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Legend of Sawamura	By : eternalstarhaven Category: -Misc Anime > Yaoi - Male/Male Views: 971 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: For fanfiction. I do not own Ace of Diamond, the characters, and do not write this for money or profit. Ace of Diamond is the work of Yuji Terajima.

Chapter List
- 6
- 7
~ Kazuya’s POV ~

He was bored out of his mind, trying to think of the reason why he had agreed to come to this school. Granted, he hadn’t wanted to play with Narumiya, but that didn’t mean he had to pick a school where pitchers with any talent seemed non-existent. Takashima was supposedly trying to recruit them, but because Seidou had such a bad reputation, the talent was choosing other schools. His dream of calling the perfect game was drifting further and further away.

It was perhaps a week before their summer tournament when he spotted the kid on the sidelines, his golden eyes watching the team practice. His hands were often buried in his pockets and there was either a simmering rage swirling his gaze, or a terrible sadness that had him wanting to ask if he was alright. Considering he kept most people at an emotional distance, his reaction to the quiet kid was unusual and unwanted.

He would have ignored him, but there was just an intensity about him that had him constantly looking for him. With nothing else to do, he decided to take his break near the bleachers, curious about the boy that always watched but never talked or lingered beyond their evening practices. “Do you play?”

The kid looked at him, but didn’t answer. His eyes were like twin orbs of molten lava and he felt his heart skip a beat. It was ludicrous, especially since he was currently dating Chris. “If you like baseball, I wouldn’t recommend Seidou. There’s far too many players in the club and you would have to almost kill yourself to make one of the two rosters.”

Kazuya spotted Takashima and Kataoka walking from field to field, observing practice, but not interacting with the players. He never understood how a team that wanted to go to Koshien wouldn’t help the players evolve more. It’s like they expected talent to magically grow on its own and too many had their dreams crushed in their three years at Seidou. “HEY YOU STUPID PITCHER! WHAT KIND OF COWARDLY THROW WAS THAT?! YOU LOOKING DOWN ON ME!”

Kazuya really hated guys like Azuma, but unless Tetsuya or Jun was around, no one did anything to stop him. Instead, they acted as if they were oblivious to how hard Kawagami was sweating, or the terror resonating in his eyes. He looked as if he wanted to tuck tail and run and while Kawagami was perhaps the most timid pitcher he had ever come across, he wasn’t a mean or bad kid.

“THAT WASN’T EVEN ENOUGH FOR PRACTICE! GIVE ME A LIVELIER THROW!”

“I’m sorry…” Kawagami stammered, trying to breathe and calm down.

“I HATE THEM LIKE THAT! IF YOU’RE GOING TO BE LIKE THAT, YOU CAN’T EVEN WARM THE BENCH! IF YOU’RE NOT EVEN GOING TO TRY, GO BACK TO YOUR FARMHOUSE YOU LITTLE…”
Kazuya would never forget in a million years what happened next. The kid beside him stood halfway through Azuma’s rant, pulled a baseball from his pocket and as if he were moving in slow motion, his form flawless, pitched a fastball he had never seen at any level of baseball before and watched as Miyauchi went flying into the net behind him.

Everything came to a screeching halt and aside from Kazuya, no one had seen where the ball had come from. Kazuya watched the kid tuck his hands back into his pockets and turn away, as if he had no intention of claiming responsibility for that pitch and the resulting chaos. Azuma was staring at Miyauchi and then back at Kawagami who still had a ball in his hands. There was no other pitcher around that could have thrown it.

“Wait!” Kazuya shouted, grabbing the kid’s arm. “Why did you do that?! What kind of pitch was that?”

The kid smacked his hand away, his golden gaze shaking with a fury that had Kazuya’s heart pounding in excitement and fear. This kid knew baseball and on top of that he was a pitcher that was randomly wandering around Tokyo? Was he even in a school? Did he play baseball, or was he just one of those kids that tossed a few here and there? “You’re right about one thing… Seidou is the last place any player should go, but we don’t always get what we want. Koshien… I can’t believe this team is telling the media that they want to go there. What a joke! Do you really think a team that bullies each other has a right to stand on that field?”

“You sound as if you’ve been there.”

His lip curled upwards into a cruel smile, a hand reaching out to trace Kazuya’s jaw, moving lower until he shoved the catcher against the fence. “It seems you don’t care about teams that you’re not a part of. If you want to see what champions are… watch the middle school tournament. I’ll show you why a team like this one will never make it to Koshien,” he snarled.

It was like a prediction of things to come… Not only did the team not make it to Koshien, but Chris collapsed halfway through his first game, clutching at his shoulder. It turned out, he had been hiding a muscle sprain, but now it was a tear that had gone from his shoulder, down to his rib cage and wrist. His baseball career was over for the remaining years of high school and it did something to their current relationship.

Kazuya had really liked Chris, but a week after they had started dating, it had ended. Additionally, he had been forced to move up and the first string hated him for it. This wasn’t what he had wanted and that kid’s words rang in his mind over and over. Did a team that turned on one another deserve to go to Koshien? He said something about the summer tournament. Looking at his phone, he noticed that it was about to start for the middle school teams. As the team was wrapping up and heading towards the bus, he asked Takashima if he could stay and watch the first round of the middle school tournament.

She wanted to say no, but Kataoka said it was fine, that perhaps the entire team needed to watch. Perhaps if they saw what kids at the national level performed like, they might change the way they played and trained back at Seidou.

There were a total of four games that afternoon, but there was only one that he was interested in. He had done an internet search about a team with a golden eyed player and only one came up. Akagi Junior High, formed and led by fifteen year old Eijun Sawamura. There wasn’t a lot of information other than that his team always made it to nationals and this season they were the favorites to win the championship title.

His team stepped onto the field and the crowd went into a frenzy. They were clearly a favorite for the fans, a group of nine players that stepped onto the field with confidence. All of them were in their final year of middle school, not a single first or second year on their roster. The starting pitcher was a female and that shocked him, but on the sidelines was the golden eyed kid.

The team gathered around him and he gave them a quick speech, their hands piling on top of one another before they began to chant. It was clear that every member synchronized with one another and the number on that female’s back wasn’t just for show. She had earned it and it showed in each one of her pitches. Her arsenal wasn’t that big, but she still had more than most high schoolers did in their first or second year. They were clean, accurate, and went exactly where the catcher wanted them.

She never shook the catcher’s signs off and she was always aware of who was on base, what type of batter was in front of her, and what her fifteen year old coach wanted out of her. Still, despite how good she was… Kazuya wanted to see the golden eyed coach… There was more than just the coach’s badge he wore around his neck, his eyes watching everything that took place on the field. It wasn’t until the fifth inning that they started to hit her fastballs more… If she was their team’s main pitcher, it wasn’t surprising if they had studied her extensively.

That’s when he made the change, shocking the entire fan base, the officials, and the reporters. He was going in and on his back was the number 10. He was subbing Wakana out and he handed her his coaching badge. Before she stepped off, he patted her on the shoulder and she gave him a tired smile.

Once again, the team gathered around and Kazuya couldn’t stop himself from getting closer to the fence. For a brief moment, he thought the fifteen year old had glanced up, their eyes connecting before his focus drifted back to his team.

The catcher wasn’t great, but he knew just enough to widen his stance and brace his catching arm with his left hand, using his arm as extra support. “What is he doing?” Miyauchi asked.

Kazuya knew… That catcher couldn’t handle this kid, but he was going to try his hardest not to break in the last three innings. The score was in danger of going to the other team, but all the runners that were currently on base… He picked off the ones trying to steal second and third, and then in three amazing pitches, took out the last batter. It was still not the pitch he had seen at Seidou… the one that had driven Miyauchi into a net.

“Who is that kid?” he heard people whispering. “Doesn’t he just coach? I’ve never seen him play before…” People were talking like crazy and the reporters were going into a frenzy trying to go over old news clips they had of all the previous tournaments. There was nothing about him pitching before and this seemed to catch Takashima’s and Kataoka’s attention.

When it was their turn to bat, the kid again caused a moment of stunned silence. It was like he knew exactly where the pitcher was going to aim and just as the pitcher released the ball, the bat was already moving, aimed low and it connected with power and a finality that told the other team their end was inevitable. As each batter on his team went up, he said something to them and one by one, they continued hitting, driving the score up until the gap was too large for the team to make a comeback.

Kazuya was out of his seat before the rest of the team… He had to see him and it was as they were stepping onto the bus. “Why did you pitch for only one inning?”

“And here I thought you were better than the others,” Eijun taunted, his golden gaze glancing over his shoulder at Kazuya.

He stepped off the bus and slowly approached, his lips twitching in amusement as Kazuya tried to back away and tripped over some random bag. Jumping to his feet, he had no time to evade the hand that shot out and caught his arm… Eijun was so close, he could feel the power of those fingers curled into his bicep and all he could think about was what else they could do aside from pitching insane fastballs that were beyond what an average middle schooler should have been capable of. “Why are you chasing me down, Kazuya Miyuki?”

“I… I don’t know…”

“Do you really think I’d want to represent Seidou? Does your school even understand what it means to work as a team? It’s a shame… I really think that you had the potential of calling the perfect game, but not at a school that has no sense of unity.”

He felt a chill run down his spine when Eijun retreated and disappeared onto his bus. As the doors closed, he flinched and the nights where he couldn’t sleep began to blend together, one right after another. Kazuya had to see him again and it was no surprise when he found himself going to another game the following weekend. He had no idea why he was trying to get as close to Eijun as possible, only that another school hadn’t scouted him yet. How did he convince him to come to a school that seemed to contrast the ideals that his current team represented?

Chris was quickly forgotten and the veteran catcher was a bit stunned that Kazuya never stopped to mope about their failed relationship. He thought the younger boy would have cried or made it uncomfortable, but Kazuya was focused only on training or the middle school tournament. A lot of books about pitching began to stack up in Kazuya’s room, the catcher wanting to understand what it was that Eijun was doing and how he had managed to take a team of nine players to the tournament and win each round as if it was a natural outcome.

There was nothing natural about Eijun… He was intelligent and the pitches that he could throw were something he would see at a college or professional level. They were clocking him at around 160 km/h or faster and he was only throwing a four-seam, two-seam and a change-up. He played one inning and he called it the clean up round and his new nickname was prince of the diamond.

Three pitches… That’s all it would take if there were runners on base and that would ease some of the pressure off the catcher that was no where close to his talent. The score against Narushima Junior High was so bad that the team forfeited in their third inning. Eijun had led his team to the nationals with five innings or less defeats and he was quickly becoming a media sensation, dominating the front pages and sending most of the high school teams to the back ones.

The one question that popped up… Was there a way to get Eijun out onto the field for more than one inning? He said that he didn’t want to take away from Wakana’s time to shine, that she was a talented player that any team should want to recruit if they could look past the fact that she was a girl.

His team loved and respected him, there was no question about it and he never had anything bad to say about the teams he played against, always offering some kind word to help ease the pain of losing.

“Kazuya, what’s gotten into you,” Chris asked him one morning. It was the last game at Koshien for the middle school tier, but it wouldn’t have mattered if it wasn’t one team in particular that was playing in it.

“You wouldn’t understand.”

“Try me,” he insisted. They weren’t dating anymore, but he still respected Kazuya as a player, the catcher going above and beyond what had been expected of him to make up for his lack of experience.

“Have you ever witnessed something that’s beyond your ability, to want it so badly that all you can do is train your ass off and hope… just hope that you become good enough that he’ll change his mind about you?”

“You’re talking about the southpaw on that middle school team… I haven’t really had a chance to watch him.”

“Come with me… Maybe you’ll understand why Seidou can’t make it to Koshien without him, especially if he picks another school in the same region.”

“Mind if we tag along?” Tetsuya asked. Jun, Ryosuke, and Yoichi were next to him, all having asked the coach if they could have the day off to watch the final game at Koshien. Takashima couldn’t understand why Kazuya had become so obsessed with the Akagai Junior High team, but Kataoka had once again agreed to the catcher’s request, as if he could sense something from the pitcher that she hadn’t. Granted, he was able to operate under immense pressure and he had managed to do the impossible with a team of nine players. However, that didn’t mean he was capable of playing at the high school level.

She had heard rumors that a kid had shown up out of the blue, knocking Miyauchi into a net and then vanishing shortly after. Several schools had tried recruiting Eijun, but he simply told them they didn’t have what he was looking for and turned them down.

~ Eijun’s POV ~

His anger still simmered at the surface of his mind and his pitching didn’t calm him down like it usually did. If his catcher could have handled it, he would have pitched from start to finish, but he could see the fear lurking in his eyes every time Eijun took the mound. None of them understood what was upsetting him. He went to school, practice and then home… Eijun didn’t have to look to know that Kazuya was sitting in the stands… He had no idea what possessed him to show up to Seidou out of the blue and he had had no intentions of going back there, regardless of how many times the curse forced them to restart.

He wasn’t as strong as Ryosuke, but Kazuya’s stubborn persistence was starting to wear him down. Seidou, aside from Tetsuya, Jun, Ryosuke and Yoichi had nothing good about it. People didn’t have the guts to stand up for each other and their individual mentality had no room for players that wanted nothing more than to pursue a dream of baseball, to simply have it crushed and ground beneath the heels of the first and second string players.

“Eijun…” Wakana whispered, sensing his growing anger. Nabano said that he was terrified of the rage behind his pitches… It was something any catcher that could pick up on when they worked with a pitcher and it was only because Eijun respected him as a friend that he didn’t go all out like he wanted.

It didn’t take them long to figure out why Eijun had held back from playing for the past three years. His talent was far above their abilities and it amazed them that he had been willing to help and encourage them despite that. They had watched Kazuya coming after him over and over, but Eijun seemed to want nothing to do with him. They knew if the two combined talents that he would create something magical, but there was something in his eyes that had them all keeping silent.

Eijun was in pain, even though he never talked about it and every time he turned his back on Kazuya, they could see the tears sliding down his face, as if he wanted to say yes, but was keeping his answer consistent. They had no idea what he would do after this last game, but they really hoped that Kazuya could convince him to continue playing baseball. He belonged on the mound, with the number one on his back.

Despite his promise not to look, he glanced over at the stands and froze, surprised to see not only Kazuya, but Tetsuya, Ryosuke, Jun, Yoichi, and Chris. Why was Chris here? Were the two dating still? Eijun thought the two had broken up after his shoulder injury, but perhaps that had changed this time around. He should have been happy for Kazuya, but the idea that he was spending nights alone with Chris in his room… His blood boiled with a jealous rage… Kazuya was his… Eijun was the only one that had never abandoned the catcher and even now he wanted to go running back to him, to give in and pitch for Seidou. He thought Kazuya would have given up on him already, but it seemed that when he set his mind on someone, he was loyal and unwavering in his resolve.

He had a feeling Kazuya would approach him like he did after every game and he was deciding on how he would respond… if he would respond… if he should respond. Seidou was one painful memory after another for him, but he couldn’t deny that he still loved Kazuya regardless of how different he was when time repeated, as if he was learning something new about him with each repetition. This game was perhaps the hardest one they had faced so far, but Wakana held on with a fierce determination, knowing that if she could make it to the fifth inning, Eijun would end it like he always did.

It was close, and just when she thought she couldn’t last another round, he was calling for a substitution. “Good job, Wakana.”

“I wish… I wish this wasn’t the end,” she cried.

He gave her a soft smile and gently cupped her face before he strode up to the mound. The other team was shaking, having hoped to drive Wakana into a corner early on, sensing that Eijun didn’t come out until the fifth because of his catcher. She was an incredible pitcher in her own right and several schools have extended an offer to her, one of them being an all girls school.

No one on his team would ever have to worry about not being able to play in high school and he could only hope that he had given them something precious to hold onto for the rest of their lives. There was no way he could use the crossfire or cutter in this game, but it didn’t matter. There was no way any of these batters had the ability to stop him.

~ Kazuya’s POV ~

Chris had to admit… The southpaw had hidden potential, but they hadn’t been able to see it due to his limited time on the field. When the game was over, Kazuya was already running down the long corridors that would take him to where the players were, hoping to catch him one last time. “Sawamura!” For a moment he thought the southpaw wouldn’t stop and his team waited with baited breath… It seemed they all wanted Eijun to agree to Kazuya’s persistent request to play at Seidou with him… No one else had tried to scout him as hard as Kazuya had and the southpaw was shaking, his fists clenched tightly together.

“Eijun,” Wakana whispered. “I can’t say that I understand what you’re dealing with, but can you really say that you won’t regret hearing him out? He’s one of the best in the country and their school needs a pitcher.”

“That school is horrible,” Eijun hissed.

“Eijun, you can change it. What you did with us… Akagi Junior High had nothing… We had no real future, but you gave us a dream and no one can ever take that away from us. I won’t deny that Seidou is a horrible place, but how can they ever reach for anything else if someone doesn’t show them the path? That’s the kind of leader you are.”

“Wakana…” he whispered, feeling the pain welling up inside of himself, threatening to rip him apart. “It hurts…”

“Eijun, please… I’ve never seen you like this and we all want to help, but we have no idea what to say or do. You’ve shut us all out! We’ll take care of the gear. I know you want to talk to him and it’s okay… We’re not going anywhere.”

Kazuya couldn’t believe that Eijun had stayed behind. The southpaw was still not looking at him and he was hesitant to approach at first. “You really won’t give up; will you,” he choked, finally looking at him, his eyes swimming with unshed tears. The southpaw had wanted him to; Kazuya knew this beyond a shadow of a doubt. “I was planning on quitting baseball after today; I hate it.”

“Is that really true?” Kazuya asked him, taking a step closer.

“I’ve never seen anything good come from it.”

“What the hell do you call winning the national championship?”

Eijun probably should have had an answer for that, but he didn’t. Honestly, when he had woken up several weeks ago, he had thought of quitting then. And yet… He knew he couldn’t abandon his team a second time. Eijun had promised to get them through middle school, but what he hadn’t counted on was Kazuya coming after him. It wasn’t even the same Kazuya that he had fallen in love with. Each one was slightly different and that was perhaps why he couldn’t cope with the curse like Ryosuke had.

How many times had he been forced to fall in love with Yoichi just to start over again? He felt Kazuya get closer and he was half tempted to run away. “I can’t give my heart to you again…” he whispered, unaware that he had said it out loud. Kazuya’s eyes widened. What did he mean? “I need to go.”

“No!” Kazuya shouted, grabbing his arm and holding on as if his life depended on it. He was afraid that if Eijun walked away this time… He wouldn’t get another chance. “I know Seidou has problems and I can’t say that I was doing anything to help change it. All I can promise is that I’m not the same as I was a few weeks ago and I’ll prove to you over and over that I’m qualified to become your catcher.”

“Why are you so determined to have me?!” Eijun shouted. “You can have any pitcher you want!”

“I know that if I let you walk away right now; I’ll regret it for the rest of my life! I’m not even chasing you because of Seidou, but for my own selfish reasons. Please, come to Seidou not for the team, but because I’m asking you to become ‘my’ partner.”

“Eijun,” he heard from behind him. He flinched at the sound of Tetsuya’s voice. Eijun knew he was being a coward, but how could he face any of them when he was falling apart over losing Kazuya only twice?

“Tetsuya…” Eijun whimpered, the tears finally falling. “I can’t…”

“You can only run for so long,” Jun told him.

“I know that!” he shouted. “Damn it, Jun… It hurts… It really hurts. I’m not as strong as the four of you are… not even close and…”

Yoichi was the one that surprised them all when he pulled the heart broken southpaw into his arms. “Little brother... You’re wrong. If I had lost Ryo… Ithink I would have tried to kill myself on the spot. You saw how I got when everything went crazy, but you were so calm and I never imagined what it would do to you when you finally got what you wanted after chasing after him for so long… I’m so sorry Eijun.”

“Yoichi…”

“How you feel about him won’t change… you can run… you can hide… but in the end, you’ll still come back to him.”

Kazuya felt his heart aching for the southpaw. Whatever had happened to Eijun was significant and these four somehow knew about it. Trembling fingers made their way around Yoichi’s shoulders and the southpaw broke, crying brokenly against his t-shirt. “I want him back… The numbers… the crossfire… it was something we created together. How can I let anyone else catch them?!”

“Don’t you think he would want you to choose him because of that? No one else has the right and you know it. If you give up now, that bastard wins and he will come back to Seidou.”

“I’m well aware of what that bastard has taken away from me!”

Eijun was too emotionally exhausted to resist Yoichi or the others. It did feel good to have Yoichi trying to cheer him up like the old days, but instead of the usual kick to his rear end, it was a strong and reassuring hug. “I’ve been avoiding the question, but what happened?”

Yoichi tensed, looking at Tetsuya. The Captain shook his head. Now was not the time to tell Eijun, not when he was already struggling with the different Kazuya’s every time they had to repeat portions of their past lives. There was also the fact that the person they were all talking about was standing right beside them, his mind rapidly trying to piece together what was going on and why.

“Alright… I’ll agree to his request on one condition.” Reaching for his bag, he pulled out his lucky baseball and turned to face a baffled Kazuya Miyuki. The media wasn’t standing far away and when they saw the champion southpaw point at the newly appointed catcher for Seidou, all cameras shifted towards them, unaware that almost every channel was broadcasting Eijun’s challenge. “If you can catch a pitch that no one else can throw… I will acknowledge you as my future catcher and go to Seidou. If you drop it or fall, you will leave me alone and allow me to quit baseball like I originally planned.”

“Eijun!” Yoichi and Jun shouted in unison. “He’s not ready for that!”

“That’s my condition and if the four of you can’t accept that, then you can leave with him, because I can’t change or help a school that seems to care more about individual talent rather than teamwork! Koshien isn’t for selfish brats that step on the dreams of others, but a representation of the hard work and sacrifices the entire team makes! The best of the best stand on that field, but how would any of the coaches at that school know who they are if the time isn’t spent to cultivate the 60 or more players that are left with shattered goals? What did they goto Seidou for other than to fulfil a bunch of false promises that were whispered to them, most of them without a clue on the other options they might have had elsewhere? What is a national rank when everyone else around you is the same? I was once told that recruiting only the best wasn’t wrong, but it is! You cannot play or win baseball on your own! So I’m going to ask you, Kazuya Miyuki. What do you want me for? Why are you trying so damn hard to scout me when you have so many other pitchers chasing after you that, if given the right amount of coaching and guidance, could serve Seidou’s needs?”

“Do you really want to quit without seeing what you’re truly capable of? Why did you play baseball in the first place if it’s just to turn your back on it when everything becomes hard, painful, or not going the way you want? Yeah, Seidou is currently about individual talent, but it can and will change if enough people make it happen. I’m one person… The friends beside you are four more! You asked for me to watch a team of champions and I did! If you really want to prove what you’re saying then help us change Seidou and make it a team that’s united instead of divided. Please?”

Chris and the others had never heard Kazuya beg for anything, but when he bowed, even Eijun seemed at a loss for words. Kazuya Miyuki was proud, did everything for himself, manipulating others to get what he wanted, but there was none of that now except an honest request and a plea to help a school that was falling further and further away from where they had been. “Very well… if your head coach will agree to a game between my team and yours, I’ll consider your offer. Also, I would like you to stand in as our catcher… if you can last all nine innings, then I’ll accept your request and Seidou’s resolve about wanting to change and go to Koshien.”

“Why would you not use yours?” Kazuya asked.

“Wakana and Nabano are the official battery of Akagi Junior High; it’s no secret that I step in during the last inning because of how brutal each one of my pitches are. I’m not even pitching at full strength, but know this… If you stand in front of me, my expectations of you are a lot higher than what I would demand of anyone else at Akagi. The newspapers say you’re the best of the best and now’s your chance to prove it to a team that seems to have issues with you starting as a first year.”

Takigawa’s phone rang. Answering it, he froze, his eyes going wide as he handed it over to Kazuya. “Are you serious?” Kazuya looked around and flinched. He was just now realizing that everything they had said was on national television and he covered his face, turning several shades of red. “Yes sir, I can.” Kazuya handed over the phone to Eijun and hit the speaker button while he did it.

“If I set up this game, will you honor your request? Is him being your team’s catcher and lasting all nine innings your only conditions?”

Eijun hadn’t expected the head coach to agree, the color draining from his face. There was no way he could back down, not with everyone waiting for an answer. “That was my condition and yes, if he makes it to the end, I will acknowledge him.”

“I want more than that if I agree to this. You will say yes to Seidou’s offer to play for our team, become his battery partner and Seidou’s ACE for the next three years.”

“Pardon?” Eijun gasped, almost dropping the phone. “Sir, you haven’t even seen what I can pitch!”

“I’ve seen enough.” Kataoka hung up and Eijun was left speechless. If he didn’t go through with this, all of Akagi would suffer for it. He had no choice and he sighed, holding Chris’s phone up with the palm of his hand. “I guess we have a game to plan.”

“So… Are you coming to Seidou to practice, or do I come to Nagano?”

“What are you talking about?” Eijun demanded.

“You don’t think I’m going to wait until you just randomly show up a week or two from now without practicing together do you? I know nothing about your team. I might admit that you’re one hell of a pitcher, but I still control the game when I’m the catcher on the field.”

“We do have our summer break coming up; Eijun, agree to his request.”

“Wakana! Are you crazy?! Seidou’s all the way in Tokyo!”

“You’re dad has that large condo; doesn’t he? Can’t you ask him to let us stay there until after the game? This is a once in a lifetime chance for us and I’d like to really see what we’re capable of as Japan’s middle school champions.”

“Man… You guys don’t play fair. Since when do you guys side with the enemy?” Eijun growled, crossing his arms with irritation. “Fine… We can go to Tokyo, but you better get signed permission slips from your parents first! And the invitation to stay at my dad’s place will extend to you,” he told Kazuya. Grabbing his bag, he turned and walked away, leaving the media to broadcast the unusual turn of events. All the schools that had been turned down over the past several weeks, there was one that had finally relented to Eijun’s demand for a game and the conditions that he would have to abide if Kazuya could prove that he was strong and talented enough to do what no other catcher has been capable of in his three years of middle school.

~ Takashima’s POV ~

“Sir, why did you agree to that boy’s demands?”

“He gave those conditions because he knew a normal school would have refused. That boy has become a media sensation over the past several weeks and if he does manage to crush our first string, we will finally have the battery combination we’ve been looking for.”

“And what if we’re wrong? What if he’s like Tanba and several other pitchers that shine for only a brief moment and then quickly cave to the pressure?”

“He’s a boy that created, coached, and mentored nine players for a school that should have had no chance in hell of making it to the nationals, let alone winning at Koshien. He is a legend in the making and if you can’t see that, then you might need to reassess your qualifications to continue scouting for Seidou.”

“Can Miyuki really handle that boy?”

“Kazuya is the one that has been after this kid and I think we need to trust that he knows what he’s getting into. You’re right, normally I wouldn’t cater to the whims of a child, but everything he said about our team was not a lie and to not answer him, would have been fuel for the media to use against Seidou. All eyes are on us now and our only option was to say yes; if we win, it’s expected. If the first string loses, it’s because I was right to choose Kazuya as the lead catcher and this will prove his worth to the older players. If we lose that southpaw and another school picks him up, we ‘will’ regret it.”
- 6
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Legend of Sawamura