appreciation. / ch. 61.

chapter 193.

chapter 194.

i still can get better, reach higher, go to what lies beyond. if this person is with me. || chapter 14.

the most intense and unpredictable battery.

so much of the game is out of our control as a battery. you can’t control the umpire. you can’t control your defense. so, we bond. i could sense how my pitcher was doing just by how he was breathing, looking at his eyes, listening to things he would say.

i'm a pitcher. i throw a ball to you as if i was trying to make a hole in your chest. as if i wanted to crack your ribs and catch your heart this way. but you are the one that is called catcher. so tell me - can you feel that with my every throw i send to you another piece of my heart, begging you to catch all of them?

18 meters. it's the distance between the mound and home plate, the distance between the catcher and pitcher, the distance between me and you. we can't play if i am closer to you on the diamond. i need to keep this distance if i want to win and play with you once again. and i want so badly to cover it and catch you just like i catch your throws, but i can't. beacuse one wrong move can destroy us. do you understand what i really mean when i say that i am afraid that there will be always 18 meters between us?

if this person is with me.

i won't lose sawamura to some dumb yips.