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Running the Bases

PART I - FIRST BASE

A Fan in the Stands

Mihashi noticed her first, since he stumbled out first onto the field, trying to escape from another one of Abe's fits of temper. Her presence took him by surprise. Very few people, and even fewer girls, ever attended their practices, which were usually early in the morning, like now, or right after school until very late. He looked at her, then back at Abe, then back at her, then back at Abe, his head twisting back and forth, his mousey brown hair flipping side to side, his fishlike mouth trying to form words to call out to his teammates.

Mihashi's strange actions, coupled by the stuttering of Abe's name, angered the irascible catcher even more.

"What's the matter with you? Why are you moving your head like that? You'll pull a neck muscle!" Abe scolded, then realized that Mihashi was looking at something, or someone out in the stands. "What are you looking at?" the catcher in full gear asked as he climbed onto the field from the dugout. Abe followed the course of Mihashi's continuous head rotation. Then he took off his face mask to get a better look.

There was a girl in the stands. She sat near the dugout, along the first baseline, holding an obsolete film camera with a long telephoto lens, to her eye. Since school uniforms were not required at their public school, it was not obvious whether she was from Nishiura.

' A spy!' Abe immediately jumped to the conclusion based on his own tendency to investigate other teams. ' She must have been sent by our next competitors. How audacious! In broad daylight. Soooo obvious. Idiot! ' he muttered to himself as he approached the stands, stomping across the damp earth.

She looked to be a first year, judging by her size and lack of an ample chest. Under the early morning sun, she wore a plain pink T-shirt covered by a red windbreaker jacket. Her T-shirt hung loosely over a long dark blue skirt, giving an impression of disorder, which was supported by the messiness of her hair, pulled back in a loose pony tail and barely secured with a barrette. She did not have bangs, which was just as well since her forehead was not high enough for bangs to be attractive.

She appeared to be taking pictures of them, without permission.

'Hey you! What do you think you're doing?" Abe barked. It didn't matter to him whether the spy was of the fairer sex. An enemy was an enemy and had to be stopped. He was ready to pick her up and throw her out on her can if necessary.

The girl lowered her camera and squinted at him. She picked up a steno pad from the bench, consulted it, and looked back at the catcher. "Abe, Takaya," she said, nonplussed. "Catcher, number two, bats and throws right. Played in the Senior league in high school." Then she frowned, picked up a pen from the bench and scribbled in her notepad.

"Hey! I asked what you're doing here. If you're spying on us, get out right now!" Abe threatened from below.

"I'm Sakai Risa from the school newspaper. They sent me over here to take some pictures, do some interviews, write an article. After beating Tosei, you guys are practically celebrities." She flashed a sarcastic smile.

Abe was not ready to give any ground on having unauthorized personnel during their practice. And he did not like her cool demeanor. "Doesn't matter. You don't have permission to be here," he said abruptly.

"Umm, you know, this is a public school, and I do attend class here, so I don't need permission to be here." She looked him squarely in the eyes.

"You do need permission to take our pictures," Abe insisted. Even though he knew they should be honored that the school paper thought them worthy of news, he felt he couldn't back down now, especially after accusing her of being a spy.

Meanwhile, back at the dugout, Abe's threats could be heard by everyone. His loud voice carried well in the morning stillness.

"Hanai, go over and see what's going on," Momoe ordered. She folded her arms under her pendulous bosom and stared out of the dugout. Unlike Abe, she was more curious than mad.

"Maybe she's a fan," Tajima suggested excitedly. His freckled face grinned stupidly. "I'll go over and offer her my autograph."

"Hold on. You're not famous yet." Momoe placed a firm hand on her third baseman's shoulder. She looked at the team captain and nodded her order again.

The girl was about to reply to Abe's last retort, when a tall, slender, but strongly built, boy with a crew cut jogged over. "Coach asked me to see what's going on here," Hanai explained to Abe.

"What's going on is your catcher is trying to suppress the freedom of the press! I'm here to write an article on your team and all I get are threats from this Neanderthal!" Even though the words were said in a raised voice, the girl seemed amused rather than angry.

As Hanai came closer he recognized her. He had seen her around at school, but she wasn't in his class and he didn't know her name, but that was good enough for him to decide she wasn't someone suspicious. "I'm sorry, please excuse us. I'll tell the Coach. I'm sure we'll do whatever we can to help. Thank you for supporting us," Hanai said politely rather than accusing her of stalking the players. He bowed respectfully before reporting back to Momoe.

Abe glared at the girl and followed Hanai back to the dugout. 'Reporters, paparazzi. they're the worst!' he growled to himself. But having a reporter here was not a complete surprise. After they beat Tosei, Mihashi was even mentioned in the high school baseball news. But still.

' Baseball players, sports stars, dumb jocks.they're the worst! ' Risa muttered to herself. ' Why did I get stuck with this assignment? '

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Author's Notes: The purpose of these series of interview is to give the reader some background of the chars which you may know from the manga or anime already, but it's nice to have a refresher. Also, I know nothing of Japanese pro baseball teams so I'm using some player names and teams from "One Outs" another good baseball manga/anime.

Team Interviews - Momoe

"Eh, so she's from the school paper," Momoe mused after Hanai's report. "You guys are now famous! You'll have to live up to that - extended practice today!"

The ten members of the team all groaned in unison. Before their match with Tosei, they had been practicing from dawn until school opened, then again after school until 9PM. Momoe cut back the hours after their win, but now it seemed she was all riled up again.

Before anyone had a chance to protest, though no one would in fear of Momoe's mighty hands, a voice called out: "Excuse me! Excuse me! Coach!"

Momoe came out of the dugout and found the reporter girl waving at her from the stands. "Hi, I'm Sakai Risa from the school paper. I hope you don't mind me taking some pictures. I'd like to interview you, if you're not busy right now," she shouted.

"Me?" Momoe's face turned a shade redder.

"You're famous now, Momokan! Go Coach go!" cheered her team.

"All right you guys. You know the routine. Go!" Momoe ordered, before taking a deep breath in preparation for her interview. She walked out of the dugout and climbed up to sit amiably by the girl in the red jacket. Momoe quickly appraised her interviewer as the girl flipped through her notebook, looking through her previous notes. She did not look like she was happy to be here at 6:30 in the morning. But she was here and that meant something - she was dedicated to her work.

And there was something about her that reminded Momoe of herself at the same age. Maybe it was her simple clothes, her seemingly lack of attention to her looks. Her hair looked like it had never been permed, colored, or conditioned. In fact, it looked like it needed to be brushed - very badly.

"I'm sorry about taking photos without your permission." The girl smiled at Momoe, but she didn't sound sorry at all. "I wanted to get some candid shots before they realized I was a reporter," she explained.

"No problem," Momoe replied. "I have to apologize for our catcher. He has a tendency to fly off the handle; pun intended, ha-ha." Momoe laughed nervously. Why did this fifteen-sixteen-year-old girl make her nervous, when she was able to control a bunch of hormonally challenged teenage boys? Maybe she was just not good with interviews.

"Umm, okay, let's start," said the newbie reporter. "I collected some general background information, but I'd like you to confirm it."

Momoe nodded, wondering what her sources were.

"I have here that you graduated from Nishiura five years ago."

Momoe nodded guardedly. She was rather protective of her age.

"Were you on the girl's softball team back then?"

"Well, I was on the softball team back in middle school. I was the manager of the baseball team while I was here. That was when we used a soft baseball."

"Ah, yes, I have here that Nishiura switched to hard balls this year. Was that your doing?"

"Yes, I recommended it to our faculty advisor."

"That's Shiga-sensei, the math teacher?"

Momoe nodded again. Even though this was her chance to advertise for players, to highlight her team, to give them all credit, she felt terribly uncomfortable answering questions. What if she gave out too much information? Could it be relayed to other schools and the information used against her team? Was she being as paranoid as Abe?

"Why did you decide to go hardball?"

"I wanted to be able to compete, really compete." Momoe wanted to be the coach of a respectable baseball team. Soft baseball teams were laughed at by the hard ball teams.

"So that means you're a big baseball fan."

"Of course."

"What's your favorite pro team?"

"Ah well, I grew up watching the Lycaons."

"So you favor underdogs?"

"I guess you can say that," Momoe replied. The girl seemed to be interested by her underdog preference.

"Okay, so you were the baseball manager back then. What did you do?"

"Oh, you know, the usual manager stuff like providing drinks and towels."

"Please don't be modest. I've heard you have good baseball skills, too."

"Ah, well, I did help out. We were short on members so I took part in the practices." Momoe wondered again what kind of research this reporter already had on her and her team. Did she talk to the parents? Fans? Did she have access to school records?

"Well, looks like you have the experience and motivation to form a solid team, even if it's just their first year. I have to say, they were very impressive. Tell me, how were you able to beat Tosei? What did you do to prepare for them?" The girl seemed sincerely curious.

But Momoe was wary. "I'm sorry, I can't give away trade secrets. But I can tell you we practiced very, very hard and we're lucky to have some good experienced players."

"All right, I can understand that. Why don't you just tell me a bit about the team members, off the record, just so I know how to approach them during our interviews, to make them feel more comfortable. I'm sure they must be nervous about their first interview, even if it's just for the school paper."

' I should be able to answer something like that. And she seems like she's being considerate, ' Momoe thought to herself. "Okay, well, first there's our pitcher, Mihashi."

Momoe gave the reporter a quick rundown of her players. Most of the information it seemed she already knew since she didn't write much down on her notepad as Momoe spoke. After she was done, the reporter flipped through her notes again.

"I've heard you're the one who paid for the team's supplies and new equipment, above the usual allowance for clubs."

"Yes, but it's no big deal. I mean, I worked a bunch of part time jobs and saved some money, so I had to do something with it." Momoe didn't like to advertise that she spent much of her savings on the new ball machine, uniforms, balls, and even food. It was something she wanted to do and she did not want anyone thinking they owed her something or that she was some kind of martyr. She just loved baseball, a lot.

"Ever heard of opening an IRA account?" the girl asked with a cynical raise of her right eyebrow.

"Eh?"

"A retirement account," the girl explained.

"Oh, well, that's a long way off. It's better to put it to good use now." Now it seemed the girl was judging her. She seemed to disapprove of Momoe instead of being impressed by her dedication and largesse.

"Hmm," the girl said as she wrote in her notepad. It seemed she was writing a lot more than her response, which made Momoe even more nervous.

"You look pretty tall for a Japanese woman. How tall are you?" The reporter suddenly switched directions. This was not about baseball at all. But Momoe took the bait.

"I'm about 5 feet 5 inches."

"Has it been tough for you to find a boy friend?"

"Huh? How is that relevant?" Momoe felt her face and ears turning very red, more than they ever had during an exciting game.

"I mean, you're spending all your money on a bunch of high school brats. You're here for practice from dawn till nightfall. I don't see a ring on your finger. You probably have no husband or child or any kind of social life. Why would a grown woman be so obsessed with high school baseball? Are you a lesbian?" the girl asked brusquely.

"I'm sorry, but I'm afraid this interview is at an end. I'm here to discuss baseball, not my personal life," Momoe managed to say between clenched teeth. She seriously wanted to grab the reporter's head and squeeze it like a pummelo.

The girl shrugged. "Fans are always more interested in personalities and private lives rather than the actual game. Sells more papers, too."

Momoe abruptly stood up and walked back toward the dugout; her face several shades redder than when she started. 'Reporters, tabloids, teenage girls, gossip.they're the worst!' she growled to herself.

"Please ask your captain to see me next!" the reporter shouted to Momoe's back, as if she had said nothing wrong at all.

Risa

Risa did not like getting up early. She also did not like sports. And most of all she did not like jocks.

The combination of the three put her in a very irritable mood. The assignment of covering the newbie baseball team fell to her because she stupidly raised her hand when the editor asked if anyone present knew anything about baseball. She had proudly raised her hand, because she wanted to show that even though she was a girl, she knew something about sports. She only knew about baseball in detail, and little about any other sport, because her two brothers were baseball fanatics and hogged the television set every time a pro game was on, so she was forced to watch.

The original reason why she paid attention to the games and learned the rules was just so that she could argue intelligently with her brothers and not feel left out at the dinner table. Why anyone found the game exciting was beyond her. Nine innings, six outs per inning, innumerable time outs, a full game easily took two to three hours, not to mention extra inning games. The worst were the low scoring game with nary a hit. Boring, boring, boring.

But no one else wanted to cover a bunch of first years, who were sure to lose in the first round, especially against Tosei. She figured it would be a one time assignment, no big deal, and it would be the first article that would be published with her byline. So she went to the Tosei game, and to everyone's shock, and to her dismay, Nishiura actually won! Granted, it was an exciting game, one of the best she had ever witnessed. During the game, even the steady rain didn't bother her. (It was difficult to take notes and keep her umbrella up the same time.) Afterwards, her editor wanted her to do an in depth follow-up with the manager and players. A full spread, a feature article, he insisted, with photographs and bios.

The newspaper deadline was coming up (it was a weekly paper), which meant no time for her to get everything done without getting up at dawn to be at the early practice. She figured she could interview most of the team today and then write up whatever notes she had. Then the film had to be developed, proofs made, prints selected, that would take another couple of days. So within four days, everything had to be ready for layout and off to the presses. It was a lot of work, but it was exciting and made her pulse race.

It would have been faster if she had a digital camera capable of zooming in, and with a fast shutter speed, but those were expensive. The best were the digital reflex cameras, completely out of her budget. The newspaper club had it on their wish list, but it was not a priority so the reporters and photographers were forced to rely on whatever equipment they each had. At least the club paid for film, and the darkroom was stocked with the processing chemicals and photo paper.

Risa had a good view of the dugout and with her 28-150mm zoom lens, she was able to capture a few good candid shots before she was noticed. There were several of the catcher beating up on the pitcher, number five running around half naked, and the coach, stoically trying to ignore the crazy antics.

The first thing that Risa noticed about the coach was her femininity. She had expected the stereotypical athletic dyke, not a beautiful young woman with boobs Playboy bunnies would envy. Momoe also had long black hair that reached past her back in two perfect braids.

Risa kept her own hair relatively short. Even though she habitually wore it pulled back in a pony tail, her hair was too short to be secured and came loose easily. If she had had hair like Momoe, some wild animal would surely have nested there.

How could anyone manage such luxuriously long hair, especially after a day out in the dusty field?

Then there was Momoe's bodacious bosom. Did she have implants? How could anyone be a decent athlete with those in the way? Wouldn't they put you off balance? At first she felt sure that Momoe must have been very popular in high school. Beautiful, athletic, knowledgeable about sports - every guy's fantasy. So why did it seem that the coach had no life other than with the team? Risa hadn't meant to put the poor woman on the defensive, but her reporter's instinct flashed and told her there was something about this woman's private life that was amiss.

Maybe she was being vindictive. In truth, Risa was envious of Momoe, of girls who were both beautiful and athletic, because she herself was not. Not even close.

Since grade school, Risa was always among the last to be picked for a team, any team, even an all girls' team. When a ball came at her, she would duck in fear. It didn't matter whether it was a volleyball or ping pong ball. Running a mile took her half an hour. There were ninety year old ladies who could speed walk faster than that. When she was young, she had admired those who had such skills to run, hit, catch, somersault, vault; those with strength, speed and flexibility.

But then she found that those who had such skills were overly proud of them and looked down upon those who were clumsy and spastic. Risa learned that jocks were also bullies, using their athletic skills to mask their lack of intelligence - where her skills excelled.

She could have gone to a better, more academically challenging school, but then she would have had more competition, more pressure. She had come to Nishiura, a no name public school, with one goal: to be the top student, the valedictorian, which would all but ensure her entrance to a top college with scholarships.

She thought how unfair it was that academic scholarships were so hard to come by, but just because you could throw a ball a great distance, you were entitled to free money. How easy it was to be an athlete. They were popular, born with natural talent, received loads of attention and lots of money. Professional athletes made more money than scientists and teachers, people who really contributed to the betterment of society.

They didn't know anything about working hard and using their brains. Athletes were arrogant bullies, useless parasites of society, who looked down on everyone else.

She really, really hated jocks.

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Team Interviews - Hanai

Coach Momoe was in quite a bad mood after her interview, made apparent by her yelling out, "Hanai, you're up!" and jerking her head at the girl in the stands; her long black braids whipped angrily about her.

A few of the players expressed disappointment, especially Tajima, that they were not called next, but on second thought, it made perfect sense since Hanai was the team captain. The team had unanimously elected him because of his intelligence, dependability and dedication. Someone like Abe was sure to piss off reporters, and none of the others were terribly bright or articulate enough under pressure.

"Right!" said Hanai in acknowledgement of his coach's order. He, too, felt a bit nervous about his first interview, especially in light of Momoe's sudden change in mood, but he also felt quite honored and was determined to do his best to represent himself and the team in a good light.

"Hanai Azusa, captain, number nine," he said, bowing before the girl who looked much smaller and younger than he did. The girl stared up at him; her brown eyes narrowed and squinted. For some reason, Hanai felt like saluting and giving out his student ID number.

"I know who you are," she finally said. "Take a seat." She nodded at the space next to her. "First, I'd just like to confirm some information I collected through my research. I have here that you were also the captain of your middle school team."

"Yes." Hanai nodded. "It's a great honor to be selected as captain by my current teammates."

"Oh? You mean the coach didn't select you? You were elected by your teammates? Well, that says a lot about how your coach runs things. I'm assuming it wasn't just a popularity contest."

"I.er.it was unanimous.I think," Hanai replied modestly, not sure what the reporter was implying.

"You have any siblings?" It was an abrupt change of topic.

"Yeah, uh, I have two younger sisters, twins."

"You take care of them? Help your parents out?"

"Yes, of course."

"Twins are a handful aren't they?"

Hanai nodded vigorously in agreement, recalling all the times he had to separate them from fighting and all the times they teamed up against him. "You wouldn't believe all the things I've had to put up with. Those two." The term demon spawn was on the tip of his tongue, but Hanai was afraid if that made it into the papers and his parents found out.

"So that's the kind of experience that makes you a responsible captain," the reporter concluded, jotting down various notes.

"I've never thought of it that way, but yeah, I guess that's right." It was true, mediating between the twins, just like he had to do with his team members when they had disagreements. Being patient and helping them with homework, just like keeping his cool with Mihashi and helping some of the guys pass English. He was a big brother to nine kids!

"All right, so you guys beat Tosei. Did you really think you could do it going in?"

"We trained really hard with that intention. You can't win if you think you're going to lose."

The reporter nodded in approval at his standard type answer. "For a new team of first year students to beat last season's first place team is pretty amazing. You guys are stars in the making."

Hanai blushed slightly at the unexpected compliment and rubbed the back of his neck in embarrassment. "Ah, well, we were pretty lucky. Can't say we're stars until we win a few more times."

"You bat fifth. Was that your usual lineup position?"

"No, I used to back fourth."

"The cleanup position? Hmm, does it bother you that you were demoted?"

"It wasn't a demotion!" Hanai said defensively. "We got to pick our positions."

"Really? The coach allowed you to choose your lineup positions? Base on what?"

"Well, uh, I scored second in the field of vision test. Tajima chose to bat fourth, so I ended up batting fifth."

"So, Tajima is better than you."

"No! Yes.I mean... I'm not sure how to answer that." Was this how all reporters worked? Tripping you up so you'd say something controversial? But she was just from the high school paper. Hanai could feel the heat in his face and ears. He didn't want anyone to know how he fell about Tajima, how inferior he felt. Was it so obvious that a stranger to the team could pick up his feelings so easily? He looked down at his clenched hands. Unlike Momoe, he did not have the confidence to just walk away.

'Hah, gotcha. Your Achilles' heel. Pride comes before a fall,' Risa thought in satisfaction. But then she saw that the tall boy in front of her did not exhibit the self-assuredness she had come to expect from a jock. He was not angry at her questions, but rather embarrassed at his own weakness. She retracted her claws.

The girl's officious tone suddenly turned soft. "Actually, no answer is best. You should say, 'It doesn't matter. It's all for the good of the team.' Pat answers like that are best in difficult situations." She smiled at him.

"I.I understand." He nodded at her and straightened his posture. It seemed she meant to test their interview skills, good preparation for the future. He would handle it with aplomb.

"Okay, as captain, can you give me your impression of the players?"

Hanai carefully and diplomatically described the players, leaving out their idiosyncrasies and annoying habits. It was pretty much as Momoe had described so the reporter did not bother to write much down.

"So you're all one big happy family." It was a rhetorical question. Risa could tell from Hanai's hesitation that they were not. 'Gotcha!' She just had to dig deeper and push the right buttons to find something interesting. "Please send in your Ace pitcher next," she ordered.

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Team Interview - Mihashi

"So what was she like?"

"Was she cute?"

"Is she available?"

The team pestered Hanai with questions when he returned from his interview, but he was still going over his answers in his head, wondering if she was going to write about his rivalry with Tajima. "Huh? Cute? I'm not sure. I didn't notice. All right, I guess."

Mizutani shook his head in exasperation. "Not noticing whether or not a girl is cute.are you gay or something?"

Suyama, Tajima, Oki, and Sakaeguchi had to restrain Hanai from pummeling Mizutani into the ground. Mizutani got about a ten second head start before Hanai broke free and began chasing him across the field. "MI-ZU-TA-NI! I'm gonna kill you! I'm gonna rip your error prone arms from their sockets and stuff them right up your."

So much for having the patience of a big brother.

As Hanai pinned Mizutani to the ground, ready to make good on his threat, he was reminded that there was a reporter still hanging around.

"Excuse me! Excuse me!" the girl in the stands yelled. "Please send the Ace pitcher!"

The rest of the team looked around for Mihashi who had suddenly, mysteriously disappeared. Abe found him crouched down under the water fountain in the dugout. "Your turn, Ace! You better get used to doing interviews each time we win!" Abe grabbed Mihashi by the collar, dragged him out of the dugout, and threw him roughly into the stands. "And don't make us look bad! You're representing the entire team!" Abe warned before he went back to batting practice.

Risa was appalled at how Abe treated Mihashi. She watched as the scrawny looking boy tried to lift himself off the ground. She had never seen a jock like him before. He looked more like a bookworm than an athlete. No, that wasn't right either. He didn't look smart enough. He looked like a spineless jellyfish-amoeba primordial creature. "Are you all right?" she asked gently. She was afraid if she used her regular tone, he would suddenly melt away.

The boy made some noise that she took to mean he was fine.

"Come, sit up here." She patted the seat next to her and waited until he oozed into position.

The boy would not look at her. He kept his gaze on his feet. His whole body twitched involuntarily. He was literally jumping out of his skin.

"You're the Ace pitcher?" Her tone held a note of complete disbelief.

Mihashi moved his head enough to signal a nod.

"You're the one who beat Tosei?"

Mihashi nodded again, but this time he tried to form words. "I.I.No.No.It.It.w.was.b.be.cause.Abe." was all Risa could make out.

This was the guy who held Tosei to four runs? He didn't look this wimpy on the mound from what she could recall. Part of her felt sorry for him. The other part wanted to shake him and yell at him to be more articulate. How could she do an interview when she couldn't understand the interviewee? Then it struck her. He was acting like a pledge being bullied by his fraternity brothers. She recognized all the signs, had seen them in herself.

She changed her tone completely - now she was the supportive fan, dripping with admiration. "You must be a great pitcher to hold Tosei back to just four runs. That's amazing for a first year pitcher's debut."

To her surprise, Mihashi shook his head and tears rolled down his cheeks. "N.No, no I'm not. It.It's only be.because.Abe's the c.catcher."

' Okay,' Risa reasoned, 'I think he's saying that he's not that great a pitcher and he's crediting the catcher for his success.' It was like pulling teeth. This interview was going to take at least three times longer than normal. This was not something she had expected at all. The pitcher was beyond shy, as Momoe and Hanai had implied. He was clinically phobic. That indicated a traumatic past. ' Gotcha!' her reporter's instinct flashed.

"You used to pitch for Mihoshi Academy Middle school?"

At the mention of Mihoshi, the boy looked like he shrank a few more inches.

"You were their Ace pitcher? What was your record?"

That was absolutely the wrong question as Mihashi started to cry in earnest.

"Hey, are you okay? Was it that bad there? Did they bully you?"

Mihashi shook his head. "M.m.my fault.l.I.lost.e.ry.g.game."

"You mean you pitched every game and lost every game? Didn't they have another pitcher?"

More moans and groans emanated from the boy's fishlike orifice. He was slumped so low, he was practically sliding off the seat. Risa made a note to follow up on this later and avoid the topic for now. She fished for a pack of tissues in her jacket and handed it over to Mihashi. She looked at her watch as he cleaned himself up. It was an hour before she needed to get ready for class and she hadn't had breakfast yet. Risa sighed and rummaged in her backpack, taking out a juice box and a sweet red bean bun.

After another look at the pathetic pitcher, she offered her breakfast to him. He looked as if he needed it more than her. The only part of him that looked well formed was his muscular pitching arm. The uniform hung over his small frame like a coat rack.

Mihashi had not eaten that morning except for the putrid protein drink that Momoe forced down his throat before practice. He was running late as usual and had forgotten to grab the lunchbag that his mother had left out for him. So it was with great appreciation and alacrity that he accepted Risa's gift of food, barely mumbling his thanks. Food always calmed him down and made him feel better.

'She's really nice,' he thought. 'Not that scary at all.'

To Risa's surprise, Mihashi literally shoved the entire bun in his mouth, swallowing it in one gulp. "Hey, careful, wouldn't want the team's Ace to choke," she admonished gently. "If you're that hungry, you can have this, too." Risa decided to sacrifice her lunch and offered Mihashi two salmon and sesame riceballs.

"I.I.sh. shouldn't. W.what.a. about you?" Mihashi managed to articulate.

"It's all right. I still have a banana and another juice box. Don't worry, I'll be fine." She smiled at him. As she waited patiently for Mihashi to finish eating, Risa took out a business card from her wallet. It was self-made, printed with her name and cell phone number. Under that, "Reporter/Photographer" and "Nishiura High School Newspaper" was printed in bold fancy script. Nishiura's school symbol was on the top left corner. Risa handed it to Mihashi after he was done with the riceballs and the drink.

"Just hold onto that, in case.in case you need to talk to someone, like if you were in trouble or something," Risa said evasively. She knew if she mentioned bullying again, Mihashi would dissolve into a puddle. Risa was not a particularly sensitive person. If anything, she was the opposite, but the one thing she could not stand for was bullying. Ironically, with her newfound strength from self-help books, she now often came off as the bully.

"Th.thank.you." Mihashi held her card gingerly with his fingertips, as though it were an invaluable treasure he had to be careful not to tarnish. After all, it was the first time a girl had ever given him her telephone number.

Risa decided on a gentle approach. She would lob general easy questions, not necessarily about baseball, and let Mihashi say whatever he wanted. She would be careful not to antagonize him or say anything controversial. She was sure to get something interesting from this guy eventually, if she just sat back and listened.

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Team Interviews - Tajima

Despite Abe's rough treatment of his pitcher, he was concerned about how Mihashi was faring against the reporter. Maybe he should have sent Sakaeguchi to help interpret Mihashi's partial phrases and guttural noises. Abe sure needed help most of the time understanding Mihashi. It was very, very, frustrating and it was near impossible to control his temper. What if the reporter upset Mihashi? He saw how Momoe and Hanai looked and acted rather out of sorts after their interviews. He hoped the reporter didn't do anything to Mihashi that would affect his pitching. No way would he forgive that.

But Abe's fears seemed to be unfounded as Mihashi walked steadily, for him, back toward the dugout. Mihashi continued to hold Risa's business card carefully with his fingertips. He stared at it, entranced, as if it held some magical power. 'A girl gave me her number.' he thought over and over.

"What's that?" Tajima asked as the boys crowded around Mihashi upon his return.

"Sh.she gave me her c.card," Mihashi said in embarrassment.

"Wow, you got her number? Way to go Mihashi! Well, I guess you're more of a man than Hanai. Ha-ha!" Mizutani's laughter was abruptly cut off by Hanai's choke hold.

"It.it's not.like that. Sh.she's like a b.big sister," explained Mihashi. "Oh, sh.she asked me to send Tajima next.

"Finally! Watch this guys, I'll score more than her phone number." Tajima winked at his teammates and bounded up the stairs into the stands. He plopped himself next to the reporter, placed his hands behind his head, propped his legs up on the seat in front of him, and smiled broadly. "Tajima Yuichiro here!" he announced.

The reporter stared at him and cocked an eyebrow. "You're the cleanup hitter?" she said with less disbelief than she had with Mihashi, but it was still apparent. Tajima was small and wiry, about the same size as the pitcher, not like the usual big cleanups hitters. Despite their similar size, it seemed Tajima's personality was the polar opposite of Mihashi's.

"Yep," Tajima replied, nonplussed.

"Aren't you kind of small for that position? You don't look like you can hit the ball very far," she said skeptically.

"No, but I can hit anything," Tajima said confidently.

"Anything? Any pitch?"

"Yep. Soon or later that is. Once in a while I might need to see the pitch a couple of times."

"That sounds impressive. So that makes you the star player?"

"Strictly speaking."

"What about Hanai?"

"Hanai?"

"He used to be a cleanup hitter. Are you better than him?"

"Yep, strictly."

Tajima had surprisingly answered all Risa's questions earnestly without hesitation or arrogance. He was going to be harder to break. "Huh, well what kind of special practice or routine do you do to prepare?"

"Oh, I masturbate daily," Tajima replied bluntly.

That took Risa aback. A taboo word, a taboo subject, yet he said it so freely, especially to a girl. Either he was an insensitive idiot or he had been warned of her tactics and was purposely trying to get back at her. She would play the game, too. Risa collected herself and replied calmly, but she couldn't help blushing just a bit. "I see.I guess that could help."

"Well, girls don't have the same problem boys do. Do they? But it really does help! Total stress release," Tajima explained.

"You don't have a girlfriend, do you." No way would a guy say something like that if he had one. She would have made sure he didn't spout such nonsense to other women.

"Not yet. You wanna be my girlfriend?" Tajima gave her his intense stare, the one that unnerved his opponents.

Risa had to look away under such scrutiny. No one could stand under that wide-eyed look. "Thanks, but no," she said firmly.

"How about a date?"

"No."

"You gave Mihashi your phone number!" Tajima protested.

'What? Mihashi showed my card to everyone? Doesn't he have the good sense to put it away? Now the whole team has my number? Ugh! ' Risa collected herself and sighed. Guys like him, confident and persistent, were always hard to get rid of. "Do you even have time for a girlfriend? I hear your coach has you guys practicing all hours of the day, weekdays and weekends."

"Hmm, that could be a problem, but I'm sure I can fit one in somewhere. So how about it?"

"If you win the summer tournament, then I'll go out once with you."

"Really? When we win! Yea! A date to celebrate our victory!"

'I said if, ' Risa thought, ' and the chances of that happening is about 999,999 to one. No problem, sucker.' She then tried to steer the conversation back to the interview. There had to be something about Tajima that would get to him. "How are your academic grades?"

"Terrible!" he announced gleefully.

He even seemed to be proud of his crappy grades! How could that be? What was up with this guy? "You seem awfully proud of that," Risa pointed out.

"There's nothin' to hide. I just passed last time with the help of my teammates. Nishihiro's really smart!"

Interesting, it seemed the team helped each other off the field as well. "You don't mind being a dumb jock?"

"Only if I was a dumb jock who sucked at sports, but I'm good! So it's okay if I suck at school stuff since I'm good in sports," Tajima reasoned.

"So you guys tutor each other?"

"Momokan insisted. If we don't pass we can't play baseball. So I didn't have a choice."

The guy was amazingly refreshing, Risa had to admit. Such a matter-of-fact attitude, knows his strengths, acknowledges his weakness, confident without the arrogance of other athletes with such talent. Still, there had to be something.

"You have a large family?" Risa decided if she couldn't get Tajima on his skills or sexual habits, maybe there was something with his family.

"Yep, my great-grandfather, grandparents, parents, two older brothers, two older sisters, and sister-in-law all live in the same house."

"Must be a pretty big house."

"Not big enough, strictly, but we have a large garden for the old folks to work in."

"So you're the youngest. Do they spoil you?"

"No! In fact, when my great grandfather was sick, they all went to the hospital and totally forgot about me! That's why I'm at Nishiura. It's only a minute from my house. That way I'll know what's going on immediately."

"So you're very close to your family. Some kids from big families can't wait to get away, privacy issues you know."

Tajima nodded seriously in agreement. "Yeah, it's hard to masturbate sometimes."

Risa wisely decided not to press any further. It seemed there would be no "gotcha" this time around.

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The Rest of the Team

While Tajima was being interviewed, the rest of the team took turns against the two pitching machines. Each took six swings at one machine, then lined up for the second. The old machine was always set to fastballs, but the new one was capable of different pitches. This time it was set to curveballs.

"Sakai Risa? Isn't she in our class?" Nishihiro asked Oki, while they were both waiting for their turns on the fastball machine.

"Think so. She sits in front of the class, right?"

"Right, she's the one who's always studying. I think she hates me." Nishihiro looked rather sad about it. He was such a nice guy, how could anyone hate him?

"Why do you think that?"

"Well, we both get good grades, but I don't study as much as she does."

"That's true. Isn't she always at the top of the test results? Seems she's very competitive." Girls like that tended to scare Oki, who was rather unambitious and on the wishy-washy side.

"Yeah, she's always giving me dirty looks, but maybe I'm being paranoid."

"Maybe she likes you," Oki kidded.

"I really doubt that." Nishihiro shook his head, but he had to smile just a bit at the thought of any girl liking him.

Oki then took his turn at bat while Izumi joined Nishihiro on line.

"I wonder who she'll interview next," Nishihiro said to Izumi.

"Well, so far the order makes sense. The coach, the captain, Ace pitcher, cleanup hitter. Abe will probably be next," Izumi concluded.

Nishihiro nodded in agreement. "Yeah, Abe's probably next. That could be interesting."

"I'd like a ringside seat for that. Didn't she call him a . Neaderman or something?"

"A Neanderthal is a prehistoric man, you know, a caveman," Nishihiro explained patiently to his less intelligent teammate.

"Yeah, that's it! Ha-ha! Abe looked really, really mad, but he didn't do anything. Probably because she's girl."

Nishihiro had to agree with that. Girls could get away with beating up on boys, but not the other way around. Some girls were very scary. Risa looked like one of them.

"I've got a date!" Tajima ran toward them and excitedly jumped high up in the air.

"When?" most of the team asked in unison, except for Abe who couldn't care less, and Mihashi who was still looking at the business card while he was on line.

"When we win the summer tournament!"

"Ah." Everyone, but Tajima and Mihashi, realized that he had been had. Tajima the eternal optimist actually expected to win the summer tournament. And Mihashi believed Tajima could do anything.

"So is she really cute?" Izumi asked.

"Not particularly."

"So why'd you ask her out?"

"She's girl and she knows baseball. What other reasons do I need?" Tajima deadpanned.

"Boobs!" Izumi and Mizutani said simultaneously.

"Well, they're big enough I guess. She's only a first year. They should get bigger right?"

"Girls should have them big by now I think. They mature faster than us, right?" said Izumi.

"Really? Argh! That's gonna be a problem. I like them big!" groaned Tajima.

"Will you guys shut the hell up and get back to practice! Idiots! Some broad comes along who's not even pretty and you're all like dogs sniffing around a bitch in heat. Pathetic! Girls ruin everything! Er, present company excepted of course," Abe added the last part in case Momoe or Shinooka were listening.

That pretty much did it. The entire team, except Mihashi who never analyzed anything deeply, concluded that Abe had to be gay. He never engaged in locker room talk. Whenever the rest of the team did, he frowned, shook his head and ultimately got very annoyed. Of course, no one dared to voice that thought. Unlike Hanai, Abe would definitely make good on his threats.

"So who's next?" Izumi asked Tajima.

"Nobody. That's it for this morning. She said she'll be back for our practice after classes."

"Well, how was your interview?"

"Great! It was fun. I love interviews! She's really nice!"

Abe and Hanai looked at Tajima as if he needed to be carried away by men in white suits. The girl they encountered could not be called "nice" according to the definition in the dictionary. As usual, Tajima lived in his own world. And so did Mihashi.

"Y.yes sh.she is!" Mihashi agreed. "Sh.she gave me her food."

'"Ooo, what'd you get?" Tajima asked jealously.

"Umm, a sweet bun, two salmon riceballs, and an orange box drink. Mmm." Mihashi had a spaced-out smile on his face as his mind went to a happy place.

' So that's why Mihashi looks so calm,' Abe thought. 'I just need to hand out treats to him, like to a puppy, and that's how I can keep him in line. Gotta remember to try that.'

The team soon finished their morning practice and returned to the dugout and locker room to change into their school attire. Abe, Hanai, and Mitzutani went to their class 1-7 together, Mihashi, Izumi, with Tajima to class 1-9, and Sakaeguchi with Suyama to class 1-1.

Oki and Nishihiro paired up to go to their classroom 1-3. When they arrived, they found Risa already at her seat writing furiously in a notebook. They hesitated and looked at each other, wondering whether they should say hello or not. They assumed she knew who they were and that they were on the baseball team.

"We should say hi," Nishihiro said to Oki, but giving him a nudge to go first.

"Yeah, we should. Maybe she'll interview us during the class break."

"You go first."

"No, you should go first." Oki stepped behind Nishihiro.

"But you're a regular."

"Let's do rock, paper, scissors."

In the end, neither of them actually won.

***---***----***---***---***

After classes were over, the team reformed for their afternoon fielding practice. The usual banter took place in the locker room as the players changed back into their practice uniforms, but with Oki and Nishihiro being particularly quiet.

"Abe, don't bother to suit up, you'll probably be interviewed next. We'll just have Mihashi do fielding practice with the rest of us," Hanai suggested.

"Fine, whatever, total waste of time," Abe muttered.

"I wonder who'll be after Abe. Maybe she'll do it by uniform order or lineup order." Sakaeguchi hoped that he could get it over soon. His stomach started to hurt and he was worried that he'd have diarrhea during the interview. That would make a very, very horribly embarrassing story that would follow him the rest of his school life.

"Well, uh, Nishihiro and I already spoke to her in class," Oki ventured to say.

"Oh, so she's in your class? How'd it go?" Sakaeguchi asked while putting on his practice jersey.

The two boys looked as if they were on the verge of tears.

"Sh.she told me there was no point in interviewing me because I'm just a generic-benchwarmer-spare," said Nishihiro sadly.

"Sh.she implied that I have the easiest position, and first base is for people who can't field. She said all I did was play catch!" Oki said angrily. "That's not true, is it?"

"Of course not!" The rest of the team reassured both Oki and Nishihiro that they were not useless. Even though it was generally true that first basemen did not need good throwing arms like the outfielders, nor quick reactions like the other infielders.

"I don't like what that reporter is doing to the morale of this team. Maybe we shouldn't answer anymore of her questions," said Sakaeguchi, hopeful he could avoid being interviewed.

"But then it'll look like we have something to hide. We just need to make the best of it. Stay positive and be careful what you say," Hanai the captain wisely pointed out.

Tajima, the white knight, shook his head in disbelief. "Maybe you guys did something to annoy her. She was perfectly nice to me and Mihashi."

Before the others had a chance to contradict Tajima, a voice came to them from the stands. "Excuse me! Excuse me! Please send in Mizutani!"

Mizutani? He was at the bottom of the batting order! Why would she want to talk to him first? Unless she was now doing the lineup in reverse order. They were all surprised, but only Abe said, "Mizutani?!" in disbelief.

"Hey, it must be my good looks!" He smiled, winked and flipped his longish rusty brown hair at Abe.

Fifteen minutes later, Mizutani also came back without his usual carefree smile. "She asked me if I'm the worst player because I bat eighth.I'll get better, I promise!" Mizutani sniffed a little before saying, "Suyama, you're next."

Suyama looked as if he had to drink a gallon of the low grade protein Momoe had awarded the lowest scoring members of the team when they tried to predict the Musashino match. Hanai had to push him toward the stands. "Think of the team!" he ordered his shortstop.

Twelve minutes later, Suyama came back slumped over and defeated, as if he had drunk the gallon of low grade protein with no added sugar. "She said I was irrelevant and can't be a poster boy because of my looks. She said no one would want a baseball card with my picture on it." He sighed as a tear threatened to form in his left eye. "Izumi, you're next."

Izumi still felt pretty confident going in. After all, he had good looks, was a competent player, what could she pick on? What she had to say to Nishihiro, Oki, Mizutani and Suyama, was rude, but still...

Ten minutes later, Izumi came back red as a beet. "She suggested I was gay! So not true! You guys don't think I look gay, do you?"

"Maybe you should get a haircut," Abe suggested unkindly. Even though he felt a bit sorry for the guys, it had been hard for him to refrain from laughing at how dead on all the observations were.

Izumi glared at Abe but was afraid to get into a fight with him. He was sure Mihashi had bruises from Abe's pounding. "Sakaeguchi, you're up."

Sakaeguchi was absolutely terrified! "I c.can't. I've got to go to the restroom."

"Fine, I'll go over and tell her that. Should look great in black and white," Abe threatened.

"No! No.I'll go." Sakeguchi dragged his feet and held his arms over his stomach as he slowly made his way over to the reporter.

Five minutes later he ran back to the dugout and straight to the toilet. "I don't want to talk about it!" he sobbed. He did not come out for nearly an hour.

"Well, that leaves me. Don't worry guys - I'll get revenge for you all. No way am I going to let a hack reporter talk down to me." Abe traversed the field, but stopped halfway when he noticed the reporter girl was nowhere in sight. She had left without talking to him. A feeling of doom came over him. If she hadn't interviewed him, what would she write about him?

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A Visit to Mihoshi

The next day, Risa did not go to the team's practices. She had all she needed from them, for now. The team members she interviewed had surprised her. They did not have the arrogance expected of a team that just beat Tosei. She was able to "get" them all easily, except Tajima who seemed to be in a class by himself. None of them got angry when she pointed out their flaws and shortcomings. They easily crumbled and became insecure adolescents at her sharp words. She had to admit she almost felt sorry for them.

The only one she did feel sorry for was the pitcher. She was sure he was still being bullied and from what she saw of the other players, it had to be the catcher. He was the only one who exhibited all the characteristics of a bully. The way he approached her and threatened her, the way he yelled at his teammates, the way he threw Mihashi into the stands, the way he ordered Mihashi around - it was completely obvious. She did not need to interview Abe because she already knew his type. She would strike first with the pen.

The worst part of it was the rest of the team had to know about the bullying and did nothing about it. Hanai had implied by his hesitation that there were problems on the team. He knew, and he was captain, and yet he did nothing. He probably had bully tendencies as well, Risa inferred, since he had younger siblings and he was the biggest guy on the team. And the Coach, the way she walked away from the interview, Risa could tell Momoe had a temper. She probably bullied Mihashi, too. In any case, she allowed the catcher to do it.

Nishihiro and Oki had nervously greeted her in the morning as they entered the classroom. To their surprise, Risa smiled warmly and returned their greeting, thanking them and their team for the interviews, as if she had not stabbed them in the gut the day before. For some reason, her smile made them even more nervous as they wondered what her article was going to be like.

A few of the other members also tentatively greeted her in the hall. She made sure to smile and returned their greetings and to thank them. After all, if she had to write future articles on the team, it was important to maintain good relations. Only Tajima enthusiastically waved to her and tried to have an extended conversation with her, asking her when the article was going to come out and if they had enough good pictures of him and offering to pose for more.

After classes she decided to develop her film instead of working on her article. She wanted to do some more investigative work before completing it. She carefully stretched and hung out her film to dry and then checked the time. If she left now, it would take at an hour to get to Mishoshi. Their team should still be practicing when she arrived.

As she took the train to Gunma, she went over her notes. During the game against Tosei, she had made sure to sit near the parents of the Nishiura team. The best source of material was gossiping old women. She found out that Mihashi had pitched for Mihoshi Academy which was owned and run by his grandfather. That explained why Mihashi was allowed to pitch every game even though he lost every game. That would explain why the other players would hate him and bully him. Still, it was impressive that despite the bullying, he continued to pitch. Maybe he wasn't as wimpy as he looked. Maybe it was the one thing he loved and he had to hold onto it or he'd have nothing at all. She had to respect him for having the courage to pitch under such conditions, but also despised him for not standing up to bullies. He even seemed to blame himself for being the target. In fact, Mihashi was so used to being bullied, he gave his current catcher full credit for the Tosei win. All he had was praise for his teammates and took no compliment for himself. A classical victim scenario.

She wondered if his old teammates knew that their ex-pitcher had beaten Tosei. How would they feel? Surprise? Jealous? Angry? It would be interesting to find out. Risa decided the most important person to seek out would be the catcher. After all, the pitcher worked most closely with the catcher. If he was anything like the Nishiura catcher, it would explain everything.

Risa arrived just after the Mihoshi team called it a day. Luckily she was able to wave down the catcher before he entered the dugout. The rest of the team watched with interest as Hatake approached the stand. Some of them wolf-whistled and howled and yelled out encouragement for Hatake to bag her - typical jock behavior.

Risa immediately presented Hatake with her press pass. It was a laminated card issued by the school newspaper. Her name was not on it. Instead, "Press Pass" was printed in bold letters. Under it was "Nishiura High School" and "The Spectator Newspaper Club."

She had dressed more professionally than she had for the Nishiura interviews, as she did not have to get up at six in the morning, wearing a short sleeve pink blouse with gold buttons and a dark blue pencil skirt that went down to just above her knees. What Hatake saw was a rather pretty girl with medium length dark black hair parted off center to the left, and pinned back by a small gold barrette on each side. She had intelligent almond shaped dark brown eyes and a small nose that turned up slightly. Overall, she had an impish look.

"Hello, I'm Sakai Risa from the Nishiura High School newspaper. I hope you have time to answer some questions. I'm doing a feature article on Mihashi Ren. You remember him?" Risa studied the catcher carefully. He was big, bigger and heavier than the Nishiura catcher, with small eyes and a pug nose. Overall, he looked like a big boorish boar, a.k.a. a bully.

"Mihashi? Sure, he pitched for us for three years in middle school."

"Were you his catcher in middle school? What's your name?" Risa watched his expression carefully.

"Hatake Atsushi, I caught all of those three years."

"I see.Well, did you know he just pitched the game Nishiura won against Tosei?"

"Yeah, I heard about. Couldn't believe it! I mean, I knew he had improved based on the practice game we had a few weeks ago, but Tosei? Would never have thought."

"You mean he was a bad pitcher while he was at Mihoshi?"

"Well, yeah, he lost every game."

"Didn't you have another pitcher?"

"Yeah, but Mihashi insisted on pitching. We couldn't say no since he was the grandson of the school's founder."

Risa noticed the catcher had clenched his teeth, and hands slightly, when he replied. "That couldn't have made you happy," she pointed out.

"Well, of course not, but w.we all wanted to win."

A slight stutter, he was trying to mitigate his role by including the whole team, Risa analyzed. "Did you try to take matters into your own hands?" she asked brusquely as her reporter's instinct flashed.

"What do you mean by that?"

"Did you threaten him? Bully him?"

"Is that what he told you? Look, it was only words. I never touched him. Besides, I thought we were passed all that. I apologized after Mihashi beat us in the practice game," the catcher said defensively. His voice was raised and angry- he was trying to cover his guilt.

"You think a simple apology is enough to compensate for three years of torture? Do you know what it's like to be hated for that long? Do you know what kind of permanent psychological damage you've inflicted? What kind of horrible, insensitive, despicable person are you?!" Risa's claws were now fully extended with the intention to draw as much blood as possible.

Hatake stared at the girl in shock. Who was she really? Was she from Nishiura's school paper or was she some kind of avenging angel, or devil, sent by Mihashi's family? Still, despite his guilt, his anger prevailed and he clenched his fists and took a step toward her. She flinched, but stood her ground.

"Hey, you've no right to talk to me like that! He's at fault, too. If he wasn't such a wimp."

"Oh, so you're blaming the victim. How typical of a bully!" The girl's voice and body trembled, but she locked her angry gaze on his eyes and stared him down.

Hatake succumbed under her overwhelming aura of fury. "You're right. I'm sorry. Mihashi was a good pitcher, but I couldn't see it. I apologized, even invited him back, but I know that won't make up for the three years of hell I put him through. But I really thought Mihashi had put it all behind him. Did something happen?"

There was concern in Hatake's voice that surprised Risa. She retracted her bloody claws slightly. "Someone who has been bullied for so long will not accept others so easily in the future. Send him a gift basket, congratulating him on his win against Tosei. And have everyone from his old team sign it," Risa ordered as she finally looked away from the boy.

"Right, that's a good idea. I'll get on that immediately," Hatake promised.

"And don't skimp! A nice big gift basket with lots of snacks."

The girl did not look at him again. He was being dismissed without words. Hatake quietly walked back to the dugout, shaking his head from the disturbing experience. He wondered if the girl was really here to write an article on Mihashi. Weren't reporters supposed to be more objective? Her words seemed much more personal, as if she knew firsthand what Mihashi had went through.

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Momoe's Past