13 Chapter 13 : Monster Debut
After Hiroto's homerun, Masuko and Miyuki managed to follow up and widened the score to 5-0 for Seido's lead. Unfortunately, the next batter, Shirasu Kenjiro and Tanba couldn't reach the base safely, resulting in a changed side as it would be their turn to defend next.
The air was tense in Seido's dugout. This would be the first time Tanba came into the mound after he was promoted to the first team again. All the players knew this game was important to regain Tanba's confidence, so no one dared to underestimate the opponent.
"Don't worry, Tanba." Tetsu patted the pitcher's back. "Just go all out and show them who is the boss here."
"Yeah!" Isashiki roared. "Don't think too much! If you lose one run, we will get two more runs in the next inning!"
"Oh? Does the player who couldn't even reach the base deserve to say that?"
"Shut up, Ryousuke!"
They kept bickering for a while, easing the tense atmosphere among them. Tanba took a deep breath, grateful for the help. Even though he didn't want to admit it, he was nervous and afraid of messing up. Even though he looked like a tough person, Tanba was a very sensitive guy. He would always listen to what the others said to him and when the content was bad, he would also fall into a depression state. This was something that everyone tried to change.
"Come on, Tanba! Just kill them!"
The pitcher nodded silently, walking to the mound calmly. He took a deep breath, ready to throw the ball. He went at full throttle and with Miyuki's guidance, he utilized a mix of his curveball and fastball efficiently.
"Ball! Strike! Foul! Foul! Ball! Strike! Strike! Batter out!"
"Strike! Strike! Foul! Ball! Strike! Batter out!"
"Ball! Strike! Foul! Foul! Foul! Ball! Ball! Ball! Ball four!"
"Strike! Ball! Ball! Strike! Foul! Foul! Strike! Batter out!"
Even though it was a bit messy, Tanba still did the job well, However, the number of pitches he had to throw in just one inning was concerning. Facing four batters, Tanba had already thrown 27 balls, only 3 less than YKI's pitcher who had already thrown for a full circle. If this kept happening, he would crumble in exhaustion sooner or later.
"Oi, Miyuki-kun, are you guiding Tanba-senpai seriously?" Hiroto whispered at the catcher in the dugouts. "It was not like you to let the opponent put pressure on our pitcher that easy."
"I tried my best, you know?" The catcher shrugged helplessly. "But it is so hard to guide Tanba-senpai. Do you know how many times he shook his head at my instruction? Every time I asked for an outside pitch, he would always refuse it. Fortunately, his curveball was in the best condition, so I could still trick the batter by mixing it with his fastball."
Hiroto nodded, could imagine how hard it was in Miyuki's position. Tanba had made it clear since the first day Miyuki joined the team that he didn't like the genius catcher. In Tanba's opinion, Miyuki was only able to grab the main catcher's position due to Chris's injury. And Miyuki himself didn't refute this claim. That made silent animosity grow between those two.
From then on, every time they formed a battery, Tanba would make it a life's mission to make everything harder for Miyuki. The pitcher would only listen to the catcher when he was cornered on the edge and required some help. Other than that, he would never cooperate with Miyuki willingly.
Fortunately, Miyuki didn't take this seriously. He knew that if anything went wrong, it would be Tanba who was under the pressure, not him. For example, the disastrous performance before Tanba went down to the second team was because the pitcher didn't want to listen to Miyuki. Even Kataoka-sensei knew that. So, he didn't have to worry about the pitcher not listening to his instruction, because it wasn't him who would suffer at the end of the day.
"Come on! It's time for our offense!"
As the cycle was completed in just one inning before, this was Kuramochi's time to be on the batter's box again. Unfortunately, unlike before YKI changed their pitcher into the one with better emotion control and had more experience so that he wasn't easily pressured by the batter.
"Foul! Foul!" *Clank!* "Out!"
*Clank!* "Out!"
"Strike! Strike!" *Clank!* "Out! Change side!"
Their offense ended without anyone able to get into the base safely.
For the next few innings, the game suddenly turned stagnant. Tanba was able to hold his own ground on the mound and not let the opponent get a single run. However, YKI also gave a tough fight by swinging at every chance, forcing Tanba to throw more pitches than necessary.
As for their offense, YKI's new pitcher did a good job. He let Tetsu and Hiroto go to the base easily before starting to pressure the other batters. Masuko got struck out without any problem, and even though Miyuki managed to hit the ball properly, the opponent's shortstop covered up the area behind the second baseman pretty well and did not let the ball slip into the outfield, killing the catcher's chance to get into the base.
This happened for a while until in the sixth inning, YKI's cleanup hitter managed to send Tanba's curveball far outside of the field.
*CLANK!*
"Oh!"
"That's a good hit!"
"Nice one! Keep it up, YKI!"
"Don't mind, Tanba! We are still on the lead!"
As everyone started to cheer for his opponent, Tanba also started to feel the pressure on the mound. Even though he had backup from his teammates, everything went blank inside his mind.
There was a saying that in baseball, as soon as the first run is scored, the game could go in any direction depending on how fast the pitcher was able to recover. Unfortunately for Seido, Tanba wasn't able to recover quickly as his pitching became more unstable as Seido's turn to defense continued and it culminated in four more runs scored off him. The game went downhill as the comfortable five-point lead they gained in the first inning vanished in a blink.
'This is really unfortunate for us.' Hiroto sighed as he watched the ball go high passing the right field and disappeared from his eyesight, another homerun for YKI. 'Even though technically, Tanba-senpai was a good pitcher, he was too unstable to stay on the mound. Once he lost a run, the game would go downhill instantly. This was not the quality of the ace Seido should have.'
And it seemed Kataoka-sensei also thought the same. Instead of trusting the unstable Tanba who started to crumble, he called his secret weapon to prepare on the bullpen. And a moment later, Furuya stepped up from the dugouts to come for his debut.
'Well, here comes the monster…'
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Furuya was excited. This was the first professional game he had played, ever. In middle school, he wasn't allowed to play since no catcher was able to handle his pitch. This time though, he had Miyuki as his partner. There wasn't a reason to not go all out.
He took a glance at the scoreboard before starting to walk on the mound.
Seido 5 0 0 0 0 0
YKI 0 0 0 0 5
The score was overturned due to the last homerun, and there were still two players that he needed to face. Furuya took a deep breath, trying to maintain his poker face.
"Don't be too nervous." Miyuki patted his chest. "Everyone thought we gave up the game because you are a no-name player. This should be a good chance to shut them up."
"I know." Furuya nodded.
"Well, good. Don't think too much and do your best."
Indeed, as Miyuki said, chatters could be heard from the outside, thinking that Seido had already given up the game.
"They are underestimating YKI!"
"To actually send a rookie to the mound, this is a clear insult from Seido!"
"Haha! Seido just gets worse every year!"
However, after that, all the negative critiques about Seido suddenly vanished as they witnessed the birth of a monster. In the hearts of the gathered contenders of Kanto, the image of Furuya on the mound was indelibly engraved inside their heads.
*BAAAAM!*
"STRIKE!"
*BAAAAM!*
"STRIKE!"
*BAAAAM!*
"STRIKE! BATTER OUT!"
"OOH! His pitch is so fast!"
"What do you think is the velocity?!"
"It should touch 155, right?"
"!55? Are you kidding? It should be around 160!"
"Hahaha! This guy is a monster!"
The momentum started to shift to Seido's direction as it was YKI's turn to get pressured by Furuya's arrival. The first-year pitcher did his best on the mound, sending the next batter out quickly.
"STRIKE! STRIKE! STRIKE! BATTER OUT! CHANGE SIDE!"
"YEAH!"
"Good job, Furuya!"
"Keep it up!"
"What middle school did you come from?!"
"Come on, Seido! You still have a chance to win this game!"
All the eyes and cheers suddenly focused on Furuya. This was the charm of a genius pitcher. No matter whether the team was in the lead or still chasing down the score, as long as he stood on the mound, no one cared about the result. A bit unfair for the players in other positions who also played well, but this was baseball. Pitcher would gain the limelight most of the time. That's why everyone wanted to be on the mound.
As the game continued, Seido's lineup hitters started to fire up again. One by one went to the base safely, keeping the pressure on YKI's pitcher. Unfortunately, the opponent wasn't a weak team. Even though they kept letting Tetsu and Hiroto go straight to the base, they also defended the other players properly, not giving Seido any chance to tie the score.
In the defensive end though, Furuya kept going crazy. His pitch was untouchable, giving an invincible sense to YKI hitters' hearts.
"STRIKE! STRIKE! STRIKE! BATTER OUT!"
"STRIKE! STRIKE! STRIKE! BATTER OUT!"
"STRIKE! STRIKE! STRIKE! BATTER OUT! CHANGE SIDE!"
"Oh! That's his fourth strike-out in a row! That kid is on fire!"
"Seido is not fooling around here! They got a monster rookie!"
Furuya himself still had his calm shown to the outside. He had never cared about the other's opinion. Inwardly though, he was glad that nobody could touch his pitch. After getting destroyed by Hiroto so many times in the training session, he started to doubt himself. This game just reaffirmed that it wasn't him who was weak, but Hiroto who was too strong for the current him.
'But I cannot be content.' Furuya shook his head. 'Hiroto-senpai said he could name at least five players who could hit my pitch. Who can guarantee that it was just five? I need to be better so that no one could touch it.'
Seeing how Miyuki's pitches started to get into the opponents' heads, Miyuki also started to get bold. He spread his arms wide, signaling Furuya to pitch whatever ball he liked. And Furuya accepted the challenge, kept throwing his rocket ball without anyone could touch it.
To be honest, if there were players with good observation skills in the YKI team, there would be a chance for them to cut off Seido's momentum. Even though Furuya's pitch was fast, its movement was still too erratic. There were a lot that should have been a ball if they didn't swing the ball. And it had a tendency to go upward at the last moment. That's why Hiroto was able to hit his pitch in the training session.
Fortunately, YKI didn't have that kind of hitter. Six players Furuya had already faced, they weren't even close to his pitches even for once. However, there was also bad news for Seido. They couldn't take advantage of this momentum to get a run or two, and it lasted until the end of the game, resulting in a loss for Seido this time.
Hiroto looked at Kuramochi who was frustrated as he was the last person in the batter box before Seido lost. Besides Furuya, no one had a good performance today. Even he who scored a homerun and three RBIs felt that it was a bad performance. Several players grieved on the dugouts while reflecting on their weaknesses.
YKI dared to let Hiroto and Tetsu, Seido's two best hitters to get to the base because they believed they could handle the rest of Seido's players easily. And they proved they could do it. Even Miyuki and Ryousuke who were famous because of their high batting average, except in the first inning, they weren't able to get into the base even once.
They all felt if only they could do better on the batter box, the end would be different.
However, no matter how much they regretted this game, they couldn't change the final result. They could only vow to themselves that they would train harder to not let something like this happen again.
Seido 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
YKI 0 0 0 0 0 6 0 0 X
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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 21, 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 159 on that page.
Thank you for your support! I appreciate it! :)
-Zeta Faes-
