14 Chapter 14 : Aftermath

"That's it." Kataoka-sensei closed his statement. "I hope you can reflect on your performance today and train harder in the future."

This was the meeting that Seido would always hold to review the game after they arrived back at the school. At first, all the players were a bit afraid, because normally, Kataoka-sensei would go berserk when they played this badly. However, this time, the coach only said a word or two and encouraged the players to train harder, which made them feel more uncomfortable.

Even though Kataoka-sensei had already left the room, no one left immediately, they gathered around the screen, observing the record to find out what went wrong in the last game. The mood around them was quiet and somber with all the players' faces clouded.

"You were way too tense right, Tanba-senpai." Miyuki stated as a matter of fact. They were observing YKI's first homerun when Tanba messed up first.

Tanba glared at the TV intently, hating to admit the catcher was right. He had indeed noticed his wrong state in the sixth inning. However, listening to Miyuki's blunt words, it was like rubbing salts into his wound.

He could see it, and everyone could also see it. So, why do you have to say it out loud?

This was also one of the main reasons why he had a hard time getting along with Miyuki. The catcher would always speak whatever came to his mind bluntly, unbothered by other's emotions, without regard to whether they were his senpai or not. However, even though it was hard to admit, Tanba knew Miyuki never said anything he didn't believe was not true.

"I know," Tanba growled, his eyes still locked on the TV. "But I don't get it. Where was I tensing up? Shoulder? Elbow?"

"It was in your elbow, Tanba."

A new voice that hadn't spoken the entire time they analyzed the game spoke up. When they turned around, they could see Chris enter the room calmly.

"You also watched the game?" Ryousuke raised his eyebrows slightly. "Since when did you do that? Are you preparing yourself to come back?"

"Not really," Chris replied nonchalantly, taking a seat in the chair nearby. "Kataoka-sensei asked me to help the first team, and since I had nothing to do, I decided to come." He would never admit the spark and interest in baseball that had disappeared for a while was ignited after meeting Sawamura. Even though he was grateful to his Kouhai, there was no way in hell he would admit it to his friends.

"So, why do you say his elbow tensed up?"

"Because that's the truth. Tanba, play the record again. Slow down the speed to x0.25. Yeah. See here? Look at your elbow. Right there."

They all did what Chris said. "I don't know, it looks fine to me?"

"Not really," Chris said. "You were about to throw a curveball here, no? Usually, for your curveball, you raise your elbow over your shoulder. But here, you didn't. As a result, the ball almost got caught in your fingers. And you also unconsciously noticed that. That's why in the next second, you changed the direction of your wrist, wanting to avoid throwing the ball to the ground. As a result, it only created a weak ball that was easily blasted away by your opponent."

All the players who gathered there watched the play again as Chris rewinded the video back to the first inning where Tanba's pitching had been flawless. The room was tense, with their expression turned grim.

"And after that…" Chris paused his words timely before chuckling darkly at the pitcher. "You messed up badly and cost us the game."

Everyone had sweat dropped as they turned around at Chris with a ridiculous face. Tanba groaned out loud, covering up his face in embarrassment. He forgot that Chris had a sharper tongue compared to Miyuki which created a rift between the catcher and their senpai in the past.

It seemed that was the genius's trait to speak everything bluntly without caring about what everyone felt.

"Well, the game is over, so let's forget about it." Chris turned off the TV. "Go back to your room and rest. You can train harder starting from tomorrow."

With that, the players started to disperse, stood up from their seats one by one and went back to their room with their minds reflecting on what happened in the game earlier.

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It was in the next morning when Hiroto did his routine morning run that he was surprised at what he saw there.

"AAAAARRRGHHHH!" Sawamra was already there, running desperately with tires tied to his body. Behind him, Haruichi and Kanemaru just talked to each other and pretended to not know the pitcher.

Driving by his curiosity, Hiroto couldn't help but ask, "What happened to him?"

"Senpai!" Kanemaru was startled by his presence. However, the first-year recovered and answered his question quickly. "Well, he had a pretty bad game yesterday. He gave up four runs in three innings before Rei-san decided to put him back on the bench. He played a very weird game yesterday, not like when he did against the second team."

Well, it seemed it wasn't just the first team who had a hard time yesterday.

"So, he vents out all of his emotions, huh?" Hiroto murmured lowly. "What about you guys? Do you also have a bad game?"

"Well, not me," Kanemaru replied wryly. "I only had the opportunity to come as a pinch hitter in the eighth inning and the pitcher just let me go to the base freely. Haruichi was different, though."

Oh?" Hiroto raised his eyebrows slightly to the pink-haired boy who shied away from his gaze.

"Yeah, he did amazing today." Kanemaru continued, ignoring Haruichi's red face. "Two doubles, one single, one walk, and three RBIs without getting a strikeout in his first game? He is a monster. I don't know why I have never heard about him before joining Seido."

"That's impressive." Hiroto praised the boy genuinely. "So, what are you doing here? Why don't you join him running?" He asked, pointing his finger at Sawamura who still screamed like crazy.

Haruichi and Kanemaru looked at each other and chuckled wryly. "Well, we are still waiting for two more people to join."

"Oh?"

"Yeah. And speaking of the devil, here they are!"

Huroto turned around just to be surprised to see Tojo walking with another first-year student, greeting him shyly. Then he remembered that Tojo didn't sleep on his bed last night, which was probably related to this meeting.

"Senpai." Hiroto nodded awkwardly.

"Good for you for joining us here." Hiroto nodded back. "And you are… The catcher of the newcomers, right?" He stared at the other person who stood next to Tojo nervously, trying so hard to remember his name.

"Yes, Senpai!" The boy shouted nervously. "I am Kariba Wataru, a catcher from the first year! Yoroshiku Onegaisimashu!"

"No need to be so nervous." Hiroto chuckled amusedly. "So, is this the first-year alliance? Why don't you also ask Furuya-kun to join?"

"Well, we ask a lot of first-year students to join today. But a lot of them didn't want to sacrifice their sleeping time. And Furuya-kun didn't come back to his room until it was too late, so we didn't have a chance to ask him." Kanemaru rubbed his head sheepishly.

Hiroto nodded in understanding. Inwardly, he was happy that they took the initiative this early. Usually, there would always be a leader from each year who gathered all of his peers to train and improve together.

The leader was usually the one who realized that even though they hadn't had a chance to go to the first or even second team yet, they would be the face of the team in the future. This consciousness helped him to gather his peers and bond with each other quickly so they wouldn't be awkward with each other in the future.

For the third year, it was Tetsu and Isashiki who did that, and for his generation, it was he who was hailed as the leader. Now, it seemed Kanemaru joined the elite company as the leader of his generation.

"Well, shall we start to run?"

"Aaah…." The first-year players looked at each other sheepishly. "Well, we are here to go together to practice our batting, Senpai. We are tired of always running in our training sessions. So, I am sorry!"

"Don't worry about it." Hiroto chuckled. It seemed Kanemaru had the tendency to go overdramatic just like Sawamura. "But you still need to warm up, right? Join me first, and we can go together to the field."

They looked at each other for a second before shrugged, and decided to follow Hiroto on his morning run.

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When they arrived at the field, there were already several people who had practiced since the sky was dark. And Hiroto could notice several of the first-team players were already there, like Isashiki, Tetsu, Ryousuke, and Shirasu. Even though they were given a day off to rest and recuperate, since today was Sunday, they didn't want to miss this chance to do their practice.

And since this wasn't an official training session, all the players were mixed in no matter in which team they were now.

However, all the attention right now was focused on batting cage A, where someone kept blasting the ball away from the machine pitch at a speed of about 145 kmph.

Clank! The ball hit the fence.

Clank! The ball went flying to the center field.

Clank! It went to the foul zone, but if it flew a few more inches to the left side, the ball would be a home run.

Clank! Now it went to the left field.

Clank! Back to the fence.

All the first-year players that Hiroto brought were in awe every time they witnessed the ball fly far away from the batter box, and when they saw who was the culprit who did that, they were shocked to see Furuya who wiped the sweats all over his face.

"That bastard can also hit hard?! He is a monster!" Kanemaru cried out loud. The other also nodded in agreement. However, the person who was seen so depressed before suddenly laughed out loud, startling everyone a little.

"Hahaha! If Furuya can do it, this Sawamura Eijun should also be able to do the same! Just see!"

Yeah, it was Sawamura with another one of his bold declarations. He joined the line to have a chance at the batter cage too. Unfortunately, he never had the training how to be a good batter, and all of his movements were wrong.

"AHAHAHA!"

"Where the hell is your arrogance before?!"

"You miss five of them by five inches! That's embarrassing!"

"Shut up!" Sawamura flushed. "This Sawamura is just started today! I will hit them all next time!"

Hiroto sighed, decided to take pity on the pitcher. "Sawamura-kun, come with me after this."

"Eh?"

Sawamura was confused for a second. He saw Hiroto arranging several senpai to grab the first-year who came with him for a one-on-one lesson. After that, Hiroto signaled him to follow without giving Sawamura any hint on what they were going to do. However, Sawamura still followed Hiroto to the other side of the field where not a lot of people trained there.

"You have never got a training lesson on how to be a batter, have you?"

"Ah…" Sawamura threw away his face in embarrassment. "Well, since my school didn't have any coach before, I only learned it autodidact, so I don't know if that counts."

Hiroto sighed, had already guessed that.

"Don't worry about it. Come on, I will teach you the basics of it."

"Really?!"

"Sure. Wait a second." Hiroto took two bats from the team's inventory and prepared one for him. "Toss the ball at me lightly and watch it carefully."

"Sure!"

Sawamura observed carefully as Hiroto demonstrated how to hit the ball. Hiroto appreciated his enthusiasm a lot, especially considering Sawamura was a pitcher and didn't need to be so good at batting to have a chance to play. However, seeing Furuya was also good at the box seemed to ignite the fighting spirit inside him again.

After about ten attempts, Hiroto raised his hand to stop Sawamura from tossing the ball before asking, "So, what do you think?"

"That's awesome, Senpai!" Sawamura exclaimed with stars shining in his eyes.

"Well, I don't want you to just admire it but to learn from it." Hiroto chuckled. "Tell me, compared to your usual batting routine, what is the difference?"

After thinking for a while, Sawamura answered with a blank face, "I don't know. It seems all the same for me."

"Well, if you think so, let's try it together." Hiroto gave one of the bats to Sawamura and started to instruct. "Okay, I will not toss the ball now. Let me see how you do it first."

"Sure."

Sawamura swung the bat in every attempt enthusiastically, creating a strong gust every time he finished the swing. However, after the third attempt, Hiroto stopped the pitcher and started to explain.

"You have a good standard stance, which you shouldn't change at all. However, you didn't open up your hips enough, which locked down your arms, making it impossible to get extended to generate more power. What you should do is just sink your body a little bit to the back and let your back leg turn, like bending your knee to help the hips rotate better. Remember, your hips should be rotated, not slide forward, or you cannot generate more power to hit the ball. Let me show you."

Hiroto demonstrated once again how he swung his bat. But now, Sawamura's attention was already on Hiroto's hips. The pitcher could see the difference between how he did it and how Hiroto did it. And when he tried it for himself, he noticed the big difference now.

"Hey, I could swing it easily!"

"That's because your arms are not locked in behind your hips." Hiroto smiled when he saw Sawamura was excited. Teaching Sawamura was always an interesting experience since the pitcher was like an open book. He could see whether Sawamura understood the content or not just by observing his expression. "Then, let me tell you how to coil. Here, observe my front leg."

They kept doing the 101 batting mechanic class for a while, not noticing one person joining them from afar. When that person coughed, they turned around just to be surprised at who joined their lesson.

"Shisou!" Sawamura exclaimed. "What are you doing here? Are you going to start training normally again? Or do we have some training agenda we haven't done yet? I have learned a little about batting from Hiroto-senpai, Shisou! Let me show it to you!"

Chris facepalmed at how Sawamura bombarded him with questions. Yeah, the one who came was Chris with his catcher gear. Seeing the catcher was ready to play, Hiroto could guess why he was there.

"Do you want to train Sawamura?"

"Yeah." Chris nodded slightly. After pondering for a while, he added, "How about you joining us? Having a batter on the box would be a good experience too."

"That would be awesome!"

Hiroto could only chuckle at how Sawamura behaved. It was almost like a kid who begged the parent to go to the park on a Sunday morning or a talking puppy in a human form, he marveled. After thinking for a while, Hiroto smiled before nodding his head.

"Sure, it would be interesting."

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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 22, 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 160 on that page.

Thank you for your support! I appreciate it! :)

-Zeta Faes-