Kōshū got there first, but the ball still hit the ground.
"First!"
Miyuki shouted, and the pitcher did not hesitate, whipping the ball toward first base.
"Out!"
"Safe!"
Only after seeing the ball land in Maezono's glove and the first-base umpire make the call did Kōshū turn to glance at third base.
Over there, the runner had just gotten up, with a streak of dirt along the side of his pants.
In the end, Inajitsu's cleanup hitter had successfully advanced the runner.
"Kōshū!" Miyuki had yet to return to home plate when he lifted his mask. "That was a great pitch!"
But they both knew they had to be even more careful from here on.
Once he crouched back down behind home plate, the batter's figure occupied part of Miyuki's view.
"Heh heh~" The moment he heard that voice, he knew who it was. "What's wrong, Kazuya? Why are you so quiet today? That's not like you at all."
Miyuki smiled. "Because this inning is about to end."
As he spoke, he seemed not to take the current batter seriously at all.
"Keep talking tough. This time, I'll make that brat taste defeat—and make you regret it too!" Narumiya Mei had said the same thing that summer, but hadn't he lost last time?
"Haha." Miyuki did not respond.
The game resumed, and the pitcher nodded at the next set of Signals.
The moment he looked up, he met the man in the Batter's Box's eyes for a second.
Narumiya Mei...
Those eyes had once looked at him, swollen from crying. But it had not been because of a gap in ability. As a team's pitcher, victory and defeat often depended on more than just the quality of one's pitches.
"Huff—" Kōshū exhaled. If a pitcher gave everything he had and