Returning to the classroom of Class E in the first year.
The two separated again as if they didn't know each other.
Shinjoka was dragged into chatting by Chiyo and Rika...the two girls who often surrounded her.
Kato Yusuke simply returned to his seat.
Yamaguchi and Takei were staying in their seats eating bread, while Kei and Yoshiko were nowhere to be seen and seemed to have not returned from the cafeteria.
When he saw him coming back, Yamaguchi greeted him heartlessly.
"Hey, you're back, busy guy. How's it going? How do you feel about watching Shinjo-san's oppa style up close?"
"Um."
Kato Yusuke gave a calm hum and did not answer the question.
In order to facilitate chatting with them, Takei also moved a chair to sit in the aisle.
"Speaking of which, what are you planning to have for lunch? Kato."
"bread."
As he spoke, he showed what he had in his hand, which he bought at the canteen on the way back, but Yamaguchi laughed at him.
"...Hey, why did you buy that dry and hard long bread? Isn't this something that no one wants? Isn't it too miserable??"
"It doesn't matter, that's fine."
Kato Yusuke ignored it indifferently. After all, when he and Shinjoka came back, the popular bread in the canteen had been sold out. In the end, only this item was left without anyone interested, so he bought it back.
I saw him drinking oolong tea while breaking a long piece of bread and eating it without changing his expression.
Takei couldn't help but feel sad, so he took one out of his ration, put it on the table, and pushed it over.
"I also have a piece of fried noodles bread here. I originally wanted to keep it to eat after training. You might as well eat this, right? Kato."
"Oh~? That glutton Takei is actually willing to hand over his inventory. What is this! It's unbelievable. Has the sun risen from the west?"
Yamaguchi joked exaggeratedly, unable to tell whether it was to hurt him or not, which prompted Takei's rebuttal.
"No matter how you say it, this is too much for me! Ah Xiao."
"This is a trick of love, idiot."
Kato Yusuke didn't say a word to this, he just stretched out his hand to push the fried noodles bread back, said no to Takei, and then continued to eat the long bread calmly.
At this moment, Shintiao Xiang came over.
"President Kato, this juice is for you. Thank you for your previous guidance~ That's it."
As she spoke, she placed a soft box of pomegranate juice on the table and left.
A pair of white over-the-knee socks looked a bit eye-catching, but they looked very matching when worn on her legs, and they looked pure and cute because of her petite size.
"Girl-faced big breasts..."
Yamaguchi muttered and turned his head.
"Speaking of which, how did you deal with Shinjo-san's matter?"
"approved."
"Huh? Are you serious?"
"Um."
After hearing this, the Mangkhut brothers looked at each other.
"Aha... Kako will probably feel uncomfortable like this." Takei said on the side.
Yamaguchi also nodded in agreement, and then said: "Well, after all, this is an internal matter of your student union. There is no need to worry about us. You can do it if you feel like it, Kato."
"I know."
"Hey! How about you look a little more thoughtful? Especially in front of Kako."
"What's going on between you and her?"
"Hmm??Who??"
"Himekawa Yoshiko."
"Aha??"
"Ah~ Speaking of which, Kako often comes to see us train recently, Xiao?"
"so what!"
"My nose smells the sour smell of love."
"Don't talk nonsense, that guy's obsession with Teacher Nakamura is extraordinary."
Yamaguchi said as he stuffed the last bite of yakisoba bread into his mouth, then clapped his hands and looked at Yusuke again.
"...I said, do you want to talk about what happened to you a while ago?"
"..."
"..."
Because of this sentence, the scene fell into an eerie silence.
after awhile……
"It's nothing." Kato Yusuke slowly chewed the bread in his mouth, with an undercurrent in his chest and a flat lake in his face.
A brief silence.
"Is that so?" Yamaguchi nodded, and wisely did not ask any further questions, and gently dropped the topic.
"So, are you free recently?"
Kato Yusuke looked back at him and asked: "...is something wrong?"
"If anything, I'm now starting to serve as the team's first batsman in the baseball club."
He pointed to himself and said: "But before the spring meeting next March, I still want to try to see if I can be promoted to the third battalion position."
"...Third baton?"
"——He is considered a key player in the batter's position." Takei took the initiative to explain.
"Compared to the first and second batters, the third batter has a higher probability of having a teammate on base, so it is usually played by a stronger batter."
He paused for a moment when he said this, then looked at Yamaguchi again, and said with emotion: "You have only played baseball for less than a year. It's a shame that you have such a big goal, Xiao."
"You're so noisy, idiot. Anyway, as a catcher, you just have to watch my performance."
"It would be great if that were the case~~"
Kato Yusuke understood their words and asked: "What do you want me to do?"
"Oh~! Of course - be my opponent."
Yamaguchi said confidently: "Because your ball speed is very powerful, as long as you can get used to it, other people basically have nothing to worry about, so come and be my sparring partner!"
"..."
Facing his bright eyes, Kato Yusuke began to think.
He has student union work after school, and the Mangkhut brothers also have baseball club training, so this time is not available.
The only time I can find free time seems to be during lunch break, or after school when both parties have finished their respective affairs...
"Then we'll start at noon tomorrow." He agreed after thinking for a moment, but he never thought of refusing.
"good!"
Yamaguchi grinned and readily accepted the plan.
…
It’s lunch break the next day, which is Thursday.
After lunch, the three people came to the school playground together and started to warm up.
After hearing the news, Sato and his team came as well, which was the trio from the previous baseball club.
While Takei was wearing protective gear there, Kato Yusuke also briefly greeted them.
After Takei put on his helmet, put on the bulky protective gear, and took his position behind home plate.
The trio also spontaneously dispersed to the outfield, ready to help pick up the ball.
The scene was quite grand, attracting many students to watch from the windows of the teaching building.
Standing on the strike zone, Yamaguchi put on his helmet and held the bat in his hand, adjusting his condition.
There was excitement on his face, as if he was excited because of the audience, but his guard was broken in the next second.
"Come on~~~~Chairman Kato!"
From far away in the classroom of Class E of Year 1, the delicate cheering sounds of girls could be heard.
"Is it Shinjo-kun?" Takei, who was squatting behind home plate, reminded him kindly: "There's absolutely no one cheering for you, Taka."
"——You don't need to remind me of this kind of thing! I will use a handsome home run to turn the situation around! Just wait and see!"
"Ah haha, he looks murderous."
Yamaguchi didn't want to pay attention to him, but raised his hand to press the edge of the batting helmet, smoothed the ground with his spikes, and then entered the state with the bat in hand.
"Okay! Kato! The ball speed is 165 kilometers! Throw me a Koshien-level ball--!" Yamaguchi, who had taken a good posture, yelled menacingly.
Standing on the pitcher's mound, Yusuke rolled up his shirt sleeves, nodded to him, and then bent down to pick up a baseball from the iron bucket at his feet.
Take a good posture, raise your right arm backward, and throw the ball "lightly".
——Pah!
The baseball fell neatly into the glove.
"Hey~ Good shot, but still such a monster." Yamaguchi whistled and marveled.
What was the speed of the ball just now? 165? Or 170?
I don’t know, I don’t know, dynamic vision is completely unable to capture the trajectory of the baseball.
As if in the blink of an eye, the ball fell into Takei's glove.
It was so fast that he didn't have time to react.
"... Ah, Ah Xiao." Takei hissed, his palms numb, "If you insist on playing this kind of ball, I won't play with you!?"
"Hey, who knew that bastard was so serious! He has no sense of humor at all~"
Yamaguchi defended himself first, and then shouted again at the top of his lungs: "——Please try to control the speed of the ball below 145 kilometers, playball!"
"Ah, here we are, Takashi made a cold joke on Kato using his playboy."
"You're making a lot of noise, Takei."
On the pitcher's mound, the boy once again took a ball from the iron bucket at his feet and weighed it twice in his hand, as if he was looking for a feel for it.
Yamaguchi held his breath and concentrated, staring at his hands for a moment, his eyes becoming serious.
In baseball, vision is the key to hitting.
The small white ball flies at a speed of hundreds of kilometers, sometimes drawing an arc and sometimes falling.
If you want to hit the ball with a slender bat in this situation, you must have extraordinary eyesight.
To become an excellent baseball player, in addition to physical strength and physique.
Including dynamic vision, batting skills, and swing speed also play very important factors.
Coincidentally, he has pretty good qualities in these areas.
That's why he was promoted from a substitute player to a regular player in such a short period of time. Although he can only serve as the first batsman at the moment - less important responsibilities...
——Buzz.
——Buzz.
——Buzz.
"...Uh, Axiao?"
"I know, all four elements are empty, you don't need to remind me."
"oh……"
Kato Yusuke stopped, thought for a moment, and then asked: "Slower down—?"
"——No need! Just keep the current speed! I've almost found the feeling!"
"Do you need me to put in the playing belt you're used to?"
"——What! Are you so considerate! Kato, my god! Come on, come on!"
"..."
Kato Yusuke nodded, took out the ball, and threw it again.
With the blessing of the [Proficient Level - Shooting] skill, the baseball accurately entered the center of Yamaguchi's chest.
Sonorous, boom-dong.
The little white ball bounced high behind home plate.
"..." Zhu Jingba muttered and glanced behind him without saying a word.
"It hit the bottom of the ball, I know." Yamaguchi said nonchalantly.
——Bang.
The baseball flew at low altitude and hit the ground out of bounds, and was finally picked up by Sato who was standing nearby.
"It's too high again this time."
——Bang Dang.
The baseball flew back toward the pitcher's mound, and Yusuke reached out and inserted it into his glove.
"Well...that's about it."
Yamaguchi adjusted his posture and raised his right wrist slightly to hold the bat.
——Keng!
The baseball draws a sharp arc, extending toward the sky in left field.
"Oh! Home run!" Takei praised without hesitation: "Are you used to the ball speed of 140 kilometers?"
"It doesn't count. After all, Kato is deliberately throwing the ball where I feel comfortable, but he can almost capture the trajectory of the ball..."
When Yamaguchi said this, he grinned, gave a thumbs up, and said proudly: "You don't have to remember what I just said, I just hit a home run~!"
Then he shouted to the pitcher's mound: "——You can add a little change, Kato!"
Yusuke on the pitcher's mound nodded slightly in agreement.
"..." Zhujing sighed softly when he saw this scene and watched the changes.
Soon, Yamaguchi could no longer relax...
——Pah.
——Pah.
——Pah.
"I only hit three out of ten balls. You have to think of a solution, Xiao."
"If you can hit three in baseball, you are considered a first-class player!"
"Eh~ But that's talking about batting average, right? There's only a 30% chance of hitting a decent ball. That's outrageous!"
"It's annoying, I know!"
"..."
Kato Yusuke didn't know much about their small theater, so he just kept feeding Yamaguchi the ball, keeping it just so that he could hit it with a little effort, but not letting him hit it easily.
Since I agreed to be a sparring partner.
Then in order to improve the opponent's level, he will also take this matter seriously.
…
He pitched the ball, Yamaguchi hit the ball, and Sato and the others picked it up.
The balls in the bucket go from full to empty and then filled again.
This has been repeated countless times...
Before I knew it, more than half of the lunch break had passed.
Yamaguchi's movements also went from crisp and smooth at the beginning to gradually becoming heavy and slow.
Saw this situation.
Yusuke made a stop gesture to the three people in the outfield, and then walked to home plate.
"So be it."
"Why...are you already dead?" Yamaguchi collapsed on the ground, panting like an ox, "No, there is no way...Today, I will let you go here today."
"Well...basically, you have a tough mouth, Axiao."
"Huchi... Huchi, have you counted how many balls I hit? Takei."
"Let me think about it, there are 100 balls in total. In terms of batting average, you probably hit nearly 10%."
"Okay! Let's continue tomorrow! Kato!"
"There is a sports meeting tomorrow, no." Kato Yusuke shook his head and stretched out a hand to him.
"...Uh, that's true. Damn it, I forgot about this." Yamaguchi muttered, grabbing his hand and standing up.
"Speaking of which... you shot so many balls today, won't it affect tomorrow's sports meeting?"
"fine."
"...You seem to be becoming less and less human."
Yamaguchi lightly beat his shoulders, but his expression was extremely cheerful.
"Exercise is really great. Although the body will be exhausted in the end, it just makes people have no time to think about what is and is not, what do you think?"
"...?"
Kato Yusuke frowned slightly, not knowing what he wanted to express.
"..."
Yamaguchi didn't explain much about this. He shook his neck from side to side and said nonchalantly: "...This is my personal way of relieving stress. How about it? Does it work for you?"
The scene suddenly became quiet.
The breeze stirred up the dust on the training ground, bringing a little dullness and choking...
"..."
Kato Yusuke stared at him for a while, then turned to look at the horizon to the north. He felt that today's damp weather with a hint of haze was very characteristic of Hokuriku.
I hope it won’t rain during tomorrow’s exercise.
He thought aimlessly and responded with a low, wooden voice.