Chapter 293: Happy
Sendo spoke so vaguely to the cheering section that the result perfectly matched what he had said earlier—that he wasn't suited for it.
"You have no right to say that!!!"
Led by Maezono, dozens of people in the cheering section shouted at once.
"You're the one who's always saying unlucky stuff!"
"Bastard!"
Hearing this, Miyuki finally understood.
But Sendo didn't take the shouting to heart at all. Instead, he shot Fumino a look that said, "Please handle this for me."
Fumino sometimes came off as a bit airheaded, but as the so-called Sleeping Beauty of the Humanities Forest, she was absolutely sharp—and very sensitive to what people said. She naturally understood how badly Kanemaru and Maezono's words could hurt the team.
So she nodded back at Sendo and returned an "Leave it to me" look.
...
"Mm?"
As Sendo turned around, he happened to meet Rei-chan's gaze.
He gave her a gentle smile.
Luckily, Rei-chan was a mature, cool beauty—very different from that shrieking, fangirl reporter type like Aida from Slam Dunk. That kind of screaming fanatic was something Sendo genuinely couldn't handle.
Seeing Sendo's smile, Rei-chan felt much more at ease.
Being able to show that kind of expression at a time like this already conveyed a lot.
For example—what Sendo had said earlier, that he had never once had the impression of losing.
Rei-chan could clearly feel that emotion from his smile alone.
...
"Senpai, I need to step away for a moment."
Fumino stood up, said this to Kaoruko-senpai, and walked toward Maezono and the others.
Kaoruko-senpai and the other managers followed her line of sight.
"Excuse me—Senpai. Kanemaru-kun."
"Huh? Fu… Furuhashi-san?"
Catching a whiff of Fumino's scent up close, Kanemaru panicked a little and blushed.
"What's up, Furuhashi-chan?" Maezono asked.
"Um… could you maybe not expose Eijun's weaknesses to the other team like that?"
Fumino said with a gentle smile.
Maezono, Kanemaru, and a whole crowd of single guys nearby all swallowed hard.
Aside from her admittedly unfortunate chest (Furuhashi: Don't mention that!), her looks, complexion, proportions, and gentle personality were more than enough to trigger a protective instinct—even in other girls. For these single guys, it was an instant KO.
"What do you mean by that?" Maezono asked, confused.
Kanemaru wore much the same expression.
These two blockheads still hadn't realized just how badly their big mouths could sabotage the team.
"On Eijun's first pitch just now, the opposing defense already started treating him as a power hitter and adjusted accordingly. But your shouting just now…"
"Ah!"
Both of them exclaimed in sudden realization.
At this point, if they still didn't get it, it wouldn't be stupidity—it'd be intentional.
"R-right—"
"No, don't!"
Fumino raised a hand to stop Maezono, who was about to shout an apology.
"If you're going to apologize, do it after the game.
Harada-san on the other side probably still isn't sure about Sawamura's true level, so please don't say the wrong things again, okay?"
She said warmly, smiling with narrowed eyes.
"Yes!"
Maezono and Kanemaru both looked embarrassed.
Whether it was guilt from realizing their mistake, or shyness from being so close to a radiant Fumino—probably both.
With the issue resolved, Fumino returned to her seat and flashed an OK sign to Sendo.
But she soon noticed that Sendo wasn't even paying attention anymore. Of course—once he handed things off to her, he'd completely shifted his focus elsewhere.
That left her unsure whether she should feel happy about his trust and reliance… or a little disappointed by his lack of attention.
Meanwhile, Kanemaru and the others were dazed, sniffing the air unconsciously—Fumino's scent was just too nice.
"From now on, before cheering for Sawamura, we really need to think about our wording!
To think that at the very end, we were the ones dragging the team down…"
Maezono said guiltily.
"Yeah."
"Come to think of it, Sendo was trying to warn us earlier, wasn't he?"
"He couldn't say it outright, so we chased him off yelling at him…"
"You can kneel and apologize later! Right now, we cheer until our throats are destroyed!"
The trio of third-year seniors declared.
"Yes!"
"Come on, follow us—strike a pose!"
As they spoke, the three struck the poses they'd practiced late into the night yesterday.
"Yes!"
"Like this?"
"No! Like this! Look at them! Make it more embarrassing! Throw away your sense of shame!"
Shinbara-senpai pointed at the disciples they'd trained the night before.
"Yes!"
…Well, the number of people in this strange group had increased again.
...
"Leadoff batter! Shortstop, Kuramochi!"
The next batter—the cheetah—was ready.
"Ya-san really overthinks things. There's no way that idiot is a power hitter—the cheering section already said it out loud, didn't they? …And even if they reach scoring position, so what? Another sacrifice bunt?
If they can't hit my pitches, it's meaningless! I won't give you any more chances."
Narumiya Mei glanced at Sawamura, then locked onto Kuramochi.
"Infield, be ready for the safety bunt!"
Harada called out, maintaining the usual caution before settling into a straight-up duel with the batter.
"Whoosh!"
"Pop!"
First pitch—inside fastball!
"Whoosh!"
"Pop!"
Then an inside slider!
Even batting left-handed, Kuramochi had absolutely no answer against Narumiya Mei in this state.
Batting left was purely to guard against the changeup. Seidou had noticed that Narumiya's changeup sometimes ran high.
Against left-handed batters, Inashiro might reduce its use.
Even with just that tiny chance, Kuramochi was willing to try—because otherwise, he truly had no answer.
For Kuramochi, today was nothing but darkness.
"Damn it!"
Kuramochi glared fiercely at Narumiya Mei, hating his own helplessness.
He never would have imagined that even with visible fatigue, Narumiya's pitches would still be this sharp—so sharp he couldn't even make contact.
"Ch… changeup!"
Thinking that, Kuramochi swung instinctively—only to realize too late that it was the changeup, thrown without any concern for a left-handed hitter.
"Pop!"
"Strike!"
"Batter out!"
"Damn it!"
Kuramochi raised his bat high, eyes nearly popping out.
Narumiya Mei's mental state right now was like someone on stimulants. Expecting his changeup to float high was almost impossible.
With their ace in this condition, Harada had no reason to hold back.
"Second batter! Second baseman, Kominato Haruichi!"
"Whew. Honestly, Kuramochi is the weakest known point in this lineup. As long as he doesn't get on base, we're fine. Still… this guy's got great feel for the ball."
Harada analyzed while flashing signs at the same time.
"Go, Kominato!"
"Kominato-kun!"
"Haruichi! Sendo's already unreliable—now it's all on you!"
Sawamura was fired up again.
"Don't you want to kill him?"
Miyuki asked Sendo, pointing at Sawamura.
"Yeah. After the game."
Sendo replied without even looking up, adjusting his glove.
"Sendo."
"Hmm?"
"If we win, I want to go out shopping and give myself a little vacation."
Miyuki suddenly said in a reflective tone.
What they'd already gone through in this game hit him incredibly hard—almost on par with losing a game in his previous life.
"Is that so? If we lose, then I'll shave my head into a monk cut like Sakuragi Hanamichi."
Sendo shot back.
"Haha! Same as always—you open your mouth with bad luck talk! I kind of want to see that, but winning is better."
"Want something lucky instead?"
"Yeah."
"If we win, I'll pitch ten balls for you."
With that, Sendo walked back toward the bench.
"Ten pitches… really?"
Miyuki's eyes lit up as he followed.
...
"Thunk!"
"Pop!"
"Strike!"
First pitch—a changeup!!!
"Haruichi!!!"
"Whoosh!"
"Crack! Snap!"
When Haruichi swung at the outside fastball, his bat cracked again.
"Pop!"
"Safe!"
"Yes!!!
Yes! Yes yes!
Yes! Yes yes!"
Sawamura immediately shouted in Isashiki-senpai's fierce style—then instantly reverted back to himself.
"Yes!!!"
Several seniors leaned over the railing and thrust out an arm together.
"Nice hit!"
"Even if it was luck!"
"This guy might really be a lucky charm—this is too lucky!"
"Hahaha! His face is red again!"
The ball lost power and dropped at an awkward distance, making it impossible for the infield to handle—allowing Haruichi to reach base.
Shirasu-senpai naturally advanced to third.
"Two outs, runners on first and third! Once again, it's Seidou's powerful heart of the lineup!!! The ace and the core batter meet for the sixth time!!! After this fierce clash—who will emerge victorious?!!!"
"Haha! Does Haruichi even have a spare wooden bat left?"
Sendo asked Miyuki cheerfully.
Then he put his helmet on.
"Probably not," Miyuki shook his head with a smile.
"Then let's finish it in this round. Wouldn't want Haruichi going up again without a bat he's comfortable with," Sendo said as he finished gearing up and stepped out of the dugout.
"Hey—hey! Don't go setting random flags!" Miyuki said helplessly.
....
"Third batter! Left fielder, Isashiki!"
"My turn! Kura! All the good stuff is mine!!!"
Isashiki-senpai strode up with a ferocious glare.
"Jun-san!!!"
"Please!!!"
With Isashiki's cheer song playing, the cheering section had completely thrown shame out the window—every kind of embarrassing cheer pose came out.
"Hit it! At the very least, load the bases before those two come up! That way you can't intentionally walk them anymore!"
With a clear plan in mind, Jun-san's eyes shifted from fierce to downright manic.
Don't think that only Inashiro Industrial would throw everything away for victory.
Seidou wouldn't back down even if it killed them!!!
"Come on, bastard!!!"
"So damn noisy, Ya-san! Let's shut him up!"
"The lineup's already gone around six times—most of the pitch patterns should be familiar by now. But too much familiarity becomes a burden! We absolutely cannot face Yuuki and Sendo here! Even Miyuki after them would be hard to suppress as easily as before!
Even for Mei, this has to be exhausting by now!Logically speaking, we should be thinking about going to the bullpen… But can he really handle this situation? There's only one ace!"
In that instant, pitcher and catcher were completely in sync.
They exchanged a smile.
"Come on, bastard! Come on! Come on!"
"Pu!"
"Whoosh!"
"Slider!"
"Pop!"
"Strike!"
"What?!"
Isashiki snapped his head up in shock toward that arrogant voice.
Back in the fourth time through the lineup, that slider with its absurd break had completely missed the strike zone.
So why—now that he clearly looked exhausted—was it landing in the zone instead?
Isashiki couldn't understand what was happening. He only knew one thing:
This is bad.
"Hey—this isn't even about being tired anymore. This guy… Is this guy really Narumiya Mei? If it is, did he take drugs or something?"
For a split second, Isashiki genuinely doubted what he was seeing.
"Pop!"
"Strike! Two!"
"A changeup… and it barely clipped the very bottom edge of the strike zone.
Did this guy evolve at this moment?
No… this is probably just pure overperformance.
But seriously—why now of all times?!"
"Whoosh!"
"Pop!"
"Strike!"
"Batter out! Change sides!"
"You bakemono bastard!
Why?!"
Already struck out, Isashiki glared fiercely at the figure walking off the mound like an emperor.
What he couldn't accept wasn't just the strikeout—
It was that look.
The complete lack of attachment, as if striking him out was nothing more than a trivial task.
In truth, Isashiki had simply been overwhelmed by Narumiya's presence.
Narumiya's velocity and movement were nearly identical to his peak condition.
But his aura and precision were on a completely different level.
And once again, Seidou lost a golden scoring chance.
Nor was Isashiki the only one shaken—aside from a few exceptions, almost everyone felt it to some degree.
Only Captain Tetsu, Sendo, Miyuki, and Sawamura were mostly unaffected.
But shaken or not, at this point in the game, nothing could make either side back down anymore.
A few seconds later, Isashiki-senpai walked back to the dugout with firm steps.
They'd already endured the despair of the bottom of the ninth—everything else just needed a little time to reset.
"Don't lose the momentum, Sawamura!"
Jun-san shouted as soon as he reached the bench.
"Yoshi!!!"
Sawamura shouted back.
"Heh… hehehehe… hahahaha!"
Sendo laughed quietly to himself.
"What's so funny?! I'll punch you!"
Isashiki-senpai was genuinely pissed this time.
"No—somehow, I feel like this game might be...no, maybe not just my high school career— This might be the most exciting, intense, and unforgettable game of my entire life. I'll probably never experience something like this again. I'm just so happy I'm talking nonsense."
"…Happy? In a game like this?"
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