First Official Match

In the week leading up to his First Starting Match, Kōshū was wound up tight. As Coach Ninomiya often said, being able to pitch well in the Bullpen meant nothing; only pitching well in a game counted. So, suppressing his teammates in daily practice meant nothing; whether he could be useful in matches against other teams was the key to measuring whether a pitcher could shoulder great responsibility.

Therefore, these past few days, Kōshū had been pushing himself hard. He needed a victory to convince the coach, and to convince himself.

"Hey—" Lang Zhi, who could be considered battle-hardened, saw Kōshū's unusual state. "Don't push yourself too hard. It's just a practice match."

"Tsk, please keep your stuff in your own room!" Kōshū rolled his chair over and kicked Lang Zhi's upturned butt.

"Hey, hey, hey, are you ambushing me? That's not ethical!" Lang Zhi dove half his body into the closet, stuffing a cardboard box full of manga into the innermost part. By the time he backed out, yelling, he was surrounded by a circle of messy things, all his belongings.

"Hurry up and organize my stuff and put it in!" Kōshū's long legs were itching to kick Lang Zhi again, but Lang Zhi moved quickly, piling two layers of things in front of Kōshū to block his harassment.

"Hey—don't be so anxious. How about you lie down on the bed first?"

"..." Kōshū felt that his patience had improved a lot. If it had been before, he would have kicked this person out. No, he would never have agreed to Lang Zhi's idea, or simply wouldn't have let Lang Zhi in the door.

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

Kōshū remembered coming home today and seeing Mr. Sasaki slumped on the sofa, eyes glazed over, exhausted. The storage room, which hadn't been opened much, had been opened. Although it was called a storage room, it was actually a small room that could get sunlight. Because Mr. Sasaki, who had been a bachelor before, would casually put things under the dining table when he bought them. Only when there was no more room to stretch his legs under the table would he pack everything up and move it to the little room on the first floor, where no one lived.

And so, Mr. Sasaki, who had been single for many years, had managed to fill it with a lot of things all by himself. When he met Shen Qing and she visited his house, he didn't have time to clean up in order to maintain a clean image, so he stuffed a lot of messy things in there, then locked the room. As for the things being lost after being stuffed in, don't worry, he could just buy them again.

Therefore, after Shen Qing got married, she opened that room that had never been opened and was shocked. However, it was during her busiest time in Japan, so the things in the room were simply piled up. When Lang Zhi was kicked out of the house by his mother, he brought all sorts of things from his childhood, many of which were not opened and were placed directly in this room. So, the only one in this family who hadn't contributed to the crowded storage room was Kōshū.

"Truly, you reap what you sow!" Kōshū muttered his thoughts in Chinese. If he hadn't suggested that Lang Zhi do those seven tasks, Lang Zhi wouldn't have suggested cleaning up the baby room. If Lang Zhi hadn't suggested cleaning up the baby room, the adults wouldn't have taken a day off to clean up. If they hadn't cleaned up, they wouldn't have realized there were so many things, and Lang Zhi wouldn't have brought a pile of things to his room to mess it up.

"Huh? Are you speaking Chinese? What does it mean?" Lang Zhi thought Kōshū's tone probably wasn't saying anything good.

"I'm saying, you're a filial child," Kōshū replied without much sincerity.

"Tch." Lang Zhi didn't continue to ask. He put another box into the depths of the closet. Kōshū didn't have many things. Even when he came to Japan, he only brought the clothes on his back and a few changes of clothes. It was said that his things had been thrown away by the landlord. Of course, he wasn't a person who liked to buy things, so the closet had always been empty, which made Lang Zhi very envious. He took this opportunity to occupy Kōshū's closet.

After stuffing two boxes, which were definitely books in terms of weight, Kōshū thought the next box would probably be other things, but seeing Lang Zhi's strained expression, it was still a box of books.

"Is this box manga again?"

Lang Zhi looked through the gap in the tape. "No, it's textbooks."

"Huh? Elementary school textbooks?"

"Yep!" Lang Zhi replied very firmly. "I've never thrown away any of the textbooks I've ever received."

"Oh, what a rare habit."

"What's so rare about it? A lot of people keep them, right?" Lang Zhi said insincerely. He put these things in Kōshū's room with the little intention of hiding them. "It's strange that you have so few things."

"That's because you haven't moved yet. Once you start moving, you'll have to choose to throw some things away. The more you move, the fewer things you'll buy, and the more things you'll throw away. Naturally, there won't be much left."

"I don't like moving either, but for me, I'll still bring what I should bring." As he spoke, he took out his elementary school yearbook from an open box and started flipping through it, not doing his job. Before he could look at two pages, he closed it under Kōshū's threatening gaze.

"I know, my things are stuffed in the innermost part, and your things are still in their original place." Lang Zhi drawled, working quickly with his hands.

Kōshū read his book and ignored Lang Zhi.

Lang Zhi finished everything with a clatter. As he was leaving, he suddenly thought of something, covered most of his body with the door panel, only showing his head, and said arrogantly, "Oh, right, let me tell you, don't push yourself too hard. Anyway, no one sees you as an Ace Pitcher right now..."

The rest of his words were drowned out by the sound of the door slamming shut, because as soon as Lang Zhi saw Kōshū stand up, he quickly rushed back to his room and locked the door.

Kōshū stood up and stretched, then sat back down, not bothering to find Lang Zhi.

Don't mention it, after Lang Zhi's long interruption, Kōshū's thoughts had long wandered off, no longer obsessing over the first match. After all, just like Lang Zhi said, no one really sees him as the Ace Pitcher right now, and he doesn't need to hold onto the mindset that an Ace Pitcher can't lose. From now on, every game is just adding another brick to his path to becoming an Ace.

Soon, the First Official Match arrived. On Saturday afternoon, at the Kinoshita Club's outdoor field, Kōshū entered the Dugout in an official capacity for the first time.

Is this the coach's benevolence? Kōshū stood on the Pitcher's Mound in the first inning, looking back to see Sasaki Rōchi between Second and Third Base. Does he think this will make me feel more at ease during the game? This old man is as sharp as ever.

Lang Zhi had no idea what Kōshū was thinking. Being scrutinized like that made him a little nervous. If I miss a catch, will Kōshū retaliate later? Or will he choose to stand by and watch when he could help me cover?

"Hoo—" Lang Zhi exhaled.

Yoshino, the Second Baseman, noticed the Shortstop's unusual behavior beside him and silently shook his fist in Lang Zhi's peripheral vision. Lang Zhi received the message and responded. Yoshino had always been a regular, and he only started working with Lang Zhi after the new team was rebuilt this month, so they couldn't be said to have any tacit understanding.

On the Pitcher's Mound, Kōshū had already warmed up. The unfamiliar batter at Home Plate was sizing him up, but Kōshū didn't care. He nodded at Hayakawa's signal and threw an Inside Corner Ball.

First batter, facing Kinoshita Little League's unfamiliar Ace, with no information and no understanding of his pitching rhythm, he could only carry out the coach's task—to watch a few pitches.

So Hayakawa Aki didn't hold back at all, calling for two strikes in a row. The last Outside Corner Ball grazed the foul line. The batter thought it would be called a ball, but instead, he stood there and struck out.

The first batter didn't dare delay and quickly ran back to the Dugout, saying to the coach with slightly graying hair, "Coach, they're all Straight Balls, and his control is very good. Balls grazing the outside corner are being called strikes."

The Yoshinaga Little League's coach nodded. They needed to gather enough information in the first inning. His task for the batters in front was to watch a few pitches, but since the umpire's strike zone was wide today, just watching the ball would be a bit risky. So he signaled to the batter in the batter's box to treat any ambiguous balls as strikes and swing when he should.

The second batter touched his hat brim and readjusted his batting stance. Since the coach said so, he would focus on finding a good ball to hit.

Hayakawa sized up the batter and quickly signaled: low and outside. This batter was not tall and did not have a wide wingspan, so a low and outside pitch would be difficult for him to hit.

Sure enough, when the ball was thrown, the second batter hit a high fly ball near Second Base. Lang Zhi and Yoshino both squeezed together waiting for the ball to fall, but while yielding to each other, they let the ball fall between their gloves.

Kōshū saw that a ball that should have been caught for an out had become a hit, and couldn't help but put his hands on his hips. But he instantly remembered Nozawa's senior's brainwashing "peace of mind" and quickly put his hands down. When Lang Zhi looked over at him immediately, he said in a calm tone, "Are you okay?"

Lang Zhi didn't respond, just lowered his hat brim. Kōshū didn't wait for his response either, as the third batter had already come to the batter's box.

One out, runner on first.

Still low and outside, Hayakawa's mitt was placed just where the ball would be a ball. Sure enough, when Kōshū released the ball, the third batter put up a bunt. The ball rolled in front of the Pitcher's Mound. Kōshū quickly handled it, and when he heard Lang Zhi's shout from behind, he didn't hesitate and directly turned and threw to Second Base. Lang Zhi caught the ball and stepped on the base, then quickly threw to First Base. The first inning ended, starting with Lang Zhi's mistake and ending with Lang Zhi's double play.

Bottom of the first, the Yoshinaga Little League's pitcher started with a Changeup. Kinoshita Little League's first batter was Yoshino, the Second Baseman, who hit an extremely long foul ball to Left Field and was immediately caught out.

The second batter was Ōno in Center Field. A Straight Ball in the early 130s kph to the Inside Corner, followed by a Changeup. The second batter was clearly waiting for the Straight Ball, and this time he grazed the top edge of the ball, which was quickly thrown to First Base by Yoshinaga's Shortstop for the out.

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

The third batter was Nakajima, the First Baseman. First pitch, a Curveball, ball, thrown to the outside corner, followed by an Inside Corner Straight Ball. Nakajima couldn't help but swing, and was caught out in front of Right Field.

Kōshū looked at the paper cup in his hand. There was only a bit of water left at the bottom of the cup, and his side had already had three up and three down. Although it was 0-0, the momentum had already shifted to Yoshinaga Little League's side.

My speed has stabilized now, it's probably 2 and a half hours, 3000 words