to this fall? Are you perhaps going to join me at Inashiro? You can be my apprentice!

Ei-Chan ｡◕‿◕｡: Mei-Senpai... Didn't I already tell you that I decided on Seidou? Are you still trying to convince me to "join the dark side?" 

Mei-Senpai (~˘▾˘)~: Aw, but you're my adorable kouhai, I can't help wanting you to join me! Well, you'll on a team with Kazuya then. 

Ei-Chan ｡◕‿◕｡: Eh? You know Tanuki-Senpai?

Mei-Senpai (~˘▾˘)~: Tanuki-Senpai? Bwahahahahaha that's golden! If Tanuki-Senpai is Miyuki Kazuya, then yes I know him. He was supposed to be my catcher at Inashiro. But he told me that it would be more fun to beat me than play with me... ಠ~ಠ

Ei-Chan ｡◕‿◕｡: ...Well I guess that he and I can beat you together Mei-Senpai.

Mei-Senpai (~˘▾˘)~: Oho? Is that some kind of declaration Ei-Chan? Do you maybe have a Crush? 

Ei-Chan ｡◕‿◕｡: Ah... Bye Mei-Senpai! g2g

Mei-Senpai (~˘▾˘)~: Oi! Don't run away!  Hey!  

Mei-Senpai (~˘▾˘)~: Come back and answer me!

Mei-Senpai (~˘▾˘)~: Ei-Chan....

Mei-Senpai (~˘▾˘)~: Eijun!

Mei-Senpai (~˘▾˘)~: Well... I guess it's just me now ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

***

Between his conversations with Mei-Senpai and Nori-Senpai as well as his training, Eijun had barely any free time left over. But, in the last week before he headed out to Tokyo, Eijun made sure to hangout with his former team from Akagi. He wanted to make sure that they felt special, because even though was wasn't going to be with them in high school, he would like to think that they would still be among his closest friends. 

His childhood friend Wakana, as well as his old catcher Nobu decided play a small game of catch with him in Eijun's backyard. Living in Nagano, there was no reason not to use the outdoors. Not when it was so pretty and definitely not when it would be the last time Eijun would be home for a long time.  Seidou was a boarding school, so Eijun would be living exclusively in Tokyo for pretty much all three of his high school years.  

Eijun tossed the ball in to Wakana who then tossed it to Nobu completing the passing triangle. Since their failed last season, it seemed that Eijun had improved drastically. He may not have had the different grip under control yet (he knew that changing his grip without changing his form changed the pitch's break) but that would be something that he could work on with Tanuki-Senpai at Seidou with proper coaching. Whether he liked it or not, messing with breaking balls was not something that he should practice without someone keeping track of his form. It would be all to easy to injure himself if he wasn't careful.

"Ne, Ei-Chan are you excited about going to school in Tokyo?" Wakana asked as she tossed the ball to Nobu.

"Yeah! I'm super excited about being able to play with him again. I can't wait to form a battery for real this time." Eijun grinned at his friends.

"But, aren't you nervous at all Ei-Chan? Isn't Seidou a huge, famous school?" Nobu asked. He wasn't the most extroverted of Eijun's friends and it showed. Poor Nobu seemed to be shaking from his buzz cut to his sneakers.

"I guess? But I'm mostly excited! I didn't really think that I would get into a high school (due to the beat down) let alone a famous baseball school where I could get the opportunity to play. So, even though I'll need to work, and even though I might have more than a few setbacks and stumbles... I won't give up!" Eijun's eyes gleamed brightly with his conviction, setting both Wakana and Nobu at ease. As long as Eijun stayed true to himself, well that was all that they could ask for. 

"Ne, Ei-Chan, I think that if it's you, you'll be able to do it. We all really believe in you ya' know?" Wakana said smiling softly at her best friend. Many people thought that Wakana and Eijun were dating, but they couldn't be further off the mark. They had a very platonic relationship between themselves, and although they were super close for non-related opposite gendered friends, Wakana knew for a fact that Eijun, just so happened to be uninterested in females.

"Ah, I've got to succeed right? After all I'm not going to be playing for myself anymore. I'll also be representing our team too! So I have to do my best, for all of you too!" He said it with such conviction that right then and there both Wakana and Nobu knew for sure, Eijun was going do Amazing in Tokyo. And while they may not see him as often, they would definitely come out to watch some of his games, excited to see where he would go.

So, they spent the last couple of hours until the sun started to set, tossing the ball and playing catch while chatting about anything and everything both happy and sad, because Eijun was their best friend and he would be going places.

***

It seemed like the day that Eijun would be leaving came too fast. All of Eijun's friends from his Akagi baseball team gathered around the platform where he would be boarding his train to Tokyo. Rei-San had come to pick him up, mostly to make sure he made it to Seidou safely. Eijun worried his lip unsure about how to say good bye to some of the most influential people in his life. Wakana stepped forward and handed him a baseball cap in which the inside and bill were covered in little messages from his team. He clutched it to his chest protectively, because these little messages were little tokens from his friends to him.

"Ne Ei-Chan... This isn't goodbye, yeah? Think of it as a see you later! I promise that when you play your first official match, we'll all be there, right in the stands cheering you on. But until then, remember that we believe in you. Ei-Chan, you built our team out of nothing and although we couldn't do much to help you shine, we want nothing else but for you to follow your dreams! So, with that in mind... Good luck Eijun. See you later!" Wakana passionately broke the silence between the boy and his friends. Eijun's lip trembled as he struggled not to cry. He kept a brave face on so that he wouldn't make it harder for his friends.

"Hey guys? I just wanted to say thanks. For being one of the best teams that I could have ever had." He smiled eyes alight with how proud he was. His shoulders were back and his posture was confident. "So since this isn't good bye, I'll see you again yeah?" And with that he hugged them all individually, lingering on his parents and Wakana, his sister in all but blood. Then he turned and walked onto the train steeling himself with a promise not to cry. Perhaps he'd cry later, once in the comfort of his new accommodations, but he couldn't do it when all of his friends and family were here happily cheering him on. 

As the train left the station, He brought up his hand shakily and waved giving his biggest smile. Only to gasp when he saw his team trying to chase the train.

"Ei I wish we could have played together more!" Nobu choked out suddenly, his eyes filled with tears.

"Idiot! Why would you say that, we promised not to remember?" Wakana cuffed his ear trying to stop her own tears.

"B-but I'll really miss him..." Nobu sniffled

"Ei-Chan I wish we could have gone to the same high school!" Eijun's eyes widened a lump forming in his throat as he saw the brave faces of his friends collapsing.

"Eijun we'll miss you!" 

"Don't forget us..." The voices grew more and more indistinct as the faces of his friends and family grew obscured and faded away in the distance. Eijun clutched his baseball cap to his chest struggling not to cry. Biting his lip, he turned towards a solemn looking Rei-San.

"So this is what conviction is huh?" Right then and there Eijun made a promise to himself. He would become the ace. For his friends and for his dream. Like they had said, this wasn't permanent, it was not a goodbye, and so Eijun could look towards his future and give Seidou his all. Because even though both he and his friends were sad, he knew that they wholly supported him. And that was enough... It had to be.

Chapter Text

"Wow." Eijun's eyes sparkled as he looked at the Seidou dorms. The Seidou Spirit Dorms (specifically for the baseball team) looked somewhat like an apartment complex, which to Eijun was both terrifying and amazing. Rei-San chuckled before turning an appraising eye on Eijun.

"Now that you are on the team you can call me Rei-chan. But you better show me proper respect during class. Okay Sawamura-Kun?" Her eyes partially obscured by glasses, glinted making Eijun cringe slightly.

"Y-y-yes Rei-Chan-San... I mean Rei-Chan!" Eijun stuttered out loudly. He pouted slightly when she laughed, and ruffled his hair. 

"I'm sure you'll fit right in Sawamura-Kun. Get settled in your room, practice starts early in the morning and you don't want to be late!" She smiled at him before leaving him in front of the dorms... alone.

"Okay... So I'm in room 205... I should definitely ask Nori-Senpai about my roommates!" He rifled through his bag looking for his cellphone. "Ah! I should also ask him where my room is ehehehe." He rubbed his neck sheepishly.

***

Sawamura: Nori-Senpai... Do you know where room 205 is? 

Nori-Senpai \(^.^)/: Yeah, it's on the second level of the dorms. Sawamura, are you perhaps at Seidou right now?

Sawamura: Yes? I'm standing outside of the complex. I feel completely lost rn. Wait... if you know where my room is, do you know who my roommates are?

Nori-Senpai \(^.^)/: Yeah, A third year named Masuko Tooru and a second year named Kuramochi Yoichi. Hang on, I'll come get you. 

Sawamura: Thanks Nori-Senpai!

Nori-Senpai \(^.^)/: It's no problem hahaha, I guess it's my job now that you're officially my kouhai. A word of advice... Kuramochi happens to be really intense, but Miyuki always mentions that having a little brother could mellow him out. Something about making him go soft? Honestly those two have the strangest relationship. Do me a favor and call him Nii-San. I really want to see how he reacts. 

Nori-Senpai \(^.^)/: I think that our dear catcher with a crap personality is rubbing off on me... Shoot. 

***

"Sawamura!" Nori called jogging up to the lean brunette. "Let's go." He grabbed on of Eijun's duffel bags and started to trek up the stairs. He was excited about possibly pranking Kuramochi and ruining Kuramochi's own prank. "When you introduce yourself, call him Nii-San." Nori bounced on his heels as they approached the room.

Eijun gave him a strange look before knocking on the door. The door to room 205 opened to pitch darkness and a white face lit by a flashlight slowly appeared, covered in what appeared to be blood? Eijun's eyes widened before, he took a deep breath glancing at Nori and remembering his advice.

"Hello! My name is Sawamura Eijun. Are you okay? Do you need medical attention? Nori-Senpai, do you know how to give first-aid?" Said senpai was struggling not to giggle at the look on Kuramochi's face.

"Nah kid. It was supposed to be a prank." He glared playfully at Nori, "That Someone happened to ruin!" He sighed opening the door completely and turning on the lights, revealing a heavy set guy who was also in the room. "My name is Kuramochi Yoichi, nice to meet you. The big guy is Masuko Tooru. He's punishing himself right now, so he isn't talking. If you ask him any questions though, he'll write his answers for you."

"Oh! That means that you're Mochi-Nii! Nori-Senpai told me I should call you that." The green haired boy's eyes widened in surprise. 

"I expected something like this from Miyuki not you Nori. Whoever says that you're innocent must be joking" he muttered before allowing Eijun into the room. Nori snickered before wishing the three of them goodnight and heading to his own room.

"Well there goes my plan for pranking him in the morning. I can't let someone who calls me nii-san get into trouble can I?" He muttered before running his hand through his hair with a sigh. Then louder to Eijun he said, "Practice tomorrow starts at 7:00 sharp. We should probably get you unpacked quickly, so that we can get to bed."

"Thanks Mochi-Nii!" The brunette smiled brightly causing the older boy to blush lightly. Yoichi didn't think he would ever get used to someone calling him that.

***

First thing in the morning, Eijun stood lined up neatly in rows with the other first years. There were so many of them, but the ones who stood out most to Eijun were: a tough looking blonde, a tall, lanky boy with black hair, a short boy with pink hair (could he really see through those bangs though?) and a shy looking brunette. Eijun excitedly started at the current first string and upperclassmen fighting the urge to wave furiously in their direction. His eyes widened as they came upon a familiar brunette, with his cap askew and his sport visor perched on his angular nose. 

Eijun bounced on his heels excitedly as the first years started to introduce themselves, waiting impatiently for his turn. Biting his lip his eyes widened because Miyuki Kazuya was looking at him. Did that mean that the tanuki like senpai remembered him? Eijun knew that the three at bat challenge changed his own life (he was in Tokyo instead of Nagano!) but could that same challenge have affected the tanuki even a little?

"I'm Sawamura Eijun, I'm a pitcher! I'm here to become the ace... and form a battery with Tanuki-Senpai." Everyone looked a t him a little confused and Eijun flushed. He had meant to say Miyuki-Senpai, but the dumb nickname that he had been calling the catcher in head had just slipped out. Nori-Senpai was looking at him wide-eyed realizing exactly who he was talking about, and Mochi-Nii along with the senpai in question were shaking hands hand on mouths trying not to burst out into laughter. Eijun's face reddened even more from embarrassment.

"My name is Kanemaru Shinji, I'm a third baseman." The interesting blonde from before introduced himself to stop Eijun's embarrassment. And right then and there, Eijun knew that Kanemaru would be one of his new best friends.

***

Eijun had thought that the first practice would have been interesting. Instead, they spent the whole time being tested for their athleticism and ability in their positions while the upperclassmen went straight into drills on the A grounds. The shy brunette, Eijun and the tall lanky boy with dark hair (why did he look half asleep?) as well as two more lackluster boys who obviously didn't want to be there were standing in the B grounds bullpen being tested for pitching ability. The first test for stamina, Eijun breezed through running and running and running long after the other boys dropped. The coach eventually called for his to stop halting Eijun before he could continue to run.

"Alright, next we are going to do balance test, and then watch your pitching motions. The first year pitchers will be joining us so that we can watch you pitch." The coach said. The five prospective pitchers lined up waiting for their turns.

"Tojou Hideaki, you're up first." the shy brunette stepped forward. Eijun watched curiously as Boss (because the coach looked like some kind of yakuza boss in Eijun's opinion) laid out a wooden block on the ground. Tojou placed his right foot on the block and brought his leg up and hand into his gloved fist. He stood on one leg balancing as Kataoka (Boss) went around and measured hip angle, and took notes on his steadiness. 

"Furuya Satoru." Boss called, and waited as the sleepy boy meandered over to the block and went through the same measurements. Although Furuya did seem to have better balance than Tojou. Kataoka went through the other boys, until...

"Sawamura Eijun, you're up." Eijun stepped forward alight with nerves. However, the man's eyes widened slightly as the boy put his left leg on the block. Eijun, now identified as a southpaw, went through the same test as the others waiting patiently as Kataoka measured hip angle and balance. 

"Alright, next up is pitching motion and ability. Tell me, what kind of balls you pitch when you step up, and the catcher will call placement and pitch type. The goal here is to see what your current abilities are. Begin."

Chapter Text

Eijun nervously bit his lip as he watched one of the two catchers (Who's names he did not know) sit into a squat. The boss apparently wanted everyone to pitch separately so that he could get a taste of what each pitcher could bring to the table. Currently Eijun was only sure about his four seam, two seam and his palm-ball. But he had been slowly developing a change up through watching videos and talking to Mei-Senpai all summer. He watched as the two bored looking pitchers finished their turns showing fast balls, high and low pitches. Eijun bounced on his heels feeling even more nervous, yet excited as he waited. Furuya and Tojou both were ahead of him, so he would be pitching last. As Furuya stepped up to pitch, Eijun noticed  that his sleepy energy diminished and the tall boy seemed to wake up with a startling intensity.

'Either he loved to pitch, or he finds all of this to be boring... He's not wrong but I'd like to think that these tests Boss is giving us are important. Honestly, I'm kind of mad that he's not paying attention...' Thought Eijun slightly annoyed.

Furuya went through the motion, muscles coiling and it was like a gun had gone off in the bullpen. His pitch had knocked over the catcher with the force he had put behind it. Although it would seem that his control was very lacking as his pitch had risen during its course and had soared above the catcher's head. So it was fast, but honestly? That was all that was great about it. Smack went one pitch after another, yet none of them ended up well in the zone. So Furuya had practically thrown all balls, and in a game that would have been a treacherous inning most likely leading to many walked home runs. Hopefully with the season, and practice, he would improve.

Tojou went next, show casing consistent, smooth fast balls that had a low course, and an ability to throw curveballs and sliders. With his skill set it seemed likely that he would pitch to contact and force batters to his ground balls. Over all, the boss seemed most pleased with Tojou out of all of the first years so far. Which made Eijun feel even more nervous because he only started to pitch consistently recently and his wild pitching was still an imminent threat.

"Sawamura. You're up, Let's see what you've got." The boss looked at him and gestured towards the mound. "Alright, What pitches can you throw?" He asked, looking at his clipboard and notes.

"Ah, I can throw a four seam, two seam, palmball, and a changeup." Eijun took a deep breath before looking towards the catcher.

"Okay, like I said before, since there are no assigned signs yet, the catcher will verbally call pitches and areas. Ready?" Boss looked at him.

"Yes Boss - I mean coach." Eijun flushed embarrassed that he had used the nickname that he had been calling Kataoka in his head. The boss just shook his head and gestured towards the catcher.

"Alright. Begin." Eijun nodded and took a deep breath settling onto the mound.

"Four Seam high and to the inside!" Called the catcher. Eijun settled into his throwing motion, zeroing onto his targeted location in the strike zone, he waited as the ball reached the perfect release point and threw it towards the mitt. The catcher caught it dazed. 

'What was that? It was like this arm disappeared... Why was it so late?'  Thought the cater slightly flustered. He shook his head before settling. Alright next ball.

"Two seam low and to the outside!" He called. Eijun settled into his throwing motion yet again. focusing on his release point, making a wall and his target. The ball smacked into the mitt, but this time it was a little off. Eijun shook hi head preparing for the next call.

'So it's not a fluke? The ball is coming really late...' The catcher thought confused. He pinched his thigh before getting ready for the next pitch.

"Change up low and to the inside" He called smacking his mitt with his fist. The pitch yet again hit the mitt, off by a hair from the center. However, by then, the boss had already noticed Eijun's strange pitching form and watched with a hawk's gaze interested in what might happen. 

"Palmball High and to the inside!" The catcher called.

'I have to form a wall with my right hand, and transfer my weight smoothly across my lower body. Wait until the absolute last second and... Release from my finger tips!'  Eijun took a deep breath as the pitcher made an insane cut from a meatball to a high inside pitch. The catcher flinched, but still managed to catch the ball.

By now, Furuya had started to seethe in rage, an intense aura of anger forming around him as he muttered to himself. Tojou watched in interest as Eijun's strange pitching style was put on display, and the two bored looking pitchers who looked like they didn't want to be there yawned. Kataoka whistled in appreciation of the course of the pitch.

"Sawamura, can you change the pitch course?" He asked curiously. Eijun turned to face him.

"I can change the break of the ball based on hand grip, but currently I can't control the other grips well. I've been practicing with the circle change up, and the ones I can do right now are palm, four seam, and two seam. But I have been working on the vulcan grip and other grips. The main issue I have is the unpredictability of the course... And the fact that this development is recent." Eijun rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly.

"How recent?" Boss asked, stone faced.

"Ahaha, about that..." Eijun cringed slightly, "I mastered the four seam and two seam 4 weeks ago? and the circle change up... Well I know I have it down now. But I've been using the palmball since junior high." The boss sighed already knowing that this specific pitcher would be both a success and a problem child.

"Alright, well it seems like you can pitch to the inside and outside consistently, although you can still improve upon your aim. As for the grips, We'll figure out a way to develop them later. For now you boys are done. Go run laps around the grounds until the end of practice. Pitchers need to have great stamina, all defensive plays begin and end with you. Remember that."

"Hozuki, Mitabe! Stay back. I need to talk to the both of you. Sawamura, Tojou and Furuya! Dismissed." And so, with that the three boys went off to run their laps each thinking about the test and how they and the others did. 

'Boss isn't wrong though. A pitcher is someone who needs to lead the team's moral. If we run out of steam too quickly, well we'll become a hindrance that is completely unnecessary to the team. I need to get stronger, and stronger, and even stronger still! After all... I'm here to become the ace!"

Chapter Text

Training slowly picked up for Eijun and the rest of the first years. While they weren't given practices with much ball content or field play yet, they spent a lot of time building stamina and improving their physique for later in the season. While it wasn't obvious to most of them, there was a chance that some of them would be given to be on the second string. While that seemed like a great opportunity, Eijun's plan was to shoot straight to the first string. He was here to be the ace, and he couldn't do that from the second string. Besides lately there had been some strange rumors going on about the team. According to Mei-Senpai it seemed that a lot of people would be both dreading to face them and underestimating them because there was a strange issue with the team this year. Batting and attack was apparently great, one of the best even, but team morale while high was not enough to make up for the lack of center in their defense. Yes, it seemed that Seidou was having issues with their ability to defend and thus relied too heavily on miracles like Yuki-Senpai (the captain) and Mochi-Nii (a great runner). 

Eijun sighed, he came to Seidou to play baseball, but even though his first day went off without a hitch it seemed that all they were doing lately was running, running, and more running. Eijun started to sigh again only to be cut off by his own yelp. Tanuki-Senpai had come up behind him and had slung his arm around Eijun's shoulders.

"M-M-Mi-Miyuki K-Ka-Kazuya!" Eijun stuttered out flushing red.

"That's my name, don't wear it out okay?" The brunette in glasses snickered at him. Eijun flushed even more red.

"Senpai, what are you doing?!" Eijun barely managed to force out.

"Oho? Are you questioning your Senpai, Sa-Wa-Mu-Ra?" Kazuya's smile widened at the flustered first year. 

"No! But don't you have anything better to do than talk to first years?" Eijun looked at him less flushed than before, but feeling shy.

"That sounds like a question to me. I'm here to check out the first year pitchers, and I thought I heard a familiar loud voice." Miyuki crooned.

"I- that- Ugh!" Eijun huffed moving to leave. But his annoying Senpai grabbed him by the arm keeping him from leaving.

"Sawamura, am I that boring? You wound me!" With his other hand, Kazuya clutched his heart. "Right here. It's a mortal blow." He started to feign choking. It was lucky that the two of them were alone neat the vending machines a little ways off from the fields. Otherwise Eijun would have choked him for real, dealing him an actual mortal blow!

"Anyway, there's a match today right? The first string is playing Ichidai?" Sawamura asked while trying to get out from under Kazuya's arm.

"Yeah, we're actually heading out soon. Are you coming to cheer on your precious Mochi-Nii?" Kazuya teased putting more weight on Eijun to keep him from escaping. 

"Mhm. I have to cheer on my favorite senpais! I'm going to watch Nori-Senpai, Masuko-Senpai and Mochi-Nii!" Eijun said teasingly.

"Sawamura that's cold!" Kazuya cried out. "I thought we had a connection?"  Eijun snickered.

"Well Senpai, if you actually spoke to me once in a while, that would help your case. Buuuuuut, you've been ignoring me!" 

"Well I can't exactly be seen talking to only one of the first year pitchers! That would scream favoritism." Kazuya sighed. Truthfully he did want to speak to the cheery brunette, but unless he made first string or Kazuya started to speak to all of the first years (he was too lazy for that option) there was no way that he could really talk to Eijun. At least not yet.

"Mhm, I see your point! Guess that just means I've got to make first string soon, hahaha." 

"Oho are you talking big?" 

"You've seen me pitch at least once, what do you think?" With that Eijun finally pulled free from Kazuya's grasp and walked away.

***

The stadium was full of people. Today's match was taking place at Meiji Jingu which was close to both schools. Ichidai had an overwhelming crowd at the match, while Seidou had, a couple of true fans... which meant that is was mostly just parents, alumni, and current players. 

Eijun ran down the stairs the get the best seat possible near the bullpen, he wanted to see Nori-Senpai and cheer him on as he warmed up. The Starting pitcher Tanba-Senpai was someone Eijun had never met, so while he would cheer the guy on while he was pitching, Eijun was more or less here for Nori. At the front of the bleachers where there was a great view of both the bull-pen and home base, Eijun settled down before waving down Tojou and his blond friend.

"Kanemaru right? Tojou talks about you during practice!" Eijun smiled.

"Yeah. Sawamura?" Kanemaru nodded at him.

"That's me!" Eijun laughed boisterously drawing looks from people around them.

"Do you guys know where Furuya is?" Eijun questioned, not seeing the sleepy pitcher anywhere. The other two pitchers Hozuki and Mitabe recently were pulled into fielding since the boss had realized that they didn't want to be pitchers and were both more interested in other positions.

"Ah, he's probably throwing pitches at the wall again." Tojou sighed.

"Didn't he put a dent in the wall last time?" Eijun face plamed.

"Yeah. I hope we don't come back to a destroyed field..." Kanemaru tried to keep a straight face but failed.

"Oi, Tojou, Sawamura did you notice yet? Coach has the roster filled wit 18 players currently, but this tournament allows the roster to be filled with 20 players. What do you think is going on?" Eijun shrugged while Tojou looked surprised.

"I guess we'll find out soon! The game is about to begin." Eijun nodded towards the field.

Seidou and Ichidai lined up to bow, before making their ways back to their respective dugouts. Eijun was not surprised to see Tanba come out of the dugout wearing number 1, but he was surprised at the pitching he showcased. This was the truth of Seidou's pitchers... They didn't have an ace in anything but name.

Chapter Text

The game started out fine, it wasn't exactly exciting or anything special, but Seidou was on defense and Kazuya was catching so it wasn't boring either. The pitching though was quite lackluster, Tanba was just unable to get into a groove, and while the pitches were going strong, they weren't consistent or heavy.

Luckily the infielders were quite competent fielding the ball quickly and efficiently as if they were trying to cover the void that was the pitching mound. But the pitcher is the emotional control tower of the inning where the catcher is the strategical control tower and so Seidou was looking very lopsided. Eijun watched the game carefully keeping an eye on how Miyuki was calling the game. Unfortunately he was very unfamiliar with the pitching inventory that Tanba had, so he was unable to figure out which pitches he might throw. Even though he wasn't closer enough to see Miyuki's face clearly, Eijun knew that he was upset with how Tanba was pitching. Eijun didn't really know Tanba well so he didn't know what was going on in the older pitcher's mind, but to him it was a baseball faux pas because when a pitcher is on the mound their head should be in the game or they should get off. That was just Eijun's opinion though.

in the third inning, #5 the captain of Ichidaisan smacked the ball at it's sweet spot sending it flying past the fence. Ichidai's stands filled with cheers celebrating the home run. Whereas the Seidou team's stands hushed, filling with a heavy silence. It wasn't like the single point was impossible to catch up to, however, it felt like it weighed more as if the defense wasn't strong enough. Eijun took a deep breath in before yelling out as loud as he could.

"Let's go Seidou! we only need one more out! Let's end this inning!" The stadium filled with a deafening silence as everyone turned to stare at the loud brunette. Then all of the Seidou fans in the stands started to shout out encouragements as well.

"Here we go guys!"

"You can do it!"

"Let's finish this inning!"

"Let's go defense!"

The following clamor caused Kazuya to look up and smirk slightly before calling the next pitch. While the inning didn't finish immediately, Tanba able to finish the inning after walking two batters when Yuki and Kuramochi fielded an out.

During the the bottom of the third inning Kuramochi started as the first hitter and got on base easily. While the next two batters got out, he was able to steal second and third base so that he was in a prime spot to score. With a great hit over the first baseman's head that dropped well before the outfielders, Yuki was able to get Kuramochi home evening the score. Seidou managed to finish the inning even with Ichidai.

In the top of the fourth inning Tanba went back out, and with his decidedly lackluster pitching got 4 walks, and was scored on twice (once due to walks) more before the coach pulled him out and brought in Nori. Nori had improved by leaps and bounds since when Eijun had last seen him pitch. The teen was still timid and easily swayed by the mood of the team and fans, but he had gotten much better control and power. Kazuya was able to call a nice cautionary game for Nori due to his consistency, which was great, but not fun to watch (for Eijun) or play (for Kazuya). But the cautionary game calling worked and held Ichidai to one point between the fourth and fifth innings which was well enough, but not great. Meanwhile, Seidou's batting line up was unable to score, let alone get on base (other than Yuki) because Manaka the other teams pitcher was playing a clean pitching game and holding them scoreless. Thus when entering the sixth inning, Seidou was losing (2-4). Eijun, didn't really care that the pitching was boring, at that point, he was only concerned with cheering Nori on. 

The mild boy looked as if his body couldn't decide whether to shake in fear or hunch away from the fans. It looked like Seidou was most likely going to lose, and the stress kept piling up, until during a sidearm wind up when Nori's foot slipped causing the teen to roll over his ankle and crumple onto the floor in pain. The umpire called time out when Nori didn't get up, and Kazuya came up from home while the coaches came from the dugout in order to check on the downed pitcher. When they pulled down his sock to look at his foot, the vibrant purple color and the size of the ankle made the decision for them. Nori was too injured to continue pitching, It could be anywhere from a grade 2 sprain to a broken bone, Wither way it wasn't safe for him to continue with his injuries.

They were in a tight spot, they had no pitchers left in the current line-up, and with one pitcher out of commission, their options were to either play with a stand in from the bench, or to take advantage of the two blank spots in the line up and call down someone from the stands who was an actual pitcher. Kataoka bit his lip considering his options before turning to his catcher, whom he trusted to help make a good decision in this situation.

"Miyuki, out of the pitcher we have currently in the stands do you know if any of them are game ready?" Katoaka already had one of the pitchers in mind (Sawamura) but he wasn't sure if Miyuki would come to the same conclusion and if he would be able to bring out the pitchers skills without having worked with him in practice. 

"Hmmm..." Miyuki brought a hand up to his chin, "I think that Sawamura would be a possible choice, but I'm not sure how well we'll be able to work together since we've only formed a battery once.

"At this point, it's the only option, go call him down!" Kataoka nodded hoping that he wasn't making a huge mistake. Miyuki ran over to the stands waving his arms to get attention.

"Oi Sawamura! Get down here, we're putting you in!" The upperclassmen turned to look for the brunette incredulously. Why would they decide to put an untested first year into an official match?

"What?" Eijun shouted eyes wide in disbelief. He couldn't believe this was happening. He'd never turn down an opportunity to pitch, it was just that... "What do you mean I'm being put in?"

"Yeah, let's get you kitted up, You're number 19 and you're pitching!" Miyuki called gleefully. Normally this situation would piss him off, but at this point he was excited to call for Eijun again. Eijun huffed a little irritated.

"What the hell do you mean I'm pitching!?" 

Chapter Text

"Tell me you at least have a lefty mitt?" Eijun pleaded looking at his overly pleased senpai.

"I'm sure we can find you something..." Miyuki grinned, leading the southpaw towards the coach.

"It's a yes or no question Miyuki-Senpai! It'll be a little hard to pitch if I don't have the right equipment..." Eijun growled. Miyuki cackled, pleased to get a rise out of him.

"I'll find you something, I'm sure we have a lefty glove somewhere... it might not fit you perfectly though." Miyuki said, moving deeper into the dugout and leaving Eijun with the coach.

"Sawamura, can you pitch well if I put you on the mound right now?" The coach asked eyes burning with intensity. The players who were in the dugout (All of them due to the time out) turned to watch the mini spectacle play out. They had all noticed the loud brunette, whether it was through practices or the three at bat challenge against Azuma, they were all familiar with him. Even if they didn't exactly know his name off the top of their heads.

"Yes Boss!" Eijun saluted, causing Kuramochi to choke on the water he was drinking, a pink haired senpai wacked him on the back to help him breathe again.

"Alright then, I'm only putting you in because I have no other choice right now. However, think of this as an opportunity, a tryout by fire. Give me everything you've got, and the fielders will respond, got it?"

"YES BOSS!" Eijun shouted, bowing and saluting, causing him to fumble a little. At this point a couple of the other players were chuckling and Kuramochi had turned red trying to keep from laughing.

"And... Don't call me Boss!" The coach looked at him.

"Yes Boss..." Eijun averted his eyes as the man sighed at him.

Eijun bit his lip looking for Miyuki in the dugout. The tanuki like senpai was digging around in what looked like giant equipment bags. While the bags clearly had the Seidou logo embroidered on them, they didn't look like they were used very often, and so they were covered in dust. While Eijun was excited! Thrilled! Amazed! at being able to play, he did in fact feel a little bad about making Miyuki dig around in the dust to find him a lefty mitt.

As he started to get into his head, he was suddenly snapped out of it as said senpai let out a cry of victory holding aloft a glove. It was old and worn looking, as if some of the stitches were barely hanging on, but it was in working condition, and Eijun would use it and treasure it.

"Oi Sawamura, try this on for size!" The glove was tossed to him. Eijun caught it and slipped it on. The material was broken in, and Eijun could tell that whoever had used the mitt last had obviously loved it and cared for it. "You ready? Offense is starting, so we'll be heading on soon." Eijun looked at the scoreboard startled. While he had been in his thoughts the time out was over.

"We should probably head to the bullpen then. I need to warm up, and it's been a while since we've last played together!" Eijun shared a grin with Kazuya.

"Mhm, have you improved at all since then?" Kazuya teased, erring on the more serious side.

"Obviously!" Eijun shot back. "I've been working on my four seam, two seam, and palm-balls! I've also been developing my change-up. But since it's still being developed, I don't know if I'll be able to use it in a game. There's also something weird about my change-up but I can show it to you later. It's not a conversation to be had during a game." Eijun shifted between confident and nervousness. This would be his first official high school baseball game.

"Alright then partner, let's warm up!" Kazuya led the way to the bullpen coming to a stop in the catcher's box. Eijun took a deep breath making his way to the pitcher's mound and standing in a somewhat relaxed position. "Right then, let's stick with the same signs that we used during the three at bat." Eijun nodded in agreement. it was a simple and efficient system using numbers to indicate the type of pitch, the hand placed left or right to indicate inside or outside, and the same hand was placed either high or low to indicate the height of the pitch.

'Four seam high, inside' Eijun thought reading the signs. He nodded going through his motions and sending a pitch to Miyuki's mitt. Even though he was feeling very nervous, something about pitching for Miyuki prevented him from getting tense. So his pitches were travelling fine. That being said, the nerves were still present and the pressure of being the only pitcher (currently) was heavy. Yet Eijun didn't want to let anyone down: not his family who sent him to Tokyo, his former teammates who let him go, Nori-Senpai who helped him make his decision to come, Mei-Senpai and Inashiro for supporting him, Masuko-Senpai and Mochi-Nii for helping and caring for him, the coaches for the opportunity to even do this... and most of all he didn't want to fail Miyuki-Senpai who seemed to think that he'd do great in the game even though this would be his first official high school match. Eijun wasn't just nervous, he was terrified.

"Eijun!" A voice called from behind him. He turned and saw Mochi-Nii standing there. The older boy came up behind him and tapped him on the chest with his glove. Don't get too in your head, you'll do fine, you've got Miyuki in front of you, and the rest of us are behind you... Just do the best that you can, and we'll take care of the rest." Eijun let out a breath he didn't even realize he'd been holding.

"Okay Mochi-Nii!" He smiled up at the older boy. He was still nervous, but if they believed in him, then he'd definitely do the best he could possibly do. "Miyuki-Senpai, Let's finish this warm-up on a high note! We've got some monster slaying to do, right partner?" Eijun smiled evilly with Kazuya causing Kuramochi to shiver slightly.

Chapter Text

By the time Eijun had finished warming up with Kazuya, he was much more composed, even though he felt like he was drowning in his own nerves. And yet, Eijun had never felt more alive. He was about to step out on the pitch for his first high school game, with his dream partner, his big brother and his helpful, impressive senpais. Eijun couldn't have been more excited. So when the announcement came from the speakers, Eijun was practically thrumming with excitement.

"Subbing in for number 11 Kawakami Norifumi is number 19 Sawamura Eijun. Batting ninth, Sawamura Eijun!" 

Eijun took a deep breath in, grunting as Mochi-Nii slapped his back. As he exhaled, he smiled blindingly bright and ran onto the field with his teammates to defend. They were losing at the moment, but Eijun's job wasn't to think about that. Instead he would be focusing 100% on each and every pitch. This was the moment that he had been wishing for all spring, ever since he had fist pitched to Miyuki-Senpai and Eijun was literally vibrating in place, ready to play.

"Ready partner?" Miyuki grinned at him patting him on the chest with his glove.

"Of course!" Eijun replied grinning back. They stepped onto the field together, as one. Behind them, their teammates were also grinning, because even someone who was blind could see that Eijun and Kazuya had a special relationship forming.

When Eijun stepped onto the mound, he took a moment to absorb the atmosphere of the stadium around him. The opponents' side of the stadium was completely silent in shock. Seidou's side was also silent, although it seemed to be more from abject horror than shock. Eijun did feel a little hurt, because most of them hadn't seen him practice before, but he couldn't really blame them since he was only a first year. As Eijun tried to calm himself by looking at the Seidou side of the stands, he couldn't help but smile a little. Even though the upperclassmen didn't seem that happy about this new development, Eijun couldn't help but notice that Tojou and Kanemaru were cheering him on. There was also this tiny pinkette who looked suspiciously like Kominato-Senpai bashfully cheering and waving at him. Maybe the whole team wasn't cheering him on, but that was just because he had yet to prove himself. He had the support of those who mattered to him right now, and that was all he really needed.

Eijun and Kazuya tossed the ball back and forth from the mound to the catcher's box. According to Kazuya, since Eijun didn't have high school pitching experience, nor a great repertoire of pitches (yet). So it was a bad idea to show too much before they even started. But either way, when the first batter stepped up, Eijun and Miyuki grinned at each other excited. Kazuya's first call was a pitch to the inside chest level with the batter. The placement of the pitch would make it skim the zone and since the batter was standing so close to the plate, that the pitch would also skim close to the batter's chest. Taking a deep breath, Eijun started his windup and smoothly transitioned into his pitching motion. While the pitch he threw wasn't completely perfect perfect, but it still managed to reach Kazuya's  mitt unimpeded.

"Strike!" The umpire gestured, causing the Seidou side of the stands to cheer loudly in surprise. it was of course only the first strike, so they still had a long way to go, but it still gave them hope.

The next pitch Miyuki signaled was a two seam, low and to the outside, another strike. By now the batter was confused by Eijun's pitching style. To the batter it was as if the ball disappeared for a moment when Eijun had the ball behind him in the motion. To the spectators though Eijun's pitch looked like a slightly faster than a normal high schooler's pitch, but basically average at best.

Eijun bounced on his heels and grabbed the rosin bag resting on the mound. He tossed it making sure to coat his fingers before blowing on them to get rid of the excess. 

Eijun's eyes sharpened as he took in the third group of signs from Kazuya. His tongue poked out from his mouth as he went through his pitching motion. The course of the pitch took it right under the bat, skimming it as it landed in Kazuya's mitt.

"Strike three! You're out!" The umpire motioned. Tojou and Kanemaru went insane in the stands cheering while the others in the bleachers looked to be warming up to him. It wasn't anything special, just one out, and yet Eijun couldn't help but feel something warm erupt in his chest.

***

Kazuya couldn't stop grinning. It had only been a few months since Eijun and Kazuya had formed a battery and yet it had felt like years ago. Still the loud brunette was nothing if not surprising, and it was great to call a game for a pitcher who was unpredictable. In fact, Eijun was the closest he'd come to his idea of a dream pitcher. The only other one was Mei, but he was just too much to handle and way do much to deal with. So Eijun, who was a first-year, Eijun a brand new teammate, and someone who still had a long way too grow; maybe with a little nudge here and there Kazuya could realize his dream pitcher. Although that probably wouldn't be for quite a while yet. Kazuya shook his head patting his fist into his mitt to clear his head. This was only the first out. They still needed two more to end the inning. 

With that thought in his mind Kazuya started to sign for the next pitch, keeping in mind what he had studied about each of the batters as he planned out their next moves. He recalled that this particular one liked inside pitches that were close to the middle of the zone. Therefore, Kazuya asked Eijun to start with an outside pitch that was near the bottom of the zone. And with that began their battle against the next batter.

Chapter Text

Smack! The ball hit Kazuya's mitt steaming slightly. Eijun didn't think he'd ever heard a sound as pretty as that.

"Strike!" The umpire called. Eijun Took a deep breath breathing in the air around the mound. His eyes sharpened as he gazed at Kazuya, his temporary(?) battery partner was giving him a cross between evil and mischievous look and it only served to spur Eijun on. The next pitch Kazuya called for was a two seam high and to the inside. While the specific batter loved inside pitches, Miyuki was apparently a believer in aggressive combative pitching. Pitches that would frustrate and bamboozle the batters, leaving them unable to figure out the batter. And while Eijun wasn't quite so mindless as to pitch to the mitt without thinking, he was a firm proponent of believing in Kazuya's calls. At least for the game... maybe later he's even ask about them?

Eijun shook his head clearing his thoughts. He stepped into his windup, and went through the stretch focusing on the tip of his fingers and transferring his weight properly through his lower body. Clang! The batter swung managing to skim the pitch, jamming it right into Yuki's mitt at first base.

***

The batter groaned lifting his face towards the sky before turning and heading towards his dugout.

"His pitches are weird! You can't even se his arm in the stretch." He muttered to the next batter as he passed.

"Weird huh?" The newest batter said under his breath, blowing brown hair out of his face. "We'll see about that..." The made his way over to the batter's box.

***

Kazuya grinned as the count went to two up, two out. Sure he hadn't caught for the southpaw in a while, but he could never quite forget the feeling of Eijun's pitches hitting his mitt. Nor the inexplicable feeling of excitement he had catching for someone who was willing to be just as vicious, cunning and evil as he was. Or maybe it was because of that. Because he finally had someone who would keep up with him. A possible battery partner who was a contender for the ace position that had been unfulfilled for so long. It was not a secret that Seidou hadn't had a uncontested ace in over seven years. Seven years of not going to Koshien... Of Katoaka coaching.

Kazuya glanced at this batter from the corner of his eye. Number 8, the shortstop. He like to focus of fastballs, and didn't tend to swing at breaking balls. Just as well for them, because Eijun tended to pitch in the zone anyway. Kazuya smirked signing for a inside palm-ball.

'It's fine if he hits it. There are seven reliable senpai behind you.' Kazuya thought.

Clang! The balled was jammed yet again, this time it rolled towards Kuramochi between third and second. Kuramochi quickly fielded the ball sending it to Yuki who got the runner out.

"Three outs change!" Just like that the pinch was over. The Seidou stands sighed in relief, while the first years cheered for their representative! Eijun grinned as he jogged back to the dugout, he had done his job. As soon as he set foot into the dugout, out of sight from any spectators he released a breath flopping into a chair.

"Uwah! I was so nervous!" Eijun exclaimed. "Ahahaha, but it was so much fun!" He grinned.

"Oi Sa-wa-mu-ra! You aren't done yet!" You still have a 3 more innings!" Kuramochi said ruffling his hair roughly! He bit his lip sharing a look with Kazuya and Kominato.

"Now that we've stopped their momentum cold, it's our job as batters to even the score!" Kazuya said. The team nodded, surprised that he was taking a leading role, yet still slightly unsurprised because everyone knew for a fact that Miyuki Kazuya hates to lose. Eijun cringed a little knowing that his batting skills weren't all that good.

"Kusunoki get on base! Sawamura how well can you bat?" Kataoka asked firmly.

"I- I can bunt?" Eijun said.

"Are you telling me or asking me?" The coach barked.

"Telling boss!" Eijun snapped to attention, causing Kataoka to sigh internally.

"Kuramochi, you're up after Sawamura! Make sure you get on base." Kataoka,  gave them all an intent stare, "That goes for all of you. Defense can improve leaps and bounds, but if we don't get on base, we can't win!" Kataoka then turned facing the diamond. "They have 2 more points than us! Get out and score!" 

"Yes sir!" The team roared their agreement, all fired up. Eijun watched in awe as the first-sting's auras changed. The look in their eyes was amazing.

***

"Batting 8th Kusunoki Fumiya!" The announcer's voice called. Kusunoki-Senpai walked up to the plate a serious look on his face. Eijun excitedly watched the older boy, wanting to see how he might bat in a clutch moment.

"Sa-wa-mu-ra!" Mochi-Nii kneed him on the butt. "Don't forget you're up next! Go and get ready!" Eijun turned a little red, flustered. He scrambled to grab a bat, but realized that he had no gloved for batting.

'Guess I'll just bat barehanded and hope I don't get jammed. I'm bunting though... so it should be fine... right?' Eijun thought a little distracted.

"Sawamura," an increasingly familiar voice called. "You can borrow my gloves for this at bat. Make sure you advance the runner no matter what okay?" Miyuki Kazuya stood next to him offering up his personal gloves. 

"Miyuki Kazuya!" Eijun cried out.

"That's my name, don't wear it out." Kazuya smirked looking at the younger boy.

"Is this a trick?!" Eijun's honey brown eyes narrowed, making them look like cat eyes.

"Ah. No, we can't let our little pitcher kouhai hurt his hands right?" Kazuya narrowed his eyes, as if able to tell what Eijun was thinking just a little while ago.

"Ahaha, no... I'll advance the runner no matter what Miyuki-Senpai!" Eijun exclaimed.

Eijun marched out of the dugout, and took a deep breath as if trying to suck up all of the air in the practice circle. He swung his bat a few times as if trying to get a feel for it, and then watched in awe as Kusunoki, who was at the bottom of the batting order hit a double landing himself on second base!

"Uwah! The Senpai are so cool." Eijun grinned as he moved to the left handed batting box. 'I don't know why coach chose to put me in, an untried first-year with no hardball experience, but that's no excuse! I need to get on base.' Eijun thought to himself.

'This pitcher is someone I saw a little bit of during my research into southpaws. Manaka Kaname, throws a lot of curves and straits.' Eijun took a deep breath holding the bat, looking ready to swing. As Manaka's first pitch reached the plate, Eijun watched it pass. 'It's fast, but I can bunt it... probably.' 

Eijun took a deep breath, watching Manaka wind-up for his second pitch. As he went through the stretch, Eijun switched his stance into bunting position, locking on the the ball with his eyes. As the ball reached his bat, Eijun let his wrists give a little, killing the pitch and rolling it along the foul line towards first base. Immediately following, Kusunoki-Senpai ran getting safely from second to third base. Meanwhile Eijun was tagged out at first base.

Eijun sighed, glad that his one skill in terms of batting was still effective in high school. As he moved towards the dugout, Mochi-Nii high-fived him and ruffled his hair.

"Good job kid. Now leave it to your big brother. I'll bring in some more runs so that you can pitch more comfortably in the bottom of the inning." Kuramochi's eyes were like steel, locked onto a goal and seeing something that Eijun couldn't quite comprehend.

"Mhm!" Eijun smiled looking at his older brother figure. "You got this Mochi-Nii!" 

Chapter Text

Eijun had known that he was rooming with some extraordinary senpai, but he hadn't known the true extent until he watched Mochi-Nii bat for the first time. Kuramochi wasn't by any means super tall or super muscular, but when he was in the batter's box he seemed to project an aura of intensity. The pitcher Manaka, wasn't unaffected by his demeanor but Manaka wasn't super intimidated either. Eijun watched as the tall third year pitcher swung through the motions of his stretch swinging down his right arm towards the ground as the ball was released into a curve. Kuramochi's relaxed form moved fluidly as he cleanly swung the bat, over the head of the shortstop and deep into the outfield. Within seconds Kusunoki-Senpai was brought home and and Kuramochi landed himself on second base. 

Eijun cheered loudly, thrilled at the skills of his Mochi-Nii. The older senpai on the team seemed to become more fired up as he got on base. Kuramochi lifted his fist up pridefully, as if saying to Eijun: "Look at all of these reliable Senpai. You're not the only one here to play ball!" 

Eijun grinned in return, his smile almost splitting his face in half. Seidou was amazing and he was so glad that he had chosen to come here. Right after Kuramochi, a shorter pink haired senpai stepped up to the plate. While Eijun didn't know him personally, he had heard about this senpai from Mochi-Nii. 

"Go Kominato-Senpai!" Eijun cheered waving with both arms nearly falling over the rails and out of the dugout head first if not for Miyuki, who caught him by the waist just in time.

"Oi Sawamura, pay more attention would you? Try to think about what would happen if you fell just now!" The brunette scolded Eijun causing him to flush.

"Miyuki Kazuya! I was being careful, I wouldn't have fallen..." Eijun trailed off squinty eyed revealing his lie quite onbviously.

"Oh sure~" Miyuki drawled, "What was that just now then?" He crossed his arms staring down at Eijun, who pouted in response.

"Nothing~ I was just carefully cheering for Kominato-Senpai!" Eijun responded loudly.

Miyuki chuckled in response ruffling Eijun's hair and pointing back to the diamond as a loud clang rang through the diamond. Kominato had his a grounder between first and second, and the first baseman picked it up getting Kominato out, but he was unable to make the throw home before Kuramochi scored. The duo made their way back to the dugout, high-fiving as they crossed paths.

***

Kazuya grabbed his batting gloves back from Sawamura, while the younger boy was cheering loudly in preparation to bat sixth. It was still currently the top of the seventh inning, and they were now tied 4-4 with Ichidai because of the efforts of the previous batters. There was a chance that he might not bat this inning, with there already being two outs, but between Yuki-Senpai and Jun-Senpai at least on of them would get on base. Besides Miyuki, was a good catcher and that meant that what he wanted more than anything was to take pressure off of his pitcher in the bottom of the seventh inning when they would defend again. 

The brunette licked his bottom lip before biting on it slightly to clear his thoughts.  He watched with a piercing gaze as Ishashiki battled with Manaka's pitches raising the count to two strikes and three balls. Unfortunately, Manaka managed to get him out using a sharp forkball ending their offense. Kazuya whistled in appreciation at the ball's break. He was itching to play ball like always. Kazuya startled as he felt someone come up to him from behind.

"Ah! Sorry Senpai, I'll help you put on your gear." Sawamura's cheerful voice called out. Luckily the first year looked a lot more relaxed after seeing his senpai batting and evening out the score. As the younger boy fixed his shin guards, Kazuya hooked the clasps on the back of his chest guard, and pulled down his mask. Sawamura stood up dusting off his uniform pants and handing his treasured yellow mitt to him. Kazuya fought the urge to smile at him and smirked, inciting Sawamura's fighting instincts.

"What you wanna go Mi-yu-ki Ka-zu-ya!?" Sawamura shouted loudly, and Kazuya really couldn't fight the grin that covered his face.

"Nothing~ You look a lot less tense now Sa-wa-mu-ra!" Kazuya cackled as he jogged out onto the diamond with the pitcher. The pitcher's eyes narrowed, reminding him of an angry cat.

"Pfft, Sawamura you've got cat eyes!" Kazuya choked grabbing his stomach in humor. The defenders running on to the field with them were caught in between laughing at the reactions that Sawamura was showing and shock as the clear glee on Kazuya's face. He knew that his reputation as a shitty human being would take a hit, but he just couldn't help himself! Teasing Sawamura was just too fun.

"Moe, Mochi-Nii! Miyuki-Senpai is being mean!" The younger brunette grinned before pouting at his older brother figure.

"Oh Nuh-uh!" Kuramochi said picking up the pace to his position as shortstop. "Whatever this is-" He gestured at the two of them, "I ain't getting involved!" Kominato smirked at them from his place at second.

"Enough! Let's focus of defense!" Yuki called out, causing everyone to snap back to attention. However, Sawamura was completely relaxed which was a huge plus for Kazuya.

"Yes, Captain-San!" Eijun called loudly, causing Kazuya to snicker from behind home plate. He hit is mitt twice to clear his mind quickly.

"Sa~" Kazuya looked at the batter who stepped up to plat. 'He's standing right up to the line.' Kazuya shifted close to the batter raising his mitt to chest level. 'Best to start with this then'

Sawamura whipped through his form, his tight form hiding his arm until the last second. The ball whipped forward skimming just in the zone and causing the batter to step back in shock. 

"Strike!" The umpire called, causing Kazuya to smirk. 'Awesome, it was almost perfectly on target. Looks like his engine is fully revving now!' 

***

Somehow, Seidou managed to pull out a win completely shifting gears in the top of the eighth inning. The batting line-up exploded into action. Yuki pulled of a homerun at the start of their offense, Masuko hit a double and Miyuki hit an RBI bringing home the larger senpai. In the bottom of the eighth inning Sawamura was hit off of twice before Kuramochi and Kominato pulled off a double play bringing the inning to a close with a score of 6-4 in Seidou's favour. 

In the ninth inning, Shirasu was able to get on base but Fumiya got out at first, Eijun struck out swinging, and Kuramochi hit a pop fly to the left field. Thus the game  went into the bottom of the ninth with Seidou defending. With an indomitable will, Takahiro Omae, the captain and third baseman scored a homerun off of Sawamura's two seamer. As the opposing team's captain ran the bases, Eijun couldn't help but grin, shocking his teammates who thought he'd be more affected by getting hit off of. His response was what truly bought his acceptance into the first string by the players.

"Hm? Of course I'm disappointed that I got hit off of... Who wouldn't be? But if there's one thing that I've realized, it's that you can't be a pitcher if you're scared of being hit off of. So, I'm grinning because I've realized that high school baseball is fun!" Sawamura's blinding grin as he stood on the mound surrounded by his teammates, would forever be immortalized by a picture taken that day by Mine Fujio a journalist with Monthly Baseball Kingdom.

Chapter Text

At first Youichi didn't know what to think, about his brand new roommate. He'd heard the big gossip about how the kid had challenged Azuma as soon as he stepped foot in the school 'he must be suicidal or an idiot'  and he'd heard about how even Miyuki got sucked into his orbit pretty much immediately 'damn, even that tanuki bastard?'  So when he heard the kid would be his new firstie roommate, Youichi hovered between glee,' so much blackmail material'  and horror, 'What the hell am I getting myself into?' But out of all of his expectations, Youichi never thought that the boy  would rope Nori of all people into counter pranking Youichi and Masuko during move in day. The kid had most likely called him big brother, a joke, and Kuramochi could stand behind that. And yet not even a month later, and Sawamura Eijun really was like his younger brother now.

Youichi would be the first to admit that he was a prickly bastard who had trouble making friends 'Take that Bakayuki!'  He could count on his fingers the amount of friends he had on his fingers. True friends like Miyuki, Ryou-San, Shirasu and the handful of senpai on the first string who didn't hate him for being a starter even though he wasn't a genius or a third year. Sawamura calling him Nii-San might have started as a joke (kind of) but now it meant something to him. Having someone who didn't take his bullshit but still looked up to him meant everything to Youichi. 'It's easy to understand why Ryou-San covets his baby brother now...'  

Youichi sighed laying on his back on his bed, arms crossed behind his head. Thinking back, to the game they played against Ichidaisankou, they had so much work to do. The batting line up was fine, but it was really hit or miss who would get on base. And while defense was strong, even more so with a new pitcher added to the line up, They couldn't rely solely on Sawamura to hold down the fort. Youichi heaved another sigh and glanced at Masuko who was doing homework at his desk.

"I'm going out to do some swings!" He called, getting up, putting on a light track jacket and grabbing a bat on the way out. Masuko grunted in affirmation. "If the my idiot brother ain't back by the time I get back, we can go hunt him down yeah?" Masuko nodded, causing Youichi to grin. 

"Tch, I wonder where he went off too? He's probably bothering that Miyuki or something." Kuramochi slouched, waving at the pudding loving senpai. "Aight, I'm off." he said, leaving through the door and closing it quietly behind him.

'Strangely enough though, I think the person who's changed the most since lil' bro got here, is Miyuki...'

***

Sawamura Eijun was like a cross between a puppy and a kitten; and any other time Kazuya would love the energy and excitement, but right now he just wanted to go to sleep! 

"Why are you in my room again?" Kazuya yawned. It wasn't like he was overly tired from playing the full game, he was used to it, even if he hated that he had gotten the starting position because of what had happened to Chris.

"I told you~ I want to learn about why you made your calls today!" Sawamura was seated on the floor in front of Kazuya's bed, wiggling in his crossed leg position. 

"Aw Hell, how can I say no to that." Kazuya grimaced. "Fine I'll help, but you can't wake me up at the crack of dawn to catch your pitches yeah?" Sawamura nodded eagerly, making Kazuya freeze. "Your going to agree just like that? No complaints?" Kazuya watched the younger boy like he had announced that the world was ending. 

"Yeah? I mean I know that I'm not smart, so I just pitch wherever you put your mitt, but I want to be able to think about why! If I want to be your battery partner Miyuki-Senpai, then I have to be able to pull my own weight!" If Sawamura had a tail, it would be wagging in excitement. Kazuya sighed pinching the bridge of his nose.

"Fine, but keep in mind that you can pitch well, but you suck at fielding, you can't slide step, your pick off's are trash..." Kazuya piled on the criticisms, watching somewhat gleefully as the younger boy slouched. "But, you're fun to catch for and you have some potential." Kazuya grinned as Sawamura's grin appeared again.

"Okay! Miyuki-Senpai, can we start going over the calls you made and why?" Sawamura bounced on his sit bones.

"Well~ Lucky for you, your senpai already has the scorebook." Kazuya teased, lightly whapping the younger boy on the head. "It'd be better to start from the beginning though. There's a lot that goes into game calling. As a catcher I need to think about the inning we're in, the pitcher's condition, the pitches that each batter favors, their stance in the box, and Coach's signs. There are other factors that go into the calls I make of course, but those are the main ones. Anyway, we can start by discussing the difference between game calling and pitch sequences. Does that sound okay?" Kazuya glanced at the boy and grinned when he saw that Sawamura had pulled out a notebook and a pencil to take notes.

"Game calling is analyzing the situation to pick a pitch and pitch sequences are predetermined pitch orders right? Sawamura bit his lip.

"Yeah, that's the basic idea. Most batteries have a couple of sequences ready, but the most important thing is that the battery needs to be adaptable. If we relied solely on sequences, then teams would really easily be able to figure out what pitches we were using based on video alone. Even worse, in the middle of the game, the battery will become predictable and easy to hit off of." Kazuya lectured. Sawamura tapped his pencil against his upper lip.

"We hadn't really worked together before the Ichidai game though... So that means you only did game calling with no sequences right?" Kazuya nodded pleased that Sawamura was picking up the concept so fast. "Whoa, Miyuki-Senpai, that means you're really smart right? You were thinking about all of that during 4 innings of defense?!" Sawamura exclaimed loudly.

"OI! Did you think that I was some kind of basic catcher? I wouldn't be starting if I couldn't at least do that!" Kazuya exclaimed, ruffling the younger boy's hair aggressively. 

"I give, I give!" Sawmura exclaimed trying to escape from Kazuya's grasp. "How did you become a starter anyway? You were starting since you got to Seidou right?" Sawamura twisted in Kazuya's grasp lilting his head to the side.

"Ah..." Kazuya's grip slackened, arms falling to the side. "That's a long story, and something that I'm not proud of." Kazuya exhaled trying to clear his thoughts, his playful mood all but gone.

"Do you want to talk about it? It looks like you've been holding onto this story for a long time. It might help?" 

"I guess..." Kazuya sighed running his hand through his hair. "I came to Seidou because there was someone I wanted to compete with. This might sound arrogant, but in senior league, my time only lost once, to a team that was led by a catcher: Takigawa Chris Yu." Kaazuya inhaled sharply not sure how to continue.

"Take your time Senpai." Sawamura whispered uncharacteristically quiet.

"I came to Seidou because I wanted to compete with him for the starting position. I wanted to beat him, and I wanted to learn from him. But, Chris-Senpai, injured himself." Sawamura gasped, reaching out in front of him to clasp Kazuya's shaking hands. "He didn't tell anyone, and it got worse and worse until one day he collapsed. The doctor's said that he'd torn a muscle in his shoulder, that it was unlikely that he would play baseball again in high school... and just like that I was given the starter position." Kazuya trembled a little. Bringing up Chris always made him feel insecure, so he tried not to do it. 

"Senpai, you know it's not your fault right?" Sawamura said softly.

"Mm, it didn't matter whether it was my fault of not though. I had been pulled into the first string almost immediately after I joined the team, and within a moth I was officially starting games. The senpai really resented me because of that. I wasn't welcome on the team because I wasn't Chris. Sure I was the one on field, but the pitchers didn't want me to be the one catching, they wanted Chris. Even worse, I didn't earn my starting position... I only got it because Chris was injured." Kazuya muttered. Sawamura bit his lower lip before crawling over to Kazuya and hugging him.

"That must have been so hard. I can't claim to understand, because I wasn't there, but I'll always be there for you from now on. You're my partner after all!" Eijun exclaimed still quieter than usual. Kazuya let out a throaty noise, and clutched the puppy like pitcher close to himself. Talking about Chris hurt, and no one had wanted to hear about his woes. Kazuya was supposed to be perfect and prickly and sometimes cruel but no one ever considered how he must have felt being thrown into a role with shoes too big to fill. 

The pitcher and catcher sat on the floor of Kazuya's dorm room trying to soothe each other, even a little.

***

On the other side of the door, Youichi's covered his mouth with his hand, trying to prevent himself from making any noise. Kazuya had always projected him self is a certain way, and even though he knew that Kazuya's façade was there, it didn't mean he could always see through it. Youichi clenched his fists trying not to punch anything. Shirasu, Kazuya and himself had been first years in the first string last year. And while they sometimes got to play in matches last year, they weren't quite starters until early fall. 

Youichi hadn't known how the senpai had treated the catcher. He hadn't seen it. 'Maybe because he didn't want to?' Miyuki Kazuya had always been what he considered a baseball fiend. The boy lived, dreamed about, and if he could would survive on the sport alone. He hadn't quite realized how unfair that assumption was though. Miyuki never did extra practice with the team, but he'd always come to dinner breathing heavily from what looked like solo practice. He'd bathe last and after every game without fail, he'd go over the scorebook. 

Sure some people made assumptions seeing the results of Miyuki's work, that he was a genius, a born catcher with baseball coming as easy to him as breathing. And in a way he was, but what people didn't consider, didn't take into account, was how much work Miyuki must have put into the sport.

Youichi let out a frustrated breathe, realizing that by not noticing, he had contributed to hurting Miyuki, even without realizing it. He sighed, grumbling a bit to himself. He wouldn't go easier on Miyuki, that would probably set him off, but he would be more appreciative for the work he put into the team. Starting with giving the battery some time to get themselves together.

Youichi might not always be the loudest friend, but he was damned if he was not one of the most loyal. So he scanned the hall around 207 and nodded not seeing anyone, before moving back to room 205. He'd give them a solid 20 minutes to get their shit together, and then he'd go in and drag Sawamura out by the ear. Miyuki would be fine, after all he had the support of Youichi and Sawamura, who would never let him feel alone or isolated ever again.

Chapter Text

"Wait... There are more first-year pitchers?" Eijun exclaimed shocked.

"Were you paying attention at all Sawamura? We were split into batches for testing so that the coaches could evaluate everyone individually." Toujou said quietly. "You've met Furuya and I bet you still need to meet Kaneda right? All of the other pitchers decided to switch to other positions."

"But why? Pitching is awesome! The moment when a pitch cleanly hits the mitt makes the best sound in the world." Eijun flailed his arms, catching Kanemaru by surprise.

"Oi, Sawamura watch where you're flailing!" The grumpy blonde huffed, mixed between amused and annoyed with the brunette. Playing in the recent match had increased Sawamura's standing with the first years, but he still knew that he had a lot of work to do.

"Sorry Kaneeemaru!" Eijun called out loudly.

"It's Kanemaru!" The blonde bickered, causing Toujou to snicker at him.

"That's what I said!" Eijun said smiling.

"..." Kanemaru just looked at him, before shaking his head.

"Anyway, Sawamura, you still need to meet some of the other first years right?" Toujou said trying to placate them both.

"Yeah!" Eijun grinned at them both. "I now Sleepy-Kun and you two, but I've not really met the others yet. The trio headed over to the cafeteria for dinner.

"Come sit with the first years today instead of you're precious Mochi-Nii and Miyuki-Senpai then." Toujou teased.

"Okay!" None of the first years, even Eijun were used to the three bowls of rice rule yet. At least one of them would need to stop lest thry throw up, during each meal.

"Everyone this is Sawamura Eijun." Kanemaru introduced, gesturing to Eijun with his thumb while holding his tray in the other hand.

"Sawamura, this is: Oka, Takatsu, Kariba, Takemoto, Oushima, Kimura, Hosoyamada, Kominato and Kaneda." Toujou said pointing to each of the first years. "And you already know Furuya right?" Eijun nodded taking in the sight of the different first years. The ones who stood out most were the boy with pink hair 'Kominato-Senpai's little brother?!' Kariba and his spiky hair, Takatsu's bright red hair and Kaneda's shy demeanor.

"It's nice to meet you all!" Eijun bowed at the waist while extending his tray in front of him.

"Oi, careful! You don't want to drop your food, Sawamura." Kanemaru snickered. "Bowing is polite and all, but put down your food first!" He scolded.

"Right!" Eijun nodded, before placing his tray down, and sitting in between Toujou and Kaneda. Before long the group of first years were having issues trying to complete the meal. In order to help Eijun started to babble, talking about anything and everything to take their minds off of the food that they needed to eat.

"Ne, Sawamura-Kun, are you going to be participating in the senpai vs first-year scrimmage?" Kaneda questioned, as Eijun stopped to take a breath.

"I'm not allowed to!" He dramatically cried out. "Coach said that since I'm pretty much on the first string, it wouldn't be fair for me to participate, since this is a tryout." Eijun said.

"Wait what do you mean when you say tryout?" Hosoyamada asked curiously.

"Ah well, Mochi-Nii says that this scrimmage is one of the first opportunities that first-years get to be added to the first-string and second-string during the season." Eijun pointed out with a smile.

"So does that mean its finalized? You're on the first-string?" The little Kominato asked.

"Kind of? I'm on the first string for the rest of the tournament. That being said, coach said that I still need a lot of work on everything that isn't pitching. So I guess I'm in limbo?" Eijun said uncertainly. Suddenly an arm hooked around his shoulder from behind causing Eijun and the other first years to jump.

"What do you mean kind of?" Miyuki said coming up behind him.

"Ah! Miyuki Kazuya!" Eijun pointed at him shouting loudly.

"That's my name! don't wear it out." He snickered at he shorter brunette. "Sawamura, you're on the first string. There is no kind of, weren't you listening to coach?" Miyuki scolded. "He said that you need to work on your fielding and batting, and that's why you'll be pulling fielding practices with the second-string during our weight room times!" Miyuki ruffled Eijun's hair roughly causing him to try and squirm away.

"I give Miyuki-Senpai, I give!" Eijun cried out, to the amusement of everyone at the table. After last night, Eijun had come to better understand the tanuki like senpai. And because of that he knew that the worst thing he could do was treat Miyuki any different or look at him with pity. Eijun knew better than most, for different reasons than Miyuki that when people's eyes looked at you like that all you wanted to do was get away.

Eijun kept pouting up at Miyuki, until the older boy sighed and stopped treating his hair so roughly. And yet, He still kept his arm hooked around Eijun's shoulder, keeping the younger boy close to his side. Eijun sighed relaxing minutely into the older boy, who was emitting a comfortable warmth.

***

From behind them Youichi snickered, a little ticked off that his little brother hadn't noticed him or greeted him. Yet, he was also happy to see that the battery had gone back to acting normal after last night. He had been discretely keeping an eye on Miyuki during practice over the course of the school and he'd even roped Ryou-San into helping as well ('Although Ryou-San was really hard to convince without a solid reason why...'). Youichi's eyes involuntarily searched for his partner in the mess hall, widening when he noticed the pinkette smirking at him. Ryou-San was anything but dumb, and Youichi new that sooner rather than later, he'd figure out exactly what was going on. But for now, Youichi just grinned back at the older Kominato before turning around and sideling up to his little brother.

"Sa-wa-mu-ra! You didn't even greet your big brother yet!" Youichi said with a playful sneer in his voice. It was like a shiver went straight up the kid's spine, which caused Youichi to snicker internally.

"Ah, Ni-San! Sorry, I didn't see you!" Eijun apologized, his face a little pink with embarrassment.

"Oh is that so~?" Youichi wheedled, causing the brunette to squirm under Miyuki's arm.

"It is I promise!" He nodded rapidly, causing Youichi to worry for a moment that he'd give himself a concussion or something.

"I'll let you of the hook this time okay? But only cause you're my favorite lil' bro!" Youichi grinned at him magnanimously. Sawamura nodded his head before leaning out of Miyuki's grasp ('Whoa, is he actually pouting?!') and reaching out to Youichi to give him a hug. Youichi ruffled his hair roughly.

"Wait...." Sawamura squinted up at him. "Aren't I your only little brother?" Sawamura pouted. "Ni-San... You only have sisters at home!"

"Kyahaha!" Youichi grinned down at him. "That's right!"

***

Chapter Text

Takigawa Chris Yu used to pride himself on his skills as a catcher. That's not to say that he used to be arrogant, but to Chris there was no better feeling than drawing out a pitcher's potential and feeling their pitches hit his mitt with all of their convictions. The feeling of working with a pitcher to pull of a pick off, or stopping steals. The feeling of coordinating with the team to pull off a double play. More than anything in the world Chris missed looking up from a catcher's crouch and seeing those same convictions, seeing the determination of the pitcher glaring at him from the mound.

So it was no surprise that after Chris injured himself, tearing his subscapularis tendon and pronator quadratus muscle Chris lost what he felt like was the meaning of his life, his calling. Ever since he was little, baseball had been his dream, his goal, his future. And sure, he was just a high schooler... and yes he had more time (in the future) but that didn't mean that he wanted to sit everyday and watch his team play the sport he loved without him. Still, if he had to give up his position as starting catcher to anyone, he was glad that it was to Miyuki Kazuya. 

When Chris had seen that crooked baseball cap and that mischievous grin in the first-year line up, Chris new that everything would be okay for Seidou. Because even though Chris had won against Miyuki in the senior leagues, he knew that Miyuki wasn't far behind him in terms of skill. In fact it was likely that if Chris were still able to play, Miyuki would surpass him some time in high school. So Chris was relieved, but deep down inside, the pride of a catcher kept him wishing to play on the field with his friends one more time. 

But a taking a year off off baseball in a place like Seidou is a death sentence for a player's high school career. Maybe Chris would be able to play if he came back, but more likely he'd be unable to. And ever so slowly, self doubt crept up on Chris draining the light from his eyes. Even worse, like rubbing salt in his wounds, the first and second years didn't know who he was, not really. They didn't know that he used to be the starting catcher, or how much work he'd put into practice, or how even now, Chris would go to physical therapy working towards being able to play ('one last game, please just one more catch!'). As Chris got stuck in the middle of his own self doubt and the doubts of others, he began to lose himself, melting away into guilt, sadness and anger. I had been a year since he had gotten his injury. It had been a year since Chris was last really truly happy.

Lately something had changed though. Not with him personally, but with Seidou in general. Chris may not have been much of a catcher anymore, but that didn't mean he lost all of his critical observational skills. It was perhaps a slow change, starting with Nori becoming a little more confident and working a little harder ('his sprained ankle could attest to that'). Even his successor Miyuki seemed to change. What was once a impenetrable defense of barbs and cruel commentary softened into a sarcastic comradery, bringing Miyuki deeper into the folds of Seidou's team. There was still a lot of work to be done for the team, but the changes seemed to be centered around someone in particular. A new first-year... Sawamura Eijun.

***

"Oi Sawamura, you can't be serious..." Kazuya said, feeling way out of his depth ('This kid must be some kind of prodigy? Or maybe really just an idiot...'). "What do you mean, you've never had a coach? Where did you you learn your different pitches from then?" The younger brunette chuckled sheepishly and scratched his head.

"Youtube? And pitching guides.... Oh! And Mei-Senpai helped me with my form!" Sawamura counted on his fingers. Kazuya's eye twitched partly from irritation, but also from hearing a familiar name ('Perhaps a mix of both...').

"Mei... Narumiya Mei? How do you even know him? Aren't you from Nagano?" Kazuya asked.

"Mhm! I met Mei-Senpai when I watched one of his games! He and Harada-Senpai looked at my form and helped me fix it!" Sawamura smiled.

"Mah, as long as you aren't giving away team secrets, I guess it's fine..." Kazuya sighed. "Anyway, your palm-ball is pretty consistent, and so are the two seam and four seam, but your change up needs some work..." Kazuya crouched in the bullpen ('I wonder what kind of pitcher he'll be when he gets control over the rest of the grips?'). "Let's start by working on keeping them lower. We were lucky in the last game because they were surprised that a first-year was suddenly put on the field. But in the next game we won't have that advantage." Kazuya held up his mitt. 

"Hai!" Sawamura went into his windup, focusing on keeping his grip loose and transferring the weight of his body through the legs. As he went through the stretch, he swung his arm, making sure to follow all the way through. This time the ball went lower, but it was still a little high.

"Try, releasing with the tips of your fingers. It'll help you release the ball later." Kazuya advised. 

Sawamura nodded before going through the same motions again. this time though he released the ball at the absolute last second. When the ball shot out of his grip, it skimmed the bottom of the zone. Almost perfect placement for a change-up, Kazuya grinned.

"Nice pitch! Do that again before you forget the feeling." Kazuya held up his mitt again. Sawamura nodded. This time the motion was more confident, the ball slamming into Kazuya's mitt, exactly where he wanted it. Kazuya nodded throwing the ball back to the pitcher. "Ten more and then we'll head over to ground B. This is supposed to be a rest day, we can't have you over working."

"Okay!" Sawamura took a deep breath, gazing at Kazuya causing him to shiver a bit. This kid was really interesting and it had been a long while since Kazuya had had this much fun catching for someone! ('Although he would have thought that Sawamura would have complained more about not pitching enough...' ).

***

"Oh It's starting!" Eijun cried rushing forward past Miyuki.

"The game won't be over in the five minutes it takes to get from the bullpen to ground B, Sawamura. Calm down a little." Miyuki said looking at the hyperactive brunette.

"But all of my new friends are playing today! And there are more first-years I haven't met yet! I have to support them all!" Eijun cried out.

"Shouldn't you be cheering on the second-string? You are on the first-string after all..." Miyuki looked at him.

"I'll be cheering on both! Simultaneously! Because the ace needs to support the whole team, not just one part!" Eijun grinned up at the older brunette.

"Oh-ho~ So even you know big words like simultaneously?" Miyuki teased, causing Eijun to pout.

"Miyuki Kazuya! I know I'm not a genius, but I'm not dumb!" he growled. Miyuki raised his hands in surrender.

"Ah, sorry. I was just teasing you." He grinned.

"Well your teasing is meeeeeeeeaaaaaaaan!" Eijun cried out. "Anyway, I have to cheer on everyone today! There are four open spots in the first-string." Eijun's determined gaze met Miyuki's. 

"Yeah two of them will likely go to Masuko-San and Tanba-San, if they have a good showing today. That means the other two are up for grabs for anyone second-string or otherwise, who impress the coach today..." Miyuki hummed.

"Well anyway, it looks like the second-string is starting as defense, and Tanba-San is on the mound! Masuko-Senpai is at third as well!" Eijun cheered causing people to look up at him.

"Oi keep it down!" Miyuki shushed him.

"Never! I'm cheering them on!" Eijun cried out. "LET'S GO SEIDOU! FIRST-YEARS AND SECOND-STRING SHOW US WHAT YOU CAN DOOOO!" Eijun called loudly. Everyone in the first-year dugout looked up at him, relaxing minutely.

Eijun certainly always had this presence about him, that just made him seem reliable, even if most of the time he was bumbling around. It wasn't quite yet the presence of an ace, but when people saw him giving his best, and putting all of his energy into practice and learning how to field, they couldn't help but be inspired to also do there best.

"Line up!" Kataoka called, wearing the umpire's gear. "Bow!" 

"Let's have a good game!" both teams yelled. 

The firs-year versus second-string match had just begun.

Chapter Text

If there was a single word Eijun could use the describe the scrimmage, it would have to be slow. From the top of the first inning with the Senpai defending, Eijun noticed that even with his exuberant cheering, the first-years were making little to no headway. In fact it seemed that they we're going up to each at bat with loss firmly in mind. And to Eijun, who lived for the challenge, for the adrenaline rush he'd get from facing someone well known be stronger ('Monster Slaying'), this was pretty much unforgivable. More than anything he wanted to be on the field with his year-mates to encourage them onward.

"WHY ARE YOU LOOKING SO DOWN!" Eijun yelled out at the firs-years, causing everyone to startle. "The bottom of the fourth inning is just starting!" His eyes blazed as he looked down from his perch next to Miyuki. "You don't lose until you give up! What are you on the field for if you aren't giving one-hundred percent?" 

"Oi Sawamura calm down!" Miyuki stood up trying to calm him down, but Eijun shrugged him off, enraged at the showing his friends were giving. 

"Don't you realize that this is a opportunity?!" Eijun flailed his arms. "Coach doesn't care if you win or lose, he wants to see how you play in the face of adversity!" Eijun clutched the fence in front of him tightly, his knuckles whitening from the pressure. "In a pinch, would you really just give up like this? They may be your senpai but they're at most two year older than you! They're not aliens or demons or some kind of fantasy monster! That means you can play them!" Eijun cried out. "SO GET OUT THERE AND SHOW THEM WHAT YOU'VE GOT!" Eijun swung his arms out. 

He stood there, with everyone's eyes on him taking heaving breaths and trying to push his convictions on the first-years with only his eyes. His gaze directly caught Kanemaru's and Haruichi's and they nodded at him, grinning. He slide his gaze over to the coach who nodded at him, eyes hard.

"Player substitutions! Kanemaru third base, Takatsu shortstop, Kominato second base, Oka first base. Kariba catcher, Oushima, Kimura and Hosoyama Outfield.  Toujo is pitching." The coach called out. Eijun cheered at them, excited that they seemed to be taking it more seriously now.

"Let's go Tanba-San!" Eijun made sure to cheer for the upperclassmen as well. While the moral of the players certainly increased, it didn't do much to increase their skills, so the first-years were still in fact losing by 9-0. But the game was much more fun to watch, and they seemed to be calmer and playing sharper.

***
('Seriously... is he an idiot?)  Kazuya thought as he watched the loud brunette sit down in the grass next to him, from the corner of his eye.('Although... I guess I can't deny that all of the players look much sharper after his... intervention. He certainly doesn't look like much at first glance, but he really is starting to become a mood maker for the team.') Kazuya, placed an arm on his knee, spreading his other leg straight out and rested his chin on it. 

"Sawamura make sure you rest your lungs." Kazuya smirked at his pitcher. "You actually need to be able to speak during out next match in two days!" Kazuya relished in the way, Sawamura's face reddened.

"Miyuki Kazuya what does that even mean?" Sawamura said hotly glaring at him.

"You know you can just call me Miyuki-Senpai right? Or if that's too hard Miyuki is also fine." Kazuya evaded, knowing that it would rile the pitcher up even more.

"Wha-?! Don't ignore my question Mi-Yu-Ki Ka-Zu-Ya!" Sawamura spluttered at him, narrowing his eyes even more.

"You really are the best Sawamura" Kazuya laughed, throwing his arm around the slim shoulders of the first-year and dragging him into a side hug. ('How is it that someone I barely know can make me laugh like this? ). 

"Tch." Sawamura grumbled before settling into Kazuya's side. If either of them blushed well, no one on the team was really close enough to see it. 

***
In the sixth inning, The outfield and the pitcher were switched out. Kaneda took the mound and had a good showing. He came in with the score at 13-0 and left in the 8th inning with a score of 17-0. At the top of the 8th inning, Kanermaru stepped up to the plate to bat, batting second with one out. The pitcher on the mound ('I don't think I've met him yet?') was less intimidating than Tanba, although that didn't mean he looked easy to hit off of. Eijun watched, full of nerves as Kanemaru took a deep breath, before settling into a comfortable batting stance. From what Eijun heard (from Toujo) Kanemaru was great at hitting fastballs. But Eijun also knew that the senpai were taking this seriously as a opportunity to possibly move up to the first string. Even if there were any fastballs, it would be unlikely for them come on an easy course. Eijun watched with a bated breath as the pitcher wound up ('Despite what Wakana always said, he did in fact know when to shut-up'). 

"Strike!" Kataoka called as the first ball slammed into the mitt of the catcher, Ono.  The pitcher seemed to have a good rhythm going from striking out the previous batter. Kanemaru settled back into his comfortable batting stance, hugging the edge of the batter's box closest to the plate.

"Ball!" Kataoka called. Eijun watched as Kanemaru released a breath, lightly swinging his bat from knee to knee before settling again.

"Strike!" 

Clang! The sped between second and third, while Kanemaru sprinted as hard as he could to first base. 

"Kanemaru-Kun!" A timid voice yelled out as a familiar pinkette made his way up to the plate! "I'll bring you home no matter what!" Haruichi in that moment was unusually confident and brimming with confidence.

"Who is that boy?"

"Did he just declare a run?"

"Who does he think he is?" The spectators, mostly composed of Seidou alumni started to gossip, causing Haruichi to blush.

"LET'S GO HARUCCHI! YOU GOT THIS!" Eijun shouted, drawing away the negative attention of the spectators. The pinkette looked up as his fellow first-year, and possibly friend and smiled.

"H-Harucchi? Isn't it too early to be on first name bases already?" He muttered. Still, the words of the loud brunette calmed him somewhat. "Thanks Eijun-Kun!" he said quietly. 

And so, with one out and a runner on first, Kominato Haruichi stepped up to bat.

Chapter Text

BB Southpaw: Hi Mei-Senpai! How are you this fine afternoon?

King 👑: Do you always have to be so formal Ei-Chan?

BB Southpaw: I-

BB Southpaw: No? I'm just really excited Mei-Senpai!!!!

King 👑: Okay, well now I'm curious. Tell your favorite senpai how your day was Ei-Chan~

BB Southpaw: Today was the intra-squad match! It was sooooooooooo cool! My Senpai are amazing. I'm excited to see who joins us on the first string!

King 👑: Wait... Hold up...

BB Southpaw: Hm? What? Mei-Senpai?!

King 👑: You made first-string and you didn't even tell me?! How could you! I thought I was your fav Senpai!! ＞︿＜

BB Southpaw: Don't worry Mei-Senpai! You'll always be my favorite pitcher!

King 👑: Oi! Don't just confirm it. I knew it! Kazuya is trying to convert you to the dark-side! Isn't he? 

BB Southpaw: I- (⊙﹏⊙)

Mei chuckled seeing Eijun's reply on his phone. 

"Narumiya-Senpai! Can you please pitch for me? I want to practice catching." Mei turned around to see Itsuki, a first-year catcher come up to him. "Who were you texting anyway?"

"Oh, Itsuki! This? I was just texting my protégé!" Mei giggled, seeing Itsuki's face light up in shock and confusion. "And didn't I say to call me Mei?" Mei scolded lightly.

"But Narumiya-San..." Itsuki looked down.

"Oi! At least keep the Senpai!" Mei laughed. 

"Narumiya-San-Senpai?" Itsuki asked.

"Definitely not! Mei-San or Mei-Senpai. I won't respond to anything else." Mei crossed his arms. Itsuki nodded.

"Mei-San, what do you mean, you were texting your protégé?" Itsuki fiddled his thumbs a little. Mei knew that the first-year wasn't usually this nervous, maybe it was something he was doing?

"Oh yeah, Ei-Chan! He's a southpaw just like me!" Mei bragged.

"So he's a middle schooled that you want to come here next year?" Itsuki asked.

"Nope!"

"A elementary schooled?!" Itsuki asked shocked.

"Hahahaha, Nope!" Mei chuckled.

"Then who...?"

"He's a pitcher for Siedou!" Mei proclaimed.

"Eh! But aren't they our rivals?! Why are you helping them?!"

"Hm.... Well think of it this way, we usually win the qualifiers for West Tokyo right? And we usually go on to Koshien. But last year, my first-year, I-" Mei's voice broke, and he clenched his fist at his side. "We lost. We lost to a team because I couldn't take the pressure and I pitched a bad ball. It was a single bad pitch, but with it came the loss of our team. No one blamed me. They said kind words, things like: 'You're just a first-year so it isn't your fault' or 'It's okay you still have two more chances'. But Itsuki, was I not a member of the team? Did I not contribute to our wins until then, just because I was a first-year?" Mei let out a shuddering breath.

"Mei-San..." Itsuki Whispered. He looked up to no one more than the obnoxious and sometimes arrogant pitcher.

"Well, all of your senpai know this story already, but at the time I needed to re-evaluate myself. What did it mean to be ace? What do I bring to the team? What kind of Ace am I?  Were some of the questions that went through my head. Eventually, I came to a conclusion. It is my duty as ace to lead the team to victory. As the ace I need to be a true tyrant on the mound. I don't just want to go to Koshien... I want to win." Mei looked up, fire burning in his azure eyes. "If that means I need to build up our rivals, then I will do it. As the ace and as a member of this team, I will do anything to assure our victory." Mei exclaimed proudly. Itsuki watched the blonde pitcher in awe. "Ah! But that doesn't mean I don't like Ei-Chan just the way he is, okay?! He is after all, my protégé" 

"I'll help Mei-San! I catch your pitches today!" Itsuki exclaimed. His idol was amazing.

"Sure! Just give me a moment to respond to Ei-Chan." Mei pulled out his phone.

King 👑: Congratulations of making first-string! You better train hard and be ready to play us in the summer tournament! 

"Okay let's go Itsuki! I want to practice throwing it today! I need to work on it's height!" Mei turned and started to stride towards the bullpen, causing Itsuki to scurry after him. 

***
Kazuya watched the southpaw sitting next to him, curiously. The boy was texting on his phone, a wide excited smile spread across it. Kazuya tried to discretely move closer in order to see who the boy was messaging, aware of the side-eyed glances he was getting from his fellow teammates in the mess hall. Sawamura was oblivious, but even he could feel Kazuya's body heat seeping into him from his right-side. To the pleasure of the glasses wearing catcher, Sawamura relaxed into the him, allowing for Kazuya to have a better view of his phone.

"Who is King?" Kazuya questioned curiously, poking the side of the slim pitcher. 

"Eh?! Miyuki Kazuya! Who gave you permission to read my messages?!" Sawamura cried out, flailing his arms wildly, barely avoiding smacking Kazuya in the face.

"Oh-ho-ho... The fact that you're avoiding him means that there is something to hide! Isn't there Sawamura?" Kuramochi called startling the two of them out of their own world. Kazuya almost scowled, but he knew how out of character that would look for him in front of his teammates. He did in fact have a persona to uphold after all. 

"Ooh, Sa-Wa-Mu-Ra~ Does this mean you have a boyfriend or a crush?" Kazuya jabbed at the pitcher inexplicably feeling his chest tighten into knots. ('What is this feeling? It's so strange...).  

"Wha- No! I don't have a crush on him, and I definitely am not dating anyone at the moment!" Eijun denied forming an X with his arms." Kazuya cackled with Kuramochi, feeling the knots loosen a bit.

"Ja~ Then who is it?" Kominato (the older) sidled up to the table, startling all three of them.

"Mm... Just a really special senpai of mine!" Sawamura smiled, his whole face brightening up.

"Eijun-kun, if you say it like that then it certainly sounds like you want to sate him!" Kominato (the younger) interjected, joining them at the table along with Furuya. The tall, dark haired pitcher looked ready to sleep, even though he had only pitched once during the practice match ('And oh what a pitch it was... I still prefer pitchers with good control though.'). 

"It's not like that! Mei-Senpai was the first person to really teach me anything about pitching. I'm sure he probably had something in mind, like making his rivals stronger or something like that..." Sawamura grinned, eyes seeing something that wasn't present in the Seidou cafeteria. 

"Wait... Mei? Like Narumiya Mei!?" 

Chapter Text

"Wait... Mei? Like Narumiya Mei!?"

"Hm?" Sawamura ('Honestly, at this point I'll call him Bakamura for ever') blinked. "Yeah! Do you know him?" He smiled brightly at Kazuya, causing the glasses wearing teen's heart to skip a beat.

"Do I know him?! How do you know him?!" Kazuya spluttered, losing his usual cool. 

The rest of the cafeteria was in no better state, everyone scatted in various degrees of shock. Jun-Senpai had his chopsticks held up to his mouth as if to take a bite, except that the food had already fallen into lap (he still hadn't noticed though). Masuko-Senpai looked too shocked to eat his pudding, and Kuramochi was frozen mid cackle. 

"Miyuki-Senpai, I swear I've already told you this!" Sawamura's eyes were squinted and bore a vague resemblance to a cat. "Mei-Senpai gave me some tips on how to pitch! It's because of him that my form is so stable! Before I met him and Harada-Senpai, my form was still inconsistent." 

"...Nope I haven't heard this before." Kazuya narrowed his eyes at the slim pitcher leaning into his side. He flicked the pitcher on the nose. "You need to tell me these things Sa-Wa-Mu-Ra." Sawamura rubbed his nose, and glared at Kazuya playfully.

"Well its not my fault you don't remember that I told you!" 

"Sa... What month, day, hour, minute, and second did you tell me? I'm listening!" Kazuya cupped his ear and brought it close to the pitcher's mouth, lips curved up in his most obnoxious smirk. Slowly chatter began to fill the cafeteria again as the team started to relax. Kazuya was a little to focused on the pitcher next to him, but he managed to here the screeches of Jun-senpai as he realized where his bite of food went. 

"Moe, Miyuki Kazuya! That's not fair!" Sawamura pouted, swatting at Kazuya and then crossing his arms. To Kazuya's delight, the smaller brunette didn't lean away from him, and instead relaxed more fully into his side. Kazuya inconspicuously wrapped his arm around the pitcher, hoping no one noticed. He didn't know why his instincts wanted him to be so close to Sawamura, but he didn't deny that it felt good. So for now, he wouldn't question it.

***

Chris was confused. Well, not exactly confused... more like uncertain? Miyuki Kazuya was not usually one to get close to people. In fact, Chris would go so far as to say that Miyuki deliberately pushed away people who tried to get close to him. He'd noticed it earlier, the slow changes that Sawamura Eijun was bringing to the team, but the changes to Miyuki were so glaringly obvious to those who had known him for a while now. From earlier when he had caught the battery blushing while watching the Second-string and first-year match, to now, when he pulled the younger boy closer instead of uncomfortably squirming away. Miyuki was most definitely changing and Chris noted that it was for the better. Slowly but surely, the tanuki like boy was being more and more deeply integrated into the team. And Chris... well Chris was kind of envious. If there was one thing that he missed as much as playing the sport, it was the connection with the team. It had been so long and he knew deep down, no matter how much effort he'd put into his physical therapy, he was probably not going to play in his final year. Still he wanted to know... What kind of pitcher was Sawamura Eijun. What kind of power did he have to draw a catcher out of the shadows and into the light of the team? How could he change the team and affect it so deeply without being here for a long time?

***

"Today we are going to assign practice batteries" Rei said, pushing up her glasses. She watched as the group of boys in front of her squirmed in nervous excitement. "Tanba-Kun, you are with Miyauchi-Kun. Kawakami-Kun, you will be working with Miyauchi-Kun as well, but you will also be working with Ono-Kun primarily. Furuya-Kun, You will be working with Miyuki-Kun. And Finally, Sawamura-Kun, you will be working with Miyuki-Kun as well, but you will be with Takigawa-Kun primarily." Rei glanced up at the pitchers and catchers standing in front of her, their eyes glinting with determination.

"Yes Ma'am!" The boys said. Rei noticed that Takigawa's eyes widened in surprise, and Miyuki frowned slightly. 

There were some reasons that Furuya was assigned to Miyuki and not Takigawa.  First, the boy's pitch would likely cause Takigawa to reinjure or further injure hi shoulder. In the same lens, the boy had a severe lack of stamina and control which would hinder his progress with Takigawa who focused on control over speed and power. Miyuki who was still quite strict about those, wouldn't destroy Furuya's confidence. Sawamura on the other hand, had control and charisma. In a way, the coaching staff was hoping that the small brunette would be able to help Takigawa, because they had been unable to. With Miyuki help Furuya improve and catch-up and Takigawa and Sawamura helping each other advance, the pitching staff would improve by leaps and bounds. Kawakami was assigned to two catchers to help his confidence issues and lack of self-esteem (though it had improved since Sawamura had joined), and Tanba was assigned to a single catcher (Miyauchi) to buckle down and focus on his improvement.

"That being said, these assignments are not  permanent. As we progress through the season the first-string catchers will be taking over. Meaning, Takigawa-Kun and Ono-Kun, you should be focusing on developing your pitchers a lot during this time and Kawakami-Kun and Sawamura-Kun should be paying a lot of attention to what your catchers are trying to teach you." 

"Yes Ma'am"

"Yes Ms. Boss!" Eijun shouted. She turned to the other two batteries. 

"Miyuki-Kun and Miyauchi-Kun, you should be focusing on Furuya-Kun and Tanba-Kun. Help them prepare for the summer, but also remember to practice with Kawakami-Kun and Sawamura-Kun. As the summer approaches, your workload will increase and I will expect you to be working with all of the pitchers equally! Furuya-Kun and Tanba-Kun, don't get complacent. You need to work on improving yourselves and getting stronger where you are weak."

"Yes Ma'am!"

"We will be scheduling check-ins with the coaching staff on a weekly basis where all of the batteries will reflect on progress and goals. Keep this in mind while you train: training mindlessly is a waste of time!" Rei pushed up her glasses again. "What are you waiting for? Get to work!"

Chapter Text

"Sawamura-"

"Call me Eijun, Senpai!" Eijun interjected energetically.

"Ja, Eijun, here is your menu for today." Chris stated, handing a scroll to the energetic brunette. "Make sure you warm up thoroughly." 

"Sure Takigawa-Senpai!" The brunette yelled. Chris sighed, confused as to why the boy was so happy, even when he himself was not excited about their new battery. "Good luck at physio Senpai!" He said, gently touching Chris's shoulder. Chris's eyes widened in confusion. How had he known about my injury? Who told him? Why?  

"How did you...?"

"Well, Takigawa-Senpai is someone who Miyuki Kazuya looks up to. He wouldn't look up to you if you weren't an amazing player. But Senpai, you don't play, and you leave practice early. So you must be injured. Miyuki Kazuya would never look up to someone who was lazy and uncommitted. That means you must be trying really hard... Right Takigawa-Senpai!?" Eijun tried to finesse his explanation so that he wouldn't give away his and Miyuki's talk. He wasn't the smartest person, but even he knew that that would be a bad idea.

"Ah, that was a good deduction. I didn't realize that anyone from the second or first year classes would know or figure it out." Chris' frown deepened mildly. 

"Mmm, it might just be me and Miyuki-Senpai. He knows because he looks up to you and follows your progress closely, and I know because I look up to Miyuki-Senpai and you, and I figured it out." Eijun laughed nervously, hoping that Chris bought it. Chris hummed.

"Well either way, I hope that you don't go spreading it around. I don't particularly care what the underclassmen think about me. It's not like I'll get to play in high school again anyway." He sighed, and while his face remained quite neutral, it was easy to see that it wasn't some Chris was happy about. Eijun bit his lip before sighing.

"How do you know?"

"What?" 

"How do you know that you won't get to play again in high school?"

"Well its obvious isn't it? Seidou is a highly competitive school, and I've been injured and out of practice for over a year and a half now. With how large our club is, and the rate at which everyone improves, I find it unlikely that I'll ever get to play in another official match before I graduate." Chris, looked at his spikes frowning. "It's not like I want to sit out of my third-year, its just that I can't find it in myself to get my hopes up." The younger brunette sighed before grasping at both of Chris's shoulders. 

"Senpai, just because its unlikely, doesn't mean its impossible. I can't say I know what you're going through, because I'm not and haven't gone through it myself." Eijun's grip tightened. "But... I know you love baseball!" Eijun's eyes, glimmered fiercely. "You put yourself through too much pain everyday not too! So, Senpai, please don't say that you are going to give up." Tears gathered in the corner of his eyes.

"I-" Chris looked up into his eyes and then away again. "I can't imagine the circumstances that would allow me to play again. But fine..." Chris sighed, "I'll keep working at physio with the goal of coming back. Sawamura, no Eijun, show me why I should believe in you."

Chris stepped back, and let the shorter brunette's hands fall from his shoulders. Chris raised his fist, and tapped Eijun over his heart on his chest. 

"H-hai!" Eijun called! "I'll do my best Takigawa-Senpai!" Eijun bowed.

"Mah Eijun, if we're going to be partners, then you might as well call me Chris." Chris rubbed the back of his neck.

"Okay, Chris-Senpai!" Eijun cheerfully grinned at the older boy. "Now you should hurry up and go to physio! You'll be late Senpai!" Eijun waved, double checking that he had the training scroll in his grasp. "See you later Senpai!" and off he went.

"He's like a whirlwind. He comes when he wants, says what he wants and then leaves like a storm..." he muttered to himself, and if Chris walked to his father's car with a little bit of a prep in his step and a little more light in his eyes than there had been in a long while... well no one would know.

***

I don't know how to do half of these exercises. Eijun thought hysterically. Miyuki was busy working with Furuya, Nori was in the bullpen, and Eijun didn't know any of the other catchers well enough to ask them. Eijun ruffled through his hair roughly, letting out a silent scream of frustration. 

"Sawamura." A commanding voice came out from behind him just as he squatted down and tried to curl into himself in frustration. Eijun jumped up and whirled around in surprise.

"B-Boss?!" Eijun, exclaimed loudly, gathering looks from some of his teammates who were doing other drills on the field.

"What are you doing?" Clearly the man had given up on trying to get Eijun to refer to him in any other manner.

"Ano, Chris-Senpai left me this training menu, but I'm not sure how to do some of these exercises." Eijun bit his lip jittering. The coach held out his hand, his stoic expression unreadable from behind his sunglasses.

"Ah, here!" Eijun handed the scroll over, fumbling a bit with his hands. The coach was scary, totally like some kind of Yakuza boss from those movies grandfather used to watch. 

"This is a good training menu. It's meant to help you build up some lean muscle, stamina all while keeping your joints flexible. Chris did a good job writing this." The coach turned to look at Eijun. "Is it the abbreviations that are giving you trouble?" 

"Hai! I recognize some of them, and I understand the style of sets and reps, but I can't figure out what exercises he wants me to do."

"Okay, let me explain it to you then. You are doing four sets of twenty reps for these exercises. The exercises are as follow: squats, jumping squats, one legged squats, lunges, lunge jumps, crunches, sit-ups, V-ups, Russian twists, reverse crunches, thirty second planks (front, and then one on each side) then lastly a 20 meter sprint to complete each round. Then to build stamina he included a base runs and laps with tires. Does this make sense?" Eijun looked at him determinedly.

"Hai! I think I understand Boss! This Sawamura Eijun will endeavor to complete the exercises in a timely fashion." Eijun saluted, and the coach sighed.

"As long as you understand, that's fine. Oh, and ask Chris about adding shadow pitching to your menu. Tell him I said to add it." The boss looked at him intently.

"Shadow pitching? Yes Boss!" Eijun nodded rapidly.

"Good, get to work then." With that the slightly intimidating, yakuza like boss (coach) walked away to go oversee other parts of Seidou's practice.

Eijun sighed, deflating like a balloon. He clenched his fist, before taking a deep breath. Eijun wanted to be the ace, and that meant putting in as much time, effort and work as he physically could. He would do it, he had to! To prove to Chris-Senpai that it was possible, and to be Miyuki Kazuya's battery partner, Eijun would work harder than anyone else!

Chapter Text

"Furuya are you ready?" Eijun questioned, looking at the taller first  year. 

"Mmm." The black haired boy muttered incomprehensibly. Eijun sighed.

"You know, you could be a little more excited. This is our first official match on the first-string!" Eijun exclaimed pumping his fist.

"Wha- Didn't you already play in a game though?" Furuya asked quietly, the stark opposite to Eijun's energy in the morning light.

"Well... Yeah," Eijun wheedled, "But it didn't count! It was just a try out!" He whirled and pointed his finger at Furuya. "Now that we're officially on the team, the games count!" He grinned, his whole face lighting up. "Besides, it definitely feels better to not be the only first year on the first string. We're in this together Furuya! So get used to seeing me a lot more often!" Eijun exclaimed.

"Hm... Okay, I guess." The taller boy fidgeted. "If that's the case, then call me Satoru." He looked Eijun in the eyes, and Eijun could see a fragile bit of hope lingering in his eyes.

"Sure! Call me Eijun then!" He grabbed Satoru's left hand gently with his right. "Let's make a promise then!" Eijun, hooked their pinkies together. "No matter how much we compete with each other, no matter how rough it gets, let's be great friends Satoru!" Eijun's eyes closed into a wide smile, the grin stretching cheek to cheek.

And because his eyes were closed, he did not see the way the taller boy's cheeks pinkened with a blush, nor the way determination set in his eyes. After all Eijun was like the sun, and just like the sun he had the gravity to pull planets (or in this case people) into his orbit.

***

"Ne, Miyuki." Youichi prodded at the sleepy brunette next to him. 

"Nghah?" He grunted, rubbing his hands through his tired eyes and looking up from the data sheets he was looking at. "What is it Mochi?" 

Miyuki didn't have many bad traits, in fact if someone were to ask the girls in their class, Miyuki was akin to a god or some kind of perfect being. But to Youichi, who had seen every side of him, from his most mischievous to his most tired, he was familiar with Miyuki's sleeping habits. Miyuki didn't wake up before 7am on a good day (luckily for him practice started at 7:30am). Today, however, was unlucky for Miyuki, because they needed to be awake and on the bus by 6:45am to get to the stadium. Youichi had known that his friend would not have woken up in time, so he stuck Eijun on him... The poor guy was awoken at 5:30am on the dot.

"You're not still mad at me are you?" He questioned, rubbing his neck sheepishly. 

"What do you think?" Miyuki glared at him sleepily. 

"How was I supposed to know he's wake you up that early? I told him to make sure you were up for the bus! Not to wake you up at the ass-crack of dawn." Miyuki sighed tiredly, the bags under his eyes prominent. Youichi bit his lip a little guilty. The catcher had probably spent most of the night awake going over the opponent's data and most likely had gotten little or no sleep due to his unfortunate alarm. 

"Its Sawamura! you're his roommate? Aren't you familiar with his sleeping habits?" Miyuki questioned a little waspishly. His sigh, turned into a jaw cracking yawn. "Sorry, I'm just really tired."

"Mah, it's fine, I know you didn't mean it. I'm sorry for setting the puppy on you this morning."

"Oh-hoh? Resorting to calling your beloved little brother a dog? What would he say if he heard what his beloved Mochi-Nii is saying about him?" Miyuki grinned tiredly.

"Probably nothing kyhahaha. He's too busy making friends over there." Youichi jabbed his thumb in the direction of the two first years who were coincidentally sitting next to each other and at that exact moment leaning on each other. 

"..." Miyuki stared intently at the duo. Youichi, cackled internally, these two really were idiots.

"You know..." Youichi wheedled, trying to pique Miyuki's interest.

"What?" The younger boy said looking at him.

"I overheard them talking on the way to the bus and, it seems that Eijun has both Chris-Senpai and Furuya calling him by his first name!" Youichi waited for the explosion to build.

"Those two look really good together. Like the sun and the moon really. The moon cannot shine without the sun and the sun shines even more brightly due to the presence of the moon." Youichi poked at Miyuki, who at this point could be likened to a sleeping bear. 

"Wow, I never knew you could be so poetic Kuramochi, if I didn't know your literature grades then I'd say you have a future career as a poet waiting for you." Miyuki finally jabbed back, loosing his cool from lack of sleep and irritation.

"Ouch! That hurts." Youichi clutched at his jersey over his heart. "Right here!" He cackled, amused at how easily Miyuki would lose his cool at the mention of Sawamura. "Mah, its not like he even looks at anyone else like he looks at you." Youichi muttered, under his breath.

"Hm?" Miyuki side-eyed him. 

"Nothing nothing, yeesh you tanuki." 

***

"Hey Sa-wa-mu-ra!" Kazuya teased, throwing his arm around the shorter but more lanky pitcher.

"What is it Miyuki Kazuya?" The younger brunette hissed, eyes narrowing into a shape reminiscent of a cat. 

"You might not even get to pitch today!" Kazuya cackled, waiting for Sawamura to take the bait.

"So? If Furuya does well, its still a team win." Sawamura pouted.

"Oh~ so your not even a little disappointed?" Kazuya leaned in close, the two of them almost nose to nose. 

"Nope! If I want to be the ace, I need to know when I have to step off of the mound." his golden eyes glinted fiercely. The younger boy sighed, before turning his face away to mutter, "Though, if I could, I would pitch one hundred percent of the time..." He pouted some more.

"What was that?" Kazuya cupped his ear and leaned in even more. He could feel the breaths of the younger boy shift his hair gently with each breathe. 

"Mou, nothing Tanuki-Senpai." Sawamura said.

"Well that doesn't sound very sincere." Kazuya teased. 

"It was." Sawamura said. "By the way, shouldn't you be warming up senpai? If you're not careful you might not even get a single hit today."

"Oi!" Kazuya exclaimed.

"What? You never get a hit unless someone's on base. Prove me wrong Miyuki Kazuya!" Eijun challenged loudly. 

"Fine! Today, I'll get a homerun regardless if someone is on base." Kazuya accepted a smirk on his face.

"Deal" Eijun said grinning, and the two of them shook on it.

***

The drawing of Kominato Haruichi