36: I Quit

Because the batter was left-handed, Su Qing had deliberately shifted a little toward second base. He hadn't expected the ball to be hit the other way. What a miscalculation. Su Qing hurriedly turned and chased after it, picking up the baseball after it had already stopped on the ground. By then, the batter was already close to first base.

Su Qing scooped the ball upward with his glove, transferring it to his right hand.

"Nice, but isn't it too late?"

"Too late. It'll definitely be late, and he hasn't even finished his previous motion yet. That really affects the throw. If he forces it, it'll be easy to throw it off target."

As an experienced third baseman, Masuko naturally felt that this ball couldn't be handled. It was simply too unlucky. Thanks to Seido's uneven field, the ball had landed in a dip instead of bouncing up. On a proper field, it probably would have bounced long ago, and Su Qing could have stopped it more easily. Then there would have been plenty of time to make the throw.

Who would have thought the ball would hit a hole, fail to bounce, roll a few times, and stop? Throws made on the move were the hardest. It was difficult to generate power. If it had been him, he wouldn't have thrown it.

Without enough force, the ball would definitely drop early, and that could easily cause trouble. Third base was already a position where even normal throws weren't always accurate, let alone a throw where he couldn't put any power behind it.

"Smack."

Yamaoka firmly caught Su Qing's throw. Shu Bei's third batter was equally surprised. He was also a third baseman, and he had been certain that the play would be too late—that was why he hadn't slid into the base. How had that throw gotten there? So fast?

"So fast."

Sawamura was the one who spoke. He had already played several fairly official games and understood some of the basic common sense on the field.

One such piece of common sense was that infield grounders had to be handled with extreme caution, especially at third base. Faster wasn't necessarily better...

Because it was easy to fail to put enough force into the throw and send it off target. Why did first basemen have to do the splits? To catch throws coming from every direction...

Sawamura had watched Masuko throw plenty of times. His throws looked fast at first, but their speed vanished later on, and they began to sink under the pull of gravity.

Masuko was Seido's power hitter! Even he was like that, let alone anyone else.

But Su Qing's throw felt fast to him. Too fast! The ball barely dropped at all! It was so fast that even gravity couldn't keep up!

"Ptoo, ptoo, ptoo."

Chen Xin calmly spat out the sunflower seed shells from his mouth. What was there to be surprised about? That was a perfectly normal throw. If he didn't even have that much arm strength, what professional baseball was he supposed to play?

Su Qing raised his glove and bumped it separately with Narumiya Mei, Shirakawa, Yamaoka, and Hirai Tsubasa. He had to spread the love around.

"Nice one, Su Qing. That pickup, that throw—I was worried you'd fall over."

Su Qing had sent the ball diagonally toward first base and had nearly fallen after releasing it.

"Thanks."

Narumiya Mei wasn't acting tsundere this time, because Su Qing really had handled that ball beautifully.

"You're welcome~"

He returned to the Rest Area laughing and chatting with everyone, but as he passed Coach Kunimoto, Su Qing felt a little uneasy. He hadn't revealed his true ability just now, had he? That had only been normal defense, right?

Coach Kunimoto noticed Su Qing's unease as well.

"Not bad. Keep working hard."

He had to criticize when criticism was called for, but encouragement was still needed when it was deserved. When it came to defense, there was naturally more reason to encourage him.

After receiving the praise, Su Qing smiled.

Pah. Since when had his standards become this low?

Two more innings passed like that. After watching a round of pitching, Shu Bei finally managed to do a little something, knocking two hits off Narumiya Mei. But they didn't amount to much. Their batting order lacked continuity and had no follow-through.

With Chris and Miyuki both holding things together, Little Angel watched every pitch with intense focus. At the same time, he began having a few thoughts about breaking balls. Breaking balls were really cool—the way they fooled batters completely. If he could throw them too, could he become like that blond guy?

Bottom of the Sixth Inning, Su Qing came up for his fourth at-bat.

Standing in the Batter's Box, he had none of his earlier excitement. All he could think about now was how to conceal his true strength while still maintaining his perfect on-base rate.

How could he hit in a way that made it seem like he had reached base purely by luck?

Su Qing sank into thought.

Shu Bei had changed pitchers by then. There was no other reason—the previous pitcher had already exceeded his pitch limit.

The new pitcher was Shu Bei's ace, the one they had originally intended to use against Seido.

They really looked down on people. Inashiro had been the team to reach Koshien last year, while Seido hadn't made it in years. Inashiro was the true ruler of West Tokyo!

While Su Qing was thinking, Shu Bei's ace delivered the ball.

So low! It's exactly where I like it! Damn it!

Remembering the restrictions Coach Kunimoto had placed on him, Su Qing ultimately didn't swing and could only watch helplessly as the ball entered the catcher's mitt.

"Ball."

I really want to hit it!

When he saw the second pitch, Su Qing's eyes widened again. Are you kidding me? Again?

Su Qing was so shocked that he didn't swing. He was stunned by the courage of Shu Bei's battery. They were throwing him low pitches consecutively? Were they serious? Kamizu from Yamamori hadn't dared call for even one low pitch against him!

"Strike!"

Shu Bei's catcher was fearless because he didn't know any better. He hadn't looked at Inashiro's information before, so he naturally didn't know that Su Qing's greatest strength was hitting low pitches. Calling for a low pitch at first had merely been a test. When he saw that Su Qing had no intention of swinging, he called for another one. And when Su Qing still didn't swing, didn't that mean he didn't like low pitches?

This was perfect!

Again?!

Damn! Su Qing turned back to look at Coach Kunimoto again. He really couldn't take it anymore! That guy was provoking him! This was absolutely unbearable!

Coach Kunimoto still gave no response.

And Su Qing truly couldn't hold back anymore! So what if he got pulled from the game! A match this boring wasn't worth playing anyway!

Seeing Su Qing step out of the Batter's Box, Shu Bei's catcher ceremoniously adjusted his batting gloves again, then gave his bat another shake. When he settled back into position, Shu Bei's catcher felt that Su Qing's entire aura had changed.

Embarrassed and angry? Looks like I can't keep calling low pitches anymore. At this rate, even if he can't hit them well, he'll still swing.

I'll tempt him with a ball first. We're ahead in the count anyway.

Shu Bei's catcher was calculating away, but Su Qing, already in a rampage, didn't care whether it was a strike or a ball! He couldn't take it anymore!

"Bang!"

The wooden bat met the baseball with a crack entirely unlike the sound of a metal bat. Without even looking, Su Qing casually tossed the bat aside and started running the bases.

Don't look at the Rest Area. Don't look at the Rest Area. He can't see it. He can't see it.

By the time Su Qing ran past first base, the ball had already flown over Seido's Wire Fence. This time, there was no way to retrieve it at all.

"You've got to be kidding, right? That pitch just now was a ball, wasn't it?"

"Just how high is our school's Wire Fence again?"

"Tsk, tsk, tsk. He finally couldn't hold it in. Just like Qing—what a temper."

Chen Xin couldn't help sighing.