Chapter Text
“Welcome to Seido High, Isabella Takigawa,” a young woman with black hair and glasses approached the unsuspecting teenager exiting the taxi, “My name is Rei Takashima, the baseball—and softball—recruiter for Seido.”
“Hello, ma’am,” Isa formally bowed, riddled with anxiety from the new environment. She could only hope that her Japanese was decipherable, as she hasn’t spoken the language in the latter half of her life.
“We’ll start this way, to your dorm room,” Ms. Takashima motioned to the left, “From there, I’ll take you to the baseball fields and to meet up with your brother.”
The dark haired girl nodded in acknowledgement, and followed next to the woman. Isa and her guide mostly remained silent, as the only audible sound was the smooth roll of Isa’s suitcases, gliding behind her.
When they reached the new softball dorms, the recruiter continued, “You’ll be in room 102, your roommates will be two first year students, arriving on campus in about a week.”
“Oh, okay, thank you,” the girl gulped, staring at the daunting door reading “102” on the front.
“Once you drop off your belongings, we can start talking about your course schedule on the way to the fields,” Ms. Takashima explained, as if gently encouraging Isa to open the door to her new home.
Walking out from the dorms, they turned right on the concrete pavement. “We don’t expect the softball team’s popularity to develop for another few years, so this year we have exactly 20 players. There is a shared baseball and softball cafeteria—which is in the other direction from here.”
Twenty players is a lot for one team, since only nine are on the field! Isa gasped, but held her tongue. Continuing her orientation, the bewildered girl examined the softball fields to the left of the walkway.
Ms. Takashima paused for a moment before heading back the way they came. “Beyond is the indoor practice gym, and further down is the baseball dorm with the cafeteria. And these are the fields to our right.”
It was obvious the baseball team was at work because of the amount of shouting and dings from the ball meeting the bat. Walking down the stairs to the occupied field, the noise just got louder and the shouts clearer. Ms. Takashima was leading the way into the third base dugout and where three adults conversed. The recruiter started introductions to the three people in the dugout: Coach Kataoka, head of the baseball team, Oota Kazuyoshi, president of both clubs, and Coach Kaneko, head of the new softball team.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Isabella.” Coach Kaneko’s voice was simultaneously smooth and commanding.
As practice wrapped up, the five of them moved out of the dugout and onto the dirt field. Now I get why Ms. Takashima thought that a team of 20 is small — there must be at least 60 boys gathered here now . As the stern baseball coach was debriefing the practice, Isa’s eyes were scanning the crowd for her half-brother, finally scouting him towards the back of the sea of boys.
“Practice is now dismissed,” Coach Kataoka announced, causing the boys to jump out of formation and head towards the dugouts to grab their gear.
“Hey, Isa,” Chris addressed his sister in English, “How’s it been?” he asked, pulling Isa into a bear hug.
The younger Takigawa sibling piped up, “Well, I’m sure you’re aware of why I’m here, so that’s exactly how I’ve been. How’s the arm now?”
Chris sighed, grabbing hold of his right shoulder, “Still not 100% and that’s what Dad’s always upset about.”
“To be honest, I haven’t seen him not upset about anything baseball or softball related.”
The siblings both chuckled. I can’t believe it’s really been five years since Chris left to go back to Japan .
—
“Hey who’s that girl that’s talking with Chris-senpai and Ms. Takashima?” Kuramochi studied the field while shoving his baseball gear into his bag.
The mystery girl had her hair in two loose braids that stemmed from the baseball cap on her head, and was dressed casually, revealing tanned legs. The boy was a little disappointed that he couldn’t see any of her face because she was turned away.
Kominato looked up as well, “She’s probably on the new softball team this year.”
“Oh yeah, that’s what all the construction was about the past few months, right?”
The second baseman turned to his shortstop, “I hope that was a rhetorical question. You still can’t be this dumb.”
The poor kouhai nervously laughed, half expecting a head chop from his senpai. “But why would she be talking to Chris?” Kuramochi thought out loud, staring as if that would reveal more intel.
“Maybe she’s his girlfriend from a different school,” Miyuki jokingly added. He didn’t bother to investigate who they were discussing and continued stuffing his catcher's gear into his bag on the ground.
“We would’ve heard about that though. And it looks like she’s a foreigner,” Kuramochi pondered, before abruptly getting kicked.
“Hurry up and pack your bag. Stop being so nosy,” Kominato reprimanded.
—
“I’m gonna head to the cafeteria for dinner,” Chris motioned in the direction of the boy’s dorm. “Feel free to join, Isa.”
There’s no way I’m stepping foot into a crowded space with 60 plus sweaty teenage boys. Oh what an appealing offer, but it’s a definite NO . “Uhh, I think my mom packed food in my suitcase. I’ll just eat that—”
“I’ll bring you a plate if you wait outside.”
I hate how he reads my mind too well . Isa gave a defeated half-smile, “Yeah, thanks.”
She sighed as he joined up at her side to take a stroll down to the cafeteria.
“So how is Mom ? I haven’t been in touch with her all that much since moving to Japan,” Chris corrected his sister.
He had spent more than a couple of years in America living under one roof with his step-mom, half-sister, and father. At this point, he recognized his step-mom as his own.
“Ahh, she’s been really busy with the restaurant. I’ve been helping out when needed, but mostly just making sure I’m out of the way,” Isa explained, brushing stray baby hairs out of her face.
“That’s good to hear,” Chris smiled, recalling his step-mother’s face. “Now onto you—”
“ Please, let’s not talk about it,” Isa pleaded, but Chris just carried on without missing a beat.
“You seriously lied to Dad for two years about being on the softball team, huh?”
There’s no way to make up an excuse for it. That was exactly what Isa did. “Listen, I just wanted to take a break from softball. I mean whenever I play I just felt like I was letting down Dad’s expectations, while you were exceeding them over here.” The fact that Dad forced me to move to Japan to play softball under his supervision is just ridiculous, not to mention that it’s the same school as my prodigy brother.
“Don’t start sulking on me,” Chris interrupted Isa’s inner turmoil just beginning to snowball. “He just wants you to play softball for two years? After that you’re done .”
“I see the end already, trust me. But, like, right now? I’m going to embarrass myself on the field. I don’t think you realize that I have not touched a ball since I quit.”
“Then tomorrow we can head to the fields, play some catch, and hit a little bit as well.”
Why does he always have to rationalize my world-ending problems? “Okay,” she curtly replied.
When the siblings arrived at their destination, as planned, Isa waited outside and Chris retrieved a plate. Not priorly agreed upon, he brings out another plate for himself.
“C’mon let’s go to your dorm. I’m sure you have a lot to vent about—mainly about Dad.”
While talking over dinner, Isa learned about the state of Seido’s baseball team, and how it was Chris’ and the third year’s last chance to make it to nationals.
“That sounds like a lot of pressure,” the younger Takigawa sibling stated, “Are you still the main catcher, even with your arm not at 100%?”
“No, the starting catcher has been Miyuki Kazuya ever since I originally had to leave,” the older Takigawa sibling clarified.
“Do you think that could be a reason for not making nationals yet? That you’re out of the lineup?”
“Nah, not at all. Miyuki is a genius, probably even better than I will be. But, I enjoy my time working with the new and upcoming pitchers on the team, although most of them quit after a few weeks.”
He is too damn modest. Who could be a better catcher than Chris? “To be fair, pitchers have big egos and you have no problem knocking them off their pedestal,” Isa teased.
“Of course, but that’s not the only reason I enjoy training them,” Chris defended himself.
“Mhmm, okay,” she smirked.
Isa’s phone dinged and she crawled over the floor to the desk where it’s charging.
“It’s from Mom, she’s asking if I’m settling in alright,” the girl crawled back over to where she was, across from Chris on the floor.
She held her phone up to take a photo of her and Chris, and sent it.
“She says you’ve grown so much and to tell you that she misses you and loves you very much,” Isa reported from her phone.
Chris weakly smiled, “You can tell her I say the same thing.”
His eyes glanced at his own phone, checking the time. “I should go now though, the boys are definitely gonna be asking where I’ve been.”
“What do you mean, you’ve never told them about me?” Isa asks with puppy dog eyes, pretending to be affected by Chris not mentioning her existence to his baseball buddies.
“I’m sure you can tell me the exact reason why,” the older sibling firmly declared, opening the door to leave with one arm, and holding the empty trays of food in the other.
“Okay, fine. Leave. Bye,” Isa had a playful tone as she shooed her brother out the door. “I’ll see you tomorrow, at the fields?”
Chris nodded in agreement, “Try not to cause any trouble!”
She rolled her eyes at him, “Bye now!” Isa closed the door and began to unload her suitcase into her new home.
—
After a morning full of Isa’s own personal hell (one on one softball practice with her prodigy brother), it was finally time for a lunch break—proven to be her favorite part of the day.
“I’ve already made a list of specific things to improve over the next few weeks,” Chris reported to his sister on the way over to the boys dorm.
Of course you did. “It better not say ‘everything’ written all over the paper,” Isa murmured, just loud enough for her brother to hear.
“Isa, you’re being really tough on yourself, as always. But especially right now, the more you expose yourself back to the sport, your body will remember what to do, and everything will click back into place.”
When they arrived at the cafeteria, Isa waited patiently outside like yesterday, while Chris collected the two trays. Upon opening the door, the boy was greeted by his third year classmates.
“Hey, we missed you this morning. Where were you?” Yuki asked.
“Yeah, did you sleep in or something?” Isashiki added.
“I was playing catch with my sister who just got here yesterday,” Chris tactfully responded, still trying to make his way to the buffet line.
“You have a sister?” Isashiki inquired, not ceasing to follow Chris. “How come you’ve never told us about her?”
“I think you can answer that one for yourself, considering your sudden interest,” Kominato answered the center fielder on Chris’ behalf. “But she was the one talking to you at practice yesterday, right?”
“Yes, that’s her.”
Isashiki snapped to face the pink haired boy, “You’ve seen her already?”
“Kuramochi pointed her out yesterday while we were packing up our gear,” he devilishly replied, name dropping his kouhai.
“KURAMOCHI! WHERE ARE YOU?” Isashiki announced to the entire cafeteria.
“Jun, stop,” Chris sternly commanded, before taking both trays and heading towards the door.
The second year shortstop promptly appeared in front of the center fielder, “What Jun-senpai? If it’s about another foot massage, please not right now, I’m eating—”
“Ryousuke says you’ve seen Chris’ sister yesterday,” Isashiki grabbed the shortstop’s practice jersey, “Tell us what she looks like! Does she look American like Chris? Or more Japanese—or something else?”
“Chris has a sister? And the girl from yesterday is her?” Kuramochi tried to call after Chris, but he had already disappeared.
“Don’t be selfish! What does she look like? Is she pretty?” Isashiki demanded, holding tighter on the second year.
—
After lunch, Chris told his sister that he’ll rejoin practice for the rest of the day. With not much to do, Isa pleaded to sit on the bleachers and watch the baseball practice.
“ Please Chris, I literally will be sitting doing nothing in my room.”
“Fine, but don't get involved with the boys or anything,” Chris stiffly agreed.
Isa giggled and nudged her brother’s shoulder while heading out. “Remember when I said you’re too protective?”
“I believe I’m the correct amount of protective,” Chris jabbed, deciding to keep his friends’ comments to himself and not bother Isa with that knowledge.
“Mhmm, okay,” she paused. “Does Dad know that you’re still going to practice everyday?”
“No. And I trust that you won’t tell him anything.”
“Ha!” Isa pointed accusatively at her older brother, “And you were the one on your ‘high moral ground’ when I lied to Dad about playing. Hmph.”
“All I’m hearing is that I should’ve hit you while you were batting earlier today,” he quickly shot back.
“Whatever...I’ll see you later,” Isa took a seat in the middle of the third base side bleachers.
The baseball team was simulating defense plays, with a base runner on third. Coach Kataoka was hitting ground balls to the infield— probably running a squeeze play, the girl reasoned. Isa’s eyes followed the movement of the ball, from an infield grounder and then thrown home.
“Home! Home! Home!” the catcher’s voice rang out. He had his face mask off and was standing over home plate, calling out for the ball from the first baseman.
Isabella Takigawa never believed in love at first sight. It was simply too shallow of a concept for the girl. But upon setting her eyes on the catcher with the perfectly unkempt brown hair and sports glasses framing his striking facial features—she just may have changed her preconceived beliefs in an instant. Could he be the boy that took Chris’ spot on the first string? How did Chris forget to mention how hot this ‘Miyuki Kazuya’ is ? The girl leaned forward resting her head in her hands, and followed the catcher’s every move.
Some scientists believe that there are more than five senses. In fact, it’s debated there are more than 15—one of which being the sense of when someone has their eyes on you.
While running squeeze plays after lunch, Miyuki Kazuya definitely had the feeling that someone was watching him. To be fair, people were always watching him—he was not the type to be lost in a sea of people. He wiped the sweat off his face with the collar of his practice shirt as the other catcher, Miyauchi, stepped up to play.
Peering through his glasses, Miyuki’s eyes danced around the field, scanning if any of his teammates were staring him down. He surveyed outside the field, at the bleachers, looking right to left, and finally saw a girl seemingly glaring at him. Of course he was used to attention from girls, but usually it’s a flirty kind of gaze—usually paired with a nervous smile—however, the girl on the bleachers was just coldly staring, while resting her chin in her hands.
Oh? Hello, pretty girl. Are you the mystery that’s been the talk of the team? The girl on the bleachers was definitely foreign, but Miyuki was unable to discern where exactly she could be from. Her eyebrows were slightly furrowed at him, and her golden eyes seemed to be alluringly frigid. Miyuki tried to resolve her negative energy with his award winning smile—in hopes to get a glance at her own—but all she did was slightly shift her gaze to look past the catcher.
“Miyuki! Miyuki, you’re up now!” Miyauchi grabbed the dazed catcher’s attention back to the field.
“Yes, sir!”
Isa knows was not just caught staring at that boy. AND HE SMILED AT ME UGH — it was a really bad stare then, huh. She decided the best plan of action is to not appear flustered and look away, but instead slightly redirect her stare at the first base dugout behind her target. That’s it, I’m leaving this school . I can never show my face here again.
The American girl felt her cheeks get hot in her hands, and promptly fled the scene of the crime. She shot up from her seat when he removed his pretty eyes from her and began a jog around campus. It’s official — I’m never approaching any one of the baseball players — ever. At least Chris will be pleased to hear the genuine news.
During her run, the sole purpose was to forget about Miyuki: however, the plan failed horribly, since Isa’s brain had just finished programming his smile into one of her core memories. GAHHH, he was too gorgeous for his own good!
When Isa returned to the softball dorms, Ms. Takashima was leading three girls down the hall.
“Hello, Isabella!” The recruiter addressed the American player. “These are some of the other international students who are your new teammates.”
So much for first impressions, I look and feel disgusting right now. Isa used her left forearm to half heartedly wipe some sweat off her hairline. “Hi, I’m Isabella, but I go by Isa.”
The three girls took turns introducing themselves, each with their own unique questions for Isa. The first was Alexis Mitchell, a pitcher from New York.
“Call me Lexi!” She insisted. Her tall height was paired with a clear, velvety chocolate complexion, reminding Isa of a walking Barbie doll. Lexi also wore an extremely bright smile and it was the only feature able to outshine her eyes.
The next girl had blonde hair with freckles dusted over her cheeks and nose—which scrunched, due to her smile. Her name was Vivian Sano, a catcher from Canada.
The last player was Maria Reyes, a shortstop from Mexico. Unlike the other two girls, Maria was shorter than Isa, with dark wavy hair in a half up half down style, which revealed her multiple ear piercings. She had a mischievous demeanor, shown mainly through her grin and vernacular.
The four girls found their way into Isa’s dorm room, taking refuge together.
“Do you guys want some snacks? My mom insisted on bringing some with me,” Lexi offered, reaching into her backpack.
“I was actually gonna take a nap,” Maria confessed, laying down on one of the unoccupied bunk beds. “My body clock hasn’t adjusted yet, it’s still 11pm to me.”
To be fair, Isa hadn’t adjusted to the time change either, and was more than down to take a nap until dinner.
“I was so excited to get here that I didn’t even sleep on the flight. It’s also like 2am to me, so I’m about to pass out,” Vivian consulted her phone to check what time it was back in her hometown.
“We can get away with a short nap,” Isa replied, taking a spot on the floor in between Vivian and Lexi, “I know where the cafeteria is, but I’ve never been inside. My brother just goes in and gets me a tray.”
Vivian’s head popped up to the right of Isa. “You have a brother on the team?”
“Yeah, what’s up with that?” Lexi further questioned, sitting up as well.
“Yeah, his name is Chris,” the Takigawa sister answered, quickly regretting releasing such information to the girls.
“A name does nothing for us! Show us a photo!” The blonde haired girl impatiently pressed.
“Ok, okay!” Isa finally sat up, grabbing her phone and showing them the photo she sent to her mom last night.
“You guys look nothing alike!” Lexi stated.
“He’s my half- brother. We have the same dad.”
“So when are you introducing us to your brother?” Vivian inquired, poking Isa in the shoulder.
If Chris didn’t mention me to his friends, is it right to allow my friends to oogle over him? “Uhh—” Isa began.
“C’mon, Isa!” The blonde girl whined back.
“I mean, I guess you’ll meet him at dinner today,” Isa finally gave in, not wanting to disappoint her new teammates.
Satisfied with the answer, Vivian and Lexi both lay back down on either side of her, on the floor of room 102. The four girls easily drifted off into sleep, as their exhaustion from travel caught up to them.
Isa awoke to vigorous shaking of her shoulders. Her eyes shot open to be met with Maria’s dark brown eyes. HELLO? GOOD MORNING? How did they decide this was the way to wake up a stranger?
“She’s finally up!” Lexi excitedly beamed, peering over Maria’s shoulder.
Isa rubbed her eyes from the rude awakening, groggily trying to grasp what was going on. Oh, that’s right. I’m in Japan. These are my new teammates. And we’re supposed to be going to dinner. She sat up, causing her captor to release Isa’s shoulders.
“I’m going, I’m going,” Isa grudgingly rose to her feet.
When they reached the cafeteria, the room was already full of noise and energy. Isa gulped, recalling her promise to never interact with any of the baseball boys—mainly one in particular.
To be completely clear, Miyuki had forgotten—tried to forget—about the encounter with the girl on the bleachers at practice today. But how could one ever forget a face like that? Miyuki was delighted— no, that’s not the right word, maybe “surprised” at the most —to see her again, entering the cafeteria with three other girls. Chris immediately jumped up to approach the unfamiliar faces. That’s definitely not like him . The catcher saw Kuramochi in his peripheral vision to his right, blatantly staring.
Kominato chopped the back of Kuramochi’s head, “You need to work on hiding your face while checking out girls.”
Miyuki chuckled, “It’s quite shameless, Mochi.”
Ignoring his teammates' comments, the shortstop announced, “They must be the international softball players!”
That was enough to get the surrounding baseball players to look over at the door where the four new faces stood, along with Chris. The pretty girl from the bleachers was the one engaging in an animated conversation with the third year catcher, while the others stood by silently peering around the cafeteria.
This is the sister that he mentioned during lunch today? Mystery solved! Miyuki felt like he wanted to introduce himself to the group—to her —but instead reacted similarly to his regular character, and shouted from the middle of the cafeteria—
“Hey! You were the girl in the bleachers checking me out during practice squeeze plays!”
That immediately ended her conversation with Chris, and Miyuki saw her eyes return to the icy cold glare that he’s seen before, as they were trained on him once more. The mystery girl made her way over to Miyuki’s table, as Chris was following close behind, and the other three girls trailed after.
“Excuse me?” Her Japanese had a moderate American accent.
“Yeah, it definitely was you,” Miyuki smugly turned his chin up, “Your stare is almost as shameless as our Kuramochi here,” he quipped, jabbing a thumb at the boy to his right.
The pretty boy was half-expecting to send her into a blushing fit, and stuttering something along the lines of ‘Oh my goodness! You’re just too attractive to not be stared at! I couldn’t help myself!’
“Checking out? It was more like judging your abilities as a functional catcher and if you are indeed worthy of taking Chris’ spot as a starter,” her words quickly took on a defensive tone and she crossed her arms—not what Miyuki expected. He let her continue.
“After all, I didn’t have to stay a while to arrive at my decision,” she spat, turning on her heels, not allowing him to respond.
“Isa,” Chris sternly reprimanded his younger sister.
The girl took a breath, ignoring her brother, “So are you guys hungry?” she asks her company with a smile.
Of course, Isa would never confess to a boy that she was checking him out. He’s pretty and he’s obviously aware of it, so if I said yes, it’d just be feeding his ego. But maybe the tone I gave him was a little overboard. Her face went blank as she sunk deeper and deeper into thought. She was already mentally preparing for a lecture from Chris later that evening.
The softball players got a spot at the end of a table and they all began to awkwardly pick at their food, glancing around at each other, waiting for someone else to break the silence.
“So were you like, really checking him out, or—” Lexi cleared her throat.
“No!” Isa groaned. “That was the catcher that took Chris’ spot on the starting lineup because of his shoulder injury. And I guess if ‘checking him out’ was mentally criticizing him, then sure I was .” That comment was definitely too defensive to be natural.
“I mean he is hot, though,” Lexi affirmed, before a bite of rice. “You were kinda mean about it, right?”
Isa felt guilt set into her body—she really didn’t intend to sound so bitter and defensive. “Yeah, maybe.”
But there’s no way she’s taking back what she said, that still holds truth to it. Isa didn’t believe Chris when he said there was a catcher performing better than he did. Argh, maybe it’s just my pride .
The dark haired girl took a deep breath. So much for avoiding him. Maybe I can hope that he’s just as avoidant of me now, and we can just go our separate ways — like parallel lines.
—
Chris’ lecture was nothing too remarkable to Isa.
“I thought I told you not to talk to any of them?” He scolded his younger sister.
“I didn’t talk to him—or anyone—at all!” She protested.
Chris silently answered with an expectant look.
His sister mildly backpedalled, “Okay, just that in the cafeteria, but not when you guys were out at practice. I didn’t even stay there for more than ten minutes. But that was the Miyuki Kazuya you were talking about, no? With the glasses?” Unusually attractive? “If it was not, then the encounter would just be a misunderstanding, and extremely embarrassing on my part.”
“Yes, that was Miyuki. But Isa, that’s not the point—”
“Can this be over please?”
“You have to say you’re sorry.”
“Hell no.”
“I’m requiring you to do it on my behalf, since that was the apparent reason for your outburst.”
“Fine.” Isa knew Chris was right, but she’ll never admit this.
“Thank you,” Chris shifted his body upwards and off of the softball dorm wall, preparing to leave. “Apologize by tomorrow’s dinner—and I’ll be asking him,” he remarked, before walking away.
Whatever . Isa swung the door to her room open, pondering how to indirectly face Miyuki. The girl couldn’t believe that first impressions could go so badly— I should’ve just stayed in my room the whole day until the girls showed up!
She found comfort laying flat on the dorm floor, stretched out like a starfish. After a few moments to herself, there was an urgent knock at the door, and before she could react, Maria barged into room 102, followed by the other two girls. I FORGOT TO LOCK THE DOOR .
“Hey guys,” Isa half-heartedly greeted them, not moving her position. “Chris is forcing me to apologize to Miyuki,” she deadpanned, staring up at the ceiling.
Maria stomped on Isa’s stomach, “Then get up—we’re gonna get this business taken care of!”
“Ow!” The victim crumbled onto her side in the fetal position. We just met today! How are they so comfortable already?
The players managed to get the gloomy girl up and out of the safety of her dorm room. The group meandered their way (all of them were hopelessly lost in the dark) to the indoor practice gym, able to hear the busy baseball players at work from outside.
“You mean right now? Talk to him?” Isa questioned the cohort.
“What, are you scared?” Maria taunted.
“No…” Isa lied, not convincing anyone, even herself.
“I mean we wouldn’t have this problem if you just admitted to checking him out—” Lexi smirked.
“I was not doing that,” Isa practically begged for their trust in her statement.
“Go get ‘em, pollito ,” Maria ignored Isa’s apprehension and pushed her forward.
Like the fields during baseball practice, the indoor practice building was bustling with noise. This time, the three girls force Isa to enter first.
“Nice pitch, Nori!” Miyuki remarked, returning the ball to the pitcher.
He surveyed the gym to see the four girls standing similarly to how they were in the cafeteria. Here for an apology, mystery girl? He contently smirked to himself. Her words were shocking—yes—but one had to do a lot more damage than that to hurt Miyuki’s pride—let alone feelings.
“Miyuki, are you ready for another?” Nori asked, pulling Miyuki’s attention back to the task at hand.
“Yeah, yeah,” he answered, crouching down into position.
Nori threw another pitch, with his sidearm technique. Miyuki returned the ball, and stole a quick glance over at the door again, seeing that the girls had not moved at all.
“Hey!” he shouted at them, “You should make yourself useful if you’re gonna be in here!”
With their undivided attention, he called out to the mystery girl, “Takigawa-san, come over here and stand in the box for Nori!”
Feeling like a magnet faced with an identical charge, Isa felt more and more repulsed from her destination the closer she got. Sucking it up, she continued trudging along. She plucked a nearby helmet and bat and took her place in the imaginary right hand batter’s box. I’m glad I didn’t wash my hair yet — these helmets are NASTY .
“Okay Nori, let’s see high inside.”
Excuse me? Isa turns her head from Nori to Miyuki, who just wore a shit-eating grin.
“Miyuki, are you sure?” the timid pitcher clarified.
Yeah are you sure about this one, pretty boy? Isa reiterated in her head.
He simply returned to his crouching stance, without another word to spare. Nori began his windup, and upon release, the poor girl unconsciously turned her body in, bracing to be smacked in the shoulder by the ball. It didn’t hit her, in fact, by Miyuki’s twisted standards, it just wasn’t inside enough.
“Nori, move it closer,” he demanded.
Isa, not wanting to stay much longer, decided to get to the point. “Look, I’m sorry for what I said to you today.”
Nori releases the second pitch.
“No introductions?” Miyuki cooed, “Apologizing already and I don’t even know who you are.”
Isa pouted, clearly frustrated by the way this piece of work was prodding and messing with her. “Hello, my name is Isabella Takigawa. Nice to meet you,” she fumed, pushing the sounds through gritted teeth.
“Well, I’m Miyuki Kazuya—but I’m sure you already knew that,” he playfully teased. “Low inside now, Nori!”
Growing more and more irritated by the second, Isa snidely replied to Miyuki’s unsatisfactory response. “To be honest, Chris is forcing me to apologize, and I was drug out here by the other girls, so it’s not gonna come from the heart.”
The next pitch went into Miyuki’s glove with a loud slap . “You really mean what you said then, huh?” He rose to his feet, looking down at her, at an oddly close distance.
Trying her hardest to stand her ground, Isa shifted her gaze back to the pitcher and readjusted her batting stance. Or maybe that wasn’t for the sake of standing up against the pretty boy, but purposely diverting her eyes and hiding more of her face because she could feel a furious blush rising to her cheeks.
“Yeah, that’s why I said what I said.”
Miyuki clicked his tongue and stepped back behind the plate. Her American accent was cute—no it wasn’t cute , it was amusing —especially since she’s trying her best to sound serious. He could tell she was blushing and a mischievous smirk returned to his lips.
“High outside, Nori!”
The fourth pitch missed a little bit too much in the middle. Isa continued her duty as a stand-in batter—not entirely convinced that it was helping the pitcher hit his spots, but most likely just as prey for the catcher who already sunk his claws into her.
“Can I be done now?”
“Nope!” Miyuki promptly answered, “Nori still needs a practice target.”
She let out an exasperated sigh. It really was just her crabby luck that her “new life” on the opposite side of the world was already going so rocky.
Miyuki noted how miserable he was making Isa by standing there. Perhaps he had a sudden change of heart, seeing such a sour expression on a pretty face.
“Low inside one more time, and then we’ll be done for the night,” the catcher commanded. Nori acknowledged, and threw the ball. “Nice pitch.”
“Nice pitch,” Isa mimicked, ripping off the helmet and getting ready to zip out of there.
“Whoa, where do you think you’re going?” Miyuki called out before she could get too far.
She functionally ignored him, refusing to turn back. She beelined to return the gear, and Miyuki followed after her.
“Didn't you say Chris forced you to apologize? I’ll tell him that you never did.”
What a lame jab. “At most I’d probably just get another lecture out of it,” Isa muttered to herself. “And at least I tried.” He sure knows how to get under people’s skin!
“I’ll tell your brother the good news of the apology, as long as you owe me a favor?”
“A favor of what kind?” She nervously inquired, tilting her head towards the boy.
“Nothing in particular—yet. Kinda like a ‘get out of jail for free’ card. Always good to have in my pocket.”
Isa rolled her eyes. “Fine. But after that we are done speaking, got it?”
Before Miyuki could answer, another baseball player approached the pair.
“Hey! I’ve been looking for your dumbass all over the place,” Kuramochi hit his teammate on the head. His eyes drifted to the girl standing next to him. “Ahh, you must be Takigawa-san?”
“Yeah, I go by Isa,” she briskly softened her expression. “And you are…?”
“Kuramochi Youichi, second year,” he hummed.
“Me too,” she smiled. “Second year, I mean.”
“Woah now, ~Mochi. You gotta be careful of this one! She can get real aggressive,” Miyuki warned, “Next thing you know, she’s gonna be timing you from home plate to first base to see if you’re worthy of your lead-off spot!”
“You’re a lead-off?” Isa asked, intrigued.
“Yep!” Kuramochi smirked, content with the sudden interest. “I still have some energy left, do you wanna race on the fields?”
In reality, Isa didn’t want to do that. She wanted to go to her room and sulk about the handsome boy with a wretched personality.
“Oh? No no no. Not right now,” Isa frantically gestured, “I was actually planning on heading back to the dorms soon, it’s getting kinda late.” It was in fact not late, by any standards.
“What if we go to the field and then I’ll walk you back to the softball dorms? They’re in the same direction, right?”
Be civil, be civil, were words repeated in her head that Vivian had said earlier. “Alright, we should head out now, though.”
Miyuki was left standing alone in a flash as Kuramochi and Isa swiftly exited the practice gym. Had he made a terrible first impression with the mystery girl? No, I shouldn’t care about that. So what, she got upset that I took her brother’s spot? Why does that concern her in the first place?
__
Holy crap, this boy can run fast. It was already tough to see anything out on the fields at night, let alone a kid with supersonic speed running in the dark.
“I think you’ve proven your point,” she bubbled, as the boy met up with Isa at first base. “You’re fast, no doubt about it.”
He beamed, ecstatic from the praise. “It’s all natural talent!”
“Do you do sprint training?” She probed, studying his face, glistening with sweat.
He offhandedly wiped his face with the bottom of his shirt. “Nah, there’s more important aspects to training for baseball.”
She put a hand on her chin, thinking. “I’m sure you could fit in specific workouts for sprinting, though.”
“Oh? Are you some sort of expert?” He smirked, peering down at the foreign girl.
“I did track at my old school, I must know a thing or two,” Isa brushed off the tease.
“Let me in on your secrets then!” He declared, eager to learn more.
When she originally drew up the Project Ignore Miyuki Kazuya, Isa never meant to take it this far. Yet, here she was, two hours later, sitting on the ground with her back resting against a vending machine. She was huddled over her phone watching online videos on sprinting form, accompanied by her new found friend, Kuramochi.
She shot him a glance to judge if he was still interested in her ramblings. He immediately caught her gaze and hyena laughed, so loud that anyone on campus could hear him.
Her eyes widened, shocked at the noise. “I’m just making sure I’m not boring you to death!” She squeaked.
He shook his head. “Now I see the resemblance to Chris-senpai: You both are meticulous in your training schedules!”
“Do you even know what meticulous means?” She playfully challenged, earning a gentle elbow to her shoulder.
She tapped her phone on, revealing it was well past 10pm. “Anyway, we should really call it a night,” she exhaled, moving her body up to standing.
“For sure,” Kuramochi followed suit, “Let’s get you back to your dorm.”