Sawamura Eijun, self-proclaimed future ace of Seidou High School's baseball team had very generously volunteered to accompany the team's female scout and assistant director Takashima Rei to her next destination, a Junior High School in a small and rural town, to search for possible new talents for the next season. A practice match was being held this day and the brown haired woman had decided she wanted to be present to watch and take notes. It was still a little bigger and livelier, but it reminded the always energetic boy of his own village and his friends still living in the country back home. It was almost nostalgic.

However, after the game had ended, both Sawamura and his teacher were somewhat disappointed about the outcome. The trip was a complete waste of their time and they hadn't been able to see at least one little string of hope for a new interesting player they could scout for Seidou. And boy, what a boring game that had been. Almost physically painful to watch! The brown haired pitcher wasn't fired up at all. Usually he'd rather play himself and stand on the mound than watch a match, but this time he had been close to falling asleep. He was beyond pissed!

"Sawamura-kun, please take the bags back to the car and wait for me. I will pay the head coach of the team my respect and greet him. It's the least I can do after driving all the way to watch their match", the female scout said pushing her glasses up with one finger.

"Roger that!"

The young southpaw saluted and hurried to pick up the two large black bags with baseball equipment. Or rather equipment for baseball scouting, like photo and video cameras, speed radar guns to measure the speed of the pitches and various checklists and notebooks. Of course there were also some balls and mitts amongst the other stuff in there, but since they didn't want to check upon the players, that wouldn't be needed. Takashima wouldn't ask for one of the boys pitching or catching for her up close today.

With one bag on each shoulder, Sawamura began jogging over the compounds, first of the Junior High and then also of the directly attached High School that belonged together and were located right at the same place. They even shared a name, so the students didn't really have a big change when they were graduating.

While using the opportunity of additional weight as a method to train, the brown haired teen passed by an almost empty spot of the school yard where the outdoor sinks for the sport clubs were placed and recognized a group of male and female students alike who were ganging up on another girl with bright sky blue hair and eyes. Sawamura narrowed his eyes and came to a halt. They were clearly mocking her and not in a way friends would make fun of their fellow buddy. The usually friendly and warm hazel color of his irises turned into dangerously cold amber.

Before he could even think about it, he threw his bags on the ground, clenched his fists angrily and started stomping towards the still laughing mob. The blue haired girl was also not backing down, standing tall and glaring at her schoolmates with her icy blue eyes. It was pretty impressive for such a rather short and cute girl, Sawamura had to admit.

"Oi!" he shouted making the group flinch and the girl turned her head towards the young pitcher in surprise. "Cut the crap, you bloody bastards! Bullying a poor girl with so many people, you've gotta be kidding me! What are you? Shitty cowards?! Lost your guts somewhere in the school's hallway or what? Back off or else you're gonna regret it"

Wide eyed the whole bunch of bullies stared at the Seidou pitcher in utter disbelief. Their jaws dropped and they couldn't even respond because of course they noticed that they were gaping at the southpaw of the winner of the baseball fall tournament. He was wearing his Seidou uniform after all and they all belonged to this High School's baseball and softball teams respectively. But of course Sawamura couldn't know that and to be completely honest, he also couldn't care less.

"Whoa, Seidou!"

"Shit, are you serious?!"

"You've gotta be kidding me! Why is Seidou here all of a sudden?!"

"Isn't that Sawamura?"

"Yeah, he's that crazy southpaw pitcher"

"I heard he made first string as just a first year..."

"Ehhh?!"

"What does he want at our school then?"

The group was panicking and talking agitatedly without listening to other people, while the brown haired boy placed himself between the blue haired girl and them, glaring at the school yard bullies in rage and disgust.

"Get lost already!" he yelled to stop them from fidgeting and of course to get rid of them as soon as possible. He was annoyed!

Some of the boys looked like they wanted to protest, but as they met with his killing glance and the slowly darkening aura of a self-confident pitcher standing on a mound in tournaments, facing way more frightening opponents, the small group just scoffed and dissolved in different directions.

"Hey, you okay?" Sawamura asked, turning around and flashing the cute girl a wide and sunny grin.

She blinked, taken aback for a moment. His glare and the threatening atmosphere were gone for good in just a blink of an eye. His fast switch of mood and emotions was kind of shocking, but not unwelcomed. Looking at his Cheshire cat grin after his reassuring support was like being warmed under thousand glistening rays of the sun.

"U-Uhm... Yes, I think so. Thank you very much" She bowed slightly, surprising the young pitcher with her good manners towards a fellow student. "My name is Aoki Sora, nice to meet you"

"Likewise", he gave back lightheartedly. "I'm Sawamura Eijun, first year at Seidou High and the future ace of our baseball team"

That's some confidence, bro...

Sora chuckled and nodded her blue haired head.

"Yeah, I know. I've seen you on TV. Congratulations on winning the fall tournament, Sawamura-kun"

The brown haired made a face.

"Just Eijun"

"Huh?!"

As if recognizing her words just now, his bright and proud smile reappeared on his face and he puffed out his chest a bit.

"I mean, I can't help it right? Since you like baseball and you're my fan and all that" He started laughing out loud and smugly with his hands placed on his hips. "And we actually are same age... right?!"

Sora sweat dropped, but couldn't hide a little smirk herself. This guy reminded her much of her older brother. He seemed to be a tiny little bit of a dork, but she meant that in an affectionate way, really.

"Well, I'm Sora for you then", she offered. "And yeah, we're same age. I'm in second grade though since I skipped one in Grade School"

"Wha-?! Oh shit, you're my senpai?! Sorry!"

"Ah, no, no, as I said we are same age, don't worry..."

Sora started to explain a little bit about her Grade School life back then, making Sawamura laugh again.

"Heh... So you've been a lil' savage as a child, huh? Nice" He plopped down on the floor, gesturing to the blue haired girl to do the same. "But studying and a drama club as a compensation? I'd have to pass on that one... I do understand the anime and game thing though!"

A quiet giggle escaped Sora's mouth and she searched in her sports bag that she used for P.E. lessons for a towel that she placed on the floor beside the nice pitcher before sitting down on it with her pale gray skirt of their High School's uniform.

"Is that the reason they mocked you? 'Cause you're a genius and they're jealous or somethin'? How lame!"

Sora snorted and flipped a strand of her long sky blue hair over her shoulder. She had pulled half of the thick mane into a high half-ponytail, fixing everything with a white ribbon that matched the white blouse she had to wear beneath the gray uniform, but unfortunately that wasn't enough to stop some stray strands from bothering her.

"Well, yeah, but that's not the only cause of their hostility and don't call me a genius..."

As a very sad expression darkened her lovely azure eyes, Sawamura gritted his teeth. It really was beyond his understanding how anyone could want to hurt such a friendly and beautiful girl on purpose. She seemed nice and easy to talk to and he would rather like to befriend her than doing something so cruel. In an attempt to offer some emotional support and because of his insensitive, but kind of irresistible curiosity the brown haired boy started asking his new acquaintance about this matter and maybe pushed a little harder than he had wanted. Of course he meant no harm and didn't want to upset her, on the contrary he wanted to be someone to the blue haired girl she could talk and open up to, but when she finally began talking, Sawamura hadn't been prepared to listen to her whole life story. And he hadn't been prepared for the extreme fury that was boiling up inside of him as he heard the details of the betrayal Sora suffered from.

The young southpaw jumped up, ready to seek and destroy, but the blue haired girl was fast enough to cling to him and hold him back so he couldn't search for her former teammates to crush them into the concrete. He was fuming wildly.

"They were your friends!" he roared, struggling in Sora's tight hug to contain him and his temper. "Your team! How could they dare to treat their teammate like that?! Let go of me, I'm gonna teach them a lesson right now!"

If the situation wasn't so serious, the blue haired girl could've laughed. Sawamura's reaction was exactly the same as Ten's had been back then.

"Eijun, please! Calm down! It's no use ruining your baseball career because of me. I'd feel bad for the rest of my life, so don't do that to me. I'd feel really, really guilty! Come on, please... We don't even know each other all that well, right? We've practically just met. Don't throw away your future for a stranger girl you're never gonna see again after you got home today! Violence is strictly prohibited!"

The brown haired teen froze in the middle of his tantrum and blinked innocently at her.

"What'cha mean never gonna see you again? Don't wanna be friends with me?"

"Eh...?!"

Honestly? THAT was his point right now?!

Sora blinked back at the young boy who looked like he would start sulking any time soon. He was so much like her older brother... She sighed in defeat.

"Of course I'd very much like to be friends with you", she admitted and earned a big bright smile as a response.

"Great!" Sawamura beamed and sat down again, followed by the blue haired girl who blushed slightly after they both had noticed that she was still hugging him. "You're gonna move to Tokyo, right? Come to Seidou!"

"Huh? Seidou?"

Not that Sora had already decided on a High School in Tokyo she wanted to transfer to, but the baseball powerhouse of all things in her current state of mind... Really?! But the brown haired teen only nodded fiercely.

"Yeah, Seidou!" he repeated, crossing his arms before his chest. "I was skeptical at first, too, but it's a great school, I promise. Better than I had imagined. I'm a country pumpkin like you as well, ya know..."

"Oh really?" That was news to her. "How did you end up in Seidou then? Got scouted?"

"Well, yeah..." Sawamura scratched his head sheepishly. "That and Cap teaming up with me for the first time"

The blue haired girl tilted her head in confusion. "Cap...?"

As if to make it up to her that he had pushed her so much to tell him her story earlier, the cheerful pitcher began talking about his own exciting adventures how he called the time period of his last few months of Junior High up until now in his first fall, almost winter in High School, during which he got scouted by Takashima Rei, visited Seidou for the first time, formed a battery with the genius catcher Miyuki Kazuya, decided to enter Seidou High School and the baseball team, made the first string and a regular player as just a first year and gained not only new friends, classmates and teammates, but also a formidable rival for the ace position. He finished his little storytelling with the victory at the fall tournament, the injury of their captain and his so very generous offer to accompany their scout today.

"Ain't I a nice guy?" Sawamura concluded, laughing out loudly again, causing Sora to facepalm.

But one thing lingered in the back of her head. The name of the young southpaw's childhood friend. Female childhood friend. Wakana. She had been accepted by an all-male baseball team in their Junior High and even had been allowed to play in official matches, being protected by Sawamura and his teammates whenever someone had dared to make fun of her. They had tolerated the girl named Wakana on the ground with them, playing with them, practicing with them. Not just as a manager, but as a fully fledged teammate... A girl in a boy's team... Sora lowered her head.

"I might've been very lucky going to your Junior High instead..." she mumbled, holding back the tears welling up in the corners of her bright blue eyes.

It was the first time that Sora realized that it could've been different for her as well. If she just had been lucky enough to have another team, other more understanding, more protective teammates, some real friends that would've accepted her rather than being crept out by her abilities... She could've been like Wakana too. Understanding that hurt. It hurt, because Sawamura and his friends from Junior High were boys, but they wouldn't mind a girl playing with them, whereas her own so called former friends were boys who'd rather kick her out of the team.

Well, not only the boys. The girls as well. Even teenagers with the same gender couldn't stand her in their softball team. Why did it have to be so different for her? What did she do wrong to deserve such treatment while at the same time a girl named Wakana, also living in the country could go and practice and play cheerfully in a baseball team full of boys? Life was so unfair...

Sawamura, noticing Sora's discomfort, rummaged in one of his black bags and took out two mitts and a ball.

"Come, play catch with me!"

He threw one of the mitts into her lap and flashed her his characteristic wide grin that made her blink in confusion, before she agreed with a small smile on her lips. They got up from the ground and as they started throwing balls at each other, the brown haired boy really hoped that he would be able to distract her and to cheer her up. He couldn't stand that look in her face and what those bastards had done to her. He wanted to fix it for her, but knew very well he wouldn't be able to. It frustrated him great deal.

It only took a few exchanges and a very short amount of time for both of the new friends to realize that there was a certain mutual bond of trust between them. Sawamura wasn't holding back only because Sora was a girl and threw his moving fastballs at her, although other people had warned him often enough that his balls were disgusting and difficult to catch. The blue haired girl on the other end was grateful to notice his earnestness and she was indeed able to receive his throws with a little bit of effort. It took a bit of concentration for her to anticipate in which directions his balls would move to, but once she got the hang of it, she could play with him smoothly.

The brown haired pitcher on his side was quite impressed about the fact that he didn't have to move his mitt at all. In fact he didn't even have to move his body as well. As long as Sora was the one pitching to him, all he had to do is stand rigid and wait for the ball to hit his glove. He merely acted as a target as she was pinpointing her balls to him. It was exciting and his hazel eyes began shining.

"Hey, hey Sora, lemme check out your sharpshooting!"

"U-uhm... M-My... What?!"

That sounded as if she was killing people with her pitches. Like aiming for their heads or something. The blue haired girl cringed.

"Snipe me, snipe me!" the southpaw demanded lightheartedly.

"C'mon Eijun, stop being a creep. Ya know how that sounds? I'm not an assassin or somethin'", Sora sighed and sweat dropped before throwing the ball again.

"Whoa, that's a good one! Sora, the sniper, merciless assassin-pitcher, the sharpshooting ace, standing fearless on the mound!" Sawamura narrated in a heroical manner like a storyteller, making the young girl laugh uncontrollably at his carefree and loveable stupidity.

His cheerfulness was a blessing. Some might say he was an insensitive idiot, but Sora could only see his kindness. Truly, this guy she met today had the heart of an ace!

"I thought you wanted to be the ace?" she chuckled.

"I will be!"

"Alright then, future ace. Let's see if you can keep up"

Giddy with excitement, the brown haired southpaw started to demand more and more reckless plays, holding his mitt in weird places, difficult angles and absolutely ridiculous positions that wouldn't even be able to be of any use in a true baseball match, only to see if Sora could really hit the target no matter how outrageous the situation got. And she could! To his absolute delight, that girl could! To an extent that made Sawamura believe the blue haired girl would be able to even throw around a corner with closed eyes.

"Hell, you're awesome, Sora!" the young pitcher praised with reddened cheeks. "At this rate you could even let someone like me look like a pretty decent catcher. Usually I suck at it, but it's almost as if you make me catch rather than me actually being able to receive your pitches properly. I bet you could also easily make me miss 'em, huh? That's awesome! Just... So awesome!"

"...I'd call your lack of vocabulary awesome..." Sora responded dryly, but couldn't hide her happy blush after so much praise. "Hey Eijun... Wanna try catching for me? Like... seriously?"

Was she being mean asking him that? Or selfish? Or was it just that he had given her some hope that with him here at her side it could work out just once in her lifetime? The blue haired girl didn't know, but she had wanted to ask him directly and she really wanted him to try. She wanted to play with him and she wanted him to catch her balls. The kind of balls all the others, even the decent catchers hadn't been able to catch.

"Your killer pitches? The ones nobody could catch?" Sawamura asked with stars sparkling in his hazel eyes, making them shine brilliantly.

Sora nodded.

"Hell, yes!"

The loud mouthed teen crouched down like his captain usually would and tried to maintain a relatively stable catcher position even before Sora could order him to and made a provoking gesture with his hand for her to try him and throw. She stared at him wide eyed and then smiled gratefully as she got ready into a pitching form.

First the blue haired girl tried throwing some balls right through the middle, aiming directly at his mitt to make sure he really wouldn't move. Sawamura wasn't wearing any protective gear, so that was essential. If he flinched or moved on his own, he could easily get hurt by a stray ball. She felt a little bit bad to just kind of use him as a human target, but he wasn't actually a catcher, he was a pitcher himself and he was completely fired up about her making him look like he could catch for her decently. She wasn't hurting his pride as a catcher and a playmaker and that's why this actually could work out between them.

"Eijun, do you trust me?" Sora asked genuinely and received a puzzled glance from the brown haired boy. "That's important, ya know. You're not wearing any protectors"

"Yeah... I mean... Because that's not necessary if it's you, right?"

Sora held her breath at his words that expressed not only pure trust, but also absolute faith in her abilities. She realized that this boy in front of her was more than convinced that he could never get hurt as long as she was pinpointing her pitches right into the middle of his mitt. The blue haired girl had to suppress a sob.

"Right", she gave back instead and started instructing her battery partner how he should position himself and the glove before throwing.

As time passed by and the two of them were enjoying themselves, Sora adjusted Sawamura's positions according to her pitches. She tried different variations with him, making her balls spin, curve, drop or change-up. At first the blue haired girl avoided hard breaks to not surprise her partner too much. She had to be careful after all, but as expected Sawamura made it easy for her to gain confidence and have fun after such a long time of being heartbroken and feeling empty inside.

"Can you make it one-bounce at will and still aim for my mitt?" the young pitcher asked eagerly, already holding the glove more towards the ground to emphasize his intention to try it out with her.

She grinned and gestured for him to lower the mitt even more. The brown haired teen had been shouting compliments and questions like that at her the whole time, also wanting to know exactly which balls she could throw and what she could or couldn't do, being impressed at every single answer and getting glittery eyes.

At the time Sora was throwing the attempted one-bounce at Sawamura, Takashima Rei had been watching the two of them for quite a while during their play. The female scout was truly stunned as she continued to observe all the different varieties of pitches that girl could throw and also about the growing recklessness in her throws that nevertheless didn't affect her success rate. This blue haired girl was blessed with some amazing talent, Takashima would go as far as calling her a prodigy. And even more surprising was the fact that Sawamura of all people was acting as her catcher when all he ever wanted to do was pitching to be the ace. In fact, Takashima knew his catching skills were the pits. Well, just enough to be useful when fielding...

When the bopping ball hit the glove and the brown haired pitcher was completely losing it because of his overflowing enthusiasm, Takashima smiled and nodded her head in approval. This girl was interesting and a dangerous player when raised correctly. The only problem, unfortunately, for baseball was her gender. But if it really would be necessary, also for that matter they could find a solution.

"Nice pitch!" Sawamura yelled excitedly. "Gimme another one! A killing strike! Assassinate the mitt!"

This time something was different when Sora instructed her battery partner to take his stance. Takashima's head perked up in curiosity, but also a tad of worry. What the blue haired girl wanted to try seemed a bit dangerous for the young southpaw without the necessary protective gear. The scout hoped her student wouldn't get hurt. Should she rather stop him?

"Oi, oi, Sora! That's some crazy sharp angle this time! Ya sure that's okay?" the brown haired pitcher asked, however maintaining his position as told. "I mean it'd be hella sick if you could hit it though"

"Okay Eijun, listen up", the young girl called for her partner's attention. "This time the ball will come flying directly at your face. It will look like I wanted to hit you with a fastball, but I promise it won't. Don't move! You understand? The pitch will definitely break at the last possible moment, but you have to keep still even if you're afraid to get knocked out. Really, do me the favor and stay as you are or you could get hurt. Do you think you can do that or should we stop here?"

"Ya kidding me? No way in hell I'm gonna run away like a coward. I'm not afraid!" Sawamura answered stubbornly. "If you're tellin' me the pitch's gonna break, I'll believe it. I won't move even if you hit me straight in the face!"

"I won't!"

"Yeah, I know!"

"Get ready"

"I'm born ready. Shoot!"

Takashima couldn't help it but to wince a little bit unintentionally when Sora really did. The ball was clearly targeting Sawamura's head, but he wasn't moving just an inch and he didn't flinch. The brown haired boy didn't bat an eye when the fastball suddenly whooshed and broke directly into his mitt. It was so close that the bangs covering his forehead swirled a little bit from the upcoming wind pressure.

Sawamura's hazel eyes widened profoundly and his jaw dropped, as well as Takashima's. For a short moment both of them didn't even blink or breathe. Sora was equally shocked. Never before had anyone been able to catch that ball! She had been absolutely sure that it would miss the glove this time as well. To be completely honest, nobody could've blamed Sawamura if he had flinched or backed off in surprise. Just how much faith did that guy have or was it actually his foolishness that prevented him from thinking about the consequences if the ball had hit him directly?

"Whooooa...!"

The southpaw pitcher stood up straight, the startled expression on his face slowly turning into sheer delight.

"Whoa, Whoa, Whoa, Sora! Insane! You're insane! What the hell was that just right now...?! That ball broke like crazy!"

"As I said, your vocab...", Sora deadpanned. "And what about you? Do you actually want to get hurt? I mean how could you trust someone so easily?! Are you nuts? Any normal person would've winced at that pitch and you try to face it head on and to stare it down. Just how stupid are you?! And without protective gear!"

"S-Stupid?! How rude! I trusted you! I trusted you as my partner, my buddy. We are a battery right now, even if I'm no real catcher. And didn't you tell me not to move?! You were the one who said that I could get injured if I moved away, right? Right?!" the brown haired teen revolted exasperatedly and gestured wildly with one arm in Sora's direction.

Both teenagers stared at each other, panting heavily after their outburst before they began laughing. Together they were laughing out loudly and holding their stomachs because it started hurting at some point. Maybe Sawamura Eijun was a not so bad baseball idiot Sora would be able to tolerate.

Takashima only smiled affectionately and pushed up her glasses. Then she began walking towards the two with small steps in her pencil skirt and her heels. When Sawamura spotted her, he fixed his posture, standing to attention and saluting again. He apologized for not waiting at the car, but the brown haired scout waved him aside. Instead she nodded at the blue haired young girl in front of her who had accomplished to astonish her.

"Hello. My name is Takashima Rei. I'm Seidou High School's scout and assistant director. Nice to meet you"

"Ah! U-Uhm... Nice to meet you as well, Takashima-san. My name is Aoki Sora" She bowed her head in respect.

"Aoki-san..." the female scout started and threw her a curious glance. "Would you come to Seidou and talk to our head coach Kataoka? I would personally like to invite you"

Sawamura jumped in pure joy and cheered loudly, but the young girl froze on her spot with large cerulean eyes.

"...EHHHH??!!..."