"This isn't going to be easy..." - Shun sighed as he watched the ball's trajectory. Fortunately, the ball went to the right of the foul pole, but it went far enough to scare the Shoto players.
"Foul!"
The umpire announced after seeing the ball head into the foul territory stands.
Sora was on the mound, sweating bullets. The boy had almost given up a 2-run home run at the start of the game. At this moment, the inexperience of a first-year pitcher started to show. Kazuki was also affected by the fear of giving up a home run so early, and as a result, his calls became less aggressive.
PAH
"Ball!"
PAH
"Ball!"
PAH
"Ball! Ball Four!"
"Time!" - Kazuki called out to the umpire and went to the mound to talk to Sora. Even though his calls had been less aggressive, the boy hadn't thrown a single pitch where Kazuki had positioned his glove.
"Sora, I'm sorry! I made a bad call. Your pitches are good today, please trust me and throw it to my glove!" - Kazuki said, gently tapping his glove against the boy's chest. Of course, it wasn't really Kazuki's fault, but as a good catcher, he understood his pitcher and knew that scolding Sora at this moment might break him.
The Shoto team only had two pitchers, both first-years, and both the coach and Kazuki knew they would need both pitchers if they wanted to win this game.
"Hm, I trust you, Captain!" - Sora knew it wasn't his captain's fault. The boy was a bit arrogant for being chosen as the team's ace in his first year, but if there was one person on the team he respected and admired, it was Captain Kazuki.
Kazuki returned to his position. He crouched behind home plate and looked at the mound. He could see that Sora's eyes had changed, the boy was determined now. Kazuki smiled and turned his attention to the next batter, who was stepping into the left-handed batter's box.
"That guy, huh? We can't give him an easy pitch." - Kazuki thought as he gave a sign and positioned his glove right in the center of the zone.
"Sorry, Suga!" - Kohei apologized as he passed the white-haired boy who was in the on-deck circle, preparing to bat.
"Whatever, looks like I'll have to do it myself." - Sugawara grumbled irritably as he made his way to the batter's box.
Meanwhile, in the stands, three young boys had just arrived at the spot where Mika, Hana, and Kaori were sitting.
"Wow! That was a great play!" - A tall boy with green eyes and black hair said, impressed. That was Toji Takeda, the catcher for the Tokyo Nakano senior team.
"Toji! You're late! Sit down now!" - Mika said angrily, and the three boys quickly sat down, afraid of getting into trouble with the girl.
"Hahahahaha Mika, go easy on them! Hey boys, it's been a while, huh?" - Kenshin laughed enthusiastically.
"Mr. Takahashi, you came too?!" - Toji said excitedly, having known Shun's father since he was a child. The other two boys also greeted him before sitting down.
"Huh? Shun isn't pitching?" - One of the two boys said. He was Akira Suzuki, with a serious face, black hair, and black eyes. Like Toji, he had been friends with Shun since childhood, and he was also the starting third baseman for the Tokyo Nakano senior team and a member of the Japanese U-15 national team.
"Hm, he's playing right field." - Mika said hesitantly. She still wasn't used to her brother's new position.
"Huh?" - Toji blinked in confusion, only now noticing his friend in right field. The boy couldn't help but ask himself in confusion. 'Is he injured? He seemed fine when I saw him. Why didn't he tell me anything?'
"Is that the guy who hit off Shohei?" - The third boy finally spoke. He was staring intently at the white-haired figure in the batter's box, with fire in his eyes, as if he wanted to jump onto the field and challenge him right then.
The boy had black hair and black eyes. He was tall and had a very handsome face, with a confident attitude that made anyone looking at him think he was very popular with girls. That was Satoshi Hayashi, the future Japanese ace, the pitcher who had taken the starting spot from Shun on the Tokyo Nakano team.
"Hm." - Hana nodded and gave Satoshi a small smile, but before she could say anything, she was interrupted by a loud noise.
WOOSH
DOOOOONG
"DAMN IT!" - Ren cursed loudly as he heard the sound of Sugawara's perfect hit. He watched the ball soar high toward the gap between center and right field. This time, he could say with certainty that it was a home run.