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Chapter 2

Over the last few months Yōyū had been studying rapidly in order to get a high enough grade to pass the entrance exam, and he felt confident that he would pass with flying colors. During his breaks from studying Yōyū would go outside and set up a net to pitch into. He learned some more pitches and practiced them repeatedly. He was able to add a slider and a curveball to his growing number of pitches and he wanted to be able to preform a crossfire pitch by the time high school started.

'Even though I know I'm a decent pitcher I have to be ready to play other positions, because there is always someone that is more worthy of taking my place.' Yōyū thought as he threw against the wall of an abandoned warehouse and practiced stretching from a base so when it came to it in a game he would be able to get an out. As Yōyū was practicing he didn't notice the new presence that had appeared and now was watching his performance. "Ok, I've done enough stretching." he mumbled and Yōyū backed up enough to where he stood the distance from home plate to the pitching mound. Then he began to rotate his shoulders, "I'll do three of each of my pitches then see if it changes much when I take off my weights." he told himself quietly.

The person who was secretly observing Yōyū tilted their head in confusion. 'Weights?'

After stretching out for a bit Yōyū stood up straight and stood calmly on his imaginary mound. 'There are two outs with runners on third and second, their last inning with the scores tied four to four.' He took a deep breath and his eyes peeked out before they opened fully to reveal his illuminating gaze, that was zoomed in on the 'batter' his aurora seemed to make the air around him denser, showing that the pitcher had one goal in mind. Get the out!

The spectator, Rei Takashima let out a gasp and her eyes widened. The boy in front of her transforming from a calm breeze into a destructive cyclone.

Yōyū slowly brought his leg up as high as he could and he remained in the position for a few moments before he drew his throwing arm back. His other arm coming down in front of his balanced form, his glove facing the ground and he held his elbow high, creating an invisible shield that obstructed the batter's view of the ball. Just when he was about to release his pent up energy in a quick practiced movement his fingers rotated the ball into a different grip at the last second. Yōyū whipped his arm down, snapping his wrist, putting a heavy rotation on the ball making it dance its way to home plate before it slammed into the low inside corner of the small square that was drawn out on the wall, representing his strike zone.

Rei was left the stare in amazement, her mind replaying Yōyū's movements over and over again. What really caught her attention was the way he changed his grip on the ball as he was in the middle of his pitching form. She began to get excited and her mind flashed back to the other boy that she scouted the other day. 'There are so many interesting players these days.' Rei thought as she eagerly watched him practice his pitches.

After pitching most of his other grips Yōyū finally caught a glance of his spectator. He chuckled lowly after getting over his shock of being watched. 'I guess I can spice up my last pitch, I was going to wait for this one but I'm so excited to try it out!'

Yōyū stared at the strike zone absently and began to rotate his grip on the ball until he found a comfortable one for his next pitch. He took a deep breath and drew his leg up, but instead of raising it high it he kept it low and pivoted on his other heel. Rotating his body, but instead of facing the plate Yōyū planted his foot, keeping his form closed. His body felt enclosed but a grin stretched across his lips and he maneuvered his shoulders so that his body from the waist up would follow and face the strike zone. With a quick movement the ball whipped out and shot across the imaginary plate to the high outside corner of the strike zone. "I did it!" Yōyū shouted and a look of pure happiness shrouded his face his aurora seemingly becoming brighter. But soon as the flame came it was vanquished, leaving an silent boy who looked at his audience.