DISCLAIMER: I DONOT OWN OOFURI

Something felt heavy.

The smell of food filled the air, and Suzuki was sure it must be dinner soon.

Why cant I move?

Was Suzuki half asleep? Sleep paralysis? Must be it, because even though Suzuki is trying to, she can't feel herself move, or even open her eyes.

What is happening?

She can't feel her legs. The emotions of fear and panic overwhelmed Suzuki and she desperately attempted to open her eyes. Everything futile, she was ready to scream, she was ready to cry.

"Gak!"

Suzuki's body sprung into the air, and she returned right back to her senses. The light piercing her eyes, as they dilated to understand what she was looking at. As they focused, Suzuki's eyes set sight on the poster before her of Date Masamune wielding his swords.

She was in her room. She wiped the swat from her forehead, and fanned her shirt as she began to realize in what horrible condition she was in. She remembered the feeling of weight on her legs and realizing she still felt it at this moment, she quickly switched her sight to her legs.

Mi-Mihashi?!

Mihashi was asleep on her legs, his head facing towards the same poster.

W-what is he doing here? Why am I here?

Mihashi slowly lifted his head back up before turning his gaze to Suzuki, and taking in the fact that Suzuki was awake he wasn't sure how to react.

"S-suzu..ki! You're a-awake?!"

He quickly felt her forehead. "N-no fever..." He smiled sweetly. "A-Ayami-san was right. You would wake up..!"

Suzuki tried to assess the situation but she felt the fear and worry she felt just a while ago slowly disappear, and she blushed emberassed at this type of situation she woke up to.

"W-what happened to me?" Suzuki asked covering her mouth.

"Y-you were hit by a library case...you fell unconcious.."Mihashi looked at his hands that lied on his lap. "I..I tried to stay strong..I didn't cry at all.."

Suzuki looked at him. This guy was the biggest crybaby of all time, there was no reason he didnt cry. But, if he was able to stay strong, even after what happened to his previous catcher, Suzuki was sure Mihashi would break down.

"I'm sorry..Mihashi..You must have been scared..huh?" Suzuki turned her gaze to him, and he adverted it looking away. "How..long?"

Mihashi immediately turned his eyes to her. "You were out for..atleast 3 days.."

"We were worried..a..about taking you to the hospital..we were scared of the outcome.."

"Looks like you're awaken sleeping beauty."

They turned to see Momokan standing before them, as she climbed up from the stairs.

"Mo-coach!" Suzuki looked surprised then had a realization and looked away, and bowed her head.

"There's no need to seem so apologetic..things like this happen from time to time.." Momo got on her knees next to Mihashi. "But there' something you have to tell me, I'm not sure when you will be able to so I wont force you. But thing about being in a team, is to be able to trust one another."

Suzuki clenched her fist. No one was supposed to know anything about her past, she was supposed to play games, and be happy through high school without getting too close to anyone...anyone..

"N-na-!"

"Awakura-san was taken to the hospital to make sure she didnt have any type of internal injuries.." She brushed her hair with her fingers as she spoke. "Luckily, aside from a cut on her palm, and rope burns from the noose she had around her neck, there wasn't much else. I notified her parents, and told them it was a simple 'wrong place at the wrong time' situation."

"Damn it..!" Suzuki spat under her breath. "This is all my fault.."

"You were strong enough to take the blow from the book case but if I hadn't happened to be passing by at that time." Momo made a serious face. "I wouldn't know what would be worse..anyone else being injured, or what you would be capable of.."

Mihashi stood up immediately and rushed to the door. "I-I'll tell Ayami-san you're awake!"

Suzuki felt the mood. Mihashi knew that Momo had realized something about Suzuki, and Mihashi didn't want to be the one to know just from being there. He wanted Suzuki to tell him herself, which must be how he had so much willpower to hold back his tears. Mihashi, is alot stronger than anybody thinks..

The room was silent, and Suzuki realized she had no choice but to confess to Momokan. She figured, Momokan must already know that Suzuki was the guy from the fight.

"I..I killed two boys.." Suzuki opened her fist to look at it. "With my own hands, I lost control, and I beat them to a pulp..they trudged away...so I hoped.. that they..that..." Suzuki felt her eyes begin to burn. "..I didn't think..that.. they..." She felt the tears hit the sheets. "I didnt want anyone to see me that way..so I held back! It was the most horrible and selfish decision of my life..I was sure, as I was shifting out of conciousness that...it was a lose-lose for me..I had to repay my debt.."

She couldnt cough up anything more, and she watched through her blurry vision, as the tears dropped like a leaky faucet onto her hands, and streaming onto the sheets.

"..I might have to rethink.. your position on the team.."

Suzuki chuckled. She figured. Why would Momo want a murderer on their team? Why would anyone associate themselves with a cold-blooded criminal. She was ready to recieve defeat, she was ready to lose everything, her friends, Mihashi, Nana...

"According to the news reports and what I could research, the boys died from bloodloss. For now the police believe it was nothing more than a street fight." Momokan handed Suzuki some newspaper clippings in a folder. "They didn't seem to look more into who the person was, because they marked it as a gang-related incident. The boys all had a similar tattoo, so they were able to recieve with just that, that they were in a gang. So they decided to investigate it with the ongoing investigations that the FBI partake in, to take down these types of gangs.."

Suzuki stopped for a second. This crest, the mohawk-kid had the same tattoo on his neck. So they really were his comrades, or more or less his groupies. Anybody with a right mind would be pretty pissed if they messed with their gang. They must have believed as well, that Suzuki was part of a gang herself, that's why they were trying so hard to kill her. They wanted to find any resemblance she had with another gang, like a tattoo, or-

"A birthmark?" Momo looked at Suzuki's forearm as she was wearing a t-shirt, and she had lifted up the sleeves to get rid of her sweat. "It looks like an O."

Suzuki immediately realized and pulled down her sleeve. "I-i'ts always been like that for as long as I can remember..."

Momo stood up. "Listen up Oshima-san, I'm gonna trust in the fact that this is all still a mystery. Their deaths could have been a mere accident, and despite that the police aren't offiicially after you, it wont take long before they realize this wasn't done by a gang member. You said yourself, you stopped for Awakura's sake so that they could trudge away and she could leave safely. So I'm gonna trust in you, after all I'm the one who brought you into the team almost by force.." She chuckled. "Atleast.." She ruffled Suzuki's hair. "Until Abe comes back, you're stuck with us.."

she began to walk towards the railing that lead to the stairs. "Try not to get into anymore fights okay," She teased. "If you can't confide in me, at least, confide in Mihashi. He'll be the one suffering the most from this."

"Ah! Coach-san! You're leaving already?" Ayami's voice was heard from the bottom of the stairs.

"Yeah, gotta go back to the boys, as I left mid practice.." She walked down the stairs. "Mihashi make sure to practice at home, and take care of Oshima-san."

"Un!" Mihashi's voice was heard, as he stomped back up the stairs with a juice packet in hand.

"H-here! You'll recover better..Veggie juice.."

Suzuki took it wearily and blushed sweetly from his behavior. "T-tthank you...for being here..though you should be at practice.."

Mihashi shook his head. "We are a battery! I-I can't practice without you anyway.."He said blushing.

She pinched his nose. "III-Idiot..!"

"Ite-!"

Suzuki quickly realized that she wasn't paralyzed or anything, and she only felt week from the injury to her head. She'll recover in no time. She smiled happily. For now, maybe she can still continue living like this.

"Ren..what are you gonna do when Abe comes back?"

Mihashi thought for a moment, as he handed her another juice. "I-I will be happy..!"

"But there could only be one catcher you know.."

Mihashi stared at her blankly. Is he even understanding.

"When Abe comes..I might have to go.."

"T-that's not true! You're still part of the team...!"

Suzuki was beginning to get annoyed. He doesnt quite comprehend, that Suzuki can't continue to stay on the team once their real catcher returns. Suzuki has a debt to repay, and she might have to end up turning herself to the police one day, not just even for murder, but for fraud.. isn't that a crime? Faking your identity.. (despite that all she's doing is cross-dressing) especially on something important like a tournament..

"Oh well.." Suzuki sighed and folded her arms behind her head. I guess it's fine for now if Mihashi stays clueless, it would suck if she ruined their friendship by telling him the truth one day. Despite that he was there during the fight, the fact that Mihashi is acting like normal, must mean he wasn't able to assess the situation properly. After all, he was so terrified, he must have blacked out or something. Why else was it almost like he wasn't in the room? Now that Suzuki thinks about it...

"I-I know!" Mihashi interrupts her train of thought. "When Abe comes..we will have two catchers..but you are also a good player..s-so you can also play on the field.." Mihashi began to imagine Suzuki on the field, when he turns his gaze to her, and she's there supporting her. Mihashi won't feel so scared anymore! She'll have both Abe and Suzuki! He began to cry and blush at the fantasy.

"O-oi! Why are you barely crying now?! What did I do?!"

Abe took a deep breath as the nurse injected a depressent to relieve his migraines.

"There now Takaya, after this I'm sure you will feel alot better."

"Tenku yu.." Abe said, so relieved he forgot he was pronouncing the english words in katakana, creating an accent he thought he got rid of.

"You're surger is soon, so rest alot." She said as she left the room.

Abe closed his eyes, and looked up at the cieling. So many thoughts ran through his head, he thought he had seen a ghost at the courtyard, who was quickly whisped away by a team of nurses. And then there was any updates on the team, Mihashi was replying regularly, but they were short responses that were annoyingly suppose to assure him he was fine. He was fine for a few days, but Mihashi usually sends emojis with responses and these messages he were sending weren't at all showing emotion. As if he was asking him not to worry about him.

"Kuso!" Abe sucked his teeth at the thought of that idiot actually pulling that crap on him. It's almost as if he were at square one with him.

He recieved a text.

You able to talk? - Hanai.

Abe immediately called him. "What's up?"

"Yo dude, how's it over there on the land of the free?"

"It's no different, just people are less polite, yeah they're free alright."

"Haha! But bro, when's your surgery?"

"The day after tomorrow. They postponed it a few days, I think because the surgeons were missing a member who was on a trip. No big deal tho,"

"Ah-, seems like it's almost time for the big day. The one that will decide your fate."

"Yeah, I'm not so sure. It's going to be successful I know, we payed so much money after all, it's the recovery time that worries me. I want to hurry up and heal asap."

"Worried about your little Ace?"

"The twerp sent me another lame text earlier, it seemed almost robotic."

"Haha, he's really fine though, don't worry about it. We even managed to get a new member for now.."

"Really? The gods are actually with us this year?"

"Not really, Momo kind of forced her in.."

"Her?"

"Yeah, it's hard to explain. But remember how I told you we finally set the line-up? Well, this one is gonna put you a bit off.."

Hanai put in the line up.

"And looks like Oshima might be the catcher this season...atleast until you come back. We are all kind of on thin ice here, and we're taking all the chances we can get..."

Hanai waited for it.

"WHAT THE HELL?!"

The nurse who was about to check up on him flinched, and decided to wait a little longer.

"Are you serious?!"

"It's fine, we even managed to get the principal to agree...er.."

"That is the wierdest shit I've heard in my entire life..you actually think this kind of thing will work? Is Momokan out of her mind?"

"I know dude, that's what I thought, at first, but man! You haven't seen Oshima! She's a freaking mutant!"

Abe felt his head pulsating as his headaches attempted to return but the antibodies were in effect. The fact that some random girl is crossdressing to take his place irritated him. He didn't mean to be sounding sexist in anyway, but the simple absurd fact irritated him to the bone. Everything was completely hectic, their chances to getting somewhere seemed very minimal. Because he wasn't there? Because he was supposed to be catching, he had made so much progress, he had gained Mihashi's trust, he had created an irreplacable bond. All for..all for..

"Abe, you have to worry about yourself for now. You will still have a part of this team, hey, I'm making sure to recieve feedback from you aren't I? We need you if anything. But for now, I kind of want to go with the flow. Oshima has made so much progress, she's finally able to catch Mihashi's balls that she called successfully. We'll make sure to follow your plans."

Abe sighed to keep himself from angering himself anymore. "I have no other choice do I? Go with the flow..It's all I can do when it's my sports carreer that is on the line with this surgery.."

"That's the spirit! Everything's fine now, I guess.."

"You doubting yourself now? Hypocrtitical bastard."

"Heheh, I'm not trying to it's just..some of the boys got in a fight recently or so I heard from Momo. She said everything is under control now, so there's no need to worry about it.. Suzuki took it really bad though.."

"What? She got injured already? Wait who was exactly there?"

"Well from what I heard, Tajima, Mihashi, Oshima, Sakaeguchi and Izumi were the ones who headed together that day. They kind of ended up at the wrong place.. they're fine though! They came to practice like normal, except for Mihashi and Oshima and Momo explained it was because Suzuki got struck by a book case."

"Ouch, what about Mihashi? Is that why he's been sounding strange?"

"I don't know he hadn't updated me, but he was away from practice for 3 days."

"That idiot-"

"He is fine, he is only taking care of her. But I don't know much about it. I asked Tajima but he's no use, you know how he is. And Izumi is responding the same, but it's strange for him to advert subjects like that, he's usually a blunt kid."

"And Sakaeguchi?"

"Completely silent. Almost like he's traumatized or something and that's what really puts me off. None of those assholes want to say anything."

"I guess it's fine that way, as long as everyone is able to continue practicing for the tournament.."

"Anyway, I'll call you later, my sisters are bothering me."

"Alright, I probably wont respond until after the surgery, so I'll update you then."

"Okay, see ya."

Abe hung up, and turned off his cellphone completely.

There's so much going on he doesn't know about. Mihashi is so distant from him, he feels almost lonely about it. He felt almost jealous realizing that while Mihashi is closer to that girl, he becomes distant to Abe.

"What the hell am I thinking.." It's probably not like that at all, he's obviously all the way across the globe right now. It's probably really complicated for the kid right now.

He'll just focus on the surgery for now.

Thanks for reading! :3