First Impressions

"Talking"

'Thoughts'

[Written words]

{Seido Dorm room 5}

Second-year Kuramochi Youichi sat at his desk grinning darkly as he held up a hand mirror. Finally! The time had come. He wasn't going to be the one at the mercy of this prank because this time, he would be the one scaring the newbie. A nightmarish cackling bubbled out of his chest as he applied the finishing touches to his face. A little more blood here, have it drizzle below the eye a bit more over there…

Third-year Masuko Tooru sweat dropped as he watched his underclassman make obnoxious faces at his reflection. He hadn't put any makeup on his own face since he had played this prank on Kuramochi last year and didn't feel like doing it again this year. So he let his friend have the fun all to himself. Taking a looked at the clock he quickly wrote out a note for his roommate to read. [He should be here soon]

Kuramochi waved his hand dismissively. "Yeah, yeah. I got it. I'm almost done… Here. Tell me how this looks." He picked up his flashlight and held it under his chin, he rolled his eyes to the back of his head and opened his mouth halfway. The light adding to the pasty white cream he had applied and making him look sickly. The 'blood' was dripping from his forehead, eyes and mouth. He looked like a walking corpse.

[Poor first-year]

"Kyaha! I know right?! Ok hurry up and turn off the lights, I think I hear someone outside." Flashlight in hand, Kuramochi stood directly in front of the door at the ready. The lights were turned off just as he heard the doorknob jiggle.

The door was opened and there was a moment were the tenth grader seemed to have a delayed reaction. But then Kuromochi shifted his dead eyes down at the kid and flashing an ugly grin. The boy was suddenly screaming bloody murder and falling to the ground in terror.

"A GHOST!" He screamed scrambling backwards.

The light was turned on, and Kuromochi leaned out the door as he wiped his face with a towel. "Shahaha! That worked great! I got you didn't I? I was in your shoes last year when they did that to me, I was so scared I couldn't get up!" With a wink, he held out a hand to the dumbfounded kid. "Welcome to the Seido High School Baseball Team."

It was easy to tell that the newbie was still slowly processing that he had just been duked by a practical joke. When the boy was pulled back to his feet, they began introductions. "I'm Kuramochi, eleventh-grade." He waved a hand to the larger one standing behind him. "This guy's Masuko-san, twelfth-grade."

[Nice to meet you]

Kuramochi made his way back into the room and started shuffling through the box of play station games they had.

The kid stood perplexed unsure of how to respond. "N-Nice to…"

"Don't worry about him. He made an error yesterday, so he's not letting himself talk. You follow?" He laughed. 'And Masuko's just the tip of the ice-burg of the crazy people on this team. Now let's see… Everyone's GOLF should be good.' He turned presenting the gaming console just as the newbie stepped into the room. "So how does a golf tournament to break the ice sound to you?!" He said enthusiastically.

"Eh?"

"You've payed video games before right?"

"Y-yeah, but-"

"Great! I'm playing for real then!" Kuramochi and Masuko were already comfortably sitting in front of the TV before the tenth-grader could get another word in. "Hurry up and come in already. We've got practice early tomorrow."

[Bring it on!]

They started an epic battle of golf. Kuramochi looked at their new roommate from the corner of his eye. 'So Sawamura is that guy. The one that struck out Azuma-san.' He watched as the younger boy yelled at the TV for making his golf ball land in a lake and had his tongue sticking out in concentration. 'That guy looks so innocent, he's gonna get eaten alive here.' Kuramochi turned away from the newcomer so they couldn't see his devious grin. "If you lose, you'll be our slave for a year." No mercy for the green-horn.

"Huh?! I thought I heard something really creepy just then…"

"Kyaha! It's just your imagination! We'll be the best of buds come tomorrow! Now let me show you how us pro's golf!"

{Seido Dorm Room 5, the Next Morning}

The morning light peaked through the window right into Sawamura's eyes. He stirred a bit, annoyed at his slumber being disturbed.

The peaceful quiet of the room was demolished when its only occupant shot up with a panicked cry.

"UWAA! I overslept!" He struggled to take of his pajama shirt and pants off at the same time. "I'm gonna be late on my first day!" His arms got tangled in his new baseball uniform. "Why is this happening to me?! Those guys should have woken me up! This is their fault for making me stay up so late!" He was hopping out the door as he tied up his other shoe. The shouting from the fields was audible from the dorms. 'And they already started, maybe I can sneak in without anyone noticing.' His hope rising.

And falling again when he peaked around a shed and saw that everyone was out in the middle of the field lined up for formal introductions. Tears streamed down as he mewled and crouched down holding his head between his legs. 'Noo! It's impossible to get in now! If this coach is anything like Mitsuhide-dono they'll have eyes like a hawk. I'd be spotted instantly! I'll be lucky if I get by with flamingo sprinting for a week as punishment! Wait, it's the first day… AHHH! This is even worse then!'

Sawamura paused in his anguish. There was a muttered voice creeping up behind him. "Ugh, right from the start too… it's all because I watched too many videos yesterday." They said with a perverted giggle.

The pitcher turned just as someone bumped into his back.

"Ow-"

Brown eyes started into similarly brown eyes.

"Eh…"

Ah…" Miyuki Kazuya stared surprised. 'Wait, isn't this that kid from before?' He had wondered if the other would join or not.

"…Oh! You're that guy… what was your name again?" Sawamura asked blinking.

'Do I really leave that little of an impression?' Miyuki sighed. "It's Miyuki Kazuya."

"Right. Right, it was Miyuki. So, how about you catch for me again?" He asked openly cheerful.

"What the… Did you seriously just forget the situation you're in?" Miyuki deadpanned.

"AH! THAT'S RIGHT HOW AM I SU-!-" His mouth was smothered by a hand.

"Shhhh! Do you want to get us caught you idiot?!" Miyuki whispered harshly.

"O-Oh… sorry."

Miyuki sighed and then put on a contemplative look. "Besides, why would I want to catch for someone like you? A person that likes to ignore a catcher's calls." He said snootishly, smirking at the end.

"What am I gonna do?! This is not how- Wait what are to talking… Oh."

He was talking about back then, wasn't he? That moment that seemed to elude his memories like a school girl with her crush.

In one moment he had just thrown his variation 1 into Miyuki's mitt and in the next… what? He could recall a vague sense of the ball brushing the tips of his fingers. Then he had heard that unmistakable sound of a ball to bat contact. And suddenly all of the sensations had come rushing back as he came to himself. It was like the memories of the times between there and then were coated with ink. What had he even thrown?

"That…"

"Yeah, that. You know, it's the one universal pet-peeve of all catchers. When a pitcher completely ignores them as if they're throwing to a brick wall."

Sawamura gulped. He couldn't see Miyuki's eyes with his glasses glinting in the sun like that, but the vibes he was giving off were nowhere near pleasant.

And then it was suddenly gone. "Besides that, there's a more important matter we should be worrying about… like how screwed we are being late today of all days. Our head coach is Kataoka Tesshin. He's an especially scary guy. There's almost 100 members on the team, so coming in late like this... he probably won't even remember your name for the rest of your high school career."

Sawamura grew to a new level of panic. 'I would take Mitsuhide-dono's punishments any day then! I'll have to beg for forgiveness!'

'That's right, keep panicking.' Miyuki stifled a chuckle at Sawamura's growing dread. 'I'll be able to easily use you as a distraction this way.'

"A warrior isn't supposed to bow before a different lord right? Isn't it only after a samurai's lord dies? But Mitsuhide-dono's still alive… "

"…What are you babbling about?" He was thoroughly confused. "Hey man, chill. I got a plan."

"But this coach is younger than Mitsuhid-dono… So is he like a young lord then?"

"Oi, are you even listening to me?"

"I'll have to grovel before the young lord and pray my earnesty will be enough to remember me by!" He proclaimed holding up a clenched fist.

"What are you even sa-woaaahh!" His shirt was grabbed at the front and he was suddenly being half pulled, half dragged from out of their hiding spot at a dead sprint. "W-Wait, what are you-?!" But it was already too late. They were immediately in the lime lite of the coach now. There was no turning back. 'My plans! My beautiful plans!' Sawamura dragged him in front of coach Kataoka and dropping down to prostrate himself nearly making Miyuki fall down with him. 'Wow, this is embarrassing. We must make a hilarious sight.' He bowed politely to the coach.

Sawamura didn't look up from his dogeza as he shouted out. "We are terribly sorry for interrupting, but as you can see we are very late! No amounts of apologies or excuses can express our grievances for causing such disrespect!"

Silence. Absolute unwavering, dumbfounded silence.

Coach Kataoka glared down at them through his sunglasses. "You two, you've got guts being tardy on the first day! You think you're so special that you can have privileges apart from everyone else?!

"Absolutely not! I am worth less than the frass of maggots!"

Miyuki was barely able to stop the belch of laughter that was threatening to burst forth. 'Frass?! Really?! Of all the things to say! I don't know if I should be more impressed that he has such a creative tongue or that he knows what frass is.' Aside from the unexpected response from Sawamura, Miyuki could still feel when Coach Kantaoka's gaze leveled on him. "Sorry coach! I was irresponsible!"

"Miyuki, you know your position counts for nothing being late. Both of you go run for the rest of the morning practice!"

On the sidelines with the rest of the second and third years Kuramochi snickered. "Wow, he's a funny guy isn't he? I didn't think he'd do something like that! Ahaha!"

Masuko nodded. [They deserve it]

"The same goes for the two upper classmen rooming with him." Masuko and Kuramochi both turned pale and their back automatically straitened. Coach Kantaoka turned to them layering with them an icy glare. "You guys go run too."

The second and third year 'eeped'. Having the coach angry with you always meant certain doom.

And so the four of them started their run around the field, Masuko and Sawamura both crying silently.

"Damn it, we ended up getting dragged into it too." Kuramochi scowled.

[Sniff]

"Wakai-dono hates me!" (Young lord) The pitcher sniffled. "Why didn't either of you wake me?!"

"Don't blame us, you're old enough to take care of yourself. We shouldn't have to be responsible for you, it's your own damn fault." Kuramochi said kicking Sawamura in the back mid-jump.

[We're not babysitters]

"Ow! Don't hit me! And that's a lie and you know it! You were the one that kept saying we should play another round!"

"Kyahaha! And yet you agreed."

Miyuki sighed. "And to think my plan might have worked if Sawamura would have just listened to me and be a good distraction." Miyuki raised his voice purposefully. "But he doesn't like to listen to catchers! He'd rather do his own thing!"

"It probably wouldn't have worked anyway. Coach has eyes on the back of his head."

"That was an accident! I wa- Wait!" Sawamura shoved and accusing finger in Miyuki's direction. "
You were going to use me as bait weren't you?!"

"Well I wouldn't call it bait per say, more like a decoy."

"What are you?! The devil?! You were gonna ditch me to Wakai-dono's wrath!"

"… Are you talking about Coach? Haha! What kind of name is that?"

"Don't change the subject!"

And that was pretty much how the rest of their morning went until it was put to and end by one of the other members of the team who came up to them saying it was time for breakfast. Thus, led to Sawamura sitting in front of a pork cutlet, miso soup, hourensou and a large bowl of white rice that was filled till it was reaching almost a foot in height.

He never thought the day would come that he would feel so intimidated towards his own food. 'This is not the sort of pressure I was looking forward to by coming here!' In the background a sign hanging on the wall reading, [Eat at least three bowls!] loamed over them like a curse. 'How… How?! This doesn't seem humanly possible for someone my size!' He looked to his right. They were all eating normally with smiles on their faces as they kept packing it in.

"What's wrong?" Miyuki asked from Sawamura's left. "If you don't eat everything, you won't be able to handle the afternoon practice."

'Common you can do this. Just one bite a time.'

His self-motivation didn't last very long.

'I can't do this!' His hand automatically came up to cover his mouth as he felt something attempting to come out of it.

"Ah! He's gonna puke!"

"Dude get out of here!"

"Do that shit outside!"

He was forced to take his breakfast outside at some point by the other baseball members with his continuous threats of regurgitating his food. But one way or another, he was somehow able to eat the required amount in the end. Having to run for so long in the morning and then eating past the point where he felt he would burst, he saw his circumstances justifying his current unsavory visage. "Uugg… I feel terrible." Leaning over and holding his stomach he stood back on the fields with a number of other first-years that were in similar situations. But all of the senior players who had run just as much as him were already back to their training, undeterred with having eaten 3 bowls of rice, or in Masuko's case 6. 'We're not that far apart age-wise, and yet the difference in power is this great?'

One of the assistant coaches spoke out towards the tenth-graders. "First-years! We'll be putting you in groups according to your desired position to test your ability! Put your spikes on and meet on B Grounds!"

'Does this mean…' An excited grin overcame Suwamura's expression. His pains seemed to miraculously disappear at the prospect of pitching as he was energized with anticipation. 'I'll finally get to start pitching to crazy batters again won't I? I've been waiting so long for this moment!'

He was practically bouncing out of his shoes as he followed the rest of the first-years. He was so ready for this! 'Bring it on!'

The coaches said something about waiting that the twitchy pitcher didn't catch before listing off each of the positions and pointing to where they would go. "First baseman's here, second baseman's here, shortstop's there…"

'Common say pitchers already! I wanna pitch right now!'

"-chers here, pitchers over ther-"

"Yes!" He sprinted to the nearby bullpens that already had crates full of baseballs set aside. He started stretching his arms with over the top enthusiasm. He suddenly stopped and looked around himself when he realized no one else was nearby. Turning back he learned why. Everyone was still over by the assistant coaches who were giving him the stink eye.

"Ahem!" One of the coaches started fractiously. "As I said before! Leave for your designated areas after I go through all the positions…" He looked at Suwamura pointedly.

Oops…

Sawamura wasn't sure if he should return or stay put, he was already here. So there didn't seem to be a point for him to go back. He eventually decided to just continue his stretches from earlier with there being nothing else to do.

There was a total of 4 first-years gunning to be pitchers. One looked like his friend Ozan, another had on a really serious face and the last one was taller than the rest of them and looked like he was sleeping.

'…how is he still standing?'

"We'll start off with the basics, a grip and balance test. Then we'll move on to distance throwing and ball control and finish off with a stamina test." One of the managers came over with a small weird looking hand held device and handed it over to the assistant coach. "For this first test you just need to hold it like this in your throwing arm and have your arm straight up in the air. Then you will grip it as hard as you can while slowly bringing your arm back down in an arc." He looked to the one closest to him. "What is your name?"

"Kindaiyoshi Watani."

The older man handed off the device to him. "You'll be first then."

Sawamura went third. The coach stood in front of him delivering a chilling stare as he addressed him. "Well? What's your name then?"

He bowed. "Sawamura Eijun!" He was given the device and he gripped the trigger as hard as he could. The dial moved to the 48kg mark. Sawamura smirked, it was higher than what the other two had. "Um, coach, I was wondering. When can we pitch to the batters? Will we get to do a scrimmage?" He tried to keep his volume lower then it was wont to do when he got excited since the man was standing right next to him. His lack of composure gave away any feeling of calm he might have been trying to emulate.

Fortunately the coach didn't show any outward reaction besides writing down something on his clipboard before moving on to the next person.

It was the sleeping boy who was now suddenly awake, aware and acting as though nothing was amiss. He performed the task almost lazely, and yet the dial racked up all the way to 51kg. Sawamura's jaw dropped.

"Good job Furuya-kun, that was the highest yet."

Sawamura looked up at the taller boy with a scowl, jealous of the others higher performance. Furuya, even with his naturally neutral demeanor, somehow looked smug as he stared back at him.

They made eye contact and sparks suddenly appeared between them that was only broken by the coach who told them they would be moving on to the next test.

When Sawamura excelled in the balance test he smirked over at the silent boy who was wobbling in the positions the coaches were having them pose. A glare was returned with the same concentration. And their little rivalry they had going on only progressed from there. Furuya blew them all away with his insane throwing distance by landing the ball a whole 122 meters away and shattering Sawamura's 105 meters to smithereens.

But then what Furuya had in power, he lacked in control. Sawamura on the other hand had pretty good control of his pitches for a first-year. Their unofficial score was tied at 2-2 now.

"We'll be moving to the outfields to comense your stamina test with the right, center and left fielder groups."

With his arms crossed and a challenging gaze Sawamura stepped in front of the quiet pitcher. "This last one will be our duel breaker!"

Furuya didn't show any sign that he acknowledged the other boy until he was standing next to him as he walked by. "I won't lose." His said in a soft yet sharp tone.

They lined up with the other groups all facing towards the assistant coaches. "You will doing our special squat-thrust suicides for this endurance test. You will start at this point completing 10 squat-thrusts and then sprinting to the fence line, doing 10 more squat-thrusts and running back. And you will repeat this process for as long as you can. If I see you slacking off even a little bit, you will be told to stop. Keep in mind these scores are relayed to the head coach. You will begin at my whistle."

Tweet!

Sawamura was the second to last to collapse and conveniently right next to Furuya who was still laying on the ground despite being the first person to give out.

Wheezing Sawamura tried to gloat in his victory. "Huuuu! Ho… How a- Huf! About that!" The other pitcher just pulled himself up having rested enough and started walking away wanting to get away from his annoying adversary. Suwamura followed after him on wobbling legs. "Heee! Haaaa! Yuuuuuoo... You can't- huf! Run away!" He coughed a bunch and said something else but it just sounded like a deflating beach ball before he collapsed again.

The coaches had everyone cool down before they sent them off to go eat lunch and Sawamura found himself, once again, facing off the same enemy from that morning.

'Why?!' And, once again, was on the verge of puking as he was leaving the cafeteria with everyone else.

The rest of the day continued on with the new members taking turns taking part in defensive plays, diving practices, a special version of fast passing and running, lots and lots of running. And then it was suddenly over. The equipment was being put away and Suwamura stood there taken aback. 'Wait… that's it? But I didn't even get to pitch properly yet!' He was exhausted but he still felt antsy. 'I wanted to pitch!"

He sullenly left to go change out of his uniform and into some loose clothing like everyone else. After eating his supper in the cafeteria the rest of the night was the three hours of free time they had before they needed to get to bed.

'Uuurg! I gotta pitch!' It had been what? At least 24 hours since he had last really practiced his pitching. It was driving him nuts. He was gonna get rusty if he didn't pitch soon, was how he felt. But how? The rest of the first-years had already headed off to their accommodated rooms. Was there no one to catch for him here?!

He was leaning outside the cafeteria doors when he saw a couple of the seniors going around a corner carrying bats over their shoulders.

'…huh? But didn't they say practice was over?' He had to follow him. His curiosity was making him itch.

Following the group of second years lead him to an even larger gathering of other second and third years. 'What is this?' They were all vehemently swinging their bats in their own image training. 'Even the captain's here! They're all continuing to train even after practice lets out?! These guys...' Their drive put a thrilled smile on his face. 'This looks like fun!' He ran to the equipment shed to grab a bat for himself when he saw Miyuki Kazuya at the edges of the group. Sawamura barely thought about it before he abruptly changed his course towards the glasses wearing second-year. "You're a catcher!"

Miyuki stared. "Yes I am… and you're very observant." Miyuki said with a raised eyebrow.

Suwamura blinked and then turned pink in embarrassment. "I-I mean, you could. That is… would you catch for me?!" He stared at the catcher anxiously. "Right now!"

Miyuki thought about it. He had been wondering about when he could get around to dissecting this pitcher's techniques. If Sawamura really had as much talent and potential as he and Rei thought he did, then there was no doubt he would eventually have to catch for this guy. Now it was just a matter of if he should go ahead and just start examining this guy's pitches now. Or wait until the first-year made it into, at least, second-string because it wouldn't really be fair to the other pitchers in third and second-string. He was a regular after all, and showing that kind of favoritism to a newbie could bring all kind of discord. The kind of discord that had the impish part of him curious to how that would play out.

But Miyuki had some self-control. He could refrain himself from be so cruel as to torture this rookie on his first day… wait, he already tried to mess with Sawamura this morning… Guess he was that cruel.

But thinking back to the topic at hand. In the end, as long as he was being asked to catch for him after practice hours, others couldn't really complain. It was fair game. "Alright." So he guessed he could indulge this first-year a bit. "You just have to owe me a favor then." But he wasn't a saint.

"Anything!"

Oh the poor naïve fool was just begging for it. "Ok then, I'll just go get my gear then and we can meet in the indoor gym.

"Roger!" He already had his pitching glove on, and his clothes were comfortable and fitting enough to be able to pitch easily without hindrance so he went straight to the indoor gym. The lights were still on and there were several members who were there that were doing their own separate regimes. There was an area off to the side that looked like it was a rudimentary bullpen so Sawamura situated himself there. He occupied his time by stretching his arm, back and side muscles like he always did before pitching practice.

"Oh~ you're pretty flexible aren't you first-year?" Miyuki stood behind him geared up in his catcher's guards.

"I'm ready to go Miyuki-sempai!"

"Hehe. I can see that. Before we move on though I'd like it if you'd tell me a bit more about your pitching. You were a bit… bashful about sharing your skills the last time we played catch."

Sawamura's face turned a light shade of red, distressed more over the way the catcher worded it than anything. "I-I was not!"

"Sure. Sure. So anyway, about that two-seamer, what's the deal with that? Show me your grip for it."

Sawamura grabbed a baseball from the crates up against the wall and showed him.

'It's just a regular two-seamer grip.' Miyuki observed. "Did you have special training to make your pitches move the way they do?"

"Special training? Unless you're just talking about when coach first showed me the grip for the two-seamer then no, not really." Sawamura suddenly looked pleased rubbing the underside of his nose. "I have a wicked two-seamer, don't I? Mitsuhide-dono didn't believe I was using the proper grip either back then."

"Don't act so smug, you're control still needs work." Miyuki smirked at the first-year's indignant scowl. 'Every pitcher's physique affects the way they pitch in different ways. But it's really something else to have such a naturally moving fast ball.' He thought. "And how about your variations?"

Sawamura suddenly looked away embarrassed. "… about it…"

"… What was that? I couldn't hear you?"

"I'm not supposed talk about it." He mumbled.

"What? Why? … Oh! Is that why you were like that before? Your coach told you not to tell other teams about your abilities? You're on this team now, so there's no need to keep it secret from me anymore."

Sawamura just looked even more flustered. "That's… not it." He looked away as he reluctantly started fiddling with his glove and reach a finger behind the wrist strap.

Miyuki could see a small folded up paper being pulled out before it was grumpily handed to him. "What's this?" The only response he got was more inconsequential mumblings so he began to unfold the slip of paper.

[To whom it may concern, the purpose of this paper is to inform you about a certain feature in Eijun's pitching. If you don't already know, the current types of balls he can throw is the four-seamer, two-seamer and changeup. The first two still need work on their control and the changeup is still technically a work in progress, but it is also dependable in games situations.

The feature you need to be aware of the most however is what we call the variations. There are three in total and each represent the different points in which Eijun can release the ball. Variation 1 is when he releases the ball at the 12 o'clock point. Variation 2 is at the 11:30 mark and variation 3 is at the 9:30 mark, a little too high to be considered a sidearm throw. Each of these variations can be applied to each of his pitches.

As to why Eijun couldn't simply tell you himself, he's a bit of an eccentric and is very vehement on describing the variations the same way our coach had in the beginning, which had a lot of talk about axis rotation, Magnus force, angle breakage and the physics behind the body's rotation in a pitch. He might be the biggest idiot you will ever meet. But he's our idiot and if he's shown you this, then he's finally starting to mature if even a little. Please watch over him for us.

Sincerely,

The Akagi Team]

"…" His shoulders started to shake.

Sawamura crossed his arms and turned away with the stomp of his foot. "Che!"

Miyuki had a hand covering his mouth and he was slouching a bit now.

Sawamura kicked a pebble away.

Miyuki finnaly broke out into hystarics.

[P.S. Please reward him for actually using this by not laughing.] Was written at the very bottom.

He couldn't help but say it even if he tried. "What are you? A three-year old that needs an identification card?" And he continued to laugh.

Sawamura growled and snatched the paper back. "I take it back! I don't feel like pitching with you anymore!" He said stomping away.

The catcher tried to compose himself through his fits of giggles. "Ho- hehe. Hold on! Hold on! That wasn't very upperclassman-like of me. Come back here."

Turning around to glower at the second-year, Sawamura spoke out heatedly. "You're just gonna laugh some more! I don't have to stand and take this kind of abuse to my pride!"

"No. I'm done. I won't laugh at your child's safety card anymore."

"It's not a-!"

"And now that I know about that, I want to see it for myself." He took a few steps back over a square mat meant to replicate home base and squatted down into position. "Well? I cut my batting practice off early to be here. Or are you really that fickle?" Miyuki said smirking at the frustrated pitcher. "You can start off by showing me your fastball in all three variations."

"Pickle headed louse! Someday your face will freeze like that and then you'll never get a date!" Gripping the baseball in his hand tightly he stalked up to the marker indicating the appropriate distance from the plate.

'This guy is too easy to direct… but he has some pretty interesting insults.'

'That prissy headed guy won't know what hit him!'

{}

Sawamura took staggering steps back to his dorm room after taking a bath. 'That annoying catcher is too exhausting to be around! I'm still not sure if I regret asking him to catch for me or not!' He had been deprived from really pitching the whole day after all and all of those tests were just teasing him. But being able to pitch to Miyuki had been both relieving and stressful.

Opening the door to his shared room he saw Kuramochi who looked to have just returned as well and was settling down to read one of his magazines. "Oh! You're finally back. Getting lost already? You country kids are completely hopeless here in the city."

"I was not lost! I was pitching to that annoying Miyuki guy!"

"Oh really?" Kuramochi said as he idly opened his wrestling magazine. 'That's surprising, he's already staying out late to practice on his first day.'

"Calling me a kid! He's just a year older than me!"

"I'm a year older than you, you better not treat me with the same disrespect."

Sawamura jerked away in concern for his own wellbeing at cruel grin on his upperclassman's face. "N-Never Kuramochi-sempaisama!"

Kuramochi smirked. "If you suck up to me now, I might even put a good word in to the coach about you. Does he even know your name yet?"

"AHHH! That's right! I never got a chance to introduce myself this morning like everybody else! I left a terrible first impression!"

"Haha! Or maybe you didn't leave any kind of impression and he already forgot about you."

Greiving over his bad luck he collapse into his bed smothering his face with a pillow.

Kuramochi chuckled a bit more before he mellowed out. "But even with Coach not knowing your name, you still have your whole 3 years to make up for today. Masuko-san's not back yet. Do you know why?"

Sawamura's head lifted up from his pillow a bit thinking. "He's not… He isn't still training is he?! But it's this late already!"

"He's a senior right now, he doesn't have any time left to relax. So he's probably out there somewhere swinging a bat… There's a lot of competition for third baseman you know. In our last game, just one… he made just one error and he was taken off the regular lineup." He didn't turn to look at his younger roommate. "I want to bat cleanup. I want to be the ace. I want to play in games… everyone comes here thinking that. But the truth of the matter is, there are only nine positions and almost a hundred players competing for them… Do you get what kind of place this is? Only the fittest make it and… the rest can only wait for the next chance. Everyone feels the pressure and not everyone can handle it." He looked up from his book thinking about when he first realized how insane this place was. The level of competition was almost too much to imagine. He had kicked and clawed his way up to his own position as first-string's shortstop. But even as a regular you couldn't let your guard down for a second. He learned that from unfortunate people like Masuko.

He turned to see what Sawamura thought about what he'd told him, but what he saw baffled him. 'What the- is he's laughing?!'

He was. But not out of humor. 'I'm really glad I decided to come here.' It was the laughter of a person who had no other way to release their built up enthusiasm. He couldn't control how impassioned he felt after hearing all of that from Kuramochi. How much louder it seemed to make his heart beat. 'This cut-throat kind of environment… it really is like nationals everyday here.' How could he not be excited?

Thankyou so much everyone for reviewing, favoriting and following, fellow writers know how much each one means to them. They are true inspirations for us. Please continue to let me know about any other ideas you guys might like to see in this story or just let me know if you liked this new chapter.

Results for Sawamura's placement

6 – jumps to first-string

1 – starts in second-string

2 – either/or

Well that answers that! Thankyou all who helped with putting in your input. I'm pretty sure I'll be able to get to the battle of the first-years against the second and third-years in the next chapter.

What did you think about how I explained Eijun's variations? Did it make sense? I was about to get into the effects each one had on the direction the ball would break but I didn't because I figured the Akagi team would know that whoever would end up reading their note would have to be knowledgable about that stuff since this is Seido and all. I may explain it later, I don't know. Is it boring reading about that stuff? I had a lot of fun looking it up online so I don't know. I would think all of us here have read Daiya no Ace so maybe you feel the same way.

A/N: Poor Eijun, Kantako doesn't even know his name! Well he has a vague idea from Rei, but as far as he's concerned, Sawamura is just an irresponsible first-year among 30 other first-years. The only thing that he's stood out in is the fact that he was late. At least he apologized this time and was able to practice with the other first-years. Sawamura and Furuya's rivalry is already showing! Those two are too much fun together!

Greekfreak101/rain – thankyou for your imputs!

Rosa.C –It doesn't look like Sawamura will start out in second string, sorry. I agree that there needs to be some work done with Chris, the dude needs a light so his eyes aren't so dim anymore. I'll figure it out eventually how I'll have him be put in the picture.

Ket546/Erika/Naliyu/zhette/Nathalia – Thankyou for your kind words!

yolo xx – introducing Sawamura to Chris via second string game… hmmm, that's an interesting idea. Maybe Coach sees something in Sawamura that he needs to work on and doesn't what to show him to the more skilled teams until it's settled so he puts him in a second string game. It's definitely something to think about. Thankyou for that!

AnhiVan – Quit making me blush!

Lustrate – Making a list of what he looks for in a pitcher, that's a good idea. That'll probably help me a bunch. Thankyou!

What to look forward to: Sawamura meets Mr. Tire