CH 85

Chapter 85: Let's Take The Victory!

TL: Akabane

***

After pitching practice, I went out into the hallway and found Imayuri. He had a sour look on his face.

"Looks like that your b*stard Hagiri has been blackmailing our club members. Repulsive! Staging a dead ball like that is an affront to baseball!"

Imayuri is a jerk to me, but in the future, he's the kind of guy who will become a top-notch professional baseball player. He must have a deep love for baseball.

"Well, yeah. Hagiri is a real scoundrel."

"Then, I can't leave Igarashi by his side after all! I'll take Igarashi with me when this game is over! Don't complain..."

"Shut up!"

I let out a cold voice. I was at my highest tension just now. Right now, I only want to think about Ayashiro. I don't want him to talk about other women.

"What's bothering Igarashi? I'm just now getting used to it.  I'm filled with the desire to win! Don't look at Igarashi, look at me!"

Imayuri is looking at me with puzzled eyes. That's not what I want. That's not the kind of look I want.

"Imayuri. The bet is already blown. All that's left for you and me is to see who's stronger. That's all that matters. You're mistaken, you know. Igarashi is not a woman you can get if you win something. She's the kind of woman who would finally turn her head to look at you if you offered her victory. Don't think you can get Igarashi just by winning. Show your strength. Then we'll talk."

I glare at Imayuri. Imayuri finally started to give me a hard look.

"I've made up my mind. I'm going to beat you on your best field. I'm going to deny you everything you've done in your baseball career. I'm going to be your unforgettable fear. A fear you'll never forget."

In the previous world, all I had was the fear of losing Igarashi, so I could only do the tinny things that would turn Imayuri into a stain on the asphalt. So in this world, I want to do things more elegantly. I'm going to destroy Imayuri. I'm going to destroy Imayuri in the area he loves and has devoted his life to. I'm going to fill him with so much fear of me that he will forget about Igarashi. I'm going to win with that intention.

"You're getting pretty big, aren't you! Ah! Damn! Always, always you...! Oh well! Hagiri's gone! You're just a bunch of fish! With Hagiri gone, there's no more interference! That's why I'm taking the mound! I won't even allow you foul balls!"

Hagiri's interference even affected the position of Hayao University. But Hagiri had fallen. Now there was no reason for the strongest pitcher, Imayuri, not to take the mound.

"I'll give that line back to you in reverse. Fuhaha! Hahahahahaha!"

I give a high laugh like a scoundrel. I'm going to teach this guy more horrors than Hagiri. He will never be able to stand in front of me again.

The game resumed. Soon after Hagiri's dead ball substitution, the next batter was forced into a strikeout by Imayuri. The spectators, who had been subdued by his brilliant pitching, were very excited. Everyone was happy to see the appearance of a popular guy.

"Kanata. The audience is now intoxicated by Imayuri's star power. But I know. Kanata is a person who'll destroys the harmony. Fight!"

"Oh, leave it to me, manager!"

Yuzuriha and I high-fived. And then I took the field as the pitcher.

"Heh! A guy who hasn't even taken the mound once in this tournament is pitching! You're just a weak intellectual kid from the Imperial Capital! Even if you knew complex numbers! You can't get strikes!"

I'm getting annoyed with the enemy players. Why do I always get licked by these guys? Well, it doesn't matter. All I can do is throw the ball with my soul. I swing my legs and twist my torso. Then, I transfer the stored energy to my shoulders and release it by throwing the ball!

"Kitami Straight!"

The name of the technique has no meaning. But I put all my energy into it, and the ball goes straight to the middle of the strike zone.

"Heh! A straight ball without any kind of ingenuity! After all, baseball ability is not proportional to deviation! Even if you can differentiate! That's not going to work in baseball! Huh?"

The batter swung at a straight ball down the middle. And then.

"Strike!"

The bleachers were silent. Only the voices of the play-by-play announcers could be heard.

--- "The straight ball just hit 160km...eh? No way! Isn't the machine malfunctioning? Eh? No? Huh?"

The only sound coming from the audience was a murmur of bewilderment.

"Well, it must be a fluke! Yes, it must be! It must be! I was just misled enough to be able to do the integral and the extreme limit!"

"Kitami Straight No. 2!"

The name of the technique means nothing. This time, I aimed a little higher and threw a straight.

"Heh! Straight, right? It's got zero inclination! You can't differentiate it!"

"We're playing baseball now! This is baseball, not math!"

I think the only person doing math in this field is our manager, Yuzuriha. And the batter struck out again.

"Strike two!!!!"

--- "Just now a straight...161 km? Huh?!!!"

The venue starts to clamor. They still can't believe that I threw the ball super fast.

"Yes, yes! 160, 161, and now 162! Why is it that the Imperial capital is so apealing with the ability to study! But that's what's going to kill you! If I know in advance how fast they're coming! I can hit it!"

"Kitami straight final!"

I threw the ball with more force. Slightly low down the middle. It might be the perfect pitch for some people.

"Heh! I can see through you, man! I'm going to slap you. Ah... no solution... no contact..."

Stop with the math stuff. The bat struck out three times.

"Strike three! Out!!!"

The crowd was once again silent. And they were waiting for the voice of the play-by-play announcer.

--- "Just now straight is .........162km! That's amazing! It was just as the batter predicted!!!"

"Eh? That way? You should be praising me!!!!"

I'm out of sync. But the audience reacts to the word 162km and cheers.

""""Woooo!!!!""""

""""Yeaaaahh!!!!""""

The field shakes with the angry shouts of the men and the charming voices of the women. It seems that the audience finally understands that my ability is not a fluke. The TV camera seems to be zooming in on me. I grin in their direction and give them a piece of my mind. I must have made a strong debut that even Hagiri's success faded away. Then, I struck out a batter after another and got the change. Before returning to the bench, I looked toward the infield bleachers. I saw Milan sitting in her seat and Igarashi hugging her between her knees. I walked up to them and shouted as loud as I could.

"Don't be depressed forever! Support me right now! Me! Look at me!!!"

I shouted at Igarashi with all my might.

[Ririse's POV]

Tokiwa did a great job as I expected. I feel happy and at the same time feel guilty. Maybe Tokiwa is an amazing person like Chusho. A high-spec, cool boy who excites girls. I am sure I am almost intoxicated by his activities. I am sure that alone will cheer me up. I should just forget about Chusho and surrender myself to Tokiwa. I am aware of my bad self whispering that. Tokiwa will protect me. He is a strong man, so he might stay by my side until the end instead of Chusho. But that's a guilty feeling. Don't use it as an excuse to stay with him. That's not right. But what's the difference? Girls are supposed to be protected by boys. I don't need to ask Tokiwa to protect me.

--- "Don't be depressed forever! Support me right now! Me! Look at me!!!"

Tokiwa is shouting at me. I look at him... He is smiling somewhat proudly. I thought he was cute. Then, he threw the ball he was holding. It flew over the wire fence and landed in my palm.

--- "That's the ball I struck out for the "first time"!!!"

When I heard that, I involuntarily held my face with both hands. Because I was aware that my face was turning red. Every time we met, we always repeated our "first time." I've never done it with anyone else. I always begged Tokiwa for a "first time" that I had never even had with Chusho. And he made it happen again. Only Tokiwa could fulfill my unimportant and trivial selfishness. Every time I begged him, my world expanded more and more. It was fun. I really enjoyed the new world he showed me. I stood up, clutching the amulet on my chest.

"Oh? You seem to be okay now."

Milan seemed relieved to see my face now. I tucked the ball that Tokiwa gave me into my skirt pocket.

"Yeah. I got another "first time". That's why I'm happy in this world. So I'm okay now!"

Soon, I'm holding a pompon and joining the performance of the cheerleading squad of the Imperial Capital. You said it before, Tokiwa. I choose to cheer for you.

***Let's throw the glass slipper as far as we can. If it shatters and scatters, it will surely shine brightly.***

The game went on. The batting order rotates, starting with manager Kyogoku-senpai at No. 6. I'm No. 8, and my turn will surely come around.

"The key to victory, Kyogoku-senpai. It depends on you."

Yuzuriha, the manager, said so.

"It's me? Can you explain what's going on?"

"You're going to score a point for sure in this inning. Well, leave it to me. I'll give you a sign. I have all the data on the players now. I'll give you a reliable pitch prediction."

Yuzuriha stares at the ground with a serious gaze. She is serious too. I must live up to her expectations. And then Kyogoku-senpai stands up to bat.

"Kanata. Please do what I'm about to tell you immediately. This is a manager's order."

"Oh. Leave it to me! I'll do whatever I can do!"

"You said you'll do anything! Then, Ayashiro! Please stand next to Kanata!"

Ayashiro stands next to me, tilting her head. I'm a little nervous because of that thing earlier.

"Is this okay?"

"Yes, and please imitate me. Yei!"

Yuzuriha hugs me so that her tits are attached to mine. Then, she looked up at me and stared at me. And Ayashiro imitates Yuzuriha's appearance with a very evil looking, two-cha-cha smile.

"Hey. What's this?"

"Kanata! This is where we start! Yes! It's a gut pose! Gut pose! While smiling as anti-corporate as possible!"

"I'm not anti-corporate! I mean, what's the point of this?!"

"Just do it! Gut pose!"

"Umm. I get it! Here!"

I do the gut-punch with as much of an anti-corporate smile as I can muster. Huh? Gut-punching while surrounded by beautiful women on both sides? What is this?

"If you join the Imperial Capital University Tokiwa group! Anyone can be like Kanata!!!!"

"Call our toll-free number! You'll have to pay for the call!"

Yuzuriha and Ayashiro are doing some kind of dubious advertising. Ah, I've seen this before. It's an ad on the back of a weekly manga magazine for a man and woman taking a bath in a wad of cash and a mysterious accessory. I really wanted that accessory when I was in junior high school. I could easily get the sword with the dragon coiled around it when I was in elementary school at a highway rest stop, but that bundle bath accessory was very expensive.... I don't know if that accessory actually works or not.

"Look at that, Kanata! Look at that face of the player Imayuri! My boobs! That face, who is so excited to see Ayashiro's nipples, but he can't reach them and glares at Kanata in frustration!!!"

The ads for the billfold baths provoke the male heart. Right now, Imayuri is looking at us very enviously. At the same time, he looks annoyed at me.

"What kind of elaborate provocation is this?!"

"This is just another winning strategy guided by the results of our calculations! It's the result of my calculations! It's not my hobby!"

It's definitely Yuzuriha's hobby, isn't it? But I can see that Yuzuriha's concentration is a little sluggish right now. It's not Yuzuriha and Kyogoku-senpai who miss that opportunity. Yuzuriha desperately sends a sign with her hand, and Kyogoku-senpai follows it hard. And then.... The ball flew to left field with a clinking sound.

"Damn! Did you get distracted by something weird and let your guard down?!"

Kyogoku-senpai grounded. And the lefty, impatient with a hit for the first time in a long time, fails to handle the ball. He caught Reiner's ball once, but dropped it to the ground. The lefty then hurriedly picked up the ball and threw it to first base. But the ball was rough. The first baseman failed to catch the ball and it rolled backwards. Kyogoku-senpai went straight past first base and slid into second base.

""""Wooooo!""""

"Kukuku, Kanata, it wasn't just Imayuri players who were gawking at the bill bath!"

"Tag baths are amazing...!"

If you can pick up hits just by posing like that, I think it's amazing. It may seem like a malicious provocation that is slightly against the rules, but there was no way they could tell that they were gawking at our girl. Let's just call it a smart play. Thus, Kyogoku-senpai succeeded in getting to second base. Then, it was the turn of our no. 7. Unfortunately, he struck out right away. Then, it was my turn. I stood up to bat and stared at Imayuri. He was staring at me, too. Yuzuriha's sign was to miss the first pitch.

"I ain't gonna let my guard down again! Ora!"

A fast slider hit me right on the edge of the strike zone. The pitch's sharpness is frighteningly good. This is the power of Imayuri. If he had been able to get his hands on the ball now, he would have at most raised it to the foul zone on a fly ball.

"I didn't like you for a long time!"

The next sign was, "Aim low to the outside corner and strike out." Imayuri threw a high inside curve. I struck out as signed. This was strike two.

"You've been like that since you were a kid! You always looked somewhere far away! Women and children watched you with a distant smile on their faces! And Mika in elementary school, who I loved! And Rika in junior high! And Chika in high school! Everyone, everyone, everyone! They all longed for a shady guy like you! You've got nothing to your name but your face!"

I don't know Mika, Rika, or Chika. Imayuri seemed to resent me for some reason I don't understand anyway. And then Imayuri threw a straight shot right down the middle. He got all heated up on hid own and threw a great pitch. I can't miss it. I took a full swing at that straight down the middle and slapped it away. And the pitch flew straight to the left side of the pitcher, Imayuri.

"Damn? Ugh!"

Imayuri reflexively reached out with his glove for the ball. But the momentum of the ball I hit was strong. The momentum of the ball was so strong that it caught the glove. The glove went over the second baseman's head and fell in front of Wright. Wright picked up the glove and looked inside. But.

"Empty? Where's the ball? Where's the ball?!!!!"

The ball was missing. But only Yuzuriha and I noticed it. The ball was now at Imayuri's feet...! That time worked in our favor. Kyogoku-senpai was running as soon as the third pitch was thrown. He had already rounded third base, and he also stepped on home base with the same momentum. That was the first point. I had now rounded first base and reached second base. He hadn't found the ball yet. But the catcher noticed that the ball was at Imayuri's feet.

"Imayuri! It's at your feet!!!!!!!"

"What?! How is that possible?!"

Imayuri was so flustered by the sudden call that he kicked the ball without noticing it. The ball rolled with such force that it rolled to the wall behind home base. The catcher immediately ran to pick up the ball.

"Damn! I'm going to stab it home for sure!"

Imayuri gets into home base instead. Then, I round third base and run toward home base.

"Oooooo!"

"Ahhhhhh!"

The catcher picks up the ball and throws it toward Imayuri. And I slide toward home base. And then....

"...You're kidding me...!"

"Fuu, hahaha! I did it! I did it!!!!"

My foot had touched home base. I succeeded in sliding in before Imayuri's touch. The umpire also held out his hands to show that I was safe.

""""Woooo!!!""""

A huge cheer goes up from the spectators. And at the same time, the players came out from the Imperial Capital bench and all welcomed me. They were all clapping me on the shoulder and tapping me on the helmet. Kyogoku-senpai was waiting for me with his hand raised. I clapped Kyogoku-senpai's hand.

"That was seriously awesome! A super odd running home run! I've never seen anything like that before!"

"Haha. You did it! Haha! Super fun! Hahahaha!"

Me and the manager clap each other's hands and start dancing funny dances full of joy. This kind of silly flirting by boys is a lot of fun. And so we succeeded in turning the tables. But we were the first to bat. Next it was Imayuri's turn to bat. Victory is something you have to take. And once you take it, you have to protect it. Our resolve will now be put to the test.

**Author's musings***

Next time! Kanata's super pitching will be brilliant. Maybe?

Season 3 will be finished after one or two more chapters.

Then, he'll have a date with Suo in the extra chapter.

They will dating at the Hongo campus of the Imperial Capital University.

I'm really looking forward to writing about Suo!

Please keep up the good work.