98 The Competitors

Witnessing the batter come up to the batter's box. Sanada tensed up a bit since he was pitching in Koshien he didn't want to mess up this chance for the team. They all had worked hard in training to come all this way to Koshien. Of course, this all wouldn't have been possible if it weren't for Rei and his training camp. The team went through major changes after the training camp getting ready for their first Koshien.

Sanada stood on the mound shaking off his anxiety. Immediately thereafter, he received a signal from his catcher, Kazuma, and wound up his glove to pitch. He held immense trust in Kazuma maybe not before but after Rei shaped him up, his intuition as a catcher had skyrocketed.

Sanada nodded to Kazuma and threw a cutter to the inside. This may not seem like a lot but if the catcher's intuition was correct this pitch was thrown to the right person.

Kazuma's intuition was proven correct when the umpire yelled, "Out!". Yakushi's fans exploded in cheers and even the Yakushi Dugout yelled out supportively for their pitcher.

Meanwhile in the audience reporters were having an interesting conversation between them. "This match is about to end, who do you think Is going to win?".

"Yakushi!"

"Yoshinaga!"

"That #10 is going to strike the batter out and win the match for Yakushi", said a reporter concluding.

"That could be or Yoshinaga makes a comeback if the batter scores", replied the other reporter.

"It could go any way. Let's just wait and see", said a random person interrupting their conversation.

Back in the Koshien Field. The fielders were spread apart evenly on the wide field. Raizou had instructed them to go back a bit since the batter was a heavy hitter with a wide swing.

Sanada then winded up his glove for the second pitch and this time threw a fastball to the outside as instructed by Kazuma. The ball went straight to the catcher hitting his mitt. The batter swung too wide and missed the timing of the pitch.

"Out!", said the umpire making the hearts of the Yakushi fans grow tenser.

Thankfully, Sanada was in the zone ignoring how important the current pitch was for the match. He winded up his glove for the last pitch and threw the pitch at Kazuma's signal. He threw his special pitch, Shuuto to the inside.

The batter was left stunned when he saw the pitch coming at him at a weird angle and broke close to the plate. The batter had the timing right and made contact with the bat, but he was jammed, and the ball rolled on the ground straight to the pitcher.

The batter remained standing in the batter's box still processing what had just happened while Sanada quickly rushed to scoop the ball and throw it to the first base. The batter looked at him and Sanada flashed a wide grin.

"Batter Out! Game Over! Yoshinaga was close but Yakushi High School has taken the Quarterfinals!", yelled the announcer.

The crowd went wild cheering for Yakushi. Each player's family was cheering for their kid proudly. The echoes reverberated throughout the whole stadium.

On the Field, the players jumped on each other in celebration. "Keha--kehahahaha!", laughed Raichi in disbelief. Everyone surrounded Rei and threw him in the air for celebration. Rei just let it be since he was getting used to the throwing by now. Every time they won a match, they would come to throw him in the air, he gets the enthusiasm but he was tired by now. Besides, he was just glad these rats won the match without any of his help. Just thinking about the other things, he has to prepare for the next match stressed him, but he decided to enjoy the moment.

On the other hand, Raizou was enjoying the moment to its fullest. He had snuck some alcohol in the dugout and taken a shot of that secretly. Rei knowing fully about this shook his head since he caught his irresponsible coach in the act, but he shrugged because it was Raizou they were talking about.

Anyhow, Rei was glad the team was united and could trust each other. Looking at the team now, Rei knew they had the potential to win Koshien. Though it was easier said than done since he was disappointed in the team for this match. The team barely won by 1 run he couldn't believe it. They had practiced and practiced but yet they could barely hold their own on the field. Which is why he decided to not bench himself in the next 2 matches since they were way too important to risk.

Yakushi High Vs. Yoshinaga High.

Yakushi Wins! 10-9.

Miles Away In A House, A kid with black hair and dark brown eyes sat Infront of a TV in his living room with the curtains blocking the sunlight. The images of the TV reflected on the kid in the darkness.

"Yakushi High? Not too far from here. Maybe I'll check out their tryouts this year. Should be a good team since they made it to Koshien Afterall plus that player's in their team", the kid muttered.

As a Baseball player, he had kept tabs on the upcoming news lately and found that Rei Fujikawa was the hottest new Baseball player this past 2 years. He had been on fire and seeing how Yakushi changed after he transferred there made him more eager to join the team. He thought for sure there were going to be a lot of players applying to Yakushi at the same time as him.

Tomobe was left to his intrusive thoughts as he continued watching the match in the darkness.

In Another House, Miles Away. In a brightly lit living room, a boy who had a small stature and light brown hair and eyes sat Infront of the TV doing his homework. "As expected Yakushi is turning into a horrifying team", he commented analyzing the match.

"Wasn't another player in the team that you were talking about", asked his mother appearing in the living room.

The boy turned around and replied, "Ah, Rei-San I guess he's benched. Maybe they're thinking of giving the other players more experience. After all, they'll need him the most if they want to win the Nationals".

In the Hotel of the Koshien Stadium, a team of players sat Infront of the TV watching the Quarterfinals and analyzing their next opponent, Yakushi High School.

"The Team is rising rapidly in Koshien, especially Rei Fujikawa".

"It's him with Sanada Shunpei as the relieve pitcher they have a good chance at winning this".

"Enough! All of you be prepared in your top conditions and we will run health checkups on all of you before the match tomorrow. Is that understood?", exclaimed the coach, Kotaro Sasaki.

The players nodded, all lost in their thoughts. As a competitive team who often goes to Koshien, they have experience and skills working for them that Yakushi, the rough team doesn't. Honestly, Kotaro thought of them as a joke, why should a Koshien-level team be lacking players? He just didn't like their playstyle. He grabbed his timer and met his players on the field for Night Practice.

At the same time, Yakushi in their Hotel room was going through…life-changing events as well. All Rei was trying to do was prepare them for tomorrow, but he didn't know why it turned out like this.