KidoKanoOTP (Guest) asked me when I usually update. I updated monthly for previous chapters. I have testing for the next weeks. Then, I'm going to graduate soon and summer will come. My updates will be random from here on out. Thanks for the reviews!

Edelwin, thank you for drawing the baseball chapter! I'm so happy! It shows Kido, with a baseball bat, angered by Kano. Mary is in the background, worrying about Kano's safety. You can search her name: Edelwiin (with two i's) on deviantArt. It's called "Let's play baseball". I'll post a link to it on my profile. It helped me come up with an idea!

Let's Play Baseball! Part 2

It was 1: 27 p.m. when a twelve-year old boy was running to the park from his house after receiving a call from his crush. When he arrived, he was out of breath and then he noticed Momo was there...

"Hah?! Why do I have to play baseball..." The young browned-haired boy turned to Momo. "...with Auntie?" "No complaining. You're playing baseball!" Hiyori told him stubbornly before walking away. "Tch. First, you drag me into this city and now you're forcing me to play baseball." the boy muttered to himself and followed Hiyori.

"Guys, this is my best friend, Hibiya Amamiya. He moved into the city with me and he's playing in place of Takane." Hiyori introduced him to the group. One by one, they all introduced themselves. "Oh. So you're the friend he mentioned yesterday. Hehe. I thought you were lying." Momo figured out. Hibiya glared at her.

There was a temporary timeout after Takane wasn't able to play anymore. Now that Hibiya has arrived, the baseball game can finally resume. It was still the fourth inning with Haruka's team batting and 0 outs so far. Kano was on the first base. Momo, who has been really enthusiastic about this baseball game, was finally up to bat. She had eagerly put on the helmet, grabbed the bat, and walked to the home plate.

"Strike one!"

"Boo! You suck, Auntie!"

"You're so immature." Hiyori scolded him.

Ding.

"How do you like that, you little brat?!" Momo yelled, running to first base.

"Safe!"

Kano was at second. It was Hibiya's turn to bat now. "You just got lucky!" he said while the baseball made contact with the bat. He ran to first base. "Safe!" There were no outs still.

"Yes! Nice job, Hibiya!" Hiyori cheered and clapped. Hibiya turned away, a little embarrassed. All the bases were loaded now. It was all up to Haruka now.

This is for Takane, Haruka thought before swinging the aluminum bat with all his might and feelings.

"Woah! No way!" the kids exclaimed. He had hit a home run. Well of course. He was more experienced than the rest of his team. Everyone on the bases were running. The score is 4-3.

"Yes! We're finally in the lead now!" Momo said happily.

Haruka's team eventually got three outs with the same score and it was the other team's turn to bat during the fifth inning. Everyone had the same positions. Kido was still the pitcher, meaning Kano was still catching her fierce pitches. Since Takane was originally on first base, Hibiya was now playing on first base. Momo was playing on second base. Haruka was on the shortstop. On third base was Hiyori. The right fielder was still Mary. Shintaro was the left fielder. Seto was playing on central field.

Kido was getting better at pitching, but Kano continued deprecating her, just for the hell of it. The score became a tie of 4-4.

"You're getting worse, Tsubomi." Kano lied before she pitched again.

"Strike! Batter out." Kano groaned. The next batter walked in front of Kano with his bat.

"Your girlfriend's pretty violent."

Kano chuckled and didn't deny it. "You have no idea."

"Strike!"

"But that's just one of all the qualities that I grew to like from her." He said honestly this time with a smile. It was like he wasn't talking to the kid anymore, but to himself. At that moment, Kido and Kano made eye contact. Kido was surprised to see Kano looking at her like that instead of criticizing her pitching skills. She then smiled back before pitching the baseball. It was Kano's turn to be surprised, but he still managed to catch the ball.

"Strike!"

And that's another quality I like about her, Kano thought.

"Three strikes! You're out!"

The sixth inning was miserably short. Mary wasn't able to hit the baseball this time and apologized numerous times. Kido had hit the ball, but someone had caught it. Kano had decided to tease her about it. He said, "You're so cute when you fail," which resulted in Kido almost using the aluminum baseball bat as a weapon against Kano. Seto and Shintaro were holding her back for a few minutes. One person on each of her side, trying to restrain her. Their arms were locked with hers from behind.

The baseball bat and Kano were out of her reach, but it wasn't over for her yet. Mary pleaded, "P-please c-calm down, Kido. H-he was just joking, r-right?" Seto was able to reach first base safely, but then Shintaro happened.

He had hit the ball in such a way that when Seto reached the second base, he was out. They had 3 outs so quickly. Momo once again said, "You're so lame, big brother. You wasted Seto's hit." "You don't need to tell me that twice!" he complained. Because of all this, the score remained 4-4 during the sixth inning.

"Oi. Our team sucks, doesn't it?" Hibiya said during the seventh inning when the score was 4-5 with the opposing team in the lead now.

Ding.

"I got it!" Haruka yelled from the shortstop. He passed it to Momo on second base. Then, she passed it to Hibiya on first base, making the opposing team have two outs now and one person on third base still.

"Woohoo! Teamwork!" Momo exclaimed.

Kido pitched the baseball and the batter had swing. It was time for Shintaro to redeem himself after failing to bat the ball. The baseball went to the left field, which was his position. He stepped back a few steps, skeptical that he would catch it. Shintaro had extended his right hand up with his eyes shut tightly and...felt something in his glove. He had caught the ball.

"Eh?" he said, looking at the ball in his glove with his eyes widened.

"Eh?" he repeated. He was still uncertain whether this was reality or not and forgot about his surroundings. "Throw it at home, big brother. Quickly!"

He snapped out of it and saw the kid running from third base to the home plate. It was too late, though. The seventh inning was over with a score of 4-6.

For the third time, Shintaro screwed up. He sighed heavily. "Hah." "It's okay, big brother. At least, they have three outs now because you caught the baseball. We're batting now, so we can beat them." his sister attempted to encourage him.

And so the eighth inning starts. This would be their last chance to score points, unless they end up with a tie after the ninth inning. Kido was secretly praying that there would not be a tie, because she just wanted to go home already. Shintaro was thinking of the same thing.

It was Hiyori's turn to bat. She looked anxious. She got three strikes and sighed in disappointment. Well, everyone else was too.

"Sorry, guys." she said sincerely, walking back to the bench.

"It's okay, Hiyori. We only have one out." Haruka said with a gentle smile.

It was Haruka's turn.

"Strike!"

The pitcher threw the ball again.

He had swing again, but missed. He, himself, was starting to get tired.

"Strike!"

The baseball was thrown a third time. This time Haruka's bat made contact with it.

"Run, Haruka!" he heard a voice. He didn't know who it belonged to, but he still listened to it. He ran as fast as he could, even thought it wasn't good for his body. He was running slower than last time, but he was using more effort and energy.

"Safe!"

"One out and one person on first base." Kido muttered to herself. Kano glanced at her.

"Do you actually want us to win?" Kano said, amused. Then, he saw her eyes looked serious. She didn't answer his question. Next up to bat was Hibiya.

You can do this, he thought before swinging the bat.

"Strike!"

Damn it.

He had swing again.

"Go, Hibiya!" Momo cheered from the bench.

"You're going to distract me, you know." he said before swinging again.

"Alright!" Kano said.

He ran to first base safely and Haruka was on second, barely making it.

"Yes! It's my turn!" Momo said brightly.

The pitcher threw it towards her and she had hit it with all her strength. Unfortunately, someone had caught the baseball.

"Out!"

Momo's knees were on the ground. "No way..." All the spirit she had was drained away.

Now we have two outs, Kido was thinking. She really wants to win, Kano thought. He was up next and had put on a fake smile for everyone. In the inside, he was actually nervous himself. If he was out, then they would lose this game. He couldn't screw up.

"You can do it, Kano!"

"Don't let us down."

"Score a homerun like Haruka!"

"Yeah right." That was Kido.

"Eh? You don't think I can score a homerun?" Kano said, acting surprised. He grabbed a bat and a helmet, waiting for Kido's reply.

"I highly doubt you'll hit a home run. You don't even need to score a homerun either. Just score an RBI and Haruka will run to home." Kido answered. Kano looked at her, all dumbfounded.

"What the hell is an RBI?" Kano asked.

Kido sighed and closed her eyes. "You really are an idiot." Kano only smiled at that. "An RBI is a statistic used in baseball when the outcome of the batter's hit is a scored run. Since Haruka is on third base, you just need a base hit and Haruka can run to the home base." Kido had elucidated. Kano blinked after she had said that.

"Sorry. I asked the wrong question...How the hell do you even know that?" he asked, amused. Her cheeks turned red a bit and she turned away immediately. "I-it's not like I studied baseball last night." She totally did. "Pfft. Bwahaha. That's really interesting." Kano said, clutching his side.

Kido turned her face to glared at him and spoke, "Shut up. Fine. If you want to score a homerun, knock yourself out." Then, she added, "...if you can." She crossed her arms.

He immediately stopped laughing and looked up at her with an excited look. "Is that challenge I hear?" he asked. "Er...I guess?" she said as a question, not really sure herself. "Whatever...Just don't get out."

"Alright. Alright." he said, slightly less nervous thanks to their conversation.

He finally walked near the home plate with his bat, trying to find the right stance and position.

Kano gripped the baseball with one hand above the other. His legs were apart with knees that were slightly bent. Sweat was trickling down his face. He was serious about scoring a homerun, yet he had no idea how to.

The pitcher threw it.

"Strike!"

Haruka shouted, "Kano, hit the ball when it reaches this angle." showing him that with his hands.

Kano nodded.

He had swing again, but he got two strikes now. Kido gritted her teeth.

"Oh yeah. Swing your hips, too. I forgot to tell you that. Sorry." Haruka added.

"Okay!" Kano said, getting more confident. This is it. If I screw up now, it's all over.

The pitcher was going to throw the ball again. "Kido!" he said to her. She looked confused. "You better be watching, because you have to treat me to ice cream!" He had swing the bat for the third time.

"Hahahaha!"

The sound of amusement could be heard from all over the park.

"We seriously lost to elementary school students. We're pretty pathetic like I said earlier."

"You guys played well for this being your first time."

"I blame it on big brother." A heavy sigh could be heard.

"I just can't believe we lost, even though Kano had hit a home run. We got 4 points from it. In the ninth inning, they just score more hits." Mary said with her index finger under her chin.

"We lost, but I had so much fun!" Hiyori said. Everyone agreed, except Kano and Kido. They haven't been talking after the game.

"Oi, oi. Are you guys still gloomy?" Momo asked them. "Oh man. After all, the whole point of playing baseball was to cheer you guys up." Kano and Kido looked at each other in confusion. "Eh?" they said in unison.

"We wanted to play baseball, so you guys would have some fun. You guys seemed so depressed yesterday morning. As friends, we couldn't ignore that." Momo said in a serious tone. Everyone looked at them with smiles on their faces.

"I had fun!" Kano said, with a smile. "I was just thinking of ice cream flavors, since Kido has to treat me to ice cream."

"What about you, Kido. Did you have fun?" Mary asked her. Kido didn't reply, so Kano did for her. "Of course she had fun! She's just a tsundere that can't admit it. She even did research on baseball, guys." he said before breaking out into laughter. Everyone was laughing, except her.

Friends. I was such an idiot for not wanting to have friends before, Kido thought.

"Everyone deserves friends. We're your friends, Kido!"

"Friends open up to each together."

"We stick together, especially when times are rough.

"We're always there for them when they need us."

"We'll always be your friends no matter what happens."

After that, Kido laughed silently to herself. She was wondering why she was laughing. Maybe she was laughing at how stupid she thought she was before. She laughed with them the whole time they were walking around the park.

"Sorry to make you guys worry about us. I just couldn't believe that Kano got a homerun." she said, before laughing again. She didn't realize it, but she was smiling after her laughter had finally stopped. Every time she was with her friends, she was smiling. Kido was always having fun whenever she was with them. Kano was once again surprised by her.

It was time for them to go home. It was just Kano, Kido, and Hiyori left in the park."Are you sure, Hiyori? We could walk you home." Kido offered. She declined politely. "No. It's okay. I have someone's who going to pick me up soon. She'll be here in one minute, so you guys can go home now. Bye! Let's play baseball again someday." Hiyori said, waving to them.

They walked around the park, heading home together.

"Hey Kido? Did you have fun? You never answered earlier. I bet you did, because you wanted us to win, didn't you?" Kano asked, with playful smile.

"To be honest, that was the most fun I've ever had. I think that that was the first time I've ever had fun." Kido answered this time, looking at the ground.

"Seriously? You're joking, right? Have you been living in a cave or something?" he joked. She glared at him lightly and elbowed his stomach gently, too tired from baseball to actually hurt him.

"Anyways, let's talk about something more important shall we."

"And what's that?"

"Did you think I looked cool out there?"

"Cool? No way. You were sweaty and gross."

"...You know. You could at least pretend to be impressed."

"And why would I do that?"

He pretended to be disappointed. Then, he heard "But...I guess you were pretty cool at the end, Shuu...ya." "Thank you. I already know...wait what? Just now...you said my..." She smiled at him. She was messing with him this time. Payback, you bastard, she thought. He covered his face with his hand as if it was a mask, hiding his true face. She laughed, trying to stop by covering her mouth. "Hey. Don't laugh..." He saw how prettier she looked, though. "Never mind you can laugh." He started laughing with her. They were laughing like idiots on their way home.

"Remember, you have to treat me to ice cream someday!"

They didn't seem to notice someone, with brown hair and wearing two red clips parallel, staring at them with Hiyori from the park bench. That person smiled before taking Hiyori's hand to walk away.

"Let's go home, Hiyori..."

A/N: Thanks for reading. I think we're reaching the climax of the story soon. Any guesses on who that person in the end was? Please review and share your opinions with me. c: Writing advice is welcomed to improve my story. Kido seems OOC in this chapter, because she's really growing onto her friends and is starting to realize just how important they are to her. I'm so lame that I have to explain this haha. Okay. I'm done. Goodbye! c: