Hiroki's premonition seemed to come to life as the next two balls were even harder to read than the last. Thankfully he had managed to make contact on the curve ball and foul it off.
He was starting to get a little frustrated with all of the different pitches the blond pitcher was throwing at him. If the blitzing fastball wasn't enough, he also had to contend with the curve, slider and possibly others that he hadn't seen just yet.
As his mind was trying to come up with a solution, it was cut short by the quick wind up of the pitcher on the mound.
Hiroki narrowed his eyes and made a judgment call. The direction of the pitch told him it should be in the strike zone, so he just decided to swing to contact.
DONG
'Crap'
The ball bounced along the ground a few times towards this teen at short stop. Hiroki felt a sliver of hope since the guy had made an error last time, however he ended up disappointed.
Not only did the short stop collect the ball easily, he fired a throw directly into the open glove of the player on first base.
"Out."
A solid cheer rang out from the crowd, applauding the fierce fielding of the seemingly small and agile short stop.
Kei couldn't help but grin widely, seeing that Tatsuo had been paying attention. His friends attitude was completely different after being struck out by Ken earlier, almost as if he had shed the apathy that was plaguing him.
Hiroki had no choice but to leave the field, letting out a small sigh of frustration.
"Hit a big one for us Ken." He said, walking past the tall teen on his way to the batters box.
Ken nodded, adjusting his helmet slightly.
'If Hiroki had trouble hitting those pitches, it looks like my suspicions were true.'
He frowned for a moment before getting into position. As he adjusted his stance, he asked a question to his favorite AI.
'Mika, does my Charismatic Air ability have any impact on my oppositions?'
Ken had been trying to figure out why his opponents were growing so much. First it was Carlos and Kazuhiro of Shuei High, and now it was Kei and Tatsuo who looked to be improving rapidly.
[Charismatic Air skill effects all parties in the vicinity of the user. Since you are the focal point on the mound and in the batters box, your opponents are also affected.]
(Charismatic Air: People are drawn to you and are more likely to listen to your suggestions.)
'You can't be serious…' He complained inwardly.
No wonder his opponents seemed to be influenced by his actions so much. He had always thought that the Charismatic Air skill had a vague description. To hear that it had such an effect made it seem like a double-edged sword.
[Mika is serious]
'…Yes Mika. Thank you.'
Now that he thought of it… If he was raising the bar for all of his opponents, that meant he was potentially grooming the next generation of professional and Japan national team players.
His vision of invading the Majors with his talented countrymen didn't seem too far fetched in this moment.
Ken shook his head and got into position to receive the next ball. This wasn't something that he could think of in this moment, particularly in such a big game.
In the next moment he was facing a fastball heading inside and looking to jam him. He quickly took a step back, avoiding the pitch by a hairs breadth. A moment later he returned to the batters box, donning the same poker face.
"Ball"
"Tch."
Kenta clicked his tongue in annoyance. He was trying to give the guy some grief after being knocked out of the part in his last at-bat, yet the guy seemed unflappable.
The next ball was a sinker which seemed to drop almost directly onto home plate.
'This is it!'
DONG!
Ken managed to get a good hold of the ball as he sent it into the outfield for a double.
Loud cheers sounded from the crowd and the dugout as soon as he made contact with the ball. Standing upon 2nd base, he flashed a grin and a thumbs up to Yusuke who was making his way up to bat.
That was when he felt a pair of eyes burning into the side of his face.
He tried to ignore the sensation, yet they pierced him. It was like going out into public only to be brazenly stared at by a toddler on the train for the entire duration of the journey.
Ken felt his poker face slipping away as he continued to get annoyed. In the end, he turned towards the direction of the gaze and blurted out in English.
"Why don't you take a damn picture?"
Tatsuo's eyes widened after hearing the foreign language.
"Eh? Pitcher? No, I play short stop." His voice was immature, yet it was lacking his usual apathy. In fact, he seemed to be quite curious in that moment.
Ken resisted the urge to facepalm and tried to calm down his annoyance.
"Why do you keep staring at me?" He said eventually.
Tatsuo blinked a few times innocently before answering in a deadpan expression.
"Because I'm interested in you."
…
…
"W-What the hell!?"
Ken quickly turned away from the weird individual, feeling all sorts of embarrassment from the interaction. However, inwardly he was screaming.
'THIS DAMN CHARISMA SKILL!'
He took a lead from 2nd base which only made him get closer towards Tatsuo. Ken was on high alert, placing a single hand on his cheeks just in case the weirdo decided to give him a butt slap or something.
The moment Kei swept his leg, Ken launched himself towards 3rd base, making use of his Takeoff skill which increased his Agility grade by two, propelling him into the SS grade.
He felt the wind streak by his face as he ran with all of his might, reveling in the sudden increase in speed.