Distance.
As seen.
Ayanokouji leaped into the air.
He intercepted the pitcher ball that was bouncing toward Sudo mid-air, and quickly scanned the field.
Should he return to home plate to tag Sumida to prevent losing a point?
Or strive for outs?
Losing one more point now didn't matter; first consideration was how to solve this infinite bases-loaded crisis, so naturally outs were more important.
Third base runner started.
The order of tagging was extremely important.
The second base runner Ichinose was not fast, so no need to mind; the batter Beppu had just started running so he should also be fine.
Completing a triple play here would naturally be for the best.
But the third baseman Horikita Suzune, as a girl, didn't have fast ball speed.
The second baseman Ike Kanji's ability wasn't excellent; if even a tiny bit of mistake occurred, they would get nothing.
Triple play risk was too high.
While pondering.
Ayanokouji stayed in mid-air, took the baseball out of his glove, and with a sudden force of the wrist, threw it toward first base, Miyake Akito.
Home plate to first base was 27 meters, and Beppu had only run halfway.
"Third base."
"Understood!"
Why would it be third base?
Receiving the ball, Miyake Akito also didn't think much and directly threw the ball toward Horikita Suzune; at the same time, Ichinose had also only run half the distance.
Done.
The ball entered the glove.
Horikita Suzune followed the momentum to throw it toward second base, only to find Hikiagaya already standing on the base.
Watching the scene, Horikita Suzune bit her lip unwillingly.
Ayanokouji probably took into account her ball speed and Ike Kanji's strength to make such a judgment.
In such a 0 to 3 game.
Although she had also trained diligently and wouldn't easily make a mistake, she seemed unable to do anything.
"The point is valid, double play."
2 out.
Beppu and Ichinose were out, runner on second base.
"Incredible, Ayanokouji, with your speed and hang time, you could immediately become a starter even playing basketball!"
Looking at the excited Sudo, Ayanokouji shifted the topic as if nothing had happened.
"Calm down, the crisis is not over yet."
"Oh, I know, leave the rest to me."
Only a runner on second base.
And facing the back-line batters of Class B.
Although four points were lost, the pressure faced instantly dropped quite a bit.
Watching the scene, Hikiagaya suddenly became somewhat solemn.
Ayanokouji's movement just now.
Was simply outrageous.
Whether it was speed, jumping power, hang time, or reaction speed and judgment, they were all a bit scary.
There was also wrist strength...
Even though he only used his wrist to throw the ball, the ball speed was about the same as a normal person's; if he used arm strength, how fast would that be.
This guy is simply a monster.
But is this Ayanokouji's full strength?
Hikiagaya wasn't very clear either.
But based on current performance.
To admit frankly.
Ayanokouji's ability as a catcher was far above his.
Plus hitting ability.
Hikiagaya felt the other side was at least two to three tiers higher than himself.
If.
The White Room had taught baseball or related knowledge.
That would be somewhat justifiable.
If Ayanokouji had grown to this stage in just two short months, this learning ability would be truly too terrifying.
Soon.
Not unexpectedly.
Sudo seemed to have regained his calm, using four balls to solve Moriyama Takuya.
Switching between offense and defense.
Hikiagaya felt it was a bit of a pity; that base-reach was in vain.
Returning to the coach's seat.
While everyone was preparing for defense, Yonezu Haruto walked in front of Hikiagaya.
"Hikiagaya, there's something I need to discuss with you."
"Eh, what is it?"
"This exam is quite a bit harder than I imagined; when answering the questions just now, my brain was a mess, I couldn't concentrate on answering at all."
"Eh, really?"
Kanzaki frowned and said with some confusion: "I didn't really feel anything."
"That's because you are relatively calm, Kanzaki; I also felt a bit irritable."
Shibata spread his hands somewhat helplessly.
Although he didn't call for a proxy answerer just now, he also felt a hint of hesitation; he could understand Yonezu's thoughts.
"Is that so?"
Hikiagaya frowned, not quite able to understand.
After all, he had been walked to a base, and then just had to focus on running and answering.
However.
Since Shibata and the others said so, it should be very hard.
Baseball requires concentration on the game, and problem-solving also requires concentration.
If it were just simple questions like 1+1 it would be nothing, but this time the test difficulty was not low.
In the case of multitasking.
It was hard to answer correctly within the three-minute limit.
Furthermore.
The fighting spirit that was finally stirred up was forced back down because of the test questions.
Under such repeated circumstances.
Naturally, one would become irritable.
Although there were calm people like Kanzaki Ryuji, most people were like Yonezu Haruto and others.
Wanting results on both sides ended up with not getting either.
Perhaps.
The exam was designed this way.
Without clear division of labor, and greedily trying to save a few personal points, it would eventually lead to defeat.
"Then, for the following participants, don't worry about answering questions, use proxy answerers as much as you like."
Although he knew everyone would agree, Hikiagaya still asked one more question.
"What does everyone think?"
"Of course no problem, after all, this is exactly why we've been studying hard."
Ando Sayo and the others showed reassuring smiles.
During this time.
The study group had naturally been studying hard too.
As long as the answering was left to them, it would be enough to put one at ease.
The problem was.
If more than ten proxy answers were used, fifty thousand personal points had to be paid.
Fortunately.
Class B had no selfishness.
For Class B, which could coordinate all the class's personal points, no one would care about these personal points; it wouldn't cause any conflict.
Furthermore.
The six-month mark had arrived.
From now on, five to six million personal points could be saved every month; this bit of money was nothing.
And in the opposite coach's seat.
"Sorry, everyone."
Sudo bowed ninety degrees, full of apology: "Because of me, we lost four points."
"Don't mind it."
Horikita Suzune said a bit bitterly: "Although I really want to say that, right now it is indeed a crisis, and I also have to say an apology to everyone."
"In this exam, I completely failed to play a role."
"That's not it at all, it's just bad luck for this exam."
Hirata quickly spoke up, and Sudo and others also nodded in agreement.
In this exam.
Aside from answering questions, it was difficult for girls to play a role.
This point was the same for everyone.
It was just bad luck.
Leading to Horikita Suzune being unable to exercise her strength.
She should have been able to exercise it, but compared to the boys with the same B rating, there was a gap.
But was it really luck?
Horikita Suzune had some doubts in her heart, but didn't say much.
Was it that her past luck was too good, rather than this time's luck being too bad?
Now was not the time to say these things.
"It's only the fourth inning, we still have a chance; Sudo, you look like you're okay now, I'll leave the rest to you all."
"Of course, leave it to me."
"Truly reliable."
Horikita Suzune bowed slightly, her tone sincere.
Fortunately.
She was no longer the person she used to be.
Now she understood the importance of companions, and already had a group of companions worth trusting.
However.
Is that really the case?