YM778.TV Chapter 136: Fourth Round (4)
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One day later, Monday...
Shun was sitting in the classroom, distractedly looking out the window. His Japanese teacher was explaining something, but Shun was too busy thinking about the next game in the Tokyo tournament.
The fifth round wouldn\'t be until Wednesday, so the team would have two days off to prepare. Coach Yamada mentioned that he planned to continue with the pitcher rotation, so following the order, the young nerd Jiro would be pitching for the next game, while Shun would be responsible for the sixth and final round.
Shun had watched their opponents\' game yesterday, Tenshi Junior High School. Their defense wasn\'t anything special. Their ace was a third-year player who threw a slider and a four-seam fastball, a solid pitcher but not good enough to trouble Shoto\'s lineup.
Shun\'s real concern was Tenshi\'s batters. All the players were quite strong, even at the high school level, and seemed to focus their training on power hitting.
If Tenshi\'s lineup got rolling, it would be tough to stop, but luckily, Shoto\'s ace, the young nerd Jiro, was set to pitch for the game. Shun was confident Jiro would handle the job and help Shoto advance to the sixth round, but he was always ready to take the mound in case of an emergency.
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"Ryosuke, wait!" - A short boy with a youthful face called out as he left the classroom. The bell had just rung, signaling the end of classes, so the hallway was crowded with students.
"What do you want, Sho?" - Ryosuke turned around irritably, looking at the young boy in front of him. Sho was a first-year student like him and also a member of the Shoto Junior High baseball team.
Since they were in the same class and both part of the baseball club, it was natural to think they\'d be friends, but that wasn\'t the case. Ryosuke never considered Sho or the other first-years his friends because he always thought he was better than them.
"You need to apologize to the coach and the senpais! I\'m sure if you do, they\'ll let you back on the team!" - Sho said determinedly. He had never been fond of Ryosuke\'s personality, but he couldn\'t deny he admired the boy\'s skills as a baseball player.
"Tch! Mind your own business! I\'m not going to apologize." - Ryosuke grumbled irritably and turned, starting to walk away from Sho.
"Wait!" - Sho shouted, quickly running to block Ryosuke\'s path with his arms outstretched.
"You idiot! All you have to do is apologize, so stop being a proud jerk!" - Sho yelled angrily, staring at Ryosuke.
Sho played as a shortstop, the same position as the team captain, Kenta. Because of this, he knew he had no chance of playing in the tournaments this year, no matter how much he wanted to or tried. Meanwhile, he was forced to watch the talented Ryosuke secure a starting spot with little effort, and now the boy was throwing it away due to arrogance, which infuriated Sho.
"Y-You—" - Ryosuke was at a loss for words when he heard Sho, but anger quickly took over as he grabbed Sho by the collar.
Sho was a bit startled to feel his collar gripped tightly, he hadn\'t expected Ryosuke to get aggressive in the middle of school.
"Hey, Sho!" - Luckily, before things escalated, a voice called out to Sho, causing Ryosuke to release him.
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"Jiro-senpai!" - Sho said, surprised and slightly relieved to see the tall, glasses-wearing figure appear.
"Are you coming to practice?" - Jiro asked calmly, pretending not to notice the tension between the two.
"Yes!" - Sho quickly nodded and walked over to Jiro.
"Let\'s go, then." - Jiro spoke calmly, giving Ryosuke a quick look but saying nothing as he turned and headed toward the baseball field.
"Hm." - Sho nodded as he followed his senpai. He gave Ryosuke one last look with a bit of hesitation but decided to say nothing further. Although he thought it was a waste for someone with Ryosuke\'s skills to sit out because of pride, he knew he needed to focus on improving his own game if he wanted to be part of the team.
Ryosuke stood there, watching Jiro and Sho\'s backs as they walked away. His face wore an irritated expression as he clenched his fists in frustration. He didn\'t appreciate Sho\'s persistence, but being ignored by Jiro made him feel humiliated.
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On the Shoto Junior High baseball field…
"Coach, I was thinking…" - Shun approached Coach Yamada and began explaining something.
"Oh, good idea! I\'ll leave that to you, then, kid." - Coach Yamada replied with a smile. He had a lot of trust in Shun and knew how much the boy cared about helping the whole team improve.
"Thanks, Coach!" - Shun said with a smile as he headed to the field excitedly.
"Hey, Daigo! You\'re heading to home plate!" - Shun shouted with a grin as he walked to the mound.
"Huh?" - Daigo looked up, surprised, unsure of what was happening.
"What are you doing, Shun?" - Kenta asked suspiciously. They usually practiced some defense at this point, so it was normal for him to find it strange that Shun was heading to the mound.
"Haha, line up, everyone! I\'m about to show you inferior beings what a real slider looks like!" - Shun announced confidently, puffing out his chest and pointing at himself.
"What?" - Kenta said, surprised and a bit annoyed by Shun\'s confident attitude.
"You bastard! Who the hell are you calling an inferior being?" - The young samurai Ren grumbled irritably, but before he could say anything else, Coach Yamada appeared.
"Shun suggested pitching to you all in a hitting drill. I believe it\'ll be good for you to hit against something different than the pitching machines. Line up and get ready, starters will have three at-bats each, while the reserves will have one!" - Coach Yamada said as he instructed his players to get ready.
"Huh? The reserves get to bat too?" - Sho asked in surprise, a hint of excitement appearing in his eyes.
Sho wasn\'t the only one, all the reserves were excited about this opportunity. Facing all eight other starters three times was almost like a full game, but even so, Shun was willing to give the reserves a chance as well. Everyone on the team understood that this wasn\'t easy, and they admired Shun for it.
"Aren\'t you all getting a little too excited? You do realize I won\'t go easy on you, right?" - Shun asked with a smile as he looked at Sho and some of the other reserves.
"Yes, senpai!" - Sho and the other reserves responded together. They knew it wouldn\'t be easy to make contact with Shun\'s pitches, but they were thrilled about the opportunity.
"Hmph! You won\'t be laughing after I send your pitches to the moon…" - The young samurai Ren stepped into the batter\'s box, staring at Shun with a challenging look.
Shun didn\'t respond to his friend\'s provocation and just smiled. He then started his wind-up and threw the first pitch to the young samurai.
WOOSH
PAH
WOOSH
PAH
WOOSH
PAH
"I think that\'s a strikeout, isn\'t it?" - Shun said with a playful smile after seeing his samurai friend swing and miss three times in a row.
"Shut up! I\'ll hit it next time…" - Ren muttered as he adjusted himself in the batter\'s box, preparing to swing again. With one strikeout, he still had two chances to send his friend\'s pitches flying.
Unfortunately for him, Shun didn\'t intend to let his friend make contact.
WOOSH
PAH
WOOSH
PAH
WOOSH
PAH
"That was the second strikeout, right?" - Shun said with a teasing smile as he looked at the young samurai in the box, clearly frustrated from missing Shun\'s pitches again.
"Tch! Just pitch, I\'m not done yet!" - Ren said angrily, focusing intently on Shun on the mound. He intended to get at least one hit on his last chance.
WOOSH
PAH
WOOSH
PAH
WOOSH
PAH
"Damn it! One more!" - Ren muttered irritably after being struck out again on three empty swings.
Shun just looked at his irritated samurai friend with pity and chuckled. He couldn\'t deny that he enjoyed the feeling when batters couldn\'t touch his pitches.
"Your turn\'s up, get out of there already…" - Kenta walked up to the batter\'s box and spoke calmly. Usually, he would give Ren a kick to get him out of the box, but now he was focused on how to hit Shun\'s pitches.
Kenta knew very well that Shun had become an incredible pitcher, and after seeing Ren get struck out three times in a row, he couldn\'t help but feel excited about the challenge.
Unfortunately for Kenta, he wasn\'t quite ready for this challenge.
WOOSH
PAH
WOOSH
PAH
WOOSH
PAH
Like Ren, Kenta couldn\'t even make contact with Shun\'s sliders, being struck out on three attempts quickly.
"Looks like this will be a good practice, especially for these two." - Coach Yamada thought as he observed calmly. Since Shun was a left-handed pitcher, Kenta and Ren, who were left-handed batters, had a natural disadvantage in the duel, as left-handed pitches tend to break away from left-handed batters.
This was particularly true with Shun, whose sliders had an absurd amount of break. For Kenta and Ren, this practice was essential, as they not only had the chance to hit against a left-handed pitcher but also against a left-handed pitcher at the highest level in middle school.
This would make a significant difference, especially if they faced Hokuto Junior High in the Kanto tournament, as Hokuto\'s ace, Kohei, was simply the best left-handed pitcher of their age group.