Kazuhiro felt a little frustrated at Ken's actions. He had wanted to go head to head, yet it was clear that the guy was not interested.
'How disappointing.' He said in his heart.
The catcher seemed to have caught on as well, shaking his head in disappointment. All he'd heard for the past week was how Kazuhiro wanted to destroy Ken when he came up to bat.
He already knew that he would be hearing a bunch of moaning after the match.
'He's going to try and bunt again, so we need something fast that will move.'
The catcher crouched down and called for a two-seam fastball, stretching his glove out towards the outside.
Kazuhiro nodded. Outwardly, he looked annoyed, yet his pitching action was still beautiful to watch.
Before the pitcher even completed his wind up, Ken held out his bat, making his intentions known.
Yusuke watched on with rapt attention as the ball traveled towards home plate, ready to let his blitzing speed manifest.
'Please make contact…'
The infield crawled forward once more, just in case the ball was sent to them.
Yet out of nowhere, Ken retrieved his bat in an instant and assumed his stance, shocking the onlookers.
'Fake bunt!?'
A sense of unease attacked Kazuhiro as he saw the scene play out in front of him.
Ken lifted his left leg slightly before planting it, twisting his body and sending the bat at full force towards the ball.
WHOOOSH
DOOOONG
The ball sailed into the air after being struck with power.
Unlike Shiro, Ken followed the ball with his eyes, ditching the bat and running towards first base. Usually he could tell when his hit was going to be a home run, but after his friend's display, he didn't want to risk it.
It flew into the right outfield, where the lanky fielder began to chase after it.
He'd only run for a few seconds before tripping over his own feet and falling face first into the field.
However, even if he'd been as athletic as Riku, there's no way he could have caught the bomb that Ken just hit.
"YEAH CAPTAIN!"
"Nice hit!"
The Yokohama dugout cheered, happy that they'd been able to convert in the very first inning.
Ken breathed a sigh of relief. He'd had to resort to a petty little trick, but at the end of the day, runs on the board mattered more.
Kazuhiro blinked in disbelief, almost not believing his eyes. He didn't know whether to be impressed, or to be offended at the tactic.
"ORYAAAAAHHH!"
As Ken arrived at home plate, Yusuke was there to greet him, shouting out Makoto's catchphrase and adding to the jubilant atmosphere.
"Dude you had me worried there for a second." He said, dishing out some high fives.
"Really? I was never in doubt." He said, lying through his teeth.
Sometimes as a Captain, one needed to appear confident for the sake of their teammates. Perhaps not as blindly confident as Shiro who celebrated a fly ball as if it was a home run.
"Nice hit Captain."
Upon returning to the dugout, Ken was showered with praise from the team. Getting 2 runs in the first inning against one of the best pitchers in the country was a start they couldn't have dreamed of.
Yet Ken had made it happen.
"Hey, Shiro Senpai… Didn't you say that right outfielder was super athletic? Why did he trip over his own feet?"
"…"
"He's still looking for his glasses on the ground!"
"HAHAHAHA"
Shiro's face turned bright crimson as he heard Yusuke's foghorn-type laugh suddenly appear in his ears. He had been trying to show off in front of his girlfriend, yet had made a blunder.
"I—I must have miscalculated." He said, trying to deflect the issue.
Thankfully, everyone was in a good mood so the bullying didn't last for long.
Coach Hanada on the other hand, was sending provoking faces towards the opposing coach from across the field. From the way Coach Goto's eyebrow was twitching, he was not a happy man right now.
"That was so cool Senpai, we all thought you were going to go for another bunt." Mamoru appeared next to Ken, his eyes practically burning with respect.
"Ha ha, yeah. Maybe if we didn't have two outs I would have gone for a bunt." He admitted, though it was a lie.
In fact, he had been seriously trying to bunt the first ball, yet all he struck was air. Compared to how good he was at bunting with the system, he was now like a novice.
The bomb he had hit was a result of his intense training with his father over the past month. With his schedule now freed up, Chris was over the moon to be involved with Ken's training.
Although it had been hard to explain his sub-par batting situation after doing so well at the U18 World Cup, his father had eventually just accepted it.
Since he'd been in the professional space for so long, he had a wealth of knowledge at his beck and call.
Like Ken had suspected, his Balance and Coordination were the key issues he needed to focus on throughout. Unlike his other physical attributes, these took countless hours of repetition to improve.
Yet thankfully, after immense persistence, Ken was able to see some success after a while.
As Ken was reminiscing about their bonding time, his attention was grabbed by something.
DOOOONG
Ken's head swiveled to the field, his eyes growing wide as he watched the ball sail through the air.
"N-No way."
"WHOA! Nice Ryo!"
Mamoru practically jumped up and down with excitement after the massive hit.
Ryo Doi, the late addition to the starting line up had just walked up and hit a bomb out of nowhere, when everyone had least expected it.
Coach Hanada grinned wildly, practically rubbing his hands together in delight. Judging by his reaction, he was well aware that Ryo was capable of hitting such home runs.
Ken couldn't believe his eyes.
'Since when did we have a heavy hitter like this?' He thought inwardly.