The True Ace II

"Hey, hey—you pitched a complete game yesterday, and you definitely practiced pitching with your team today, so thirty-odd pitches are more than enough." Miyuki patted the Golden Hair ace on the shoulder as if humoring a child.

Narumiya Mei practically shoved his face into Miyuki's. At that, he huffed and stepped aside, though he hadn't forgotten what he had said at the entrance: "I won't watch you pitch."

So he turned his face away and deliberately sat off to one side, propping himself up on one leg as he narrowed his eyes. "So sleepy. Throwing a complete game really is exhausting."

Narumiya Mei's drawn-out complaint became background noise to the confrontation between Kōshū and Miyuki.

"Senior Miyuki, I never said I came here to pitch." Kōshū looked utterly uninterested.

"Huh? Don't tell me you got scared after seeing Narumiya's pitching?" With a mischievous smile at the corner of his mouth, Miyuki deliberately glanced at Narumiya Mei, who was pretending to sleep.

Kōshū had come specifically to watch Narumiya Mei pitch. Now that he had seen it, his goal had already been accomplished. Miyuki's malicious distortion instantly stoked his anger. "Senior Miyuki, do you know why pitchers all have such bad relationships with you? It's because your personality is too twisted. You can never just speak properly."

"Huh? But Narumiya and I get along great." Miyuki glanced again at the quietly sleeping Narumiya Mei.

Kōshū's eyes widened slightly. Wearing an expression that said, Let me tell you the truth, he said, "That's because Senior Narumiya has a twisted personality too."

Before Miyuki could fire back, Narumiya Mei, who should have been resting, sprang to his feet. "You arrogant junior! Aaah! Too bad I can't start a fight, or I'd definitely hit you with one of my fastballs."

Having perfectly achieved his goal for the day, Kōshū showed his true colors as well. "What a pity. I'm a stands player. Even if you wanted to hit me with a beanball on the field, you couldn't."

"So arrogant." Seeing Kōshū get serious, Miyuki Kazuya's smile faded. "But if you're a pitcher, you speak with your ability. If you won't let us see your pitching, then you're just an arrogant brat."

Narumiya Mei hid behind Miyuki and poked his head out in agreement. "Exactly, exactly. This ace let you see his pitching, and after watching it, you want to run away?"

...Why could these two say something so unreasonable with such righteous expressions?

There was nothing else to do anyway, and he had come all this way. Kōshū said nothing more and simply held out his hand.

"Wh-what?" Narumiya Mei's momentum suddenly deflated a little under Kōshū's gaze.

"Your glove. I really didn't plan on pitching today. I thought I'd at most practice batting, so I had my brother take my equipment home."

"Oh..."

After taking the glove, Kōshū turned and headed to the other side. Only after the pressure from across from him was gone did Narumiya Mei start jumping around again.

"Kazuya, that guy is totally a villain, a villain! His smile is so creepy, and when he gets fierce, he's terrifying."

"Ah, don't tell me you're scared."

"Of course not!" Miyuki shooed Narumiya Mei aside.

Then he crouched down and casually set his glove.

Kōshū paused in his pitching motion. "Senior Miyuki, aren't you going to give any signs?"

"Stop whining. You only throw fastballs anyway, right? Just put it properly into my glove." Having discussed Kōshū with Hayakawa Aki, Miyuki understood Kōshū's characteristics well.

Kōshū nodded, then lifted his leg, pushed off the ground, and released the ball. It landed steadily in the center of Miyuki's glove.

After catching it, Miyuki's hand twitched involuntarily before he threw it back to Kōshū. This time, he set his glove half a ball lower than before.

Another pitch struck the center of the glove. Even Narumiya Mei, who had been shouting, "The ball's so slow," quieted down a little.

For the third pitch, Miyuki lowered his glove another half a ball. Without moving his glove, the ball pounced automatically into its center like a young beast returning home.

This isn't good. This pitcher is even more exciting than Hayakawa described.

For the fourth pitch, half a ball to the right.

The fifth pitch...

Gradually, after thirty pitches, no one made a sound. Only the crisp sound of the ball finding the glove's sweet spot remained.

Self-Aiming Missile, huh? Looks like Nozawa-kun wasn't exaggerating at all. With a pitch like this, it's like a soldier having a sniper rifle that hits wherever it's aimed, like a commander having special forces who will carry out their mission to the very end. This kind of tactical execution...

Miyuki caught another pitch. By now, his glove had moved from the left to the right. Across thirty pitches, it had shifted exactly half a ball at a time. "Give me that fastball from our first meeting, the one that rose and dropped."

But Kōshū looked unconvinced. "No. You're one thing, but the guy behind you is playing us in a few days."

Miyuki turned around and saw that Narumiya Mei, who had just been distracted, had moved behind the protective net to get a better look at Kōshū's pitching.

"Huh? Don't tell me that's some secret technique your club passes down?" Miyuki teased.

"That's hard to say. So, do you still want to catch fastballs or not?"

"I do. Bring it on." The two of them then continued pitching and catching for another thirty-odd pitches.

In this weather, Kōshū was already sweating after more than sixty pitches, and sweat from his hand had made the inside of the glove sticky. Under Miyuki and Narumiya Mei's surprised gazes, he took out wet wipes and tissues, wiped the inside of the glove clean, and only then handed it back to Narumiya Mei.

The Golden Hair ace did not react at first. In his daze, he even said, "Thanks." Once he came to his senses, the interest on his face deepened. "Kōshū-kun, after the game, let me see your other two fastballs."

"My fastballs aren't that impressive. You should focus on dealing seriously with the seniors on our team. They may not have high-velocity pitches, but they won't be easy to handle."

"Tch." At that moment, Narumiya Mei finally looked like a true ace. He did not make a fuss, merely saying calmly, "I give every game everything I have."

Since it was getting late and the three of them were still students who could not stay out too long, they packed up and left.

Miyuki and Narumiya Mei discussed their routes home ahead of him. They all had to take the bus from the main street, and only then did Kōshū realize that he seemed to have been played from the very beginning.

"I think I'll run home. I only threw a few pitches, so I'm still so restless." Narumiya Mei called out loudly.

"Huh? Wouldn't that take twenty minutes?"

"Why don't you run home too? You can get home in forty minutes, right? That's just enough time to work up a sweat."

Kōshū kept his mouth tightly shut as he lagged behind. Heh. If he ran home, it would probably take him an hour and forty minutes.

That Miyuki guy had really just casually invited him. Damn it, and he had eagerly run all the way out here to meet them.

"Kōshū, how long does it take you to run home?" Just as the two in front finished talking, they casually asked him.

"...About an hour."

"That's still pretty far." Narumiya Mei did not think much of it and turned away again.

But that damned Miyuki Kazuya stared at Kōshū with a smug smile. "Wow, Kōshū, you run pretty fast."

A vein bulged on Kōshū's forehead. He finally understood just how much Miyuki knew about him. The only one who had ever been to his house was Hayakawa Aki, but Hayakawa was basically a sieve—he could not keep anything from Miyuki.

Even worse, Miyuki mouthed, Almost as fast as a car. Kōshū, who understood it, had another huge vein bulge on his forehead.

He suspected that if he kept walking with this person, he would not be able to stop himself from exploding. He decisively took another route and parted ways with them at the next intersection.

"Phew—" Without the annoying Miyuki and noisy Narumiya Mei, Kōshū's ears finally got a temporary reprieve. He had wanted to text Hayakawa to complain a little, but after thinking about it, he decided against it. Miyuki Kazuya was yesterday's news. He would be heading off to high school soon, and since he lived in East Tokyo, they probably would not run into each other often.

So the important thing now was to tell Hayakawa everything he had learned from Narumiya Mei.

"Narumiya Mei showed you his Forkball? In these past few games, he's still mainly used fastballs paired with his Slider. From home plate, how complete did his Forkball look?" Hayakawa Aki replied quickly.

"It was sharp, and it didn't drop until just before home plate. Mixed in with the fastball, it would be easy to swing and miss."

"I understand. I'll tell the coach. So you were with Miyuki today? Don't you really dislike him?"

"...Don't mention him. Anyway, after I watched Narumiya Mei pitch, he became completely useless."

"...So you still really hate him? You have my sympathies, but he's a very capable catcher."

"Isn't he a catcher nobody wants to pitch to?"

"That's not necessarily true, Kōshū."

Thinking back on his pitching today, Kōshū had to admit that Hayakawa Aki was being objective. In terms of catching ability alone, Miyuki was not bad. Kōshū's pitches were accurate, but Miyuki's glove was never dragged around by the ball. It was extremely steady. Coupled with the strong arm Kōshū had observed in previous games, Miyuki would probably have no problem at all as a First String catcher.

The bus swayed, and Kōshū, who had been staring at his phone screen, felt a little carsick. He put down his phone, and Narumiya Mei's pitching involuntarily surfaced in his mind. A pitcher with velocity, sharpness, and breaking balls all in one—that was what they called an ace pitcher. Senior Nozawa really had not been a good point of reference.

"I wanted to see a few more pitches," Kōshū murmured.

A few days later, that wish came true, though it came with bitterness. The sound of the Air Raid Siren rang out once more. The large numbers on the scoreboard read "1:0." His team had lost to that ace pitcher.

Everyone in the stands stood together, looking at the familiar faces on their team: dejected faces, tear-streaked faces, faces still smeared with dirt as they shook hands with the other side. That blond ace still wore a smug look, even waving toward the Kinoshita Little League stands. Although Kōshū did not meet Narumiya Mei's eyes, he knew Narumiya Mei was showing off to him: "See? I told you I'd win."

Perhaps it was the atmosphere, perhaps it was the impact of those faces that had worn only victorious smiles since he had known them. Kōshū tasted bitterness in his mouth. With a light lick, he realized he was crying.

All those victories they had experienced were not actually that important. Only after accepting defeat and humiliation together, under the same identity, could a group truly come together. It was from this moment that Kōshū truly became part of the group.

What should I do? If I keep writing like this, Miyuki might invite Kōshū to Seido, and he might actually refuse...

But Miyuki's personality really is that annoying. Maybe I should just give Kōshū a surprise at Seido instead. Hehe.