章 17: Enter Furuya!
Currently, Rei was witnessing the moment where Furuya meets Sawamura.
"Things are certainly different when seen in real life", thought Rei because he was feeling excited.
Rei surely witnessed a lot of iconic scenes already.
Meanwhile in the spring tournament.
Ichidaisan High Vs. Seido High.
Tanba was feeling nervous while warming up his arm to pitch. Thankfully, he had his teammates to cheer him up and support him from the back.
He was having problems with pitching since he kept pitching balls.
Miyuki showed off his strong shoulder by throwing the ball to base quickly in time. He was trying to show Tanba that he got his back.
The Ichidaisan High coach was jealous of seeing 'The Genius Miyuki boy' on Seido's team and not his.
"Why didn't you come to me, Miyuki boy?", thought the Ichidaisan high coach.
"You got yourself in a jam with a walk, and then you gave up a hit with that weak pitch. Tanba, what have you been doing these past 2 years?", questioned Kataoka as Tanba came back to the dugout.
This question left Tanba in a trance. Looking at Tanba's expression you could tell that he was disappointed in himself too.
"Kawakami, you're pitching, starting next inning", ordered Kataoka.
"Y-Yes", said Kawakami hesitantly.
"Go all out while their pitcher's feeling weak. Let's end the game this inning", said Kataoka.
"YES", said the team simultaneously except Tanba as he was still in a trance.
"They need a real ace", said Mine Fujio after analyzing today's game.
Mine Fujio is a journalist for the monthly baseball kingdom.
At Rei's side.
Furuya and Sawamura started preparing to play catch-ball.
Rei was watching this show in amusement. He was disappointed that he didn't have popcorn though.
Seeing the fun Furuya and Sawamura were having while playing Catch-ball, Rei decided to head there to join them.
Meanwhile in the spring tournament.
Ichidaisan High – 9 and Seido High- 13, the final scores of the match.
Mine Fujio and his fellow journalist discussed how Seido barely won and how luck was on their side.
Both teams lined up.
"Thank you for a great game", said the players while bowing to each other in respect.
Kataoka, Takashima, and Oota were discussing the game while walking with each other.
"Our ace, Tanba, is just coming back from an injury, so he should be fine once he gets his feelings back", said Takashima.
"But if he continues to play like he did today….", said Director Oota worryingly.
"I understand your worries, Director Oota. However, we only have 3 months before the summer tournament. Coach, I believe this calls for an immediate bullpen restricting taking the 1st years into consideration as well", said Takashima.
At Rei's side.
Rei grabbed both Furuya and Sawamura's attention when he approached them.
"Ohh… it's you!!", said Sawamura in surprise as he didn't expect that someone was in the field right now.
Almost all the players left to go watch the tournament on the bus.
Furuya had a questioning look on his face as he didn't know who Rei was.
"Can I join you guys?", asked Rei.
"Sure", said Furuya as he couldn't care less.
"Yeah, we'll love it if there is another person we can play with", said Sawamura excitedly.
Rei nodded and grabbed a glove from the storage room close by.
It had been a few minutes since they had been playing catch-ball and Rei finally got to know the pain the catcher feels while catching Sawamura's pitching.
Honestly, Rei was even surprised Miyuki and Ono were able to catch those pitches.
"Sawamura, you pitch weirdly", said Rei.
"That's what Furuya said too. I thought he was just lying but it looks like I do pitch weird", said Sawamura in a disappointed tone.
"Don't worry about this. I think you'll be a great pitcher one day in the future", said Rei which brought a smile to Sawamura's face.
"I see…I see", said Sawamura blushing.
"Who are you, and what string team are you on?", asked Furuya curiously.
Before Rei introduced himself, Sawamura said, "He's Reiii and did you know he was offered a position on the 1st string but because of some disagreements he wasn't able to go there".
Hearing this Furuya nodded with a stoic expression, even though inwardly he was shocked.
He had heard of Rei before because the team player's kept gossiping about this incident.
When Furuya heard this news, his competitive side was brought out, and wanted to know if Rei was better than him.
"How about we all pitch using our top speeds?", asked Furuya. He was curious about what kind of pitches Rei throws.
"Why, though", asked Rei.
"No reason, it just seems more fun than playing catch-ball", said Furuya. For some reason, his instincts were telling him not to compete with Rei.
Sawamura and Rei nodded agreeing to Furuya's suggestion.
As soon as they agreed a ball came towards Sawamura at a fast speed, he didn't even have the time to react and he somehow managed to catch the ball.
Sawamura was in shock after catching Furuya's pitch because he could hear his heartbeats.
"Not bad", said Rei.
Sawamura glared at Rei after hearing his comment.
"My turn, so get ready", said Rei.
"Hahaha… I'm ready", said Sawamura getting out of his daze.
Rei took his pitching form, swung back his arm with force, and released the ball aiming towards the glove.
It went 140 KM towards the glove.
Sawamura's eyes widened and he stepped away from the ball not taking the risk to catch it.
"What…what was that", said Sawamura amazed.
"My fastball", said Rei with twinkles in his eyes.
"Monster…", thought both Furuya and Sawamura looking at Rei.
Now they knew why the coach was so adamant about Rei joining the 1st string.
"I have never been on a baseball team before and always practiced home alone. I came here seeking the environment and the resources to be the best pitcher", said Rei grabbing the ball from the ground.
Sawamura and Furuya realized after seeing Rei that if they wanted to become an ace on this team, they had to surpass this monster.
(Author's note: Furuya's pitch speed in the starting was around 12-130 and right now Rei's speed is around 140)
At night in the dorms.
"Hey, did you hear that Tanba's no longer the ace?"
"Seriously?"
"Even though we won?"
"We only won because Kawakami replaced him".
"We only have 3 months until summer. If Tanba's not the ace, then who's going to be our pitcher?".
Discussed a group of concerned players on the team.
Morning Practice, In the bullpen.
*Thud**thud* echoed the sound of the ball hitting the mitt at a high speed.
"What was that sound? Is he seriously a 1st year?", said a random player looking at Rei in the bullpen.
Kataoka, Takashima, and Director Oota were keeping their eyes on various players.
Kataoka and Takashima nodded looking at Rei pitch with pride in their eyes.
*Thud**thud* echoed the sound of another ball hitting the mitt at a high speed.
The crisp sound got the attention of Takashima and Kataoka.
"Furuya Satoru from Hokkaido Tomakomai junior high school. He went as far as to test into our school to play here", said Takashima introducing Furuya.
Kataoka nodded and analyzed Furuya with interest in his eyes. He still thought that Rei was ahead of him in many other terms.
Sawamura peeked in the bullpen and found Rei and Furuya pitching.
"Damn it! They're already throwing in the bullpen! I can't just stand here!", said Sawamura.
He took 3 tires and ran with them.
"Can't wait for the intrasquad game", said Kataoka.
Takashima and Oota nodded agreeing with him.
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