Vol 7 Chapter 8 (2/2)
Muttsurini picked the bat up and walked towards ho to the ue places with Minami, he entered the batter’s box
“PLAY!”
The uin The batter’s Muttsurini, and the pitcher we’re going up against is the PE teacher Ooshi+ma-sensei
“Iron a close play”
“Well, ere the ones who said that anted to take revenge”
Most likely, they’re afraid that once we hit the ball, the baserunner running to first base will collide with the catcher If Ironaway noif we ram into the catcher
Ooshi+ma-sensei pitched the first ball rather forcefully as the arh the wind and flew into the glove
“…uu (PANK!)”
“STRIKE!”
Muttsurini swung the bat below the ball andit below the ball, it ht As expected of Ooshi+ma-sensei He’s really a PE teacher
“…(su)”
Muttsurini readied his bat again Ooshi+nal, and the second pitch was thrown
This pitch seelided sideways at the last second Is that…a slider!? It’s just a teachers-vs-students exchange ! That’s not like what a mature adult would do!”
“STRIKE!”
MuttsuriniNow, it’s two strikes, and he’s trapped now
“Nice pitching, Ooshi+ma-sensei”
Ironman threw the ball back at Ooshi+ at Ooshi+ets ready to bat
Ooshi+ma-sensei pitched a curveball this time Will Muttsurini be struck out?
“BALL!”
The u at where Ironht it would be a strike again…it seeood
Ooshi+ his arm and pitched the fourth ball This ball…will he hit it…!?
“…GO…!”
The ball flew by the pitcher and rolled to third base Hasegawa-sensei’s guarding third base, and I never heard that he’s athletic There should be no problems
“Oh, oh my”
After picking up the ball, Hasegawa-sensei hurriedly threw to first base, but Muttsurini already passed first base before the ball even reached there
“SAFE!”
“““WOOOOOHHHH—!!”””
Nice! Noe have the tying run on base Now, it’s no man out, one man on first base, and the next batter is—
“I’LL FOLLOW TSUCHIYA AND GET ON BASE!”
The leader of the FFF—Sugawa-kun
Sugawa-kun grabbed the bat with swagger and waits for the ball Ooshi+awa-kun
“…Gu…!”
“STRIKE!”
Sugawa-kun just stood there ide eyes He probably never expected Ooshi+
Ooshi+awa-kunoff, fukumura-kun went past him and entered the batter’s box
“…That was fast Watch out there”
“Mn, I got it”
Having returned to the bench, Sugawa-kun reawa-kun look so serious, even though it was for the ero-books
“Ku…!”
fuku the bat, and the ball rolled up to the front of the pitcher It see lost to the power of the pitch
Ooshi+ma-sensei quickly picked the ball up, checked the condition at second base, and saw that the agile Muttsurini was about to reach second base with several centimeters left
Giving up on second base, Ooshi+ma-sensei then coolly passed to first base to throw fukuht now, it’s 2 men out with the runner on second base
Finally, it’s time for the next batter, and I stepped up
“Aki The tireat You’ll be the hero if you can knock that out!”
“Well, please do your best, Akihisa-kun! I’ll be cheering for you here!”
The two girls in our class cheered for etically Of course, I’e me, and I hope to perform well noever—
“Thanks I don’t know if I can live up to your expectations, but I’ll do my best”
Anyway, I can only answer like this, and I turn around and head to the batter’s box
“So you’re the batter, Yoshi+ See”
The catcher Ironman said that to me as I entered the batter’s box
Yeah I feel that this is really interesting
“Yup If I can get a base hit, we’ll catch up, and I’ll be the hero of our class”
“Those girls just cheered for you, right? I know that you want to hit it out—but as a teacher, I have a pride that won’t allow me to lose I won’t let you hit it out like that”
“I never expected you to give me any leeway anyway”
I answered Ironman and raised the bat
Ooshi+ot ready to pitch the ball After that, the pitch from Ooshi+love
“BALL!”
The first ball was a ball It didn’t land into the strikezone well Maybe he’s wary of me
“I thought that you would swing at the first pitch”
“Because you thought that I would try to act cool in front of the girls?”
“Mn, you can say that”
Ironman pitched the ball back to Ooshi+round below htly and hold the bat in htly
Ooshi+ma-sensei checked that Muttsurini’s still at second base, and then pitched the ball at me It’s a fastball this time, low at the strikezone
“STRIKE!”
I silently let this ball fly past Seeing ht It seeain
After checking Ironlove, Ooshi+ma-sensei threw the third pitch
“BALL!”
Facing the third pitch, I still had no intention of swinging the bat This time, the ball felt like it was outside the strikezone It see more wary of me now
“What’s wrong, Yoshi+? Not going to hit?”
“Yeah Well, how should I put it…I have a lot of ideas in my mind”
I deliberatelytone to make Ironman more wary of me
I don’t knohat Iron now, but I can feel that Ironhtly behind me
“BALL!”
Another ball Now it’s 3 balls and one strike Right now, the opponent can only fight it out with me
“…”
Ironrip the bat for Ooshi+ma-sensei’s pitch
The ball went nicely down the middle to the strikezone Unlike the four powerful pitches before, this pitch focuses on control instead I don’t think it’s a curveball, so it’s ti this ball, I have confidence that I can hit this half the time But…
“STRIKE!”
I still didn’t swing the bat Though I am confident that I can hit the ball half the time, it means that I will miss half the time
“Is that really alright, Yoshi+? Don’t you want to be the hero to tie this ball game?”
“No, I do want to be the hero”
Seeing that I let the ball slip by, Ironued and couldn’t help but say that to me To him, it seems that I don’t want to knock a base hit Well, it’s no wonder he would think that hen I didn’t hit that ball just now
As I hold the bat to a short position, the sixth pitch immediately came to me Like the pitch just now, this pitch focused on control as it landed into a nice center position At this moment, I can’t let any ball pass by me
KLANG! I swing the bat to let out a nice crisp and light sound, and the ball rolled out of first base
“FOUL!”
Right now, it’s 2 strikes and 3 balls
“…Are you waiting for a base on balls? That’s a passive way of thinking”
“Ah, no I don’t mean that—”
“Hu the bat, even an idiot can tell what you’re thinking”
Having seenfor a base on balls I intend to hit all the pitches into foul territory until the final ball comes
“It’s rare to have such a chance, and yet you want to waste it”
“Well…actually, I was thinking the same way…”
KLANG!
“FOUL!”
The seventh pitch was a foul ball as well Ooshi+ma-sensei should be irritated by now?
“But since it’s a rare chance, I want to repay what I borrowed”
“Repay? What do you mean?”
KLANG!
“FOUL!”
“Uu…how should I say it? I’ on such an i before this thing ends”
“H?”
“I can only wish that others can finish off this wish that I would never give up on Should I be depressed, or angry, or is it an inexplicable feeling…”
“I have no idea what you’re trying to say here”
KLANG!
“FOUL!”
I hit the ball aside, and it grazed past the grass
I grip ain, and watch the opponent pitch the ball
“I don’t kno to express it, but anyway—”
“Anyway? What are you trying to say?”
The ball zipped past the outside corner
I didn’t swing the bat this time, but casually answered Ironman’s question
“—I’M JUST UNHAPPY THAT I’M NOT THE MAIN CHARACTER TODAY!”
“BALL! BASE ON balls!”
Ooshi+ma-sensei’s concentration was finally worn out by et onto first base
“Speaking of which, sensei Is that really alright?”
“What?”
“If you really want to fight it out with us, you would send ht?”
Ironoing up against Yuuji too If the teachers wants to win this game without worry, they would focus on Himeji-san who’s after that
On hearing me say this, Iron
“WHAT ARE YOU SAYING, YOshi+!? LISTEN UP—”
Ironman pointed at me and said it clearly to me
“We teachers have to be role models for you students If we can’t face you all head on, what can we teach you!”
Now that hefor a while This teacher’s always giving us corporal punishment, so why didn’t anyone sue him to the educational committee At this moment, I seem to understand the reason
Our conversation came to an end I turn around to look at the batter, Yuuji Yuuji’s staring back at me
“I paid you back for the test of courage, Yuuji”
“…Stop joking around Don’t think you owe me just that”
I passed ht, now I’ to Yuuji
“I’ll leave the rest to you then”
“Got it I’ll hit the ball out”
I nod hard at his forceful reply and turn to walk towards first base
Our class F just needs to catch up by one point Right now, it’s two men out and runners on first and second If Yuuji can hit a long ball, we can ith a base hit, but if only one person returns to first base, we’ll definitely lose in extra innings This is an easy to understand situation
Right now, ht due to the tension, and I can only stand at first base and watch the duel between the pitcher and batter Once the ball gets hit, I have to run with all I got If I can get to home plate, it’ll be our F class win
After Ooshi+ot ready to pitch
The first pitch left Ooshi+ma-sensei’s hand
“ST—STRIKE!!”
The signal of the strike rang throughout the entire arena The way I see it, this ball was really fast The fatigue of the full count off was still there, but Ooshi+ as ever, and no wonder Muttsurini was only about to hit a short ball
Ironman threw the ball back at Ooshi+ma-sensei Both of theot ready to pitch
“BALL!”
This ti as he just let that fly by Right now, it’s 1 ball 1 strike
Everyone can only s their saliva and wait for this crucial third pitch
Ooshi+ht hand on his shi+rt and wipes off the sweat
Yuuji focuses his weight on the back foot, seey so that he can launch a hard one here
Ooshi+ the ball
That was a fastball that caht at the batter
Swinging the back foot that’s acting as the center of gravity, Yuuji spins his body and swings the bat hard
--KLANG!
The crisp sound echoed throughout the arena
““—u!!””
At that th to sprint to the next base
The ball landed right in front of the center fielder, and the center fielder who’s rather far out ran front to get that bouncing ball
Muttsurini, as on second base, quickly stepped onto third base and ran to home And I stepped onto second base and ran to third
I can feel the teacher in charge of center field picking up the ball
“Ooshi+ma-sensei!”
What enteredteacher Terai-sensei picked the ball up and quickly passed the ball to Ooshi+ma-sensei who’s in the middle
At that moment, Muttsurini stepped onto first base It’s now 1-1 We’re even!
The third base coach told me to stop
This instruction is correct Besides, I won’t make it if I continue to run But even so—
“““YOshi+!!”””
I stepped onto third base and continued running to home
Now’s the tiet onto home plate!
I frantically try to run on the arena I’m almost there There’s just 5 m left
At this ht the ball frohimself defensively to block me in a melee brawl As we collide, if the ball dropped out froet blocked completely
“—Uu!”
I grit et ready to crash in Like ravity to block me
At this moment,
“—U!”
I tilt my body aside and spin around Ironman
“Uu? Ku—!”
Trying to block ravity, Ironman couldn’t catch up to my unexpected action As his body slowed down by half a step, I fall forward and reach my hand out to home plate
The dust scattered, and everyone present couldn’t help but hold their breaths
And then, the uame
“—SAFE!!!”
“““YYYYYYYYYEEEESSSSSSS!!!”””
Everyone in F class juhted cries
“…Nice going, Yoshi+”
Pa Pa Ironman patted the dust of his shi+rt and said that to me
“Because I thought that it could work?”
“It could work? Even if I were the opponent?”
“No, since I’ainst Nishi+mura-sensei, I felt that it could work Didn’t sensei tell me that?”
I impishly imitated Ironman’s tone,
“‘We teachers have to be role models for you students If we can’t face you all head on, what can we teach you!’”
As I understood Ironman’s personality, I felt that it could work Because he’s one that will honestly block me head on, so I felt that this bypass plan could work
On hearing me explain that, Ironman couldn’t help but widen his eyes, and then responds happily,
“I see If that’s the case, I have to change my attitude towards you next time”
“THE TEACHERS-VS-STUDENTS MATCH BETWEEN CLass 2-F AND THE TEACHERS ENDED! FINAL SCORE’S 2-1 CLass 2-F WIN!”
“““THANK YOU FOR THE MATCH!!”””
Finally, the baseball tournaed to us ended