Disclaimer: This is a work of fiction, the characters go with their respective creators of diamond no ace and I do not claim ownership of the characters or the world.

A/N: Hello guys! I do apologize for the horrible chapter, I am amazed if someone was able to even read this chapter, with how it turned out. It seems their was an error on my end or something, but when it uploaded it became like that, good thing I double checked, so hear is the correct and better version. I am really sorry guys... please do keep reading... and Thank you!

Chapter 9

Start of the 6th inning, Eijun was looking closely at the 9th batter as the latter seem to have applied the technique of the last batter which was standing close in the outer region of the batter box to target his moving fastball. He grin widely, if it was there captain he bet Miyuki sempai would be smiling sheepishly as he would be asking either for an inside pitch or his cutter to throw off the batters balance and concentration. He was holding the resin bag on his pitching hand as he watched Tohru gave him a sign for his old cutter. He nodded in agreement as he drop the resin then fixed his grip on the ball in his mitt, focused solely towards Tohru and then he threw the ball directly towards the mitt. The batter noticed it was another inside pitched and did a powerful swing however before it even landed on the ball, the ball motion suddenly did a upward break, jamming the batter. As the batter tried to run for first base, Miro was able to catch the grounded ball easily and passed it directly towards to first base earning them their first out. "One out!" Eijun showed their one out sign, grinning directly towards their co-captain "Thank you Miro sempai…" he added.

Miro smiled, as he also showed a one out sign. Fielding has been more fun since Eijun had become their main pitcher, and for some reason the tempo of his pitching practically match with the chemistry of their team, thus playing defense has never been stressful unlike before.

Eijun turn towards the batter box as it was back to the starting lineup of the opposing batting team. He was focused on Tohru, when he noticed him giving him a sign for one of his new fastball pitches which surprised him for a bit but then made him smirk. It seems that his catcher want to take out the starting lineup with not letting anyone reach base at all. He nodded as an agreement, as he fix his grip, and did his windup raising his knees high and throwing his rising fastball in full force. As the ball sailed towards the batter the ball momentum and motion started to sail up towards the batting plate, the 1st batter knew it was a fastball and did a full force swing and failed to notice direction of the ball was rising. The moment the bat hit the ball, it pop up landing directly to the right field where it was easily catch giving them their second out. "Two outs!" Eijun called out to the other players where the other answered the same. As he showed a two out sign towards Tohru he noticed the seriousness in his catcher expression and a slight nod. He was a bit taken back and then beams brightly, for some reason even though the both of them did not take a time out, they could understand each other without using words, true battery partners he thought as he sheepishly show his bright smile. Based on his catcher's expression, it is now time to start checking on his other pitches and the condition of each of his breaking balls. He could sense his excitement and at the same time his eagerness to pitch. As he checked his fingertips, he could clearly sense they were in perfect condition.

Tohru crouched back down as the 2nd batter step in the mound; they already have two outs with only two pitches thrown. Now they could be able to check the condition of his other pitches. First was his 2 seam where he clearly saw Eijun nod as an agreement. The batter was holding the grip of the bat tightly as Eijun did his windup and threw his 2 seam where the batter almost swings for the pitch. "Ball!" called the umpire, however Tohru ignored the call, what he wanted to see was the condition of the pitches so he does not care in terms of the direction of the pitches. Next was his 4 seam where Eijun nodded and threw the ball inside the plate where the batter failed to swing yet again. "Strike!" the count now was 1 ball and 1 strike, Tohru thought as he made another sign for his sinking fastball where Eijun nodded eagerly. He watched as Eijun did his windup and threw his sinking fastball, where the fastball momentum sailed directly towards the plate in a downward direction and the batter doing a forceful swing but completely missing the ball but instead landed directly in Tohru's mitt. The count now was 1 ball 2 strikes Tohru thought inwardly as the umpire yelled "Strike". I guess this will be our 3rd out Tohru grin widely as he motioned to throw his number seven. Eijun grin back seeing how Tohru's aggressive call sometimes reminds him of his Seido captain, he did his windup and threw the ball directly towards the middle of the plate.

The batter thought it was a fastball on the middle and did another forceful swing however it was a complete miss. He was surprised as the ball suddenly disappeared in front of him. Next thing he knows is that it was already in the catcher's mitt. "Strike! Change!" the umpire yelled. The batter confusion was evident on his expression as he moved towards their own dugout he was scratching his head. "What happened?" The coach of the Hawks asked seriously seeing the confusion on his batter's face. "I don't know coach, I thought the ball was coming in the middle, next thing I know it just disappeared and then I am strike out" answered the batter as he grabs his catching mitt. The Hawks coach looked at the loud young pitcher that the BJ coach threw in the 5th inning with interesting eyes. Owh… Is he the pitcher the White Knights coach mentioned about… a young pitcher that have a lot of raw talent huh… where did that damn Mihashi found such a pitcher. "Coach I think that pitcher is using some breaking balls…" their catcher informs as he was also looking at the pitcher on the dugout obviously preparing to bat. "Then when we are on offense be careful with his breaking balls, right now we are on unknown territory, hang-on as long as you can and see how many pitch that pitcher have. The last thing we need is to be swallowed up by that Jaguar" Their coach ordered seriously. "Yes sir!" answered the whole in unison.

Eijun was excited to bat in all honestly, the last time he bat for BJ he got a home run though there were no spectators, but now Tokyo dome's lower and mid bleachers were full and the upper bleachers have half sitting, considering they were only in a practice game.

"Sawamura…" Shoji called out as he noticed Eijun's excitement. Eijun turned to look at him with his sparkly eyes, making him feel bad to ask him to actually not swing. As he turn around the dugout he noticed that the other players were also grinning back at him. They already knew why Sawamura was quite happy in terms of batting, and they are glad it was not them that would need to burst the happy bubble of the pitcher. Shoji sighed deeply, since when did it come a time that becoming the head coach for this pitcher became so difficult… he thought gravely as he was not sure how to approach Sawamura on either not to hit or try to hit the ball for that matter and what kind of mood the young pitcher could have after. There are only three innings left, as he watched Eijun still sparkly expression he just do not have the heart to break the happy expression of kid. "Ugh… ahm… look Sawamura…" as Shoji tries to look for words, he could clearly see Eijun happy expression started to become gloomy watching him closely. Shoji thought is he expecting he would be asked not to hit the ball and focus on pitching again? Which made Shoji's heart clench, damn that Tesshin, for not trusting his pitcher, how could he waste such raw talent. "Ugh… I would regret this… but what the hell… Listen carefully, the Hawks ace pitcher is not much of a power pitcher, however he has wicked slider and splitter. Both pitches fall under a 25 degree motion based on the middle. So what I am saying…" As Shoji tries to explain he could clearly see Eijun's expression perking up and shining brightly making him feel he was temporarily blinded with the shimmer coming from his pitcher. "The moment the batter do his motion for pitching, count 2 seconds before you swing your bat full force and swing it in around a 20-25 degree angle, don't target any pitches, just keep swinging the bat in that angle do you do you understand?"

Eijun smiled brightly, at first when his coach asked for his attention and at the same time seeing his conflicted expression, he was sort of expecting that he would be asked to just stand on the box and be taken out. But instead he was given instructions on the angle of the bat and the swing. He grip the bat strongly as he gave a salute to his coach who was still obviously conflicted if he did the right thing in telling him to try to hit it. "I will coach… I swear to be careful this time round" he answered just to assure the horrible expression on his coach face. He saw as his coach expression turn a bit lighter as Shoji nodded in agreement. Eijun turn towards the field and stood in the batter box in full confidence. Is this the feeling of being overjoyed for being trusted, damn it… I don't want to fail him, this is the first time my coach trusted me with batting. Eijun thought as he grip the bat tightly and raising it a bit higher, as he pose for a full swing.

"Well that was surprising…" Tohru commented as he looked at their coach tense expression watching Eijun swing his bat, it was a strike at first pitch.

"Do you guys really think I am an oni or something?" Shoji answered still observing Eijun closely.

"Not really coach… just kind of the satan incarnate…" Maki remarked as he was stretching. Daiki was already waiting in the next batter position. The other players were actually quite surprised with the outcome of the talk with their coach. Most of them were expecting that their coach would ban Eijun from batting, but then again if the coach they are talking about is the same coach who was quite obsessive with a high batting percentage, then he could be quite unpredictable in terms of skipping to bat.

"Ugh… I cannot say no to those eyes…" Shoji answered honestly as he scratched his head.

"Hahahaha… figures…" Tohru answered cheerfully, as he watched Eijun who was still focus on batting.

"You can think of it this way coach, if Eijun hit let us all hope it is on the sweet spot" Miro remarked, and then they heard a loud sound of the ball hitting the bat. All of the players in the dugout of BJ looked up as coach Shoji also move up the dugout to see the ball sailing up as it was hit. It was a long hit, however it went directly under the left fielder that was able to catch it.

"Owhhh…"

"Ugh…"

"You have got to be kidding me…"

"When was that person there?"

Disappointing reactions could be heard and groans around the BJ dugout, as Eijun's try to hit for a homerun failed. But Shoji was pleased with the outcome, back in the days, Sawamura was even unable to hit the ball out as far as center field, but now he could actually be able to hit in the outer field. He watched Eijun move back towards them obviously disappointed with the outcome of his at bat.

"Sorry coach… I should have tried to hit on right field instead of left…" Eijun apologized as he got close to their coach in the dugout obviously not pleased with the outcome, however he noticed that Shoji was smiling widely while shaking his head and then ruffled his hair lightly.

"No Sawamura… that was enough… now the other team would be cautious and think that you are also a power hitter. You did a great job… how is your hand?" Shoji asked as he lifted Eijun's hand and remove the batting gloves personally.

"Ehhh… coach I can do that… I am fine, did not hurt one bit…" Eijun panic seeing their coach was personally checking his hands. He feel stunned honestly, with the care and attention that the BJ coach is showing him.

"That's good then…" As Shoji was about to add his remark, another loud sound of a bat hitting the ball was heard. They all turn to look and saw that the ball has sailed out towards the bleachers, declaring it a homerun. The person who has gotten the homerun was no other than their captain Daiki who easily raised his right hand as he jog around the field.

"I guess we are tied…" Tohru commented as he stood out of the dugout grinning.

The score now was tied at 4-4 and the next batters were all power hitters, Maki, Towa and their 4th batter which was none other than Tohru. "Tohru… get the lead ok…" Shoji ordered seriously.

"Sure coach… just watch the batters work their magic Eijun…" Tohru commented as he looked at Eijun and winked.

Eijun beamed brightly as he watched his seniors take on the field with full confidence.