Field of Opportunity

Disclaimer: I don't own Princess Nine or Major. Only their respective companies do. This exclusive story takes place after the final episode of Princess Nine. Plus, it's a special crossover between Princess Nine and Major. Read and Review, please!

Chapter 1: Repercussion

It was all over. The Kisaragi Girls Baseball Team have lost their chance in the final rounds of the high school tournament by qualifying to participate in the National High School Baseball Championship which was held at Koshien Stadium.

To do so, nine girls were formed together to become one baseball team in order to be on equal footing with the boys' teams. Unfortunately, despite their valiant efforts against their opposing team in the last inning, the Kisaragi Boys Baseball Team defeated them when Hiroki Takasugi bested out Ryo's trademark pitching move, the Lightning Ball; inherited by her late father.

Ryo was comforted by her rival turned friend, Izumi after she and her team were eliminated by the Kisaragi Boys at the last possible moment. Although Ryo gave it her all, it wasn't enough to strikeout Hiroki at the bottom of the ninth inning.

Three years later, the Kisaragi Girls Team have resumed their original careers after their previous baseball career has ended and the Kisaragi Boys have won their previous championship win after earning their spot by eliminating them. All of the girls were living their normal lives after baseball in prosperity, except one individual and her name is Ryo Hayakawa.

During her three-year absence from baseball, Ryo not only felt visibly upset but also ashamed that she and her colleagues have failed to qualify for the National High School Baseball Championship. The obvious were three reasons: the first was Hiroki falling for the spunky Ryo and calling her 'Ganmo-chan' (known as 'tofu girl') as it's his favorite part of oden and was originally Izumi's boyfriend and potentially, fiance. Second, Hiroki yelling at Ryo for admitting her love to him during the final inning of the game by not competing at her fullest potential. And finally her trademark pitching move, the Lightning Ball technique that she acquired from her coach by her late father wasn't strong enough to defeat Hiroki and it was shown that she hasn't perfected it; much like her father did.

Nowadays, she and Hiroki have been going out on their dates after he and his team have won the national championship. But regardless of the fact that she has submitted her feelings towards him, he begins to notice Ryo's downside and realizes that she's not acting herself since the previous tournament.

And speaking of Ryo, she sat in her bedroom after helping out her mother in her Oden shop. She glanced at her baseball glove and then, a picture of her late father. Tears started to appear in her eyes and began to cry softly on her bed after suffering a disappointing defeat from the Kisaragi Boys and unable to achieve her goal of competing in the National Championship. "If only I had enough power, I would've moved further on. Yet, I let everyone down!" She continues to weep on the pillow and wasn't aware that her mother had overheard her crying.

"Oh, Ryo. Don't be so hard on yourself. You've made me and your father, very proud." thought Shino as she leaves Ryo alone in her bedroom.

The next day, Ryo decided to visit the baseball field at her fabled high school, regardless that the season hasn't yet started without her team. By stepping onto the pitcher's mound, she recalls the scene when she threw her last Lightning Ball to Hiroki before he blasted it far enough to achieve a home run and earning their place in the championship round.

She looks around and sees no one on the field, bases or on the stands other than herself. Much like from yesterday, she stares at her baseball glove and starts contemplating about the weight of failure hanging on her shoulders after suffering a devastating defeat from the Kisaragi Boys Team. By hanging her head down, she throws her glove onto the ground in frustration, falls down to her knees and buries her faces with her hands as she once again cries in shame.

Ryo kept crying loudly over her upsetting loss from the previous high school baseball tournament. That is, until it caught the attention of a tall man walking down on the sidewalk with his wife. He has black hair, brown eyes, wearing a semi-dark blue dress shirt, black jeans and red sneakers with white stripes. Next to him is a tall woman with dark brown short-shaggy hair, black eyes, wearing a pink sweater with hoodie, dark blue jean shorts and dark blue shoes while holding a light purple leather purse.

They witness the young girl crying on the pitcher's mound and realized that she was feeling very miserable over a personalized defeat.

"Oh, my. She looks so sad. Why is that?" the young woman asked.

"Whatever it is, let's pay her a visit" he suggested.

"Are you sure? We don't even know who she is."

"Well, it wouldn't hurt just to try. In fact, she reminds me when I was her age. Come on." Both he and his wife make their way onto the baseball field and confront Ryo.

As for the young female pitcher, she calmed down a little but still feels upset after going down memory lane. She doesn't realize that she's being greeted by two people approaching her and as she stood herself up, she reached into one of her pockets and grabbed her baseball.

Once the duo stood a distance away from her, Ryo takes a quick glance at it and as she lifts her left leg up, she stretches her left arm out with her ball in-hand and throws her trademark move: the Lightning Ball. By doing so, it launched the ball at pure velocity with lightning surrounding it and as a result, it punctured a large dent on the wall.

Both the man and his wife became very surprised and amazed that this was no ordinary girl. She is actually a baseball pitcher.

"I-Incredible!"

"I've never seen anything quite like it!"

However, after she demonstrates her trademark pitching move, Ryo's vision became blurry and before she knows it, her body became fatigue and fainted on the pitcher's mound after throwing her last pitch.

The duo ran to her side and tries to wake her up.

"Hey! Hey, wake up! Wake up!" Realizing that she used up too much of her pitching strength, he offered. "Shimizu! Find a bucket and fill it with water and quickly!"

"Yes!" Shimizu checks to see, if there was a vacated bucket lying around in the baseball field. Then sure enough, she spots one in the visitor's bench and locates a water fountain nearby. She fills the bucket at half-full and delivers it to her husband. "Here, Goro-san." As she gives it to him, she looks over at the young girl that collapsed earlier. "Poor girl. What was she thinking using that much power and more importantly, who is she and what kind of a pitch was that?"

"That's something that I would like to see." He picks up the bucket of water and splashes it right onto Ryo's face. It woke her up.

She got up on her backside and by shaking her head back and forth from the water that she received, she demanded to know as to who the individual was that threw water on her face. "Who did that?"

"It was me," he said to her.

Ryo slowly turns her head around to see the person holding an empty bucket in his hand and realized that it was him who splashed water on her face. She becomes angry after finding out her culprit. "What's the meaning of this and who are you?"

"Calm yourself, miss. You fainted after your last pitch, remember?"

Then, it hit her. She recalled the previous pitch that she threw and not knowing that she had collapsed. By stretching her head and arms, she stood herself up once more and confronts him. "I-I had no idea. First off, I apologize for being rude earlier and thanks for waking me up. I'm Ryo Hayakawa." She smiled back at him.

"Don't mention it. I'm Goro Honda." He shakes her hand and introduces her to his wife as Ryo turns around. "And, this is my wife, Kaoru Shimizu."

"It's nice to meet you." Ryo also shook Kaoru's hand.

"Likewise, of course." Afterwards, Ryo notices a few tears from her emerald green eyes and wipes them off.

Shimizu and Goro recalled when they saw her crying and asked her.

"We overheard you crying."

"Did something happen to you and your team?"

Ryo gasped upon Goro's question and replied back to him. "A-Actually...it is. I'll tell you why I'm feeling this way and what went down."

She tells them the story of her late father banned from the Nippon Professional Baseball League for life until his demise, the acquirement of his patented Lightning Ball technique that she learned from her coach, their shameful defeat against the Kisaragi Boys Team in the final round of the National Baseball Championship and Hiroki, the ace batter of the team, revealing his feelings towards her. "And that's how it is." She looks back at her fabled ball being rested on her glove pocket. "If only I had perfected my Lightning Ball technique within the final round of our high school tournament, I wouldn't be standing here today."

Whereas Goro, he became intrigued. "Interesting but sad story. And yet, you're the daughter of the famous pitcher that was accused for a crime he didn't commit until he passed away. I had no knowledge of this."

Ryo hangs her head down. "I know." She glanced at the baseball field and continued on. "Back than, I was a relief pitcher for a local sandlot team until I was recruited to the Kisaragi Girls' High School and becoming the foundation of the new baseball team. In fact, it was the principal's idea to formulate us as a team while witnessing my pitching ability that I inherited from my father."

Goro seems to understand her abilities as a pitcher and her technique. "I get it. She wants you to evolve your lightning ball even further. That could very well put a strain on your pitching arm, if you're not careful."

The young female pitcher groaned upon hearing his statement. "I thought I was. If I don't put my heart into it, all of my efforts would be in vain."

Knowing that she may throw in the towel by losing her passion in baseball and reading her miserable expression, Goro smiled and turned towards her. "Hey, listen. You can't sulk yourself after a defeat like that. I've gone through those experiences before and I overcame them."

"Like what?" she asked.

"Such as the loss of my father, when he was struck in the head by a pitch from an American pitcher named Joe Gibson."

Ryo gasped and her eyes were widened in shock. She couldn't believe that like herself, he too lost his father as well.

He pressed forward. "In-spite of that, I keep pushing myself to the very limit and I've managed to do so. From the Little League, all the way to the World Series." He shows her a bright yellow World Series ring on his middle finger.

When Ryo saw it, she became completely awestruck that she's actually meeting a legend. "I-I don't believe it!" She made a huge smile on her face. "That's amazing!"

He continued. "Truly. However, due to my injured shoulder while having surgery and rehabilitation, I had to retire after my fourteen-year run as a pitcher. I was offered the role of a coach, but I've mostly turned them down. Since than, I'm now specializing in hitting, running and guarding bases." He takes out a picture of his family and kids and shows it to Ryo. "As for my children, my daughter is hoping to hit home runs like me and my son looking to become a pro pitcher. For myself, I dream to be a number four batter in the Major League, making it my new goal to become a player that can do anything."

After he was done explaining about himself and his family, Ryo hands him back his family photo. "That's quite a story. But, how will I get back on track? There's no way that I would ever become as great as you."

Shimizu laughed. "Oh, no. That would take years of training for you to catch-up with him."

"Yes, indeed." Goro later cleared his throat. "Still, we all have to confront adversities throughout our lives and some can break us physically, emotionally and financially. The challenge is to stay in the game and enjoy the competition, no matter what the outcome. I have experienced obstacles, setbacks and defeat; and so should you. You see, winning in life isn't based on the final score, it's only measured by 'how we play the game'. And as I've once said, 'Baseball is the only thing I have in the end.'"

His speech has made Ryo's heart sing with delight. By wiping her tears from her green eyes once more, she made an offer. "That was...beautiful. I hate to ask but, is it possible for you to help me? That could mean a lot."

Both Goro and Shimizu gasped in surprise, regarding Ryo's request to be trained by him.

Normally, Goro would deny his role as a coach from previous offers. But since that Ryo is willing to improve her abilities as a pitcher and hoping to win the high school tournament, he replies back to her with a smile. "How can I say no? It wouldn't hurt just to try for once."

Ryo became ecstatic that he's willing to assist in her pitching. "Thank you!"

For Shimizu, however, she wasn't feeling comfortable of seeing Goro acting as Ryo's teacher. "Goro-san, are you sure about this?"

He briefly explained. "Why not? She has a great pitching arm, but she can't exhaust herself in the wake of her game. Also, like many other pitchers, she can't be intimidated by good hitters and it can be very hard for her to concentrate while pitching. But with good mental toughness, she should be able to overcome any distractions and pitch normal." He than turns to Ryo. "So, would you like me to train you? Even though I can no longer pitch, I can show you some really good pointer tips on how to become the very best."

Ryo nodded her head in agreement. "Yes! I would be honoured!"

Ryo's special training with Goro has now begun and is looking forward to regain her true passion for baseball.