First Official Match

During the week leading up to his First Starting Match, Kōshū had been wound tight. Just as Coach Ninomiya often said, being able to pitch well in the Bullpen meant nothing; only being able to do it in a game made someone a good pitcher. So suppressing teammates in daily practice meant nothing either. Whether he could be useful against other teams was the key measure of whether a pitcher could shoulder major responsibility.

So these past few days, Kōshū had kept himself taut. He needed a victory to convince the coach—and himself.

"Hey—" Lang Zhi, who could be considered battle-tested, noticed something was off with Kōshū. "Don't push yourself so hard. It's only a practice game."

"Tch, could you put your stuff in your own room?" Kōshū rolled his chair over and kicked Lang Zhi's sticking-out backside.

"Hey, hey, hey! You're ambushing me? That's unethical!" Lang Zhi had half his body stuffed inside the cabinet as he shoved a cardboard box full of manga into the very back. When he backed out while still loudly protesting, a nearly complete circle of miscellaneous clutter had formed around him. All of it was his stuff.

"Hurry up and organize my things before putting them in!" Kōshū's long leg twitched, eager to kick Lang Zhi again over the obstacles, but Lang Zhi moved quickly, piling two layers of stuff in front of Kōshū to block his harassment.

"Hey—don't be so impatient. Um, why don't you lie down on the bed first?"

"..." Kōshū felt that his patience had improved a lot lately. Before, he would definitely have thrown this guy out. No, he would never have agreed to Lang Zhi's suggestion in the first place, or simply never have let him through the door.

"You're not planning to put all those boxes from the storage room in my room, are you...?"

Kōshū remembered coming home today and finding Mr. Sasaki sprawled exhaustedly on the sofa, his eyes vacant. The storage room that had barely ever been opened had been opened. Calling it a storage room was a little misleading—it was actually a small sunlit room. Back when Mr. Sasaki had still been a bachelor, he would casually toss whatever he bought under the dining table. Only when there was no longer enough room to stretch his legs beneath it would he pack everything up and move it into the unused little room on the first floor.

That was how Mr. Sasaki, after many years of bachelorhood, had managed to cram in quite a lot of things all by himself. Then he met Shen Qing, and when she came to visit his home, he had no time to clean up because of the image he had built before they married. To maintain a surface-level tidiness, he stuffed all kinds of junk in there and locked the room. As for not being able to find things after stuffing them inside—no problem. He could just buy them again.

So after they married, Shen Qing opened that room that had never been opened before and was shocked as well. But she had been at her busiest since coming to Japan, so the room's contents were only piled up roughly. Then, when Lang Zhi was practically thrown out by his mother, he brought all sorts of things from his childhood onward, many of which were placed directly into that room without even being unpacked. By that count, the only person in this household who had not contributed to that crowded storage room was Kōshū.

"Serves you right," Kōshū muttered his true thoughts in Chinese. If he had not suggested that Lang Zhi do those seven tasks, Lang Zhi would not have proposed cleaning out the nursery. If Lang Zhi had not proposed cleaning out the nursery, the adults would not have specifically taken a day off to sort through everything. If they had not sorted through things, they would not have discovered there was so much stuff. And Lang Zhi would not have brought a pile of it into his room to stuff wherever he pleased.

"Huh? Was that Chinese? What did it mean?" Lang Zhi figured that tone probably had not been used for anything nice.

"I said you're such a filial child," Kōshū replied without much sincerity.

"Tch." Lang Zhi did not ask further. He shoved another box deep into the cabinet. Kōshū did not have much stuff. Even when he came to Japan, he had brought only the clothes on his back and a small amount of spare clothing. Supposedly, the rest had been thrown out by his landlord. Besides, he was not someone who liked buying things, so his cabinet had always been empty, making Lang Zhi terribly jealous. This was the perfect chance to occupy Kōshū's cabinet.

After stuffing away two boxes that were definitely filled with books judging by their weight, Kōshū assumed the next box would contain something else. But seeing Lang Zhi struggle with it, it turned out to be another box of books.

"Is this one manga too?"

Lang Zhi peered through a gap in the tape. "No, textbooks."

"Huh? Elementary school textbooks?"

"Yeah!" Lang Zhi answered with particular conviction. "I've never thrown away any textbook I was given from childhood until now."

"Oh, what a rare habit."

"What's so rare about it? Lots of people keep them, right?" Lang Zhi said against his better judgment. He had a hidden motive for putting these things in Kōshū's room—he wanted to hide them. "You're the strange one. Why do you have so little stuff?"

"That's because you've never moved. Once you start moving, you have to choose some things to throw away. The more you move, the less you buy and the more you discard. Naturally, not much is left."

"I don't like moving either, but I'd still take what I should take." As he spoke, he took out his elementary school yearbook from an open box and began flipping through it instead of working. After only a couple of pages, he shut it under Kōshū's threatening gaze.

"I get it. My stuff goes all the way in the back, and yours stays where it was." Lang Zhi dragged out the words while his hands worked briskly.

Kōshū read his book and ignored Lang Zhi after that.

After clattering around and finishing everything, Lang Zhi suddenly thought of something as he was leaving. He hid most of his body behind the door, leaving only his head sticking out, and said arrogantly, "Oh, right, let me tell you something. Don't push yourself too hard. Anyway, nobody sees you as an ace pitcher yet..."

The rest was drowned out by the sound of the door slamming shut. The moment Lang Zhi saw Kōshū stand up, he bolted back to his room and locked the door.

Kōshū stood and stretched for a moment, then sat back down without going to settle things with Lang Zhi.

Still, after Lang Zhi's long interruption, Kōshū's thoughts had wandered all over the place. He was no longer obsessing over the first game. After all, just as Lang Zhi had said, no one considered him a true ace pitcher yet. He did not need to cling to the mindset that an ace could not lose. From now on, all he had to do was lay one more brick on his road to becoming an ace with every game.

Soon, the first game arrived. On Saturday afternoon, at Kinoshita Club's outdoor field, Kōshū entered the Dugout as an official player for the first time.

Perhaps it was the coach's kindness. Standing on the Pitcher's Mound in the first inning, Kōshū looked back and saw Sasaki Rōchi positioned between second and third. Did he think this would help me play with more peace of mind? The old man was as sharp as ever.

Lang Zhi had no idea what Kōshū was thinking. That look made him a little nervous. If he missed a ball, would Kōshū retaliate later? Or would he stand by and do nothing when he had a chance to cover for him?

"Whew..." Lang Zhi let out a breath.

Yoshino at second base noticed something off about the shortstop beside him. In the corner of Lang Zhi's eye, Yoshino silently raised a fist and shook it. Lang Zhi got the message and returned the gesture. Yoshino had always been one of the Regulars, but he had only begun working with Lang Zhi after the team was rebuilt this month, so they could not be called especially in sync.

On the Pitcher's Mound, Kōshū had already warmed up. The unfamiliar batter studied him at home plate, but Kōshū paid no attention. He nodded at Hayakawa's Signals and threw an Inside Corner Ball.

The leadoff batter had no information on Kinoshita Little League's unfamiliar ace and did not understand his pitching rhythm. In this situation, he could only carry out the coach's instruction—watch more pitches.

So Hayakawa Aki showed no mercy. Two strikes in a row, then an Outside Corner Ball grazing the line. The batter thought it would be called a ball, but instead he struck out looking.

The leadoff batter did not dare linger and hurried back to the Dugout. He said to the coach with slightly graying hair, "Coach, they were all fastballs, and his control is excellent. Even pitches grazing the outside were called strikes."

Yoshinaga Little League's coach nodded. They needed to collect enough information in the first inning, so he had instructed the early batters to watch more pitches. But since the home plate umpire's Strike Zone was broad today, simply watching pitches was risky. So he flashed Signals to the batter in the Batter's Box, telling him to treat borderline pitches as strikes and swing when he should.

The second batter touched the brim of his cap and got back into his stance. Since the coach had said so, he would focus on finding a hittable pitch.

Hayakawa studied the batter and quickly gave the signal: Outside Low Corner. This batter was short and did not have much reach. Outside low would be difficult for him to hit.

Sure enough, when the pitch came, the second batter hit a pop fly near second base. Lang Zhi and Yoshino crowded together to wait for it to come down, but while each yielded to the other, the ball fell between their gloves.

Seeing a guaranteed catch turn into a hit, Kōshū could not help putting a hand on his hip. But he instantly recalled Senior Nozawa's brainwashing advice about staying calm and quickly lowered his hand. When Lang Zhi looked over at him right away, he even said evenly, "You okay?"

Lang Zhi did not answer, only pulled down the brim of his cap. Kōshū did not wait for a response either. The third batter had already stepped into the Batter's Box.

One out, runner on first.

Still Outside Low Corner. Hayakawa held his glove at a spot that was just barely a ball. Sure enough, as Kōshū released the pitch, the third batter squared to bunt. The ball rolled in front of the Pitcher's Mound. Kōshū fielded it quickly, and as he secured the ball, he heard Lang Zhi shout from behind him. Without hesitation, he spun and threw directly to second. Lang Zhi caught the ball and stepped on the base, then fired it quickly to first. The inning ended, beginning with Lang Zhi's error and ending with Lang Zhi's double play.

In the bottom of the first, Yoshinaga Little League's pitcher opened with a Changeup. Kinoshita Little League's leadoff batter was second baseman Yoshino, who hit an extremely deep Foul Ball to left field and was caught for the out.

The second batter was Ōno in center field. A fastball in the low 130s came inside, followed immediately by a Changeup. The second batter was clearly waiting for a fastball, and this time he nicked the top of the ball. Yoshinaga's shortstop quickly threw to first to retire him.

Only a few pitches in, there were already two outs. Kōshū had only taken two sips of water.

The third batter was first baseman Nakajima. The first Curveball missed outside, followed by an inside fastball. Nakajima could not resist swinging, and he was caught in front of right field for the third out.

By the time Kōshū glanced at the paper cup in his hand, with only a little water left at the bottom, his side had already gone Three Up, Three Down. Though the score was still 0-0, Yoshinaga Little League had seized the early momentum.

My speed has stabilized now. It's probably around two and a half hours for 3,000 words.