Upon entering the stadium, Alistair found the Baseball Club members training enthusiastically. This was a complete reversal of the listless, slumped figures he had seen on the stone benches earlier.
"Oh, so energetic now?"
Alistair approached the Baseball Club, watching them practice repeatedly. Some were practicing their bat swings, some were practicing pitching, and others were engaging in live practice. The batter currently up was Shouya Katase, the student Alistair had seen in close proximity to Akane Nanao when he was here with Kasumi Haruno.
As Alistair arrived, the club members, who had been scattered around, subconsciously distanced themselves from him, as if Alistair were a plague, creating an empty vacuum around him.
Although most people were focused on training, the commotion attracted some attention, causing a few glances to turn in their direction.
"Hey, you, come here."
Alistair was annoyed by their intentional distancing, acting as if he were some tyrannical demon lord. Since they were treating him like a ferocious tiger to be avoided, he simply pointed at a random student and summoned him over.
"Me?"
The student pointed to himself and asked. Instantly, everyone around him used the opportunity to distance themselves, leaving him alone. He resigned himself to his bad luck and approached Alistair, hoping Alistair wasn't planning anything malicious.
"Student, I wanted to ask, why is everyone so motivated now? It seemed like everyone was exhausted not long ago, right?" Alistair pointed at the vigorously practicing members, asking with interest.
"Uh, well, it seems Katase-bro brought some energy drinks for everyone to replenish their vigor, which helped relieve their body fatigue." The unwilling student honestly shared what he knew with Alistair.
"Relieve fatigue? They hadn't been active for long when I arrived, had they? Why were they so exhausted?" Alistair raised an eyebrow. Getting tired so quickly? And an energy drink could restore their vitality? Was this some kind of in-game stamina potion? Drink one and fully recover? Wouldn't that be better than doping?
"Well, I'm not entirely sure myself. Everyone just felt very tired today, and we don't know why. Only Manager Akane Nanao has been her usual active self." The "hostage" student shrunk his neck, afraid Alistair might hit him.
"Hmm? Only Akane Nanao wasn't as exhausted as the rest of you?" Alistair turned his gaze to Akane Nanao, who was watching Shouya Katase's practice from the sidelines. He observed closely and indeed noticed that she didn't exhibit the same... excitement? that the practicing members did.
Yes, excitement. Alistair sensed an unnatural fervor in the practicing members. He initially couldn't confirm it, mistaking their vigorous appearance for "abundant vitality."
"Why are you calling Katase 'bro'? He's always just been a substitute, hasn't he?" Alistair asked casually. When he and Kasumi Haruno secretly observed Togo threatening Akane Nanao, he had overheard that Togo considered Shouya Katase to be an ordinary talent, only barely making it as a substitute due to hard work.
That's why Togo could use legitimate reasons to remove him from the roster or keep him on, as the level of the other players wasn't significantly different, thereby using him as leverage against Akane Nanao.
"It's mainly because he brought those energy drinks that seem to work really well, and he's no longer hiding his strength. That last ball was Katase-bro's first demonstration of his power." The student looked at Shouya Katase with a surprised expression. He genuinely hadn't expected Shouya Katase to be hiding so much and believed Shouya Katase completely.
"Alright, I'm done asking. Thank you for the information." Alistair dismissively pushed the student away, allowing him to leave, and then walked closer to Shouya Katase's practice area to observe the live practice.
Alistair wasn't very familiar with baseball. He simply wasn't interested. Besides, the sport was mostly popular in Japan; people in other countries generally preferred soccer, basketball, table tennis, badminton, or volleyball, rather than baseball.
However, the lack of interest was only relative; there were still many baseball enthusiasts, and the sport had its own world championships. It was just relatively unpopular compared to other ball sports in other countries.
Not knowing the rules was fine; Alistair could just pull out his phone and look them up to see how the game was played.
After a brief review, Alistair roughly understood some of the rules.
First, the batter and all people wearing gloves, including the catcher and the pitcher, were not on the same team. The goal of those wearing gloves was to cooperate to get the batter out.
The batter's goal was to hit the ball to a place where the glove-wearers couldn't retrieve it. The farther, the better. Shouya Katase's hit was clearly uncatchable, and hitting the ball out of the stadium wasn't an infraction for the batter; it was considered a good hit (home run), which differed from most other ball sports.
Therefore, the pitcher needed to find every way possible to make the batter miss the ball or hit it weakly.
During the time the ball was hit until it was retrieved, the batter could run counter-clockwise through the four bases: first, second, third, and back to home plate, which scored one run. If the ball was thrown back and they were tagged while running, they could be "out." However, they were safe as long as they were on a base (any part of their body touching the base).
Also, only one batter could stand on a base at a time.
If the batter didn't complete a full run after hitting the ball but wasn't out and stopped at a base, they could start from that base next time.
A batter was out after three unsuccessful attempts to hit the ball (strikeout). If the pitcher threw four bad pitches (balls too far off target for the batter to hit), the batter was awarded a walk to first base. If there were players on the bases, they were also advanced one base. Swinging at a bad pitch still counted as an attempt.
After every successful hit, the batter had to run quickly, and then a new batter would step up.
If the ball was hit so far that the glove-wearers couldn't find it, it was a home run, counted as a good hit.
A baseball field is a right-angled sector, and the official boundaries are the infinite extension of the two white lines at right angles behind the batter. This means the entire area within that angle, even infinitely extended, is considered in-bounds.
Three batters would bat until they were all retired by the glove-wearers. Then the teams would switch, and the actions would be repeated.
In short, the rules were quite complex, but the essence boiled down to two phrases: I hit it where you can't catch it, and I pitch it where you can't hit it.
These were the paths to victory for each side. And Shouya Katase's current performance was, if not surprising, then just bizarre. His overall physical ability was insane; it was as if only his skin was Shouya Katase.
He was hitting every ball out of the stadium with one swing. The glove-wearers, seeing how far the ball went, immediately sent someone to fetch it while they returned to their original positions, exchanging compliments about Shouya Katase's powerful skills.
"This guy's change is too drastic, isn't it?"
Alistair spoke without turning, addressing the person who had silently approached him.
"Uh, yeah, a bit... unfamiliar."
After a moment of silence, a female voice responded to Alistair's question. The person who had approached quietly was none other than Akane Nanao, who had an ambiguous relationship with Shouya Katase.
"I thought you disliked me? Why did you sneak over here?"
Alistair remembered Akane Nanao had treated him like Togo earlier, and he had clearly seen the aversion in her eyes. Why was she approaching him now? She couldn't possibly be planning a public surprise attack to try and subdue him, could she?
"Well... I heard you're a big shot."
Akane Nanao hesitated. She had indeed discreetly inquired about Alistair just now, but she had only briefly asked a friend and wasn't sure which parts were rumors and which were true. She decided to treat Alistair as a decent person to interact with for now.
"A big shot? Well, sort of. Do you need to borrow money?"
Alistair didn't overthink it. Because of the Golden Ratio, he didn't pay much attention to his daily expenses. He bought whatever he wanted, cheap or expensive. He didn't know his exact spending but knew it was substantial. If Akane Nanao was asking, was she short on cash? That would be good. Alistair could try the tactic of demanding payment in kind (sex).
"No, no, I want to ask you a favor." Akane Nanao shook her head, denying Alistair's suggestion.
"Ask a favor? Sure. But let me be clear, I don't help for free." Alistair turned to look at Akane Nanao, flashing a meaningful smile.
"Then what do you want? I only have some money." Akane Nanao felt an uncomfortable, yet somewhat pleasant, sensation under Alistair's scorching gaze.
"Money? That's the one thing I have plenty of." Alistair narrowed his eyes slightly.