Kazuya had always looked forward to beating other teams in baseball. Throughout his Middle School career the only one he hadn't been able to beat in a match was Chris-san. It's what made him strive so hard to go to Seidou, plus the full scholarship offered to him by Rei-chan was too good to pass up. He had followed Chris-san's career for years and had figured that if he couldn't beat Chris when they were on separate teams then he could beat him while on the same team by taking his Regular spot as the first string catcher. It was Kazuya's perfect plan ...if Chris-san hadn't injured his shoulder.

His dream had ended before it even began and Kazuya was beyond frustrated. It wasn't fair!
Yet as more time he spent at Seidou the more he started feeling like he was finally part of something big. If he couldn't have Chris-senpai as a rival then maybe he could have him as a friend.

A lot of his senpai didn't really seem to like him and only a handful of his own classmates tolerated him but that was fine for Kazuya. He'd never had a close companion and hadn't really cared to have one until now.

Although he had taken Chris-senpai's spot as the first string catcher due to his ability and experience he still felt that he and Chris could bond over the position by trading tips and stories of their past games, however that did not seem to be the case at all.

Chris-senpai's injury and therapy had embittered the older teen to the point that pretty much the whole team avoided him. It broke Kazuya's young heart to see. His once rival turned teammate would not even give him the time of day to get to know him. They had maybe exchanged a handful of words in the first two months of their acquaintance.

Yet Chris was still hard for Kazuya to ignore. He would see how much effort the older teen would put into his training, how the other teen's baseball sense was just so much higher than his own, and how despite not being the first string catcher anymore, the coach still had high hopes for Chris on the team. The only reason Kazuya even noticed all this is because he couldn't keep his eyes off him.

Chris still had a few people that would talk to him - he wasn't completely alienated on the Seidou team, but Kazuya could tell that Chris' remaining friends didn't know how to get him out of his slump.

They had several practice games lined up before the summer tournament and after each win or loss, Kazuya found himself gravitated toward Chris-senpai in order to learn from him.

Where could he improve?
Was his game-calling good for the pitchers?
Was he leading the team and their different pitchers correctly?
In that one pinch situation, what would Chris have done?

Although Kazuya could see that Chris would want to rebuff his questions, or just walk away from him entirely, Kazuya could see that Chris still loved baseball and Seidou and would still do what he could to help them out. It wasn't much, but it was more than he had in the months prior.

After a while the admiration he felt toward Chris simmered into something that was left unsaid. Kazuya wasn't sure if the feelings weren't solely on his end, but there was definitely something.

His eyes always followed Chris, his thoughts during certain games had him thinking what would Chris do? - which sometimes had Kazuya doing the exact opposite just to be obstinate.

His feelings grew, but Chris seem undeterred to meet him half-way, and so Kazuya pined in silence, deciding to lock and hide away his feelings since the Chris in front of him was just a little too broken to reciprocate and no matter how hard Kazuya reached out he could never get rid of that almost dead look in Chris' eyes.

Rei-chan came onto the practice field to show a prospective student the grounds. Kazuya himself had been taking a small break but was on the lookout in case the coach caught him slacking off. He could hear Azuma-senpai giving Nori a 'pep talk' but there was nothing new there. Azuma-senpai had gotten a pro contract right out of high school and so would stay on the grounds and practice with the team. He called it looking out for his kouhais, most of the team would call it hazing.

Nori was currently pitching to him in the batting cages and Kazuya looked on. Although he didn't much care for Azuma's style he couldn't deny that the other teen was a fearsome batter and someone that Nori had to learn to overcome. Now that Nori was going to be a second year soon Kazuya knew the coach had plans for him but Nori just lacked the confidence, the heart of an Ace, in order to truly be effective on the mound.

Next thing Kazuya heard was the middle schooler that was next to Rei-chan mouthing off to Azuma-senpai. Kazuya had to curb his mirth. This kid was great!

Rei-chan had warned him that the younger teen had a peculiar pitch, but thankfully Kazuya was ready. Unfortunately the pitcher seemed a little too stiff. After a little bit of actual pep talk on his part, he could see the pitcher loosening up. He seemed easy to rile up and had the best reactions, but he was also easy to curb and get him serious on the mound. Kazuya could see himself molding him into a pitcher. Besides - it was great how he made Azuma-senpai hit so many foul balls and then strike out.

After that day he sometimes thought about that weirdly breaking fastball but he was more preoccupied with future matches and end of year exams.

First year blurred into second year and they failed to make it to Koshien. It was sad to see his third year seniors retire from the club, but Kazuya wasn't particularly friends with any of them, even if they had all played on the first string together. He was honestly more worried about how Chris-senpai still hadn't gotten any better and now Kazuya had to be someone's senpai on top of everything else.

They had lost in the summer due to a lack of a true Ace on the team - he tried not to dwell on the fact that it might have been partially his fault too. No one plays baseball by themselves after all.

The new school year began and Kazuya had an eye on a few of the first years - especially Sawamura.

However, after the coach practically threw the kid off the team Kazuya found his attention wavering back to Chris-senpai. This was Chris' last year and their relationship hadn't progressed much past team mates. Not that Kazuya expected them to suddenly start holding hands or anything!

They had slowly started speaking a little more without the excuse of a practice game hovering around them and Kazuya coveted those conversations close to his heart. It had taken a lot of time and persistence on his part, but Kazuya didn't mind. Although he wanted to deepen their relationship more, Kazuya would have given everything to be able to bring the light back into Chris' eyes to see the older teen enjoy baseball once more.

Chris still helped out occasionally in the bullpen and did more managerial tasks during practice time, he would leave early and hardly trained as hard as the rest of the team, yet Kazuya still had hope for him as a player. He knew that Chris continued his rehabilitation in order to come back to baseball and Kazuya hoped he could play in a game with or even against him, at least once before he graduated.

Days blended in together with school, baseball, and talking occasionally to Chris-senpai. The new difference was Kuramochi's continued griping of Sawamura Eijun - the 'pitcher' who got kicked off the team. Kazuya listened with half an ear but he feigned interest. What did it matter that the pitcher had struck out Azuma? Without proper training he was just a southpaw with a big mouth. Regardless, he seemed to have made an impression on not only Kuramochi but a fair amount of the team too. Sawamura brought a weird sort of tension and atmosphere to the team and Kazuya halfheartedly wondered what kind of atmosphere he would bring while on the mound.

TBC