"Ehhh, who do you think you are to talk like that to my Mika, huh?" - Toji stepped in front of the girls with a menacing expression, glaring at Ren. As a man, he felt his primal instincts kick in, ready to "mark" his "territory" in front of the "threat" that was the young samurai in front of him.
"Huh? And who are you?" - Ren didn't feel intimidated, especially since he was in front of three beautiful girls, so he returned the glare, scowling at Toji.
Kenta hurried over to Ren, worried and wanting to stop his friend from getting into trouble, but just as he reached Ren and placed a hand on his shoulder, someone else had already taken action.
"Who the hell is 'your Mika,' you idiot!" - Mika shouted angrily at Toji while kicking him. Unfortunately for Toji, he was standing right in front of Mika, and when she kicked, her foot hit his precious family jewels.
"Aah!" - Toji let out a pained cry, feeling breathless and a terrible ache radiating up his stomach. He dropped to his knees, clutching his groin, regretting his words as all the other boys watching the scene shuddered.
"Huh? Mika? What's going on?" - Shun finally stood up, ready to head down to the stadium's parking lot to start his warm-up, but he spoke in surprise when he saw his sister red with anger, Toji on his knees, and Kenta holding onto Ren.
"Shun, you idiot! Why didn't you respond when Hana called you?" - Mika scolded as she approached him.
"Huh? Hana?" - Shun asked, even more confused. He then looked over at the beautiful blonde girl with green eyes, unsure of what to say. He truly hadn't heard anyone calling his name.
"My bad, I didn't hear you." - Shun apologized sheepishly, offering a smile, though he had no clue what was going on.
"You..." - Mika looked at her brother's sincere expression and sighed, knowing he'd been acting strange since the morning, but she hadn't expected him to be so out of it.
"I need to go warm up, I'll see you all later!" - Shun didn't waste much time and got straight to the point, then started walking but turned back after a few steps, as if remembering something.
"Aren't you coming?" - Shun asked his two friends, still finding it odd that Kenta was still holding onto Ren.
These two were Yoshinori Sugawara and Kohei Sasaki, the battery of Hokuto Junior High. Once again, they were heading to Shoto's game "disguised", thanks to the insistence of the white-haired maniac.
"What do you think about today's game?" - Kohei asked, having given up complaining about his friend's ridiculous disguises.
"It'll be a pitcher's duel." - Sugawara replied without hesitation.
"Oh, and who do you think will win?" - Kohei continued with his questions.
"Hmph! Isn't it obvious?" - Sugawara scoffed, too proud to say the name of the team he thought would win, but he certainly looked confident in his choice.
'This guy...' - Kohei sighed at his friend's reaction. Would it kill him to just say who he thought would win like a normal person?
---
Shimizu hurried through the stadium's interior toward the dugout as quickly as she could, not wanting to be late. She finally reached the dugout entrance and, without hesitation, opened the door.
But the moment she stepped into the dugout, she felt a terrible pressure emanating from everyone present. She couldn't help but feel a little intimidated. Even though she had known the Shoto team members for a while now, this was the first time she had seen them so focused. Not only that, it was the first time she felt this terrifying aura radiating from them.
"So?" - Shimizu heard Coach Yamada ask as she saw Kenta walking back to the dugout.
"We start batting." - Kenta replied calmly before entering the dugout.