Capítulo 17: Chapter 17 : Chris's Masterpiece
"NICE HIT, SAWAMURA!"
"Infield home run?! Are you kidding me?!"
"Tell us the truth, Sawamura! How much did you improve since you joined the second team?!"
"Good job, Sawamura!"
Sawamura who was soaked by praises grinned widely, finding the charm of batting for the first time. This was his first time hitting a home run in his life. Even though it wasn't technically a real home run, he didn't care. He was too happy to think about such a semantic definition.
"Good job, Brat!" A voice from outside of the field snapped Sawamura from his thoughts. When he turned around, he could see Isashiki giving a thumbs-up while Hiroto nodded approvingly. Several senpai from the first team also acknowledged him. Hell, even Miyuki had a genuine smile on his face without a hint of his usual playfulness.
Seeing that, Sawamura's happiness (and cockiness) multiplied a lot.
"Ahahaha! Thank you, Hiroto-senpai! Spitz-senpai!"
"HA?! WHO THE HELL DID YOU CALL SPITZ?!"
Sawamura grinned, ignoring his fuming senpai. Since he knew Sawamura and Chris's relationship, Isashiki would always demand to be called Sishou too. However, in Sawamura's mind, one nickname should only be reserved for one person, and Shisou was reserved exclusively for Chris. That didn't mean he would let any chance to tease Isashiki slide though.
"Okay, that's enough, Sawammura." Chris reminded calmly. "The play is over, don't let it go through your head for too long. Keep your emotions in check and start thinking about what you should do in the next inning."
Chris's words brought Sawamura back to the earth. The pitcher looked at the scoreboard and his expression turned solemn.
Kokushikan 1 1 3
Seido 1 0 2
Even though he was able to help the team gain two points, as a pitcher, the loss of 5 points in just three innings was bad. And it could be worse if not for Chris's accurate guidance in the third inning. Overall, this was an embarrassing performance for a player who aimed to be an ace.
Chris who saw the change in Sawamura nodded approvingly. Even though he could describe his kouhai with a lot of bad words, stupid wasn't one of them. The right term should be ignorant, and it was all due to the lack of a professional coach from his early training. But once he received professional guidance, his improvement skyrocketed, shocking everyone on the team.
That was usually the case for self-taught players like Sawamura and Furuya.
That was also why Chris's biggest worry. The glaring improvement that could be seen with the naked eye was like a double-edged sword. It could motivate the players and boost their confidence, but it could also give them the illusion that they were geniuses and make them overconfident. And Chris saw this several times in Sawamura's case. His kouhai's cockiness was concerning.
That was why when Sawamura had this solemn expression, Chris sighed in relief as it seemed he worried too much.
The offense continued with Haruichi on the box. The pink-haired boy was one of the most impressive players on the second team. Even though he was just a newcomer, he could get a batting average of 0.88 in ten games. As the first hitter, he also had a good speed and could play a leadoff role. Even though it was far worse compared to Kuramochi, it was enough to impress Kataoka-sensei. A player with a good speed was rare. To have one with a ridiculous batting average like Haruichi was a blessing for the team.
Unfortunately, this time, he failed to prolong Seido's offense as the ball he hit only rolled several meters on the ground before being picked up by the pitcher, sending him out while also ending Seido's offense turn.
"OUT! THREE OUTS! CHANGE SIDES!"
Sawamura took a deep breath, trying to calm down his nerves. Even though it was already the fourth inning, he was still nervous, and it was because he was partnering with Chris. He didn't want to play badly as it would also reflect on Chris's capability to guide him. Fortunately, the catcher noticed his dazed state and patted his shoulder reassuringly.
"Don't think too much. Just throw at your best and trust my mitt."
Sawamura was stunned for a second before realizing what Chris said. A grin formed on his face as he bowed his head deeply.
"THANK YOU, SHISOU!"
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"Now, we can see the real Chris here." Miyauchi crossed his arms in front of his chest, leaning his body forward while putting all his focus on the game.
"Yeah." Miyuki nodded, also did the same. "It has been a long time since I saw him behind the batter. This would be interesting."
Almost all of them had the same opinion. Even though Chris was good as a batter, he was more impressive when guiding the pitcher and making the opponent's batter dance around his palm. The combination of his baseball IQ and observation skills often created an exquisite play for Seido. He was the definition of winning with elegance.
Now, they were curious if Chris could reproduce his old style with Sawamura as a partner.
Under Chris's guidance, Sawamura sent two strikes in a row for the batter in front of him. Two of them came from outside pitches that looked easy at first but suddenly dropped down the moment the ball was within reach. The batter glared at Sawamura, thinking he was being fooled again and again.
However, the batter wasn't worried even for a bit. He guessed since the two pitches before were outside, the last one shouldn't be that much different. This was a pitcher's psychology. Being on the mound and having to face batters one after another was a huge pressure from the beginning. If one type of pitch worked, there was no need to change it and take an unnecessary risk that could add more pressure.
Unfortunately, he met Chris and Sawamura who had guts of steel. Right after throwing two outside pitches, under the catcher's guidance, Sawamura threw a sharp inside ball that was so contrast compared to his first two.
'SHIT!' The batter cursed inwardly as he realized he messed up.
Unfortunately, he had already swung his bat with the mind thinking that this would be an outside pitch. So, when the bat hit the ball, it could only result in a weak ground ball that was easily caught by Sawamura before sending it to the first baseman.
"OUT!"
"Ha!" Isashiki laughed happily. "Such a bullish call. This is just a vintage Chris, right?!"
"Yeah." Miyuki nodded; his body trembled in excitement. "This aggressiveness could only be seen when Chris-senpai was on the field. It has been a long time since this appeared."
Being dubbed a genius catcher, the only loss Miyuki suffered in middle school was against Chris's team. That was why he was so obsessed with his senpai. Hell, he even tried to copy Chris's style and succeeded in adapting it to his playing style. People often said that Chris was Miyuki before Miyuki himself appeared, and Miyuki wouldn't deny the influence of his senpai in his game-calling.
That's why seeing Chris thriving on the field brought his competitiveness back to the peak.
"But that pitching was nasty though." Miyauchi suddenly chimed in. "The last one was a splitter, right?"
"Yup." Ryousuke nodded. "He could finally be said as a real pitcher. Miyuki, you have to up your game for Furuya."
"Aah…." The catcher just rubbed his head sheepishly.
To be honest, Miyuki didn't want to teach Furuya how to throw a splitter. In his opinion, teaching a slow and controlled breaking ball to a pitcher who had a monster velocity would be a waste of talent. If anything, it would be better to teach Furuya the derivative of the splitter, a forkball. Not only did it require less control, the movement was still nasty enough without giving up too much speed.
But he was helpless in this matter. A splitter was like the first love for a pitcher in baseball. Besides fastball, this was the very first thing players learned when they started practicing at a young age. People even said something about not being a real pitcher until a player could throw a splitter. Even though it sounded stupid, that was the reality. Unfortunately, Kataoka-sensei also had the same thought.
"Well, I will talk to our monster pitcher later."
The game continued again, and with Chris's guidance, Sawamura sent out two more players and ended their turn to defense.
"STRIKE! BALL! *CLANK!* FOUL! *CLANK!* OUT! TWO OUTS!"
"BALL! *CLANK!* OUT! THREE OUTS! CHANGE SIDES!"
At first glance, it looked like the game was already in Seido's grasp. Unfortunately, as time went by, Sawamura's performance started to decline as his accuracy dropped astronomically. And his nightmare came in the sixth inning when facing Kokushikan's leadoff hitter, he sent the opponent to first base easily.
"BALL! BALL! BALL! BALL FOUR!"
From Chris's perspective, this wasn't a big problem for Seido. Although there was a runner on the first base, as long as Sawamura could send the rest of the batters out, everything would be alright. Unfortunately, the same couldn't be said for his partner, especially when the pitcher saw the runner was two steps ahead of the first base.
'Is he going to steal? What should I do?!'
At this time, his lack of experience was exposed as he couldn't keep calm on the mound. He tried to ask Chris's guidance, but seeing his senpai shake his head, Sawamura took a long breath, trying to calm down his nerves.
'Okay, I could do this.'
What Chris meant by shaking his head was to ask Sawamura to ignore the runner on the first base. However, for a rookie pitcher like him, facing this situation for the first time wasn't easy. When he started to wind up, he caught the movement on the first base with his peripheral vision and started panicking. This made his movement sloppy, resulting in the ball being thrown in an easy direction with a slow speed.
'SHIT!'
*CLANK!*
The batter hit that weak ball without hesitation, sending it toward the area between the second baseman and the third baseman. Even though his speed couldn't be compared with Kuramochi, the leadoff runner from Kokushikan had a decent pace, passing the second baseman quickly and going straight to the third baseman with all his strength.
Fortunately, Fumiya was quick enough to cover the ball before it could go to the outfield. The shortstop dives forward to catch the ball before shouting to his kouhai, "HARUICHI!"
The first-year second baseman knew what to do. He took a quick glance to observe the opponent's runner position while waiting for the ball from Fumiya. And when he got the ball, he threw it off immediately to Kanemaru the third baseman.
"NICE THROW!"
Unfortunately, Kokushikan's leadoff runner was one step faster than the ball. Before it could land on Kanemaru's glove, he dives forward recklessly, extending his arms forward to catch the plate. He crashed with Kanemaru a little there, making it hard to judge what happened from afar. All the spectators stood up from their seats, trying to find out the result. And when the dust settled, the umpire finally announced,
"SAFE!"
And after a moment of silence, roars broke on Kokushikan's dugout.
"YOSSSHAAA!!!"
"NICE RUN!"
"COME ON!"
Sawamura clung his head down, felt ashamed as this was his fault. Now, Kokushikan had two runners on the first base and the third base, still without a single out in this inning. Chris who saw his dazed state called a timeout quickly and approached him.
"Are you alright?" The catcher whispered silently, covering his mouth with the mitt.
"Ah! Don't worry about it, Shisou! It is nothing!" Sawamura faked his smile, trying to hide his emotion. However, he was caught off-handedly by Chris who knew him pretty well.
"Don't worry, this wasn't as bad as you think," Chris reassured him. "They still don't get a single run from us. Don't think about it too much."
Sawamura nodded slightly at Chris's words. However, there was still a hint of worry that he couldn't hide from his face.
"Don't think too much about the runner. Just focus on the batter next to you. Let me and the team do the rest." Chris added. Inwardly, the catcher took a note in his head about this, thinking about teaching Sawamura how to handle the pressure from a leadoff runner like this time.
Sawamura nodded more firmly this time, showing his determination. When the next batter was on the box, he decided to not care about the runners on the first and the third baseman, trusting his teammates would take care of that. And when his nerve was calm enough, that was when he could pitch freely, showing off his ability to the fullest.
*CLANK!*
"SHORT! SAWAMURA, GO FORWARD!"
"I GOT THIS!"
Even though Kokushikan's third batter hit the ball, it was a weak ground ball. Sawamura ran forward to get the ball quickly. And when he caught it, he heard another instruction from the catcher.
"SECOND BASE! QUICK!"
Sawamura was taken aback by the unexpected instruction. He could see the runner on the third baseman was already on the way to go to the home plate. In his little mind, he thought he should send the most dangerous runner out first. However, out of the trust of his senpai, Sawamura turned around and threw the ball to Haruichi.
"THROW IT HERE! QUICK!"
After Haruichi received the ball, Chris didn't stay idle. He shouted quickly, asking for the ball from Haruichi. The reason why he decided to send it to the second baseman first was because Chris knew how fast Haruichi could throw the ball to his position. Instead of going easy to just send one player out, he would rather go for a double play.
And Haruichi didn't disappoint him. The moment the pink-haired boy heard his instruction, he reacted quickly, throwing off the ball once again without hesitation. Kokushikan's leadoff runner who was about to arrive at the home plate didn't realize the ball was already catching him from behind. And a second later, it was already on Chris's hand before he could touch the plate.
"TWO OUTS!"
When they all heard the umpire announce the verdict, time seemed to freeze for a second. All the eyes were on Chris, still marveling at Chris's quick thinking of the way to get out of the unfavorable position and create a double-play out of nothing. Even though the latest batter was able to get to the first base safely, the lost opportunity to score after being able to reach the third baseman was a huge blow for the opponent.
And after quite a while, the silence was broken by the roar of laughter from the mound where Sawamura stood.
"SHISOU! YOU ARE THE BEST PLAYER I HAVE EVER PLAYED WITH! HAHAHAHA!"
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Author note :
Hey! I have written a few next chapters of this new story and posted it already on my patreon account. If you want to read it in advance, you can visit patreon(.)com/ZetaFaes .
You can read this story up to chapter 26, and I will try to update it faster.
You can also read my other fanfiction, Kuroko no Basket: The Sixth man of Seirin Basketball Team up to chapter 164 on that page.
Thank you for your support! I appreciate it! :)
-Zeta Faes-
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