CH 95.4

The summer heat has long since passed and recently, the mornings have become chilly.

Most of the spectators in the stadium seem to be wearing long sleeves.

The city is talking about the harvest festival and the members of White Beams are often unable to practice due to the preparations for the harvest festival.

Most of the members of the team are commoners, unlike me, who is in a responsible position.

I was a little envious of their ease and went to the ballpark today to look for hints of the magic pitch from other people’s pitches.

「You managed to keep it within three runs last time.」

「That’s right. The opponent only managed to have three runs.」

「When we started, it was 33 runs. Amazing improvement.」

「Please don’t talk about the match against the Fire Balls.」

It has been a while since that humiliating defeat and our battery has recently become quite capable of holding down the opponent’s batting line up.

I have tried many things and still haven’t been able to develop a magic ball but I think I’m getting a better feel for the game because of it.

I’m no longer being hit as much as I used to be.

I’m almost there, almost there.

If I only had a decisive pitch…..

Thinking this, I looked at the pitcher’s hand as if praying.

「Robos-sama, would you like a hot dog?」

「Yeah, and cola.」

I pulled some change out of my pocket and handed it to Tashiba. She ran happily to the food stall.

She’s a carefree girl. I’m sure she has no worries about the future.

I’m going to lose face if I don’t at least get one win over the zarkudo before this league ends in winter……

I imagine the look on my boss’ face when I go to report that. It makes me feel kind of heavy.

I hope he’ll get married and become more rounded but he’s probably not that kind of person……

I searched my breast pocket for a cigarette and remembered I had a smoking gag.

If I’m going to cut out sake and cigarettes, it’s finally going to be a life without fun.

When this mission is over, I’ll probably start a family like my boss.

Well, that is, if the mission ends without incident.

The sound of a trumpet being blown by the cheering crowd in the audience bounced like a tap on my rounded back.

「Did you drop something?」

「Ah? No, nothing.」

When I looked up, I saw Tashiba with cola and hot dog in each hand, looking at me with a puzzled expression.

I can’t let this girl see me depressed.

「Hot dog」

「Yeah」

I straighten my back and accept the bread with intestines in the middle.

This is a dish that can be easily found in the city where meat is strangely inexpensive.

「Cola!」

「Oh!」

Tashiba’s hand slips and the cola pours down on my body.

「I’m sorry! I’m sorry!」

「Ah, not, it’s alright.」

I let wind blow around my hand, blowing the cola off my clothes and down my feet.

I’m glad I’m not wearing my military uniform.

Dirt stains would be fine but brown stains are kind of…..

「Ano, that’s…..」

「What?」

I glanced over Tashiba as I let the wind blow against my clothes and she rolled her eyes while pointing at my hand.

If you have time to do that, help me take care of it…..

「Isn’t that……a magic ball?」

「What?」

「One that makes wind come out of your hand.」

「This isn’t making wind come out of my hand. I was just gathering wind around my hand…..」

「What if you gather wind around the ball?」

「What are you……?」

Tashiba grabbed my hand, which was blowing wind, and spun it around in a circular motion.

「This is it, right? Rotation! This is what Vongo-san was talking about! It’s all about rotation!」

「I see. You mean make the ball spin using wind!」

「That’s right!」

Tashiba and I looked at each other for a moment and started running toward the exit of the stadium.

I wanted to find out immediately what had just occurred to me, so I ran blindly, paying no attention to my soaked brown shirt or to the eyes of those around me.

I jumped over the unoccupied bench, ran past the sleeping cat, and ran toward the practice field.

On the way there, we noticed that we were both carrying hotdogs, which was hilarious and made us laugh as we ran.

The cool autumn breeze was pushing our backs as we ran.