Combat Instinct

"If you want to keep growing, overcome this! Akatsuki!"

While Coach Kataoka waited for Furuya to make his move, Sendou at third base also watched Furuya with eager anticipation.

"Was Furuya-kun injured somewhere after all?" Owada Akiko said uncertainly.

The announcement had only mentioned treatment before, not who had been injured. Perhaps it was to prevent the other side from targeting him, leaving outsiders completely unaware of the situation.

"I don't know!

Because this lineup, from the first batter to the ninth batter, is one they have to face with exceptional caution!

That must have built up a great deal of unnoticed fatigue!" Mine Fujio said.

"But Furuya today somehow..." Mine Fujio had also noticed that Furuya was different from usual and thought to himself.

On the field, under everyone's watchful eyes, Furuya's expression shifted from shock and surprise to calm after being hit. As if nothing had happened, he lowered his head and adjusted his breathing.

Seeing Furuya lower his head, Sendou smiled with relief.

Since Sendou could tell what pitch a batter was targeting just from their movements, a single glance was naturally enough for him to see that Furuya had not been shaken in the slightest by being hit.

Sure enough, after adjusting his breathing, Furuya turned around and rotated his body, looking in turn at every fielder behind him. He pressed his right fist to his chest, took a deep breath, and then looked back toward home plate.

"Did that guy just turn around to look at us because... he wanted to calm himself down like that?" In that instant, the fielders behind him all understood the meaning of that gesture.

Precisely because they understood, they were shocked!

"Furuya... you... were already at your limit..." Miyuki thought in surprise.

"It was practically saying that he felt