Ookiku Furikabutte Fan Fiction ❯ The Perfect Game ❯ The Perfect Game ( Chapter 1 )

 

Summary: Mihashi's thoughts during the first game with his new team.

 

Disclaimer: Based on the wonderful characters from the baseball manga/anime “Ookiku Furikabutte” (Swing Big) created by Higuchi Asa - a woman!

 

 

The Perfect Game

 

 

It was the first practice game of the year for the Nishiura High School baseball team. But it was more than that - it was the first game for the newly formed team. And it was even more than that because the pitcher, Mihashi Ren, was facing his former teammates from Mihoshi Academy.

 

The lone figure on the mound was a high school freshman of slight build, with wide anxious eyes. Although from a distance he looked focused and calm, he was ready to jump out of his skin.

 

Mihashi had pitched six perfect innings - no walks, no hits, no runners on base at all. But in the bottom of the seventh inning, things began to fall apart. His leftfielder made an error. The next batter hit a triple, and the next a homerun. The perfect game, no hitter, shutout, all gone within a handful of pitches.

 

Mihashi sat outside the dugout with his head on his knees. It was happening again. His new team was going to lose because of him. He stared up at the scoreboard. Home team Mihoshi 3, visiting team Nishiura 2. Visiting, that's what he felt like, just a visitor with ho home at all. He had never felt like part of a team, not then and not now.

 

A shadow fell over him. His first instinct was to run and hide. They all hated him and now the insults would begin. But to his shock, his catcher Abe, bowed and apologized for rushing to get outs. “I wanted a perfect game and to win by a big margin so you wouldn't be tempted to return to Mihoshi,” he explained.

 

Did he want to go back? All Mihashi ever wanted back then was to be acknowledged. Homesickness for his old team swept over him. Despite all the hard feelings, he wanted to be with them, to work as a team, to be friends with them. He wanted to win today, but what he wanted even more than that was the respect of his former, and his current, teammates.

 

But right now it seemed that was an unattainable goal. He placed his head back on his knees and hug himself tightly, unaware that someone had just crossed homeplate.

 

Another shadow fell over him. This time it was his third baseman, Tajima, who was not wearing his usual happy, carefree expression. Tajima looked angry and Mihashi flinched at his approach. “For me, the cleanup hitter, to get just one RBI, on a lousy popup with the bases are loaded, is pathetic, but I still have to go in the dugout and face everyone. Come on, you're our Ace.” He grabbed Mihashi and dragged him into the dugout.

 

Nishiura won 4-3. It was far from a perfect game. But for Mihashi, who had never won a game before, who was hated by his former teammates, who hated himself for losing, yet unable to give up the mound, it was a perfect game. He had found his home.