Abe POV
Why hadn't our relationship gotten better? The question continually ate away at me. Mihashi was my pitcher, we were the battery-we were supposed to have the closest friendship on the team! And yet, we still hadn't had a normal conversation, without Mihashi's stuttering or the feeling that I had to raise my voice to get it through his thick skull! Why was he so DAMN difficult?! ...it wasn't all Mihashi's fault though, I was willing to admit that freely; I got frustrated a little too easily. It was just my personality, I mean, its not like I could change that. Same with Mihashi's personality, he couldn't change his naturally squirrel-like personality. Plus, it didn't help that his old team had pretty much ripped the pitcher apart. I could feel old anger burn in my stomach at that thought; Mihashi was a good pitcher, his control was even beyond major leagers, and yet those jerks at Mihoshi had broken his spirit when they should have been using him, honing his skills, making him better, making him a true ace. If he had been mine then, he would be unstoppable now. Oh well, now he was mine. And mine he would stay, until his confidence was restored...maybe even longer since, as a battery, we functioned amazingly well; even if our friendship wasn't exactly normal.
"Aaaabe." Tajima poked the side of my face, "you're making Mihashi all twitchy, stop glaring like that." Oh crap. I had been watching Mihashi the entire time I was having my internal rant, my natural frown even deeper than normal, and, of course, now Mihashi had taken my observations badly. The sandy-haired boy was wriggling left and right, his eyes avoiding the entire front area where I was, panic written across his expression. I sighed, forcing my face to soften, and looking away from my pitcher. I wondered if I should say something to Mihashi, perhaps tell him I wasn't mad at him or something, but discarded the idea; I would probably make it worse. He still fidgetted, even when I wasn't looking right at him. It was almost funny when I looked at it from more of a humorous angle, somewhat cute actually; reminded me of a small animal that had just been taken in and was still worried and frightened. I let myself chuckle softly, earning weird looks from the rest of the team.