They said every autumn rain brought a chill. Mukai Taiyo breathed in the especially fresh air, his mind replaying scenes from his Little League days.
"Taiyo!" Still immersed in his own emotions, Mukai was snapped back to attention by the catcher. "Time to bow."
Lost again. In this Autumn Tournament, he had not even gotten to savor the feeling of facing the Big Boss. First, other pitchers had tripped him up. It was seriously irritating.
"Line up! Get in line!" Eijun was off to the side, directing everyone through the formalities.
"That guy really deserves a beating." Kuramochi's face darkened. The biggest contributor to today's game had been Captain Miyuki. What did that make him, the vice-captain?
"Eh, let him be happy for a while. He did perform pretty well today, after all." Kōshū spoke quietly from the side.
"Uh..." Kuramochi jolted. He had forgotten that this guy should have been the most resentful one today.
"Whoa, Kōshū's resentment is intense..."
"Who told him to ask the Manager to let him play again?" After considering it, Kataoka had naturally refused. The outcome of the game against Teito was practically decided already. There was no point in sending the ace back out at that stage, so Kataoka had turned and called for Eijun instead.
"Well, the Manager was probably worried that he hadn't fully recovered."
Yet in the eyes of the second-years, there was a strange gleam. That person had finally started to panic after seeing Furuya's performance.
"Was it Seido after all?" Someone picked up the phone.
Outside the stadium, a group of boys in white uniforms stopped warming up because of that call.
"Mm-hm, mm-hm. Furuya and Sawamura Eijun? Got it."
After hanging up, he relayed the news to everyone watching him. "Seido won. Kōshū really didn't play."