Chapter 1
he felt so close yet so out of reach
* * * * * * *
......
Takashima Rei froze at where she stood. Her throat felt uncomfortably dry as she was at a sudden loss for words at what she was currently seeing.
She gulped nervously, suddenly hyperaware of the silence that enveloped the whole room. Her brows furrowed, pursing her nude-shaded lips in which she put on earlier that morning to meet her latest recruit in a more professional setting than what happened a few days ago.
She could already tell that it was not going well.
She wasn't sure whether she should step forward or backward; hence, she was in a standstill and her mind went back-and-forth at what she should be doing at this point, never knowing how to deal with... this. Whatever this was.
Her spectators (if one could even call them that), on the other hand, seemed to share her sentiments; they, too, were suspended in a frozen state from the unforeseen interruption from her end, she guessed.
The time stopped or so what it felt like. No one moved. An awkward silence occurred.
If they were some fictional characters of a kid's movie, Rei could practically imagine the cartoonish tumbleweed rolling in between as the sound of crickets played in the back. It would have been a funny sight and she would have been smiling in amusement if she weren't the one stuck in this very predicament.
She could feel the secondhand embarrassment all the way from here.
......
She stared without blinking.
......
They all looked back unflinchingly, though various emotions swam in the assortment of colors gazing at her.
Tawny brown eyes were crying, in an outrageously dramatic way might she add. A pair of caramels were scrutinizing her curiously. Coffee browns went from mid-furious until a second passed and it quickly turned nonchalant. Coppery, meanwhile, stared in obvious panic. The remaining golden looked on in horror, perfectly capturing her internal reaction.
......
If this was a staring contest, Rei would instantly back out and admit her defeat. She couldn't take the heavy pressure emanating from their gazes alone. She gritted her teeth and straightened her posture, unwilling to be intimidated.
She merely deadpanned at the sight that greeted her as soon as the door opened. It truly made the mind wonder. It appeared to be an act of committing murder in broad daylight.
She should be calling the police, no?
She has just arrived and barely spoke with the boy and his family, but there's this sense of iffy-ness gnawing her gut.
For the very first time, she hesitated. 'Is she seriously making a wise decision by coming here?'
For context, let's turn the clock to a few days ago. The day she met the embodiment of sunshine and felt the salty summer breeze forcefully brushed past her face, until she could do nothing but stare and make haste.
* * * * * * *
Thirty minutes.
Rei has been spending the last half-hour in silently watching the young pitcher in the mound and yet...... She couldn't get enough of it. She couldn't escape the trance she went into after seeing him pitch.
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center of the universe
Fanfiction[Daiya no Ace fanfic || ON-GOING] A rewrite, a what if, a story of possibilities. "He was the ace at the top of the diamond. He was the star in the endless darkness. He was the eye of an impending storm. He was the sun at the center of the universe...
