End Of The Match; Defeat

Hey, Shun here!

Everyone likes to win, or atleast, we all take pleasure in winning. I don't believe people who says that they're fine with losing.

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(Shun's POV)

"Play ball!" Our teacher who's currently acting as the umpire shouted.

The moment I heard that shout, I went into my throwing position and threw the ball. No technique is needed. If they can't get the timing right, they can't hit it.

*swoosh*

*pak*

"Striiiiike!"

Since I'm aiming for different locations on the strike zone everytime, the batters were having a hard time figuring out where to swing and when to swing. Another two scenarios like that continued.

*swoosh*

*thud*

"Striiiiike!"

*swoosh*

*thud*

"Strike three! Batter out! Three outs! Switch!" Teacher umpire shouted after seeing the third batter of the baseball club team go out, unable to hit my fast balls.

The third batter of the enemy was looking at me with a horrified expression, to which I only responded with a smile. We're not done yet. There's still like, two more innings left.

『H-How extremely terrifying. Pitcher Shirakami's pitches are so fast that the baseball club's batters—』

"The baseball club's batters were getting cross-eyed just trying to hit it! Where is the energy that they have earlier!?" I shouted while looking at the coaching stands, where that manipulative bastard of a principal is sitting.

You think you can win? Even cheating can't save you this time, mister.

The peanut gallery of students outside were getting riled up as they shouted some rather shallow profanities at me but I didn't really pay them any heed. Even a random PUG player could curse better than these guys.

"Great job out there, Shirakami! That was some freaking fast pitches!" Sugino-san said while we got back to our own corner.

"I bet they will be surprised if he pitched at 300 mph!" Maehara-san added while tapping me on the shoulder.

"Yeah well, that would cause all sorts of trouble for us though…" Isogai-san said.

"I still can't believe that it was even humanly possible to throw that fast… That's almost half the speed of sound…" Nagisa-san commented.

"I could definitely throw it that fast and even more. Koro-sensei could do that, too." I said while grinning.

It's actually been quite fun to be in this class. They have their own quirks but they're all great dudes to be around. Some of them, especially Isogai-san, reminds me so much of my friend Taku.

I've even gotten close with Okajima-san, even though his attitude during our transfer day ticked me off. He's an okay guy so long as you ignore the fact that he's as much of a pervert as Koro-sensei.

Nagisa-san acts a bit too much in a very gender neutral way, Maehara-san is a bit of a narcissist, Karma-san likes to mess with other people a bit too much, Sugino-san is a baseball fanatic, and etc. Each and everyone of them are as much of a weirdo as the members of our group.

『Batter number eight, Relief Pitcher, Sugino Tomohito…』

The moment Sugino-san stepped foot at the home base, all of the players from the Baseball Club once again gathered on the infield. The umpire didn't even give them any warning as he just nonchalantly yelled, "Play ball!" as if nothing weird is happening.

Like everyone of us who came before him, Sugino-san held the bat in a way that suggests he will bunt the ball. However, unlike earlier when their pitcher, Shindo-san, was rattled by this, he seems to be brimming with fighting spirit or something.

I wonder what kind of thing did that principal guy tell him? His eyes are even bloodshot.

During the first throw, Sugino-san tried to hit the ball with his bunting strategy but failed. That's a strike.

The next attempt, he was still in that same position. The moment Shindo-san threw the ball with all his might, Sugino-san changed his posture suddenly and, using a regular hitting technique, he smashed the ball and sent it back to the right field.

Because these players were idiotically clustered on the infield, it took some time for them to recover the ball, giving Sugino-san some time to run towards the second base.

『Batter number 8 Sugino was able to hit the ball! Oh no! He managed to get a double!』 the male announcer said in a panic.

『Batter number 9, left fielder, Karma Akabane…』

It was Karma-san's turn to bat. Before going to the home base to bat though, he provoked the students of the main campus who's watching our game outside.

"These people should've been given a warning by now by the umpire for cluttering the infield but we heard none of that. Don't you guys think that's weird, too?" Karma-san said, asking the peanut gallery.

When he didn't get an answer, Karma-san simply gave them a provoking smile before saying, "Ah, looks like you guys don't even understand a thing about defensive positioning and the like. I get it, you guys are a bunch of morons!"

The peanut gallery once again raged but who cares about them? Their only comeback is that it's an exhibition match and we shouldn't be complaining, etc, etc.

They outright sound stupid while they're saying that. Students of a well renowned Junior High School, my ass.

Anyway, they're just saying that so that they could hopefully see us lose and make fun of our class after that, I bet. It's to once again stroke their ego.

That aside, once Karma-san started batting, he didn't swing the bat at all during the first and second throw. The peanut gallery was talking crap about him for that but he remained calm.

The moment Shindo-san threw the third throw, yet another four seam, Karma-san managed to hit it squarely sending the ball just a few ways away from in between the second base and third base. Because of this, Sugino-san couldn't make a run for it. He tried but he immediately got back when he saw that the ball was getting picked up already.

The next batters was Kimura-san, Nagisa-san, and Isogai-san. Kimura-san unfortunately wasn't too confident that he'll be able to hit the ball so he still tried the bunting strategy but he went out after three strikes. Nagisa-san, on the other hand, went out due to a very unlucky Pop Out.

Because we already have two outs, the players of the Baseball Team of our school regained their confidence once again. One more and they could gain back their momentum during the second half of this second inning.

Fortunately, our class representative didn't let us down, hitting Shindo-san's fast ball solidly. Because of that, Sugino-san and Karma-san managed to occupy the third and the second base safely, with Isogai-san occupying the first base.

『W-What's this!? Another scenario when bases are loaded! And the next batter is… Who is the next batter!?』 the male announcer shouted. As if trying to answer his question, the female announcer called my name.

『Batter number four, pitcher, Shirakami Shun…』

『Oh… OH NO!』 that was a shout filled with terror, if I ever heard one.

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With a bat and baseball helmet on hand, I walked towards the home base with a smile on my face. On my way there, I of course didn't forget to provoke the peanut gallery once more.

"Ah, familiar scenario, right? What do you guys think? Getting a home run again would be ideal, huh~…"

At my obvious provocation, the peanut gallery unhesitatingly fired back.

"Yeah right! As if you could do that again!"

"Yeah! That was just luck!"

"Hmm… Hmm… We'll see, we'll see…" I said while grinning from ear to ear. I don't know why but it's just really fun to mess with this kind of audience. Even though I'm not into face slapping people, this kind of scenario just gives me a reason to enjoy doing so.

They're not infuriating, per se. They're just annoying. Heck, this school, in of itself, is very annoying. I don't agree with their methods.

"Hey! Get over here and bat already. You're delaying the game!" The umpire said.

You're complaining to me for delaying the game for a second but not when these baseball club people took their time going inside the infield to stage their defense? How biased.

Anyway, speaking of their defense, the players of the Baseball Club scattered and are now back to their original positions. Holding my bat in a textbook hitting position, I waited for Shindo-san to do his pitch.

No, not the pitch that salesmen do. The pitch that pitchers of baseball do.

My idiotic thoughts aside, Shindo-san finally threw yet another fast ball at me.

*swooosh*

*piak*

Accompanied by the crisp sound of the bat hitting the ball, the ball flew out once again.

『He managed to hit it again! Where will it go this time!? It's not gonna be another home run again, is it!?』 I heard the male announcer say.

Too bad for you, that's a home run for certain.

The fielders of the Baseball Club chased after the ball desperately while I, Sugino-san, Isogai-san, and Karma-san made our way through all of the bases before arriving at the home plate.

『H-Home run! It's another home run!』

Unable to contain their joy, all of them swarmed me and began hitting me at the back or hanging their arms around my neck. Below us, a round, baseball-like thing came out of the ground.

"A job well done, Shirakami-kun. You were once again showing off and stealing sensei's spotlight, but I will allow it this time." It was Koro-sensei who's disguising himself so as to not catch any unwanted attention.

"Hahaha. Thank you, I guess?"

After that, we crushed the baseball team. Until the end, they were unable to score a single point since, even if someone were to steal a base or two, Sugino-san's curve balls would be able to confuse some of them.

It looks like the spell that the gloomy principal subjected them into is no longer in effect as their previous fighting spirit was nowhere to be seen. By the start of the third and last inning, these guys seems like they lost their soul or something.

『U-Unbelievable… Our school's baseball team has been defeated, 8 to 0!』

The moment the third inning ended, each and everyone of us celebrated. Sugino-san was probably the happiest amongst us.

On the other hand, our opponents, the members of the Baseball Club, was dejected. Some were even in denial. However, no matter how many times they rubbed their eyes and looked at the scoreboard again and again, the score didn't change.

As for the spectators? Well, they're as dumbfounded at the results as the players themselves.

And that's how our exhibition match ended. It was double the happiness since the girls also won their own game.

I'm really glad they did. I'm even more glad to hear that they had fun while doing it, especially Rokuko, Tama, Pochi, and Mutsuko-san.

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※~To be continued~※

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Author's Remarks:

※ End of the chapter. Phew. Good thing I could finally put an end to this bit. From this point on, I'll be upping the pacing of the story so that we wouldn't have to read through like four arcs worth of chapters. What chapter is this? 179? This Assassination Classroom Arc will end at 194 or something.