Master of West Tokyo (3)
"Wooooooah! Sanada!"
"He did it!"
"…"
I shouted a silent nice to myself and headed for the batter's box.
"Sixth batter, pitcher, Hongo."
Pitcher Ootsuka Goro has no time to mourn the extra runs — he has to face Hongo.
Four-run deficit. A heavy score to carry. But if Soun High wants a shot at Koshien, they have to stop the bleeding here.
One out, runner on third.
I've never been a hitter who specializes in making contact. And the level of Japanese high school pitchers is higher than I'd expected.
I'd love to smash whatever they throw me into a base hit, but I know that's not realistic.
Confidence is fine — knowing your limits comes first.
Hongo, who already hit a home run in the first inning — ah, Ootsuka's trials are far from over.
Seisho High's lineup is airtight. Truly formidable.
With three innings left, four runs is personally satisfying enough. But from here on, every single run will weigh heavily on the other side.
Baseball is played by human beings, after all.
Hongo Yukihisa waits on the first pitch.
"It's okay! It's okay! Hang in there!"
"…"
The catcher slapped his mitt and shouted.
The opposing infielders' eyes had come back to life at some point. The pitcher looked worn down, but he hadn't broken.
So they were going to fight this out to the end?
First pitch!
Whap!
"Ball!"
A dropping curve! The batter's bat stays put.
No reason to swing aggressively in this situation.
"Hoo."
One out, runner on third — of course he'd want a strikeout without giving up another run. Ideally, he'd love for me to chase a bait pitch and go down easy. But I had no intention of flailing around wildly.
Second pitch!
Here it comes.
Crack!
He pulled it!
"…"
An inside fastball.
I turned on it all the way through.
"Hmm."
A little disappointing, but not a bad result at all.
I high-fived Inoue Kotaro, who was waiting on deck, and headed for the bench.
"Nice batting."
"Great technique."
"Nice job handling that inside pitch."
"…"
My teammates beamed as they piled on the praise.
With a big inning under our belts, the energy on the bench had surged.
Whap!
"Strikeout!"
"Tch!"
Swinging strikeout! Ootsuka freezes Inoue Kotaro with a K, and we head to the top of the seventh!
"Second batter, first baseman, Furihata."
A pretty comfortable margin.
But I went through my preparatory motions on the mound no differently than the previous inning.
Baseball is a sport where a one-run lead is enough to win. That doesn't mean any pitcher wants to get lit up.
Whap!
"Strike!"
154 km/h! Hongo takes the count with a fastball!
Still throwing hard in the seventh. He hasn't burned through many pitches today.
Good.
My condition was definitely sharp today.
An unshakable delivery. Devastating stuff on top of it. I was playing the game exactly the way I'd always envisioned.
Second pitch!
Another fastball!
Crack!
Huh?
"…"
Damn.
It wasn't a poorly located pitch, and he still got to it.
The feeling was foul, but there was nothing to do about it.
"Third batter, pitcher, Ootsuka."
Stepping in is ace Ootsuka Goro!
He'll be hungry to make up for the runs he's given up with some of his own.
The opposing pitcher, coming up to hit.
Looks like he planned to go the distance. They still hadn't pulled him.
In that case.
Nothing changes. Crush the opposing pitcher the way I always do and break their spirit.
Whap!
"Strike!"
Inside, 155 km/h! Wow — hahaha.
Still throwing absolute heat.
First-pitch strike. And next?
Whap!
"Strike!"
Outside curve! The batter's bat freezes!
That one caught him completely off guard!
I could see the hitter flinch with clear regret.
He clearly hadn't expected me to steal a strike with a curveball here.
"…"
Once you've got a favorable count, throwing your best pitch is just common sense.
Whap!
"Strikeout!"
The splitter dove right where I wanted it, and I got the strikeout. If things had gone sideways and he'd reached base, I'd have had to brace for at least one run this inning.
"Fourth batter, third baseman, Shibata."
Soun's cleanup hitter, Shibata! They need to keep the momentum somehow!
Shibata was the one who broke up Hongo's perfect game earlier today.
The opposing team's cleanup hitter.
In Japanese baseball, the four-hole is treated as almost sacred — second only to the ace — so facing the other team's cleanup always got my blood up a little.
Whap!
"Strike!"
Whap!
"Strike!"
A swing and a miss on the splitter! Hongo takes a favorable count!
Hongo hasn't thrown a single wasted pitch all day.
The batter swung through the splitter — two strikes.
"…"
I locked onto the mitt and took aim.
Whap!
"…Ball!"
Ball is called!
The bat didn't move — that's the ruling.
Whap!
"Ball!"
"Hoo."
Close.
Outside fastball! Just missed.
154 km/h! Both the pitcher who threw it and the batter who laid off it are impressive.
Not a high fastball — an outside fastball.
But the batter's bat never came off his shoulder.
Outside.
Matsuda-senpai's mitt was set outside again.
I drove hard into my stride and whipped my arm through.
Whap!
Good — the slider found its spot for the strikeout. Worth every hour I'd spent learning it for moments exactly like this.
Crack!
He made contact, but — ah! The pitcher fields it!
Is his defense this good too?
"Out!"
A grounder that bounced in front of the mound. It kicked slightly to the left, but I fielded it cleanly and fired to first.
He allowed a leadoff baserunner, but no runs. Hongo shows everyone what an ace looks like.
Crack!
"Whoa!"
A well-struck ball.
Everyone's eyes followed its flight.
"Ahh!"
"Damn."
But the opposing center fielder covered a serious amount of ground and hauled it in.
A spectacular catch for the third out! We head to the top of the eighth!
Ootsuka threw a lot of pitches this inning, but he's still wearing a resolute expression.
"…"
Hits from Okada Shugo-senpai and Shirakawa Satoru-senpai.
But Kazuma Junpei-senpai's well-struck ball in the three-hole was snagged, and the inning ended scoreless.
The pitcher had to have thrown more than twenty-five pitches this time around.
No question.
That pitcher had clearly lost his stuff, and solid contact was coming more often. But it looked like he intended to finish what he started.
"Ootsuka! Hang in there!"
"You're pitching great!"
"Soun's ace!"
The cheers of Soun's fans encouraging their ace carried clearly across the field.
A few of them looked like they were tearing up.
This is…
It almost felt like we were the villains.
I climbed the mound again in the eighth.
Whap!
"Strikeout!"
Whap!
"Strikeout!"
Whap!
"Strikeout!"
"…"
I smirked.
I wasn't usually one for noise, but the roar that hit me just then felt good.
Now it's the bottom of the eighth!
And look who's coming back out.
Ootsuka Goro! In what could be his final defensive half-inning of this summer, he takes the mound.
Which means Soun still hasn't given up.
"Is he okay?"
"Hasn't he thrown over a hundred forty pitches?"
"Guys, do we really have the luxury of worrying about the other team?"
"Ahem…"
My teammates were muttering among themselves when vice-captain Kazuma Junpei-senpai cut in with a low voice.
He's right.
In a world of competition, if you're going to worry about the other side, at least wait until the game is over.
"Fourth batter, catcher, Matsuda."
Ootsuka takes the mound with steely eyes — but facing him is the man holding down the cleanup spot in Seisho's powerhouse lineup!
No matter how you look at it…
Crack!
He got ahold of it!
"Oh!"
A ball soaring toward the center-field wall.
Matsuda-senpai took off running.
I thought it was gone, but it bounced off the wall and came back.
The pitcher's stuff had dropped off.
Matsuda-senpai had casually squared up a clean hit — that said everything.
"Fifth batter, right fielder, Sanada."
Sanada stepped into the box, and I moved to the on-deck circle.
Crack!
First pitch again!
A well-struck ball.
"Ah!"
A sharp grounder looked like it would punch through the infield — until the second baseman dove and smothered the bouncing ball with his body.
"Out!"
Out at first! A great play by second baseman Seta!
But it looks like it hit him in the body.
Ah — that has to hurt.
"…"
His jaw?
The opposing second baseman was gingerly touching his chin. Even from here, I could see it flushing red.
Soun's refusal to quit — their grit on full display! And now stepping in is the monster pitcher himself, Hongo!
I entered the batter's box. No need to rush.
"Huh?"
Thud!
A breaking ball coming straight at me.
I turned my body, and the ball caught me in the back.
It stings, but…
It was a breaking ball, so not enough to milk it for drama.
A hit-by-pitch here!
The opposing pitcher looked at me and took off his cap. I paused a beat, then opened my palm and accepted the apology.
Between the sweat beading on his head and a face that looked half the size it had been in the first inning…
Ootsuka apologizes, and yes — Hongo accepts it.
"Seventh batter, left fielder, Inoue."
I arrived at first. With Matsuda-senpai failing to advance on Sanada's grounder, it was one out with runners on first and second.
No matter how you look at it…
The pitcher was already past his limit.
Was he holding himself together through sheer will because he still believed they could win? Or was it the responsibility of being the ace? Or just stubborn attachment?
The me of right now had no way of knowing.
Whap!
"Strike!"
Strike! The count is 2–2!
Inoue Kotaro — his swings have been way too big all game.
Inoue's windmill swing put him at two strikes.
But looking at the opposing pitcher's stuff…
Crack!
"…"
It's over.
The ball was headed over the right-field wall, and the opposing pitcher's head dropped.
"Out!"
"Woooooooooah!"
"…"
I glanced briefly at the opposing stands.
They probably already believed their journey to Koshien ended today.
Some of them were already in tears.
Of course it hurt. For the third-years, a loss today meant the end of their high school baseball careers.
"Ninth batter, second baseman, Seta."
But.
Soun's Seta Kyuji! He steps in as the leadoff batter in the top of the ninth.
The ticket to Koshien wasn't something this side could hand over either.
Whap!
"Strike!"
154 km/h!
That kind of velocity in the ninth — words fail me.
"…"
I shouldn't be like this, but my heart was pounding too hard.
Anyone watching would think I'd been dreaming of the Koshien stage for over a decade.
The truth was, neither the original me nor this guy's memories had ever really pictured Koshien Stadium in our heads.
Whap!
"Strike!"
Second pitch — another fastball!
"Strikeout! Strikeout! Strikeout!"
Seisho's fans are chanting for a strikeout!
Whap!
"Strikeout!"
"Woooooooooah!"
One out!
The splitter again.
Ah — Seta turns away with tears in his eyes.
"First batter, right fielder, Kuzaki."
Whap!
"Ball!"
Three straight balls! Full three-ball count!
His command suddenly wavers. Hongo hasn't walked a single batter all day.
Clap! Clap! Clap! Clap! Clap!
"It's okay!"
"You've got this!"
"Hongo!"
"…"
I grinned in disbelief. Three balls, and they were applauding?
Whap!
"Strike!"
Whap!
"Strike!"
A swing and a miss on the fastball! Full count!
"…"
Inside. Plant it right there.
Whap!
"Strikeout!"
"Nice pitching!"
"Hongo!"
"Hongo-senpai!"
"Finish it!"
Incomprehensible roars poured out of the bench.
"Almost there, Hongo!"
"We can win this!"
"We're counting on you!"
"Take us to Koshien!!"
From the stands, shouts and applause and chants tangled together with no regard for rhythm or timing.
Yeah.
The reason I play baseball.
I just wanted to prove my worth to the world.
By any means, in any place, no matter what condition my body was in.
"…"
"Second batter, first baseman, Furihata."
I watched the batter walk toward the box, then glanced down at my own hand.
This world — if I woke up tomorrow, I might go back. Or maybe this was all a dream.
Somewhere that looked like an operating room, someone might be looking down at me lying there, wondering why I was suddenly smiling — figuring I must be having a good dream.
But.
Hongo prepares the first pitch.
Whap!
"Strike!"
155 km/h!
Heh heh heh heh.
This racing heart, this sensation in the hand that throws the ball — if this isn't real, then what is?
Whap!
"Strike!"
Outside fastball! Two strikes!
Inside, outside — painting freely even in the ninth. You could bring any pitcher in the country today and none of them would throw better than Hongo.
Now — will this be the winning pitch that sends them to Koshien?
"…"
Nothing changes.
The same stance I'd practiced a thousand times. Look at the mitt. Throw the ball.
Whap!
"Woooooooooah!"
"Strikeout!"