Strikeout

Prologue

Middle school, Year 3 — Autumn 

It's like one of those cliché situations a hero would get themselves into when they wanted to prove something. It's a situation where it's one against fifteen and the protagonist has no chance of winning, and needless to say, they get their asses kicked. The protagonists would lie on the floor, wondering why they were so weak and maybe cry themselves to sleep when they got home.

Sora was kind of in that situation.

It was one against thirteen.

She was against a dumb leader and his gang of rag-tag misfits who kept harassing her family's ramen shop whenever they decided to come in, as well as bugging her after school and didn't seem to take a hint she wasn't interested—apparently the leader liked her, but, he was really gross. Sora ignored them at first, but after hearing her guardians complain about them, she decided to take matters into her own hands.

By calling the leader out when saw that stupid face of his.

How lucky she was they went to her school so they could settle this like mature, young adults.

"What do ya want ya dumb bitch?"

Perhaps not.

Sora sighed.

"Stop coming around my family's shop. You're ruining business."

Not to mention they were scaring off customers with their ugly mugs.

The guy who Sora presumed to be the leader, stepped forward, hands in his pockets and bent forward, scrunching his face into an ugly look.

"Eh? Ya want us to stop? Why don't ya make us?" He sneered.

Sora removed a hand from her sweater pocket and placed it on the back of her neck. She scratched it, ruffling her short charcoal colored hair slightly. Her steel-grey eyes flickered to the sky and then to the leader, they glazed over.

"I won't ask you again. You either leave my family alone or I'll kick your ass."

A chorus of laughter filled the air. The leader was laughing the hardest, he held his gut and bent over on his knees, banging the ground with his fist. Sora removed the hand from behind her neck and glanced at her nails. She let them laugh until they finally shut up and the leader was on his feet again.

"Yer just askin' for it, ain't ya girlie?"

He threw his head back and laughed again. The group started closing in on Sora from all sides.

"I warned you..."

Sora trailed off as the leader approached her. He grabbed the front of her school uniform pulling her towards him a little. Her eyes glanced at the surrounding gang members, as they were ready to pounce on her at moment's notice. The leader began lifting her off the ground by a little.

She grabbed the leader's hand and then swung her leg forward. Never mind she flashed a bunch of delinquents and they stared as her foot connected to their leader's chin, biting his tongue and letting her go. Sora dropped to the ground landing on her feet. She quickly twisted the leader's arm behind his back and then kicked him forward. He ate the ground. She slowly lowered her leg and her hands returned to her sweater pockets.

Sora didn't even get another word in as the leader ordered his goons to attack, picking himself off the floor with a bloodied nose. She sighed as she pulled up her red scarf to her nose.

Guess they weren't going to settle this like mature young adults after all.

***

This day has gone from normal to weird.

One moment Miyuki was walking home from baseball practice and the next minute a guy comes flying out of the nearby alleyway, startling him. He looked like a yankee judging by the pompadour, long uniform and general appearance. A couple of people stopped to see what was up, and then continued on their merry way as if someone didn't just fly out of an alleyway and smack right into a telephone pole.

He heard the sound of something shifting through boxes, bottles and trashcans. A girl with short black hair, a black uniform and a red scarf covering part of her face jumped over a couple of boxes, strolled over to the boy, and bent down to grab him by the collar.

"'scuse me."

A country accent, but she wore a local middle school uniform.

She hauled the boy to his feet, and held him by the front of his shirt. His head rolled back to show he was completely knocked out, a stream of blood ran from his nose, his eye was swollen, and there was a giant lump on his head. It looked like he was in a one-side battle and lost, badly.

The girl clicked her tongue.

"One hit and he's knocked out, not a very capable leader, is he?"

She was talking to herself. She released the guy and he dropped to the floor. She spun around on her heel to face the alleyway she came from. Miyuki followed her gaze and there were a couple of guys who share bruises and bloody noses alike. The girl bent down and picked up a rock, tossing it up and down.

She raised her arm as if she was going to throw it and the boys flinched.

They began running away, but she threw the rock anyways. It soared through the air, smacking one of the boys in the head.

"Get back here you piece of shits! I'm not done with you yet!"

The girl was gone before he knew it. Miyuki scratched his head a little bit, wondering what happened. A local gang fight? Did the girl honesty beat all of those guys up? Should he call someone to help the bleeding boy slumped against a trash can? Miyuki shook his head and continued on his way.

How odd.

What was even more so, was her throwing stance. It was like she was pitching a baseball. The initial wind-up was clean, her body was quite flexible and she paused right before she threw the rock. That form reminded him of someone, but he couldn't quite put a face to a name. 

Miyuki scratched the back of his head and continued on his way.

Ah, well, he'd probably never see her again.