First match.

A week later, during practice, the coach gathered the team for an announcement.

Yuki had been getting closer to his new teammates getting to know them all. Even Tenzo wasn't glaring at him constantly.

"Listen up, everyone, we'll be having a practice match with Maimo West high school tomorrow.

This match is your chance to show off your skills and prove to me that you deserve to be in the first string." The coach announces, causing everyone to burst into cheers.

While there were only 6 freshman players, each of them were eager to show off and make it into the first team.

"Kenji, you'll be our starting pitcher." The coach announces.

'Show me, you deserve to be our Ace.' The coach thought to hopeful.

While he knows Yuki is a good pitcher, and he can throw a mean fastball, throwing fast doesn't automatically mean you're a better pitcher, and because Kenji was part of the reason they even managed to achieve anything last year, he's hoping Kenji can put up an impressive performance and secure the Ace number.

However, if Kenji doesn't perform, he won't hesitate to give Yuki the number. He had to do what was best for the team.

"Hai Kantoku. Thank you for the opportunity." Kenji bows grateful for the opportunity."

The coach nods in response.

"Yuki, you'll be pitching as well. Make sure you're in top shape tomorrow." The coach tells Yuki, hoping he isn't too displeased, but by the look on Yuki's face, he could tell that he wasn't angry with his decision.

"Hai Kantoku." Yuki answers with a neutral tone.

Yuki wasn't angry with the decision. He could understand the coaches decision. Kenji was the pitcher who carried them to moderate success, so it's not surprising to Yuki that he's biased. The coach is human, after all.

"Alright, that's all. Start training." The coach dismisses them.

Yuki is suddenly pounced on by a certain short blue haired boy.

"Ahhh, Yuki, don't be sad." Sato, their 2nd basemen, says in a comforting voice.

Yuki rolls his eye. "I'm not upset, Sato senpai." Yuki replies. "Also, get off me, I'm not into men senpai."

"Huh, I'm not into men either, Yuki. I'm just consoling my heartbroken teammate." Sato replies, pouting.

"Well, I'm consoled, so get off me."

"Fine, you meanie." Sato climbs off of Yuki, still pouting.

The rest of the team ignored the duo's antics. It's been happening for the whole week. They've already grown used to it.

Yuki couldn't understand his senpai Sato. For some reason, he took an instant liking to Yuki and enjoyed clinging to him like a monkey.

"Enough messing around. Let's get started." Tenzo orders gruffly.

Sato brings his right hand to his forehead, jokingly saluting. "Hai Captain!"

Everyone quickly follows Tenzo, who's leading the warm-up.

Yuki spent the majority of practice running. He knew being on this team meant he might have to pitch full games, so he wanted his stamina to be up to par.

Yuki watched Kenji practice, and unfortunately, he could tell Kenji was like him in his past life. He was an average pitcher with a decent but hittable curveball.

The next day, they traveled to Maimo in a tiny minibus.

"Ahh Kato Kantoku." Maimo's coach greets theirs enthusiastically with a giant grin on his face.

'Man, he looks creepy.' Yuki thought to himself, seeing the man's off-putting grin that made it seem like he was looking down on their coach.

"Chiba Kantoku, thanks for accepting our practice match." Coach Kato replies, smiling humbly at Maimo's coach.

"Ahhhh It's not a problem, Kato Kantoku. We could use the practice before the Kanto tournament." Maimo's coach plays it cool, hearing coach Kato's words.

Coach Kato stretches out his hand, offering a handshake to Maimo's coach. "Let's have a good game, Chiba Kantoku."

Maimo's coach reaches out and grabs coach Kato's hand, shaking it. "Of course, of course. Let's have a good match." He agrees while smiling condescendingly at Coach Kato.

In Tenri's dugout.

Coach Kato stands at the entrance of the dugout, smiling at everyone. "Alright, boys, you've played Maimo before. Their playstyle is bunting. Kenji, I hope you've been running in preparation because you're going to be a lot of running today."

Kenji's back straightens, determination blaring within his eyes. "Hai Kantoku!"

Coach Kato's smile deepens as he looks af Kenji. "Good, I like that look in your eyes." Kantoku looks over the rest of the team. He can feel their determination to win, radiating off of them. "This may just be a practice game, but I want you boys to play as if this was Koshien, and losing meant getting eliminated. Now go out there and show Maimo that they shouldn't look down at us." The coach speaks passionately, hoping to light a fire within them.

"Hai Kantoku!" The team responds passionately yelling before running onto the field.

Yuki takes a seat on the dugout, slightly annoyed that he isn't allowed to play his first game yet.

The match started with Maimo batting.

Kenji threw his first pitch a fastball slightly outside the strike zone.

*Clink!!!* The Maimo hitter bunted on the first pitch.

"Kenji-kun!" Hotaro yells, reminding Kenji to get the ball.

Unfortunately, the bunt was perfect, and the hitter was quick. Kenji was unable to throw him out quick, the runner was safe.

Yuki could see Kenji's frustration, but it wasn't his fault. Most pitchers would've been too slow to get that bunt as well.

After the first bunt, Kenji managed to strike out one batter, while the other bunted into a double play.

Tenri came back into the dugout with everyone praising Kenji, who was smiling from ear to ear, pleased with his performance.

Coach Kato walks over to Kenji and clasps his shoulder. "Nice pitching out there, Kenji." The coach says with pride in his tone.

"Thank you, Kantoku." Kenji smiles happy with his coaches, praise.

"Alright, it's my time to shine, I'll definitely get on base." Sato, Tenri's first batter, says as he walks out to have his first at bat.

"Get on base, and we'll definitely get you home, Sato." Tenzo says confidently with his chest puffed out as if what he stated was nothing but a fact.

"Hai Captain!" Sato says with full confidence while giving Tenzo a thumbs up.

Sato walked up to the plate filled to the brim with confidence.

*Ping!!!* His confidence pays off as he hits the ball between 2nd and 1st. Sato makes it to first base, comfortably securing their first hit.

"Wooooo!!!!"

"Nice hit Sato!!!!!"

The dugout roared with praise for Sato.

Sato smiled at the dugout. "Told ya!!!" He yells in response to the cheers.

Next up to bat was Ryu, our second basemen.

"Strike out!!!!" Ryu unfortunately struck out.

Hotaro was next, and sadly, he struck out as well.

Tenzo was Tenri's cleanup hitter, so he was next.

Tenzo walked up to the plate with no emotion on his face, making him look absolutely terrifying to Maimo.

He took his place in the batters box, getting into his batting stance.

The first pitch came in.

"Oooooorrrraaaaaa!!!!!!!!!" Tenzo yells and swings with all his strength.

"Strike!!!" Tenzo's swing misses completely.

Yuki looks at Tenzo utterly bewildered. He thought for sure Tenzo was about to hit a homerun, but that swing was utterly embarrassing.

Frustration seeps onto Tenzo's face. "Damn it, I'll get it next time." He says, annoyed.

'You don't even look at the ball when hitting. What do you mean you'll get it next time.' Yuki signed inwardly to himself.

Yuki wasn't sure why Tenzo was their cleanup hitter when he hit like that. Granted their was power in his swing, but that means nothing if you can't make contact.

The pitcher throws another pitch, and Tenzo does the same thing. *Ping!!!* This time, however, his full power swing makes full contact, launching the ball over Maimo's fence.

Tenzo watches the ball sail over the fence. In a cool and calm tone, he says. "That's how it's done." And starts jogging around the bases.

Yuki messages his forhead, feeling a headache coming on, seeing his idiotic Captain. 'That was a lucky swing.' Yuki thought to himself.

Sato and Tenzo were both welcomed back into the dugout with a hero's welcome.

It was the 5th inning, and the score was 2-0 to Tenri.

Tenri was currently on defense. Kenji had gotten himself into a jam. Thanks to the constant bunting, Kenji was constantly running to get the ball, which resulted in him burning out quite quickly.

Right now, the bases were loaded with their cleanup coming up to bat.

Yuki suddenly stands up from where he was sitting on the bench. "Coach, I think you should put me on." Yuki insists, seeing the terrible situation Kenji was in.

The coaches face drops, a slight frown forming on his whethered lips. "I suppose you're right. Time!!!" The coach calls for a timeout.

"Kenji, it's time to come off!!!" The coach yells and signals Kenji back to the dugout.

Kenji's shoulders sag, and he reluctantly walks off the mound.

Yuki walks onto the field, taking the ball from Kenji as he walks past him.

"Good luck." Kenji wishes him luck while smiling even though Yuki knew inwardly Kenji was probably reluctant to leave.

"Thanks." Yuki, thanks him before running to the mound where his teammates are waiting.

Sato's the first to speak. "You got this, Yuki, no pressure." Sato tries to ease the pressure off of Yuki.

"He's not under pressure, Sato." Tenzo tells him. "Look at his eyes. He's not the least bit worried." Tenzo comments.

Everyone looks at Yuki's eyes to confirm Tenzo's words. Yuki's violet eyes are completely calm, as if he isn't in a sticky situation.

"Tenzo senpai's right, I'm not worried at all, I won't let them touch the ball at all." Yuki says cooly.

"Alright, he's fine, everyone, back to their positions." Tenzo orders before running back.

Hotaro nods with determination in his dark eyes. "Throw however you want Yuki, I'll definitely catch it." Hotaro says confidently.

"Alright." Yuki replies and takes his spot on the mound.

Yuki throws a few warm-up pitches at a much slower speed than he's capable of, wanting to throw his opponents off when he throws seriously.

Yuki's plan seems to work as the Maimo batters still look very confident.

After his warm-up is done, the batter steps into the batters box with a smug smile.

Yuki takes a deep breath and raises his leg into the air, starting his wind up. *Booom!!!!* He plants his foot down hard and swings his arm, throwing a 4-seamer

"Wroooooooorrrrrrrrr!!!!" The ball flies through the air in a blur.

The Maimo batter looks at the approaching fast ball in shock. *Booommmmm!!!!* Hotaro catches Yuki's pitch.

The batter didn't even bother to swing and just jumped out of the batters box terrified by the speed of Yuki's pitch.

He wasn't the only one. The umpire, Maimo's coach, the runners, and dugout were all looking at Yuki with their jaws dropped.

The Maimo coach speaks while slightly stuttering. "Is...is that kid even human?" He asks, knowing this match is over. He knew none of his players would be able to lay a hand on that pitch.

Maimo's coach was right. The inning ended with Maimo's batter not even swinging at a single pitch. All of them were frozen with fear after experiencing Yuki's 4 seamer.

Hotaro fumbled 2 pitches, but he used his massive body to make sure the ball didn't get past him.

"Nice pitching, Bakemono!" Ryu comes up and pats Yuki on his back as they return to the dugout.

"I knew you could do it, Yuki!!! Sato once again clinged to Yuki's back.

"Well done, kid." Even Tenzo complimented him with a creepy smile.

"Stop smiling it's creepy senpai." Yuki comments looking at Tenzo in disgust.

"Huh!!! What did you say bastard!!!" Tenzo yells angrily.

"You heard me senpai." Yuki answers cooly while walking into the dugout.

Before Tenzo could attack Yuki Ryu, Sato, and Hotaro, grab a hold of Tenzo.

"Come say that to my face bastard!!!" Tenzo yells, struggling within the trio's grip.

The trio managed to calm the raging Tenzo down while Yuki stepped up to the plate to bat.

The catcher didn't even bother looking up at Yuki. He focused solely on the pitcher as if he were afraid of Yuki.

The pitcher starts his wind up and throws a pitch to Yuki.

The pitch was slow and inside, but as it got to the plate, it dipped and curved away from Yuki.

Yuki's eyes lit up. 'Goodbye.' Yuki stepped into the pitch and swung hard. *Ping!!!!* The ball was launched even further than Tenzo's previous homerun.

That was it for Maimo. Yuki had literally crushed their spirits with that swing. Some still had hope that maybe they could get a lucky hit off of Yuki and somehow win, but that swing shattered their last hope.

The rest of the match was a blowout. Tenri ended up winning 7-0, with Tenzo and Hotaro adding hom⁶ runs of their own after seeing Yuki's.

After the game was over, both teams lined up, thanking each other for the game.

On the bus ride home, the team was buzzing with excitement.

The coach stands up, grabbing everyone's attention. "Well done. Your win was well deserved. Each of you played really well and should be proud of yourselves. If you play like this during the summer qualifiers, Koshien might be within our reach."

When the coach mentioned Koshien Tenzo and the other 3rd years Sato, Ryu and Hotaro's eyes all lit up with hope.

The coaches face suddenly turns solemn. "Now, onto the most important part. For those of you who haven't had a proper chance to show off your skills, we'll be having two more practice matches before the summer qualifiers, and I'll be giving everyone a chance to display their abilities. Current starters know that your position is not safe. If you don't perform to the best of your abilities, I won't hesitate to replace you." The coach warns with a hardened stare looking at everyone.

Yuki nodded in approval. If you want success, there's no place for soft hearted behavior.

After they were dropped off, Yuki said goodbye to his coach and his teammates before trudging back home.

Yuki was pleased with his performance today. He couldn't have done any better.

He couldn't wait to play in the summer qualifiers. He's definitely going to shock the baseball world with his pitching.

That night, Yuki slept smiling from ear to ear, happy to be playing baseball again.