More Than A Shadow

Hopeless

Hello there! I hope 2021 started well for everyone. I can't believe it's May. Really... I can't believe it. I never thought that it would take me that long to update so I apologize for that.

The last chapter was kinda hard for me to write. I enjoyed writing the fun parts with Mei but I struggled with writing the most appropriate portrayal of Mei's loss in Koshien. In the end, I settled with Azusa being in disbelief at first but quickly moving on.

This chapter is also going to be hard for me to write. I really hate how I have to go through the difficult parts of the series so I can get to the good stuff with more original content created by me. The next chapter will be very fun, I promise! This one not so much.

As always, thank you for your support.

I apologize for any grammar errors beforehand.

Disclaimer: I don't own Daiya No Ace, Yuji Terajima does. I only own my OC.

Enjoy and stay safe!

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The practice game against Yakushi started with Furuya who was going all out in the beginning. He was motivated to say the least. Azusa overheard him when he asked the coach if he could pitch for all nine innings. That idiot. Why was he being so reckless when that was Sawamura's go-to trait? But Azusa had to give it to him. Furuya had guts and was being reliable.

Seido managed to score the first run and Furuya did not concede any runs either. Furuya even overpowered Todoroki when everyone thought that he scored a home run. However, Seido only had Furuya going on at the moment. The team was not meshing well and it was glaringly obvious during the game.

That didn't necessarily mean that Seido was not playing well. It's just that they couldn't come together. Individually they were all great. In particular, Toujou, Kuramochi, and Kominato made amazing plays. Despite being in the three-hole, Zono was still struggling with his style of pitching.

All the way through the sixth inning, Furuya was the star of the game. He was doing great both at pitching and batting. However, he was going all out and it was starting to show since Yakushi adopted a more aggressive style of playing to tire him out more. Exploiting Furuya's greatest weakness which was his lack of stamina.

Although Furuya persevered and didn't concede any runs during the sixth inning, the coach decided to switch him out for Sawamura who was dying to go up to the mound. Azusa thought that Sawamura was going to jump up and down in happiness but instead he was acting quite different. He was quiet and even looked tense. He didn't even do his usual speech at the beginning of the inning.

'What the hell is wrong with you Bakamura?' the manager thought in concern. Was he cracking under pressure because of Furuya's performance?

Sawamura even messed up his first pitch. It was obvious that he was too tense.

'This already is not going well...'

Sawamura gave up a hit and now there was a runner on first base. That was the second pitch that he messed up. Miyuki wanted him to be aggressive since he was up to Yakushi's three-hole, and Azusa was feeling his aggression. His pitch seemed to have power and his control was actually decent for a change. But something was wrong. He was not delivering.

' Don't tell me that he...,' the manager began thinking in dread.

As if things were not bad easy, Todoroki Raichi was up to bat. Todoroki was not only an amazing batter, but he also scored a home run off Sawamura during the summer tournament that affected him pretty badly. Azusa was hoping that Sawamura was not experiencing any flashbacks that could make him tense.