Zelda could feel her excitement growing with every day that passed.
It had been a couple of weeks since she had first seen Link pitching during training, after which he invited her to a practice game. She thought that going to the game would be a good opportunity to put her newfound baseball knowledge to the test and to learn more about Central's team from Mipha.
She had made the most of her time during summer break, using it to learn everything she could about pitching. While at first, she knew that it was an important position, the more she researched, the more she understood how integral pitchers were to the team. A great player could completely lock out the other team from scoring, while a bad one could make their team lose by themselves. Zelda recalled the game she watched with Mipha, remembering how bewildered she felt at the fact someone with an attitude like Revali could be allowed to play at all. After everything she had learned, she could understand why the coach would put him in the game, even if she didn't support it.
She also was able to text Link about any specific questions she had. A privilege she may have used more than strictly necessary. While most of the questions Zelda could have looked up online, she found his real-life experience more interesting. This made her more confident in her ability to know what was happening in a baseball game. She tested her knowledge by watching live games on TV and taking notes on everything she found interesting. But she was still anxious about actually going to a live game with her friend.
Zelda was confident in her ability to learn almost anything, but actually applying this knowledge in conversation with Mipha or hopefully Link made her nervous. What if they talked about something she hadn't read about yet? She made sure to learn as much as she possibly could, preparing herself for most scenarios she'd face in the game.
It was on one of these study sessions near the end of summer break when she received a text from Mipha.
Hey! Are you free next Friday? There's a baseball game going on at school.
I know, I was planning on going. Zelda replied, not realizing what she had just revealed.
Huh? And how did you know? She attached a confused guardian sticker, it even had a question mark over its head. I didn't know you were thaaaat interested in being up to date with the baseball games
I saw it at school! There were fliers and stuff. She half lied. While she had seen fliers advertising the game, it had been weeks after Link had officially invited her.
Suuuure, Read Mipha's text, followed by a suspicious face emoji.
Anyway, wanna go together? Her friend sent again, I'm sure that Wild guy that got your attention will be there.
Oh come on, I just found ONE of his plays cool! Zelda replied, rolling her eyes, Of course! Let's go. But for the record, I'm ONLY going to show you my incredible baseball knowledge.
Sure sure, Mipha dismissed with a laughing emoji, Also, Purah might be going with her little sister.
Purah? I didn't know she watched baseball.
She doesn't, but I convinced her to write about this game on the school paper, so more people show up to games.
Oooh, that's a good idea. Zelda smiled, if everything went well, the extra attention would definitely be good for the team. While baseball was featured in the sports section, writers had stopped showing up to games before the halfway point of the season; their lackluster results kept them off the front pages.
Purah was a second-year student who had been the lead editor for Central High's student newspaper since joining in her first year. Her writing and researching talents made her stand out from the rest of the students in the paper, and while some dismissed her position, caring more about student athletes, Zelda was in awe of her dedication and commitment to the paper. They became friends shortly after she read one of the paper's articles on the ancient sheikah civilization, prompting her to reach out and talk to the writer, which was Purah.
Zelda had no trouble getting along with others at school, but she was closest to Mipha and Purah. She introduced them to each other late last year and now their group was almost inseparable. It was still a surprise to her that Purah would attend the game, Mipha had tried to get her to come to their last game to no avail, as she found the sport boring; but she was happy their little group would attend together.
She chatted a little more with her friend about the logistics of meeting at school before they said their goodbyes to each other. Glancing at the time, Zelda decided to go to bed, excited to impress her friends next Friday.
The following days passed quickly for Zelda, who soon found herself getting out of her dad's car at Central High, ready to watch her school's baseball team. She would have never pictured herself in this situation, having never really cared for school sports, or even baseball at all. But now it was the complete opposite, having learned everything there was to learn about the sport, she couldn't wait to get to the field.
She looked at her slate as she walked to the stands, letting her friends know of her arrival. But as she got closer to the entrance, she looked around and noticed the sheer amount of people who were walking alongside her. She recognized a few as her classmates, but there was a high amount of families too, with children and all. This confused her, as it had been years since the school had had a successful baseball program; this was definitely completely different from what she remembered at Central's last game when the stands had been nearly empty. But before she could get too caught up in her thoughts, she felt a hand on her shoulders.
"There you are, Zelda!" She looked behind her and saw Purah, smiling brightly at her, "I almost didn't see you in this crowd!"
"Yeah, there are," She paused, looking around, "a lot of people here."
"Right?" Purah responded, "Anyway, come on, Mipha and my sister are waiting for us inside!"
She grabbed Zelda's arm and guided her through the crowd, not letting go until they were near their seats, where Mipha and a younger white-haired girl sat. Purah waved at them both excitedly, catching their attention as they reached them.
"Here she is!" She exclaimed, "Found by yours truly, snap!" She struck a pose with that last word, causing both of her friends to giggle,
"Hey!" Mipha greeted, getting up from her seat to hug Zelda, "I was going to wait outside for you, but I got scared we wouldn't find any seats later so I saved us some. Impa came with me too." Taking her cue, the younger girl stood up and stuck her hand out around Mipha to politely shake her hand. She looked a little nervous to Zelda, so she offered her a soft smile as she took her hand.
"I'm Zelda," She greeted, "Nice to meet you Impa, your sister has told us so much about you."
"Hi," Impa replied softly, looking a little embarrassed at Zelda's comment, "It's really nice to finally meet Purah's friends."
"She's getting into Central this year," Her older sister stated proudly, "So I wanted to bring her along to get to know the school and the atmosphere."
"It's really big," The younger one said, "And with way more people than Kakariko."
"Yeah," Mipha said as they all sat down, "Though I haven't seen this many people at a game since the start of last season."
The seats were around half full, which was way more than any of them had expected. Zelda couldn't figure out how a struggling team could amass such an audience at all, let alone in a preseason practice game.
"I hope they have a good showing today," Purah said, "It would make such a nice story."
They laughed at this, she never truly stopped thinking about what to write or photograph for the school paper.
"They might if Revali is on top form today," Mipha replied, "Maybe he'll shut up with so many people watching."
"Oh he isn't on the team anymore," Zelda said without thinking, "Link told me during summer break-" She realized her mistake as soon as those words left her mouth, her eyes going wide as she realized none of her friends knew about their conversations.
"Link?" Purah asked, looking at Mipha, "Is he like a player or something?"
"Yep, she probably went to talk to him after their last game," She replied, a mischievous smile growing on her face, "Thought he was cool."
"You did?" Purah asked, now turning around to look at her other friend, her mouth wide open. "How come I didn't know about this?"
"I didn't!" Zelda denied with her face flushed, ignoring Purah, "We just happened to meet after, you know?"
"Uh huh," Mipha replied sarcastically, "Then how did he tell you about Revali leaving? I doubt you happened to run into him again on the break."
"I-," She tried to think of a convincing lie, before giving up and looking down in embarrassment, "We may or may not have exchanged numbers then."
All hell broke loose after those words, with both of her friends shrieking and asking her more questions than Zelda thought imaginable. How did you guys meet? Was that why you stayed after Mipha left? When did you start talking? Do you like him or something? And so many more. She decided to ignore them and instead look away, hoping for the game to start soon. Luck was on her side, Zelda thought as a siren blared, but her friends would not relent, the game was now the furthest thing from their minds.
"I'll tell you later, okay?" She finally conceded, "I promise"
"Can you even answer one of the questions? Not even one? Pleeease, give us something!" Purah pleaded.
"Ugh, fine," Zelda thought for a bit before answering, "I did stay after Mipha left so I could maybe talk to him, not because I like him or anything! He was just really kind, okay?"
"No way!" Mipha almost screamed, "I knew it!"
"Anyway, can we please watch the game now?" Zelda begged.
"Fine, but this conversation is SO not over." Purah relented, and Mipha nodded, supporting her friend's last words.
"Hello everybody! Thank you all for coming here today," A voice ran out from the speakers, "Please welcome our players to the field," The announcer continued, "starting with the visiting team: Castle Town High!"
The crowd clapped as the players came onto the field, showing respect to the opponents. They lined up to the right of the pitcher's mound, waving at the people in the seats. The announcers proceeded to name each player on the starting lineup, which drew even more claps from the audience.
"They even got the announcers back," Mipha thought out loud, "They're really going all out today." Zelda noticed her friend was starstruck as if hit with a wave of emotion at the scene in front of her.
"And now, please welcome…" The voice paused for a moment, letting the tension build up, "Our very own: Central High!" The crowd clapped, with some cheers scattered throughout. While the people in the stands were at least somewhat connected to the team, Zelda could tell that they were still skeptical about them, based on their past performances.
The team's forest green shirts contrast against their opponents' white ones. Link walked in front as they lined up on the other side of the pitcher's mound, proudly facing their home crowd. The announcer started reading off their names and positions, with Mipha cheering loudly for every player. This continued as they got to the bottom of the list, leaving ample space for the crowd to cheer between each of the starting players.
"And our catcher," One announcer said, before raising his voice, "Yunobo Goron!"
This time, an unexpectedly large group of people got up from their seats and cheered loudly. As Zelda looked towards them, she could see them holding up signs and waving their hands, clearly showing some favoritism towards the player; while the catcher himself looked down and scratched the back of his head, thankful but a little flushed.
"They are the owners of Goron Sporting Goods!" Impa exclaimed, getting up from her seat, "I go there all the time!"
Both Mipha and Zelda were surprised at Purah's sister, as she hadn't spoken much since they had sat down.
"You do?" the former asked, hoping to draw the younger girl into a conversation, "What sport are you into?"
"Oh, um, I play volleyball." Impa replied sheepishly, as if she hadn't meant to draw attention to herself before continuing, "I get everything I need at their store, they're really nice and welcoming."
"That's great!" Zelda replied, trying to get to know her friend's sister, "I think we have a really good volleyball program here."
"That's one of the reasons I decided to come here," She admitted, looking more comfortable than before, "My sister recommended I join."
"And last but definitely not least," The announcer exclaimed over the speakers before they could continue talking, "Our new pitcher! Link Wild!"
Zelda got up from her seat to cheer, not caring about the questions that her friends would undeniably throw her way later. Her friends giggled for a bit before standing up as well. Link smiled at the crowd, waving at them before his eyes landed on Zelda and her group, giving them a wide grin. She smiled back as she cheered, sending all the possible luck she could muster his way. This caused Mipha and Purah to go into a frenzy, mercilessly teasing her friend.
"No way!" Mipha said, her attention going away from teasing Zelda as she pointed her finger at Link, "He's number 1?!"
The other three looked at his jersey, the number was clearly visible in white lettering below the word "Central". Still, they didn't understand how that meant anything or why it was important.
"So?" Purah asked, raising her eyebrow.
"In Hyrule, that number is special." Mipha replied.
She looked on in awe as the players took their positions, Link stood proudly atop the mound.
"How so?" Zelda chimed in with her own question, no able to take the tension.
"In almost every high school in Hyrule, that number is reserved for the ace."