Southpaw

Batteries Assigned!

"Wait... Mei? Like Narumiya Mei!?"

"Hm?" Sawamura ('Honestly, at this point I'll call him Bakamura for ever') blinked. "Yeah! Do you know him?" He smiled brightly at Kazuya, causing the glasses wearing teen's heart to skip a beat.

"Do I know him?! How do you know him?!" Kazuya spluttered, losing his usual cool. 

The rest of the cafeteria was in no better state, everyone scatted in various degrees of shock. Jun-Senpai had his chopsticks held up to his mouth as if to take a bite, except that the food had already fallen into lap (he still hadn't noticed though). Masuko-Senpai looked too shocked to eat his pudding, and Kuramochi was frozen mid cackle. 

"Miyuki-Senpai, I swear I've already told you this!" Sawamura's eyes were squinted and bore a vague resemblance to a cat. "Mei-Senpai gave me some tips on how to pitch! It's because of him that my form is so stable! Before I met him and Harada-Senpai, my form was still inconsistent." 

"...Nope I haven't heard this before." Kazuya narrowed his eyes at the slim pitcher leaning into his side. He flicked the pitcher on the nose. "You need to tell me these things Sa-Wa-Mu-Ra." Sawamura rubbed his nose, and glared at Kazuya playfully.

"Well its not my fault you don't remember that I told you!" 

"Sa... What month, day, hour, minute, and second did you tell me? I'm listening!" Kazuya cupped his ear and brought it close to the pitcher's mouth, lips curved up in his most obnoxious smirk. Slowly chatter began to fill the cafeteria again as the team started to relax. Kazuya was a little to focused on the pitcher next to him, but he managed to here the screeches of Jun-senpai as he realized where his bite of food went. 

"Moe, Miyuki Kazuya! That's not fair!" Sawamura pouted, swatting at Kazuya and then crossing his arms. To Kazuya's delight, the smaller brunette didn't lean away from him, and instead relaxed more fully into his side. Kazuya inconspicuously wrapped his arm around the pitcher, hoping no one noticed. He didn't know why his instincts wanted him to be so close to Sawamura, but he didn't deny that it felt good. So for now, he wouldn't question it.

***

Chris was confused. Well, not exactly confused... more like uncertain? Miyuki Kazuya was not usually one to get close to people. In fact, Chris would go so far as to say that Miyuki deliberately pushed away people who tried to get close to him. He'd noticed it earlier, the slow changes that Sawamura Eijun was bringing to the team, but the changes to Miyuki were so glaringly obvious to those who had known him for a while now. From earlier when he had caught the battery blushing while watching the Second-string and first-year match, to now, when he pulled the younger boy closer instead of uncomfortably squirming away. Miyuki was most definitely changing and Chris noted that it was for the better. Slowly but surely, the tanuki like boy was being more and more deeply integrated into the team. And Chris... well Chris was kind of envious. If there was one thing that he missed as much as playing the sport, it was the connection with the team. It had been so long and he knew deep down, no matter how much effort he'd put into his physical therapy, he was probably not going to play in his final year. Still he wanted to know... What kind of pitcher was Sawamura Eijun. What kind of power did he have to draw a catcher out of the shadows and into the light of the team? How could he change the team and affect it so deeply without being here for a long time?

***

"Today we are going to assign practice batteries" Rei said, pushing up her glasses. She watched as the group of boys in front of her squirmed in nervous excitement. "Tanba-Kun, you are with Miyauchi-Kun. Kawakami-Kun, you will be working with Miyauchi-Kun as well, but you will also be working with Ono-Kun primarily. Furuya-Kun, You will be working with Miyuki-Kun. And Finally, Sawamura-Kun, you will be working with Miyuki-Kun as well, but you will be with Takigawa-Kun primarily." Rei glanced up at the pitchers and catchers standing in front of her, their eyes glinting with determination.

"Yes Ma'am!" The boys said. Rei noticed that Takigawa's eyes widened in surprise, and Miyuki frowned slightly. 

There were some reasons that Furuya was assigned to Miyuki and not Takigawa.  First, the boy's pitch would likely cause Takigawa to reinjure or further injure hi shoulder. In the same lens, the boy had a severe lack of stamina and control which would hinder his progress with Takigawa who focused on control over speed and power. Miyuki who was still quite strict about those, wouldn't destroy Furuya's confidence. Sawamura on the other hand, had control and charisma. In a way, the coaching staff was hoping that the small brunette would be able to help Takigawa, because they had been unable to. With Miyuki help Furuya improve and catch-up and Takigawa and Sawamura helping each other advance, the pitching staff would improve by leaps and bounds. Kawakami was assinged to two catchers to help his confidence issues and lack of self-esteem (though it had improved since Sawamura had joined), and Tanba was assigned to a single catcher (Miyauchi) to buckle down and focus on his improvement.

"That being said, these assignments are not  permanent. As we progress through the season the first-string catchers will be taking over. Meaning, Takigawa-Kun and Ono-Kun, you should be focusing on developing your pitchers a lot during this time and Kawakami-Kun and Sawamura-Kun should be paying a lot of attention to what your catchers are trying to teach you." 

"Yes Ma'am"

"Yes Ms. Boss!" Eijun shouted. She turned to the other two batteries. 

"Miyuki-Kun and Miyauchi-Kun, you should be focusing on Furuya-Kun and Tanba-Kun. Help them prepare for the summer, but also remember to practice with Kawakami-Kun and Sawamura-Kun. As the summer approaches, your workload will increase and I will expect you to be working with all of the pitchers equally! Furuya-Kun and Tanba-Kun, don't get complacent. You need to work on improving yourselves and getting stronger where you are weak."

"Yes Ma'am!"

"We will be scheduling check-ins with the coaching staff on a weekly basis where all of the batteries will reflect on progress and goals. Keep this in mind while you train: training mindlessly is a waste of time!" Rei pushed up her glasses again. "What are you waiting for? Get to work!"

***
Hello Everyone! I'm sorry for missing last week's update, I am currently in the midst of finals... Catch me slowly drowning in my workload. Anyway, I feel like one of the things I wanted to see with Southpaw, was a more involved coaching staff, and more equal treatment amongst the team. Hence the weekly check-ins (my team actually does this irl) and all of the batteries being assigned together. I think that since Eijun was able to play with Kazuya sooner and at this point Furuya is all speed no control (he's still on the 1st string as well), he's be assigned to Kazuya. Eijun was still assigned to Chris, but this time with the caveat of also working with Kazuya sometimes. I don't hate Furuya and Tanba, and I want them to improve, so I gave them the main focus of the 1st string catchers. Meanwhile Eijun and Nori got the 2nd string catchers and also get to practice with the 1st string catchers. My reasoning for this was: Nori needs more confidence so working with multiple catchers will make him speak up more, and Eijun needs Chris to show him how to be someone the senpai can entrust their 3 years of HS baseball too. I think with these pairings, Eijun can start to realize more clearly the role of the ace.

Question of the Week: Who is Chris Envious of? Why? Are there any other underlying reasons that you think why he might be?

Anyway, Love you all!
Cinnamon_Roll