Chapter 1
Joining Nishiura

"Are… we there yet?"

Kanō looked at the person who walked beside him. It had been the third time since Mihashi asked the question. He understood how his friend felt so nervous at that time, so he kept his ears close to listen at the panicky remarks Mihashi made. Kanō kept the gaze at the other boy for some seconds before he turned his head back at the path in front of them. He was not sure if answering Mihashi would make the latter relax for even a little bit.

"We're not too far," Kanō answered.

Kanō Shūgo noticed that Mihashi tilted his head towards him. He let a small smirk settle upon his lips as his friend continued to give him a puzzled look. Well, he did not know what answer would be best for Mihashi to hear, so he decided to give the latter a safe one. Although, it seemed that Mihashi only felt confused because of his vague response. Kanō's playful smirk still rested upon his face as he and Mihashi continued to walk forward.

"Shū-chan… y-you're making fun of… me," Mihashi voiced out, which finally made Kanō laughed out softly.

"I'm not," he answered, his amusement dying down slowly. "You look nervous, Ren." He informed his friend. "I'm not just sure if telling you that we're already here will make you feel any comfortable," Kanō said as he placed his hands behind his head, still looking at his friend.

"W-W-We're at the b-b-baseball club?!" Mihashi's voice sounded a pitch higher than normal. Kanō smiled weakly at the appearance of the typical Mihashi behavior, although it only proved that the nervousness had been set off. Taking off his eyes briefly from the still fidgeting Mihashi, Kanō placed the drawn map in front of him.

"Yup," he muttered as he compared the location with the symbols drawn in the map. "We are here." He added while he flicked his eyes back at Mihashi. He sighed when he saw that his friend still appeared unnerved at that point. Kanō inched forward and dropped a thoughtful hand atop Mihashi's shoulder. The latter immediately stopped fiddling as a feeling of comfort washed over him. "Ren, you told me you'll just be watching–" Kanō almost slapped his mouth shut when he felt the guilt shot up inside him upon stating that word "–the club," he said and he never noticed that he was silent after.

"O-O-Of course," Mihashi immediately replied, but seemed oblivious of the remorseful expression that appeared upon Kanō's face. "Shū-chan's supposed… to join the baseball club." He stated, which made Kanō look at him with pain. "Shū-chan is an amazing pitcher!" Mihashi said in such conviction that made Kanō feel a little happy, although it was not enough to wipe off the frown that now marred Kanō's countenance. "I'll… be rooting for you," Mihashi added with a smile; Kanō's grimace only deepened.

Kanō attempted for a reply, but his mouth only worded some silent words. He only walked ahead.

Kanō felt that Mihashi started to follow him. Until now, he didn't know how to properly speak to Mihashi without bringing up that sensitive topic. They were close when they were kids, but they had been even closer now, but it did not even eased the discomfort Kanō felt deep in his chest. He wanted to help Mihashi; he wanted his friend to feel happy. But the day when he would never mention that particular matter still avoided him. There had never been a day when he and Mihashi escaped from the memories of the past.

At least he was half-glad that Mihashi did not see his expression. His friend had always been touchy-feely; with the dejected look Kanō now sported, Mihashi would surely be affected by it. He would be confused by it; Mihashi would be concerned because of it. And those were the last things Kanō would not want Mihashi to worry about. His friend had been too lonely for too long, had suffered so much. Even if it was trivial, Kanō would do his best just to stop sadness from coming into Mihashi again. Kanō promised that he would protect Mihashi with everything he had.

"Shū-chan?" Mihashi called out his friend's attention. "You're not thinking… about it… are you?" He asked. Kanō stopped as soon as he heard it and quickly whipped his face back at Mihashi.

"N-No!" Kanō replied, with his voice slightly strained. "We're going to join this school's baseball club, so there's no reason to feel lonely, ne?"

"R-Really?" Mihashi answered back. "I-I just think… that meeting up with the baseball club… is the reason for you to think more about… it." As he explained, a frown descended upon his face.

Kanō bit his lips. Mihashi was partly correct – partly. If Mihashi thought that baseball would remind Kanō of that memory, then it was probably true the other way around. Mihashi also remembered it, felt the ugly experience all over again. But only half of the statement was true. The fact that made Kanō recall that dreadful incident was the guilt that nestled on his heart. It was the feeling of shame that admonished him. Kanō always felt that it was his fault that it happened to Ren. It was the feeling of blame that made Kanō's mind repeatedly play that memory again and again. It would never leave him. Never.

"I don't want to feel sad," it was Kanō's answer. "And I don't want to make you feel sad either," he added as he looked at Mihashi's eyes – eyes that would never see him again.

It had never been told to many – only a real few knew about it – about the condition that Mihashi Ren now suffered. It had never been declared that when Mihashi left their middle school, Mihoshi, he was already blind. Kanō and some others knew about it, of course.

Because he had always believed, from that point on, that the cause of Mihashi's blindness was Kanō himself.

. . . . . . . . .

"We've got two more!"

The female's excited voice drowned the field. Some of the students who heard her turned their eyes from where she appeared. They saw that she dragged with her two more students wearing the official school uniform – black, long-sleeved shirts with pairing pants – on that unusually sweltering spring afternoon. One of them had a serious countenance, with a short dark-brown hair that identified his appearance. The other one was blond, but the odd look he gave with his silvery orbs created a distant impression. Nevertheless, they both looked nervous.

The female with the robust size for a chest took out a small blue notebook from her pocket. At that second, the blond one began to fret almost uncontrollably. The one with the auburn locks looked worriedly at the other boy, but did not do anything in particular to soothe his companion, which made the others think that it was a common happenstance. The woman seemed to have ignored the strange quirk, probably because of her enthusiasm upon hoarding two more students, and instead went on with the recruitment. She gave them a wide grin when she asked, "What's your name?"

"M-M-Mi…Mi…Mi—"

"He's Mihashi," Kanō pointed his finger at his friend first, before he placed it to himself. "I'm Kanō." The female was still so joyous at to that point that she remained oblivious of the eye contact shared between the two males.

Shū-chan? Mihashi asked in thought, yet he hoped that his friend understood him. You're the only one who should join the club… not me, he continued to state in his mind, clearly confused as to why Kanō had introduced him as well. But Mihashi did not see the look of determination that adorned his friend's face.

"What's your position?" The woman who had the chocolate-colored hair leaned forward towards the two, with the smile that anticipated for their answers. Mihashi only gave a tired sigh, knowing that Kanō would just answer for him. Even if he was still half-hearted about joining the baseball club, Kanō would still push him to enter without any reservations. At least, Mihashi thought in consideration, that the two of them shared the same degree of stubbornness when it comes to baseball. He pretended to look at Kanō by looking at where he felt his friend stood. He closely followed everyone's voices.

"Pitcher," Kanō clearly answered, the finger that he used some seconds ago still directed at him. The female seemed to appear more delighted upon hearing the response. Slowly, Kanō's finger travelled back to Mihashi. "And he's a pitcher," he added.

"Oh?" The female looked too happy and stunned at the same time. "Two pitchers?" She sounded slightly doubtful but it was evident that she could not simply contain her excitement. "We have two pitchers who joined at the same time?" She maintained. "We finally have some pitchers!" She announced, which definitely made Kanō and Mihashi looked confused.

"We only have first years." She said. "This is our first year as a regulation-ball club. I'm an alum from our rubber-ball era, here to coach this club." She brushed her long locks from her face. "My name is Momoe Maria. I'm not a teacher here." She sent a gaze at the roofed bench. "So this is our supervising teacher, Shiga-sensei." Kanō looked at the spectacled man watching from not too far. "And my dog, in the midst of his walk," His gaze then dropped at the said animal which slept on Shiga-sensei's lap. She reopened her note once more.

"Now that we have the pitchers we are looking for, why don't we check all your positions first?" Momoe-san informed them. "After the pitcher, it's the catcher… and that will be, Abe-kun—"

Mihashi's stuttered voice attracted Kanō's attention away from the roll call. He showed an inquisitive expression to Mihashi but remembering that he couldn't truly see him at all, Kanō muttered a soft 'why?' to his friend. Kanō noticed the apparent reluctance that shrouded Mihashi's form, but both he and his friend had decided something about this long before they enrolled themselves to the school. Kanō waited for Mihashi to speak.

"Shū-ch… Kanō-kun–" Kanō was upset that Mihashi shifted to a formal name-calling, but he understood that it was merely for the sake of first-meeting decorum "–are… you sure that… i-i-it's fine for me… to join?" Mihashi asked with a question which Kanō anticipated.

"Mihashi, we've talked about this before," he did want to sound like he was complaining about his friend's unwillingness, but it won't be the best time to chide Mihashi. "I told you before that you are a really good pitcher. You are even better than me in pitching," he reminded the blond. Better than me, he repeated in his mind.

"T-T-That's not true!" Mihashi responded, cheeks already flushing pink. "Kanō-kun really deserved the ace position for Mihoshi!" The blond pointed out, which yet again made Kanō felt guilty. It was still clear that Mihashi admired his friend in terms of pitching; Kanō knew that from before. But it was obvious that Mihashi was just underestimating himself. Kanō knew better. Mihashi was truly worthy of the ace position. That was why he shouldn't have been—
Kanō shut his eyes tight. He felt the horror again. He clearly remembered the incident back at Mihoshi Academy. He shouldn't… he shouldn't…

Both Mihashi and Kanō sent their heads to the source of the crisp sound of a bat hitting a ball. Kanō stared in awe when Momoe-san, the self-proclaimed Nishiura's coach, hit in a perpendicular shot. The ball went up high and came back in descent in a straight line. The catcher caught it easily, with the ball landing perfectly onto his mitt. After the spectacle, Kanō returned his gaze back at Mihashi who only looked ahead but was really unaware of what happened. "The coach hit with a perpendicular ball," he muttered softly at Mihashi.

"Really?!" Mihashi sounded excited. "That's amazing!"

"The catcher looks tough too," Kanō added.

Mihashi nervously perked up with the word 'catcher.' "I-I-I wonder if—"

"Nishiura and Mihoshi are different schools," Kanō stated and he felt that he might have sounded a little bit aggressive. He easily noticed how Mihashi shrunk at the tone of his voice. Kanō looked away from Mihashi for a second, before he refaced him again. "I'm sorry," he apologized as soon. "I'm just trying to tell you that we can have a new start in here," he explained in a much calmer voice. "In here wherein you can prove your true skills,"

But even before Mihashi replied, he heard some footsteps that drew near them. Mihashi's hearing was far more sensitive than before, and he caught up the other person's approach before Kanō could even see. Mihashi's head movement directed Kanō to follow the former and he was mildly surprised to see that the catcher already stood in front of them. Even with the thin smile upon the catcher's lips, Kanō easily deducted that the guy was serious and calculating. He did not know if Mihashi shared the same thought but he kept his mouth shut at first.

"Mihashi, Kanō," Abe, the catcher, called out their names. "Would you pitch a little bit?" He asked the two as he raised a ball in front of him.

Kanō regarded Abe for a second before he glanced at his childhood friend. "Mihashi will pitch for you," he stated, to Mihashi's surprise.

Mihashi did not see – he could not – Abe's gaze fell against him. He was just so surprised that Kanō had pushed him to show his pitching skills first. But Shū-chan's a more… capable pitcher, he reasoned and looked at the spot where he last heard Kanō's voice.

Even if Mihashi's expression was uncertain, Kanō just ignored it. If there was the perfect moment to introduce Mihashi as a really skilled pitcher, then it was that exact minute. Perhaps his friend just needed a little pushing, Kanō did suppose. He and Abe only waited for Mihashi to respond.

"I… I… I really… shouldn't." Mihashi finally replied, to Abe and even to Kanō's surprise. But Mihashi did not see them. Shū-chan's doing this for my sake. He stated in thought. I… know Shū-chan deserves to be a pitcher. I ruined three years of his middle school because he couldn't be an ace pitcher. He reasoned in his head. If there is… someone out here who can become a… great pitcher, then I know it is Shū-chan. Tears suddenly brimmed on the edges of his eyes. I want to pitch. But Shū-chan deserves it more than I. The tears ran down to his cheeks.

"Did I say something to make him cry?" Abe inquired, troubled about Mihashi's sudden change of emotion.

"That's not it," surprisingly, it was Kanō who answered for him. "He thinks it's meaningless for him to pitch." He added, making Abe look at him confusedly. "Mihashi," Kanō called his friend. Mihashi looked at him. "If you say that your pitches are slow, I'm seriously going to hit you!" He warned his blond friend.

Mihashi obviously flinched upon hearing Kanō's hostile remark. Abe and the first year nearest to him, by the name of Izumi, traded glances with one another, seemingly bewildered with the strange interaction. "I don't have any unreasonable expectations but–" Abe had turned his gaze back at Kanō "–was he a reserve?"

"No," Kanō answered, with an undertone of pride that laced his tone. "He was a regular, back at where we came from." He explained to Abe. "Both of us came from Mihoshi Academy, from Gunma," Kanō shared to them. They were surprised to discover that the two pitchers were like legionnaires from some foreign country, unexpectedly invading their home turf – so as the boisterous Tajima was concerned.

"Oh shut up!" The one who had retorted to Momoe-san earlier, Hanai, suddenly blurted out. "You were the ace, right?" He looked narrowly at Mihashi. "You were the best on the team, right? Don't brag in such a roundabout way!" He told the blond, clearly aggravated by the way Mihashi presented himself.

However, Kanō seemed to have taken Hanai's remark negatively. He planted himself between Mihashi and the tall first year, glaring at the latter with a belligerent look. Hanai was not insensible of the antagonistic stare now given to him by the other teen. It was easy to conclude that Mihashi and Kanō were friends, supported by the fact that they knew each other. But Hanai only felt aggravated by Mihashi's oblique verbalizations; he had totally nothing against the blond boy. After all, it was just the first time that they'd met. Hanai was not the one who judged others based on a single interaction alone.

Kanō began to speak. "You don—"

"If I was there…" Mihashi's tears welled over his eyes again and, that time, he suddenly squat down to the ground. Kanō looked back at him with surprise. "I'd get to be the ace because of favoritism." The blond explained, but he refused to look at the face of the people around him. "My… grandfather… is the owner of the… school." He added. Kanō's eyes were wide in shock, but the other first year appeared enlightened. However, Abe did not let any emotion struck his impassive expression out.

"Just because you're the grandson of the owner, they let you be the ace?" Abe mentioned, his words stern but did not give out any semblance of sarcasm. "What a terrible school," he just commented, still looking at the anxious and teary-eyed Mihashi.

Kanō knew about it, of course, since he was Mihashi's teammate back at their previous academy. But it was just one side of the whole story, a side that he would never even accept as true. After all those years, Mihashi did think that he was only seen as an ace because of 'favoritism.' It told him how his friend devalued himself, it told him how much damage Mihashi endured when they were still in middle school. He wanted to deny those words from Mihashi, but Kanō could not even speak straight, still startled with Mihashi's sudden declarations. Those were lies, but even if he knew it, Kanō could not protect Mihashi.

"It's not the coach's fault." But Mihashi continued to speak. "I could've turned it down myself, or I could have quit the club." The blond's body shook as he persisted on covering his head and face. "I should have. But I refuse to hand the mound for three years. Because of me, nobody could enjoy playing baseball… Kanō-kun too." They looked at boy in question, but Kanō was too focused on Mihashi to have noticed them. "We lost because of me."

"You really are annoying." Abe said aloud. Mihashi whipped his head at the catcher, although he just tried to follow where Abe's voice came from. Kanō even took the effort to look at the other teen. "Unwilling to hand over the mound? That's a strength for a pitcher."

A strength? Kanō placed the word in his head. Suddenly, all the years that he and Mihashi spent together in playing baseball appeared in his mind. Even though Mihashi would state how he admired Kanō outright, Kanō also looked up at Mihashi as a great pitcher. Yes, even if the other players looked down at Mihashi, his faith towards Mihashi would never waver. They did not know the skill Mihashi possessed; they did not know how great Mihashi truly was. He looked at Abe for another time and he felt a strange feeling of acknowledgement towards the teen. In some other sense, Abe was correct. Mihashi never gave up the mound to other people. He never stopped pitching.

It was one of the qualities that made Mihashi remarkable.

"Though it made you an unlikeable guy," Abe continued to speak, "but I like that in a pitcher,"

Even if it was a small indication, Kanō felt that going to Nishiura was already a good choice for Mihashi.

Before the practice pitches began, Kanō asked Abe to knock his mitt with his gloved hand hard before they started to throw and catch the pitches. Abe looked curious enough to bring about a question, but catcher restrained himself at the last seconds, when Kanō told him that it was one way of powering up Mihashi before the practice.

But Kanō understood that he barely escaped from the eyes of the catcher. There was no denying that Abe had started to focus his attention to the two pitchers who hailed from the distant school of Mihoshi. Kanō promised Mihashi that he would make him enjoy playing baseball after they left Mihoshi, and the only way for that to be true was to conceal the fact about Mihashi's eyesight. Nobody must know that Mihashi was blind – had been blinded –, because it might bring complication that would prevent him from playing.

Kanō shuddered at the thought. He could not think of a Mihashi that didn't play baseball. He had always thought that Mihashi belonged to baseball, that it was his second lifeblood. If baseball was taken away from Mihashi, Kanō could not even imagine the devastation and agony that Mihashi would feel. Things needed not to reach that point. It was the conviction that drove him to promise happiness for Mihashi. Kanō would protect his friend, his friend that had been so broken before, who had barely recovered from the past. He and Mihashi would play baseball as long as they breathed.

He was pulled out from his thoughts when he heard the sharp sound that resonated from Abe's mitts. Kanō's eyes quickly darted to the mound where Mihashi now stood. The sound definitely caught Mihashi's attention; the blond adjusted himself and looked forward towards the catcher. But Kanō knew that it was only an act to make other people believe that he did looked ahead. Mihashi could not even see where Abe was; the only thing that told him that the catcher was there was the sound that Abe created.

Yes. Mihashi only relied on the sounds around him.

Kanō discovered that Mihashi's earing gained much sensitivity after he lost his sight. The first week was extremely unpleasant for Mihashi, since his ears picked up a lot of noise and made him uncomfortable. Even the softest of voices were enough to startle him. But both of them knew that if Mihashi was to continue playing baseball, they needed to take advantage of this fact. Little by little, Mihashi and Kanō practiced on how the blond would be able to use the skill in playing baseball. It had reached a point wherein Mihashi could identify the things around him because of the echo that bounded from objects.

Echolocation, Kanō searched it once on the internet. It was the pattern used by dolphins and bats to travel around and identify their paths. It seemed that Mihashi's hearing had been more pronounced to support the lack of his senses. Because of this, Mihashi could sense the ball around him because he could hear the sound that bounced from it. Even though without his sight, Mihashi could still perfectly locate everything in front of him, even those which were behind him. In fact, Kanō discovered that Mihashi gained a three-hundred and sixty degree vision that he possessed alone.

Without visual distraction, Mihashi could pitch more accurately and more precisely – a skill that was truly magnificent. As long as Mihashi had identified where his catcher was, he could pitch towards whatever location he wanted, for how long he wanted to.

Show them your true skill, Mihashi, Kanō stated in thought as he watched his blond friend throw his first pitch. Show them that you are more than who you appear you are, he added with a smile as he saw the looked of amazement that Abe wore when he received the first throw from Mihashi.

Show them who the real ace pitcher is!

- Chapter End -