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Baka to Tesuto to Syokanju:Volume7 The Final Question

2011-10-01T19:46:39Z

95.26.174.84:

==The Final Question==

Remember these baseball rules!

“Takahashi-sensei, I brought the research materials you wanted.”

“Thank you, Himeji-san.”

“No need for that. Anyway, I’ll put the research materials here.”

“The Dai-Nippon High School will catch up with just one point. The batter this time is Yamane, and his batting average up till now is—”

“Eh? Is that the broadcast of High School baseball?”

“Yup. I don’t really understand baseball well, so I thought of using the audio broadcast to increase my knowledge of baseball.”

“Increase knowledge of baseball? Takahashi-sensei, you’re really serious.”

“I have to learn more about things I don’t know.”

“I guess so. I have to work harder…”

“Let’s work hard together then.”

“Ah, speaking of what I don’t know, there’s something I don’t know if it’s related to baseball…”

“What is it?”

“Sensei, do you know what the meaning of ‘squeeze’ is? Before I came here, Akihisa-kun and Sakamoto-kun were discussing about this, so I’m somewhat puzzled. Even though I could check it…”

“No, it’s better to check things through before you forget. It’s important to have this attitude when learning.”

“Thank you for reminding me.”

“Well, as for squeeze…”

(Squeeze: The runner at third base works together with the batter. The batter will bunt to let the runner run back home to allow him to score.)

“I’m not really sure…but from the sound of it—it should be similar to a ‘school swimsuit’.”

“Ah, I see. So that’s how it is. Thank you sensei.”

“Dai-Nippon High decided to hit a squeeze at this moment, and that hit was beautiful.”

“That’s right, number 7, Yamane Kensaburo-kun just hit a beautiful bunt to score.”

““…””

“Sensei, do people have to wear swimsuits when play high school baseball?”

“Maybe that’s a custom when play in some hotter areas.”

“—Will the class representative of the overall winner, class 3-D please stand up?”

“Yes.”

As the summoning tournament ended, the sports meet was ended with a class relay race. After that, it was the closing ceremony. We lined up at the sports hall in line and watch the winners go up the stage one by one.

On a side note, our class managed to get 4th in level, and 13th overall. We were performing really well up till then, but we didn’t get any points for the borrowing race. We can only perform well in this beside exams, so to us class F, this isn’t something we’re happy about.

“Students-vs-teachers summoned beast baseball exchange game. The winning team is, class 2-F.”

(Now we can get back out precious!)

(The principal promised it herself! We’ll get them back!)

Though our overall ranking was bad, everyone whispered happily. The Ero-bo—no, the let me repeat that, the important reference books will be returned to us! How can we not be happy?

“—And that’ll be the end of Fumitzuki Gakuen’s sports meet.”

The winners of each event said a few words, and the principal ended her speech. Now, we managed to finish this sports meet. While the other classes are preparing to go home, our class immediately gathered around Ironman.

“Alright, now we can get our treasures back!”

“MY DVD! MY PHOTO ALBUMS! MY PHOTO!”

“MY BIBLE (ERO-BOOK)! MY TREASURES (ERO-BOOK)! MY REFERENCE BOOKS (ERO-BOOK)!”

Ironman could only sigh as we continued to create a ruckus.

“…Well, a deal’s a deal. I’ll return those confiscated items to you.”

<big>“““YAY~ BANZAI~!!!”””</big>

“Alright, write down your confiscated items and your name here. I’ll sort them out in one or two days and return them back to you.”

<big>“““YES~ !!!”””</big>

Our class would only answer obediently at this moment. Ironman passed a white piece of paper to us for us to write down our names and the confiscated items. I guess Yuuji will write a certain wedding item that doesn’t match his gruff appearance at all and return it to Kirishima-san.

“Ero book ero book ero book …!”

“Photo album photo album photo album …!”

“Pillow pillow pillow…!”

The muttering of desires can be heard.

I don’t really mind, but after seeing this group of classmate writing things like ‘let the erotic onee-san *beep* you and then *beep**beep**beep* you ☆‘, I had to wonder, how does the world view us?

As we basked in the happy atmosphere, we started writing our names and our confiscated items on the paper. Ironman looked wry as he kept the whole pile of papers in a plastic bag and tucks it underneath his armpit.

“Alright. Those with the confiscated items on the paper, I’ll send them over in the next few days through ‘mail’.”

Ironman’s words made us unable to react for a while.

Eh…? Ma…il…

“The recipient will be your parents or guardians. Everyone, wait till that package arrives.”

Mail? Guaridan? Is, isn’t that…

<big>“““HAAAAAAA!!!?”””</big>

Would that mean that he’ll send my Ero-Books to my sister? WHA, WHAT ARE YOU DOING? THIS DEVIL! DEMON! IRONMAN!!

“You guys did well, and the overseas guests were satisfied. Even the principal was happy that she agreed to return them back to you.”

THAT’S NOT GOOD AT ALL! IF SHE WERE IN A GOOD MOOD, SHE WOULD SEND IT OVER TO US, RIGHT!?

“Also, the principal had a few words for you. ‘The school will return the confiscated items to you, but whether those things are suitable for you, I’ll let the guardians deal with that’.”

<big>“““THAT, THAT DAMNED OLD GRANNY—!!”””</big>

DAMN IT, IF THAT’S THE CASE, SHE MIGHT AS WELL NOT RETURN THEM TO US! IF THOSE THINGS ARE GOING TO BE DISCOVERED, I’LL GET A TANTRUM THROWN AT ME, AND MY THINGS WILL BE THROWN AWAY MERCILESSLY! THAT’S DOUBLE PUNISHMENT!!”

“Hau…that’s really bad… In this case, mommy will see my hug pillow…”

“Me too. What should I do…if I tell that it wasn’t a pillow but a little sandbag, maybe I can let it slip by…”

“San (third)…? I see…Minami-chan, it’s your third time too…. Actually, if I get discovered now it’ll be my the third time too…”

“Hold on, Mizuki. Don’t drag me into your world!”

Himeji-san and Minami look really dejected. It seems that their confiscated things are something they don’t want to show to their parents. Some kind of hug pillows, were it?

“Okay, end of Homeroom. Hurry up and go back, and don’t go somewhere else to play.”

“““Ah.”””

Because we could take back this decision, Ironman already turned to walk to the school building.

Uu…it’s over…since that happened…

“EVERYONE! AT THIS POINT, WE CAN ONLY RAID THE STAFF ROOM!!”

“WELL SAID, YOSHII! I WAS THINKING ABOUT THAT!”

“ME TOO! SEEMS LIKE WE THINK ALIKE!”

For our glorious tomorrow, we started planning our action.

<center>☆</center>

“—That’s how it is. Sakamoto-kun seemed to be mistaken.”

“…Mn, thank you for telling me that, Mizuki.”

“No need to thank me. I didn’t do anything.”

“…No, you really helped me out. Because Yuuji, he wouldn’t listen to my explanation no matter what.”

“That’s true. Sakamoto-kun really won’t understand or find any excuses.”

“…Yuuji’s really useless at that.”

“But he really thinks fast at other things. That’s so weird.”

“…Mn.”

“…But Shouko-chan. Sakamoto-kun would apologize to you even if he won’t explain to you. At that moment—”

“…Mn. I’ll thank Yuu—”

“No, I’m not talking about that. Shouko-chan, you must pretend that nothing happened.”

“…Hm? Why?”

“Listen. Shouko-chan, you must pretend that nothing happened at that time—”

“…Mn.”

“Then, as proof of your apology, kiss him!”

“Eh!”

“? Shouko-chan, what’s wrong?”

“…I’m alright.”

“…I’m alright.”

“I see.”

“…Well, you feel like a strategist…”

“That’s not true. It’s normal to think this way.”

“…Then, Mizuki will find a chance to do that to Yoshii?”

“…”

“…Mizuki?”

“No, we, well…I just naturally proposed that idea from a third person’s view, but my mind will go blank once it happens on me, and I can’t say anything…”

“…That’s really like Mizuki.”

“I, I don’t really mind. It’s really a rare chance right now. Shouko-chan, you must do your best!”

“…Mn. I’ll do my best.”

“Shouko-chan…are you nervous?”

“…A little.”

[[Image:BTS vol 07 351.jpg|thumb]]

<noinclude>
{{BakaTest Nav|prev=Baka to Tesuto to Syokanju:Volume7 The Seventh Question|next=Baka to Tesuto to Syokanju:Volume7 Author Notes}}
</noinclude>

Baka to Tesuto to Syokanju:Volume7 The Eighth Question

2011-10-01T18:55:57Z

95.26.174.84:

==The Eighth Question==

Please read the following passage and choose the wrong conclusion from the brackets.

:Jim and Della were a young couple. Even though they're poor, they still loved each other.
:Jim had a gift with him. It's the golden watch that's passed down from his family. And Della's treasure was the beautiful hair of hers.
:Christmas was about to arrive, and Della wanted to buy a gift for her beloved husband. She cut off her beautiful hair willingly and sold it to the wig shop. She used the money she earned from the sale to buy a platinum locket for Jim to hang on his golden watch.
:When Jim returned back home, he saw Della with her hair cut off...he wasn't angry, shocked, unhappy nor afraid, but felt complicated as the gift he bought for Della was that beautiful haircomb Della always wanted.[http://www.baka-tsuki.org/project/index.php?title=Baka_to_Tesuto_to_Syokanju:Volume7_Translation_Notes_and_References]

:(1) Because Della couldn't use the item he bought for her.
:(2) Because he felt happy about understanding Della's feelings for him.
:(3) Because the originally beautiful Della looked ugly now that her hair was cut, and Jim felt that it was a pity.
:(4) Because Jim already sold the golden watch, and the gift Della bought for him couldn't be used anymore.

'''Kirishima Shouko's answer:

(3)

'''Teacher's comment'''

That's correct. This is a famous story about Christmas. The gifts both husband and wife got for each other couldn't be used, but they understood each other's feelings for each other. It's a heartwarming story, and sensei hope that the students can have their own wonderful families in the future.

'''Kudou Aiko's comment'''

(3) *Short hair's rather cute too!

'''Teacher's comment'''

The answer's correct, but sensei feels that your understanding seem to be a little off.

Either way, the question stated to 'note the wrong conclusion', so (3) is the correct answer.

'''Sugawa Ryo's answer'''

(Ku)risumasu' (Christmas) supposed to be the celebration of Jesus Christ's birth. THIS STORY IS DAMN WRONG FOR HAVING MAN AND WOMAN EXCHANGE IN SOME SICKLY AND ICKY SWEET EMOTIONAL EXCHANGE!!

'''Teacher's comment'''

There's no such thing as option (Ku).

“ALRIGHT EVERYONE! LISTEN UP! WE HAVE ONLY TWO CHANCES TO COUNTERATTACK! WE HAVE TO GET THE POINTS AND OUR TREASURES BACK!”

“““OOOHHHHH!!!”””

“WE MAY LOSE TO THEM IN SCORES, BUT OUR ATHLETIC ABILITIES DEFINITELY WON’T LOSE! WE MUST LET THEM SEE THE ABILITY OF US YOUTH!

“““OOOHHHHH!!!”””

“WE’RE GOING ALL OUT FROM NOW ON! SO…PLEASE ASSIST ME A MUCH AS YOU CAN! WE’RE GOING TO GET OUR TREASURES BACK! OUR MOTTO IS—”

“““GET BACK ERO-BOOK!!!”””

“TIME TO COUNTERATTACK! LET’S DO IT, GUYS!!”

“““LEAVE IT TO US!!!”””

As Yuuji rallied everyone like usual, everyone got pumped. That Yuuji finally did what he had to do. Seems like he’s finally ready to bring on his real ability.

“KONDOU, YOKOMIZO, HIDEYOSHI!”

Yuuji called out the first, second and third batter, and the three people that were called out walked to Yuuji in unison.

“It’s time to carry out the plan. You guys know that we can’t win if we keep this up. Even if we managed to get a base on balls or hit by pitch, it’s unlikely that we’ll get any points from them.”

We managed to defend quite well just now, but our offense is rather pitiful. Yuuji’s right. Even if we manage to get on base somehow, we can’t guarantee that we will be able to get any points from them.

“So right now, we can only bank everything on this plan. I want you people to drag the time on as much as you can.”

“Mn, I got it.”

“For our Ero—for the sake of our reference books, I will think of something no longer how much time I have to drag on.”

“But we can’t fail this time.”

All 3 of them nod their heads and agreed to take part in this operation. It’s a rare chance for them to step up, so of course they wish to have an outstanding performance, so they agreed to the delaying tactic. Every time this happens, I always feel that they’re members of class F.

“Ero book, ero boo, ero book…”

“Pillow, swimsuit photo, bathroom curtain…”

…They’re really members of F class…

“PLAY!”

The batter will try to delay the game without breaking the rules as each of them entered the batter’s bunting position. It seems like he wants to get a foul ball to waste more time.

“Are you ready, Yuuji?”

“Of course. I already gave instructions to those guys. Now we just need to wait for the time to arrive.”

“Is that so? Then we can only pray for the three of them to delay time as much as possible.”

“Yeah.”

I exchanged words with Yuuji as I prayed earnestly inside while looking at the situation on the field. Our opponents are the teachers. I don’t even know whether we can even delay some time.

“STRIKE! BATTER OUT!”

“Ku…!”

After recovering, I found that Kondou-kun was forced into a tight spot. Even after hanging on for so long, he finally took 3 strikes.

The next batter Yokomizo-kun went all out to fight, but the opponent landed some perfect fastballs in some nice locations, and he got struck out as well. Hideyoshi’s the only batter left in this inning.

But, our chance—still hasn’t arrived yet.

“It guess it’s about time…”

“Just a little bit. It’ll begin in just a while. Do your best, Hideyoshi…”

“FOUL BALL!”

Just when we were discussing this, the match continued. Hideyoshi continued to swung the bat to try and hit the fastball the teacher pitched.

Right now, the time on the school wall is 2.28pm. it feels like time just went by so slowly because there’s no second hand.

“Damn it. If only that teacher pitched 4 balls…”

“Based on that teacher’s personality, I think he’ll pitch rather carefully.”

The pitcher for this inning is the English Writing teacher Yamada-sensei. Though the pitches he threw weren’t so fast that we couldn’t react, his control is rather good. Looking at this, I don’t think we can expect a 4 balls walk.

“Can’t we hit it out?”

“Well, we can’t possibly hit it far. Besides, the shortstop and second baseman are that Terai and Ooshima.”

One is Terai-sensei who’s young and played baseball before, and the other is the health and physical education teacher Ooshima-sensei. We can’t possibly beat them with our abilities even if we do our best. Besides, the opponent can’t possibly throw four balls, so we can only pray for Hideyoshi to do his best and hang on…

“FOUL BALL!”

I don’t know how many foul balls has it been now, and right now, It’s 1 ball and 2 strikes. While the opponent can throw a ball, we can’t allow any mistakes here. However, with the teacher throwing that many pitches, Hideyoshi’s concentration should be at his limit.

“Not yet, not yet…”

“Hang in there, please, Hideyoshi…”

I can feel these anxious emotions climbing up our backs, but as we are only watching the match, the only thing we can do is to pray.

KLANG!

“FOUL!”

Every time the ball was pitched, cold sweat would break out of my back. Looking at how things stand now, it won’t be weird for Hideyoshi to be out at this point.

The palm of my tightly clenched fist is filled with sweat as I bend my upper body on the bench, earnestly waiting for the time to arrive fast.

“…It’s here.”

Suddenly, Muttsurini muttered.

“Uu!!”

Yuuji felt jumpy and turned around, looking at the loudspeaker hanging on the school building.

“...Zzu…zu…”

Some static could be heard from the loudspeaker as the sharp sounds reached our ears.

“IS IT HERE?”

Yuuji shouted out in excitement.

The next second, the audio broadcast could be heard throughout the entire sports arena.

“Right now, there will be a borrowing race in the center sports hall. All participants, please head to the designated area—”

<big>“““IT’S HERE—!!!”””</big>

Everyone cried out in unison.

After that, Hideyoshi was thrown out and finally ruled to be out. Now, it’ll be a switchover, but even so…we achieved our objective!

“Yare yare…looks like I managed to succeed.”

“Ahh! Hideyoshi! Nice going! Nice job too, Kondou and Yokomizo!”

Patting Hideyoshi’s shoulder as he returned to the bench, Yuuji looked extremely happy. We were waiting for this moment!

“Eh? What’s wrong with them? We got 3 outs on them, yet they look so happy.”

“Uu, who knows.”

“Those guys must be planning something.”

Several teachers feel amazed by our reaction. It’s true that our attack ended, but this is a trap for our next inning. We focused on the last inning, and we have to use that inning to get our final victory!

“Yoshii, Sakamoto. I don’t know what you’re happy about, but hurry up and get on field to defend!”

Ironman walked to our noisy bench and prompted us to hurry up and get ready.

“We know, but just wait.”

“? Wait for what?”

“You’ll see. I think they’ll be here soon.”

I smiled to Ironman who doesn’t understand anything and looked around. As expected, a few people are running over to us. They’re here! Our class F classmates!”

“What are those guys doing? Why are they rushing so fast—”

Ironman stared at the 3 students who came running here and can’t help but have a question mark above his head. At this moment, those students shouted at the supervising teachers who are on the baseball field.

“Endou-sensei! We’re having a borrowing race! Sorry, but please come along with us!”

“Eh? But I have to be in charge of the match here!”

“Just come along with us!”

“But—”

“It’s useless to talk further! An ordinary event’s much more important than the baseball tournament!”

“““—u?”””

I can see several teachers widening their eyes in shock. That’s right, this event was planned beforehand. This baseball match’s just used as a good chance to get along, and the other events are of priority.

“Ah, well…sorry senseis. I have to go first.”

“Hurry up, sensei!”

The teacher in charge of supervision in this match, Endou-sensei, got dragged by the hand.

“This can’t be helped. The teachers on the bench will have to—”

“Funakoshi-sensei! Please come along with us!”

“Takenaka-sensei, please!”

The other two teachers on the bench were called up, and the ones who called them were our F class members as well. With that, the teachers have no more additional help.

“Sakamoto, that’s your plan, right?”

“Well, what do you think?”

“Stop messing around. Weren’t the people who came over all F class people?”

“Haha, that’s a coincidence, right?”

Of course it’s not. After knowing the lineup of the teachers, Yuuji already requested our classmates to borrow a few teachers away. I guess the paper they drew should be something completely different from what they needed to borrow.

“Ironman, there’s no other teachers left now, you know.”

“Can’t be helped. I’ll just have to ask the teachers in the previous few innings.”

“That’ll be against the rules. The rules were already decided that the ‘same subject can’t be used twice’. Didn’t you forget?”

“Then what do you want me to do? There’s no more teachers who can act as supervisor, and we can’t use any teachers who’ve supervised the previous few subjects. Are you planning on making us compete with 8 players?”

Ironman’s sharp eyes brush past our faces. He must have thought that we will use this to render the match useless. No no, who’ll do such a bothersome thing? Besides, we won’t get any benefit if that’s the case.

“I—Nishimura-sensei, there are other subjects that can be used to decide this, isn’t it?”

“What are you saying, Yoshii. The teachers who were able to supervise were taken away.”

“No. What I mean is that even if the supervising teachers were taken away, there’s another subject that can allow us to continue playing.”

This is the plan Yuuji thought of in the beginning. Using the sports meet exchange match’s programmed rules to let us continue this match, a way for us to win.

“For the 5th inning, we’ll use physical education—we’ll win with our real ability!”

We’re not deciding this through marks, but using our own bodies. Physical education is able another subject the students need to learn. We’ll use this real baseball match to thoroughly crush the teachers.

“Alright, everyone. Put on your gloves! The 5th inning’s not going to be easy!”

Yuuji stretched his arm out and pointed at the gloves we borrowed from the baseball club beforehand.

Thus, it’s now the final inning. This is the only teachers-vs-students exchange match, and it will now begin for real.

<center>☆</center>

“ALRIGHT! TIME TO BRING OUR ALL TO THE FIELD!”

“““UOOHHHH!!!”””

Again, I’m the pitcher now, and Yuuji returned back to being the catcher. Our opponent this time is the seventh batter Hasegawa-sensei who’s on for the second time. I was really scared until a while back, but at this moment, I don’t feel afraid at all.

(Outside corner, high, curve.)

I pitch the ball according to Yuuji’s direction. Although my pitching ability’s only at recreational level, but it’s enough to deal with the teachers who aren’t athletic enough!

“Uu…”

“STRIKE!”

Hasegawa-sensei just stood there blankly as the ball just flew into the catcher’s glove. With that, we managed to take the lead in the ballcount.

(Keep low. Straight.)

Nodding my head slightly, I pitched it down and middle. Now, I’ve already forced Hasegawa-sensei into a tight corner.

(Inside corner. Low. Slow ball.)

This is a feisty ball from Yuuji. I smirk slightly and pitch a slow ball as according to his instruction.

“Oh, oh my.”

Completely missing the timing of the slow ball, Hasegawa-sensei bent low but missed the swing.

“STRIKEOUT!”

We dealt with one. Now the next batter’s Ujiie-sensei, and after that, it’s Yamada-sensei.

Yuuji and I mixed slow balls and changeups to mess around the opponent’s batting. This unkind mix dealt with Ujiie-sensei and Yamada-sensei well.

“BATTER OUT! CHANGE!”

The umpire called for a change over.

“Good thing we weren’t facing Ironman or Ooshima-sensei.”

“Yeah.”

I returned back to the rest area and exchanged a few words with Hideyoshi nearby. Good thing we weren’t facing Ironman or Ooshima-sensei. In a real match. Those two will definitely be the people we need to watch out for.

“Actually, I really wished that we could borrow them in the borrowing race.”

“Let’s not talk about the kind Endou-sensei. It won’t be that easy to borrow Ironman and Ooshima-sensei.”

Hideyoshi’s right. Those two won’t let us drag them away so easily. Maybe they might even ask to see the content of the paper. If that happened, our lies will be seen through. We would end up revealing the content of the papers if we asked too much, and that’ll be adding insult to injury. So we have to play just a little risk.

“It seems that Ironman and Ooshima-sensei still don’t trust us.”

“After doing so many stupid things, it’s no wonder they won’t believe us.”

We returned to the bench while talking.

After the outfielders all returned, Yuuji looked around at everyone and finally spoke up,

“Alright…now, it’s our last chance to attack.”

Right now, the score’s 0-1. It’s now the bottom half of the last inning. This is our last attack.

“It’s not enough to get a point. We’ll lose if we can’t get a turnaround in this inning. We don’t have a chance of winning in extra innings.”

If we get into extra innings, the teachers who were taken away for the borrowing race will come back. At that time, we’ll go back to deciding this match using scores. At that point, our chances of winning will become zero.

“This inning is the time when we have to show off our real ability. No matter what, we have to get 2 points. LISTEN UP, YOU GUYS! WE ABSOLUTELY HAVE TO WIN THIS MATCH!!!”

“““OOHHHH!!!”””

Our morale’s really strong, so strong that we can see the light of victory. Now, we can only progress on.

However, at this moment—

“If that’s the case, can I switch out with Tsuchiya?”

“Eh?”

“As the first batter of this inning, Minami suddenly made this request. Switch out? What does she want to do?

“What’s wrong, Minami? Don’t you have any confidence?”

“Mn, one reason is that I don’t have the confidence. Either way, I can’t possibly play baseball as well as guys. A girl’s physical abilities can’t match a guy, and I’m not so experienced with baseball after all.”

“I see…girls don’t really get involved in baseball often.”

As compared to us who often skip class to play baseball, Minami’s experience with baseball is really minimal. However, I don’t think she would lose to anyone of us in terms of athletic ability…

“So I want to switch with Tsuchiya. Tsuchiya would definitely perform better than me. And besides—”

“Besides?”

“Besides, in moments like this, a guy showing his best in baseball looks really cool, doesn’t he?”

While saying that, Minami smiled happily.

Minami really looked cute for saying this. Though she did all sorts of terrifying things in front of us, but maybe she has the heart of a girl more than anyone. That idea suddenly popped up in me.

“…I’m going.”

Muttsurini picked the bat up and walked towards home plate. After indicating to the umpire that he wanted to exchange places with Minami, he entered the batter’s box.

“PLAY!”

The umpire called for the bottom half of the 5th inning to begin. The batter’s Muttsurini, and the pitcher we’re going up against is the P.E. teacher Ooshima-sensei.

“Ironman’s the catcher…seems like they’re wary of us making a close play.”

“Well, we were the ones who said that we wanted to take revenge.”

Most likely, they’re afraid that once we hit the ball, the baserunner running to first base will collide with the catcher. If Ironman’s the one blocking main base, we’ll be blocked by him or even sent flying away no matter how hard we ram in. We have no chance of winning if we ram into the catcher.

Ooshima-sensei pitched the first ball rather forcefully as the arm swung down. The ball zipped through the wind and flew into the glove.

“…uu (PANK!)”

“STRIKE!”

Muttsurini swung the ball below the ball and missed. If he swung it below the ball, it means that the opponent’s pitch was a lot faster than he thought. As expected of Ooshima-sensei. He’s really a P.E teacher.”

“…(su)”

Muttsurini readied his bat again. Ooshima-sensei and Ironman spent some time with the signal, and the second pitch was thrown.

This pitch seems to be flying at a fastball speed, but it glided sideways at the last second. Is that…a slider!? It’s just a teachers-vs-students exchange match. What sort of ball was he pitching! That’s not like what a mature adult would do!”

“STRIKE!”

Muttsurini missed the second swing. Now, it’s two strikes, and he’s trapped now.

“Nice pitching, Ooshima-sensei.”

Ironman threw the ball back at Ooshima-sensei as he said that. Right now, Muttsurini’s staring at Ooshima-sensei’s wrist as he gets ready to bat.

Ooshima-sensei pitched a curveball this time. Will Muttsurini be struck out?

“BALL!”

The umpire decided that this was a ball. Looking at where Ironman was putting his glove at, I thought it would be a strike again….it seems like Ooshima-sensei’s control isn’t that good.

Ooshima-sensei swung his arm and pitched the fourth ball. This ball…will he hit it…!?

“…GO…!”

The ball flew by the pitcher and rolled to third base. Hasegawa-sensei’s guarding third base, and I never heard that he’s athletic. There should be no problems.

“Oh, oh my.”

After picking up the ball, Hasegawa-sensei hurriedly threw to first base, but Muttsurini already passed first base before the ball even reached there.

“SAFE!”

“““WOOOOOHHHH—!!”””

Nice! Now we have the tying run on base. Now, it’s no man out, one man on first base, and the next batter is—

“I’LL FOLLOW TSUCHIYA AND GET ON BASE!”

The leader of the FFF—Sugawa-kun.

Sugawa-kun grabbed the bat with swagger and waits for the ball. Ooshima-sensei pitched a straight fastball at Sugawa-kun.

“…Gu…!”

“STRIKE!”

Sugawa-kun just stood there with wide eyes. He probably never expected Ooshima-sensei’s pitch to be that amazing.

Ooshima-sensei then pitched a few more fastballs, and Sugawa-kun missed. After going off, Fukumura-kun went past him and entered the batter’s box.

“…That was fast. Watch out there.”

“Mn, I got it.”

Having returned to the bench, Sugawa-kun reminded me. I have never seen Sugawa-kun look so serious, even though it was for the ero-books.

“Ku…!”

Fukumura-kun swung the bat, and the ball rolled up to the front of the pitcher. It seems like his swing lost to the power of the pitch.

Ooshima-sensei quickly picked the ball up, checked the condition at second base, and saw that the agile Muttsurini was about to reach second base with several centimeters left.

Giving up on second base, Ooshima-sensei then coolly passed to first base to throw Fukumura-kun off. Right now, it’s 2 men out with the runner on second base.

Finally, it’s time for the next batter, and I stepped up.

“Ak. The timing’s really great. You’ll be the hero if you can knock that out!”

“Well, please do your best, Akihisa-kun! I’ll be cheering for you here!”

The two girls in our class cheered for me energetically. Of course, I’m really happy that they would encourage me, and I hope to perform well now. However—

“Thanks. I don’t know if I can live up to your expectations, but I’ll do my best.”

Anyway, I can only answer like this, and I turn around and head to the batter’s box.

“So you’re the batter, Yoshii. Seems like things just got interesting.”

The catcher Ironman said that to me as I entered the batter’s box.

Yeah. I feel that this is really interesting.

“Yup. If I can get a base hit, we’ll catch up, and I’ll be the hero of our class.”

“Those girls just cheered for you, right? I know that you want to hit it out—but as a teacher, I have a pride that won’t allow me to lose. I won’t let you hit it out like that.”

“I never expected you to give me any leeway anyway.”

I answered Ironman and raised the bat.

Ooshima-sensei already got ready to pitch the ball. After that, the pitch from Ooshima-sensei flew by me and landed directly into Ironman’s glove.

“BALL!”

The first ball was a ball. It didn’t land into the strikezone well. Maybe he’s wary of me.

“I thought that you would swing at the first pitch.”

“Because you thought that I would try to act cool in front of the girls?”

“Mn, you can say that.”

Ironman pitched the ball back to Ooshima-sensei. I twist my neck lightly and stamp on the ground below me lightly to flatten the red dirt ground lightly and hold the bat in my hand tightly.

Ooshima-sensei checked that Muttsurini’s still at second base, and then pitched the ball at me. It’s a fastball this time, low at the strikezone.

“STRIKE!”

I silently let this ball fly past. Seeing me like this, Ironman seem to feel that something’s not right. It seems like he’s thinking that I’m thinking something bad again.

After checking Ironman’s signal and the position of the glove, Ooshima-sensei threw the third pitch.

“BALL!”

Facing the third pitch, I still had no intention of swinging the bat. This time, the ball felt like it was outside the strikezone. It seems like they’re becoming more wary of me now.

“What’s wrong, Yoshii? Not going to hit?”

“Yeah. Well, how should I put it…I have a lot of ideas in my mind.”

I deliberately made such a taunting tone to make Ironman more wary of me.

I don’t know what Ironman’s feeling now, but I can feel that Ironman just moved the glove slightly behind me.

“BALL!”

Another ball. Now it’s 3 balls and one strike. Right now, the opponent can only fight it out with me.

“…”

Ironman adjusted the glove for the fifth pitch, and I silently grip the bat for Ooshima-sensei’s pitch.

The ball went nicely down the middle to the strikezone. Unlike the four powerful pitches before, this pitch focuses on control instead. I don’t think it’s a curveball, so it’s time to swing the bat. Facing this ball, I have confidence that I can hit this half the time. But…

“STRIKE!”

I still didn’t swing the bat. Though I am confident that I can hit the ball half the time, it means that I will miss half the time.

“Is that really alright, Yoshii? Don’t you want to be the hero to tie this ball game?”

“No, I do want to be the hero.”

Seeing that I let the ball slip by, Ironman looked really intrigued and couldn’t help but say that to me. To him, it seems that I don’t want to knock a base hit. Well, it’s no wonder he would think that way when I didn’t hit that ball just now.

As I hold the bat to a short position, the sixth pitch immediately came to me. Like the pitch just now, this pitch focused on control as it landed into a nice center position. At this moment, I can’t let any ball pass by me.

KLANG! I swing the bat to let out a nice crisp and light sound, and the ball rolled out of first base.

“FOUL!”

Right now, it’s 2 strikes and 3 balls.

“…Are you waiting for a base on balls? That’s a passive way of thinking.”

“Ah, no. I don’t mean that—”

“Humph. Stop lying. From the way you swung the bat, even an idiot can tell what you’re thinking.”

Having seen me swing the bat, Ironman muttered. He’s right, I am aiming for a base on balls. I intend to hit all the pitches into foul territory until the final ball comes.

“It’s rare to have such a chance, and yet you want to waste it.”

“Well…actually, I was thinking the same way…”

KLANG!

“FOUL!”

The seventh pitch was a foul ball as well. Ooshima-sensei should be irriated by now?

“But since it’s a rare since, I want to repay what I borrowed.”

“Repay? What do you mean?”

KLANG!

“FOUL!”

“Uu…how should I say it? I’m really troubled. I bet everything on such an important match, yet I didn’t accomplish anything before this thing ends.”

“Hm? What are you saying?”

“I can only wish that others can finish off this wish that I would never give up on. Should I be depressed, or angry, or is it an inexplicable feeling…”

“I have no idea what you’re trying to say here.”

KLANG!

“FOUL!”

I hit the ball aside, and it grazed past the grass.

I grip my bat again, and watch the opponent pitch the ball.

“I don’t know how to express it, but anyway—”

“Anyway? What are you trying to say?”

The ball zipped past the outside corner.

I didn’t swing the bat this time, but casually answered Ironman’s question.

“—I’M JUST UNHAPPY THAT I’M NOT THE MAIN CHARACTER TODAY!”

“BALL! BASE ON BALLS!”

Ooshima-sensei’s concentration was finally worn out by me and finally lost control. Now I can get onto first base.

“Speaking of which, sensei. Is that really alright?”

“What?”

“If you really want to fight it out with us, you would send me and Yuuji onto base, and focus on Himeji-san, right?”

Ironman faced off against me. If that’s the case, he would be going up against Yuuji too. If the teachers wants to win this game without worry, they would focus on Himeji-san who’s after that.

On hearing me say this, Ironman remained silent, and suddenly burst out laughing.

“WHAT ARE YOU SAYING, YOSHII!? LISTEN UP—”

Ironman pointed at me and said it clearly to me.

“We teachers have to be role models for you students. If we can’t face you all head on, what can we teach you!”

Now that he mentioned it, I can’t say anything for a while. This teacher’s always giving us corporal punishment, so why didn’t anyone sue him to the educational committee. At this moment, I seem to understand the reason.

Our conversation came to an end. I turn around to look at the batter, Yuuji. Yuuji’s staring back at me.

“I paid you back for the test of courage, Yuuji.”

“…Stop joking around. Don’t think you owe me just that.”

I passed my bat to Yuuji, who gripped it tight. Alright, now I’m a runner at first base, and now I can only leave everything to Yuuji.

“I’ll leave the rest to you then.”

“Got it. I’ll hit the ball out.”

I nod hard at his forceful reply and turn to walk towards first base.

Our class F just needs to catch up by one point. Right now, it’s two men out and runners on first and second. If Yuuji can hit a long ball, we can win with a base hit, but if only one person returns to first base, we’ll definitely lose in extra innings. This is an easy to understand situation.

Right now, my body’s stiff straight due to the tension, and I can only stand at first base and watch the duel between the pitcher and batter. Once the ball gets hit, I have to run with all I got. If I can get to home plate, it’ll be our F class win.

After Ooshima-sensei checked the runners at first and second, they got ready to pitch.

The first pitch left Ooshima-sensei’s hand.

“ST—STRIKE!!”

The signal of the strike rang throughout the entire arena. The way I see it, this ball was really fast. The fatigue of the full count off was still there, but Ooshima-sensei just pitched it as it were nothing. It was strong as ever, and no wonder Muttsurini was only about to hit a short ball.

Ironman threw the ball back at Ooshima-sensei. Both of them decided on the next pitch, and Ooshima-sensei again got ready to pitch.

“BALL!”

This time, it’s a low ball. Yuuji didn’t swing as he just let that fly by. Right now, it’s 1 ball 1 strike.

Everyone can only swallow their saliva and wait for this crucial third pitch.

Ooshima-sensei rested his right hand on his shirt and wipes off the sweat.

Yuuji focuses his weight on the back foot, seemingly storing energy so that he can launch a hard one here.

Ooshima-sensei tilted his body forward and forcefully swung the ball.

That was a fastball that came right at the batter.

Swinging the back foot that’s acting as the center of gravity, Yuuji spins his body and swungs the bat hard.

--KLANG!

The crisp sound echoed throughout the arena.

““—u!!””

At that moment, Muttsurini and I used all our strength to sprint to the next base.

[[Image:BTS vol 07 339.jpg|thumb]]

The ball landed right in front of the center fielder, and the center fielder who’s rather far out ran front to get that bouncing ball.

Muttsurini, who was on second base, quickly stepped onto third base and ran to home. And I stepped onto second base and ran to third.

I can feel the teacher in charge of center field picking up the ball.

“Ooshima-sensei!”

What entered my ears was the voice of a young teacher. Terai-sensei picked the ball up and quickly passed the ball to Ooshima-sensei who’s in the middle.

At that moment, Muttsurini stepped onto first base. It’s now 1-1. We’re even!

The third base coach told me to stop.

This instruction is correct. Besides, I won’t make it if I continue to run. But even so—

“““YOSHII!!”””

I stepped onto third base and continued running to home.

Now’s the time. I have to get onto home plate!

I frantically try to run on the arena. I’m almost there. There’s just 5 m left.

At this moment, Ironman caught the ball from Ooshima-sensei. He’s blocking me as I continue to run to first base, spreading himself defensively to block me in a melee brawl. As we collide, if the ball dropped out from Ironman’s glove, I’ll win. However, Ironman will win if I get blocked completely.

“—Uu!”

I grit my teeth and lowered my body as I get ready to crash in. Like me, Ironman immediately lowered his center of gravity to block me.

At this moment,

“—U!”

I tilt my body aside and spin around Ironman.

“Uu? Ku—!”

Trying to block my impact and lowering his center of gravity, Ironman couldn’t catch up to my unexpected action. As his body slowed down by half a step, I fall forward and reach my hand out to home plate.

The dust scattered, and everyone present couldn’t half but hold their breaths.

And then, the umpire loudly declared the outcome of this game.

“—SAFE!!!”

<big>“““YYYYYYYYYEEEESSSSSSS!!!”””</big>

Everyone in F class jumped up from the bench and let out delighted cries.

“…Nice going, Yoshii.”

Pa Pa. Ironman patted the dust of his shirt and said that to me.

“Because I thought that it could work?”

“It could work? Even if I were the opponent?”

“No, since I’m going up against Nishimura-sensei, I felt that it could work. Didn’t sensei tell me that?”

I impishly imitated Ironman’s tone,

“‘We teachers have to be role models for you students. If we can’t face you all head on, what can we teach you!’”

As I understood Ironman’s personality, I felt that it could work. Because he’s one that will honestly block me head on, so I felt that this bypass plan could work.

On hearing me explain that, Ironman couldn’t help but widen his eyes, and then responds happily,

“I see. If that’s the case, I have to change my attitude on you next time.”

“THE TEACHERS-VS-STUDENTS MATCH BETWEEN CLASS 2-F AND THE TEACHERS ENDED! FINAL SCORE’S 2-1. CLASS 2-F WIN!”

“““THANK YOU FOR THE MATCH!!”””

Finally, the baseball tournament that belonged to us ended.

<noinclude>
{{BakaTest Nav|prev=Baka to Tesuto to Syokanju:Volume7 The Seventh Question|next=Baka to Tesuto to Syokanju:Volume7 The Final Question}}
</noinclude>

Baka to Tesuto to Syokanju:Volume7 The Fifth Question

2011-10-01T18:43:01Z

95.26.174.84:

==The Fifth Question==

Remember these baseball rules!

Yuuji: “So that's how it is. Since Himeji doesn't understand baseball, we will do a simple explanation of the rules.”

Akihisa: “We're normally the ones being taught, to think that it'll be the other way around.”

Mizuki: “Ple, please teach me well.”

Yuuji: “Now, we're going to explain the foul called '[http://www.baka-tsuki.org/project/index.php?title=Baka_to_Tesuto_to_Syokanju:Volume7_Translation_Notes_and_References balk]'.”

Mizuki: “Balk...is it?”

Yuuji: “That's right. This is a foul when the pitcher's pitching.”

Mizuki: “A foul? What is it about?”

Akihisa: “For example, when the pitcher's steps on the rubber to pick off the baserunner in place but didn't throw the ball out.”

Yuuji: “Or throwing a pickoff while the toes are facing the batter.”

Akihisa: “And there's also the 2-part pitching stance—stopping midway throwing the pitching motion, even if it's a little bit, these are all fouls.”

Mizuki: “Let me see, pointing the toes at the batter yet throwing a pickoff, and the 2-part pitching stance...”

Yuuji: “Anyway, it's not okay as long as the pitcher does something to hassle the batter or make the batter misunderstand.”

Akihisa: “Like letting the batter think that 'the pitch is coming' only to throw a pickoff, or making the batter think that the pitch won't be coming and pitching out of a sudden. This will severely affect the match.”

Mizuki: “I see...so letting people misunderstand is called a balk...”

Yuuji: “Well, yeah, you just need to think this way.”

Mizuki: “Then, Akihisa-kun...”

Akihisa: “Hm? What is it?”

Mizuki: “You balked.”

Akihisa: “Eh?”

Mizuki: “You balked.”

Akihisa: “What are you saying, Himeji-san?”

Mizuki: “Akihisa-kun balked.”

Akihisa: “Eh...”

Yuuji: “Haiz...I'm too lazy to even comment about this...”

In the end, class 3-E and 3-F couldn't beat each other, and so we advanced to the next round without a fight.

Thus--

“It's time for the semi-finals.”

“Yup, the class of that Toko-Natsu pair.”

We've just battled against them in the test of courage a while back, and now we met each other so soon. It seems that we have sort of inexplocable relationship with those two.

“Um, so that means 2-A lost?”

“I guess they did.”

“They lost? They have the almighty Kirishima-san!”

The class rep of 2-A, Kirishima Shouko-san is someone whose scores is greater than even Himeji-san's. How did she lose to that Toko-Natsu group?

“Mm...well, she's not as bad as Himeji but Shouko doesn't know much about baseball. I guess that's the reason why she lost.”

“The way I see it, there are people who are as impressive as Kirishima.”

“Well, I guess so.”

Anyway, since class A, which is led by Kirishima-san, lost, we have to be ever more cautious now.

I guess there's only 1 or 2 times that we can get points from the third years.

“It's pointless to think about it no. Let's hurry to the sports center.”

“That's right. We should be able to understand once we play against them.”

I'm wondering about the fact that 2-A lost to them, but to us, this may be a good thing. Besides, the key to us winning is the plan Yuuji comes up with. Class 2-A has Kirishima-san, who understands Yuuji's personality and thoughts thoroughly, leading them, so they should be harder to beat than class 3-A with better marks.

“Yuuji...”

“Hm? What is it, Akihisa?”

“If class 2-A advanced, what would your plan be?”

I think Yuuji thought of a plan against 2-A already.

“I actually planned to get Kubo to join us by charming him over and play 10 vs 8.”

On hearing my question, Yuuji casually answered back. 10 vs 8...if we can do it, the difference between both classes can be reduced, so it will be to our advantage. It's just...”

“Charming Kubo-san over? What are you saying? How can Kubo-san do such a dirty thing?”

“Really...if you can think this way, maybe it's a blessing to you...”

“The real Kubo got blinded by those corrupted feelings...”

“...Not knowing is the real blessing.”

“Eh? Why is everyone looking at me with pity when I mentioned Kubo-san?”

Those eyes looked like someone just died. I can't understand them at all.

“Oh yeah, Yuuji, what's our plan now?”

“To be honest, I really didn't expect 2-A to lose with Shouko and Kubo among them, so I didn't really make any adjustments for the match with class 3-A. However--”

Though he says this, Yuuji must have planned already.

“--I guess we should just kill their summoned beasts.”

I see, this plan is easy to understand.

“Seems like you guys don't have any sportsmanship at all...”

“This tactic is the worst...”

“Kill them? We're going to kick them out?”

Seeing Himeji-san look so puzzled, it seems that she still doesn't understand Yuuji's plan well.

“Got it. So we're going to beat those guys up during a mess-up until they can't show up?”

“...Who're we doing it on?”

“I'd say, you guys have already accepted such a plan without hesitation...”

Muttsurini, who's used to assassination, taking photos from the shadows, cover operations and doesn't even have any relation to sportsmanship. Of course, he accepted it without any resistance. I'm different from Muttsurini, I'm a pretty fair guy normally, but we have an aim we have to achieve no matter what, so it can't be helped that we have to use such underhanded means to win.”

“No, it's alright even when it's not a mess. There are many other means besides attacking directly.”

“Yup, like sliding into the opponent or throwing a 'Hit by Pitch'.”

“...Or faking a swing and hitting the bat on the opponent.”

“That's good. Great that you can understand.”

“I say...you guys are really too evil!”

It's too crude to call us evil. If there's a need to call us that, just say that we have a flexible approach to the rules.

Standing beside us, Minami rolls her eyes and says,

“I say, you guys...if you guys do such a thing, you deserve it even when you're scolded and called 'despicable'!”

Despicable? Scolded? What is this girl saying?

“Hoho, Minami, it seems that you don't understand.”

“Yup. Seems like Shimada hasn't gotten the whiff of our sportsmanship.”

“...Lack understanding.”

I, Yuuji and Muttsurini answered in turn. Can't be helped though. Even though she didn't study enough, there has to be a limit.”

“Wha, what do you mean by that!? What are you trying to say?”

“Listen up, Minami.”

Seeing the troubled and puzzled Minami, all three of us answered loudly in unison,

“““DESPICABLE AND DIRTY ARE THINGS THAT ONLY LOSERS WILL COMPLAIN ABOUT!!!”””

“YOU GUYS ARE REALLY ROTTEN!!”

This is the golden rule of winning and losing. To win, we have to pull all the stops.

“Uu, well, but even if we force the opponent's summoned beasts to be immobile, it doesn't mean that we will win, right? How should we deal with it? And looking at their points, we can't possibly do much damage to them, right?”

Hideyoshi voiced out his doubt.

That's true. It's okay to take them out, but what do we do after that?

“The opponents are the 3rd years. And the spot-check was only done on the 2nd years, so their desire to win isn't a great, right?”

“Mn, that's true.”

We're motivated to get back those confiscated items, and we're a whole lot different from the 3rd years who're just participating this school event out of necessity.

“So we'll use the difference in strength of motivation.”

“Using the difference in motivation? Even if you say that...”

“Ahh, well, just look at it. Besides, there's no other way anyway.”

“Mn, I got it somewhat.”

“...Understood.”

Yuuji didn't explain the plan further, and we head to the middle sports arena where the match will begin.

“...At times, I really thought, what's so good about that guy...”

“Using such evil means just to get back the A-books....”

“Ah, ah hahahaha...”

<center>☆</center>

"--STRIKE THREE! BATTER OUT!"

The umpire's call echoed throughout the sports arena, and the 1st batter Minami walked back in a lonely manner. As expected of class 3-A, their ball velocity and control can't be underestimated.

"Sorry, I really couldn't hit it..."

"Don't worry, Shimada. There's a huge difference in scores anyway."

Yuuji consoled Minami like a coach. This time, we're using Chemistry as the subject, and as it's not Minami's specialty, it couldn't be helped that she couldn't hit it. Besides, Yuuji's plan isn't to hit the ball, but to attack through violence, so it doesn't matter that we didn't hit the ball.

"Summon!"

As the second batter, Sugawa-san called out him summoned beast. On a side note, this match's batting lineup goes like this.

#First batter: 3rd baseman Shimada Minami
#Second batter: Shortstop Sugawa Ryo
#Third batter: Pitcher Yoshii Akihisa
#Fourth batter: Catcher Sakamoto Yuuji
#Fifth batter: Right fielder Kondou Yoshimune
#Sixth batter: 2nd baseman Tsuchiya Kouta (Muttsurini)
#Seventh batter: Center fielder Kimishima Hiroshi
#Eighth batter: 1st baseman Fukumura Kohei
#Ninth batter: Left fielder Yokomizo Koji

[[Image:BTS vol 07 163.jpg|thumb]]

It'll be bad if we use violence right from the start, so the lead-off batter just need to hit in a normal manner, while Sugawa-san and me behind are to act according to the situation. If we feel that it's alright, Yuuji will give us the go. It'll be great if the first batter Minami can make them let their guard down...

Class A, Natsukawa Shunpei, Chemistry, 244 points.

VS

Class F, Sugawa Ryo, Chemistry, 59 points.

As how things went in the past, the pitcher and catcher are the baldy-sempai and the mohawk-head, the Toko-Natsu group that we're all too familiar with. I heard that the pitcher and catcher were different in their match against 2-A. Maybe they decided to take over this time because they know that Yuuji and I are partnering in this one. Those two really hate to lose.

“59 marks? This guy's score is really pitiful.”

Standing on the pitcher's mound, baldy-sempai saw our displayed scores and happily mocked us. This guy's looking down on us as usual.

But even though we got laughed at for our grades. Sugawa-san doesn't look like he really cares. His summoned beast just raised the bat and gets into a swinging position, As expected of a member of class F, he didn't lose his patience even though he got treated like an idiot.

“Oh, you don't even have the guts to argue back? Such a useless bum.”

After saying this nonchalently, baldy-sempai's summoned beast gets into a pitching motion. IT gathers all the force in the arm, and at the next second, he throws the ball out.

“STRIKE!”

The next moment, the ball landed neatly into the glove of the mohawk-sempai's summoned beast. I noticed it a bit when Minami was in the batter box. That ball's really fast.

“What's wrong? That was right down the middle,”

The baldy-sempai gave a mocking smile at us as he looked down on us and receives the ball from the catcher. Sugawa-san doesn't respond at all as he just readjusts himself as he readies his bat again.

Seeing Sugawa-kun's unmoved look, the baldy-sempai just looks bored as he snorts. He then pitches the second ball.

“STRIKE TWO!”

He didn't swing at all again. Now, it's two strikes. Sugawa-san continues to stare at the opponent, seemingly analyzing the situation calmly.

“You're going to be the 2nd one who's going to be struck out!”

Baldy-sempai pitches for the 3rd time. The breaking motion isn't too different, but the velocity's a lot slower than before.

Did he miss the timing? Sugawa-san didn't swing the bat as he just remained over there. The pitch just landed inside the glove. If that's the case...

“STRIKE THREE! BATTER OUT!!”

Like what baldy-sempai predicted, he really struck Sugawa-san in three strikes. Now, it's 2 men out with no baserunners.

“Oi oi oi, I threw that ball really slowly already. Shouldn't you swing your bat already?”

Baldy-sempai mocked us with a taunting tone. Ever since we began, his way of pitching was basically mocking us. This sports meet is planned by them, so they're still angry about this? They're the ones who came up with the punishment in the first place...

“What's wrong, Sugawa-san?”

I asked Sugawa-san softly as I went past him. Maybe he noticed a flaw in the opponent's attack.

“No way, I couldn't find a way to attack.”

“I see...”

“No matter how I tried to look for it, I couldn't found that sempai in the erotic yukata...”

“I see, this information is way too useful.”

If that's the case, I don't have to waste my time looking for that sempai. Though it's a little...no, it's really a pity, but now I can concentrate on the match. Let's think of it in another way. Maybe this might be a good thing.

“You're going to be the 3rd batter I'm going to strike out, Yoshii Akihisa!”

As I walked into the batter's box, the baldy-sempai on pitcher's mound said that to me.

Class A, Natsukawa Shunpei, Chemistry, 244 points.

VS

Class F, Yoshii Akihisa, Chemistry, 57 points.

After a while, our scores are shown. I understand that my score will cause me to be in a tough battle. Unless I can hit the ball in the middle, the ball shouldn't be able to fly into the outfield. However--

“I won't give up like that, Hengawa-sempai.”

“HOLD ON A MINUTE! DID YOU JUST MIX MY NAME WITH THE WORD 'HENTAI' TO CREATE A COMPLETELY NEW SURNAME!?”

“Ah, sorry, hentai-sempai.”

“NO!! I DON'T WANT YOU TO CHANGE IT TO 'HENTAI'! CALL ME 'NATSUKAWA'! JUST GIVE ME A PROPER NAME!”

“Sorry, because your name pronunciation is easy to mix up.”

“SINCE WHEN IS IT EASY TO MIX UP! THE ONLY THING SIMILAR IN 'NATSUKAWA' AND 'HENTAI' ARE THE NUMBER OF KANJI WORDS!!”

“My my, don't be so agitated, Natsukawa-hentai.”

“So you mixed them up because 'sempai' and 'hentai' sounded all too similar!?”

The fated duel's within the bat of an eye as baldy-sempai's burning up. This isn't any different from a hot-blooded shounen sports manga anyway.

“Damn you, Yoshii Akihisa...I'M SO GOING TO KILL YOU!!!”

Baldy-sempai's summoned beast raises its position and gets ready to pitch the 1st ball—which quickly came rushing here.

“STRIKE!!”

The first ball was right down the middle. I didn't react to this pitch at all as I analyze the situation.

“Heh, seems like you don't dare to take action.”

My reaction seem to make the baldy-sempai happy, as after he received the catcher's throw back, the baldy-sempai snorted in a rather good mood.

Then, he pitches the 2nd ball.

“STRIKE TWO!!”

At this moment, the opponent pitched another ball right down the ball.

“What the heck. You're pretty quiet now.”

Like when Sugawa-san was on just now, I just let two pitches fly by me to see if there's anything. Baldy-sempai just snorted in a bored manner.

“I'm just checking where you're pitching. I'll get the next one.”

“Checking where I'm pitching? HA! Stop lying! You just couldn't hit my pitch, right?”

“...”

I didn't answer him as I just wait silently for the next pitch.

Like how he pitched against Minami and Sugawa-san, the opponent's been pitching only in the middle. It's really just like his personality. He wants to strike me out within 3 pitches, so I guess the next pitch is straight down the middle again.

“Che, so you can only look at the ball? You guys are wimps!”

It's true that I've been observing the ball up now. However, I'm not just looking at the ball, but also the positioning of the pitcher. The baldy-sempai would stand at the same place after both the 1st and 2nd pitch. AS expected of this 3rd year sempai. He really knows how to control his summoned beast, and his posture is rather stable.

But that's going to be his Achilles' Heel.

“Alright, time for the final blow!”

After getting into position, the opponent pitches the 3rd ball at me. I use this chance to match the opponent and swing my bat hard at the opponent.

The white ball zips through the air as it flies towards my head while I throw the metal bat at the opponent's face. Both of us use our killer throws, and at that nail-crunching moment, it finally reached my head.

“--DANGER!!”

The pitch the opponent threw grazes past my temples, and the metal bat I threw flies past the opponent's nose.

““YOU'RE TOO DESPICABLE!!””

“YOU TWO ARE THE SAME!!”

That damned bastard made me think that he would throw all three pitches down the middle, and the last pitch came flying at my temples! If I didn't dodge it at the last minute, it would have become a huge tragedy that couldn't be recovered!

“STRIKE THREE! BATTER OUT!”

My throw just now was treated as a swing by the umpire, so I got struck out. So now, with 3 men out, it will be a switch over.

There's no other ideas I can think of. Better gather with Yuuji and the rest on the bench and talk it through first.

“Sorry Yuuji, those guys may be wary of us already.”

“Don't mind. Just make up for that failure through your pitching.”

“...Don't worry, everyone will help you out.”

“That sounds rather normal, but for some reason, I'd think what you guys are talking about is the worst...”

“Don't these guys know of something called sportsmanship...?”

“Like being cautious, induced base on balls, there's really a lot of technical terms in baseball.”

Of course, I can pitch. My scores aren't great, so the power of the ball isn't much, but I'm rather confident of my control. I'll smack that ball hard into the opponent!

“Alright, time for us to go up. EVERYONE, LEVEL THEM TO THE GROUND!!!”

“““YEAH!!!”””

<center>☆</center>

“Are you Yoshii? Whether it's about the test of courage meet before or this competition...I'll make you regret taking on us 3rd years! Summon!”

The first batter from class 3-A entered the batter box with hostility. Seems like the test of courage made more seniors hate me now.

Class A, Hotta Masatoshi, Chemistry, 217 points

Vs

Class F, Yoshii Akihisa, Chemistry, 57 points.

Soon after the summoned beasts appeared, our scores were shown. As expected of a student from class A, the marks aren't to be underestimated.

(Let's take this guy head on. I want to see how far the ball will fly with such a difference in scores.)

That's what Yuuji's telling me with his eyes. Yuuji's right. Right now, we're facing class A opponents, so we have to see how good they are. If things so smoothly, we'll be facing the teachers' team that's even better than class A. We have to know how far we can go before we should hold back. That is an important thing.

I nod my head slightly to indicate that I understand, and then let my summoned beast get into a pitching posture. Yuuji's glove is located at the low outer corner of the strikezone. Even if it gets hit, at least it won't fly out if it's not a solid hit, right?

Compared to the baldy-sempai's pitch in the previous half of the inning, the pitch of mine is a lot slower as it flies towards Yuuji's glove.

“STRIKE!”

Facing the pitch I just threw, the opponent just let it by and doesn't swing the bat. Does he want to check my pitch velocity and power? The score's over there already, so he won't feel that I can threaten him. If the next pitch lands in the strikezone, I guess he would swing.

Then, Yuuji throws the ball over. This time, it's slightly high at the corner. Is he trying to make the opponent have a hard time hitting the ball (is that a free stance)? Well, I can't really think of a reason why such a difficult thing.

I follow the position Yuuji indicated, and this time, the opponent swung the bat.

KLANG—The crisp sound of the impact can be heard, and this time, the opponent did swing the bat.

It seemed that the batter either missed or wasn't used to playing baseball as the ball missed the center. The fly ball didn't drag its distance as it flies.

“DAMN IT!”

Looking rather angry and hurt, the opponent returned to the bench area.

I see. Even if the difference in scores is larger, it naturally doesn't cause the ball to fly far if the opponent missed the center. On the other hand, when facing class E, even though their scores were about the same, the ball would naturally fly near. It's not that power alone can win games as this would be no different from other baseball matches. However, the stronger class still has overwhelming superiority.

“Okay, I'm okay. Summon!”

A familiar voice can be heard as the second batter called out his summoned beast.

Class A, Tsunemura Yuusaku, Chemistry, 223 points

Vs

Class F Yoshii Akihisa, Chemistry, 57 points.

It's the other member of the Toko-Natsu pair, the mohican-head sempai who was the catcher. Even if he's really rotten deep inside, he's really worthy of being a member of A class, having such high scores.

“BRING IT, ON, YOSHII! SAKAMOTO! I'LL RETURN ALL THE SHAME I BORE WITH INTEREST!!”

The mohican-head sempai glared as he said that to us. Seems like he's rather pumped as well. What should I do...

(Let's pitch a ball first.)

Yuuji positions his glove. His glove is aimed at the far corner where the bat can't possibly hit. I guess he has a plan if he wants me to throw that far out.

I open my arms wide and pitch the first ball. At this moment, the mohican-head sempai deliberately swung the bat. Alright, now we have a stike--

“Ahh, my hand slipped!”

Just when I thought that, the mohican-head sempai continued his swing without stopping as he swung the bat back to Yuuji's summoned beast that's getting ready to receive the pitch.

Class A, Tsunemura Yuusaku, Chemistry, 223 points.

Vs

Class F, Sakamoto Yuuji, Chemistry, 109 points.

Having been hit on the head heard, Yuuji's summoned beast had its points changed due to the damage, and the 200+ points up till now got deducted by a lot now.

“Sorry Sakamoto. That wasn't on purpose.”

Glancing back to look at the umpire's decision, the mohican-head sempai said that to Yuuji.

If that act just now was deemed as intentional, he would be forced off the field. That sempai was probably worried about this, which was why he just said those insincere words.

“...No, no need to worry about it. A lot of mishaps often happen in sports anyway?”

Yuuji doesn't look bothered by it as he said it with a smile on his face. His summoned beast bends down to picks up the bell that was dropped due to the impact.

“I see, Sakamoto's rather maganimous.”

“No no. I'm not really a kind person.”

Both of them seem to maintaining their smiles as they said that peacefully. After that, Yuuji throws the ball hard at the opponent with all his force.

--At the summoned beast of that mohican-head sempai between us.

With the blunt impact sound, Yuuji threw the ball directly at the mohican-sempai's summoned beast head.

Class A, Tsunemura Yuusaku, Chemistry, 191 points.

Vs

Class F, Sakamoto Yuuji, Chemistry, 109 points.

“Sorry sempai. It seem that I really can't control my summoned beast well.”

This time, it's the mohican-head sempai whose score got reduced. Yuuji lost about 100 points, and yet the opponent lost only about 30. It seems that since Yuuji's summoned beast was weakened, the difference in power was clearly shown on the ball that was pitched.

“But this can't be helped. A lot of accidents happen in sports, right?”

“Uu...ye, yea. I'll forgive you with a smile then. Besides, there wasn't much damage anyway...”

The mohican-head sempai smiled as he said this, but veins are popping out of his forehead. I see that he really looks like he wants to rush up to Yuuji. However, he showed these emotions to the umpire,

“YOU TWO, CONCENTRATE ON THE MATCH! BOTH OF YOU WILL BE EJECTED IF YOU DO SUCH A THING AGAIN!!”

““...””

After being lectured by the umpire, those two didn't say anything more as they return back to positions to complete the mission. This time, Yuuji threw the ball into my glove. And my summoned beast readies itself to fire another pitch.

Before I pitched, my eyes receive the signal Yuuji gave me.

(It's time, Akihisa.)

(Got it.)

I finally got the attack signal from Yuuji. The catcher's glove is set at the middle, but my pitch is aimed at the batter's head. Aim at the head and throw. I must break the enemy's head!

“Bring it, Yoshii!”

The mohican-head sempai gets into the free-swinging posture...that's an easy way to swing, either for the catcher or the hitter—he should be aiming it at Yuuji, right? That hit just now must have vexed him. If that's the case, right now, we just need to blow off the enemy's head.

In this tense atmosphere, my summoned beast lets out the 2nd pitch.

The ball that's aimed at the forehead of the batter and the bat that's deliberately aimed at the catcher let out forceful hits as we all hit our targets like we were attracted.

“--HIT BY PITCH!”

Don, dong...the ball rolled on the ground several times, and the results of the attack are shown.

Class A, Tsunemura Yuusaku, Chemistry, 177 points.

Vs

Class F, Sakamoto Yuuji, Chemistry, 7 points.

“AKIHISA YOU IDIOT! YOU DIDN'T DECREASE HIS POINTS BY MUCH!!”

“WHAT ABOUT YOU, YUUJI! YOU GOT HIT TOO MUCH! DEFEND YOURSELF PROPERLY!!”

Yuuji got 100 points reduced, and that mohican-head sempai just lost 10+ points. If this keeps up, we're going to be killed by them.

“OI, YOU BASTARDS! THAT WAS DELIBERATE, RIGHT? YOU HAVE GUTS TO DO THIS TO YOUR SENIORS!”

“WHAT NONSENSE ARE YOU SPOUTING!? YOU SEMPAIS ARE ANGRY THAT YOU LOST TO US IN THE TEST OF COURAGE, RIGHT!?”

“WHAT ARE YOU SAYING!? IF YOU'RE GOING TO DO IT LIKE THIS, FORGET ABOUT WHAT BASEBALL TOURNAMENT OR SUCH, LET'S JUST--”

“FINE BY ME! I HAD ENOUGH OF YOU THIRD YEARS ANYWAY. LET'S--”

The other bench players started a commotion. It's true that we didn't like each other, so it can't be helped that there would be so much antagonistic intent. Is this the chaos that Yuuji planned to raise?

Acting as the catcher, Yuuji smirked. If a battle's about to begin, I have to hurry up and choose my target so that I can punch him with all I got when I get the chance.

“STOP YOU!! ALL YOU IDIOTS!!”

At this moment, a certain person with a hoarse voice entered the fray that's about to become a battlefield. Who is it? Coming here to interfere while our objective was about to be complete!

“Really, you brats are really a lost cause...why can't you be obedient even when I let you people use summoned beasts to fight it out?”

Putting her hand on hear forehead as she said this—is the damned old granny who always interfered with us.

“WHAT THE HECK, GRANNY!? WHY DID YOU COME HERE!!?”

Yuuji inadvertently clicked his tongue and questioned her. Besides, since his plan was ruined, I can understand Yuuji's reason for being unhappy.

“CALL ME THE PRINCIPAL, YOU DAMNED BRAT!!!”

The principal snorted as she turned to Yuuji. She then turned around to glare at all of us before saying,

“Really...the moment I heard that you two classes are matched up, I immediately came over to see the situation. To think that it ended up like this again. It's rare for the guests to find that our summoned beast baseball tournament is rather good. I can't possibly allow all you idiots to wreck it and ruin the school's reputation.”

It seemed that the damned old granny came over to watch us once she saw that it was us class 2-F vs 3-A...she really thought everything through.

“Please don't stop us, principal! We have a duty to use physical education to teach those useless scum from 2-F what respect and common sense is about!”

“We're the ones who can't stand you guys! Treating others as idiots and looking down on us so badly! Principal, please let us kill these sempai scums who love to put an act!

'''“I TOLD ALL OF YOU TO SHUT UP!!! YOU DAMNED BRATS!!!”

Facing the quarrelling group of people, the principal roared again. As expected, an elderly person sure can do things when she takes action. Everyone just shut up once she roared.

“Really, you idiots...so you would come up with this because the pain of the summoned beasts won't be inflicted on you...”

The principal shook her head reluctantly, thinking as she stares at us.

Finally, as she puts her hands on her hips, she decide to say to us,

“I've decided to change the settings of the summoned beasts in this match.”

“““Huh?”””

Everyone present just expressed their doubts in unison.

Change the settings of the summoned beasts? What does that mean?”

“Only this once, just once. I'll let all of you feel the pain that's inflicted on the summoned beasts. With that, you won't think about all sorts of nonsense and play ball seriously, right?”

Inflicting the pain the summoned beast suffers onto the body—anyway, it's about setting the summoned beasts to be like mine?

“Alright, that'll be it. All of you are to play seriously now!”

Leaving these words behind, the principal waved her hand and turn around to walk to the school building.

“Eh, now...”

Things just happened out of a sudden, and for a while, I didn't know what to do. It's alright to change the settings of the summoned beasts, but if that's the case, what about our plan?

“Sorry, please allow us to take a timeout.”

Yuuji asked for a timeout to the umpire, and this match just interrupted officially. After confirming that, we should start a strategy meeting.

Yuuji and the infield players are all gathered near the pitcher's mound. Okay, what do we do now?

“What do we do now, Yuuji? Our plan to create chaos was ruined.”

Our plan right from the beginning was to create chaos with the 3rd years, but it ended up like this, so our plan could only end with failure. We can't win if with play with them head on!

“No problems. Things are different from what I expected, but if that's the case, we can launch our secret weapon here.”

“Secret weapon?”

“That's right. It's a good thing that the next batter's that baldy, so there's no need to go easy on him.”

After saying that, Yuuji walked to the umpire and turn to the bench, asking for a switch of players.

“Himeji will replace Yoshii as the pitcher, Yoshii will be the catcher, I as the catcher will switch to Shimada's 3rd base.”

So the defensive alignments and pitcher are to the changed? So Himeji-san is the pitcher, I'll be the cater, Yuuji defends 3rd base, and Minami returns to the bench to rest?

We follow Yuuji's instructions and head to our respectively areas. Himeji-san came out from the bench, running to Yuuji to say something to him. I can't hear them as they're too far away. What are they saying?

“Sakamoto-kun, I, I can't be the pitcher. I never played baseball before, and I can't really play sports...”

“Calm down, Himeji. Listen to me.”

“No, no! I can't! I can't do it.”

“Baseball focuses on teamwork, so the trust between the teammates is important—especially the pitcher and the catcher, which has to be the closest.”

“Ah, I see...but...”

“A pitcher and catcher that can create a beautiful combination—is often called 'husband and wife' in baseball.”

“Eh? Husband and wife...”

“That's right. From now on, I won't be the catcher. Akihisa will be the one. The result of this match will prove whether you and Akihisa can develop a good 'husband and wife' relationship.”

“...”

“You must believe in your relationship with Akihisa, so throw that ball in your hand out to see it. Akihisa will use all his strength and catch your pitch. That's the 'partner'--no, 'husband and wife' relationship.”

“I...I got it!”

“Remember this, Himeji. Use all your strength. Don't think about where the ball will get. Just use all your strength to pass your feelings to Akihisa. If you deliberately hold back, your trust between each other can't be established.”

“I understand!”

What's going on? I don't know what's going on, but I have a bad feeling about this.

Just when I'm trembling at this unknown chill, Himeji-san, who finished talking to Yuuji, came running over. She look really energetic.

"Well...Akihisa-kun, please guide me through!"

"Mn, please guide me through as well, Himeji-san."

Himeji-san seem to be rather nervous as she started stuttering.

"I believe in Akihisa-kun, I'll pitch the ball with all I got!"

"Haha, I'm happy to hear that. Let's do our best."

"Okay! Let's do our best. Let's create a wonderful family! Well...my, my beloved..."

What? What did Yuuji just say to her?

"Then, please catch my pitch!"

After she took small steps to the pitcher's mound, Himeji-san starts her preparations as she gets ready to pitch. Oh well, better not think too much. I just need to do my own job.

I'm standing at where Yuuji's been standing up till now as I let my summoned beast squat at the catcher's position.

Alright. Right now, there's one person out, one man at first base, and the match continues.

"Heh~I don't really understand what stupid plan you're thinking of, but that's not going to work on me! I'll show my strength to you. Summon!"

The opposing 3rd batter--baldy-sempai entered the batter's box and gets ready to summon.

"I, I'll do my best...summon!"

The pitcher and batter's scores are shown half a second later.

Class A, Natsukawa Shunpei, Chemistry, 244 points.

Vs

Class F, Himeji Mizuki, Chemistry, 437 points.

"Wah! That's woman's score way too much..."

On seeing Himeji-san's score, baldy-sempai started trembling. That can't be helped. Like what everyone can see, Himeji-san's scores are the elite amongst the elites, so even baldy-sempai from A class can't possibly beat her.

"Damn it. Leaving Takagi behind may be a bad decision..."

Baldy-sempair looked troubled as she muttered to herself.

Takagi? This name seems familiar. Where have I heard that name before...

"O, okay, please guide me through!"

Just when I was thinking, Himeji-san's already getting ready to pitch. I should be the one who should learn from her--HOLD ON A MINUTE! I DIDN'T REALIZE IT JUST NOW, BUT AM I THE ONE WHO'S SUPPOSED TO CATCH HIMEJI-SAN'S PITCHES!!? I'LL DIE REALLY BADLY IF I FAIL!!

"Let me see. First, step on the rubber, and then..."

"Ho, hol, hol, hold on a minute Himeji-san!!"

"Hm? What's wrong, Akihisa-kun?"

I called out to stop Himeji-san, who's getting ready to pitch. Himeji-san is so gentle and understanding. I guess she would hold back a bit, but since the difference in our scores are so far different from each other, I don't know what's going to happen, so it's better to let her try out.

"You see a runner at first base? Throw a pickoff at first base to prevent him from stealing base. Would you like to try it?"

The runner at first base didn't run too far away. I just want Himeji-san to throw a pickoff there so that she can get used to it. Anyway, I just want to let Himeji-san throw a ball first.

"A pickoff--ah, I got it. I just need to throw to first base, right?"

"That's right. Can you please throw to Fukumura-san at first base?"

"I understand. Then--"

Himeji-san's summoned beast raises its arm and gets into a pitching position.

"Heh!"

"................AH?"

Class A, Tsunemura Yuusaku, Chemistry, DEAD.

Vs

Class F, Himeji Mizuki, Chemistry, 437 points.

Class F, Fukumura Kohei, Chemistry, DEAD.

Vs

Class F, Himeji Mizuki, Chemistry, 437 points.

--There were immediate reports of two deaths.

KLANG...with that, the sound of some heavy objects tumbling down continuously can be heard.

The summoned beasts of the runner at first base, that mohican-head sempai and Fukumura-san, who's watching first base disappear together into the wind like good friends.

""WAAAHHHHHHHHH!!! IT HURRTTSSS!!! MY BODY HUUUUUURRRRRTTTTTSSSS!!!"

After a short while, controllers of the summoned beasts cried out in pain as well.

It seem that the settings change managed to catch up to the ball, so both of them got the effects of the damage done to the summoned beasts, which caused them to roll on the floor in pain.

"Ah! So, sorry! I didn't know how to control the strength on the ball, so..."

Himeji-san frantically lowered her head to apologize to both of them who're rolling on the ground. However, I don't think they would bother hearing her apology now.

"Will the bench players please take over the injured players so that we can continue the match?"

The refereeing teacher coldly asked the players to come on. The 2 severely injured players who are unable to move due to the pain are carted off. The opponent sent out one sempai, while Hideyoshi, who was on the bench, replaced Fukumura-san to guard 1st base.

"Uu...I failed..."

Though she managed to bury two people at one go, Himeji-san seem to be remorseful over it. If possible, I would like to encourage her, but if she doesn't control her strength and use all her force, the next ball will strike me, the catcher. If I get hit by that powerful ball, I'll most likely get sent to a whole new dimension in pain. Though I'm really sorry to her, I really don't want--

"Don't mind, Himeji. Just pitch with all you got."

"But..."

"Don't worry too much. That's what a catcher should do."

"But if I do this, Akihisa-kun would..."

"Oi oi, why are you saying such a thing? Don't you trust Akihisa at all?"

"Ah...no, that's not it! I never doubted Akihisa-kun!"

THAT BASTARD'S DEFINITELY TRYING TO KILL ME!!!

"Akihisa-kun, here I come!"

NOOOOO!!! HIMEJI-SAN, DON'T THROW THAT BALL AT ME!!!!

"He, heh!"

"Hm? eh? How did it--"

Himeji-san let out a cute sound and a pitch that's not cute at all. The pitch that can't be seen with the eyes landed directly on the 3rd year senior who's waiting to bat next.

Class A, Kindaichi Shinnosuke, Chemistry, DEAD.

Vs

Class F, Himeji Mizuki, Chemistry, 437 points.

The 4th batter of class 3-A didn't even manage to show his score as he immediately become a lifeless soul, never to come back again. Because of that, he became the 3rd victim.

"RE, REF!! THAT WAS A DANGEROUS BALL, WASN'T IT!!? SHE SHOULD BE EJECTED!!"

Standing in the batter's box, the baldy-sempai's expression changed greatly as he argued that Himeji-san broke the rules. But before the umpire could say anything, Yuuji, who's standing at 3rd base, says,

"Oi, sempai? How can you say such a cruel thing? Look at Himeji. You know that she didn't do it on purpose!"

"So, sorry! This is my first time as the pitcher. That's why I'm so nervous..."

Himeji-san came running over to class 3-A's bench and continued to bow to them in apology. Seeing Himeji-san looking so lost about what to do, I don't think anyone would doubt that she didn't do it on purpose.

"ST, STOP JOKING AROUND, SAKAMOTO!! SOME THINGS CAN'T BE FORGIVEN EVEN IF IT'S NOT DELIBERATE!!"

"SHUT UP, YOU SCUM!! Sensei, think carefully. One side is a cute student who's working hard to participate in a class event even though she's not good at it. The other side is one whose evil intent is to tarnish the sacred meaning of sportsmanship, a dumb, evil and ugly sempai. As a teacher, which side will you stand on?"

"BEGIN!"

"U, umpire?"

The umpire mercilessly announced the continuation of the match. Compared to our dastardly deeds, Himeji-san's actions aren't of ill intent at all. In that case, the judgment's correct, but I find that this umpire has a rather distorted view on values.

"OI, YOSHII! HURRY UP AND CHASE THAT WOMAN AWAY! YOU'LL DIE IF THIS KEEPS UP!"

"HO, HOW CAN I DO THAT? DON'T LOOK AT HER LIKE THAT, HIMEJI-SAN'S REALLY SOMEONE WITH VERY RADICAL THOUGHTS!!"

I continue to talk to the baldy-sempai in the batter's box. If I can do it, I really want Himeji-san to get off the field!

"Uu...it's really hard...maybe I can pitch better if I use a little more force..."

Himeji-san returned to the pitcher's mound and said that, causing me to break out cold sweat.

HOW IS IT POSSIBLE!! SHE DIDN'T THROW THAT BALL JUST NOW AT FULL STRENGTH!!

The one with the ability to be the valedictorian of our year pitched that without noticing the control. It seem that only the bench is a safe zone. If that's the case, it just made me forget that we have a baseball tournament going on. This isn't a match, it's a one-sided massacre.

"Th, this time...I must pitch it at Akihisa-kun!"

""EEIIYYYYYAAAAA!!""

Baldy-sempai and I let our summoned beasts throw our bat and glove away as we just cared about using both hands to cover our heads and duck. A heavy fastball flew right above our summoned beasts' head.

"BALL."

The umpire decided that it was a ball, BUT WHO WOULD CARE ABOUT WHETHER IT'S A STRIKE OR A BALL NOW!!?

"SUB HER OUT, SAKAMOTO! GET THAT PITCHER OFF!!"

"What are you saying, sempai? Himeji's pitches are getting sharper. Isn't she getting into the groove?"

"I CAN'T SEE HER AIMING AT THE CATCHER'S GLOVE!!!"

I agree with that.

Ignoring the baldy-sempai and Yuuji who're arguing, Himeji-san stands on the pitcher's mound, seemingly muttering about something.

"Uu...maybe it's because I didn't trust in Akihisa-kun thoroughly, so I couldn't pitch well...I have to trust Akihisa-kun more..."

Thus, she grasps onto the ball in her hand even tightly as she prepares to do something even more shocking. Eh? What's Himeji-san doing?

"HO, HOLD ON A MINUTE!! DID THAT PITCHER JUST CLOSE HER EYES!!?"

"That's not the case, that's the trust between partners. It's because she belives in the guidance of the pitcher that she would close her eyes to pitch."

"HOW IS SHE GOING TO BE GUIDED BY THE CATCHER IF HER EYES ARE CLOSED!!? YOU'RE SPOUTING NONSENSE HERE!!"

"That's it. It must have opened her inner eye. A truly great player doesn't need sight, he just needs to detect the presence of the pre--the opponent's location."

" SO WHAT IF SHE FOUND MY LOCATION! THE MAIN POINT'S TO PITCH DIRECTLY INTO THE STRIKEZONE, RIGHT!!? DID YOU JUST NEARLY CALL ME 'PREY'!!?"

"Please don't say something overbearing, alright? Prey-sempai?"

"DID YOU JUST SAY THAT!!? YOU JUST CALLED ME 'PREY-SEMPAI' WITHOUT THINKING, RIGHT!!?"

The most important thing right now is whether the prey Yuuji just mentioned involved me or not.

"Well...Himeji-san! Can you hear me? Actually, you don't have to be so serious..."

"Hoo...ha...hoo...ha...it's alright, I can pitch a strike if I believe firmly in Akihisa-kun..."

"Himeji-san?"

It seems that Himeji-san just entered a zen phase as she's unable to receive my words or the hand signals. Anyway...I have to use my own means to survive if I want to see the sunrise tomorrow.

"Can, can't be helped. If that's the case, I'll just dodge sideways when Himeji-san pitches. If my luck is good, maybe I can keep my own life!"

"THAT, THAT'S TOO UNDERHANDED, YOSHII!! YOU JUST WANT TO SAVE YOUR OWN LIFE!!?"

"Sorry sempai, I still love my life!"

On a side note, the basic rules of baseball indicates that the batter can't leave the batter box. I feel somewhat sorry that the baldy-sempai in front of me will have to dodge Himeji-san's pitches in the narrow area.

"I'm pitching, Akihisa-kun!"

"PLEASE TRY AND OPEN YOUR EYES, HIMEJI-SAN!!"

Facing Himeji-san's declaration, I could only beg for her to spare my life. But it seems that my wish didn't reach her heart as Himeji-san continued to keep her eyes closed and pitch the ball with all her strength.

A heavy fastball

With tremendous power

Aimed at the baldy-sempai's summoned beast's head.

".........................waaa........."

Everyone knows of a fruit called pomegranate that blooms in the beginning of summer? It's a sweet and sour fruit that's bright red. It grows on the tree, and when it ripens without anyone picking it off, it will drop because it overripes. Once it drops onto the ground, the crimson red flesh and juice will spill out all over the place.

Right now, the image of the batter that's shown into my mind started to remind me of the terrible state when the pomegranate drops for some reason.

Class A, Natsukawa Shunpei, Chemistry, DEAD.

Vs

Class F, Himeji Mizuki, Chemistry, 437 points.

"That's...overkill...that woman's...the...devil..."

Standing beside the summoned beast that got battered badly, baldy-sempai suffered lots of pain as he looked like he's about to lose consciousness and collapsed onto the ground. Seeing this...I can only feel pity for him.

After lunch, I think some people will recover, right? But the baldy-sempai's summoned beast carried its thoroughly devastated state as it disappeared into mid-air.

"Well...Akihisa-kun, was that pitch alright?"

It's only at this moment that Himeji-san finally opened her eyes. It's because she kept her eyes closed that she didn't see that burst pomegranate-like scene. Maybe this might be a good thing to her.

"Well...if we considered our initial aim, that ball was well pitched..."

But for some reason, there's some emotion within me that's making me unable to be happy.

"Next batter, please step up the plate."

The umpire coldly prompted for the next batter.

Looking over at the 3-A bench, everyone there is deliberately looking down, not daring to look at the umpire straight in the face.

"HEHE!! THE 3RD YEAR BATTERS ARE SCARED!!"

It's unknown where that mockery came from.

Hoo...I think the batter's not the only one who's scared.

"SENSEI! WE RAN OUT OF SUBSTITUTES!!"

Class 3-A reported that they don't have any substitutes left. If that's the case, since there are other events going on, there could only be 2 bench players. What should be done? Is he going to get those unregistered to play?

At this moment, I remember a rule included in the summoned beast baseball tournament. Yuuji added a rule that 'Each team is to hand in the list of players. Those players whose names aren't on the list will be unable to take part in the match'. That damned bastard created this plan to fulfill that rule...?

"Not enough bench players? Well...we'll skip past that person's batting order. The other players are to do their remedial tests."

The teacher made that cold decision. This sounded reasonable, but wouldn't that mean that the other players will have to do the tests just to take Himeji-san's killer pitches...?

"Right, so now to the next batter--5th batter, please step up. Those players with no points left are to take part in the remedial tests."

"""CLASS 3-A DECIDED TO FORFEIT!!!"""

And thus, with two Hit by Pitch at two batters and having caused 4 martyrs, a damage rating of 200%, the pitcher of F class Himeji Mizuki became a legend in the sports meet.

<noinclude>
{{BakaTest Nav|prev=Baka to Tesuto to Syokanju:Volume7 The Fourth Question|next=Baka to Tesuto to Syokanju:Volume7 The Sixth Question}}
</noinclude>

Baka to Tesuto to Syokanju:Volume7 The Fifth Question

2011-10-01T18:30:50Z

95.26.174.84:

==The Fifth Question==

Remember these baseball rules!

Yuuji: “So that's how it is. Since Himeji doesn't understand baseball, we will do a simple explanation of the rules.”

Akihisa: “We're normally the ones being taught, to think that it'll be the other way around.”

Mizuki: “Ple, please teach me well.”

Yuuji: “Now, we're going to explain the foul called '[http://www.baka-tsuki.org/project/index.php?title=Baka_to_Tesuto_to_Syokanju:Volume7_Translation_Notes_and_References balk]'.”

Mizuki: “Balk...is it?”

Yuuji: “That's right. This is a foul when the pitcher's pitching.”

Mizuki: “A foul? What is it about?”

Akihisa: “For example, when the pitcher's steps on the rubber to pick off the baserunner in place but didn't throw the ball out.”

Yuuji: “Or throwing a pickoff while the toes are facing the batter.”

Akihisa: “And there's also the 2-part pitching stance—stopping midway throwing the pitching motion, even if it's a little bit, these are all fouls.”

Mizuki: “Let me see, pointing the toes at the batter yet throwing a pickoff, and the 2-part pitching stance...”

Yuuji: “Anyway, it's not okay as long as the pitcher does something to hassle the batter or make the batter misunderstand.”

Akihisa: “Like letting the batter think that 'the pitch is coming' only to throw a pickoff, or making the batter think that the pitch won't be coming and pitching out of a sudden. This will severely affect the match.”

Mizuki: “I see...so letting people misunderstand is called a balk...”

Yuuji: “Well, yeah, you just need to think this way.”

Mizuki: “Then, Akihisa-kun...”

Akihisa: “Hm? What is it?”

Mizuki: “You balked.”

Akihisa: “Eh?”

Mizuki: “You balked.”

Akihisa: “What are you saying, Himeji-san?”

Mizuki: “Akihisa-kun balked.”

Akihisa: “Eh...”

Yuuji: “Haiz...I'm too lazy to even comment about this...”

In the end, class 3-E and 3-F couldn't beat each other, and so we advanced to the next round without a fight.

Thus--

“It's time for the semi-finals.”

“Yup, the class of that Toko-Natsu pair.”

We've just battled against them in the test of courage a while back, and now we met each other so soon. It seems that we have sort of inexplocable relationship with those two.

“Um, so that means 2-A lost?”

“I guess they did.”

“They lost? They have the almighty Kirishima-san!”

The class rep of 2-A, Kirishima Shouko-san is someone whose scores is greater than even Himeji-san's. How did she lose to that Toko-Natsu group?

“Mm...well, she's not as bad as Himeji but Shouko doesn't know much about baseball. I guess that's the reason why she lost.”

“The way I see it, there are people who are as impressive as Kirishima.”

“Well, I guess so.”

Anyway, since class A, which is led by Kirishima-san, lost, we have to be ever more cautious now.

I guess there's only 1 or 2 times that we can get points from the third years.

“It's pointless to think about it no. Let's hurry to the sports center.”

“That's right. We should be able to understand once we play against them.”

I'm wondering about the fact that 2-A lost to them, but to us, this may be a good thing. Besides, the key to us winning is the plan Yuuji comes up with. Class 2-A has Kirishima-san, who understands Yuuji's personality and thoughts thoroughly, leading them, so they should be harder to beat than class 3-A with better marks.

“Yuuji...”

“Hm? What is it, Akihisa?”

“If class 2-A advanced, what would your plan be?”

I think Yuuji thought of a plan against 2-A already.

“I actually planned to get Kubo to join us by charming him over and play 10 vs 8.”

On hearing my question, Yuuji casually answered back. 10 vs 8...if we can do it, the difference between both classes can be reduced, so it will be to our advantage. It's just...”

“Charming Kubo-san over? What are you saying? How can Kubo-san do such a dirty thing?”

“Really...if you can think this way, maybe it's a blessing to you...”

“The real Kubo got blinded by those corrupted feelings...”

“...Not knowing is the real blessing.”

“Eh? Why is everyone looking at me with pity when I mentioned Kubo-san?”

Those eyes looked like someone just died. I can't understand them at all.

“Oh yeah, Yuuji, what's our plan now?”

“To be honest, I really didn't expect 2-A to lose with Shouko and Kubo among them, so I didn't really make any adjustments for the match with class 3-A. However--”

Though he says this, Yuuji must have planned already.

“--I guess we should just kill their summoned beasts.”

I see, this plan is easy to understand.

“Seems like you guys don't have any sportsmanship at all...”

“This tactic is the worst...”

“Kill them? We're going to kick them out?”

Seeing Himeji-san look so puzzled, it seems that she still doesn't understand Yuuji's plan well.

“Got it. So we're going to beat those guys up during a mess-up until they can't show up?”

“...Who're we doing it on?”

“I'd say, you guys have already accepted such a plan without hesitation...”

Muttsurini, who's used to assassination, taking photos from the shadows, cover operations and doesn't even have any relation to sportsmanship. Of course, he accepted it without any resistance. I'm different from Muttsurini, I'm a pretty fair guy normally, but we have an aim we have to achieve no matter what, so it can't be helped that we have to use such underhanded means to win.”

“No, it's alright even when it's not a mess. There are many other means besides attacking directly.”

“Yup, like sliding into the opponent or throwing a 'Hit by Pitch'.”

“...Or faking a swing and hitting the bat on the opponent.”

“That's good. Great that you can understand.”

“I say...you guys are really too evil!”

It's too crude to call us evil. If there's a need to call us that, just say that we have a flexible approach to the rules.

Standing beside us, Minami rolls her eyes and says,

“I say, you guys...if you guys do such a thing, you deserve it even when you're scolded and called 'despicable'!”

Despicable? Scolded? What is this girl saying?

“Hoho, Minami, it seems that you don't understand.”

“Yup. Seems like Shimada hasn't gotten the whiff of our sportsmanship.”

“...Lack understanding.”

I, Yuuji and Muttsurini answered in turn. Can't be helped though. Even though she didn't study enough, there has to be a limit.”

“Wha, what do you mean by that!? What are you trying to say?”

“Listen up, Minami.”

Seeing the troubled and puzzled Minami, all three of us answered loudly in unison,

“““DESPICABLE AND DIRTY ARE THINGS THAT ONLY LOSERS WILL COMPLAIN ABOUT!!!”””

“YOU GUYS ARE REALLY ROTTEN!!”

This is the golden rule of winning and losing. To win, we have to pull all the stops.

“Uu, well, but even if we force the opponent's summoned beasts to be immobile, it doesn't mean that we will win, right? How should we deal with it? And looking at their points, we can't possibly do much damage to them, right?”

Hideyoshi voiced out his doubt.

That's true. It's okay to take them out, but what do we do after that?

“The opponents are the 3rd years. And the spot-check was only done on the 2nd years, so their desire to win isn't a great, right?”

“Mn, that's true.”

We're motivated to get back those confiscated items, and we're a whole lot different from the 3rd years who're just participating this school event out of necessity.

“So we'll use the difference in strength of motivation.”

“Using the difference in motivation? Even if you say that...”

“Ahh, well, just look at it. Besides, there's no other way anyway.”

“Mn, I got it somewhat.”

“...Understood.”

Yuuji didn't explain the plan further, and we head to the middle sports arena where the match will begin.

“...At times, I really thought, what's so good about that guy...”

“Using such evil means just to get back the A-books....”

“Ah, ah hahahaha...”

<center>☆</center>

"--STRIKE THREE! BATTER OUT!"

The umpire's call echoed throughout the sports arena, and the 1st batter Minami walked back in a lonely manner. As expected of class 3-A, their ball velocity and control can't be underestimated.

"Sorry, I really couldn't hit it..."

"Don't worry, Shimada. There's a huge difference in scores anyway."

Yuuji consoled Minami like a coach. This time, we're using Chemistry as the subject, and as it's not Minami's specialty, it couldn't be helped that she couldn't hit it. Besides, Yuuji's plan isn't to hit the ball, but to attack through violence, so it doesn't matter that we didn't hit the ball.

"Summon!"

As the second batter, Sugawa-san called out him summoned beast. On a side note, this match's batting lineup goes like this.

#First batter: 3rd baseman Shimada Minami
#Second batter: Shortstop Sugawa Ryo
#Third batter: Pitcher Yoshii Akihisa
#Fourth batter: Catcher Sakamoto Yuuji
#Fifth batter: Right fielder Kondou Yoshimune
#Sixth batter: 2nd baseman Tsuchiya Kouta (Muttsurini)
#Seventh batter: Center fielder Kimishima Hiroshi
#Eighth batter: 1st baseman Fukumura Kohei
#Ninth batter: Left fielder Yokomizo Koji

[[Image:BTS vol 07 163.jpg|thumb]]

It'll be bad if we use violence right from the start, so the lead-off batter just need to hit in a normal manner, while Sugawa-san and me behind are to act according to the situation. If we feel that it's alright, Yuuji will give us the go. It'll be great if the first batter Minami can make them let their guard down...

Class A, Natsukawa Shunpei, Chemistry, 244 points.

VS

Class F, Sugawa Ryo, Chemistry, 59 points.

As how things went in the past, the pitcher and catcher are the baldy-sempai and the mohawk-head, the Toko-Natsu group that we're all too familiar with. I heard that the pitcher and catcher were different in their match against 2-A. Maybe they decided to take over this time because they know that Yuuji and I are partnering in this one. Those two really hate to lose.

“59 marks? This guy's score is really pitiful.”

Standing on the pitcher's mound, baldy-sempai saw our displayed scores and happily mocked us. This guy's looking down on us as usual.

But even though we got laughed at for our grades. Sugawa-san doesn't look like he really cares. His summoned beast just raised the bat and gets into a swinging position, As expected of a member of class F, he didn't lose his patience even though he got treated like an idiot.

“Oh, you don't even have the guts to argue back? Such a useless bum.”

After saying this nonchalently, baldy-sempai's summoned beast gets into a pitching motion. IT gathers all the force in the arm, and at the next second, he throws the ball out.

“STRIKE!”

The next moment, the ball landed neatly into the glove of the mohawk-sempai's summoned beast. I noticed it a bit when Minami was in the batter box. That ball's really fast.

“What's wrong? That was right down the middle,”

The baldy-sempai gave a mocking smile at us as he looked down on us and receives the ball from the catcher. Sugawa-san doesn't respond at all as he just readjusts himself as he readies his bat again.

Seeing Sugawa-kun's unmoved look, the baldy-sempai just looks bored as he snorts. He then pitches the second ball.

“STRIKE TWO!”

He didn't swing at all again. Now, it's two strikes. Sugawa-san continues to stare at the opponent, seemingly analyzing the situation calmly.

“You're going to be the 2nd one who's going to be struck out!”

Baldy-sempai pitches for the 3rd time. The breaking motion isn't too different, but the velocity's a lot slower than before.

Did he miss the timing? Sugawa-san didn't swing the bat as he just remained over there. The pitch just landed inside the glove. If that's the case...

“STRIKE THREE! BATTER OUT!!”

Like what baldy-sempai predicted, he really struck Sugawa-san in three strikes. Now, it's 2 men out with no baserunners.

“Oi oi oi, I threw that ball really slowly already. Shouldn't you swing your bat already?”

Baldy-sempai mocked us with a taunting tone. Ever since we began, his way of pitching was basically mocking us. This sports meet is planned by them, so they're still angry about this? They're the ones who came up with the punishment in the first place...

“What's wrong, Sugawa-san?”

I asked Sugawa-san softly as I went past him. Maybe he noticed a flaw in the opponent's attack.

“No way, I couldn't find a way to attack.”

“I see...”

“No matter how I tried to look for it, I couldn't found that sempai in the erotic yukata...”

“I see, this information is way too useful.”

If that's the case, I don't have to waste my time looking for that sempai. Though it's a little...no, it's really a pity, but now I can concentrate on the match. Let's think of it in another way. Maybe this might be a good thing.

“You're going to be the 3rd batter I'm going to strike out, Yoshii Akihisa!”

As I walked into the batter's box, the baldy-sempai on pitcher's mound said that to me.

Class A, Natsukawa Shunpei, Chemistry, 244 points.

VS

Class F, Yoshii Akihisa, Chemistry, 57 points.

After a while, our scores are shown. I understand that my score will cause me to be in a tough battle. Unless I can hit the ball in the middle, the ball shouldn't be able to fly into the outfield. However--

“I won't give up like that, Hengawa-sempai.”

“HOLD ON A MINUTE! DID YOU JUST MIX MY NAME WITH THE WORD 'HENTAI' TO CREATE A COMPLETELY NEW SURNAME!?”

“Ah, sorry, hentai-sempai.”

“NO!! I DON'T WANT YOU TO CHANGE IT TO 'HENTAI'! CALL ME 'NATSUKAWA'! JUST GIVE ME A PROPER NAME!”

“Sorry, because your name pronunciation is easy to mix up.”

“SINCE WHEN IS IT EASY TO MIX UP! THE ONLY THING SIMILAR IN 'NATSUKAWA' AND 'HENTAI' ARE THE NUMBER OF KANJI WORDS!!”

“My my, don't be so agitated, Natsukawa-hentai.”

“So you mixed them up because 'sempai' and 'hentai' sounded all too similar!?”

The fated duel's within the bat of an eye as baldy-sempai's burning up. This isn't any different from a hot-blooded shounen sports manga anyway.

“Damn you, Yoshii Akihisa...I'M SO GOING TO KILL YOU!!!”

Baldy-sempai's summoned beast raises its position and gets ready to pitch the 1st ball—which quickly came rushing here.

“STRIKE!!”

The first ball was right down the middle. I didn't react to this pitch at all as I analyze the situation.

“Heh, seems like you don't dare to take action.”

My reaction seem to make the baldy-sempai happy, as after he received the catcher's throw back, the baldy-sempai snorted in a rather good mood.

Then, he pitches the 2nd ball.

“STRIKE TWO!!”

At this moment, the opponent pitched another ball right down the ball.

“What the heck. You're pretty quiet now.”

Like when Sugawa-san was on just now, I just let two pitches fly by me to see if there's anything. Baldy-sempai just snorted in a bored manner.

“I'm just checking where you're pitching. I'll get the next one.”

“Checking where I'm pitching? HA! Stop lying! You just couldn't hit my pitch, right?”

“...”

I didn't answer him as I just wait silently for the next pitch.

Like how he pitched against Minami and Sugawa-san, the opponent's been pitching only in the middle. It's really just like his personality. He wants to strike me out within 3 pitches, so I guess the next pitch is straight down the middle again.

“Che, so you can only look at the ball? You guys are wimps!”

It's true that I've been observing the ball up now. However, I'm not just looking at the ball, but also the positioning of the pitcher. The baldy-sempai would stand at the same place after both the 1st and 2nd pitch. AS expected of this 3rd year sempai. He really knows how to control his summoned beast, and his posture is rather stable.

But that's going to be his Achilles' Heel.

“Alright, time for the final blow!”

After getting into position, the opponent pitches the 3rd ball at me. I use this chance to match the opponent and swing my bat hard at the opponent.

The white ball zips through the air as it flies towards my head while I throw the metal bat at the opponent's face. Both of us use our killer throws, and at that nail-crunching moment, it finally reached my head.

“--DANGER!!”

The pitch the opponent threw grazes past my temples, and the metal bat I threw flies past the opponent's nose.

““YOU'RE TOO DESPICABLE!!””

“YOU TWO ARE THE SAME!!”

That damned bastard made me think that he would throw all three pitches down the middle, and the last pitch came flying at my temples! If I didn't dodge it at the last minute, it would have become a huge tragedy that couldn't be recovered!

“STRIKE THREE! BATTER OUT!”

My throw just now was treat as a swing by the umpire, so I got struck out. So now, with 3 men out, it will be a switch over.

There's no other ideas I can think of. Better gather with Yuuji and the rest on the bench and talk it through first.

“Sorry Yuuji, those guys may be wary of us already.”

“Don't mind. Just make up for that failure through your pitching.”

“...Don't worry, everyone will help you out.”

“That sounds rather normal, but for some reason, I'd think what you guys are talking about is the worst...”

“Don't these guys know of something called sportsmanship...?”

“Like being cautious, induced base on balls, there's really a lot of technical terms in baseball.”

Of course, I can pitch. My scores aren't great, so the power of the ball isn't much, but I'm rather confident of my control. I'll smack that ball hard into the opponent!

“Alright, time for us to go up. EVERYONE, LEVEL THEM TO THE GROUND!!!”

“““YEAH!!!”””

<center>☆</center>

“Are you Yoshii? Whether it's about the test of courage meet before or this competition...I'll make you regret taking on us 3rd years! Summon!”

The first batter from class 3-A entered the batter box with hostility. Seems like the test of courage made more seniors hate me now.

Class A, Hotta Masatoshi, Chemistry, 217 points

Vs

Class F, Yoshii Akihisa, Chemistry, 57 points.

Soon after the summoned beasts appeared, our scores were shown. As expected of a student from class A, the marks aren't to be underestimated.

(Let's take this guy head on. I want to see how far the ball will fly with such a difference in scores.)

That's what Yuuji's telling me with his eyes. Yuuji's right. Right now, we're facing class A opponents, so we have to see how good they are. If things so smoothly, we'll be facing the teachers' team that's even better than class A. We have to know how far we can go before we should hold back. That is an important thing.

I nod my head slightly to indicate that I understand, and then let my summoned beast get into a pitching posture. Yuuji's glove is located at the low outer corner of the strikezone. Even if it gets hit, at least it won't fly out if it's not a solid hit, right?

Compared to the baldy-sempai's pitch in the previous half of the inning, the pitch of mine is a lot slower as it flies towards Yuuji's glove.

“STRIKE!”

Facing the pitch I just threw, the opponent just let it by and doesn't swing the bat. Does he want to check my pitch velocity and power? The score's over there already, so he won't feel that I can threaten him. If the next pitch lands in the strikezone, I guess he would swing.

Then, Yuuji throws the ball over. This time, it's slightly high at the corner. Is he trying to make the opponent have a hard time hitting the ball (is that a free stance)? Well, I can't really think of a reason why such a difficult thing.

I follow the position Yuuji indicated, and this time, the opponent swung the bat.

KLANG—The crisp sound of the impact can be heard, and this time, the opponent did swing the bat.

It seemed that the batter either missed or wasn't used to playing baseball as the ball missed the center. The fly ball didn't drag its distance as it flies.

“DAMN IT!”

Looking rather angry and hurt, the opponent returned to the bench area.

I see. Even if the difference in scores is larger, it naturally doesn't cause the ball to fly far if the opponent missed the center. On the other hand, when facing class E, even though their scores were about the same, the ball would naturally fly near. It's not that power alone can win games as this would be no different from other baseball matches. However, the stronger class still has overwhelming superiority.

“Okay, I'm okay. Summon!”

A familiar voice can be heard as the second batter called out his summoned beast.

Class A, Tsunemura Yuusaku, Chemistry, 223 points

Vs

Class F Yoshii Akihisa, Chemistry, 57 points.

It's the other member of the Toko-Natsu pair, the mohican-head sempai who was the catcher. Even if he's really rotten deep inside, he's really worthy of being a member of A class, having such high scores.

“BRING IT, ON, YOSHII! SAKAMOTO! I'LL RETURN ALL THE SHAME I BORE WITH INTEREST!!”

The mohican-head sempai glared as he said that to us. Seems like he's rather pumped as well. What should I do...

(Let's pitch a ball first.)

Yuuji positions his glove. His glove is aimed at the far corner where the bat can't possibly hit. I guess he has a plan if he wants me to throw that far out.

I open my arms wide and pitch the first ball. At this moment, the mohican-head sempai deliberately swung the bat. Alright, now we have a stike--

“Ahh, my hand slipped!”

Just when I thought that, the mohican-head sempai continued his swing without stopping as he swung the bat back to Yuuji's summoned beast that's getting ready to receive the pitch.

Class A, Tsunemura Yuusaku, Chemistry, 223 points.

Vs

Class F, Sakamoto Yuuji, Chemistry, 109 points.

Having been hit on the head heard, Yuuji's summoned beast had its points changed due to the damage, and the 200+ points up till now got deducted by a lot now.

“Sorry Sakamoto. That wasn't on purpose.”

Glancing back to look at the umpire's decision, the mohican-head sempai said that to Yuuji.

If that act just now was deemed as intentional, he would be forced off the field. That sempai was probably worried about this, which was why he just said those insincere words.

“...No, no need to worry about it. A lot of mishaps often happen in sports anyway?”

Yuuji doesn't look bothered by it as he said it with a smile on his face. His summoned beast bends down to picks up the bell that was dropped due to the impact.

“I see, Sakamoto's rather maganimous.”

“No no. I'm not really a kind person.”

Both of them seem to maintaining their smiles as they said that peacefully. After that, Yuuji throws the ball hard at the opponent with all his force.

--At the summoned beast of that mohican-head sempai between us.

With the blunt impact sound, Yuuji threw the ball directly at the mohican-sempai's summoned beast head.

Class A, Tsunemura Yuusaku, Chemistry, 191 points.

Vs

Class F, Sakamoto Yuuji, Chemistry, 109 points.

“Sorry sempai. It seem that I really can't control my summoned beast well.”

This time, it's the mohican-head sempai whose score got reduced. Yuuji lost about 100 points, and yet the opponent lost only about 30. It seems that since Yuuji's summoned beast was weakened, the difference in power was clearly shown on the ball that was pitched.

“But this can't be helped. A lot of accidents happen in sports, right?”

“Uu...ye, yea. I'll forgive you with a smile then. Besides, there wasn't much damage anyway...”

The mohican-head sempai smiled as he said this, but veins are popping out of his forehead. I see that he really looks like he wants to rush up to Yuuji. However, he showed these emotions to the umpire,

“YOU TWO, CONCENTRATE ON THE MATCH! BOTH OF YOU WILL BE EJECTED IF YOU DO SUCH A THING AGAIN!!”

““...””

After being lectured by the umpire, those two didn't say anything more as they return back to positions to complete the mission. This time, Yuuji threw the ball into my glove. And my summoned beast readies itself to fire another pitch.

Before I pitched, my eyes receive the signal Yuuji gave me.

(It's time, Akihisa.)

(Got it.)

I finally got the attack signal from Yuuji. The catcher's glove is set at the middle, but my pitch is aimed at the batter's head. Aim at the head and throw. I must break the enemy's head!

“Bring it, Yoshii!”

The mohican-head sempai gets into the free-swinging posture...that's an easy way to swing, either for the catcher or the hitter—he should be aiming it at Yuuji, right? That hit just now must have vexed him. If that's the case, right now, we just need to blow off the enemy's head.

In this tense atmosphere, my summoned beast lets out the 2nd pitch.

The ball that's aimed at the forehead of the batter and the bat that's deliberately aimed at the catcher let out forceful hits as we all hit our targets like we were attracted.

“--HIT BY PITCH!”

Don, dong...the ball rolled on the ground several times, and the results of the attack are shown.

Class A, Tsunemura Yuusaku, Chemistry, 177 points.

Vs

Class F, Sakamoto Yuuji, Chemistry, 7 points.

“AKIHISA YOU IDIOT! YOU DIDN'T DECREASE HIS POINTS BY MUCH!!”

“WHAT ABOUT YOU, YUUJI! YOU GOT HIT TOO MUCH! DEFEND YOURSELF PROPERLY!!”

Yuuji got 100 points reduced, and that mohican-head sempai just lost 10+ points. If this keeps up, we're going to be killed by them.

“OI, YOU BASTARDS! THAT WAS DELIBERATE, RIGHT? YOU HAVE GUTS TO DO THIS TO YOUR SENIORS!”

“WHAT NONSENSE ARE YOU SPOUTING!? YOU SEMPAIS ARE ANGRY THAT YOU LOST TO US IN THE TEST OF COURAGE, RIGHT!?”

“WHAT ARE YOU SAYING!? IF YOU'RE GOING TO DO IT LIKE THIS, FORGET ABOUT WHAT BASEBALL TOURNAMENT OR SUCH, LET'S JUST--”

“FINE BY ME! I HAD ENOUGH OF YOU THIRD YEARS ANYWAY. LET'S--”

The other bench players started a commotion. It's true that we didn't like each other, so it can't be helped that there would be so much antagonistic intent. Is this the chaos that Yuuji planned to raise?

Acting as the catcher, Yuuji smirked. If a battle's about to begin, I have to hurry up and choose my target so that I can punch him with all I got when I get the chance.

“STOP YOU!! ALL YOU IDIOTS!!”

At this moment, a certain person with a hoarse voice entered the fray that's about to become a battlefield. Who is it? Coming here to interfere while our objective was about to be complete!

“Really, you brats are really a lost cause...why can't you be obedient even when I let you people use summoned beasts to fight it out?”

Putting her hand on hear forehead as she said this—is the damned old granny who always interfered with us.

“WHAT THE HECK, GRANNY!? WHY DID YOU COME HERE!!?”

Yuuji inadvertently clicked his tongue and questioned her. Besides, since his plan was ruined, I can understand Yuuji's reason for being unhappy.

“CALL ME THE PRINCIPAL, YOU DAMNED BRAT!!!”

The principal snorted as she turned to Yuuji. She then turned around to glare at all of us before saying,

“Really...the moment I heard that you two classes are matched up, I immediately came over to see the situation. To think that it ended up like this again. It's rare for the guests to find that our summoned beast baseball tournament is rather good. I can't possibly allow all you idiots to wreck it and ruin the school's reputation.”

It seemed that the damned old granny came over to watch us once she saw that it was us class 2-F vs 3-A...she really thought everything through.

“Please don't stop us, principal! We have a duty to use physical education to teach those useless scum from 2-F what respect and common sense is about!”

“We're the ones who can't stand you guys! Treating others as idiots and looking down on us so badly! Principal, please let us kill these sempai scums who love to put an act!

'''“I TOLD ALL OF YOU TO SHUT UP!!! YOU DAMNED BRATS!!!”

Facing the quarrelling group of people, the principal roared again. As expected, an elderly person sure can do things when she takes action. Everyone just shut up once she roared.

“Really, you idiots...so you would come up with this because the pain of the summoned beasts won't be inflicted on you...”

The principal shook her head reluctantly, thinking as she stares at us.

Finally, as she puts her hands on her hips, she decide to say to us,

“I've decided to change the settings of the summoned beasts in this match.”

“““Huh?”””

Everyone present just expressed their doubts in unison.

Change the settings of the summoned beasts? What does that mean?”

“Only this once, just once. I'll let all of you feel the pain that's inflicted on the summoned beasts. With that, you won't think about all sorts of nonsense and play ball seriously, right?”

Inflicting the pain the summoned beast suffers onto the body—anyway, it's about setting the summoned beasts to be like mine?

“Alright, that'll be it. All of you are to play seriously now!”

Leaving these words behind, the principal waved her hand and turn around to walk to the school building.

“Eh, now...”

Things just happened out of a sudden, and for a while, I didn't know what to do. It's alright to change the settings of the summoned beasts, but if that's the case, what about our plan?

“Sorry, please allow us to take a timeout.”

Yuuji asked for a timeout to the umpire, and this match just interrupted officially. After confirming that, we should start a strategy meeting.

Yuuji and the infield players are all gathered near the pitcher's mound. Okay, what do we do now?

“What do we do now, Yuuji? Our plan to create chaos was ruined.”

Our plan right from the beginning was to create chaos with the 3rd years, but it ended up like this, so our plan could only end with failure. We can't win if with play with them head on!

“No problems. Things are different from what I expected, but if that's the case, we can launch our secret weapon here.”

“Secret weapon?”

“That's right. It's a good thing that the next batter's that baldy, so there's no need to go easy on him.”

After saying that, Yuuji walked to the umpire and turn to the bench, asking for a switch of players.

“Himeji will replace Yoshii as the pitcher, Yoshii will be the catcher, I as the catcher will switch to Shimada's 3rd base.”

So the defensive alignments and pitcher are to the changed? So Himeji-san is the pitcher, I'll be the cater, Yuuji defends 3rd base, and Minami returns to the bench to rest?

We follow Yuuji's instructions and head to our respectively areas. Himeji-san came out from the bench, running to Yuuji to say something to him. I can't hear them as they're too far away. What are they saying?

“Sakamoto-kun, I, I can't be the pitcher. I never played baseball before, and I can't really play sports...”

“Calm down, Himeji. Listen to me.”

“No, no! I can't! I can't do it.”

“Baseball focuses on teamwork, so the trust between the teammates is important—especially the pitcher and the catcher, which has to be the closest.”

“Ah, I see...but...”

“A pitcher and catcher that can create a beautiful combination—is often called 'husband and wife' in baseball.”

“Eh? Husband and wife...”

“That's right. From now on, I won't be the catcher. Akihisa will be the one. The result of this match will prove whether you and Akihisa can develop a good 'husband and wife' relationship.”

“...”

“You must believe in your relationship with Akihisa, so throw that ball in your hand out to see it. Akihisa will use all his strength and catch your pitch. That's the 'partner'--no, 'husband and wife' relationship.”

“I...I got it!”

“Remember this, Himeji. Use all your strength. Don't think about where the ball will get. Just use all your strength to pass your feelings to Akihisa. If you deliberately hold back, your trust between each other can't be established.”

“I understand!”

What's going on? I don't know what's going on, but I have a bad feeling about this.

Just when I'm trembling at this unknown chill, Himeji-san, who finished talking to Yuuji, came running over. She look really energetic.

"Well...Akihisa-kun, please guide me through!"

"Mn, please guide me through as well, Himeji-san."

Himeji-san seem to be rather nervous as she started stuttering.

"I believe in Akihisa-kun, I'll pitch the ball with all I got!"

"Haha, I'm happy to hear that. Let's do our best."

"Okay! Let's do our best. Let's create a wonderful family! Well...my, my beloved..."

What? What did Yuuji just say to her?

"Then, please catch my pitch!"

After she took small steps to the pitcher's mound, Himeji-san starts her preparations as she gets ready to pitch. Oh well, better not think too much. I just need to do my own job.

I'm standing at where Yuuji's been standing up till now as I let my summoned beast squat at the catcher's position.

Alright. Right now, there's one person out, one man at first base, and the match continues.

"Heh~I don't really understand what stupid plan you're thinking of, but that's not going to work on me! I'll show my strength to you. Summon!"

The opposing 3rd batter--baldy-sempai entered the batter's box and gets ready to summon.

"I, I'll do my best...summon!"

The pitcher and batter's scores are shown half a second later.

Class A, Natsukawa Shunpei, Chemistry, 244 points.

Vs

Class F, Himeji Mizuki, Chemistry, 437 points.

"Wah! That's woman's score way too much..."

On seeing Himeji-san's score, baldy-sempai started trembling. That can't be helped. Like what everyone can see, Himeji-san's scores are the elite amongst the elites, so even baldy-sempai from A class can't possibly beat her.

"Damn it. Leaving Takagi behind may be a bad decision..."

Baldy-sempair looked troubled as she muttered to herself.

Takagi? This name seems familiar. Where have I heard that name before...

"O, okay, please guide me through!"

Just when I was thinking, Himeji-san's already getting ready to pitch. I should be the one who should learn from her--HOLD ON A MINUTE! I DIDN'T REALIZE IT JUST NOW, BUT AM I THE ONE WHO'S SUPPOSED TO CATCH HIMEJI-SAN'S PITCHES!!? I'LL DIE REALLY BADLY IF I FAIL!!

"Let me see. First, step on the rubber, and then..."

"Ho, hol, hol, hold on a minute Himeji-san!!"

"Hm? What's wrong, Akihisa-kun?"

I called out to stop Himeji-san, who's getting ready to pitch. Himeji-san is so gentle and understanding. I guess she would hold back a bit, but since the difference in our scores are so far different from each other, I don't know what's going to happen, so it's better to let her try out.

"You see a runner at first base? Throw a pickoff at first base to prevent him from stealing base. Would you like to try it?"

The runner at first base didn't run too far away. I just want Himeji-san to throw a pickoff there so that she can get used to it. Anyway, I just want to let Himeji-san throw a ball first.

"A pickoff--ah, I got it. I just need to throw to first base, right?"

"That's right. Can you please throw to Fukumura-san at first base?"

"I understand. Then--"

Himeji-san's summoned beast raises its arm and gets into a pitching position.

"Heh!"

"................AH?"

Class A, Tsunemura Yuusaku, Chemistry, DEAD.

Vs

Class F, Himeji Mizuki, Chemistry, 437 points.

Class F, Fukumura Kohei, Chemistry, DEAD.

Vs

Class F, Himeji Mizuki, Chemistry, 437 points.

--There were immediate reports of two deaths.

KLANG...with that, the sound of some heavy objects tumbling down continuously can be heard.

The summoned beasts of the runner at first base, that mohican-head sempai and Fukumura-san, who's watching first base disappear together into the wind like good friends.

""WAAAHHHHHHHHH!!! IT HURRTTSSS!!! MY BODY HUUUUUURRRRRTTTTTSSSS!!!"

After a short while, controllers of the summoned beasts cried out in pain as well.

It seem that the settings change managed to catch up to the ball, so both of them got the effects of the damage done to the summoned beasts, which caused them to roll on the floor in pain.

"Ah! So, sorry! I didn't know how to control the strength on the ball, so..."

Himeji-san frantically lowered her head to apologize to both of them who're rolling on the ground. However, I don't think they would bother hearing her apology now.

"Will the bench players please take over the injured players so that we can continue the match?"

The refereeing teacher coldly asked the players to come on. The 2 severely injured players who are unable to move due to the pain are carted off. The opponent sent out one sempai, while Hideyoshi, who was on the bench, replaced Fukumura-san to guard 1st base.

"Uu...I failed..."

Though she managed to bury two people at one go, Himeji-san seem to be remorseful over it. If possible, I would like to encourage her, but if she doesn't control her strength and use all her force, the next ball will strike me, the catcher. If I get hit by that powerful ball, I'll most likely get sent to a whole new dimension in pain. Though I'm really sorry to her, I really don't want--

"Don't mind, Himeji. Just pitch with all you got."

"But..."

"Don't worry too much. That's what a catcher should do."

"But if I do this, Akihisa-kun would..."

"Oi oi, why are you saying such a thing? Don't you trust Akihisa at all?"

"Ah...no, that's not it! I never doubted Akihisa-kun!"

THAT BASTARD'S DEFINITELY TRYING TO KILL ME!!!

"Akihisa-kun, here I come!"

NOOOOO!!! HIMEJI-SAN, DON'T THROW THAT BALL AT ME!!!!

"He, heh!"

"Hm? eh? How did it--"

Himeji-san let out a cute sound and a pitch that's not cute at all. The pitch that can't be seen with the eyes landed directly on the 3rd year senior who's waiting to bat next.

Class A, Kindaichi Shinnosuke, Chemistry, DEAD.

Vs

Class F, Himeji Mizuki, Chemistry, 437 points.

The 4th batter of class 3-A didn't even manage to show his score as he immediately become a lifeless soul, never to come back again. Because of that, he became the 3rd victim.

"RE, REF!! THAT WAS A DANGEROUS BALL, WASN'T IT!!? SHE SHOULD BE EJECTED!!"

Standing in the batter's box, the baldy-sempai's expression changed greatly as he argued that Himeji-san broke the rules. But before the umpire could say anything, Yuuji, who's standing at 3rd base, says,

"Oi, sempai? How can you say such a cruel thing? Look at Himeji. You know that she didn't do it on purpose!"

"So, sorry! This is my first time as the pitcher. That's why I'm so nervous..."

Himeji-san came running over to class 3-A's bench and continued to bow to them in apology. Seeing Himeji-san looking so lost about what to do, I don't think anyone would doubt that she didn't do it on purpose.

"ST, STOP JOKING AROUND, SAKAMOTO!! SOME THINGS CAN'T BE FORGIVEN EVEN IF IT'S NOT DELIBERATE!!"

"SHUT UP, YOU SCUM!! Sensei, think carefully. One side is a cute student who's working hard to participate in a class event even though she's not good at it. The other side is one whose evil intent is to tarnish the sacred meaning of sportsmanship, a dumb, evil and ugly sempai. As a teacher, which side will you stand on?"

"BEGIN!"

"U, umpire?"

The umpire mercilessly announced the continuation of the match. Compared to our dastardly deeds, Himeji-san's actions aren't of ill intent at all. In that case, the judgment's correct, but I find that this umpire has a rather distorted view on values.

"OI, YOSHII! HURRY UP AND CHASE THAT WOMAN AWAY! YOU'LL DIE IF THIS KEEPS UP!"

"HO, HOW CAN I DO THAT? DON'T LOOK AT HER LIKE THAT, HIMEJI-SAN'S REALLY SOMEONE WITH VERY RADICAL THOUGHTS!!"

I continue to talk to the baldy-sempai in the batter's box. If I can do it, I really want Himeji-san to get off the field!

"Uu...it's really hard...maybe I can pitch better if I use a little more force..."

Himeji-san returned to the pitcher's mound and said that, causing me to break out cold sweat.

HOW IS IT POSSIBLE!! SHE DIDN'T THROW THAT BALL JUST NOW AT FULL STRENGTH!!

The one with the ability to be the valedictorian of our year pitched that without noticing the control. It seem that only the bench is a safe zone. If that's the case, it just made me forget that we have a baseball tournament going on. This isn't a match, it's a one-sided massacre.

"Th, this time...I must pitch it at Akihisa-kun!"

""EEIIYYYYYAAAAA!!""

Baldy-sempai and I let our summoned beasts throw our bat and glove away as we just cared about using both hands to cover our heads and duck. A heavy fastball flew right above our summoned beasts' head.

"BALL."

The umpire decided that it was a ball, BUT WHO WOULD CARE ABOUT WHETHER IT'S A STRIKE OR A BALL NOW!!?

"SUB HER OUT, SAKAMOTO! GET THAT PITCHER OFF!!"

"What are you saying, sempai? Himeji's pitches are getting sharper. Isn't she getting into the groove?"

"I CAN'T SEE HER AIMING AT THE CATCHER'S GLOVE!!!"

I agree with that.

Ignoring the baldy-sempai and Yuuji who're arguing, Himeji-san stands on the pitcher's mound, seemingly muttering about something.

"Uu...maybe it's because I didn't trust in Akihisa-kun thoroughly, so I couldn't pitch well...I have to trust Akihisa-kun more..."

Thus, she grasps onto the ball in her hand even tightly as she prepares to do something even more shocking. Eh? What's Himeji-san doing?

"HO, HOLD ON A MINUTE!! DID THAT PITCHER JUST CLOSE HER EYES!!?"

"That's not the case, that's the trust between partners. It's because she belives in the guidance of the pitcher that she would close her eyes to pitch."

"HOW IS SHE GOING TO BE GUIDED BY THE CATCHER IF HER EYES ARE CLOSED!!? YOU'RE SPOUTING NONSENSE HERE!!"

"That's it. It must have opened her inner eye. A truly great player doesn't need sight, he just needs to detect the presence of the pre--the opponent's location."

" SO WHAT IF SHE FOUND MY LOCATION! THE MAIN POINT'S TO PITCH DIRECTLY INTO THE STRIKEZONE, RIGHT!!? DID YOU JUST NEARLY CALL ME 'PREY'!!?"

"Please don't say something overbearing, alright? Prey-sempai?"

"DID YOU JUST SAY THAT!!? YOU JUST CALLED ME 'PREY-SEMPAI' WITHOUT THINKING, RIGHT!!?"

The most important thing right now is whether the prey Yuuji just mentioned involved me or not.

"Well...Himeji-san! Can you hear me? Actually, you don't have to be so serious..."

"Hoo...ha...hoo...ha...it's alright, I can pitch a strike if I believe firmly in Akihisa-kun..."

"Himeji-san?"

It seems that Himeji-san just entered a zen phase as she's unable to receive my words or the hand signals. Anyway...I have to use my own means to survive if I want to see the sunrise tomorrow.

"Can, can't be helped. If that's the case, I'll just dodge sideways when Himeji-san pitches. If my luck is good, maybe I can keep my own life!"

"THAT, THAT'S TOO UNDERHANDED, YOSHII!! YOU JUST WANT TO SAVE YOUR OWN LIFE!!?"

"Sorry sempai, I still love my life!"

On a side note, the basic rules of baseball indicates that the batter can't leave the batter box. I feel somewhat sorry that the baldy-sempai in front of me will have to dodge Himeji-san's pitches in the narrow area.

"I'm pitching, Akihisa-kun!"

"PLEASE TRY AND OPEN YOUR EYES, HIMEJI-SAN!!"

Facing Himeji-san's declaration, I could only beg for her to spare my life. But it seems that my wish didn't reach her heart as Himeji-san continued to keep her eyes closed and pitch the ball with all her strength.

A heavy fastball

With tremendous power

Aimed at the baldy-sempai's summoned beast's head.

".........................waaa........."

Everyone knows of a fruit called pomegranate that blooms in the beginning of summer? It's a sweet and sour fruit that's bright red. It grows on the tree, and when it ripens without anyone picking it off, it will drop because it overripes. Once it drops onto the ground, the crimson red flesh and juice will spill out all over the place.

Right now, the image of the batter that's shown into my mind started to remind me of the terrible state when the pomegranate drops for some reason.

Class A, Natsukawa Shunpei, Chemistry, DEAD.

Vs

Class F, Himeji Mizuki, Chemistry, 437 points.

"That's...overkill...that woman's...the...devil..."

Standing beside the summoned beast that got battered badly, baldy-sempai suffered lots of pain as he looked like he's about to lose consciousness and collapsed onto the ground. Seeing this...I can only feel pity for him.

After lunch, I think some people will recover, right? But the baldy-sempai's summoned beast carried its thoroughly devastated state as it disappeared into mid-air.

"Well...Akihisa-kun, was that pitch alright?"

It's only at this moment that Himeji-san finally opened her eyes. It's because she kept her eyes closed that she didn't see that burst pomegranate-like scene. Maybe this might be a good thing to her.

"Well...if we considered our initial aim, that ball was well pitched..."

But for some reason, there's some emotion within me that's making me unable to be happy.

"Next batter, please step up the plate."

The umpire coldly prompted for the next batter.

Looking over at the 3-A bench, everyone there is deliberately looking down, not daring to look at the umpire straight in the face.

"HEHE!! THE 3RD YEAR BATTERS ARE SCARED!!"

It's unknown where that mockery came from.

Hoo...I think the batter's not the only one who's scared.

"SENSEI! WE RAN OUT OF SUBSTITUTES!!"

Class 3-A reported that they don't have any substitutes left. If that's the case, since there are other events going on, there could only be 2 bench players. What should be done? Is he going to get those unregistered to play?

At this moment, I remember a rule included in the summoned beast baseball tournament. Yuuji added a rule that 'Each team is to hand in the list of players. Those players whose names aren't on the list will be unable to take part in the match'. That damned bastard created this plan to fulfill that rule...?

"Not enough bench players? Well...we'll skip past that person's batting order. The other players are to do their remedial tests."

The teacher made that cold decision. This sounded reasonable, but wouldn't that mean that the other players will have to do the tests just to take Himeji-san's killer pitches...?

"Right, so now to the next batter--5th batter, please step up. Those players with no points left are to take part in the remedial tests."

"""CLASS 3-A DECIDED TO FORFEIT!!!"""

And thus, with two Hit by Pitch at two batters and having caused 4 martyrs, a damage rating of 200%, the pitcher of F class Himeji Mizuki became a legend in the sports meet.

<noinclude>
{{BakaTest Nav|prev=Baka to Tesuto to Syokanju:Volume7 The Fourth Question|next=Baka to Tesuto to Syokanju:Volume7 The Sixth Question}}
</noinclude>

Baka to Tesuto to Syokanju:Volume7 The Fifth Question

2011-10-01T18:27:33Z

95.26.174.84:

==The Fifth Question==

Remember these baseball rules!

Yuuji: “So that's how it is. Since Himeji doesn't understand baseball, we will do a simple explanation of the rules.”

Akihisa: “We're normally the ones being taught, to think that it'll be the other way around.”

Mizuki: “Ple, please teach me well.”

Yuuji: “Now, we're going to explain the foul called '[http://www.baka-tsuki.org/project/index.php?title=Baka_to_Tesuto_to_Syokanju:Volume7_Translation_Notes_and_References balk]'.”

Mizuki: “Balk...is it?”

Yuuji: “That's right. This is a foul when the pitcher's pitching.”

Mizuki: “A foul? What is it about?”

Akihisa: “For example, when the pitcher's steps on the rubber to pick off the baserunner in place but didn't throw the ball out.”

Yuuji: “Or throwing a pickoff while the toes are facing the batter.”

Akihisa: “And there's also the 2-part pitching stance—stopping midway throwing the pitching motion, even if it's a little bit, these are all fouls.”

Mizuki: “Let me see, pointing the toes at the batter yet throwing a pickoff, and the 2-part pitching stance...”

Yuuji: “Anyway, it's not okay as long as the pitcher does something to hassle the batter or make the batter misunderstand.”

Akihisa: “Like letting the batter think that 'the pitch is coming' only to throw a pickoff, or making the batter think that the pitch won't be coming and pitching out of a sudden. This will severely affect the match.”

Mizuki: “I see...so letting people misunderstand is called a balk...”

Yuuji: “Well, yeah, you just need to think this way.”

Mizuki: “Then, Akihisa-kun...”

Akihisa: “Hm? What is it?”

Mizuki: “You balked.”

Akihisa: “Eh?”

Mizuki: “You balked.”

Akihisa: “What are you saying, Himeji-san?”

Mizuki: “Akihisa-kun balked.”

Akihisa: “Eh...”

Yuuji: “Haiz...I'm too lazy to even comment about this...”

In the end, class 3-E and 3-F couldn't beat each other, and so we advanced to the next round without a fight.

Thus--

“It's time for the semi-finals.”

“Yup, the class of that Toko-Natsu pair.”

We've just battled against them in the test of courage a while back, and now we met each other so soon. It seems that we have sort of inexplocable relationship with those two.

“Um, so that means 2-A lost?”

“I guess they did.”

“They lost? They have the almighty Kirishima-san!”

The class rep of 2-A, Kirishima Shouko-san is someone whose scores is greater than even Himeji-san's. How did she lose to that Toko-Natsu group?

“Mm...well, she's not as bad as Himeji but Shouko doesn't know much about baseball. I guess that's the reason why she lost.”

“The way I see it, there are people who are as impressive as Kirishima.”

“Well, I guess so.”

Anyway, since class A, which is led by Kirishima-san, lost, we have to be ever more cautious now.

I guess there's only 1 or 2 times that we can get points from the third years.

“It's pointless to think about it no. Let's hurry to the sports center.”

“That's right. We should be able to understand once we play against them.”

I'm wondering about the fact that 2-A lost to them, but to us, this may be a good thing. Besides, the key to us winning is the plan Yuuji comes up with. Class 2-A has Kirishima-san, who understands Yuuji's personality and thoughts thoroughly, leading them, so they should be harder to beat than class 3-A with better marks.

“Yuuji...”

“Hm? What is it, Akihisa?”

“If class 2-A advanced, what would your plan be?”

I think Yuuji thought of a plan against 2-A already.

“I actually planned to get Kubo to join us by charming him over and play 10 vs 8.”

On hearing my question, Yuuji casually answered back. 10 vs 8...if we can do it, the difference between both classes can be reduced, so it will be to our advantage. It's just...”

“Charming Kubo-san over? What are you saying? How can Kubo-san do such a dirty thing?”

“Really...if you can think this way, maybe it's a blessing to you...”

“The real Kubo got blinded by those corrupted feelings...”

“...Not knowing is the real blessing.”

“Eh? Why is everyone looking at me with pity when I mentioned Kubo-san?”

Those eyes looked like someone just died. I can't understand them at all.

“Oh yeah, Yuuji, what's our plan now?”

“To be honest, I really didn't expect 2-A to lose with Shouko and Kubo among them, so I didn't really make any adjustments for the match with class 3-A. However--”

Though he says this, Yuuji must have planned already.

“--I guess we should just kill their summoned beasts.”

I see, this plan is easy to understand.

“Seems like you guys don't have any sportsmanship at all...”

“This tactic is the worst...”

“Kill them? We're going to kick them out?”

Seeing Himeji-san look so puzzled, it seems that she still doesn't understand Yuuji's plan well.

“Got it. So we're going to beat those guys up during a mess-up until they can't show up?”

“...Who're we doing it on?”

“I'd say, you guys have already accepted such a plan without hesitation...”

Muttsurini, who's used to assassination, taking photos from the shadows, cover operations and doesn't even have any relation to sportsmanship. Of course, he accepted it without any resistance. I'm different from Muttsurini, I'm a pretty fair guy normally, but we have an aim we have to achieve no matter what, so it can't be helped that we have to use such underhanded means to win.”

“No, it's alright even when it's not a mess. There are many other means besides attacking directly.”

“Yup, like sliding into the opponent or throwing a 'Hit by Pitch'.”

“...Or faking a swing and hitting the bat on the opponent.”

“That's good. Great that you can understand.”

“I say...you guys are really too evil!”

It's too crude to call us evil. If there's a need to call us that, just say that we have a flexible approach to the rules.

Standing beside us, Minami rolls her eyes and says,

“I say, you guys...if you guys do such a thing, you deserve it even when you're scolded and called 'despicable'!”

Despicable? Scolded? What is this girl saying?

“Hoho, Minami, it seems that you don't understand.”

“Yup. Seems like Shimada hasn't gotten the whiff of our sportsmanship.”

“...Lack understanding.”

I, Yuuji and Muttsurini answered in turn. Can't be helped though. Even though she didn't study enough, there has to be a limit.”

“Wha, what do you mean by that!? What are you trying to say?”

“Listen up, Minami.”

Seeing the troubled and puzzled Minami, all three of us answered loudly in unison,

“““DESPICABLE AND DIRTY ARE THINGS THAT ONLY LOSERS WILL COMPLAIN ABOUT!!!”””

“YOU GUYS ARE REALLY ROTTEN!!”

This is the golden rule of winning and losing. To win, we have to pull all the stops.

“Uu, well, but even if we force the opponent's summoned beasts to be immobile, it doesn't mean that we will win, right? How should we deal with it? And looking at their points, we can't possibly do much damage to them, right?”

Hideyoshi voiced out his doubt.

That's true. It's okay to take them out, but what do we do after that?

“The opponents are the 3rd years. And the spot-check was only done on the 2nd years, so their desire to win isn't a great, right?”

“Mn, that's true.”

We're motivated to get back those confiscated items, and we're a whole lot different from the 3rd years who're just participating this school event out of necessity.

“So we'll use the difference in strength of motivation.”

“Using the difference in motivation? Even if you say that...”

“Ahh, well, just look at it. Besides, there's no other way anyway.”

“Mn, I got it somewhat.”

“...Understood.”

Yuuji didn't explain the plan further, and we head to the middle sports arena where the match will begin.

“...At times, I really thought, what's so good about that guy...”

“Using such evil means just to get back the A-books....”

“Ah, ah hahahaha...”

<center>☆</center>

"--STRIKE THREE! BATTER OUT!"

The umpire's call echoed throughout the sports arena, and the 1st batter Minami walked back in a lonely manner. As expected of class 3-A, their ball velocity and control can't be underestimated.

"Sorry, I really couldn't hit it..."

"Don't worry, Shimada. There's a huge difference in scores anyway."

Yuuji consoled Minami like a coach. This time, we're using Chemistry as the subject, and as it's not Minami's specialty, it couldn't be helped that she couldn't hit it. Besides, Yuuji's plan isn't to hit the ball, but to attack through violence, so it doesn't matter that we didn't hit the ball.

"Summon!"

As the second batter, Sugawa-san called out him summoned beast. On a side note, this match's batting lineup goes like this.

#First batter: 3rd baseman Shimada Minami
#Second batter: Shortstop Sugawa Ryo
#Third batter: Pitcher Yoshii Akihisa
#Fourth batter: Catcher Sakamoto Yuuji
#Fifth batter: Right fielder Kondou Yoshimune
#Sixth batter: 2nd baseman Tsuchiya Kouta (Muttsurini)
#Seventh batter: Center fielder Kimishima Hiroshi
#Eighth batter: 1st baseman Fukumura Kohei
#Ninth batter: Left fielder Yokomizo Koji

[[Image:BTS vol 07 163.jpg|thumb]]

It'll be bad if we use violence right from the start, so the lead-off batter just need to hit in a normal manner, while Sugawa-san and me behind are to act according to the situation. If we feel that it's alright, Yuuji will give us the go. It'll be great if the first batter Minami can make them let their guard down...

Class A, Natsukawa Shunpei, Chemistry, 244 points.

VS

Class F, Sugawa Ryo, Chemistry, 59 points.

As how things went in the past, the pitcher and catcher are the baldy-sempai and the mohawk-head, the Toko-Natsu group that we're all too familiar with. I heard that the pitcher and catcher were different in their match against 2-A. Maybe they decided to take over this time because they know that Yuuji and I are partnering in this one. Those two really hate to lose.

“59 marks? This guy's score is really pitiful.”

Standing on the pitcher's mound, baldy-sempai saw our displayed scores and happily mocked us. This guy's looking down on us as usual.

But even though we got laughed at for our grades. Sugawa-san doesn't look like he really cares. His summoned beast just raised the bat and gets into a swinging position, As expected of a member of class F, he didn't lose his patience even though he got treated like an idiot.

“Oh, you don't even have the guts to argue back? Such a useless bum.”

After saying this nonchalently, baldy-sempai's summoned beast gets into a pitching motion. IT gathers all the force in the arm, and at the next second, he throws the ball out.

“STRIKE!”

The next moment, the ball landed neatly into the glove of the mohawk-sempai's summoned beast. I noticed it a bit when Minami was in the batter box. That ball's really fast.

“What's wrong? That was right down the middle,”

The baldy-sempai gave a mocking smile at us as he looked down on us and receives the ball from the catcher. Sugawa-san doesn't respond at all as he just readjusts himself as he readies his bat again.

Seeing Sugawa-kun's unmoved look, the baldy-sempai just looks bored as he snorts. He then pitches the second ball.

“STRIKE TWO!”

He didn't swing at all again. Now, it's two strikes. Sugawa-san continues to stare at the opponent, seemingly analyzing the situation calmly.

“You're going to be the 2nd one who's going to be struck out!”

Baldy-sempai pitches for the 3rd time. The breaking motion isn't too different, but the velocity's a lot slower than before.

Did he miss the timing? Sugawa-san didn't swing the bat as he just remained over there. The pitch just landed inside the glove. If that's the case...

“STRIKE THREE! BATTER OUT!!”

Like what baldy-sempai predicted, he really struck Sugawa-san in three strikes. Now, it's 2 men out with no baserunners.

“Oi oi oi, I threw that ball really slowly already. Shouldn't you swing your bat already?”

Baldy-sempai mocked us with a taunting tone. Ever since we began, his way of pitching was basically mocking us. This sports meet is planned by them, so they're still angry about this? They're the ones who came up with the punishment in the first place...

“What's wrong, Sugawa-san?”

I asked Sugawa-san softly as I went past him. Maybe he noticed a flaw in the opponent's attack.

“No way, I couldn't find a way to attack.”

“I see...”

“No matter how I tried to look for it, I couldn't found that sempai in the erotic yukata...”

“I see, this information is way too useful.”

If that's the case, I don't have to waste my time looking for that sempai. Though it's a little...no, it's really a pity, but now I can concentrate on the match. Let's think of it in another way. Maybe this might be a good thing.

“You're going to be the 3rd batter I'm going to strike out, Yoshii Akihisa!”

As I walked into the batter's box, the baldy-sempai on pitcher's mound said that to me.

Class A, Natsukawa Shunpei, Chemistry, 244 points.

VS

Class F, Yoshii Akihisa, Chemistry, 57 points.

After a while, our scores are shown. I understand that my score will cause me to be in a tough battle. Unless I can hit the ball in the middle, the ball shouldn't be able to fly into the outfield. However--

“I won't give up like that, Hengawa-sempai.”

“HOLD ON A MINUTE! DID YOU JUST MIX MY NAME WITH THE WORD 'HENTAI' TO CREATE A COMPLETELY NEW SURNAME!?”

“Ah, sorry, hentai-sempai.”

“NO!! I DON'T WANT YOU TO CHANGE IT TO 'HENTAI'! CALL ME 'NATSUKAWA'! JUST GIVE ME A PROPER NAME!”

“Sorry, because your name pronunciation is easy to mix up.”

“SINCE WHEN IS IT EASY TO MIX UP! THE ONLY THING SIMILAR IN 'NATSUKAWA' AND 'HENTAI' ARE THE NUMBER OF KANJI WORDS!!”

“My my, don't be so agitated, Natsukawa-hentai.”

“So you mixed them up because 'sempai' and 'hentai' sounded all too similar!?”

The fated duel's within the bat of an eye as baldy-sempai's burning up. This isn't any different from a hot-blooded shounen sports manga anyway.

“Damn you, Yoshii Akihisa...I'M SO GOING TO KILL YOU!!!”

Baldy-sempai's summoned beast raises its position and gets ready to pitch the 1st ball—which quickly came rushing here.

“STRIKE!!”

The first ball was right down the middle. I didn't react to this pitch at all as I analyze the situation.

“Heh, seems like you don't dare to take action.”

My reaction seem to make the baldy-sempai happy, as after he received the catcher's throw back, the baldy-sempai snorted in a rather good mood.

Then, he pitches the 2nd ball.

“STRIKE TWO!!”

At this moment, the opponent pitched another ball right down the ball.

“What the heck. You're pretty quiet now.”

Like when Sugawa-san was on just now, I just let two pitches fly by me to see if there's anything. Baldy-sempai just snorted in a bored manner.

“I'm just checking where you're pitching. I'll get the next one.”

“Checking where I'm pitching? HA! Stop lying! You just couldn't hit my pitch, right?”

“...”

I didn't answer him as I just wait silently for the next pitch.

Like how he pitched against Minami and Sugawa-san, the opponent's been pitching only in the middle. It's really just like his personality. He wants to strike me out within 3 pitches, so I guess the next pitch is straight down the middle again.

“Che, so you can only look at the ball? You guys are wimps!”

It's true that I've been observing the ball up now. However, I'm not just looking at the ball, but also the positioning of the pitcher. The baldy-sempai would stand at the same place after both the 1st and 2nd pitch. AS expected of this 3rd year sempai. He really knows how to control his summoned beast, and his posture is rather stable.

But that's going to be his Achilles' Heel.

“Alright, time for the final blow!”

After getting into position, the opponent pitches the 3rd ball at me. I use this chance to match the opponent and swing my bat hard at the opponent.

The white ball zips through the air as it flies towards my head while I throw the metal bat at the opponent's face. Both of us use our killer throws, and at that nail-crunching moment, it finally reached my head.

“--DANGER!!”

The pitch the opponent threw grazes past my temples, and the metal bat I threw flies past the opponent's nose.

““YOU'RE TOO DESPICABLE!!””

“YOU TWO ARE THE SAME!!”

That damned bastard made me think that he would throw all three pitches down the middle, and the last pitch came flying at my temples! If I didn't dodge it at the last minute, it would have become a huge tragedy that couldn't be recovered!

“STRIKE THREE! BATTER OUT!”

My throw just now was treat as a swing by the umpire, so I got struck out. So now, with 3 men out, it will be a switch over.

There's no other ideas I can think of. Better gather with Yuuji and the rest on the bench and talk it through first.

“Sorry Yuuji, those guys may be wary of us already.”

“Don't mind. Just make up for that failure through your pitching.”

“...Don't worry, everyone will help you out.”

“That sounds rather normal, but for some reason, I'd think what you guys are talking about is the worst...”

“Don't these guys know of something called sportsmanship...?”

“Like being cautious, induced base on balls, there's really a lot of technical terms in baseball.”

Of course, I can pitch. My scores aren't great, so the power of the ball isn't much, but I'm rather confident of my control. I'll smack that ball hard into the opponent!

“Alright, time for us to go up. EVERYONE, LEVEL THEM TO THE GROUND!!!”

“““YEAH!!!”””

<center>☆</center>

“Are you Yoshii? Whether it's about the test of courage meet before or this competition...I'll make you regret taking on us 3rd years! Summon!”

The first batter from class 3-A entered the batter box with hostility. Seems like the test of courage made more seniors hate me now.

Class A, Hotta Masatoshi, Chemistry, 217 points

Vs

Class F, Yoshii Akihisa, Chemistry, 57 points.

Soon after the summoned beasts appeared, our scores were shown. As expected of a student from class A, the marks aren't to be underestimated.

(Let's take this guy head on. I want to see how far the ball will fly with such a difference in scores.)

That's what Yuuji's telling me with his eyes. Yuuji's right. Right now, we're facing class A opponents, so we have to see how good they are. If things so smoothly, we'll be facing the teachers' team that's even better than class A. We have to know how far we can go before we should hold back. That is an important thing.

I nod my head slightly to indicate that I understand, and then let my summoned beast get into a pitching posture. Yuuji's glove is located at the low outer corner of the strikezone. Even if it gets hit, at least it won't fly out if it's not a solid hit, right?

Compared to the baldy-sempai's pitch in the previous half of the inning, the pitch of mine is a lot slower as it flies towards Yuuji's glove.

“STRIKE!”

Facing the pitch I just threw, the opponent just let it by and doesn't swing the bat. Does he want to check my pitch velocity and power? The score's over there already, so he won't feel that I can threaten him. If the next pitch lands in the strikezone, I guess he would swing.

Then, Yuuji throws the ball over. This time, it's slightly high at the corner. Is he trying to make the opponent have a hard time hitting the ball (is that a free stance)? Well, I can't really think of a reason why such a difficult thing.

I follow the position Yuuji indicated, and this time, the opponent swung the bat.

KLANG—The crisp sound of the impact can be heard, and this time, the opponent did swing the bat.

It seemed that the batter either missed or wasn't used to playing baseball as the ball missed the center. The fly ball didn't drag its distance as it flies.

“DAMN IT!”

Looking rather angry and hurt, the opponent returned to the bench area.

I see. Even if the difference in scores is larger, it naturally doesn't cause the ball to fly far if the opponent missed the center. On the other hand, when facing class E, even though their scores were about the same, the ball would naturally fly near. It's not that power alone can win games as this would be no different from other baseball matches. However, the stronger class still has overwhelming superiority.

“Okay, I'm okay. Summon!”

A familiar voice can be heard as the second batter called out his summoned beast.

Class A, Tsunemura Yuusaku, Chemistry, 223 points

Vs

Class F Yoshii Akihisa, Chemistry, 57 points.

It's the other member of the Toko-Natsu pair, the mohican-head sempai who was the catcher. Even if he's really rotten deep inside, he's really worthy of being a member of A class, having such high scores.

“BRING IT, ON, YOSHII! SAKAMOTO! I'LL RETURN ALL THE SHAME I BORE WITH INTEREST!!”

The mohican-head sempai glared as he said that to us. Seems like he's rather pumped as well. What should I do...

(Let's pitch a ball first.)

Yuuji positions his glove. His glove is aimed at the far corner where the bat can't possibly hit. I guess he has a plan if he wants me to throw that far out.

I open my arms wide and pitch the first ball. At this moment, the mohican-head sempai deliberately swung the bat. Alright, now we have a stike--

“Ahh, my hand slipped!”

Just when I thought that, the mohican-head sempai continued his swing without stopping as he swung the bat back to Yuuji's summoned beast that's getting ready to receive the pitch.

Class A, Tsunemura Yuusaku, Chemistry, 223 points.

Vs

Class F, Sakamoto Yuuji, Chemistry, 109 points.

Having been hit on the head heard, Yuuji's summoned beast had its points changed due to the damage, and the 200+ points up till now got deducted by a lot now.

“Sorry Sakamoto. That wasn't on purpose.”

Glancing back to look at the umpire's decision, the mohican-head sempai said that to Yuuji.

If that act just now was deemed as intentional, he would be forced off the field. That sempai was probably worried about this, which was why he just said those insincere words.

“...No, no need to worry about it. A lot of mishaps often happen in sports anyway?”

Yuuji doesn't look bothered by it as he said it with a smile on his face. His summoned beast bends down to picks up the bell that was dropped due to the impact.

“I see, Sakamoto's rather maganimous.”

“No no. I'm not really a kind person.”

Both of them seem to maintaining their smiles as they said that peacefully. After that, Yuuji throws the ball hard at the opponent with all his force.

--At the summoned beast of that mohican-head sempai between us.

With the blunt impact sound, Yuuji threw the ball directly at the mohican-sempai's summoned beast head.

Class A, Tsunemura Yuusaku, Chemistry, 191 points.

Vs

Class F, Sakamoto Yuuji, Chemistry, 109 points.

“Sorry sempai. It seem that I really can't control my summoned beast well.”

This time, it's the mohican-head sempai whose score got reduced. Yuuji lost about 100 points, and yet the opponent lost only about 30. It seems that since Yuuji's summoned beast was weakened, the difference in power was clearly shown on the ball that was pitched.

“But this can't be helped. A lot of accidents happen in sports, right?”

“Uu...ye, yea. I'll forgive you with a smile then. Besides, there wasn't much damage anyway...”

The mohican-head sempai smiled as he said this, but veins are popping out of his forehead. I see that he really looks like he wants to rush up to Yuuji. However, he showed these emotions to the umpire,

“YOU TWO, CONCENTRATE ON THE MATCH! BOTH OF YOU WILL BE EJECTED IF YOU DO SUCH A THING AGAIN!!”

““...””

After being lectured by the umpire, those two didn't say anything more as they return back to positions to complete the mission. This time, Yuuji threw the ball into my glove. And my summoned beast readies itself to fire another pitch.

Before I pitched, my eyes receive the signal Yuuji gave me.

(It's time, Akihisa.)

(Got it.)

I finally got the attack signal from Yuuji. The catcher's glove is set at the middle, but my pitch is aimed at the batter's head. Aim at the head and throw. I must break the enemy's head!

“Bring it, Yoshii!”

The mohican-head sempai gets into the free-swinging posture...that's an easy way to swing, either for the catcher or the hitter—he should be aiming it at Yuuji, right? That hit just now must have vexed him. If that's the case, right now, we just need to blow off the enemy's head.

In this tense atmosphere, my summoned beast lets out the 2nd pitch.

The ball that's aimed at the forehead of the batter and the bat that's deliberately aimed at the catcher let out forceful hits as we all hit our targets like we were attracted.

“--HIT BY PITCH!”

Don, dong...the ball rolled on the ground several times, and the results of the attack are shown.

Class A, Tsunemura Yuusaku, Chemistry, 177 points.

Vs

Class F, Sakamoto Yuuji, Chemistry, 7 points.

“AKIHISA YOU IDIOT! YOU DIDN'T DECREASE HIS POINTS BY MUCH!!”

“WHAT ABOUT YOU, YUUJI! YOU GOT HIT TOO MUCH! DEFEND YOURSELF PROPERLY!!”

Yuuji got 100 points reduced, and that mohican-head sempai just lost 10+ points. If this keeps up, we're going to be killed by them.

“OI, YOU BASTARDS! THAT WAS DELIBERATE, RIGHT? YOU HAVE GUTS TO DO THIS TO YOUR SENIORS!”

“WHAT NONSENSE ARE YOU SPOUTING!? YOU SEMPAIS ARE ANGRY THAT YOU LOST TO US IN THE TEST OF COURAGE, RIGHT!?”

“WHAT ARE YOU SAYING!? IF YOU'RE GOING TO DO IT LIKE THIS, FORGET ABOUT WHAT BASEBALL TOURNAMENT OR SUCH, LET'S JUST--”

“FINE BY ME! I HAD ENOUGH OF YOU THIRD YEARS ANYWAY. LET'S--”

The other bench players started a commotion. It's true that we didn't like each other, so it can't be helped that there would be so much antagonistic intent. Is this the chaos that Yuuji planned to raise?

Acting as the catcher, Yuuji smirked. If a battle's about to begin, I have to hurry up and choose my target so that I can punch him with all I got when I get the chance.

“STOP YOU!! ALL YOU IDIOTS!!”

At this moment, a certain person with a hoarse voice entered the fray that's about to become a battlefield. Who is it? Coming here to interfere while our objective was about to be complete!

“Really, you brats are really a lost cause...why can't you be obedient even when I let you people use summoned beasts to fight it out?”

Putting her hand on hear forehead as she said this—is the damned old granny who always interfered with us.

“WHAT THE HECK, GRANNY!? WHY DID YOU COME HERE!!?”

Yuuji inadvertently clicked his tongue and questioned her. Besides, since his plan was ruined, I can understand Yuuji's reason for being unhappy.

“CALL ME THE PRINCIPAL, YOU DAMNED BRAT!!!”

The principal snorted as she turned to Yuuji. She then turned around to glare at all of us before saying,

“Really...the moment I heard that you two classes are matched up, I immediately came over to see the situation. To think that it ended up like this again. It's rare for the guests to find that our summoned beast baseball tournament is rather good. I can't possibly allow all you idiots to wreck it and ruin the school's reputation.”

It seemed that the damned old granny came over to watch us once she saw that it was us class 2-F vs 3-A...she really thought everything through.

“Please don't stop us, principal! We have a duty to use physical education to teach those useless scum from 2-F what respect and common sense is about!”

“We're the ones who can't stand you guys! Treating others as idiots and looking down on us so badly! Principal, please let us kill these sempai scums who love to put an act!

'''“I TOLD ALL OF YOU TO SHUT UP!!! YOU DAMNED BRATS!!!”

Facing the quarrelling group of people, the principal roared again. As expected, an elderly person sure can do things when she takes action. Everyone just shut up once she roared.

“Really, you idiots...so you would come up with this because the pain of the summoned beasts won't be inflicted on you...”

The principal shook her head reluctantly, thinking as she stares at us.

Finally, as she puts her hands on her hips, she decide to say to us,

“I've decided to change the settings of the summoned beasts in this match.”

“““Huh?”””

Everyone present just expressed their doubts in unison.

Change the settings of the summoned beasts? What does that mean?”

“Only this once, just once. I'll let all of you feel the pain that's inflicted on the summoned beasts. With that, you won't think about all sorts of nonsense and play ball seriously, right?”

Inflicting the pain the summoned beast suffers onto the body—anyway, it's about setting the summoned beasts to be like mine?

“Alright, that'll be it. All of you are to play seriously now!”

Leaving these words behind, the principal waved her hand and turn around to walk to the school building.

“Eh, now...”

Things just happened out of a sudden, and for a while, I didn't know what to do. It's alright to change the settings of the summoned beasts, but if that's the case, what about our plan?

“Sorry, please allow us to take a timeout.”

Yuuji asked for a timeout to the umpire, and this match just interrupted officially. After confirming that, we should start a strategy meeting.

Yuuji and the infield players are all gathered near the pitcher's mound. Okay, what do we do now?

“What do we do now, Yuuji? Our plan to create chaos was ruined.”

Our plan right from the beginning was to create chaos with the 3rd years, but it ended up like this, so our plan could only end with failure. We can't win if with play with them head on!

“No problems. Things are different from what I expected, but if that's the case, we can launch our secret weapon here.”

“Secret weapon?”

“That's right. It's a good thing that the next batter's that baldy, so there's no need to go easy on him.”

After saying that, Yuuji walked to the umpire and turn to the bench, asking for a switch of players.

“Himeji will replace Yoshii as the pitcher, Yoshii will be the catcher, I as the catcher will switch to Shimada's 3rd base.”

So the defensive alignments and pitcher are to the changed? So Himeji-san is the pitcher, I'll be the cater, Yuuji defends 3rd base, and Minami returns to the bench to rest?

We follow Yuuji's instructions and head to our respectively areas. Himeji-san came out from the bench, running to Yuuji to say something to him. I can't hear them as they're too far away. What are they saying?

“Sakamoto-kun, I, I can't be the pitcher. I never played baseball before, and I can't really play sports...”

“Calm down, Himeji. Listen to me.”

“No, no! I can't! I can't do it.”

“Baseball focuses on teamwork, so the trust between the teammates is important—especially the pitcher and the catcher, which has to be the closest.”

“Ah, I see...but...”

“A pitcher and catcher that can create a beautiful combination—is often called 'husband and wife' in baseball.”

“Eh? Husband and wife...”

“That's right. From now on, I won't be the catcher. Akihisa will be the one. The result of this match will prove whether you and Akihisa can develop a good 'husband and wife' relationship.”

“...”

“You must believe in your relationship with Akihisa, so throw that ball in your hand out to see it. Akihisa will use all his strength and catch your pitch. That's the 'partner'--no, 'husband and wife' relationship.”

“I...I got it!”

“Remember this, Himeji. Use all your strength. Don't think about where the ball will get. Just use all your strength to pass your feelings to Akihisa. If you deliberately hold back, your trust between each other can't be established.”

“I understand!”

What's going on? I don't know what's going on, but I have a bad feeling about this.

Just when I'm trembling at this unknown chill, Himeji-san, who finished talking to Yuuji, came running over. She look really energetic.

"Well...Akihisa-kun, please guide me through!"

"Mn, please guide me through as well, Himeji-san."

Himeji-san seem to be rather nervous as she started stuttering.

"I believe in Akihisa-kun, I'll pitch the ball with all I got!"

"Haha, I'm happy to hear that. Let's do our best."

"Okay! Let's do our best. Let's create a wonderful family! Well...my, my beloved..."

What? What did Yuuji just say to her?

"Then, please catch my pitch!"

After she took small steps to the pitcher's mound, Himeji-san starts her preparations as she gets ready to pitch. Oh well, better not think too much. I just need to do my own job.

I'm standing at where Yuuji's been standing up till now as I let my summoned beast squat at the catcher's position.

Alright. Right now, there's one person out, one man at first base, and the match continues.

"Heh~I don't really understand what stupid plan you're thinking of, but that's not going to work on me! I'll show my strength to you. Summon!"

The opposing 3rd batter--baldy-sempai entered the batter's box and gets ready to summon.

"I, I'll do my best...summon!"

The pitcher and batter's scores are shown half a second later.

Class A, Natsukawa Shunpei, Chemistry, 244 points.

Vs

Class F, Himeji Mizuki, Chemistry, 437 points.

"Wah! That's woman's score way too much..."

On seeing Himeji-san's score, baldy-sempai started trembling. That can't be helped. Like what everyone can see, Himeji-san's scores are the elite amongst the elites, so even baldy-sempai from A class can't possibly beat her.

"Damn it. Leaving Takagi behind may be a bad decision..."

Baldy-sempair looked troubled as she muttered to herself.

Takagi? This name seems familiar. Where have I heard that name before...

"O, okay, please guide me through!"

Just when I was thinking, Himeji-san's already getting ready to pitch. I should be the one who should learn from her--HOLD ON A MINUTE! I DIDN'T REALIZE IT JUST NOW, BUT AM I THE ONE WHO'S SUPPOSED TO CATCH HIMEJI-SAN'S PITCHES!!? I'LL DIE REALLY BADLY IF I FAIL!!

"Let me see. First, step on the rubber, and then..."

"Ho, hol, hol, hold on a minute Himeji-san!!"

"Hm? What's wrong, Akihisa-kun?"

I called out to stop Himeji-san, who's getting ready to pitch. Himeji-san is so gentle and understanding. I guess she would hold back a bit, but since the difference in our scores are so far different from each other, I don't know what's going to happen, so it's better to let her try out.

"You see a runner at first base? Throw a pickoff at first base to prevent him from stealing base. Would you like to try it?"

The runner at first base didn't run too far away. I just want Himeji-san to throw a pickoff there so that she can get used to it. Anyway, I just want to let Himeji-san throw a ball first.

"A pickoff--ah, I got it. I just need to throw to first base, right?"

"That's right. Can you please throw to Fukumura-san at first base?"

"I understand. Then--"

Himeji-san's summoned beast raises its arm and gets into a pitching position.

"Heh!"

"................AH?"

Class A, Tsunemura Yuusaku, Chemistry, DEAD.

Vs

Class F, Himeji Mizuki, Chemistry, 437 points.

Class F, Fukumura Kohei, Chemistry, DEAD.

Vs

Class F, Himeji Mizuki, Chemistry, 437 points.

--There were immediate reports of two deaths.

KLANG...with that, the sound of some heavy objects tumbling down continuously can be heard.

The summoned beasts of the runner at first base, that mohican-head sempai and Fukumura-san, who's watching first base disappear together into the wind like good friends.

""WAAAHHHHHHHHH!!! IT HURRTTSSS!!! MY BODY HUUUUUURRRRRTTTTTSSSS!!!"

After a short while. the controller of the summoned beasts cried out in pain as well.

It seem that the settings change managed to catch up to the ball, so both of them got the effects of the damage done to the summoned beasts, which caused them to roll on the floor in pain.

"Ah! So, sorry! I didn't know how to control the strength on the ball, so..."

Himeji-san frantically lowered her head to apologize to both of them who're rolling on the ground. However, I don't think they would bother hearing her apology now.

"Will the bench players please take over the injured players so that we can continue the match?"

The refereeing teacher coldly asked the players to come on. The 2 severely injured players who are unable to move due to the pain are carted off. The opponent sent out one sempai, while Hideyoshi, who was on the bench, replaced Fukumura-san to guard 1st base.

"Uu...I failed..."

Though she managed to bury two people at one go, Himeji-san seem to be remorseful over it. If possible, I would like to encourage her, but if she doesn't control her strength and use all her force, the next ball will strike me, the catcher. If I get hit by that powerful ball, I'll most likely get sent to a whole new dimension in pain. Though I'm really sorry to her, I really don't want--

"Don't mind, Himeji. Just pitch with all you got."

"But..."

"Don't worry too much. That's what a catcher should do."

"But if I do this, Akihisa-kun would..."

"Oi oi, why are you saying such a thing? Don't you trust Akihisa at all?"

"Ah...no, that's not it! I never doubted Akihisa-kun!"

THAT BASTARD'S DEFINITELY TRYING TO KILL ME!!!

"Akihisa-kun, here I come!"

NOOOOO!!! HIMEJI-SAN, DON'T THROW THAT BALL AT ME!!!!

"He, heh!"

"Hm? eh? How did it--"

Himeji-san let out a cute sound and a pitch that's not cute at all. The pitch that can't be seen with the eyes landed directly on the 3rd year senior who's waiting to bat next.

Class A, Kindaichi Shinnosuke, Chemistry, DEAD.

Vs

Class F, Himeji Mizuki, Chemistry, 437 points.

The 4th batter of class 3-A didn't even manage to show his score as he immediately become a lifeless soul, never to come back again. Because of that, he became the 3rd victim.

"RE, REF!! THAT WAS A DANGEROUS BALL, WASN'T IT!!? SHE SHOULD BE EJECTED!!"

Standing in the batter's box, the baldy-sempai's expression changed greatly as he argued that Himeji-san broke the rules. But before the umpire could say anything, Yuuji, who's standing at 3rd base, says,

"Oi, sempai? How can you say such a cruel thing? Look at Himeji. You know that she didn't do it on purpose!"

"So, sorry! This is my first time as the pitcher. That's why I'm so nervous..."

Himeji-san came running over to class 3-A's bench and continued to bow to them in apology. Seeing Himeji-san looking so lost about what to do, I don't think anyone would doubt that she didn't do it on purpose.

"ST, STOP JOKING AROUND, SAKAMOTO!! SOME THINGS CAN'T BE FORGIVEN EVEN IF IT'S NOT DELIBERATE!!"

"SHUT UP, YOU SCUM!! Sensei, think carefully. One side is a cute student who's working hard to participate in a class event even though she's not good at it. The other side is one whose evil intent is to tarnish the sacred meaning of sportsmanship, a dumb, evil and ugly sempai. As a teacher, which side will you stand on?"

"BEGIN!"

"U, umpire?"

The umpire mercilessly announced the continuation of the match. Compared to our dastardly deeds, Himeji-san's actions aren't of ill intent at all. In that case, the judgment's correct, but I find that this umpire has a rather distorted view on values.

"OI, YOSHII! HURRY UP AND CHASE THAT WOMAN AWAY! YOU'LL DIE IF THIS KEEPS UP!"

"HO, HOW CAN I DO THAT? DON'T LOOK AT HER LIKE THAT, HIMEJI-SAN'S REALLY SOMEONE WITH VERY RADICAL THOUGHTS!!"

I continue to talk to the baldy-sempai in the batter's box. If I can do it, I really want Himeji-san to get off the field!

"Uu...it's really hard...maybe I can pitch better if I use a little more force..."

Himeji-san returned to the pitcher's mound and said that, causing me to break out cold sweat.

HOW IS IT POSSIBLE!! SHE DIDN'T THROW THAT BALL JUST NOW AT FULL STRENGTH!!

The one with the ability to be the valedictorian of our year pitched that without noticing the control. It seem that only the bench is a safe zone. If that's the case, it just made me forget that we have a baseball tournament going on. This isn't a match, it's a one-sided massacre.

"Th, this time...I must pitch it at Akihisa-kun!"

""EEIIYYYYYAAAAA!!""

Baldy-sempai and I let our summoned beasts throw our bat and glove away as we just cared about using both hands to cover our heads and duck. A heavy fastball flew right above our summoned beasts' head.

"BALL."

The umpire decided that it was a ball, BUT WHO WOULD CARE ABOUT WHETHER IT'S A STRIKE OR A BALL NOW!!?

"SUB HER OUT, SAKAMOTO! GET THAT PITCHER OFF!!"

"What are you saying, sempai? Himeji's pitches are getting sharper. Isn't she getting into the groove?"

"I CAN'T SEE HER AIMING AT THE CATCHER'S GLOVE!!!"

I agree with that.

Ignoring the baldy-sempai and Yuuji who're arguing, Himeji-san stands on the pitcher's mound, seemingly muttering about something.

"Uu...maybe it's because I didn't trust in Akihisa-kun thoroughly, so I couldn't pitch well...I have to trust Akihisa-kun more..."

Thus, she grasps onto the ball in her hand even tightly as she prepares to do something even more shocking. Eh? What's Himeji-san doing?

"HO, HOLD ON A MINUTE!! DID THAT PITCHER JUST CLOSE HER EYES!!?"

"That's not the case, that's the trust between partners. It's because she belives in the guidance of the pitcher that she would close her eyes to pitch."

"HOW IS SHE GOING TO BE GUIDED BY THE CATCHER IF HER EYES ARE CLOSED!!? YOU'RE SPOUTING NONSENSE HERE!!"

"That's it. It must have opened her inner eye. A truly great player doesn't need sight, he just needs to detect the presence of the pre--the opponent's location."

" SO WHAT IF SHE FOUND MY LOCATION! THE MAIN POINT'S TO PITCH DIRECTLY INTO THE STRIKEZONE, RIGHT!!? DID YOU JUST NEARLY CALL ME 'PREY'!!?"

"Please don't say something overbearing, alright? Prey-sempai?"

"DID YOU JUST SAY THAT!!? YOU JUST CALLED ME 'PREY-SEMPAI' WITHOUT THINKING, RIGHT!!?"

The most important thing right now is whether the prey Yuuji just mentioned involved me or not.

"Well...Himeji-san! Can you hear me? Actually, you don't have to be so serious..."

"Hoo...ha...hoo...ha...it's alright, I can pitch a strike if I believe firmly in Akihisa-kun..."

"Himeji-san?"

It seems that Himeji-san just entered a zen phase as she's unable to receive my words or the hand signals. Anyway...I have to use my own means to survive if I want to see the sunrise tomorrow.

"Can, can't be helped. If that's the case, I'll just dodge sideways when Himeji-san pitches. If my luck is good, maybe I can keep my own life!"

"THAT, THAT'S TOO UNDERHANDED, YOSHII!! YOU JUST WANT TO SAVE YOUR OWN LIFE!!?"

"Sorry sempai, I still love my life!"

On a side note, the basic rules of baseball indicates that the batter can't leave the batter box. I feel somewhat sorry that the baldy-sempai in front of me will have to dodge Himeji-san's pitches in the narrow area.

"I'm pitching, Akihisa-kun!"

"PLEASE TRY AND OPEN YOUR EYES, HIMEJI-SAN!!"

Facing Himeji-san's declaration, I could only beg for her to spare my life. But it seems that my wish didn't reach her heart as Himeji-san continued to keep her eyes closed and pitch the ball with all her strength.

A heavy fastball

With tremendous power

Aimed at the baldy-sempai's summoned beast's head.

".........................waaa........."

Everyone knows of a fruit called pomegranate that blooms in the beginning of summer? It's a sweet and sour fruit that's bright red. It grows on the tree, and when it ripens without anyone picking it off, it will drop because it overripes. Once it drops onto the ground, the crimson red flesh and juice will spill out all over the place.

Right now, the image of the batter that's shown into my mind started to remind me of the terrible state when the pomegranate drops for some reason.

Class A, Natsukawa Shunpei, Chemistry, DEAD.

Vs

Class F, Himeji Mizuki, Chemistry, 437 points.

"That's...overkill...that woman's...the...devil..."

Standing beside the summoned beast that got battered badly, baldy-sempai suffered lots of pain as he looked like he's about to lose consciousness and collapsed onto the ground. Seeing this...I can only feel pity for him.

After lunch, I think some people will recover, right? But the baldy-sempai's summoned beast carried its thoroughly devastated state as it disappeared into mid-air.

"Well...Akihisa-kun, was that pitch alright?"

It's only at this moment that Himeji-san finally opened her eyes. It's because she kept her eyes closed that she didn't see that burst pomegranate-like scene. Maybe this might be a good thing to her.

"Well...if we considered our initial aim, that ball was well pitched..."

But for some reason, there's some emotion within me that's making me unable to be happy.

"Next batter, please step up the plate."

The umpire coldly prompted for the next batter.

Looking over at the 3-A bench, everyone there is deliberately looking down, not daring to look at the umpire straight in the face.

"HEHE!! THE 3RD YEAR BATTERS ARE SCARED!!"

It's unknown where that mockery came from.

Hoo...I think the batter's not the only one who's scared.

"SENSEI! WE RAN OUT OF SUBSTITUTES!!"

Class 3-A reported that they don't have any substitutes left. If that's the case, since there are other events going on, there could only be 2 bench players. What should be done? Is he going to get those unregistered to play?

At this moment, I remember a rule included in the summoned beast baseball tournament. Yuuji added a rule that 'Each team is to hand in the list of players. Those players whose names aren't on the list will be unable to take part in the match'. That damned bastard created this plan to fulfill that rule...?

"Not enough bench players? Well...we'll skip past that person's batting order. The other players are to do their remedial tests."

The teacher made that cold decision. This sounded reasonable, but wouldn't that mean that the other players will have to do the tests just to take Himeji-san's killer pitches...?

"Right, so now to the next batter--5th batter, please step up. Those players with no points left are to take part in the remedial tests."

"""CLASS 3-A DECIDED TO FORFEIT!!!"""

And thus, with two Hit by Pitch at two batters and having caused 4 martyrs, a damage rating of 200%, the pitcher of F class Himeji Mizuki became a legend in the sports meet.

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