Editing Rapid Fire King:Volume1 Chapter 3 (section)

===3===

Naka had spoken to him from the right.

Takamura kept his arms crossed and panicked a bit. Was it his turn at bat?

It was not.

Naka said nothing more as he stood next to him, so Takamura looked up at the tall boy.

“What is it, Naka? Do you want to do pitching practice?”

“That would only put more pressure on the other team’s freshmen. Anyway, what do you think of our freshmen?”

''Asking that will put pressure on them too,'' thought Takamura as he kept his voice low.

“Well, they’re doing about as well as you can expect.”

“We need to narrow down our options for summer, so pay attention, okay?”

When Takamura replied “same to you”, Naka looked off into the distance. He was viewing Team C seated by the backstop.

He kept his eyes on them as he spoke.

“You need to be careful,” he warned.

Takamura looked up at that. He more or less understood what Naka was trying to say, so he looked to Team C as well.

“You mean Takagi from the second year? I heard he wants to be a shortstop like me.”

“That’s it, yeah. Their shortstop kept some pretty tight defense during the previous game, right?”

“I just can’t get into these struggles over the regular spots.”

…''I hate how it feels like I’m competing with my own teammates.

That was how he saw it.

Besides, they were not rivals or anything. Takagi was a friendly guy who was generally right there with them when they were having fun. Takamura could even call him an underclassman friend.

But personality and abilities were not the same.

And Takamura thought Takagi still had a ways to go when it came to technique.

Part of him thought that was his pride speaking, but another part of him thought it was true. Because just like your personality would not change your test scores, it would not change your defense and batting average either.

It all came down to how good at the game you were.

It was those results during their practice games that had Takamura standing on the field as a regular member.

That was a fact. However…

…''It feels kind of dark to look at it that way.

Also…

…''Takagi can get pretty worked up over things.

Takagi was definitely the type who took baseball seriously. He placed a lot of emphasis on whether or not a point was scored and he had been doing a lot to manage the freshmen recently.

What would happen if that Takagi competed with him for a regular position?

Takamura had the greater technical skills, but…

…''I might pull back when it matters. His competitive spirit might overpower me.

''I can definitely see that happening,'' he thought with a hand on his forehead and a bitter smile on his lips. And…

“What’s wrong?” asked Naka.

Takamura suddenly started thinking about others instead of himself.

“Well,” he said while wiping the sweat from his brow. “I was wondering if Takagi wants to be a regular.”

“C’mon, man. Of course he does.”

“Why?”

“You don’t?”

“I…”

…''Do I?

He liked baseball. He would practice even in the evening when the sun was setting. He would give up his Sundays for it.

But that did not mean he wanted to be a regular.

If he did, surely he would see Takagi as a rival and put some effort into taking the regular spot from him.

But he did not do that.

Then why was he playing baseball?

…''Because…

''Because I like playing baseball,'' he concluded.

Naka smiled bitterly next to him.

“You can be awfully cold at times.”

Takamura did not expect that, but he was also aware of it.

He had never discussed this with someone else before.

He felt some surprise while slowly asking a question as if searching for what Naka really meant.

“Cold…how?”

Naka crossed his arms behind his head and kept his eyes on the field.

“Takagi is serious about this. You weren’t really aware of that, were you? All of us who like batting know how he stays behind afterwards to practice defense,” he said. “But you’re better than him. It’s like you have a subconscious understanding of how to practice effectively.”

“H-hey.” Takamura asked a probing question. “Am I turning into a real pain in the ass?”

“I wouldn’t know. I don’t want to be shortstop, after all.” Naka’s bitter smile grew. “As long as they can hold that defensive line well enough for me, I don’t care who has that spot. And you can do it. But you know what? If I did want to be shortstop, I’m not sure how I’d deal with someone who doesn’t even put in extra practice but is still better than me.”

“But the way things are, I feel like Takagi has more of a future there.”

“But you’re better now, right? And can you put in more of an effort and practice more with Takagi threatening to take your spot?” The bitter smile vanished from Naka’s face and his eyebrows lay flat. “You hate that kind of competition, don’t you? I kind of already knew that.”

After some thought, Takamura answered.

“Yeah.”

He nodded.

Naka nodded back.

“Then that’s what’s right for you.”

Takamura did not know what made this right, but if their ace said so, it had to be true.

So to respond, he turned his tanned face toward the net.

He viewed the people beyond the green net who were watching the game to kill some time around lunch.

They were from the concert band which also had practice on Sundays. He could see the sheet music they were holding. They seemed to be speaking with their freshmen about something too.

…''It’s tough everywhere, isn’t it?

He smiled bitterly, but Naka narrowed his eyes while still standing.

“I notice Iwa-san isn’t here today.”

Noting some displeasure in the boy’s voice, Takamura uncrossed his arms.

“Is she not?”

He straightened up in his seat to look past the net.

But she was not there.

''Huh?'' he thought while looking in the distance.

But there really was no sign of Iwata.

“…?”

She should always be there somewhere even during ordinary practices. She should especially have been there while they were testing the freshmen’s skill.

But she was not there.

Nor were the two assistants who always sat behind her.

He adjusted his position on the bench and tilted his head.

Naka tilted his head too.

“That’s unusual.”

It was, in fact, a first.

…''Did something happen?

Iwata’s family ran a ramen shop built into their home. The locals were the usual clientele.

When she could not go somewhere, it always had something to do with her family. If she missed school, it inevitably turned out she was helping out at home.

But she had never before missed keeping records for one of the baseball team’s games.

Those games tended to be on the weekend, so she usually helped out at home during the other weekend day so she would be free for the game.

She should have done the same this time. She had not said anything to the contrary on the way home the day before yesterday, so everything should have been normal.

Yet things were different today.

…''So did something happen?

That ramen shop was in Takamura’s neighborhood, so…

…''I should stop by on the way home.

As soon as he decided on that, he straightened up again and heard a metallic clang.

The solid sound seemed to pierce through his head.

The freshman batter two spots before him had hit the ball.

He and Naka turned back toward the batter box.

“Oh? He did it.”

Given an excuse to throw out his previous thoughts, Takamura looked up. He stood up while watching the previous batter make his way for the batter box. His at bat was coming up soon.

He had to get ready.