PAH
"I'm ready, Uncle!" - Shun said after throwing another pitch. The boy still felt a little uncomfortable pitching in this outfit, but his shoulder was fully warmed up.
"Hahaha, good! Go for it, then!" - Masahiro laughed excitedly as he crouched behind the home plate.
"Huh? Uncle, aren't you going to use any protective gear?" - Shun asked, concerned.
"Protective gear? Hahaha! Hey Masahiro, looks like he doesn't believe in your ability to catch the ball!" - Kenshin laughed upon hearing his son's words. The boy actually thought Masahiro was too old to catch his pitches, which Kenshin found hilarious.
"Hahaha, now that's confidence! Show him what you've got, kid!" - Haruki Shibasaki also chimed in, laughing.
"Hahaha, that's right, show the power of the new generation!" - Masato Murakami said with a smile. It wasn't every day you saw a 15-year-old asking one of Japan's greatest catchers of all time to put on protective gear.
"Hehe, you seem pretty confident, Shun. You better not disappoint me!" - Masahiro grinned, also finding Shun's comment amusing. But that was only because he knew the boy well and understood that Shun didn't mean to be disrespectful.
"Huh? Okay..." - Shun replied, a bit confused. He didn't understand why everyone was laughing. He was genuinely concerned for his uncle's safety, given how unpredictable his slider was.
Without wasting any time, Shun began his windup. The boy lifted his glove into the air before bringing it to his chest. He then hunched his body while raising his right leg. He thrust his leg forward, taking a large step and forcefully planting his foot in the dirt, rotating his whole body toward the home plate.
Finally, Shun's left arm acted like a whip as he launched the ball high toward his uncle's glove with power.
Masahiro crouched behind the home plate, while Kenshin stood behind him as if he were the umpire. Both men watched the pitch and thought:
"Fastball!"
This time, the ball broke both horizontally and vertically, starting in the middle of the strike zone before nearly hitting José's foot in the right-handed batter's box. Masahiro couldn't stop the ball from hitting the ground, but he skillfully prevented it from going behind him.
"Tch!" - Shun grunted, dissatisfied. He didn't want to embarrass himself in front of so many professionals, but his slider was just too difficult to control. Especially now, dressed uncomfortably in formal clothes and clearly nervous with José watching.
Shun took a deep breath and unbuttoned the collar of his shirt, focusing determinedly on his uncle's glove.
Meanwhile, Masahiro looked at the frustrated boy on the mound and frowned. Once again, he misinterpreted Shun's emotions, thinking the boy was upset because Masahiro had let the ball hit the ground.
"Looks like I'll have to show this kid just how good I am!" - Masahiro muttered to himself, determined. Like any professional player, he had his pride, and without even realizing it, Shun had triggered it.
"Let's try this..." - Shun adjusted his grip again, unaware of his uncle's thoughts. He then began his windup, using his perfect form and putting all his energy into the ball in his hand.
"This is different!" - José Martínez thought, watching the pitch closely.
"Vertical!" - Masahiro focused on the ball's spin and recognized it would have a vertical break. The pitch was in the middle of the zone, a bit high, but predicting the break, Masahiro positioned his glove in the lower part of the zone.
However, he underestimated the break of Shun's pitch. The ball dropped down sharply well before reaching the home plate, slipping past Masahiro's glove and hitting the ground hard.
POFT
"FUCK!" - Masahiro yelled loudly as he felt the life drain from his body. A sharp pain shot from his groin to his stomach, making him feel completely drained of strength.
"He hit me in the balls!" - Masahiro muttered in pain, collapsing to the ground with both hands clutching his crotch. But of course, it was too late to protect anything... Stay tuned with m-v l|-novelhall.net
"I told him to wear the protective gear..." - Shun sighed as he looked at the pathetic sight of his uncle sprawled on the ground, holding his groin. That was the reason he asked his uncle to wear protective gear, his slider was just too dangerous.