"Nice fielding!"
Daichi's yell was the precursor to the cheers around the field after the most dangerous batter was dealt with. Seeing Leo drive one into the dirt seemed to boost morale heavily.
"Okay 1 out!"
Ken grinned, giving his brother a thumbs up. While it was only the first out of the inning, it held a lot more weight than all the others so far.
Leo slowed down his speed after running past 1st base, his expression full of annoyance.
'That bastard…'
Receiving a fastball right down the middle was disrespectful enough, yet he had not been able to hit it cleanly because of the ball's movements. This not only infuriated him, but also left him feeling rather humiliated.
He turned his gaze to Ken as he began his trudge back to the US dugout.
"Hmph."
On the way past, he heard a harrumph from the 1st baseman who was looking at him with a challenging gaze. Leo frowned in response, thinking to himself why this person was getting involved.
"Shut up you ant." He said in passing.
Hiroki's face fell in the next moment. Of course he didn't understand the words from the US Captain, but the guy was holding up his thumb and index finger around an inch apart.
"Are you calling me small?" Hiroki said, puffing out his chest towards the guy and tensing his body.
He was like a peacock, fully displaying his assets towards Leo in a threatening manner. Just as the 1st base umpire was about to step in, Leo let out a scoff and continued on his way.
"Yeah, keep walkin' buddy. I bet your calves are tiny underneath those pants."
Feeling his ego brought to the surface, Hiroki called out to the retreating figure who completely ignored him.
"Pfft…"
"HAHAHA"
Everyone on the Japanese team who heard Hiroki's words burst out into laughter. It was as unexpected as it was hilarious, filling the team with joy and amusement.
Hearing the laughter, Leo's eyebrow began to twitch furiously. While he couldn't understand Japanese, it didn't take a rocket scientist to guess that the guy was making fun of him.
While it took a lot of self control, he managed to compose himself and continue the walk back.
'We'll see who is laughing at the end of the game.' He said inwardly, clenching his fist.
Only after a few moments did the field finally calm down. Just as Ken was heading back to the mound to get into position, he heard uproarious laughter in the outfield from Riku who almost fell to the ground.
It looked like the words had been relayed to him by Masayuki.
"Dude get it together." Masayuki said, kicking him in the shin.
"Ow~"
Now that the field had returned to normal, Ken felt the effects of his showdown skill leave his body. There was nothing good about feeling your body lose strength, yet he managed to keep a calm demeanor.
He turned to the next batter and grinned. Now that the most dangerous batter was behind them, they should be able to blitz through the latter half of the line up.
***
Around 30 minutes later, a figure walked into the corporate box. He was a rather handsome man in his early 40's with not a single gray hair on his head. His face was clean shaven and looked rather young despite his age.
Yet it was clear by his expression that there were many places he would rather be than here.
"Ah, Tetsuhiro, you're here." The voice of a kindly sounding old man rang out as he saw the man walk in.
The man named Tetsuhiro nodded, his expression softening a little.
"It's good to see you again Martin." He said, shaking hands with the older gentleman.
"Yes yes, thank you for joining us. I'm sure your Grandfather would have wanted to be here as well to see the next generation of baseball in full swing."
At the mention of his Grandfather, Tetsuhiro's expression flashed with sadness for a brief moment before he could compose himself.
There was a few moments of silence before Martin realized he may have misspoken.
"Ahem, let me introduce you to everyone." He said, quickly trying to change the subject.
"This is the president of the WBSC, Richard Fresco."
Martin brought Tetsuhiro over to a man who looked in his late 50's early 60's. He was rather plump and wore glasses, though he seemed to be fawned over by many in attendance.
"Ah, it's nice to finally meet you Tetsuhiro. Thank you again for your hand in sponsoring this World Cup." Richard said, promptly ignoring everyone in the vicinity.
The two shook hands briefly, though it was clear who was the most interested party.
"You're a little late, the game has already entered the 5th inning." Richard said, pointing to the field beyond the large glass window.
"I see." Tetsuhiro said, barely seeming interested.
Yet he was still a courteous man, so he took a brief look at the field. Since they were so high up, he could see the whole thing. His gaze moved to the jumbo screen which was showing the face of a Japanese player in the batters box.
"Tatsu?"
A look of utter shock and disbelief appeared on his face in the next moment. He rubbed his eyes a few times, only finally noticing some differences in the facial features.
"Who is that boy?" He asked after finally composing himself.
"Hmm? The Japanese batter?" Richard asked. He turned to one of his staff members in order to get confirmation.
"That's Daichi Takagi, he's the catcher for Japan but also the clean-up batter." A female dressed in a suit responded at the president's request.
Tetsuhiro went silent for a while before nodding his head.
"If you'd excuse me for a moment." He said, before leaving the room.
He left the president feeling a little awkward as he looked to Martin for confirmation on what just happened.
Martin merely shrugged his shoulders in response.