Chapter 292: "Power Hitter"
"Relax your shoulders—let the tension go!"
The coach's one-on-one instruction began.
"Hah!"
Sawamura then let his arms swing back and forth on both sides like pendulums.
"Are your arms broken?"
Sendo stepped in and kicked him in the butt.
"Ow! That actually hurt! Boss told me to relax!"
The idiot had clearly forgotten what he'd said just a few seconds earlier.
"Like this—just don't let your shoulders stiffen. What you were doing wasn't 'relaxing' at all."
Sendo placed his right hand on his left arm and gently shook his shoulders.
At moments like this, Sendo never lost sight of priorities.
Sawamura copied him, and sure enough, his shoulders felt much looser.
"Sendo! Teach me a few more tricks so I can go up there and smash a home run!"
"..."
Sendo was speechless.
"Like that even exists. If it did, I'd want to learn it too,"
Miyuki deadpanned.
"Really? That thing Sendo just did worked really well!"
"Shut up and listen,"
Sendo said.
"Hah!"
Sawamura snapped to attention, realizing Sendo wasn't joking.
"Just do what you can do,"
Coach Kataoka knew Sendo was helping Sawamura relax, so he waited a couple seconds before continuing.
"In this at-bat, there's only one thing I want you to do. Listen carefully. Every single movement you make in the batter's box is being watched. On the first pitch, show them you're swinging with full power. Then I'll give you the bunt sign."
The coach explained patiently, looking at Sawamura—who had narrowed his eyes into an inverted '八' shape, clumsily copying Isashiki's fierce glare.
"Oh, right. Your swing is too fast. If it's a slider, change your rhythm—go from 1, 2, 3 to 1, 2, … 3. That way, even if you swing and miss, your bat speed and timing will still give them a scare."
As for other breaking balls—just swing as if they're fastballs. The opponent won't suspect anything.
That was the part Sendo didn't say out loud.
And knowing Harada's personality, he'd probably overthink things anyway—especially after seeing Kataoka give personal instruction.
Sendo was certain Harada wouldn't take the "simple" answer.
Miyuki understood immediately and shot Sendo a look that said "you sly bastard."
Sendo replied with "takes one to know one."
"1, 2, … 3.…What if I actually hit it?"
Sawamura asked.
"Relax. With your swing—where 'off by one millimeter' actually means ten centimeters—you're not hitting it."
"What did you just say? What's that supposed to mean?!"
"It means exactly what it sounds like."
"Damn you!"
The two slipped right back into their usual mode.
"If you ever manage to match the timing and actually see the ball, you might become a power hitter someday," Sendo said with a smile.
In his previous life, using the bunt stance before swinging was meant to correct Sawamura's timing and pitch recognition—that was why his batting average skyrocketed from that stance.
"What's with that look?"
Sendo asked, seeing Sawamura purse his lips and stare at him suspiciously.
"When you say something serious after all this, how am I supposed to know if you're joking or not?"
Sawamura answered honestly.
"Don't worry. That one's absolutely true."
"Then say that earlier! Ohhh, I see—I'm that amazing in your eyes, huh?"
Sawamura said shyly.
"Alright. Get back to the batter's box already!"
"Got it! Boss!"
"Remember—relax. A tense guy has zero intimidation,"
Sendo added.
"I knooow!"
Sawamura grabbed his bat and walked toward the batter's box, imitating Miyauchi-senpai.
Once there, he pretended to smooth the dirt, then copied Miyauchi again and snorted out a breath through his nose.
"Come on!!!"
Sawamura pointed the end of the bat straight at Narumiya Mei.
"Bunt—probably. Sawamura Eijun has contributed nothing at the plate in past games except bunts. Low plate appearances aside, his bunts are always perfect, while his full swings miss by dozens of centimeters. Most likely a pure bunter—and a lefty who's very useful for advancing runners. The opposing coach spent a long time giving him personal instruction—there has to be a reason. Infield, play in! First pitch—outside slider. Let's see how the batter reacts."
Harada analyzed calmly based on prior game data.
Between Kataoka's instructions and Sawamura's "power hitter" stance in the box
(which he was blatantly copying from Sendo—one of his special skills),
Harada didn't dare rush a decision and chose to probe instead.
What he didn't know was that Sendo had predicted this perfectly.
Narumiya Mei had no objections and went straight into his pitching motion.
"Whoosh!"
"If it's a slider—1, 2, … 3!"
Sawamura swung exactly on the timing Sendo taught him.
"Ping!"
"Whoosh!"
"Pop!"
"Foul!"
"I… hit it?"
Sawamura muttered, stunned.
Despite his goofy demeanor, Sawamura wasn't actually stupid.
He knew exactly how bad his batting was—half of his stupidity was an act to liven things up.
So he was the most shocked of all.
"H-He hit it!"
Maezono and the others were stunned too.
They had no idea what Kataoka had told him.
"Haha! That scared me!"
Sendo laughed.
"Such a shame," Miyuki said.
"Huh!"
Sendo didn't turn around.
"Yeah—what a shame."
For Seidou, it was shock or regret.
For Inashiro, it was pure terror.
Why the difference?
Because unlike his previous life, this wasn't a weak foul ball that fell near home plate, missing by ten centimeters.
This time, Sawamura had crushed it—same ten centimeters off, but it was a genuine long-drive trajectory.
If that ball had landed fair and then bounced foul like that, with Shirasu's speed, it would've been at least a triple—maybe even an inside-the-park run with the infield playing in.
Ten centimeters—that was the difference between nothing and an extra-base hit.
No wonder both sides reacted so strongly.
"T-That was close… I meant to swing and miss, but I accidentally hit it,"
Sawamura wiped sweat from his face, glaring viciously at his bat.
Everyone else thought he was lamenting the missed chance.
In reality, his heart was pounding out of his chest.
It wasn't that he didn't know his own hitting level—
he was terrified that he'd disobeyed the coach's instructions and might drag the team down.
He hadn't even seen where the ball went.
Why the hell did I hit it so cleanly now of all times?!
During training I couldn't hit anything even when they tossed it to me from one meter away!
The Seidou bench didn't know what to say.
Should they tell him not to forget his role?
Or lament that the ball didn't land fair?
"Was he… aiming for that?"
Harada grew even more suspicious.
"Could this guy be Seidou's hidden power hitter? Were those swings missing by dozens of centimeters before just him messing around because he had things under control? Otherwise, there's no way to explain the gap between his past at-bats and what we just saw. If that's the case, he might be even more dangerous than the Kominato kid—just hidden because he's a pitcher. Are both of Seidou's first-year pitchers two-way players this year?"
Harada's thoughts spiraled wildly.
Narumiya Mei's condition was simply too good—
even Shirasu couldn't touch that slider just now.
"Don't get careless, Mei!"
Harada also abandoned the infield-in defense.
If the ball dropped between infield and outfield now, it'd be at least a double.
At this point, he was treating Sawamura as a power hitter.
"Even if that hit was just luck, it definitely made them hesitate. If you're going to make a move—now's the time,"
Chris-senpai thought.
Coach Kataoka felt the same and flashed the sign.
While they were shaken by that swing and the infield retreated—go.
After all, when the infield plays in specifically to stop the bunt, even Sawamura would struggle.
That was why Kataoka used such a simple plan in the first place.
The clean contact was an unexpected bonus.
Narumiya Mei, naturally, wasn't afraid of power hitters.
With his usual domineering air, he welcomed any straight-up duel in his current form.
That confidence was one of Inashiro's greatest strengths.
In the bullpen, even if Iguchi was warming up,
the pressure of a forced mid-relief appearance and a planned one were completely different.
Things weren't as simple as Inashiro imagined.
Thump.
Thump.
Sawamura's heart was pounding, and it was much the same for Seidou's dugout and cheering section.
My shortcomings…
There are just too many of them.
Even so, they're still willing to use me.
If only a little—I want to answer that expectation!
With that thought, Sawamura dropped all the exaggerated posing. Gritting his teeth, he glared straight at Narumiya Mei.
"Yaaah—!!! Come on!!!"
At the end, his body still mimicked Sendo's stance. He even lightly let out a breath, because he knew that whenever Sendo stepped into the batter's box using this routine, the opponent always became unusually tense.
And it worked here too.
Different from Captain Tetsu, Oni-san, or even Miyuki, Sendo was a true heavy gun. When a power hitter looked relaxed and unbothered, the one who got tense was always the pitcher.
To Harada, Sawamura already felt like a power hitter—and that alone was enough.
"So annoying! That stance—just like that bastard's!
I hate it. I absolutely won't give you another run!"
"The runner's going!"
As Narumiya Mei entered the latter part of his motion and was about to release the ball, Yamaoka shouted.
At the same time, he shifted his weight forward, watching the batter closely and preparing to charge depending on the bunt direction.
"They're making a power hitter bunt?"
Harada was startled, but this time they had to give up the base advance. After all, Seidou was sacrificing a 'power hitter's' at-bat.
"First base!"
"Clink!"
"A—Amazing…!"
Seeing the ball roll perfectly along the first-base line, Narumiya Mei hurried to cover.
Yamaoka had already read Sawamura's posture and knew he needed to charge, so he was a step ahead.
After fielding the ball, he didn't even bother to set his feet to throw. Using a snap of his fingers and pure arm strength, he whipped the ball straight to first.
"Pop!"
"Out!"
"Safe!"
Shirasu advanced easily. Thanks to Yamaoka's decisiveness, Inashiro avoided a safe bunt and just barely got Sawamura out at first.
"Alright! Alright, alright! Alright! Alright, alright!"
"At least the bunt worked…"
Narumiya Mei thought angrily and in confusion.
Sawamura's smugness really got under his skin.
"Nice bunt!"
"Great bunt!"
"What the hell? What is this stability?!"
As the cheering section praised him, Kanemaru loudly complained.
"Alright! Alright, alright! …Why didn't you let me hit it?!"
As if something suddenly occurred to him, Sawamura blurted out.
"Like you'd be able to hit it anyway."
"Idiot."
"Just got lucky."
Even though Sawamura had delivered, Maezono and Kanemaru still dismissed it as luck.
They weren't deliberately putting him down—it was their own twisted way of showing support, like tsundere-style backhanded praise.
They hoped he'd do well, but worried his personality would mess everything up, so their words just came out wrong.
Belittling Sawamura didn't bother him, and he wasn't stupid enough to think his teammates meant harm—but…
"Lucky? Is it really? Or is it a smokescreen?"
Hearing the cheering section, Harada grew suspicious.
It reminded him of that disastrous teammate from the Wildcat days.
"Seidou's reserves wouldn't be that stupid, would they?"
Harada shook his head. A seed of doubt had been planted, but he still couldn't be sure.
"Can I kill those two info-leaking spies, Little Kin-kin and Little Sono-sono?"
Sendo said to Miyuki. (Their names start with Ka and Ma in Japanese—his personal wordplay.)
"Maezono!"
Miyuki realized it too and rubbed his forehead with a sigh.
"Go remind them."
"Why don't you go?" Miyuki asked, puzzled.
"Because I'm not suitable."
"Why not?"
"Sigh—let me prove it."
Sendo walked over to the cheering section.
"Could everyone please stop saying such demoralizing things?!"
To avoid leaking information, that was all he could say.
Based on what he knew of Harada—even ignoring their childhood encounters, just from Harada's recent words—Sendo could tell:
Harada had the bearing of a commander, but he was also a bit thick-headed and extremely suspicious of Seidou.
With two master schemers like Sendo and Miyuki on the other side, how could Harada—their twice-over victim—not suspect a trap?
But because of that, the lie of Sawamura being a power hitter had become very hard to expose.
Sendo had already braced himself for this game to go fourteen innings—or even be suspended and replayed.
And then Maezono and Kanemaru—those two dead-weight teammates—nearly dealt him a fatal blow.
Sendo could only feel helpless. Even if it was just grumbling, he still had to step in.
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