One more strike!
One more strike!
The chants filled the stadium.
...but they were distant for the players on the field,
...the summer heat beating down on them.
The pitcher arched over,
...seeking the signal.
The single finger went down.
Fastball.
"Finish it with a heater," the catcher mouthed from behind the plate.
The pitcher's reply.
The windup.
The step.
The throw--
"...ta"
"Kouta!"
"Kouta!"
"Kouta!"
His eyes opened, and the sunlight from the gap in the curtains shone into his eyes.
"Kouta! How much longer are you going to sleep for? You're going to be late, you know!"
He groaned and twisted in his bed, glancing at the clock on his bedside table:
07:21
"Ah."
---
"Kouta!" Said the brown-haired lad as he slung his arm over Kouta's shoulders, "We're gonna be in the same class again right? Yoroshiku!"
"You don't know that for sure, do you?" He replied, "We haven't even got to school yet."
"Maa, maa, don't mind the details! I just kinda have this feeling, y'know?"
"Taku*," Kouta mumbled. Oh yeah... I haven't introduced myself yet, have I? I'm a high school freshman at Seishun Academy, Koutaro Keiichi. And this brown-haired boy is my childhood friend, Shouta Shinichi. Our nicknames? Kouta and Shouta... yeah, we get mixed up a lot.
But well... there is one place where we do differentiate ourselves.
"Hey, hey, Kouta!" Shouta called as he ran across to the back of the classroom during lunch break, "Hey, you wanna go check out the baseball team? I heard they're REALLY good!" He said, hanging off the side of the desk.
"Sure, let's go," Kouta said, picking up his stuff, then stopping and blew some air out of his nose in amusement.
"Hey! What? Why're you laughing?" Shouta asked.
"We didn't get put in the same class - so much for your feeling," Kouta replied, walking off chuckling.
---
Ki--n!
One, two! One two! One two!
Next! Centre!
"Whoa-ho, they're pretty gung-ho about this, aren't they?" Shouta swooned, walking up to the high fence surrounding the baseball grounds.
"They'll have to be," Kouta said, sitting down on the grass, "Look over there," He said.
Shouta followed his line of vision to the bullpens where three batteries were hard at work, "Whoo~, they're really going at i--"
YOU ARE READING
Neraiuchi! (Aim and Hit!) Oneshot
General FictionKoutaro Keiichi and Shouta Shinichi are freshmen at Seishun Academy, renowned for their baseball team's prowess at Koshien last year. As they join this powerful team with some of the best players around the world, how far will they go and where will...
