The Real Ace Two

"Hey—hey—you pitched a complete game yesterday, so you must have practiced pitching with the team today, so thirty-some pitches should be enough." Miyuki patted the Golden Hair ace on the shoulder like he was coaxing a child.

Narumiya Mei's face was almost touching Miyuki's, and upon hearing this, he snorted and stepped aside, but he didn't forget what he had said at the door earlier, 'I won't watch your pitching.'

So, twisting his face, he deliberately sat to the side, propped up on one leg, and squinted his eyes, saying, "So sleepy, so tired after a complete game."

Narumiya Mei's long, drawn-out complaint was treated as background noise by Kōshū and Miyuki, who were facing off at this moment.

"Miyuki-senpai, I don't recall saying that I was going to pitch," Kōshū said with a disinterested expression.

"Eh? Could it be that you got scared after seeing Mei's pitching?" With a mischievous smile on his face, Miyuki even glanced at Narumiya Mei, who was pretending to be asleep.

Kōshū had originally come for Narumiya Mei's pitching, and now that he had seen it, he had already achieved his goal. Now, being maliciously misinterpreted, the fire in his heart rose up: "Miyuki-senpai, do you know why pitchers don't get along with you? It's because your personality is too twisted, you can never talk properly."

"Eh? But Mei and I get along very well," Miyuki glanced again at Narumiya Mei, who was quietly pretending to be asleep.

Kōshū widened his eyes slightly, with an expression that said, 'Let me tell you the truth': "That's because Narumiya-senpai is also a person with a twisted personality."

Before Miyuki could retort, Narumiya Mei, who should have been resting, jumped up: "You impudent junior, ahhh, it's a pity I can't cause a brawl, otherwise I would definitely use my fastball to hit you."

Kōshū, who had fully achieved his goal for today, also revealed his true nature: "Too bad, I'm a spectator seat player, you can't even hit me with a beanball on the field."

"So impudent," Miyuki Kazuya saw that Kōshū was serious, and his smile also disappeared, "But since you're a pitcher, you have to rely on your strength to speak. If you don't let us see your pitching, then you're just an arrogant kid."

Narumiya Mei hid behind Miyuki, poked his head out, and echoed: "That's right, that's right, this king ace even let you see my pitching, and you want to run away after seeing it?"

...Why can these two say such unreasonable things with such righteous indignation?

Anyway, there was nothing else to do, and he had come all this way, so Kōshū didn't say anything more and directly reached out his hand.

"Wh-what's wrong?" Narumiya Mei's arrogance was suddenly extinguished a bit by the stare.

"Glove, I really didn't expect to pitch today, I thought I would just practice batting at most, so I had my younger brother take all the equipment back."

"Oh..."

Kōshū, after receiving the glove, turned around and walked towards the opposite side. Without the pressure from the opposite side, Narumiya Mei jumped up again.

"Kazuya, that guy is completely a villain, a villain, his smile is so greasy, and he's so scary when he's fierce."

"Ah, could it be that you're scared?"

"No way!" Miyuki pushed Narumiya Mei aside.

Then he squatted down and waved his hand casually.

Kōshū's pitching motion paused, "Miyuki-senpai, aren't you going to call the shots?"

"Don't be a nag, you only throw Straight Balls anyway, just throw it properly into my glove." Miyuki, who had discussed it with Hayakawa Aki, knew Kōshū's characteristics very well.

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

Miyuki caught the ball and unconsciously twitched, before passing it back to Kōshū. This time, he placed his glove half a ball's width below the previous position.

Another pitch, hitting the center of the glove. Narumiya Mei, who was clamoring "the ball is so slow" from the side, also quieted down a bit.

The third pitch, half a ball's width further down. Miyuki didn't move his glove, and the ball automatically pounced into the center of his glove like a young beast returning home.

This pitcher is even more exciting than Hayakawa described.

The fourth ball, half a ball to the right.

The fifth ball...

Gradually, after thirty pitches, no one made a sound, only the crisp sound of the ball hitting the glove perfectly.

'A self-aiming missile, huh? It seems Nozawa-kun wasn't exaggerating at all. With a pitch like that, it's like a soldier with a sniper rifle that hits wherever it's aimed, like a commander with special forces who will carry out the mission to the end. Such tactical execution ability...'

Miyuki caught another ball. His glove had now moved from the left to the right, thirty balls, moving exactly half a ball's distance each time. "Give me that straight ball that rises and drops from when we first met."

But Kōshū didn't buy it. "No, it doesn't matter for you, but the guy behind you is going to play against us in a few days."

Miyuki turned around and saw Narumiya Mei, who had been absent-minded just now, had moved to the net behind them to observe Kōshū's pitching.

"Eh? Is this some kind of secret technique passed down in your club?" Miyuki joked.

"That's hard to say, so do you want the straight ball or not?"

"I do, come on." So the two of them partnered up for another thirty or so pitches.

In this weather, Kōshū, who had thrown over sixty pitches, was already sweating, and his hands were sticking to the inside of his glove. To Miyuki and Narumiya Mei's surprise, he took out wet wipes and tissues, cleaned the inside of his glove, and then handed it to Narumiya Mei.

The Golden Hair ace didn't react at first, and after a moment of lèng (stunned, stunned), he even said, "Thank you." Then, realizing what had happened, the interest on his face grew even stronger. "Kōshū-kun, after the match, let me see your other two straight balls."

"My straight balls aren't that amazing. Please take our team's seniors seriously. Even though they don't have high-speed pitches, they're not easy to deal with."

"Tch," Narumiya Mei looked like a true ace at this moment. He wasn't being loud or boisterous, just calmly saying, "I'll give it my all in every game."

Because it was getting late, the three of them were students and couldn't stay too long, so they packed up and left.

Miyuki and Narumiya Mei were discussing the route back in front. They were all going to take a bus on the main street when Kōshū realized that he seemed to have been played from the beginning.

"I'm going to run back. I only threw a few pitches, it's so unsatisfying," Narumiya Mei said, straining his voice.

"Eh, that'll take 20 minutes, right?"

"Why don't you run back too? You can run home in 40 minutes, that's just the right amount of time to work up a sweat."

Kōshū pursed his lips and fell behind. Heh, if he ran home, it would probably take him an hour and forty minutes.

Miyuki, that guy, just casually asked him a question. Damn it, he even ran so far to meet them.

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

"...About an hour."

"That's still a bit far." Narumiya Mei didn't think much of it and turned his head again.

But that damned Miyuki Kazuya stared at Kōshū with a teasing smile and said, "Wow, Kō-kun, you run pretty fast."

A tic mark popped out on his forehead. Kōshū understood how much Miyuki knew about him. The only person who had been to his house was Hayakawa Aki, but Hayakawa Aki was a sieve, unable to keep anything from Miyuki.

Even worse, Miyuki mouthed the words 'almost as fast as a car'. Kōshū, who understood, had another large tic mark pop out.

He suspected that if he continued walking with this person, he would explode, so he decisively changed his route and separated from the two at the next intersection.

"Haa—" Without the annoying Miyuki and the noisy Narumiya Mei, Kōshū's ears were temporarily liberated. He originally wanted to send a text message to Hayakawa to complain, but after thinking about it, he decided against it. Miyuki Kazuya was already a thing of the past. He was about to go to high school, and since his home was in East Tokyo, it was unlikely that they would meet often.

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

"Did Narumiya Mei show you his Forkball? In these past few games, he's mostly used Straight Balls combined with Sliders. From the Home Plate perspective, how complete is his Forkball?" Hayakawa Aki replied quickly.

"Very sharp, and it only drops right before Home Plate. Mixed with Straight Balls, it's easy to swing and miss."

"I understand, I'll tell the coach. So you're with Miyuki today? Don't you dislike him a lot?"

"...Don't mention him. Anyway, after seeing Narumiya Mei's pitching, he's completely useless."

"...So you still hate him that much? Thanks for your hard work. But he's a very skilled catcher."

"Is there no pitcher willing to throw to him?"

"That's not necessarily true, Kōshū-kun."

Kōshū recalled today's pitching. He had to admit that Hayakawa Aki's words were objective. Just in terms of catching ability, Miyuki was still good. Although his pitches were accurate, Miyuki's glove was never pulled by the ball; it was very steady. Combined with the strong arm he had observed in previous games, he probably wouldn't have any problem being a First String catcher.

The bus was shaking, and Kōshū, who had been staring at his phone screen, felt a little dizzy. He put down his phone, and his mind involuntarily recalled Narumiya Mei's pitching. A pitcher with both ball speed, sharpness, and breaking balls—that's what you call an Ace Pitcher. As expected, Nozawa-senpai wasn't a good observation target.

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

A few days later, his wish came true, but with bitterness. The air raid siren sounded again, and the large numbers "1:0" on the scoreboard showed that his team had lost to that Ace Pitcher.

Everyone in the stands stood up, looking at the familiar faces on the team—depressed, tearful, faces still covered in dirt—shaking hands with the other team. That Golden Hair Ace was still smug, even waving to the Kinoshita Little League stands. Although Kōshū didn't make eye contact with Narumiya Mei, he knew Narumiya Mei was showing off to him, "See, I won after all."

Perhaps it was the atmosphere, or perhaps it was the influence of those faces that had only ever worn smiles of victory since he had known them, Kōshū tasted the bitterness in his mouth. He licked it lightly and realized he was crying.

All those victories they had experienced were actually not important at all. Only after jointly accepting failure and humiliation with the same identity could a group of people be united. It was from this moment that Kōshū truly integrated into this group.

What to do? I feel like if I keep writing like this, Miyuki might invite Kōshū to Seido, and he might refuse...

But Miyuki's personality is just so annoying. I might as well give Kōshū a surprise at Seido, hehe.