The sixth inning began, and perhaps Haruto had been affected by Jiro's strong performance because he gave up a walk to the first batter. Kenta then stepped into the batter's box, watching intently.
The first pitch came.
PAH
"Ball!"
Kenta didn't move as he saw a fastball way above the strike zone. The second pitch came.
POFT
"Ball!"
This time it was a curveball that bounced in the dirt, and Kenta continued to watch. The third pitch came.
"Finally!" - Kenta could clearly see the pitch. It was the one that had gotten him out earlier, a fastball that cut sharply as it reached the plate, a cutter.
WOOOSH
DOONG
The ball flew off Kenta's bat at high speed towards the outfield, a two-run home run that tied the game. Kenta smiled as he rounded the bases.
"Yeaaaaahhhh! Nice one, Kenta! Great home run!" - the beautiful Mio Shimizu shouted, jumping up and down with excitement.
Kenta felt a bit embarrassed but quickly raised his fist towards the girl as if striking a victory pose, causing Mio to smile sweetly, a little surprised by the sudden gesture.
"Ah, wait!" - Shun suddenly stopped, startling Ren, who had been daydreaming about the possibility of walking home with a girl.
"What happened?" - Ren asked, concerned.
"Forget what I said. Even if you hit two home runs and two doubles, it's impossible for any girl to want to walk home with you." - Shun said with a regretful expression, as if he felt bad for lying to his friend.
"YOU—YOU BASTARD!!" - Ren fumed and quickly chased after his friend.
"Hahahahahahahahaha!!" - Shun laughed heartily as he ran away from his friend.
"Oh, I'll stop here" - Shun said, stopping his run as they approached a park.
"Huh? We're not close to your house yet" - Ren said, confused. He usually walked home with Shun, and this wasn't the spot where they typically parted ways.
"Oh, I still need to finish my daily exercises, and the park seems like a good place for that." - Shun said honestly. His friend already knew he trained like a maniac, so there was no point in hiding it.
"Huh? You're going to train today? Even after the game, you're still going to train? What kind of idiot are you?" - Ren started to say as he walked towards the park.
"Huh? Where are you going?" - Shun asked, confused, but was quickly answered.
"Where do you think? If you're going to train, there's no way I'm going to slack off. No matter how many home runs I have to hit, as long as I can get a pretty girl to walk home with me, I'll train until I hit 50 home runs in a game!" - Ren said determinedly.
"Huh? I guess you'll be training forever, then..." - Shun smiled at his friend's determined words, but he couldn't resist teasing Ren a little.
"What? Are you—are you going to train or keep talking nonsense, you bastard!" - Ren said indignantly.
"Hahaha! Sure, sure, let's train." - Shun had a good laugh before heading into the park.
The two friends then began their training on that Sunday afternoon since neither of them had a girlfriend to hang out with. Life is tough for a young and single guy.