91. Takashi

As Rei reached the bullpen with Suzuki, he noticed Takashi with Shindou and coach Iwata. Suzaku was not present and mostly went to practice on the other aspects of the game he needed to improve on. Making their way towards them, Rei wondered what type of pitcher Takashi was. He only had information from facing him and not his complete capabilities.

Iwata turned towards Rei as he noticed them making their way towards them and said, "So are you both ready?" getting a nod from both of them in return.

"All right, Suzuki and Shindou, both of you continue your practice from yesterday and try to keep in mind the mistakes you performed yesterday and try not to repeat them."

Suzuki and Shindou nodded and went to their bullpen. Iwata turned back towards Rei and Takashi, who were waiting for further instructions from him.

"Ok, now I need both of you to get to know each other better for now. Rei, try to understand Takashi's pitching style and try to bring out the best from him. Takashi you should try to trust Rei here and his pitching calling."

Rei and Takashi understood that this was very important for both of them. If they had to pitch properly, they needed to understand and trust each other completely. Rei decided to go with the simple ones for today.

"Ok, now both of you can start your practice." and Iwata went away towards the team practice.

Rei turned towards Takashi and said, "Yoshimitsu-kun, Do you want to practice only with some straight fast balls today?"

"Yes, I am ok with that." finding it a simple way to get to know more about Rei.

Rei heard him and went towards his place and did some slight stretches, and it was the same with Takashi at his place. Finally getting into position, Rei punched his glove a couple of times with his fist and opened it when he was ready. Takashi was also ready and looked forward to pitch for Rei.

Rei held out his hand and placed it right in the middle of the zone for a perfect fastball. Takashi only nodded and slowly pitched the ball into the mitt. The speed was the same as the one he threw in the matches. Feeling a bit amazed by his superb control inside, he threw the ball back.

Rei continued to ask the pitches in similar spots near the centre of the zone til a set was complete and they had a minor break as per the schedule given. Taking a seat beside Takashi, Rei said, "Your accuracy so far is very good, Yoshimitsu-kun. Do you want to pitch to the corners from this set?"

Takashi nodded and remained quiet while wiping some sweat off his forehead. Rei turned his attention towards the other pair in the bullpen and their practice. He noticed they were a bit better than yesterday but are still far away from forming a solid combo.

After a while both of them stood and went back to their training. Rei started by asking a pitch to the right corner, which Takashi delivered perfectly into the mitt. Even though Rei did not show much expression on his face, he was surprised once again inside.

Takashi's lack of speed, compared to Suzaku, he made it up with his better control with the ball. It seemed like Takashi took control over speed since he started practicing, which explains his lack of speed with the ball.

Rei continued to ask for more and more pitches to the corner coupled with some in the middle. Takashi would miss some pitches, but all were in an acceptable range. As he continued to catch, Rei continued to think about the various ways he could use him in a match.

The serious problem they would face is with his lack of speed. Even though his accuracy is good batters would eventually get used to this in their 2nd time to bat. The team could lose points from then on.

As time slowly passed and the end of the day came, Rei continued to think about various ways to use him. Going towards the lockers to change out of the gear a sudden idea struck his head. He immediately made his way towards Iwata, who was discussing something with his assistant Konda.

Konda noticed Rei making his way towards them and gestured to Iwata. Stopping their discussion, Iwata turned towards Rei and noticed him on his way and asked, "What happened Rei?"

"I need to talk about Takashi's pitching coach. It seems like you're a bit busy at the moment I will come back later."

"No it is ok, Rei. We are almost done anyway. Make sure everything is ready, Konda." stopped Rei and turned towards Konda.

Konda simply nodded and went away, leaving Rei with Iwata.

"So what do you need to talk about his pitching?"

"When I caught for Takashi today, I noticed there was a lack of speed on his pitches. Even though his accuracy is good, we might face problems in the latter part of the games, and it might damage the entire game."

Iwata nodded and gestured to Rei to continue. Iwata knew about this problem since the start and was already making some plans to fix the problem.

"Speed is something he can grow overnight or a couple of months. So I was thinking of the possibilities of having him learn a breaking ball or two as a hidden weapon for him. It might be hard, but if we start, we can make some progress before the qualifiers do Senbatsu, which are in 3 months."

Iwata was shocked at his proposal, to say the least. Iwata already considered this possibility, noticing Takashi's accuracy over the pitches. But at that time there wasn't a solid catcher for the team, and now that Rei was here, it looked like a significant possibility to go with.

"Ok I will think about this. Call Takashi for me." nodding.

Rei nodded and made his way back towards the locker room. Once he reached he noticed people were already done changing their uniform and were getting ready to leave. He looked around for Takashi and found him talking with a few of the 2nd years he met earlier and made his way towards them.

"Yoshimitsu, can you go meet with the coach? He wants to talk to you for a minute." calling out for him when he got near.

Takashi turned back, confused, but still nodded. He went away from the group and towards the exit As soon as he went Daichi who was near was the first one to jump on Rei and ask him, "What happened did he do something?"

"No, Coach has some ideas to improve his pitching and wanted to talk to him." shaking his head.

Daichi exhaled in relief, and Rei made his way towards his locker. He remembered he still needed to talk with Suzaku and completed changing quickly. He made his way out and noticed Suzaku walking away with Akira by his side.