When Ruri is eleven, she is forced to sit out on most of her elementary school's baseball games. Coach doesn't say anything, but she knows there are many reasons. She has become rather well-known for hitting really well, despite being a girl, and most of the opponents usually choose to walk her. She hasn't had a hit since the year before, and she feels downright humiliated when she is taken off the batting order.

Ruri thinks furiously that she is also taken out of the roster because she is a girl. Girls do not play baseball at the middle school level, and the coach might have taken her out because of it.

Shugo, in turn, is making a name for himself. He's great as a pitcher, or so everyone says. His control isn't that awesome, but Ruri's standard of judgment is high, and truth to be told, he is good for the elementary school level. Ruri knows, too, that his skills come with a lot of hard work. There are many times when Ruri's father himself has to give Shugo a lecture and tell him the dangers of pitching too much.

"Nice batting, Tsubaraki-kun!" her team-mates shout.

Ruri sits glumly on the bench, watching the last practice match of the year go into the bottom of the third inning, her school on offense. They are trailing their opponents by a point now, and the team is desperate to win their last game.

Shugo is next to her, his face stoic, like it always is when the game doesn't interest him. Ruri thinks he might be doing that deliberately so she might not feel worse than she already does.

"Kantoku!" Ginmoto, one of the relief pitchers, comes running into the dugout. "Watanabe-kun is sick all over the toilet bowl in the bathroom!"

"How is he now?" their coach asks, and he makes eye contact with the teacher in charge, Takahashi-sensei.

"Hada-kun is with him now," Ginmoto says. "But he's thrown up twice already."

"I'll go tend to him, Ginmoto-kun," Takahashi-sensei tells him. "You should stay here. You're next in the batting order."

There is a tense silence in the dugout, as everyone calculates the remaining at-bats to Watanabe's turn. With Kisuke, who is the fifth batter in the line-up, out, and the inning's ending, Ruri knows that Watanabe's position is fifth-in-line in the next inning.

Kantoku looks at the relief members in the dugout, all looking nervous and fidgety. None of them are decent hitters, and they know it. Ruri herself fidgets, but from a very different reason from them.

Next to her, Shugo raises his hand for Kantoku's attention.

"Kantoku?"

Ruri feels an overwhelming sense of excitement as she watches Shugo's raised palm form a pointed thumb aimed at her.

A slow smile lightens Kantoku's stern face. Without a word, he leaves to tell the official of the change.

The members cheer, everyone knowing how Ruri feels about the year with no hits. Before long, the coach is back and he assembles everyone quickly for instructions.

"Okay, boys and girl," he starts. "We all know Ruri's reputation here, and how the other schools deal with her. I want you to prevent them from walking her. Do you know how to do that?"

"We load the bases," Shugo answers.

"Yes, we load the bases," Kantoku says with a cunning smile. "We must have Ruri hit her best for this last match, all right?"

"YEAH!"

"You know, this expectation on me is rather unnerving," Ruri says to Shugo, as he gets ready for his at-bat.

"Appreciate it," Shugo tells her curtly. "This might be your only chance."

"I will appreciate it," she says sincerely. "Thank you, Shuu-chan."

"Don't call me that! I'm eleven already!"

"So? I'm older than you!"

"That doesn't mean—"

Kantoku taps on Shugo's shoulder, as they hear the umpire shout an out. Kisuke-kun has been tagged out.

"Kanou," he says sternly, pointing to the deck circle he is supposed to go to.

Without turning back, Shugo heads out. As he walks out, Ruri sees a hand behind his back, a pinky stuck out from a fist. She smiles widely as she gets the message.

Yamamaru has, by then, hit a grounder between the first and second baseman and got on first base. As Ruri makes her way to the deck circle, she catches the eye of the pitcher, and smiles smugly at him, hoping it would make him nervous.

It does. The first pitch against Kanou went wild, and everyone managed to advance a base before the catcher even manages to get the ball into his hands again. The pressure on the other team is perfect.

Ruri makes her way to the batter's box. Her team-mates have done everything in their power to load the bases for her. She must not disappoint them.

"Mihashi! Gambatte!"

She absolutely must not disappoint them.

Ruri faces the pitcher, Miyagawa. She's heard Shugo say he isn't very good at control, and she can guess as much, from the few games she has watched him pitch. His pitches, however, are rather fast, and Ruri wonders how many and much of his arm muscles and joints are ruined to achieve that.

Ruri, think. How are you going to make him pitch a middle to you?

Ruri sets up her stance, and gets ready for the first pitch. She swings as the pitch goes to the outside corner of the strikezone.

"Strike!"

She bites her lips, and scrunches her eyebrows together to form a frown.

"Ruri! Don't be nervous! Use your eyes properly!"

Damn that Kisuke! Who says I'm nervous?

The next two pitches are balls, and from the way Miyagawa stretches his fingers, Ruri knows they are uncontrolled pitches. Good thing he has a catcher who reacts fast.

When the next pitch turns out to be yet another ball, the catcher calls for a time-out. She catches sight of Shugo watching her with interest. She winks at him, fighting the smile that is threatening to turn her lips.

As the catcher returns to his position, and the pitcher prepares to wind up, the triumphant smile escapes as the pitch rushes towards her.

The best pitch to control for a power pitcher like MIyagawa… a fastball right in the middle.

The resounding metallic sound her bat produces and the strain in her arms resulting from the hit feels good, as she sees the ball sail overhead into the woods over the fence. She throws her bat aside and jogs around the diamond, arriving home to the ecstatic team-mates.

"Nice acting," Shugo says with a smirk as he receives her high five.

"Thank you," she returns the smirk to the only person who sees through her.