Chương 94: Aftermath Of The Finals

"Seido was a step away from finally going to Koshien again, unfortunately, their dream has slipped away. However, they've certainly shown all of Tokyo what they're capable of doing!", said the announcer.

As the players on the field heard the announcer, Seido players realized that losing was real and they couldn't make it to Koshien this year. Tears poured out of their eyes as their dreams and hopes were shattered.

In Seido's Dugout. "Tell them to Line up", said Kataoka meekly with an anxious expression. Miyuki nodded getting himself together, he knew as a captain it was his responsibility to help the other team players in this situation. As Miyuki left the dugout, Kataoka stood up and walked to the field with a heavy heart alongside Ochihai Coach, who was just touching his chin in deep thought.

Raizou who had a silly grin on his face bowed towards Kataoka in respect while Miyuki bowed towards Sanada.

Both team players gathered near the umpire in the middle of the field. Both teams had different atmospheres surrounding them, and each had other thoughts running through their minds, everything they regretted, or something they could have done better. Well, it was too late now to think of such things.

"Lineup!", yelled the umpire. Both teams lined up in an orderly fashion. On Seido's Side, Kuramochi and Miyuki kept glaring at Rei while Rei was busy talking to Sanada and Raizou.

"Bow!", yelled the umpire as the siren rang ending the game. "Good game!", yelled the team players as they bowed toward each other.

Everyone in the audience clapped their hands. Seido's fans and former members were disappointed at the results of the match even though they yelled, "Nice Fight!", in support of the team. "It's disappointing that Seido wouldn't be able to go to Koshien this year", said Chris with a sigh. Ryosuke nodded, 'I expected more my little brother', he thought as he stared at Haruichi from the bleachers.

On the side of Yakushi fans was a very loud and dramatic woman. Chiaki who had tears flowing out of her eyes held a poster that said, 'Win Rei, My baby'. "For god's sake, why are you crying now?", questioned Reiji annoyed by his wife's actions. "What do you mean? I'm just happy for my child what's wrong with that?", she remarked. "Then why are you crying when he won this time", Reiji replied clicking his tongue. "These are the tears of happiness for my baby", argued Chiaki as she burst into tears again. Sighing Reiji distanced himself from her acting like he didn't know this drama queen.

Back on the Field. The 2 lines surrounding the umpire had dispersed and each player started walking back to their respective dugouts. Kuramochi walked up to Rei who was chuckling while talking to Raichi and Sanada.

"Rei…", said Kuramochi as he reached him. Rei looked up as he heard a familiar voice. He was shocked since he didn't expect the hot-tempered Kuramochi to come up to him first. Sanada and Raichi started walking back to their dugout seeing Rei was about to talk to his former teammate.

Kuramochi held his hand In front of Rei asking him for a handshake. Rei shook his hand and felt a force squeezing his hand but because of his strength, he didn't feel any pain. He applied force to Kuramochi's hand in revenge. He looked up and grinned.

Kuramochi clenched his jaw and said, "Good luck at Koshien!" as he let go of the handshake since his hand was starting to throb. Rei chuckled and as he was about to walk back to his dugout, he saw Miyuki from the corner of his eyes walking toward him.

As Miyuki arrived near Rei, unexpectedly he smiled at him. "I didn't expect you to be able to reach this level so soon. Damn, you beat us in batting and pitching. It looks like we have to improve a lot before we play against you guys again. Though don't worry soon enough we will beat Yakushi and Inashiro fair and square. Anyways, you did a good job with the team", said Miyuki chuckling as he ruffled his hair. Rei smiled in reply, "Let's play a lot of practice matches against each other". Miyuki nodded. Then Rei proceeded to tell him how he trained the team using his 'special training camp method'.

After a few minutes, Miyuki left and walked back to his dugout. Rei remained on the field looking toward Sawamura. He was just standing there pathetically lost in his thoughts. Sighing Rei walked to him.

"Hi, Sawamura", said Rei seeing the frozen Sawamura. He looked up still horrified from the last home run. Usually, he would smile when seeing Rei, but his eyes remained dull. 'This is going to be troublesome', thought Rei. He sighed and shook Sawamura breaking him out of his thoughts. "Sawamura if you want to beat us again, go practice, practice your batting and pitching until you faint. That's the only way to get stronger. I saw your new pitches, they're impressive so try to hone them fully. Then I know that you would be a formidable pitcher. Do what you can do", said Rei. Sawamura remained depressive, so Rei left him, but he failed to notice the newfound fire in his eyes.

In Seido's Dugout. Kuramochi grabbed his bag and packed his belongings in deep thought. 'Defense, Offense, Batting strategy, Situational Batting…They were ahead of us in every way. We couldn't win against their momentum'. He knew he could have scored a run if his batting was good enough to hit Rei's pitches. He was more frustrated by himself than anyone else.

While sitting on the bench, Ochihai Coach was also In deep thought as he continuously touched his chin. 'Was it a mistake by choosing Furuya instead of Rei to be the ace? You can see this choice wasn't planned out fully. Anyways, now Rei has left the team we only have Furuya left so we should coach him to the best of our abilities. Players like Rei want freedom anyways which he wouldn't get on a professional team like Seido'.

All the batter's on Seido wished only 1 thing including Haruichi. They all hoped they could have scored or at least helped someone else score through their batting, but this will only remain as a wish nothing more.

In the Audience, players from various other schools smirked ready for another challenge as they found this new upcoming team intriguing. They were waiting for the next tournament to come so they could beat Yakushi and gain a chance to go to Koshien. 2 reporters who were covering the tournament news were discussing how Yakushi will do in Nationals this year. They both looked forward to their growth.

Meanwhile outside Yakushi's Locker Room. Raizou was standing Infront of a crowd of reporters who were continuously clicking his pictures and asking him questions. "I knew we were going to win!", replied Raizou enthusiastically to one of the reporter's questions. "Your nose is red.", commented the reporter.

On the other side, Seido's Locker room. Everyone had left after changing their clothes towards the bus. While only 1 person remained. Furuya had dressed back in his casual clothes, but he stood there looking at the team shirt in his hands. He swiped his hands across the ace number. 'Do I even deserve this? Wasn't Rei suited for this? If he was still in our team we would have won and I wouldn't have to shoulder the responsibility I'm not ready for yet', he thought putting the shirt in his bag. He felt unusual emptiness as he walked out of the locker room.

As the match officially came to an end. The teams started walking out of the stadium and onto their buses.