"mihashi was a replacement for haruna to abe" this "akimaru was a replacement for abe to haruna" that. have we ever considered that, after finding out haruna was probably waiting for akimaru this whole time after claiming (lying to everyone and himself) that he gave up on him in elementary school, haruna probly thought of abe as a replacement for akimaru.
akimaru, who used to be the only one who could catch his pitches, suddenly lost interest in baseball in elementary school. and haruna, who didn't know that he himself was the cause of this change, felt betrayed and frustrated that his passion for the sport stopped being reciprocated, and so he ended up "giving up" on akimaru.
this grave misunderstanding continued into their middle school years. so when haruna sprained his knee, and akimaru avoided him even further out of fear, their already strained relationship became worse because none of them ever talked about it. haruna who was already mad at baseball, and his best friend who used to be his comrade in the sport, was ready to give up on the entire thing completely.
that is, until this catcher a year below him came along in todakita. and he found that someone out there CAN catch his pitches. someone who doesnt have to be akimaru. having realized this, he slowly regained passion for baseball. but he was still kind of a jerk vulnerable teenage boy then, so we all know how that ended. still haruna went on to become an extraordinary pitcher, ace, and captain.
akimaru followed haruna into highschool. he was content with being haruna's lackey, a "wall", someone to catch his pitches, unaware of his own identity as a person and abilities as a baseball player. haruna was frustrated with this, and regarded akimaru to be disposable as a catcher. he was betrayed and disgusted at his lack of passion (something he caused btw... stupid ass). the whole time he was in denial of his desire for akimaru to become his equal, instead of someone who serves him. unlike haruna who was able to recover from their strained friendship and relationship with baseball (through abe), akimaru didnt regain his passion for the sport, until the autumn match against nishiura.
akimaru actually has great skill as a catcher, he can see stuff about pitches that others cant. now that he's locked in, paired with haruna's pitching and with their weird telepathic communication. these two have crazy potential as a battery. heck they could even make it to koushien.
tldr: haruaki is so fucking peak of a childhood friends duo
idk it's 1:20 am and im prolly stupid and im prolly pulling shit out of my ass rn but this thought just occured to me while taking a piss and listening to fake plastic trees by radiohead and i havent thought about it a lot bc im sleepy and tired and gay and stupid and pulling shit out of my ass
