The Seido players did not leave by bus. After taking a brief rest in a quiet spot outside the stadium, they returned to the stands.
"Number 11 is pitching." Narumiya Mei was playing left field. It made sense—the next game would be against Seido.
Everyone discussed the light-haired ace standing in left field.
But Kōshū and Lang Zhi were looking toward home plate, at the largely obscured Number 2. Hayakawa... I never thought the day would come when we faced each other head-on.
Haruichi sat beside Lang Zhi and keenly noticed the strange atmosphere among the three first-year pitchers.
Kōshū had started it. Eijun had eagerly wanted Kōshū to praise his performance today, but Kōshū seemed preoccupied and responded coldly.
Furuya, meanwhile, had been resting for too long and was getting sleepy, so he missed the entire course of events.
As usual, the three pitchers sat side by side, yet none of them spoke.
I-It's fine. Big brother is just in a bad mood. Even though he's the ace, he pitched fewer innings than I did. Eijun stared straight ahead, though his thoughts were on the person sitting beside him.
Huh? No, wait! Don't I want to become the ace too? So should he forgive big brother over something like this? Eijun fell into an endless loop.
"Phew—" Furuya suddenly nodded off, only to be awakened by a chop from Kuramochi.
As for Kōshū, although he too was looking at the field, he seemed to be thinking about something else, just like Eijun.
"Three outs! Switch sides!"
The game continued, and Inashiro quickly recorded three outs.
"Hmm... this pitcher named Hirano is more reliable than expected." Miyuki murmured. A dependable relief pitcher could cause Seido plenty of unnecessary trouble. Just as his thoughts began to unfold, someone beside him drove