Forbidden Protege

Ch. 9: Changes (Part 2)

"Alex-san, go three!" Torima yelled at her as she snagged the ball rolling to her right. She picked it up barehanded and took a step towards third, flinging her arm up and snapping her wirst, sending the ball towards the base. The third baseman caught the ball and tagged the base before turning and throwing it to second. The ball was a second late for a double play and Haruichi apologized as he tossed the ball back to her.

"Don't worry about it," she said, smiling. "Two outs! Runners on first and second. Let's get the next one!" She turned back to homeplate where a third year was standing with a bucket full of balls. Ono was standing next to him and Alexia tossed the ball to him. He offered her a small smile and nod which she returned, deciding to ignore the glare coming from the third year. He often helped their practice and seemed to make it his goal to tear her down.

Bring it on.

The next hit was hard to the outfield. Right field charged the ball and caught it. The runner on second waited until the catch to take off to third. Alexia's eyes scan over everything. The runner was fast, but not extremely so and the right fielder had an arm if he tried. Thinking back to the practice game where he was one of the one's to take her words seriously, she spoke up amongst the people telling him to throw to second.

"Third! You can beat him!"

Before the words were fully out of her mouth, the ball was in the air. It flew it a perfect path towards third base and was caught cleanly, just a split second before the runner. He was tagged out. Three outs.

"Oi, Narumiya! What was up with that call? You should have gotten the easier out at second!" The third year bellowed at her as their group left the field. She flinched slightly before turning to face him.

Rei was standing just inside the first base dugout and watched the interaction closely. The third year had a point; that play was riskier than necessary. However, if there was one thing that Rei had learned from meeting and watching Alexia, it was that she put a lot more thought into things than you would think. Her plays were risky, but she usually had good intentions.

Alexia mentally sighed, knowing full well that the play wasn't the smartest choice, but-

"I was thinking about the teams," she said calmly, gathering an audience who also wanted to hear her reasoning. "Yes, second base was generally a smarter choice, but I was thinking about the momentum of the teams. If we were lacking momentum, then taking out the lead runner like that would help us while also dealing a blow to the other team's mentality. It'd piss them off that we went for the lead rather than the easy out."

"But what if it failed?" the third year questioned, crossing his arms. Smugness and anger were blended into his voice and Alexia could see that he was enjoying putting her on the spot. If she was going to be in the spotlight anyway, she might as well make a statement.

"There's always that chance, no matter what play you attempt. I know that Sugawara-san can make that throw nine times out of ten. So if it's possible, why should we always play it safe?" Alexia locked eyes with the upperclassman and her next words shocked everyone silent, whether by agreement or by disagreement

"Teams that only play it safe will never make nationals."

Rei felt her lips twitch up into a smile. Stubborn, aggressive, and always thinking, not about winning, but about winning absolutely. Well planned recklessness used to take full control over a game. What Alexia showed here was exactly how her American school described her. Rei's eyes stayed locked onto the girl as she grabbed a water bottle and drank generously. She had confidence bordering on arrogance, yet she walked the line beautifully, always backing up her statements and leaving no room for questioning. You almost had no choice but accept her claims.