Feeling some of his confidence return with that last pitch, Kazuhiro squared up his shoulders once more and began his wind up. The next ball seemed to be an exact replica of before, beginning inside and moving slightly outside.
Ken almost shook his head inwardly. While he admitted that it was a good pitch, did he really think the same thing would work against him twice?
DOOONG!
With absolute confidence, Ken poured all of his strength into his swing, meeting the ball just outside of the strike zone and sending it to the outfield.
He only needed one glance to know that no one would be able to stop it from sailing over the fence. As he dropped his bat and began his victory lap around the bases, Ken glanced at Kazuhiro atop the mound.
There was confusion in his features for a moment, before a look of acceptance appeared on his face.
This came as a surprise for Ken who thought that the kid would get flustered or be depressed after giving up another home run.
'He's just an anomaly…' Kazuhiro said inwardly.
Despite giving up a home run, he wasn't upset. He felt as if he had just touched upon a breakthrough, something that appeared as he was under the tremendous pressure of Ken's aura.
The reason why he threw the same pitch twice was that he didn't want to lose the fleeting sensation of that breakthrough. While it may have resulted in a home run for the opposition, he wasn't too upset.
'I need to keep pitching…'
Ken made his way around 3rd base and placed his foot down onto home plate, accepting the hi five from Yuta who was waiting for him. With his hit they were now up 5-1 in the 2nd innings, putting them into a commanding position.
Tatsuya walked past Ken and let out a small chuckle.
"Looks like the pitcher is throwing some meatballs now."
In actuality, he was a little embarrassed since he'd been struck out in only 3 balls in the first inning. Yet two of his juniors in Yusuke and Ken had big hits from the same pitcher.
He was determined not to fall behind.
Ken on the other hand sent a pitiful look towards Tatsuya.
'He won't be that easy from now on.' He thought, sending a small prayer Tatsuya's way.
"Didn't want me to show you up eh?" Hiroki said with a smile, holding out his fist.
"The only thing that matters is we win, I don't even bother comparing our stats." He said, however inwardly he was cursing the guy.
'I won't ever get to be MVP with this guy in my team!'
"Strike. Out!"
The sound of the umpires voice startled the few who were busy talking on the bench. They quickly turned their head only to see Tatsuya with a blank expression walking back with his bat dragging on the ground.
"What? So quick?"
"How did that happen?"
A few words of confusion spread around, making it's way to Tatsuya's ears.
"D-Don't look at me. I couldn't even get a whiff of his pitches, they're completely different to the first innings." He said with confusion.
Makoto stood up from the bench and began to limber his muscular body up, since he was batting after Jun.
"Listen Tatsuya."
His voice was deep and his tone indicated that he was about to impart some deep wisdom to his junior. It wasn't often that Makoto spoke up like this, so everyone listened.
"It's okay to fail. You don't need to make excuses for your failures, you just need to accept them. Everyone here has failed before, it's how you get back up from your failures that determines what kind of man you are."
Tatsuya stared blankly at the muscle-brained teen and felt like hitting him over the head with the bat in his hands.
Yet before he could, a voice rang out from the field.
"3 outs, changeover!"
"Eh?"
Everyone who was listening to their captain's impassioned speech regarding accountability and self improvement, suddenly turned their head to the field in confusion.
Like an exact replay of before, Jun wore a blank expression as he headed towards the bench, his bat dragging along the ground beside him.
"His pitches have changed…" Jun said simply, feeling slightly embarrassed.
Yet it wasn't just him who felt his face heat up.
Makoto who had just tried to act cool soon received the ire of everyone around him.
"I knew he was talking out of his ass."
"Psh, idiot Captain."
Everybody ignored the muscle-head and put on their gloves and caps before heading back out onto the field to start off the bottom of the 2nd innings.
Coach Hanada was probably the only person who was paying close attention to the Shuei pitcher, even as he walked off the field. His eyes narrowed as he thought deeply.
'That kid has caught hold of something.'
Seiji wasn't just spit-balling. He'd noticed that Kazuhiro was refining his pitches ever so slightly, beginning from the second ball he threw against Ken.
It wasn't a coincidence or fluke that Tatsuya and Jun had struck out so spectacularly.
He subconsciously looked at the score and let out a small breath of relief.
'I don't think we'll be getting any more runs this game.' He stated inwardly.
Ken on the other hand, slowly made his way up to the mound. From his standpoint, it didn't matter how well Kazuhiro pitched from now on. They had secured enough runs, so now it was his turn to hold onto them.
This was the Ace's job.
Like a cold and unfeeling machine, Ken dispatched the next 3 batters with ease, using only 9 pitches total. His balls were crisp, dangerous and almost impossible to predict.
The 2nd innings was over in only a matter of moments, not even allowing the players on the field to enjoy standing out in the sun for very long.
"Changeover"
"Nice pitching Ace."
"You're making it look easy out here."