Tight Offensive Rhythm

Meanwhile, Miyuki was out running when his phone rang.

Who could it be?

He opened it and saw that it was from Kōshū.

"Senior Miyuki, I'm at the stadium." A photo of the field followed.

"Snap—" Miyuki clenched his phone. "That brat only calls me Senior properly at times like this."

A wicked grin curled at his lips as he thought of a way to strike back.

Kōshū was a little baffled when he saw Miyuki's reply.

"Congratulations. I hope you win today. I'm so jealous—we've already been eliminated. But even though I'm no longer training with the team, I still stick to my own daily routine. I'm running right now, but it's strange. Today, I keep feeling like someone's following me." Attached was a selfie of Miyuki, with a long, narrow street behind him.

A chill ran through Kōshū. He enlarged the street corner in the photo and saw a translucent figure peeking this way.

"Ah—" Kōshū immediately covered his mouth. Fortunately, both teams were lining up to salute at the time, and everyone had begun cheering, so he did not embarrass himself.

The people sitting beside Kōshū suffered instead. Hayakawa Aki and Lang Zhi's ears were ringing. Hayakawa Aki could more or less tell that Miyuki was teasing Kōshū again, while the simple-minded Lang Zhi thought his stepbrother was excited because the First String was taking the field.

"It's okay. Once the third-years on the First String leave, you'll be playing soon enough." Lang Zhi patted his stepbrother on the shoulder.

Hayakawa Aki pulled the phone from Kōshū's limp hand. "Pfft—"

He replied to Miyuki Kazuya.

"Miyuki, this is Hayakawa. Could you stop scaring Kōshū like that? You really shouldn't download weird apps like that."

"Huh, Hayakawa? So, how is it? What does Kōshū's face look like?"

"Terrible. By the way, how did you find Kōshū's weakness?"

"Hehe, secret. You should tell him to watch more Japanese variety shows. Once he's seen enough, he won't be scared by such lousy pictures."

Kōshū forcefully cut off their exchange, deleting every text between himself and Miyuki.

Under Hayakawa Aki's pitying gaze, Kōshū barely managed to calm himself. Just then, the Air Raid Siren sounded, and the game officially began.

Jonan Little League batted first, and their batting order was exactly as Coach Ninomiya had predicted.

Carlos was the leadoff batter. Heishi, the starting pitcher, ran through Carlos's scouting report in his head. His first pitch was a high inside fastball, but it missed the Strike Zone and came straight at the batter's face.

Carlos hurriedly dodged. Heishi removed his cap in apology, but his eyes remained fixed firmly on his opponent.

Was that intentional? Looks like they're really wary of me. Carlos resumed his stance, seemingly unaffected by what had just happened.

For the second pitch, Captain Ito shifted to the outside.

An outside fastball in the high 130s. Carlos swung immediately.

"Crack—" The ball was hit into right field. At some point, the right fielder had already moved two steps forward and caught it right after it bounced. Carlos never got to use his speed and was forced to head back to the Dugout.

"That ball was heavy," he relayed to the second batter.

The second batter was Kimura, a high-average hitter Kinoshita Little League was wary of. His hitting strategy was simply to punch the ball through the gap between first and second or second and third, usually to help Carlos advance.

The first pitch was an outside ball that just grazed the edge. Kimura held back his swing, but the umpire called it a strike.

Kimura was a little surprised. The pitcher's scouting report had not mentioned such good control. Was he simply in great form today?

The second pitch was high and inside. Kimura swung in a rush, sending the baseball into the sky. Ito flung off his mask and adjusted his position beneath the glaring sunlight. He was nearly at the Dugout before the baseball finally settled into his glove. Ito raised his mitt, and the umpire called him out.

"This pitcher is in good form today. He's placing those edge pitches really well." The third batter, Hirosue, nodded.

The third batter had excellent Hitting Techniques and specialized in knocking the ball into every possible gap in the defense. As a left-handed batter, he aimed for left field. The third baseman had moved in somewhat, the shortstop was shading toward second, and left field was playing fairly deep, leaving a small gap in the middle. He was doubtful, but the ball was already coming—a slightly too-sweet inside pitch that landed in spot number two of the Nine-section Grid.

Was that a mistake? Didn't they say he was in great form?

But the next second, just as the third batter tossed aside his bat, he saw that gap instantly covered. From the moment he made contact, the shortstop had run toward the landing point. After fielding it, he made a beautiful spinning sidearm throw. Kinoshita Youth Baseball went Three Up, Three Down in the first inning, using very few pitches.

"Tch, they set us up." The third batter understood it then. They had deliberately created that opening as a trap, knowing he loved hitting gaps.

"Coach, it seems they studied us very thoroughly," he said upon returning to the Dugout, speaking to the expressionless coach across from him.

"Yes, there's nothing we can do about being studied. But there are too many variables on the field. You can't rely on pregame calculations alone. Trust in your hitting ability. Bit by bit, tear open their defense."

"Yes—"

It was Kinoshita Little League's turn to attack. For the first three spots, Coach Ninomiya had stacked the team's highest-average hitters. As long as any one of them got On Base, they could score quickly when cleanup power hitter Ito came up. Even if Ito was not in good form, they could use bunts or sacrifice flies to advance the runners and link the lineup together.

This arrangement had worked well for Kinoshita Little League against many teams, and Jonan Little League was no exception today. Although everyone already knew the characteristics of Kinoshita Little League's lineup, giving up runs was always hard to avoid.

In the bottom of the first, Kinoshita Little League scored first off a double by cleanup hitter Ito.

By the end of the inning, Kinoshita Little League's lineup had already reached the fifth batter. The score was 1–0, with Kinoshita Little League in the lead.

"The old guys are impressive," Kōshū said with a long breath. Taking a one-run lead at the start was secondary. More importantly, even from the stands, he could sense how uncomfortable Jonan Little League's batters were. They were getting out one after another before they could show their own strengths. They would probably need at least two innings to adjust, and by then, who knew how many runs Kinoshita would be ahead.

Just as Kōshū had expected, Kinoshita Little League's Heishi used three innings to send Jonan Little League down Three Up, Three Down.

When the fourth inning came around, Carlos stepped up again, grinding his teeth. But the pitcher on the mound had already been replaced by Nozawa, so all their early adjustments had to start over.

"Heishi is in excellent form. Why not let him face the next round of batters?" Kōshū could not see the Dugout, and thus could not see Coach Ninomiya's expression. He found the arrangement utterly unreasonable. "Sure, this keeps their batters from finding their rhythm, but we've taken off a pitcher who was in great form and put in a new one."

"Can't be helped." Hayakawa Aki made as if to cover Kōshū's mouth. Fortunately, Kōshū had the sense to shut up on his own. "Coach Ninomiya isn't someone who wins by relying on a single ace pitcher. He believes a team's victory should come from cooperation on all fronts and thorough preparation. To him, a pitcher is merely one piece of the winning puzzle."

Senior Nozawa, newly on the mound, wore a stern expression. His first pitch was low and outside, but it missed the Strike Zone. Carlos adjusted his cap.

That really is a good plan. But did you overlook the pitcher factor? Was that ball the catcher's Pitching Strategy, or is the pitcher in terrible form?

Carlos did not intend to swing at the second pitch. He wanted to take a closer look.

But the second pitch was a fastball over the heart of the plate.

Carlos shot the catcher a subtle glare and resumed his batting stance. The count was now one strike and one ball.

Carlos did not plan to wait for the third pitch. Assuming the pitcher was in poor form, he swung at an inside ball.

"Didn't hit it clean! First!" After the crisp crack of bat meeting ball, the field erupted into noise.

It was only an infield grounder. The third baseman rushed forward to field it, while the captain's roar reached his ears: "First!"

Amid the uproar, Carlos charged toward first like a black panther, while the third baseman had only just picked up the ball.

The third baseman looked up and fired a quick sidearm throw. In his eyes, Carlos was almost as fast as the ball. They reached first base together, and the first-base umpire hesitated before spreading his arms.

"Safe!" Cheers erupted from Jonan Little League's Dugout and the stands.

"You've got to be kidding." Lang Zhi had read the scouting report too, but seeing it in an actual game was still terrifying.

For once, Kōshū agreed with Lang Zhi. "Yeah, he's so aggressive. I've got goosebumps."

With Carlos On Base and constantly causing trouble, Nozawa, already in poor form, threw two more balls to the second batter.

"Time!" Hayakawa Aki's tightly clenched heart finally relaxed. As a catcher himself—and one with a rather motherly personality—Hayakawa had started composing words of comfort the moment the pitcher threw the first ball. By the time the pitcher threw the second, he had already been ready to go calm him down.

"Pitchers really are such delicate creatures."

After the timeout, the brief rest seemed to relax Nozawa. He then retired the following second, third, and fourth batters in succession, ending the fourth inning with one hit and no runs allowed.

At this point, Kinoshita Little League's victory was basically assured. Nozawa had quickly recovered after the two balls, so Jonan Little League's top of the order would most likely not come up again.

"Tch." Carlos felt especially stifled in today's game. Either he could not hit the ball at all, or when he did, even his flying legs were useless. He simply could not bring in any runs.

The game ended 2–0, with Kinoshita Little League victorious. Every Jonan Little League player swallowing the bitter loss felt just as stifled as Carlos.

"Damn it, they studied us way too much. That was such an awful game to play."

"Yeah."

"I never thought the third-years' last major tournament game would end like this."

"I kind of want to see their scouting reports..."

In contrast to Jonan Little League's gloomy atmosphere, the Dugout and stands on Kinoshita Little League's side were utterly relaxed.

"Kōshū, stop watching. We're meeting outside the stadium in a bit."

"Okay." As he withdrew his gaze, his phone vibrated.

It was Miyuki again. Kōshū had originally planned to delete it straight away, but the message began with Miyuki's first sentence.

"Congratulations on your victory—" The rest was hidden due to the character limit.

Though Kōshū found Miyuki Kazuya annoying, he would not reject someone else's congratulations, so he opened it.

"Congratulations on your victory. Haha, though it has nothing to do with you, right? After all, you were sitting in the stands. Are you finishing training early tomorrow? Come meet someone with me."

Last week was spent on work reports, and this week is being used to launch the Q3 project team. I really don't understand—when exactly are we supposed to have time to work?