15 Breakthrough

It didn't matter what position you had or how old you were, every first-string member had to participate in the practice games and prove their worth, including those who were in the last year's junior nationals line-up. This meant that a last year's starter could be replaced.

The players would to have one shot to show their abilities within 2 quarters of a game. If you did not exceed the bar, you wouldn't be chosen to be a part of the main line-up. That said, even if the games were practice matches, Teiko valued victory above all else. So if a member was quickly identified to be not up to par, he would be quickly substituted with a better player and he would likely have to wait until next year for another chance if he wasn't a senior. If he was, then his junior high basketball playtime was over.

Shirogane listed off 14 names including Akira's and each one of them went up to receive their jerseys. The rest of the players would have their chance with the next games.

After handing out the jerseys, the crowd dispersed and they were free to continue using the gym until the school is closed. Instead of going back to practice, Akira decided to stop early. Although it's important to maximize his training due to his constitution, he wanted his teenage years to be more enjoyable than it was in his past.

He decided to visit the baseball club and check on Rei for a change. She was always the one who always waited till he was done with practice late into the night so he wanted to return the favor every once in a while.

When he arrived he saw that the baseball club was still in the middle of practicing and doing their drills. Although Teiko's baseball team could not be compared to some of the other school's teams, because of the school's deep involvement with all kinds of sports, the club was working with pretty good equipment and the field was huge and well maintained.

Looking around, Akira found that Rei was sitting in the bullpen looking at what he assumed was a scorebook. She had a stack of other scorebooks next to her and she was jotting down something within a notebook. He walked to the fence that separated the field from the stands.

Akira: "So this is job of the baseball club's manager?"

Rei jolted.

Rei: "Akira!?"

Akira: "You're more proactive than I thought. Our managers usually just refilled water bottles and do some laundry."

Rei: "What are you doing here? What about basketball practice?"

Akira: "The club got a practice match tomorrow that I'm playing in so I thought I should leave early for a change. And then I wondered what the baseball team you were a manager for was like and so here I am."

Rei couldn't say anything after that. She was panicking a little because of the sudden and unexpected situation. Usually, she would plan out the day in advance before doing together with Akira in tow. But now that Akira had diverted from his usual path, she was at a lost.

As stated before, Rei was born with a strict upbringing. Everything was planned out for her and she had an organized schedule basically everyday. She subconsciously adopted this lifestyle so now that something has happened that she couldn't predict/plan for, her mind went blank.

Akira was able to guess this when he saw that no change in Rei's expression.

Akira: "...So you're just going to keep staring at me like that"

Rei blinked and shook her head.

Rei: "I need to finish something real quick and then we can head home okay?"

Akira: "Take your time. I always wanted to check out our school's baseball team since you're their manager."

???: "Instead of just watching, why don't you give baseball a try?"

Both of them turned their heads to face a guy who Akira would later find out is named Godo and is a third-year captain and ace of Teiko baseball's first string team.

Godo: "You're Akira right? I've heard about you. How about it? Want to play a few rounds of baseball?"

Rei: "Godo-san, isn't it unfair of you to ask Akira to play baseball with you all? After all, he hasn't played baseball before."

Godo's face cracked for a small moment. Although no one could tell since it happened within a fraction of a second, Akira was able to see it.

Godo: "In that case, how about a game of catch? I'll pitch the ball and you'll catch it. Pretty simple right?"

Rei: "How is that simple!? You're the ace pitcher of the team. It's imposs-"

Akira: "Sure."

Rei turned her head in astonishment at the man who had just stepped onto the field.

Rei: "Akira?"

Akira: "I've always wanted to try and catch a ball thrown by our school's ace pitcher. I've heard that he can throw all sorts of breaking balls."

Godo grinned after hearing his words.

Godo: "Since the man himself wants to try it out, then there's nothing left to be said Takashima-san."

He turned towards the other baseball players.

Godo: "Someone, get this guy a glove and some gear."

Baseball member 1: "You got it cap."

A few minutes later Akira was fully equipped in catcher gear and was seeing how well he could maneuver his body.

Rei: "Akira you don't have to do this. Although there certainly are better baseball clubs out there, ours is still ranked within the top 40 of all the schools in Tokyo and the one that is largely in part due to Godo-senpai. He's one of the best junior high pitchers in Tokyo!"

Akira just smiled at that statement.

Akira: "But that doesn't mean that his balls are impossible to catch. I've dealt with far worse odds than this."

Rei: "But..."

Akira: "Don't worry. I'm a lot more than you think."

Akira started walking towards the home base with Godo standing on the pitcher's mound. Rei couldn't say anything, but this time it was not due to the fact things were not going in a way that she had foresaw. It was due to the almost godly aura, she believed she saw emanating from Akira's self.

Rei: 'Ahh... You really are incredible... So much more than I could have ever imagined.'

--------------------

Akira was now standing a few meters behind the home plate. The other baseball players were standing behind Godo and saying things like "do your best" and "try not to get discouraged" to Akira.

This situation all started because of how close Akira was to Rei. With her being known as the 'princess' of the school, there were obviously many boys who confessed to her, all of which were shot down. Her status and responses towards the boys who wanted to date her provoked people to treat her as an unobtainable flower. Therefore, it was a natural follow-up for those people to establish a rule to protect that flower from ever being 'tarnished'.

However, there is one person who seemingly is able to break that rule. Akira is the only male person who Rei is always in close contact and is the closest with. He is the only one who was able to interact with the flower that is Rei Takashima and this infuriated all of her male admirers.

Furthermore, these people couldn't find a single spec of dirt of him. Akira is one of the smartest students in the school, he is always available to lend a hand and will answer any question people have of him, and he is the freshman that became a first-string member of the school's renowned basketball club. He is basically the perfect guy. Meaning that they could not do anything about him and could only bottle up their emotions. Now, with the situation with the baseball club, there was a chance for some of them to release all their pent-up aggression.

After tossing the ball a few times to get warmed up, Godo was now staring at Akira with a grin on his face and he was staring right back.

Godo: "Let's start this off easy. You just keep your mitt open and I'll throw it straight towards it alright? All you have to do is catch it."

Akira: "All right."

After taking a deep breath, Akira got into a catcher's stance with him crouched over, his left-handed glove stretched out in front of him, his right hand behind him, and his eyes not leaving the ball.

Immediately, Godo could feel an unknown pressure from Akira.

Godo: 'Hooo~ I guess you really live up to your status as the perfect guy.'

Godo got into his pitching stance.

Godo: 'Not like it matters anyways!'

And threw the ball straight towards Akira's mitt.

Although all Akira had to do was clench his mitt once the ball made contact with the mitt, it was easier said than done. If the pitcher was good, unless you knew the him really well or had good reaction speed, it is almost impossible to catch his pitches. This is the reason why Akira agreed to play some catch with Godo. He wanted to test how good his reaction speed was and catching the balls of one of the best pitcher in Tokyo was an excellent way to do that.

Reaction speed is one half physical and another half mental. Of course Akira could train the physical half, but he could not train the mental part without literally taking something head on. The breaking balls in baseball were perfect for that.

[A/N: "Examples of this are things like chasing the ball when your opponent goes for feints a baseline shot to a drop shot in tennis or dodging, parrying, or countering a swing in kendo."]

As the ball was about to leave Godo's hand, Akira's concentration skyrocketed. With that, time seemed like it slowed down a bit and he was able see the ball approach him.

[A/N: "See chapter 45 of 'Kurogane' by Ikezawa Haruto for a better image of what I am trying to describe."]

With that amount of time, Akira was able to catch the ball quite easily which left every watching in awe for a short moment, especially the first-string catchers.

Baseball Club Member 1: "...O-oh. T-that was a pretty good catch, but it's easy if you know exactly where it is going."

Baseball Club Member 2: "Y-you're right. Anyone could have caught that ball."

Baseball Club Member 3: "Nice pitch Godo-senpai! Give him another one!"

After hearing that, Godo snapped back into reality. His thought process was delayed when he saw how easily Akira caught his pitch. Akira threw the ball back at him.

Godo: "H-heee~ Not bad. Then let's see how you catch something a bit more harder."

He said that as he got into his pitching form and threw the ball again at the end. It was the same fast-ball, but this time it was not aimed directly towards Akira's mitt, but instead it was aimed elsewhere in the strike zone.

Although it would've been much harder for most people, Akira's heightened concentration let him know where the ball was headed and he just slightly adjusted his mitt's position and caught the ball with seemingly the same ease as the last one.

This was met with more awe and only a few people spoke up to say things like "he's really lucky", "Godo might be off his game today", "it's just a straight fast-ball", etc., but the whole baseball team was now quiet. They knew that Godo's condition today was good and that there was almost no chance that he would make a mistake.

Godo: 'This can't be possible! There's no way an inexperienced first-year like him can catch my 130 kilometer-per-hour pitch so effortlessly.'

Godo snapped out of his second daze when Akira tossed the ball back.

Akira: "Godo-senpai, do you still want to continue?"

This infuriated him and without any signal, he threw the ball again... and again... and again. All his fast-ball were easily being caught, even the ones that were outside the strike zone.

After the 11th throw, he was already sweating and he hated Akira's attitude during all of this. He decided that he was going to end this once and for all and threw the ball one more time with all he had.

Akira's concentration was waning after the first few pitches, but he still was able to conjure up some of it and catch all the previous pitches. When the last ball left Godo's hand Akira was immediately able to tell that this ball was different from all the others, but he couldn't figure out why. This was until 3/4ths in, where the ball suddenly started accelerating downwards, a forkball.

Once people noticed, they all were looking at Godo like he was crazy, especially Rei.

Rei: 'What they hell is he thinking! There's no way anyone can catch that ball without being prepared!'

The forkball was something only the baseball team knew about and it was supposed to be the teams secret weapon that would help them reach junior nationals. If word got out about it, the team would be at a disadvantage.

The second Akira noticed the ball dropped, his mind went into overdrive. He knew that he was able to still catch the ball, but it felt like the nerves that needed to carry the orders to his hand was going too slow. As if pushing against a giant wall, he grit his teeth and did everything he could to make it move even a centimeter.

Akira: 'C'mon you bastard! Move!'

He said to his hand as the ball had now reached the home plate.

Akira: 'Move!!!'

The ball was now a couple inches from touching the ground.

Akira: 'MOVE!!!!!'

The next moment later, Akira fell over and dust was kicked up. Rei was the first to response and ran towards him. When she was closer, the dust cleared a bit and she could see him sprawled on the ground.

Rei: "Akira! Are you alright!?"

He stood up a second later in response and what she saw shocked her. Akira was completely dirty and if he didn't have any protective gear on, she was sure that he would have been bleeding. However, that was not what truly surprised her. On his face, Akira had the biggest grin that she had ever seen. It was like he discovered gold or something. She took a closer look and saw him staring at his mitt, and in it was the ball. She then knew that Akira had leveled up during that split second.

Akira started taking off his gear, from the face guard and mitt, to the chest protector and the knee and elbow pads. Everyone was confused by what he was doing as he finished unequipping everything and threw the ball back at Godo.

Akira: "I think this is a good place to stop, don't you agree Godo-senpai?"

Godo: "Huh? A-ah... sure."

Akira: "Then that settles it. Can you tell me where to put back all this gear?"

Baseball Vice-captain: "Uhh. You can just leave it there. We'll uhh... take care of it."

Akira: "Really? Thank you."

He then turned towards Rei.

Akira: "Are you ready to go?"

Rei: "! Yeah!"

She turned towards the team.

Rei: "I left all the information from today's training in my notebook. Make sure everyone gets a good look at it before they leave."

After saying that, she grabbed her bag and quickly followed after Akira, leaving the whole field silent.

Baseball Vice Captain: "...Do you think we can get that guy to join the team?"