Ken would have found it much easier to ignore these feelings if she had have joined the Fashion club like she was supposed to. Yet she chose the baseball club, just like himself.
If he was vain, he might think that she joined for his sake. However, Ken still lacked a lot of self-esteem thanks to his previously pessimistic outlook on life.
He was working hard to tackle these issues, but that would take a long time to break apart such things.
"Ai… Why did you join the baseball club, if you don't mind me asking."
Ken didn't know why, but this question came out of his mouth. Perhaps it was his ego, or it could have been because he wanted to know what had changed from his previous life.
Ai froze on the spot, feeling her cheeks redden considerably. This only further accentuated her cuteness, causing Ken to gulp nervously in response.
'Oh man what do I say? I can't lie and say that I've always liked baseball…'
She fidgeted nervously, staring at her shoes so as to hide her embarrassment.
'B-But I can't tell him the truth can I? That I joined because I wanted to get closer to him.'
A mental conflict raged on in her mind, clashing with her principles and sense of self. She didn't want to lie, but she didn't feel ready to make herself so vulnerable just yet.
She raised her head slowly, while still debating how to answer the question.
"Huh?"
Upon reaching Ken's shoulder height, she saw Coach Hanada on the baseball field waving his arms and trying to call out to them.
"Ken, I think the coach is calling for you." She said with confusion.
"Oh?" Ken turned around only to see the red-faced coach waving at him, gesturing for him to come back. Judging by his mannerisms, he wanted him to hurry up.
"Ah, sorry Ai. Let's chat again later okay." Ken said, quickly jogging over to the field where the coach was.
Ai let out a sigh of relief, thanking the coach for his timely intervention. However, she felt a little sad seeing Ken run off without actually knowing how she felt.
'I hope we can spend more time together soon.' She wished inwardly.
"Hey coach, what's up." Ken asked, oblivious to the situation he was in.
"Coach Hanada, you have 30 seconds to send out your replacement player otherwise you will forfeit."
The umpire didn't seem pleased as he didn't even give the coach time to speak before stating his piece.
Coach Hanada's red face got a shade darker, yet he held his tongue.
Grabbing Ken by the arm, he quickly ushered him to the dugout.
"Hurry up and get your helmet and gloves on. You're heading up to bat next." He said impatiently.
He had decided to put Ken in the game because he knew the team needed a spark. It was also evident that Ken was raring to go, having been swinging a bat all by himself off the field.
Yet when it was finally his turn, the boy was off flirting with one of the managers.
'Bloody kids these days.' He thought, not at all jealous.
Ken did as he was told, quickly donning his helmet and gloves and walking out onto the field. He didn't need to warm up since he'd performed around 400 swings since the game had started.
If anything, he probably needed to give his muscles a little bit of a rest.
He arrived at the batters box and got into position, rolling his shoulders and stretching his back to get rid of some of the fatigue that had built up.
On the pitchers mound, Kazuhiro looked at the tall Ken and tried not to scoff. Ever since he had been on the mound this match, no one had come close to getting a clean hit on his pitch.
And he didn't plan on letting it happen now either.
He stared down at the catchers glove and let out a controlled breath before nodding. He performed his wind up and threw it hard down the lane.
PAH
"Strike."
The ball went straight into the open glove of the catcher without Ken swinging.
'Damn it'
Ken frowned and stepped away from the plate, stretching. Seeing this Kazuhiro to let out a chuckle and scowled.
'I can't believe that they sent this beanstalk up to bat out of desperation.' He thought.
The next ball came on a similar speed, yet the trajectory was different.
PAH
"Strike."
Once again Ken did not swing, allowing the ball to go straight through to the catcher. He also stepped away from the plate once again, this time holding the bat above his head and leaning to the side to stretch out his obliques.
The Yokohama dugout was confused, not knowing what Ken was up to. In their minds he was a dynamite batter and had a canon arm, so it was odd to see him in such a situation, even stretching between balls.
However, no one was more nervous than Coach Hanada who couldn't even sit down right now. He paced back and forth in the dugout, not knowing what to do.
He had held up the game for an extended period of time while trying to get Ken's attention, yet if he were to strike out in 3 pitches the opposing coach would not let him live it down.
His attention moved to Coach Goto in the other dugout who just so happened to look his way at the same time.
'So this kid is your trump card huh? Pitiful…'
Or at least that was what he believed that the old codger would be thinking right now. Goto held his usual calm smile upon his face as he gazed at his opposition.
'Come on Ken… Let's see you hit it out of the park so I can wipe that damn smirk of his face.' The coach clenched his fists and trained his eyes on Ken who had just stepped back into the batters box.
'Okay, I finally managed to get rid of that damn cramp. Now it's time to smack this pitch.'
A wicked smile formed on Ken's face as he turned his attention to Kazuhiro upon the mound.