That guy who jogged leisurely around the bases had once again left Narumiya Mei at a loss.
"Time!"
Yet the catcher across from them insisted on calling for a timeout.
"We didn't need a timeout! Why are you coming over here?!" Inajitsu Ace shouted indignantly, refusing to let the catcher approach.
"What a brilliant plan, senpai!" The catcher looked delighted, making the ace hesitate. "Hm? Explain."
"Walking their pitcher to first is a great way to drain their stamina!"
Unfortunately, the praise was a little too forced, and even the pitcher was too embarrassed to accept it. "He's their left fielder!"
The catcher changed angles again. "Then why did Seido send their ace up at this point? Maybe to boost morale, to show they wouldn't give up until the end. Maybe so he could pitch afterward. None of that matters. Those are Seido's arrangements. As the side about to win, why should we bother guessing what they're thinking?"
Hayakawa leaned close to the pitcher, clutching his shoulder as his voice gradually lowered. "Narumiya, just let Kōshū stand over there and slowly watch his team head toward defeat."
"Hahaha." Narumiya Mei's restless agitation, with nowhere else to vent, subsided and was entirely redirected toward that image. His eyes gleamed with interest. "Aren't you good friends with him?"
"That's exactly why I know him. I know he'll steal in a moment, but it doesn't matter as long as the hitters after him can't reach the ball."
The pitcher understood the catcher's unspoken meaning and smiled as well. "Then let's do that."
"Don't look toward first, okay? Just treat the person over there like a rabbit!"
"Shut up! What rabbit is that huge?!"
As they spoke, the enormous emotions wrapped around the pitcher temporarily dissipated. But the catcher understood that they had merely