“Batting 5th, Pitcher, Ken”
Before Daichi could think further on the matter, his brother stepped into the batters box, confidence radiating from his figure.
Yatsuo received the ball from the outfield and placed it in his glove. He rested his right hand in it as well, making it look like he was adjusting his grip.
However, his focus was on his wrist which was sending a prickly, pins and needles type pain to his fingers. He managed to keep his expression even, yet inwardly he was worried.
‘I can’t stop now… I need to win this game and then the finals.’
His mind was resolute. No matter what kind of pain he had to endure, he wanted to finish up his 3rd year of High School baseball without regrets.
If he could win at Nationals, then he had an even better chance of joining the professional league either after High School or during university.
Yatsuo turned his attention back to Daichi and saw the concerned expression on his baby face, making him feel a little guilty.
‘You wouldn’t understand Daichi… you’re still young and so talented.’ He thought inwardly.
He tipped his hat towards him, notifying Daichi that he was ready for the next call.
Daichi could only nod in response. He needed to trust his counterpart, just as he had asked Yatsuo to trust him. Without mutual trust and understanding, there was no way that they could be a proper battery.
He glanced at Ken who was raring to go. His body position was further over the plate, almost baiting Daichi to throw an inside ball.
He shook his head, there was no need to do such a thing with 2 outs.
Yatsuo saw the lead and nodded before breaking into his pitching action. This time there was no sharp pain from his wrist as he threw a perfect slider which broke down and away from the batter.
Ken’s eyes lit up as he swung for the fences.
DONG
‘Crap.’
While he managed to get a good strike on the ball, he could tell that it wasn’t in the center. The ball flew up in the air and hovered over 2nd base for quite some time.
“Akihiko that’s yours!”
Takuya yelled out, directing the fielder on 2nd base.
“Alright alright!” He called, standing beneath the ball and watching it closely.
Pah
“Out! Changeover.”
“Ah damn. I thought it was a cutter.” He mumbled, yet Ken didn’t seem too upset.
“Ya got me there bro.” Ken said with a grin.
“Of course. I’ve still gotta pay you back for that home run.” Daichi retorted, flashing a smile.
Ken shook his head, “Won’t be happening.”
“We’ll see about that.”
Though the two were lighthearted, there was a real fighting spirit behind their words. They truly wanted to duke it out, showing each other just how much they had improved.
Ken replaced his helmet and bat with his cap and glove and headed back onto the field to start the bottom of the 4th innings. He would need to face the top of the batting order for the second time now.
Yet he felt like he wouldn’t lose.
“Batting 1st, Left Outfield, Isamu”
As Ken stood atop the mound, the beautiful voice rang out over the arena, introducing the next batter. It was the guy with the long legs who had been wearing a confident grin in the 1st innings.
However, it seemed as if his grin was nowhere to be seen at the moment. Having seen Ken’s pitches firsthand, he was now lacking his earlier confidence.
Yet that wasn’t to say that he had given up hope. There was still a lot of determination in his features.
Unfortunately for him, that didn’t last long.
WHOOOSH
PAH
“Strike”
PAH
“Strike”
PAH
“Strikeout!”
He was sent packing as fast as the last time, being forced to head back to the dugout with no results to show.
Since it was their 2nd time facing Ken, the Osaka team had some kind of hope to make some progress on the score sheet, yet it seemed like it wouldn’t be easy.
“Batting 2nd, 1st base, Takashi”
Like his counterpart, Takashi was left swinging like a fool as the devastating fastballs blew past him and into Yuta’s open glove.
PAH
“Strikeout!”
Suddenly, Osaka found themselves at 2 outs already in the innings, with their clean up batters coming up next.
It was always sad for a clean up batter to come out to a field with no runners on base. Even if they landed a big hit, it might not even be rewarded.
Yatsuo stepped up, his earlier frustration no longer evident on his features. He was burning for a big hit, the more runs they had on the board the safer he would feel pitching against their line up.
Yuta called for an outside forkball, hoping to either force a bad hit or get an easy strike.
Ken nodded and went into his wind up. His left elbow jutting out slightly before he stepped forward and delivered the pitch.
Yatsuo’s eyes lit up after seeing this, his grip on the bat tightening.
DONG
His bat managed to get underneath the ball and sent it into the outfield between first and the right fielder.
He ran onto 1st base with a smile on his face, finally happy to get a hit in. As long as Daichi could get a hold of the ball, there was a good chance they could score in this innings despite there being 2 outs.
Ken frowned once more, his intuition telling him that something was not right. It was on the tip of his tongue but he couldn’t quite pick it out at this moment.
Before he could think, he heard the voice ring out over the stadium once more.
“Batting 4th, Catcher, Daichi”
“Kyaaa”
“He’s so handsome, even if he looks a little young.”
“I didn’t know you were like that…”
Ken ignored the screams of the crowd, there was no time to think anymore as the main boss had arrived.