Namimori station. The clock on platform 1 shows 09.00 am. It is a sunny morning when the train that Manabe took from Tokyo is ready to depart for its next stop. Manabe immediately steps down from the train and looks around. Well, apparently there's nothing to look at. It is a small station and it's not even hectic in rush hour like this.
After a few minutes of walk, he manages to find the flat in which he'll spend the next 30 days in this small town. It seems that his boss is dead serious about this Yamamoto article thing, considering that the room, located on the 3rd floor, is decent enough compared to the company standard. But when he see the window, everything's clear. From the window, Manabe can see the Namimori stadium on the far right and TakeSushi on the left, not so far from the flat itself. No wonder his boss is willing to spend a little money on it.
Enough thinking, now get to work. According to the note, Yamamoto Takeshi is scheduled to have practice in an hour. The place? Namimori stadium, and that's where he's heading to.
On the way to the stadium, Manabe can't help to think how mysterious this Yamamoto can be. The note his boss gave him clearly recorded every single activities of the baseball player for the next four weeks, except for several days off that goes without further explanations. Moreover, all the things listed are just regular things; most of them consist of daily training. So why there's not much known about this man? But he must admit that his boss's network is quite awesome to be able to get a list like this.
Brughh! Somebody has just hit him from behind that makes all of his belongings scattered on the ground. He was ready to explode when he heard a deep yet light toned voice, "Maa.. maa.. Gomen ne. I am late for practice, so I get a little hurry. Here are your stuffs, Sir."
Manabe looks up and finds out that the man he's planning to stalk is there, right in front of his eyes, grinning and apologizing. Not wanting to waste this precious chance he immediately says, "Y… Yamamoto Takeshi! I.. I.. am your big f... fan! C... can I have y... your sign?" Perfect. Even the stutter was perfect.
"Umm... I kinda rush at this moment, but why don't you come to the stadium? We can talk later after I finish my practice." says Yamamoto.
"C… can I?"
"Sure... Why not?" Yamamoto answers oh-so casually. "Kay. Gotta go now, see you in the stadium" then in just a few seconds, Yamamoto Takeshi is no longer within Manabe's view.
What the… How come he disappeared so fast? It's just… Can human truly reach that speed? *sigh* Anyway, let's just move to the stadium. Manabe add some note on his notebook:
Yamamoto Takeshi is fast. What you see on the games might just a tiny bit of his running ability.