Chapter 42: Quite Difficult
"What's wrong?" Takashima Rei asked with a smile, adjusting her glasses. "Is it because of Kamishiro?"
Caught red-handed, Miyuki smiled faintly and said nothing, closing the door behind him before taking a seat.
Takashima sighed. "It's not exactly unexpected. Kamishiro never really had a favorable opinion of you to begin with. Add in what you said during the Akikawa game... it would be odd if he didn't dislike you."
"When I invited him to Seidou, I had hoped Chris could be a good match for Kamishiro. Their personalities complement each other. It's a shame... If not for that accident, they might've become a great battery. Even Shinomiya Kazuyuki believed they would've worked well together."
"Shinomiya Kazuyuki?"
"Kamishiro's former catcher partner. He was an incredible catcher. Due to some issues at home, he quit baseball right after his second year of junior high. At the time, Kamishiro had just started his second year."
"What kind of catcher was he?" Miyuki asked.
"A terrifying one. With Kamishiro, he led their team all the way to the national championship without allowing a single run throughout the tournament."
"Shinomiya could tailor pitch calls perfectly to each batter's tendencies. When I say 'perfect,' I mean no matter how the batter swung, the ball would always end up somewhere easily fielded—exactly where Shinomiya expected it to be."
"Of course, that relied heavily on Kamishiro's pitch stability too."
At that, Miyuki gave a strained smile, an expression of disbelief.
To pull that off, you'd need to predict the pitcher's exact execution—down to how consistent the same pitch is each time. Even with the same pitch type, small variances always exist.
Kamishiro's pitch stability, though... yeah, Miyuki could believe it. Every time he caught for him, he could feel how sharp the control and consistent the spin were. That's why even when a ball was hit, it rarely landed well.
"Back then, Kamishiro didn't need many pitches to close out a batter—sometimes even just one per out. It was only after Shinomiya left that Kamishiro began appearing in the spotlight for striking out batters in three pitches."
"I originally planned to recruit them both when Kamishiro was in his first year of junior high, but Shinomiya declined. He told me I'd have a better chance convincing Kamishiro after he left. And he was right."
"In a way, Kamishiro owes much of his strength to Shinomiya's guidance."
"Sometimes, Shinomiya wouldn't even call pitches. He let Kamishiro call his own game. That was only because Kamishiro had been a catcher in elementary school and was pretty solid. I think Shinomiya was trying to raise him into a 'self-sufficient ace'—a pitcher who didn't need a catcher, one who was dominant in all aspects."
"Teaching Kamishiro to call his own game was probably his way of protecting him from being dragged down by a poor catcher someday."
Still, calling your own game as a pitcher... that's pretty outrageous.
Miyuki stayed silent.
"I think Shinomiya might've worried too much…"
After all, catchers at top schools usually aren't incompetent.
"But it doesn't really matter. Kamishiro isn't the type to let emotions affect him on the mound. You've seen how composed he is up there."
It was true. Every pitch from Rinichi was steady—his condition never visibly wavered.
Then something clicked in Miyuki's mind. "But… Kamishiro doesn't seem particularly attached to the mound itself?"
Takashima looked up at him, smiling. "Since his second year in junior high, after Shinomiya left, Kamishiro has been sharing the mound with another pitcher—someone he was paired with as a battery back in elementary school and was close to. From Kamishiro's perspective, maybe without Shinomiya behind the plate, it doesn't really matter whether he's on the mound or not."
"Getting along with Kamishiro must be pretty difficult for you, huh?"
Miyuki: "…"
'Difficult' doesn't even begin to cover it.
...
"Get up, we've got a game today." Kuramochi yanked the blanket off Rinichi.
Without the cover blocking the light, Rinichi stayed facedown and kept sleeping.
This guy probably got too excited about yesterday's game. Even after closing his eyes last night, he was likely still replaying every hit in his mind.
Good thing he's only scheduled to pitch two innings today—maybe just 18 pitches total.
Rinichi forced his eyes open for a few seconds, glanced at the time, then mumbled, "It's still early. I'm not going. You go ahead, Kuramochi-senpai. I'll be at the cafeteria in time for breakfast."
Besides, Masuko was still lying in bed too.
Mostly, he just didn't want to get up while Rinichi was still snoozing.
In the end, both Rinichi and Masuko got up at almost the same time and went to wash up together. Since Masuko needed to shave his head, Rinichi headed out first.
He carried his breakfast tray and sat down next to Haruichi.
"Didn't sleep well?" Haruichi asked, noticing how groggy he looked.
"I'm fine…" Rinichi had just started to reply when Masuko walked in. Out of the corner of his eye, Rinichi caught a glimpse of something that made him double-take—Masuko's head was completely bald.
Just then, Coach Kataoka and Takashima Rei walked in too, both pausing when they saw Masuko's shiny head.
"Masuko… what's the meaning of this?" Coach Kataoka asked.
At that, everyone burst into laughter, especially Kuramochi—you could practically hear the mischief in his cackle.
"You're terrible, Coach," Kuramochi said between laughs.
Rinichi tried to cover his mouth, but the way his eyes curved gave him away. He eventually broke into a full grin.
Haruichi looked at Rinichi, who was laughing harder than anyone: "…"
"What happened to your head, Masuko?"
"You trying to reinvent yourself or something?"
Masuko looked extremely awkward. "I forgot to switch out the blade on my clippers…"
Kuramochi was gasping for air between his wheezes. "It—it suits you, Masuko-senpai! Haha… and it doubles your intimidation factor!"
Ryousuke turned to Tanba and said, "Great, you've got a teammate now."
Even Takashima and Coach Kataoka cracked up, though they tried to hold it in more than the others.
"Well, what's done is done," Kataoka eventually said, trying to sound serious. "But there better not be any careless mistakes like this during the game!"
Which only made everyone laugh harder.
It took a good while before the laughter finally died down.
Rinichi rubbed his sore stomach from laughing too much. He suddenly felt hungrier and even a bit more awake.
Silently, he thanked Masuko.
Just as he was about to start eating, Furuya sat down next to him.
Rinichi glanced sideways and said, "You're really late."
"Went to bed kinda late," Furuya replied.
Haruichi: "…" Since when did these two get so chummy?
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