A tired being

I can see Sawamura and Haruichi slowly getting closer and seeing each other as comfort in times when Sawamura's heat comes around. They were already getting along and being friends, but that was a little push in a different direction.

The dorm has a room for this very purpose that he can borrow to be away from his roommate, although it gets boring really easily and fast. Also, it makes him feel restless, hating how he can't practice and how his body acts.

Thankfully, Harucihi comes to keep him company, eating dinner with him and even bringing items for Sawamura to build himself a nest (even if he has to teach him how, which he couldn't help finding a little cute when Sawamura got all happy when they managed to make something he liked). Seeing how he's still unpresented, none of their coach sees an issue with it, and it would be bad if Sawamura felt down because he has to spend a couple of days by himself like this.

As months roll by, it just becomes the norm for Haruichi to spend time in the extra room with Sawamura. If anyone wants to pass a message to Sawamura, they pass by him or stay in the open doorway after Haruichi opened the door (no one would dare step in after the one time Miyuki and Kuramochi tried, and they received one of the classic Kominato smiles). He even collects items for Sawamura's nest brought by teammates, mostly from the first string, bringing items for Sawamura to decide if he wants.

Haruichi does feel happy that his offering does seem to get priority, along with Furuya and Miyuki's, in his nest hierarchy.

Sawamura does feel really sad when Haruichi is not allowed to stay in the room with him anymore once he's presented, even if his friend still passes by to deliver food, snacks and items for his nest. They talk over the phone so he's not alone.

(I think it would be really funny if, as Furuya starts unconsciously seeing Sawamura as a packmate, he tries to also visit him. No matter how many times people tell him he cannot, he still passes by and chats with him as best he can. He does feel pleased inside when Sawamura seems happy to see him visit.)

Furuya starts showing signs between the Fall tournament and their winter training camp, a rather obvious shift happening.

He sticks closer to Sawamura and Haruichi, spending more time with them. He especially sticks closer to Sawamura, even if the pitcher doesn't seem to notice or really care about it. Although everyone sees it as clear as day.

He's still rather blank-faced when he does anything, but he does go out of his way to do things for them or get them things he knows they'll like. He doesn't necessarily think about it consciously; he just has a feeling it would make them happy and does it.

Can you imagine the first time scenting gets brought up?

Imagine everyone eating after a long day of practice, having also played against another school. Sawamura feels a little down because he wasn't really at the top of his game, mulling over the errors he made. Of course, Furuya doesn't like how Sawamura smells like this, preferring the fresh scent of citrus he usually carries.

So now we have Furuya "never was socialised properly as an alpha and doesn't think before he does something" Satoru, who gently grabs Sawamura "most oblivious and dense person you'll ever meet on earth" Eijun's wrist and starts scenting him right here and there, trying to comfort him without words. And it does work, Sawamura reacting without really realising it and enjoying the act, even if he's a little confused.

But everyone has to stop Furuya when he gets up after hearing the quiet purr that left Sawamura, ready to also scent his neck. Miyuki has to scold them about doing something like this right in the middle of the dining hall while everyone is around (and he totally doesn't feel jealous because he also wants to scent Sawamura).

But it never stops, really, and Furuya continues scenting both Sawamura and Haruichi all the time. He gets in an especially good mood when Sawamura scents him back, citrus mixing with ocean breeze.

Even when Haruichi present as an alpha, Furuya doesn't stop, despite how unusual it is for alphas to scent each other. Some try to warn him, but when Haruichi doesn't seem to mind, and even scents him back, they all just give up.

No one really dares make any comment about how Sawamura too often smells like his teammates, just feeling happy and content. He even also gets used to casually scenting them, feeling really happy when either or both of them smell like him.

Imagine in an official game, Sawamura taking up the mound in a tight spot, and as they get back to the dugout, Furuya stops him. Sawamura doesn't look anxious or anything, but Furuya still feels the need to scent him, happy that he did such a good job (even if he had to give up the mound after one too many walks).

But he doesn't even wait to be in the dugout, doing it right outside of it, for everyone to see. They get dragged inside by Haruichi, who's embarrassed at his friends doing something like this in front of the whole public, both pitchers getting scolded once they get inside.

I just like the idea of them all slowly creating their own little pack within the team. Maybe the first string already feels like one, despite most players being alphas. But the trio has something different, something only between the three of them.

People will often find them just sitting right into each other's space, always hanging out and training together when they can. More than once, they are found napping in the grass in the sun, all huddle up close despite the heat.

Maybe as if sensing a heat/rut coming up, sometimes they just quiet lay in one of their room, offering a pleasant and comforting presence before they are forced to not be around each other.

Wouldn't it be funny if in the future, as Miyuki tries to court Sawamura, he's met with a sort of wall because of the two alphas, who feel protective of him, even though they know Miyuki and know he wouldn't hurt Sawamura. He feels a little exasperated to have to win them over, even if he still works on doing it. It does help a lot that Sawamura is obviously reciprocating his feelings, which is probably what makes them loosen up a little. (Somehow, Miyuki fears Haruichi more than Furuya in what could happen if he ever makes Sawamura cry by accident).

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Eijun, you really don't need to go to the convenience store just for that," Haruichi tried to convince. "The drink I want to get is bought from the vending machine," he pointed out.

"I'll have a steamed bun," Furuya stated.

"Noted!!" Sawamura stated loudly, taking down his order.

"Furuya, not you too," Haruichi sighed.

Miyuki stopped in his tracks when he heard the exchange, arching a brow at what was going on. "What's up with the first years?" he asked when he saw Kuramochi and Maezono talking nearby.

"We're having people come play some game in my room, Sawamura suggested going to get snacks and drinks at the convenience store," Kuramochi started. "Seems like Kominato tried to convince him to just grab stuff from the vending machines instead of making the trip again today, since he went even yesterday"

"Seems like Furuya didn't help though," Maezono laughed, "Now that he asked for steamed buns, there's no way Sawamura is settling down for the vending machine"

"I told him all his previous trips lately had our snacks stash big enough, but he wouldn't listen to me," Kuramochi said, "So I told him to bring some drinks or whatever"

Miyuki turned back to look at the trio. Had Sawamura really been going to the convenience store this much lately? It hadn't even been a week since he had been asked if he wanted something too.

This was odd even for the pitcher.

"Watcha doing?" Miyuki asked as he suddenly stepped into the conversation, the three first year truning his way.

"Captain," Haruichi smiled, "Sawamura is asking people if they need anything from the convenience store, but he really doesn't need to go" he tried arguing.

"What a coincidence, I was also planning on going," the catcher smiled, catching everyone around by surprise. Even both vice-captains had not expected this. "How about I go with you, with that list, you'll need help carrying everything"

"I used to carry much heavier bags back home, I can do it alone," Sawamura replied, sounding oddly proud of himself for that.

"Sure, guess I'll let you carry everything then, you can even carry my order," Miyuki laughed, grabbing the back of his shirt before pulling him along. "Better go now, or poor Kuramochi won't have his snacks for his game night"

The shortstop seemed to argue back, but Miyuki couldn't catch it over Sawamura loudly asking to be let go of. They grew quiet again as they reached the path leading out of the school grounds, aside from Sawamura mumbling about not needing any help from time to time.

"So, I heard you've been making trips to the konbini rather often lately, got addicted to it? Or maybe there's a cute cashier that caught your attention," he asked, snickering at the end. Not that he could actually imagine Sawamura going for that reason. He couldn't even really recall him talking about a girl ever.

Miyuki watched from the corner of his eyes as Sawamura frowned and pouted at the same time, looking a bit annoyed by his suggestion. "I just wanted something different from the vending machine, and asked others if they wanted something else"

He didn't need to prob much to know this had to be a lie. Surely there had to be more than Sawamura seemingly getting tired of the many drinks offered at the vending machine. Not that he really recalled seeing him drink anything different any time he did.

After that, Miyuki kept teasing him, trying to see if it would pull some answer out of the pitcher. But all it really did was only make Sawamura be louder and more annoyed, reacting as funnily and cutely as he always did.

Once they arrived at the convenience store closest to their dorms, Miyuki paused as he watched Sawamura leave his side, seemingly already knowing what he wanted. Now that he was here, he wasn't too sure what to get. 'I only came because I was curious what he was up to, I don't really need anything...' Miyuki thought to himself.

He figured he could grab himself something to drink while he looked over the latest scorebook again.

As he went to the drink refrigerator, he kept watch over Sawamura, the shelves just low enough that he could keep track of him, the top of his head poking over the various items displayed on top. Miyuki arched a brow when he saw that he seemed to have paused for a moment.

Weren't these... pet treats?

He then saw Sawamura's eyes appear, as if looking over the displays to see where Miyuki was. He laughed when he saw the way his eyes grew cat-like at being found out, quickly ducking down.

The catcher then moved, although when he made it to the small section of pet food, he found Sawamura had already moved elsewhere. "Are we playing hide and seek now?" he asked, amused as he rounded another corner, finally finding the pitcher.

He watched as Sawamura suddenly jumped, two cans of mackerel in hand. "What?" he asked, sounding a bit defensive, even though Miyuki had said nothing yet.

"I didn't say anything," Miyuki smiled, tilting his head to the side a little. "Don't think Kuramochi had fish in mind when he talked about snack, though"

"It's for me," Sawamura huffed, placing them in the little basket he was carrying. He then moved to grab some more typical snacks and drinks.

"So you're into fish as snacks now?" Miyuki asked, a bit amused at the idea. It sounded fitting in a way.

"I'll have you know that mackerel is very good for your health!!" Sawamura yelled, making the catcher jump a little and look back at the cashier. He offered an awkward smile when he realised he was glaring at them.

"Alright, I get it, quiet down," Miyuki warned, which only made the pitcher huff in annoyance some more. Afterwards, he sat through a lecture about how mackerel was good for you, making him wonder just where Sawamura had even gathered any of this information. He struggled in class but somehow could remember all the benefits that eating some types of fish had?

But this only made Miyuki feel even more intrigued. Sawamura suddenly sounding like the biggest fan of canned mackerel sounded odd at best, and he couldn't believe this was now his new favourite snack.

His curiosity was piqued.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"So this is what you were doing," Miyuki chukled, stopping behind Sawamura.

"Miyuki Kazuya!!! What are you doing here!!!" Sawamura yelled loudly.

"Pipe down, not everyone is up already," Miyuki hissed, still not awake enough for Sawamura's usual loudness. He had decided to wake up much earlier to check on Sawamura, somehow having a feeling of what this might be about. Especially when Kuramochi admitted that he was waking up even earlier than before for his runs, sneaking out with stuff.

"You're even scaring your little friend"

This made Sawamura jump a little, turning back to the little kitten. It had jumped at his yelling, but had already gone back to peacefully eat the fish it was given. It didn't stop the pitcher from gently petting its head, apologising softly. Miyuki couldn't help but smile at the sight.

"So, for how long have you been feeding the cat?" Miyuki asked, crouching down next to him. He carefully extended a hand towards it, smiling a little when it took a few seconds to take in his scent before rubbing its little head against his fingers.

"A little more than two weeks... I think," Sawamura replied, eyes fixated on the cat who had returned to its breakfast. "I noticed a little furry ball on my morning run, hiding near the corner of field B, I decided to bring some water and food I could grab"

Miyuki stayed quiet as he listened to Sawamura rambling a little about struggling to find something that morning, his eyes landing on something he had never noticed before, hidden between the beam holding the stadium light and the overgrown grass against the fence. "You even made a little house for it using a box?" he asked.

This stopped Sawamura in his rambling, looking at him before following where he was looking. It was a small box, probably taken from one of the deliveries the kitchen received, squeezed upright partly between the beam and fence so it wouldn't get swept away by the wind. That way, it also created some cover in case it started raining. Sawamura had even used a towel to make the bottom more comfortable.

"W-well, Kuri looked lonely, cold and scared, I figured a little house might help," Sawamura answered. "Sometimes when I get here, Kuri is still sleeping inside the little shelter," he then added with a laugh.

"Kuri?" Miyuki asked, clearly a bit amused that Sawamura gave it a name. He watched as a blush spread across his face, looking down at the little kitten who was now drinking some water.

"It has the same colour as chestnuts," Sawamura mumbled, petting the kitten again. He then sat down properly in the grass, gently grabbing the cat to hold it and pet it some more.

"Didn't expect you to put so much thought into it," Miyuki pointed out, before grinning teasingly. "I'd figured you'd be the kind of guy to call all your cats something like Tama or Mugi," he laughed, only for Sawamura to pout and get huffy.

They stayed quiet for a while as they both petted the cat, not without Sawamura complaining about Miyuki doing it too. Kuri sure didn't seem to mind the extra attention.

"What are you going to do when Kuri eventually goes away?" Miyuki asked. As much as he loved seeing how happy Sawamura was when handling the cat, he felt like this was inevitable. If it wasn't abandoned, the mother would likely come back, or once it had grown enough, it would leave to explore and find food for itself.

He would rather not think of what the worst could be, though...

He watched as Sawamura stayed quiet, not looking at him. He had clearly not thought that far when he had started taking care of this stray kitten. And seeing how the pitcher always poured his heart into what he did, he was probably already attached to the little fella after only 2 weeks.

"And you can't hide it in your dorm room," Miyuki pointed out, in case that somehow came to his mind.

"I know!" Sawamura hissed. "I guess... then it can't be helped if Kuri leaves..." he answered. Miyuki watched as the idea made him look sad, feeling a little bad for bringing it up like this, despite it being reality.

"Who knows, maybe Kuri will fall for you so hard that he'll want to stay with you forever, and you can bring him back home," Miyuki offered, ruffling his hair playfully.

"Kuri is a girl," Sawamura pouted, taking Miyuki by surprise. The catcher then started laughing, apologising.

They stayed a while longer before Sawamura placed Kuri back in the box, along with the leftover water and fish. As they made their way back to the dorm to get ready for morning practice, Miyuki found himself stopped, Sawamura having grabbed his shirt. "You won't... tell anyone, right?" Sawamura asked, clearly scared that someone would take Kuri away if he did.

Miyuki paused at this, offering him a little smile. "Of course not, I've grown fond of Kuri myself, wouldn't want anyone else also wanting her all for themselves," he said. This seemed reassuring enough, as the pitcher let go while laughing, agreeing with him.

"If it's you, I guess I can share her attention with you," he grinned happily.

Afterwards, Miyuki found himself joining Sawamura nearly every morning and evening as he went to feed Kuri. It was pretty entertaining watching him play with the kitten, looking so happy doing so. It was a strangely nice change of pace.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Kuri is still not there..." Sawamura said when they reached the usual spot, lips pressed into a tight line. "She was also not there last night," he added, turning to Miyuki, since he had been too busy to join him that night.

It was clear it had been on his mind all day, seeing how he had found him distracted a couple of times through their practice and dinner.

"And she wasn't here this morning," Miyuki idly pointed out, remembering Sawamura stopping him in the hallway earlier that day to ask him about it.

Miyuki watched as Sawamura kept looking around the grassy area, clearly a little restless at being unable to find her. He felt his heart squeeze a little when he noticed how his eyes looked a little wet. The catcher couldn't help but bite his lip, a hand passing through his hair. He knew something Sawamura didn't, but didn't want to tell him yet.

"She seems to love fish more than cat canned food, how about we grab some to try and attract her?" Miyuki offered, finding a reason to steer Sawamura towards the dorms again. "We can also look around our facilities in case she found a little hiding spot"

Thankfully, the pitcher accepted the idea, eyes darting around in search of the little brown furrball as they walked back to the dorms. Despite their missing his attention was caught by just how noisy it was in the dining hall. "What's going on?" Sawamura asked, turning his way. Miyuki simply shrugged before they made their way.

A lot of the first-string players who had stayed behind to talk about their latest game, before Miyuki and Sawamura snuck out, were crowding around one of the tables. They seemed curious, laughing as Takashima seemed to be explaining something.

Miyuki had difficulty keeping his smile in as they approached, Eyes fixed on Sawamura rather than whatever had caught everyone's attention.

Soon, loud meowing was heard when they reached the empty end of the table, tiny paw running their way. "Kuri!!" Sawamura said, a bright smile illuminating his face as he lifted her up when she reached them.

Miyuki smiled at this, enjoying how happy it suddenly made him when he seemed so nervous and about to cry only a moment ago.

"Now I see where the kitten gets her loud moewing," Kuramochi laughed.

Sawamura then turned to look at Miyuki, clearly having a lot of questions on his mind. "I talked to Rei about Kuri," he explained, reaching out to scratch behind her ears. "Asked if we could have a little mascot for the club, plus it can help the players learn to be more responsible and care for a living thing"

"So we are tasked with caring for the cat while we train and study," Asou asked, curious.

"I feel like Eijun-kun could take over the task without any issue," Haruichi pointed out, sounding a bit amused as he watched his friend cuddle the kitten.

"Of course, if our little mascot becomes too much of a distraction or isn't being taken care of properly, she might need to get adopted by someone outside," Takashima pointed out as she adjusted her glasses. "As much as a cat can boost morale and help learn to take care of a living thing, you should not neglect your training and studies," she explained. "And of course, it would be bad if Kuri ended up neglected"

"We'll take good care of her," Sawamura answered, not even bothering to see if anyone wanted to be included into that "we". He even bowed, unable to hide the large grin on his face.

Kuri was then set back down on the table, wandering around as she got used to everyone. Takashima kept explaining how they should start caring for her and the logistics behind it. Seeing how excited Sawamura seemed to be, he was tasked with looking after her that night.

Once the excitement was over, everyone started trickling out of the dining hall, ready to do some extra training or hang out in their rooms.

"You knew about Kuri being missing last night," Sawamura ended up pointing out once it was only the two of them, pouting.

"The coaches wanted to make sure she had no disease and was in full health, so they took her to the vet yesterday afternoon," Miyuki replied, sitting next to him. He started idly playing with the kitten with one of the feather toys that seemed to have been bought.

"You could have told me," the pitcher huffed. "I was really worried something had happened," he then added.

"Sorry," Miyuki offered. "I wasn't sure if they had agreed yet, despite the checkup, I didn't want to create false hope, especially since I think they would have likely brought her to a shelter so she could get adopted properly instead of living in a box at the end of our baseball field," he explained.

It was, after all, not the safest place for a kitten. Partly due to being exposed to the outside all the time and having already gotten used to being fed rather than hunting for food. Plus, it could have been dangerous if she had decided to sneak into the training field while people were batting and running around.

"I know I said I would tell no one, but this felt like a better idea," he added.

"This great Sawamura Eijun will forgive you," the pitcher then answered, a large grin plastered on his face. "I think Kuri will be a lot happier being somewhere comfortable and taken care of by everyone," he added, looking back at the little kitten. "Though I guess if she becomes a mascot for the team, I won't be able to see her once I graduate," he laughed.

"Well..." Miyuki started, turning his way. "If you continue studying in Tokyo, or make it into the pros here, you can always come watch practices and maybe see her," he offered, grinning.

Even if silly, it would be an extra reason to keep Sawamura close by, rather than kilometres away in Nagano.

"I'm not sure Coach Kataoka will want me roaming around the campus just for a cat," Sawamura laughed. "But maybe I can bribe someone to let me see her," he added jokingly.

Miyuki hummed at this, imagining Sawamura approaching some of the students so they could bring out Kuri for him. It was rather amusing and endearing all at once.

= Kageyama, who used to be disliked by the pitchers on his previous team because he was too harsh and demanding. Could see the dislike coming from how he is too demanding with his pitches, requesting stuff he knows they can throw, but they don't feel confident enough about, even if it's a sure out. Could see him getting really frustrated at them shaking off his signs and being too harsh when doing mound visits. At some point, their ace and the other pitchers just shake their heads at all his calls and throw what they want until he gets switched out by their coach when the message is clear, "we don't want you catching anymore".

Or alternatively, ace pitcher getting so fed up he literally walks off the mound to the dugout and requests to be switched out, but no one wants to get on the mound for Kageyama. Cue Kageyama getting switched out, even more so as he gets angry about this. Their relief catcher takes the spot while another pitcher goes to the mound, while Kageyama is left to watch from the dugout.

Now he hesitates at being too demanding or asking for riskier plays and feels tense when the pitcher shakes off his signs because he doesn't want that to ever happen again.

= I think Hinata's middle school would have a baseball team (since it seems more popular than volleyball). A small team from a small middle school who aren't really strong, and most players play more for the fun of it than because they actually want to go anywhere with baseball. Hinata is probably the only one taking this very seriously and giving is 120%. Even when most have gone home the moment practice is over, he's always the last one to leave and lock up behind him. They never really make it past the first or second round in tournaments and never gather any attention.

I could see the coach wishing they could teach him more and train him better as a pitcher, but struggling since they don't really have the experience for it, nor the facilities to properly train Hinata. They do their best and hope Hinata will be able to find a coach and team that will make him shine.

= I think much like canon, Hinata would beg ask his friends to catch for him or bat against his pitching as extra practice. Could see his catcher being one of the people who entered the club not for the passion for baseball but just as a fun thing. But since his friends have no experience catching or batting, really, he has to adapt to them a little.

= Kageyama is considered a genius catcher, and everyone is confused as hell about how he ended up at Karasuno, given his reputation as a catcher.

= I think Hinata would have a weird arsenal of breaking balls with a sucky fastball. I can see him finding breaking balls so cool and just trying to learn a lot of them, but since he never had a proper pitching coach, some most of his form and technique are not the best. I think he could be good at pickoffs, though, with his quick reflexes and sharp instinct.

= I think Hinata should still have springs for legs and shock everyone anytime he just jumps to catch a hit. Anything flying a little too close overhead will get caught, and he's fast enough to throw to base if there are other runners. He also gives everyone a heart attack by unnecessarily jumping sideways and diving to catch a ball flying by a little too close to him, a bad habit from fielding, since he used to play with some fielders who struggled or lacked the motivation to get the outs (Kageyama chews him out every time and works on making him stop doing that because it's a big injury risk).

= For batting, I think Kageyama would have a pretty good batting average, although he doesn't hit home runs all that much. Can see Hinata sucking at bat from how much focus he has put into pitching rather than anything else, really. He has some lucky hits, but used to get on base mostly from walks, hit-by-pitches, or accidental good hits.

= I think they should still meet first at a tournament in their last year of middle school. First round, and it's the first time their school matches up in ages.

I can see everyone on Kageyama's team taking it easy because it's obvious the other team isn't really good. They rack up points rather easily, even if Hinata does have some good pitches that take them by surprise because they weren't expecting that kinda breaking ball. And it just drives Kageyama insane because he takes every game seriously, and a lot of the outs come from his teammates' bad plays or errors.

I can also see Hinata's team clearly growing more and more unmotivated because it's so clear they will lose this, they had 0 chance to win against Kitagawa to begin with. But it doesn't stop Hinata from pitching his best and trying to get all the outs he can, annoying runners with his pickoffs and getting a lot of his outs like this (which pisses Kageyama off because he knows his teammate should have seen it coming and they should definitely have been able to make it back to base).

Kageyama also sees for the first time what a weird-ass pitcher Hinata is when, trying to bring the runner on third home, the batter before him manages to hit centre field right over Hinata, only for him to catch it because he immediately reacted and jumped for it, getting the last out.

= They definitely start on the wrong foot as a battery, and it takes a lot of working together to get going. But maybe Hinata grows on Kageyama because he will throw whatever he's asked to throw, no matter how risky the pitch may be or if it's a pitch Hinata is still a little unsure about. As long as Kageyama keeps making calls for him, Hinata will pitch for him. No matter what he asks for, he'll work hard to get better, so Kageyama never stops making calls. Hinata pitches with 120% faith in his catcher's judgment.

Bettering his strikezone control and honing down the different pitches he learned is at the top of their to-do list.

= If Hinata didn't lack in his batting ability, Coach Ukai would definitely make him the leadoff batter because he's the fastest on the team. Any time he makes it on base, if he can, he tries to steal, knowing he has the speed and reflexes to jump back for it.

Extra / Other Position:

= Hear me out, relief pitcher Tsukishima. He has a very different pitching style from Hinata due to his personality and height. He finds it ridiculous and stupid how much Hinata trains, thinking that's just like sprinting right into seriously injuring himself from throwing too much. The thing is, he's actually a good pitcher and has great control of the strike zone; he just lacks the motivation to really give it his all when he's on the mound when he first starts at Karasuno. It actually annoys Kageyama that someone with such good control doesn't want to pitch properly or at all most of the time.

If he's not meant to pitch in a game, he'll start in the outfield since he can throw back home or to one of the basemen easily.

= Mirroring the manga, Sugawara should also be a catcher, who has a different approach to catching than Kageyama does. He's no genius, but he worked hard to get where he is and is always trying to look at how the fielders and pitchers are feeling and trying to lift them up if they don't seem to be doing too well. As a third year, he'd prefer being the one behind the home plate, but wants Karasuno to have another chance at Koshien, and if it means Kageyama needs to be the starting catcher for it, he doesn't mind being the relief.

= Mirror the manga again, I think Asahi should be the ace and have the position Hinata is fighting for so hard. I can see him being a power pitcher who strikes out batters with the sheer speed and force of his pitches. He also looks intimidating on the mound with his size and looks.

= Nishinoya would definitely be the shortstop. I feel like it's a good mirroring role to the libero. He can be loud on the field and is always lifting up the mood, making it his life goal to never let any ball pass by him and go into the outfield.

= While I could see Asahi hitting hard, I think Tanaka has a better personality to be a cleanup hitter. I can see him being able to do pretty good in that.

= Narita doesn't typically start, but despite that, he still get some game time as he will often be used as a pinch-hitter to replace Hinata if it's a more critical moment that needs someone to actually hit it, since his batting average is better than Hinata's.

= Asahi used to bat much earlier in the batting line-up, but had to be moved to the bottom because of how Hinata switches with him most, if not all, games to close off. It still allows a decent batter at the end of the lineup to get on base for the leadoff.

= Contrary to Asahi, Sugawara used to bat later in the line-up, but was moved up since Kageyama does a good job as the 2-hole. He doesn't hit quite as powerfully, but he's pretty good at bunting to advance the leadoff. He does hit some good grounders to make it on base, too.

= If Tsukishima is meant to pitch in a game, he typically won't be in the outfield. Kinoshita then takes his place while Narita goes to second base. When this happens, Yamagushi, Kinoshita and Ennoshita will slide down a spot, so Narita takes the 8-hole. Much like Asahi, being a decent batter before a leadoff plays well in their line-up.

Visual from the fielding and (typical) batting order:

Been spending the past week just having this idea in mind (after I've gotten back into reading socmed AU with misawa lol).

But what if Takashima never went to that game Sawamura and his team lost in middle school? What if, because of that, Sawamura never got invited to Seido and stayed back in Nagano, playing at the high school over there?

What if the MiSawa battery only meets once they are at Meiji (or whichever big6 team I pick), Miyuki as a second-year and already the starting catcher at Meiji, while Sawamura enters as a first-year on the path to study to be a physical therapist? (Forget that Meiji doesn't actually have that course apparently shush)

What if, because of reasons, Sawamura hadn't really thought he'd join the baseball club, but his roomie and someone he met in the past make him at least go for the try-out? And what if pitching to Miyuki only makes him want to join really bad and see just where he can go with him?