Chapter 19 : Standing Up for Chris!
"Who is that?"
"Fool! He was once the best pitcher in Japan when he was in middle school!"
"Really?! Then, why is he not famous now?"
"I heard he had a horrible injury."
"Yeah, I heard so too."
"But since he shows up today, does that mean he is healthy enough to come back?"
Chatters and whispers exploded as the next batter, Zaizen, came to the box. It was not just the ordinary spectators who were attracted by him. Even Seidou's main players talked about his sudden appearance too.
"Zaizen…" Furuya who just arrived with Tetsu murmured lowly as if trying to remember something. "Kyouka Suigetsu?"
Everyone who heard what he said snapped their heads in disbelief while several of them snickered loudly.
"Have you seriously mistaken him with Bleach's main villain?" Hiroto asked ridiculously. Well, at least Furuya had the decency to blush and feel embarrassed about his comparison.
"Don't be too harsh on him, Hiroto." Ryousuke suddenly chimed in. "It is not like the first time he was mistaken for Aizen. Right, Jun?" The pink-haired senpai threw his friend under the bus cruelly. Isashiki who didn't expect his name to come choked for a second, a rent-tint shade could be seen on his face.
"Why do you say that, Ryousuke?!" He whined. "Did you forget how much popsicle I have to buy just to bribe you?! Why do you betray me like that?!"
"Oh? Is there any bribe in the past? I forgot about that." Ryousuke answered casually, ignoring the whining Isashiki in the background. Their antic invited good laughter from the others, especially the prankster duo from the second year.
"You mistook him as Aizen?! Gyahahaha~! You are so childish, Senpai!"
"It is not childish, Kuramochi! It is called having a big imagination!"
"You are right, Miyuki! What's next? Would he mistake Narumiya for the Mizukage?"
"GYAHAHAHAHA~!"
"Shut up, you two!" Isashiki's face turned red as he glared at his two Kouhai who ridiculed him. Miyuki and Kuramochi ignored the glare, just laughing their ass off while holding their stomach tightly as they started to get hurt. Several players snickered at Isashiki too, having heard the story for the first time.
After a while, Tetsu finally took pity on his friend and decided to calm down the others. Isashiki glared at the two pranksters and Ryousuke for the last time before huffing, putting both his arms in front of his chest.
"So, who is this Zaizen?" Furuya, the one who instigated the topic before and vanished before he was laughed at by the other suddenly popped up again. Fortunately, all the mockery was aimed at Isashiki, so he didn't suffer anything from his Senpai.
After pondering for a moment, Hiroto replied to the question. "Well, his name is Zaizen Naoyuki. He was once the most talented pitcher in Japan. After forming a battery with Chris-senpai, they took Japanese baseball by storm and won the national tournament for two consecutive years before they graduated."
"Really?! He partnered with Chris-senpai? Is he that amazing?!" Kuramochi widened his eyes in surprise after hearing the information
"Yeah." It was Miyuki who answered the question. Unlike Kuramochi or Hiroto who didn't have a good baseball career in middle school, as a famous talented catcher, Miyuki knew first-hand the horror of those two. In fact, he fought against them several times, which he never won even for once.
"Zaizen-san is a monster two-way player. On the mound, the combination between his fastball and slider was nasty. Even though the speed was a bit lower than Furuya's pitch, he had far better control, allowing the catcher to be creative in facing the opponent. And when he was on the box, his presence could make any pitcher tremble in fear. He was one of the best heavy hitters in middle school a few years ago. Overall, he was the upgraded version of our Furuya."
Furuya huffed, not happy to be compared like that.
"Indeed, you are right," Isashiki added. "You remember our first game after entering the second team, right? Tetsu? Ryousuke?"
"Of course, I remember that humiliation." Ryousuke snorted. "3 chances for each of us, yet we couldn't even touch his pitch. And he also got a double and a homer too."
"Yeah." Tetsu smiled wryly at the memories. "He was such a monster back then."
Receiving such a glowing testimony from probably the three of the strongest batters on the team, all the eyes turned to Zaizen on the box, looking at him in awe. They were curious about how capable the players who once won the national tournament and even beat their invincible senpai in the past. Only Furuya thought about something important.
'If he is such a good player, why is he not famous right now?'
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While the first team members discussed Zaizen pretty lively, the contrast atmosphere surrounded Chris and Sawamura as the battery was prepared for the next play. Chris was still too stunned after seeing Zaizen for the first time after a while to say anything. It was the latter one who initiated the conversation.
"I heard you went to the hospital a few days ago, huh?" Zaizen asked. "So, how is it? Did you recover from your injury?" Even though it was a concerned question, the mockery tone hidden behind his words made Chris realize something.
'So, it was me who was targeted since the beginning, huh?' He smiled bitterly. 'I know this would come sooner or later. I haven't recovered to the fullest yet. Why am I still being so stubborn? This is so pathetic.'
"Shisou!" Sawamura's shout from the mound snapped Chris from his misery. It seemed the pitcher noticed his wrong state and tried to cheer him up. Sawamura just grinned foolishly while pointing his fingers up to the sky. "Let's focus on the batter first!"
The one sentence that probably came spontaneously from Sawamura stunned everyone who heard that, silencing the entire field. All the eyes fell on him, not believing it would be the rookie who would stand up first in such a critical situation. However, Sawamura wasn't over with his speech. He turned around at his teammates and started shouting just like what he did in the intra-game before.
"Come on, everyone! I am going to pitch to contact! So, be ready for the ball!"
After silence fell for a couple of seconds, it was broken by the angry roar from the other Sidou's players.
"What the hell, Sawamura?! What are you trying to do there?!"
"Don't mess it up!"
"Just let it fly here, bastard! Don't underestimate your senpai!"
"Hahahaha! I will let the ball fly! Senpai, be prepared!"
"YOSSHAA!"
Sawamura grinned as he managed to change the mood back from a gloomy one into excitement. It was almost like all the players forgot about the presence of two runners on the first and the third base. In fact, if he looked closely, he would see it was them who were nervous, not sure if they could continue the last strategy or not.
"Hahahaha!" unexpectedly, a burst of laughter came from Zaizen. "You are really interesting, Brat! Come here! I will blast it away far outside of the field!" Then, he murmured lowly so only Chris could hear him, "You have an interesting kouhai, Chris."
Chris was taken aback by the sudden compliment. Then, a small genuine smile curled on his face as he nodded slightly. "Yeah, he reminds me of you in the past."
"Tch." Zaizen clicked his tongue, turning around and preparing himself for the next play.
"Be careful, Zaizen." Chris suddenly reminded his former teammate with a playful tone. "His pitch is not that easy to hit."
Zaizen ignored his words, entered full concentration mode already. He slides the grip to the bottom of the bat, indicating he is going for a long hit. Chris who noticed that signaled Sawamura to go for a low inside pitch, trying to force Zaizen out quickly.
However, the moment Sawamura threw the ball, the runner on the third base started running while Zaizen immediately changed his stance into another bunt.
"A squeeze play!"
"Shit! Infielders! Come forward!"
"Gyahahaha!" Zaizen laughed menacingly. "Do you think I am a hot-headed person who would abandon a successful strategy for the sake of pride? You are so naïve, Chris!"
Sawamura who saw the movement from his peripheral vision still ignored it, throwing the ball with all his strength. However, in the last second before it could be released from his hand, the ball seemed to slip from his finger, resulting in the course to drop wildly.
'SHIT!' Zaizen cursed inwardly. If he couldn't hit the ball, Chris would be able to send out the runner on the third base easily, forcing a change side and snatching the momentum from Kokushikan. Knowing that, he knew he had to hit the ball no matter what.
However, his effort was futile as the ball bounced off the ground. It was far within his reach, and he couldn't do anything except let it go. But it was still a fifty-fifty ball. If Chris couldn't catch the wild ball, the runner would be able to come back home safely.
All the spectators held their breath tightly, waiting in suspense for what happened next. And when the dust finally settled, they could see Chris was far from his position and in an awkward posture, yet still got the ball on his mitt.
"SHIT! GO BACK!"
Hearing Zaizen's roar, the runner who was already between the third base and the home plate stopped running and turning around, trying to get back to the third base safely. He knew that since Chris caught the ball, coming back to the home plate was just like a suicide. But as long as he could go back to the third base safely, they would still have a chance to score.
Unfortunately, Chris didn't give him a chance. Right after he got the ball, the catcher rose from his position and ran quickly to touch the runner. He even still had his protective gear on his body. Yet that didn't make him slower. Instead, he charged like lightning, chasing down the runner and touching him before he could run away back to the third base.
"OUT! THREE OUTS! CHANGE SIDES!"
Silence befell on the field for once before the cheers exploded as almost everyone gave standing ovations to Chris.
"The squeeze play has failed!"
"Damn! Did he bounce the ball on purpose?!"
"There is no way, right?!"
"Goddamnit! That was amazing!"
"Yeah! The catcher could catch that difficult wild ball with ease! The brat is lucky to have him as a partner!"
"What do you mean lucky?! Don't you forget how he made two consecutive errors before? If not for the pitcher, the catcher would be done right now!"
The wave of excitement wasn't only filled the regular spectator. Even Seidou's main players all stood up and roared excitedly at how the last play went.
"Hahaha!" Miyuki laughed heartily. "He did it again! He really has the gut!"
Even though it looked like an accident, he knew Sawamura threw the ball to the ground on purpose. He did it at the last moment after seeing the bunt stance from Zaizen. However, that was easier said than done.
Changing the grip in the last second while still throwing a good ball wasn't something easy to do. If not for his steady base and quirky flexibility, there is no way Sawamura could do that. However, the most important thing to made the last play successful was the trust he put in his catcher to be able to catch that ball. If only he hesitated for a second, the result would be different now.
"I am sorry, Shisou!" Sawamura apologized quickly while walking out of the mound. "I only reacted on the spur moment before!"
Chris stared at his kouhai intently before sighing exasperatedly. "Seriously, must you do that every time? Try to think about the guy who had to catch that.."
Sawamura had a sweat drop on his face and could only chuckle sheepishly at the complaint. However, he freezes on the spot when Chris's gaze softens as the catcher pats his chest with the mitt.
"That was a good read, though. Good job."
A wide grin spread from ear to ear after Sawamura received the praise. This was the first time he received such a good compliment from his senpai. However, what made him happy wasn't that, but the acknowledgment from Chris that could be heard from the catcher's tone.
His status rose from Chris's apprentice who needed to be guided in every step to a reliable partner that fought together, and Sawamura couldn't be happier than that.
Kokushikan 1 1 3 0 0 0
Seido 1 0 2 0 0
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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 28, 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 166 on that page.
Thank you for your support! I appreciate it! :)
-Zeta Faes-