(Closing In)

That night, Ochiai changed the way he had been killing people. Not just the method, but who. Yes, he still targeted baseball players, but now it wasn't just pitchers that he went after, but their assigned catcher as well.

Eijun almost didn't think it was the same man at first, but when he heard of another incident two days later, he could no longer ignore it. Linking up with the chief, he stood in his office, looking over the reports and photos. There was no denying that two out of the four victims were pitchers, but he had never involved anyone else before.

"I might have pushed him over the edge…" Eijun sighed. This was bad and the police were increasing the manhunt.

"He probably would have gone this far without your help, but in retrospect, it might have to do with Kazuya getting involved as well."

"Makes sense… Kazuya has a quick mind of his own and now that he knows his mother didn't commit suicide, he won't stop until this man is behind bars or dead. My recommendation, catch him before Kazuya does. He doesn't always show it, but when Kazuya does get emotionally involved, he'll break a lot of his personal rules about physically fighting."

"Every time you talk about Kazuya, I start to believe more and more that you really were psychically linked to Erin." Eijun didn't clarify that belief. There wasn't a chance in hell that he was going to tell this man that the two of them had shared the same body for six months.

"These pitchers don't fit the usual profile," Eijun sighed.

"How so?"

"They have no real talent… In middle school they're fine, but at a high school level, they wouldn't even make it to a roster. If anything, a coach might ask them to change their position. It's a common tactic that head coaches like to use when players don't meet expectations, especially on teams as big as Seidou or Inashiro. Yeah, a kid could refuse, but they would end up on their own, training relentlessly if they wanted to change the verdict passed on them."

"Why do I get the feeling you speak from experience?"

"I've only ever wanted to pitch and someone telling me no won't change my mind."

"According to your sister, you once considered the catcher position."

"Most of my memories from our life together are gone. Yes, I finally remembered her… I remember the part where we went into the river and the intense fight I had with Ochiai, but everything else is nothing more than a dark and chaotic mess." Eijun tried to think for a minute and when his gaze fell on the Shogi board, he finally understood. "He's trying to distract us… or better yet… he's leaving us a clear message. Ochiai is telling us that no matter how many guards you assign to us, he will eventually find a way to kill who he wants and anyone that's involved."

The chief sighed… It was just a hunch at this point, but Eijun was probably the last person that would make a decision based on his emotions about Ochiai. "Hey… I'm just curious. These four are all middle schoolers. Were any of them being scouted? And while we're on the subject, how do we find out who's being scouted and to what schools? Do you think we'd gain the cooperation of the middle and high schools?"

"What are you thinking, Eijun?"

"I took his intended target away… at least for now. There are still police officers keeping an eye on Sanada, so he'll have moved to another location and person. Both of these incidents were in the Tokyo Eastern Region. What teams are over here, how many of them are scheduled to play in a final's game next week and are any of the pitchers being looked at for recruitment and by who?"

"Interesting…" The chief looked up, motioning for a tall man with glasses to enter the room. He was wearing a dark green uniform with Captain stripes on his shoulder sleeves. He wasn't alone. At his side were two more, similarly dressed men. "I remember you mentioning a kid put this case together, the evidence so strong that the higher ups were compelled to re-open it."

"Have you thought about becoming a detective, kid?" It was another Captain with shaggy brown hair, his expression in an angry scowl. His expression was like seeing an older version of Jun, but the attitude was very much like Kazuya.

"That hadn't been my original goal, but someone might have mentioned that I was born to hunt bastards like this one."

"You didn't break… at least not so much that you can't fight back," he admitted.

"I have my moments," Eijun whispered, his eyes shadowed. "It doesn't really matter what I want. He's determined to kill me, sooner rather than later. Even if I did manage to survive, I'd like to catch him before I make it to high school, not after."

"Most victims would sit back and hide."

"I'm not most victims," Eijun snapped, his golden eyes blazing with fury and hate. He had never been like this and he wanted to semi-return to the way he had been. There wasn't a thing he couldn't laugh at before and even if people had hated him, the greatest weapon he had had was his laugh and smile. No one could get to him if he laughed at them, at least that's what he taught them to believe. Deep down, he knew he hadn't been a complete idiot, but he had always done what he had wanted, damn the consequences and it wasn't until he had lost that one game that he began to regret that decision. "How many more baseball players will he kill before we bring him down? These weren't even made to look like an accident and he shot them several times. Based on how their faces looked before they died, he tortured them. Look… both these catchers had their hands crushed, but with the pitchers, he still took their dominant ones."

The younger of the three detectives walked forward, amazed at how quick Eijun's mind would filter through the information and pick out small details like this. He had to agree with his fellow detectives… This kid could become an incredible law enforcement agent, but he didn't come from a police background. The chief looked as if he might make an exception with this kid. It did occasionally happen and the kid was proving his worth. "Kazuya… chief… did he ever talk to you about becoming a detective himself?"

"No. Why?"

"It's just a feeling… He's never once talked about becoming a professional baseball player." Eijun remembered some of the conversations that he once had in his room or when they were actually getting along. That was in his second year and probably just before he had become the ACE. The team had been badgering him about going professional, who he would go with once he graduated. Kazuya had refused to answer and said he had never given it a thought. "He was going to hunt him down…" Eijun gasped. For the first time in his life, after having all of this in front of him, he finally knew and understood Kazuya.

"What are you talking about?"

"Chief, you never had any intentions of reopening this case. Kazuya refused to believe that his mother killed herself, in fact he hated you. Think about it… as far as he was concerned, you turned your back on his mother and him. Kazuya always talked about creating and calling the perfect game. He specialized in reading people, getting under their skin, trying to figure out how to piss them off and then taking what he wanted. Kazuya never once gave a thought about how it made him look, so long as he got what he was after and that was a reaction or information. He once talked about going to college, but not professional and now I know why. He was going to continue looking for the man that murdered his mother and all thirty of those kids… make that thirty four now."

"When I cornered him back in Yakushi, I stopped him from killing Sanada. I might have taken his original target away, but serial killers need to finish what they start. He's shifting targets and how he's been killing. Ochiai is laughing at us and all of this feels like a game of Shogi. One wrong move and he'll win the game."

"I'd like to partner up with him."

"Lieutenant Goto…" the man with glasses sighed. Pushing them back onto his nose, he started to deny his request when the chief stopped him, letting the Lieutenant explain.

"Captain, it doesn't sit well with anyone that a child is closer to solving a serial case murder than all of our detectives combined. There's also the fact that he's hacking into sensitive databases… Lieutenant Shinonome has found traces of him more than once in our system, but he's gone before anyone realizes he's there and the back trail is next to impossible to trace."

"That's because internet ip addresses change when you're at a library. Each computer has its own specific identifier and I never go to the same library two days in a row."

"You have far too many classes…"

"I'll do it," the shaggy detective volunteered.

"You're on your way for a promotion," the chief argued.

"What's that got to do with anything… In fact, that's all the more reason why I'm going to help the kid. Goto and Ishigami do have a lot of classes. I'm a bomb and combative specialist and with us on break, I don't have to worry about teaching anything until this spring or next summer."

"Uh…"

"Shut it kid… If you're going to insist on participating with the investigation, then get used to having me as a partner. Otherwise, I can and will have you arrested you for obstructing and compromising critical evidence, not to mention hacking and stealing confidential information."

Eijun definitely thought this guy reminded him of a Kazuya… only an older version of him. This detective had a smart mouth and his smirk was daring him to say or challenge his decision. So this was what he had to look forward to when Kazuya got older? It was enough to make him laugh, startling everyone in the room. For just a brief moment, he forgot how afraid he was, how mentally and emotionally exhausted he was and just started to laugh, remembering all of the moments where Kazuya used to make his life a living hell. It wasn't that he made Kazuya's life easy either. God he missed him, but there were days when he was okay with how everything turned out.

"Maybe you won't slow me down…"

"Maybe?! Look you little brat…" Eijun dodged out of his way, waved at everyone in the chief's office and dashed out of the precinct, Captain Kaga struggling and failing to catch up to him.

"I think that kid is more than he can handle," Goto predicted.

"I'm surprised he offered," Ishigami sighed. "Kaga doesn't like kids and that particular one is trouble with a capital T."

"I'll check out the school and which kids were scouted recently," Goto suggested.

"I'll have Soma look at the area these murders were in and if there are any other schools about to go into a final's game. As for Kurosawa, I'll have him contact all of the middle schools. As much as I don't want to let the public know that we have a serial killer on the loose, we can't dismiss the fact that the number of people he's killed is going up. Parents need to either escort these kids home, or have them travel in large groups of four or more. Get with Shinonome and find out if those two dead pitchers were recently scouted. There was probably something in a media or newspaper interview."

Captain Kaga, when he caught up to the kid, was surprised to find him in a sporting goods store, looking at a baseball monthly magazine. "I know you're interested in baseball, Eijun, but now isn't the time to..."

Eijun ignored him and continued flipping through and finally found what he was after. It was a schedule of all the teams that were supposed to play in a final's game next week, and with that information, he now had a list of names. There were a few that he recognized and he felt his blood turn ice cold…

Jun Isashiki… future Vice-Captain of Seidou High. He had once heard a rumor that the volatile red-head had been a pitcher in his first year, but because of his back, he had to give it up and focused on becoming a center-fielder. He was never scouted for the professional teams and his back problems got worse once he entered college. Eijun felt a pain in his chest… He would never admit in a million years that he had liked him despite his attitude… Before he had fallen in love with Kazuya, he had had a stupid crush on both him and the Captain. Damn if this wasn't a mess.

Eijun would bet his life that Ochiai would target Jun… He didn't know why he felt this way, but with him changing who he targeted… Eijun went to the library and pulled up a search on him. Jun was with the Ayakami Senior League and was a starting pitcher for the upcoming game, his pitches consisting of a cutter and curve-ball. Eijun was intrigued and continued to read through his one interview he had had with the press.

He was a favorite to appear in high school, but that had ended in a disaster. Eijun wanted to know how and why he had gone from this to centerfield? It wasn't that Jun was bad… but he had a feeling that's not the future he had envisioned for himself. If he didn't have practice in an hour… Chris wasn't going to like it, but he couldn't stay with him tonight. Once they were done, he was getting on a train to investigate Jun and the Ayakami Senior League. Barely remembering he now had a partner, he printed out what he found and slammed it against the Captain's chest. "He's the next target… Call it a hunch."

"I need more than just a hunch, kid."

"He's killed four kids in the Eastern Region. Jun is a pitcher that fits his profile… and most importantly… His league is in that region. Trust me… he's a target." Kaga couldn't risk it. Even if the kid was wrong, he'd rather they take the extra precaution to put a cop on him than to find him in the morning newspaper with his right hand missing. He never would have looked at a baseball magazine for a schedule, but he hadn't played since college..

Chris had no idea what Eijun did during the day, only that he didn't go to a public school. When he showed up for practice that afternoon, he wasn't alone. Getting dressed in the locker room, Eijun went to the bullpen and set up a bunch of cans, telling the coach that he'd rather not risk Chris's shoulder until a day before the game.

There was a lot of media watching and Eijun understood why Chris didn't want to show anyone that he was hurt. This was all the more reason that he didn't want to pitch to him until just before a game. "Kazuya Miyuki will ask for pitches to every part of the strike zone, even if all he has to work with is a four-seam."

"You seem to know a lot about him," Chris commented.

"His assigned battery partner is my twin sister, Erin Sawamura."

"Are you okay with playing against her?"

Eijun shrugged, but Chris could see a hint of a smile at the corners of his mouth. He was trying to hide it, but he seemed to care about Erin and his eyes looked especially proud of her. "Kazuya is good for her…" Eijun continued to explain how Kazuya's mind worked. He will use anything to his advantage, a twitch, tense shoulders, a shift in foot work… His main strength is profiling and it had propelled him forward as a catcher and baseball player.

With the changes they've already made to the timeline, Eijun had a strong feeling next Friday would make national headlines. It was going to take everything they had to stop him, especially now that he had a pitcher he had been working with all summer. Her four-seam was solid and with the change-up being added, his options were infinitely magnified.

Chris on the other hand, was playing a dangerous game with his shoulder. Eijun had to always keep that in the back of his mind if he didn't want to ruin the catcher. "You are not to bait the batters, Chris. If I see you doing that, I don't care if it will cost the team a win, but I will walk off the field. I'm strong and good enough to pitch anything you want, where you want, and how you want."

"I'll try my best, Eijun, but at some point during our game with Kazuya, I might not have a lot of choices available to us. The doctor said I was making good progress and as long as I keep the usage down to a minimum before we play each week, I can last until the off-season for surgery and rehabilitation."

Eijun wanted to trust him, but Chris was prone to what the media and his fans thought about him. He didn't change until after the injury took everything away from him. While the batters were working through fielding situations, Eijun quickly created a wooden dummy that had mitts all over it, simulating the nine corners of the strike zone. Captain Kaga was astounded at his resourcefulness, but Chris saw it differently. This was just further proof that Eijun had never had anyone to work with him full time… He was angry that Eijun had been pushed to these extremes, that he felt as if he wasn't good enough for players like Chris, or that he was a disappointment to everyone that relied on him.

The target was a success. As the batters lined up, Eijun was free to pitch at the gloves Chris indicated. Chris would give him a number, point to the glove that he wanted the pitch at and the ball flew. Captain Kaga loved baseball and he could always get into a good game, but this was something else…

Eijun would slaughter the team in front of him and everyone seemed to get that same feeling when he continued to strike out batter after batter. "Don't you feel bad that they're on the same side as you," Kaga asked.

"A batter is a batter and my job is to strike them out. If I can't do that, I have no business standing on the mound."

Those were the words of an ACE, but Chris didn't like how he might have obtained that mentality. When the team finished, Eijun returned, back in his regular clothes. "I can't stay at your house tonight," Eijun warned, "and I might not make it to practice tomorrow either."

"Why?"

"One, I did say I couldn't promise tomorrow. Second, I want to check out the national competition."

"How are you so certain that we'll win?"

Eijun waved off the question… It was unfair that he was even playing, but if it got them Ochiai, he'd do what he had to. Besides, it wasn't like he was messing with the future too much. Chris had already won in the timeline he had come from and he wasn't about to change that. Kazuya needed a reason to go to Seidou and more than likely if the tanuki went there, his sister would as well. He didn't know if she'd stick with baseball, but Kazuya wouldn't go without her.

Once they were on the train, Eijun called the chief. "Can you make sure that nothing happens to him?"

"We didn't tell them all of the details, but Chris and his father now have an assigned bodyguard to them."

"Who?" Captain Kaga asked.

"Sergeant Subaru Ichiyanagi."

Kaga started to chuckle. If Goto had gone through with his original plan to work with Eijun, he would have crossed paths with Subaru. It was late when they arrived in Kanagawa Prefecture, Eijun looked around and settled down on a spot near the Ayakami's baseball field. "Are you serious?!" Kaga demanded. "We are not sleeping here!"

"It's a good location… It's not cold and the weather didn't say anything about it raining tonight. What… are you afraid of sleeping outside?"

"We could sleep in a hotel or something!"

"Save the money… I'd rather use it on food when I'm hungry… Usually I don't even spend it on that either."

"How do you eat?"

Eijun pulled out a map and showed him all of the water locations in the area. "There's fish here, here, and here…" he indicated. "If I'm hungry, I'll catch and cook my own damn food. Save your money captain."

The brat had the skills to become special forces… Why did he have to end up with a boy scout? And yet, Captain Kaga knew the boy had never been one. From what the chief had told them, Eijun's life hadn't been a peaceful or good one. With a gunshot wound on his forehead and one on his side, Eijun was a survivor, refusing to roll over and die like Ochiai wanted.

"Why did you come here, though?"

"Like I said… It's just a hunch, but if I were him… I would like to get a feel for who my target is, where he hangs out, and how many friends he does or doesn't have."

"Why is the last one important?"

"A lack of friends makes for any easy target." Eijun said that as if he knew exactly what that was like, but before Kaga could ask him about it, he rolled over, ending the discussion. Something had altered this kid's personality and not all of it was Ochiai. From talking to former classmates, Eijun was a bright and happy kid at some point… All of that changed the day he and his sister went plunging into a river.

As the kid drifted to sleep, probably more comfortable out in the open than in a house, Kaga couldn't stop himself from stroking the kid's angry scar. It was still visible and recent enough. Kaga might not have liked where they were sleeping, but eventually he gave into his own exhaustion and closed his eyes, his arms crossed, and leaning against the back wall of the dugout.

It was perhaps almost dawn when he heard a noise. Eijun was also awake, motioning for Captain Kaga to stay quiet. Someone was on the other side of the wall, rummaging through one of the bags. Something was being opened and then closed, followed with a zipper reclosing the bag and then the person was gone. All they could make out were the wide shoulders of a man, but Eijun didn't need a good look to know who it had been. When he was out of sight, he went straight for the bag and began pulling things out, finding a water bottle towards the bottom.

Grabbing it, he pulled the top off and sniffed. There was more than just water inside… but the smell of old water having sat for a while tried to cover it up. "Captain…"

Kaga took it away, placing it in a plastic bag. "I can get someone to figure out what was put in this." Eijun was already looking for something else… anything to identify who the bag belonged to. There wasn't a single name and just as he was about to give up, he noticed something in another side pocket. It was a manga… specifically boy's love manga. He knew of only one person that had read that kind of stuff at Seidou and it was Jun Ishashiki. Eijun had had a strong hunch that Jun was possibly gay, but he had never been brave enough to ask him or anyone else close to him.

"I was right… He's after his next target."

Kaga made a quick phone call, stating that he needed a squad car put on Jun's house. No one was to engage the target and it was radioed back that he had three sisters and a mother. Eijun didn't like this. Ochiai was trying to draw him out, probably aware that Eijun was closing in on him. Not one to sit back, Eijun tried to get close to Jun.

His opening came when someone tried to pick on one of his younger sisters. She was perhaps seven, still in elementary and a bunch of older kids tried to take her lunch money. Just as they started to force it out of her tiny hands, Eijun grabbed and painfully twisted the kid's arm behind his back, pushing upwards until it began to crack. "Tell her you're sorry."

"Screw… you…" the brat growled, struggling to spit in Eijun's face. Eijun had despised bullies and without another word, he spun the kid around and slammed his face into a metal light pole. Kaga winced, but he decided to stay out of this. If he had been the one to do this, he would have been sanctioned for police brutality. In Eijun's case, it was just another kid acting in self-defense of another child.

"What the hell are you punks doing with my little sister?!" Jun came rushing up, gathering up his younger sister to see Eijun finishing off two more kids, and then tossing him some of the stuff they had taken from her.

"She really shouldn't go to school on her own…" Eijun saluted and walked away, but Jun asked for him to wait.

"What's your name?"

"Eijun."

"You do have a last name; don't you?"

"I don't like formality so call me Eijun and I'll consider it a thank you for saving her."

"Brat… that's not how you talk to someone older than you."

"And that's not how you say thank you."

His sisters started to laugh, surrounding and playing with Eijun's hair. He flinched, trying to get away from them, but it was no good. Unlike Erin, these girls were very, very… how could he put this… girly! They were all wearing nice ribbons in their hair, clean and stylish skirts…

"You're cute…" the oldest one said.

"No, no I'm not! Hey… get them away from me!"

"Consider it a thank you for saving my little sister."

"Son of a…"

"Don't use bad language around my baby sisters!"

"And don't let them fawn over a guy they just met!"

"If I didn't know better, I would think that you don't like girls," he taunted.

"I don't!" Eijun roared, grabbing the hand sliding down his chest. The girl was about a year older than him, but as he tried to avoid one, another would move to his rear and slide her arms around his shoulders. While Jun normally would have stopped his sisters, this was too good. Even the friend Eijun was with didn't seem inclined to help…

"Captain, I would appreciate it if you actually did your job."

"Nope… not happening… I mean I could call the cops, but… I believe the way you handled it was far more educational."

"I hate you…"

"And I just thought we were becoming friends…"

"That's enough." All three girls stopped, turning to Jun with a pout. He crossed his arms and pointed towards the approaching bus. "Go to school and stop acting like a bunch of hussies."

"You're no fun…" they whined.

"I'm your older brother… if I find out you skipped classes again, I'll take all of your purses, credit cards and weekly allowance!"

"You wouldn't!" they shouted in unison.

Jun would and without further complaint or protest, they got on the bus and went to school. "You live with those girls?" Eijun gasped in horror.

"I keep asking myself that all the time."

Jun was wearing his baseball uniform and Eijun asked about it. "I have practice later and changing isn't always possible. What about you?"

"I'm not in a public school." Jun narrowed his gaze, but he calmed down a little when Eijun showed him his school identification tag.

"You're in your third year already?" His school wasn't far and Eijun easily fell in beside him, talking about baseball, the summer nationals and what his goals were for after he retired.

"I think I'll go to Seidou." Eijun tried to hide his surprise… "Inashiro wanted me as well, but they have a lot of good players on their team, but Seidou is missing a reliable pitcher."

Kaga wanted to smack him on the back of the head, Eijun sending him a smile that said 'I told you so.' The kid was probably smarter than Captain Ishigami and that was saying something. "Can I watch you play later?"

"I guess so, but won't you like it better if you come to my game next Friday?"

"I heard that most of the Tokyo teams will play at the same stadium in West Tokyo… Is that true?" Eijun asked him.

"Yeah… It makes it easier to schedule all the tickets and seating ahead of time. Sometimes it's hard to even get into a game like that. Unlike a middle school baseball club, the Senior Leagues incorporate a lot of small housing and city districts. It's the preliminary event for the high school and college teams playing on Saturday and Sunday."

When they stopped in front of Jun's middle school, both boys seemed reluctant to part from each other. "I wonder what it's like to go to a real school?" Eijun whispered, making him sound like an envious, thirteen year old child. Kaga had to hand it to him… the kid was great at getting people to open up to him. He almost couldn't recognize the fact that he had a darker and more serious aura about him.

"Want to see for yourself? I can just tell the teachers you're new to the area and haven't picked a school yet."

"Can I do that?"

Kaga's mouth dropped open, wanting to tell Eijun that he couldn't do that, but the two boys were already making their way into the school. "What the hell?"

He couldn't do a damn thing to stop him now. Eijun was now close to the target and that could result in two outcomes. Ochiai was either going to back off and find someone else, or he was going to get angry that Eijun was once again getting in his way. Kaga didn't waste time… getting on the phone with Captain Ishigami, he told them about the plastic water bottle, and Eijun's attempt to infiltrate the school and stay close to Jun.

"Interesting… Because of his age, he can go places that we cannot. Is his tracking device still on?" Kaga confirmed that it was and Ishigami told him to fall back. If they played their cards right, Ochiai may try to take one, if not both pitchers.