Forbidden Protege

Ch. 3: Pitchers (Part 4)

"Fancy meeting you here," Miyuki called as he rested a hand on the handle to his room. He looked down the stairs at Alexia as she made her way to him. She was smirking.

"If I didn't know better I'd say you were stalking me," she said teasingly. Miyuki chuckled as his eyes were drawn towards her thigh. Unintentionally, he was staring. Alexia chuckled. "I know I'm hot, dude, but do you really have to stare?"

Miyuki jerked his gaze back up to her face and felt a light blush creep onto his cheeks. "Sorry, I didn't mean to. I just didn't realize that you had a tattoo." Alexia blinked at him, not quite understanding. "On your thigh, there's a tattoo."

"Oh!" she exclaimed, recognition showing on her face. "Sorry, I didn't realize you could see it with these shorts." She looked down at her own leg and sure enough she could see the bottom part of her tattoo. "Huh." She looked back at him and waved her hand in front of her face. "Anyway, why didn't you tell me about Eijun? His pitching is amazing."

Miyuki snorted. "That's not quite the word that I would use."

"No, no. I mean, his potential." Alexia's face was lit up and she spoke. "His form is horrendous and his control is worse. Doesn't have much power either, but... he's got a real weapon. If it's honed, he could probably be an amazing pitcher." Alexia's eyes were now dancing with stars and Miyuki felt drawn into her enthusiasm. "I've met and played against a lot of different pitchers, good ones, the best in the nation, but he's different. Furuya is great, too, but there was a guy on my team that could throw almost as fast. I've seen ones like him before, but something, something, is different about Eijun." Alexia paused, catching her breath. "I've only caught a few of his pitches, but I'm fairly certain that at some point he could learn several types of breaking balls."

This caught Miyuki's attention. "What do you mean by that? Didn't you just say you've only caught a few of his pitches?"

"Yeah I have," Alexia confirmed. "But his style is pliable." Miyuki's look of confusion prompted her to explain better. "His form is unique, and he holds his leg higher, but that's at his perfect comfort range. I could tell that he's self-taught and that leg height is what's best for him. Then there's the fact that when he throws, how he twists his body lines his arm up with the plate almost directly. He seems to be extremely flexible, too." Miyuki nodded, letting Alexia continue spewing her thoughts. "I've done a lot of studying about pitching forms that are ideal for different pitching types. Like how Furuya's ideal form would be different that Nori's. If my gut feeling is right, then Eijun's form is ideal for throwing breaking balls. Not to mention, his natural moving fastball."

Miyuki hummed to himself, mulling over what Alexia was saying. It made sense. The little bit of time that Miyuki had spent catching for Eijun, he could tell that the kid had potential. He didn't put the same type of weight on his potential that Alexia did, though. "Well, he certainly has potential," Miyuki said, indecisively. He was hesitant to agree entirely and Alexia didn't push him for it either.

She scratched the back of her neck with her hand and Miyuki realized that she was carrying a shower bag and towel in her left hand. "Sorry for going off like that. I just got a bit excited," she said sheepishly.

Miyuki smiled. "That's alright. Just back from the showers?" He realized after he spoke that it sounded a bit off. 'Well, it's Alexia. I doubt she'll be upset,' Miyuki thought to himself, remembering that she seemed to not care about things like that.

She nodded. "Yeah I am. You too?" Alexia noted that Miyuki was also carrying a shower bag and his hair was slightly dripping. He nodded, then narrowed his eyes slightly. "What is it?"