章 41: First Round(1)

Coach Yamada arrived and quickly ordered the entire team onto the bus. After almost half an hour, the Shoto Junior High baseball team arrived at the stadium where the first round of the Tokyo prefecture tournament would take place.

The team began warming up while waiting for the game to start. After some basic exercises, Shun started swinging in the air, even on game day, he couldn't skip his daily training.

"Hey guys, let's go!" - After some time warming up, the team heard the voice of Captain Kazuki.

Everyone headed towards the stadium's interior and reached the dugout. Shun looked across the field and saw that the opposing team had already arrived at their dugout.

"As you know, today we'll be facing the Tsubaki Junior High team. We don't have much information about them, but that doesn't matter! Play your best!" - Coach Yamada gave his pre-game speech to motivate the team.

"Yes, Coach!" - The entire team responded in unison, clearly even more excited by the coach's speech.

Captain Kazuki went to the umpire to toss the coin and decide sides. Across the field, a tall boy emerged from the dugout, heading in the same direction as Kazuki. Shun looked at the opposing captain and asked the system to display his stats.

[Shunichi Arai

Overall: C+

PITCHING: B-

BATTING: C+

FIELDING: C

RUNNING: C+

GAME IQ: B-

Overall Potential: A-]

"Hehe, looks like today's game will be easy." - Shun smiled confidently as he looked at the opposing captain. From the number 1 on the tall boy's back, he knew that he was also the team's Ace.

"We're batting first." - Kazuki returned to the dugout after winning the coin toss.

"Shun, get ready!" - Coach Yamada nodded to the captain and shouted for Shun to prepare.

"Hahaha, I'm already ready, Coach!" - Shun laughed excitedly. The boy had already started putting on his gear as soon as he heard his captain speaking. He then stepped out of the dugout, adjusting his helmet with one hand and holding his bat with the other.

"Bro!" - As soon as Shun exited the dugout, he heard a familiar voice shouting. He looked in the direction of the voice and saw his mother and little Yumi in the stands. The little girl became even more excited when she saw her brother looking at her and started jumping and shouting even more.

Shun smiled and waved at the little girl, continuing his way to the batter's box.

"I'm going to put on a show for you to watch, Yumi!" - Shun thought as he prepared to bat.

"A lefty, huh?" - The catcher thought as he gave the signal and positioned his glove. The first pitch came.

WOOSH

DING

"Foul!"

The second pitch came.

WOOSH

DING

"Foul!"

The third pitch came.

WOOSH

DING

"Foul!"

On the twelfth pitch of the duel...

PAH

"Ball! Ball Four!"

Shun smiled as he calmly walked to first base.

"Damn! What an annoying guy!" - The pitcher and catcher thought the same thing as they watched the tall boy with blue eyes walk to first base. They looked at the second batter, who was walking towards the batter's box.

"Another lefty? Let's take this guy out, Shunichi!" - The catcher thought as he gave the signal and positioned his glove. The moment the pitcher began his throw, Shun took off running to second base.

"Steal!" - The second baseman shouted, alerting the battery.

"Hehe, take this Home Run!" - Ren clearly saw the pitch, thinking as he swung with the intent of sending the ball out of the stadium.

WOOSH

DONG

To the young samurai's disappointment, the ball hit the wall before bouncing back into the field. Ren started running seriously when he realized it wasn't a home run, but he couldn't help cursing, just a little more, and he would have been a hero.

The right fielder quickly went after the ball, ready to throw it to second base when he heard a shout.

"Throw it to Home!" - The second baseman shouted when he saw that Shun hadn't stopped at third and continued running.

The right fielder quickly threw the ball back to home plate.

PAH

"You're too arrogant! I'm taking you out here!" - The catcher caught the ball in his glove. He looked to the side to see the runner and tag him out, but he was surprised by what he saw.

Shun dove with both hands towards home plate. The catcher was surprised by the boy's speed but quickly moved his glove to make contact with Shun's back.

"Safe!"

Shun's hands touched home plate just before the catcher's glove touched his back.

"Yeeeaaaahhhh!!" - The boy stood up and celebrated excitedly, raising his fist towards his mother and sister before starting to walk back to the dugout.

"Yeeaahhh! Great run, Bro! Mom, did you see that? Bro is amazing!" - Little Yumi was jumping with joy. She was very young and knew nothing about baseball, but since she saw her brother celebrating, she started celebrating too.

Aiko was also very excited about Shun's run, but unlike her daughter, she was the wife of a professional baseball player and understood a bit about the game, enough to know that run was incredible.

Shun was happy when he saw his mother and little sister celebrating.

"Hehe, nice run!" - Kenta was heading to the batter's box and complimented Shun as he passed by, raising his right hand in the air.

"Hm, hit a big one!" - Shun smiled in response, raising his left hand in the air and high-fiving his friend.

* Clap *

Kenta positioned himself in the batter's box, waiting for the pitch.

"Damn! That guy is fast! We can't let them get too big of a lead. Their third batter is a lefty too, huh? Let's take him out here, Shunichi!" - The catcher was a bit irritated by Shun's run but quickly composed himself and prepared to take out the batter.

Unfortunately for him, Kenta had no intention of being taken out. The first pitch came.

WOOSH

DOOONG

The ball was hit hard towards center field. The fielder ran a bit before giving up. Home Run!

"Hahaha, nice homer!" - Ren waited for his friend at home plate with a smile on his face, raising his hand in the air.

"Hehe." - Kenta smiled sheepishly as he high-fived his friend.

* Clap *

"Kentaaaaa!! Nice Home Run! You're the best!" - This time, it was Mio Shimizu who was shouting and jumping excitedly in the stands.

Kenta blushed a little with embarrassment but raised his fist towards the girl. However, he quickly felt a shiver down his spine. He turned around only to see his samurai friend Ren looking at him with a murderous glare. His smile had been replaced by a terrifying expression.

Kenta laughed awkwardly as he ran towards the dugout, but he continued to feel a strong killing intent behind him.

"That bastard!" - Ren grumbled as he returned to the dugout, with envy in his heart.