The Assassin Within

Part 35~Swing to Kill

"Hey! Isn't this playing dirty, Mr Principal? They're taking up defensive positions that clutter up the field and the umpire hasn't given them any warnings. Don't you guys think it's weird too? Oh, I get it. You guys aren't the brightest, so you don't understand defensive positions and such, do you?" Karma stuck out his tongue as the crowd went crazy.

Karma put on his helmet as he went to bat.

"Top of the second inning, E class helplessly goes down in order!"

The batter hit Sugino's pitch, sending it far into the corner of the field. It hit against the wall, causing Muramatsu to fall behind it again.

"It hit into the wall. Uh-oh! He couldn't catch it off the bounce! Shindou-kun makes it to second with room to spare! It's a double!"

No matter what the class did, they couldn't catch up now that the team was on a roll and riled up from Karma's previous taunts.

"Now, bottom of the third! We've finally come to the end! It's the baseball team's turn on the offensive and that's it!" Sugino pitched his ball but Hashimoto bunted it away. "Woah! A drag bunt!"

Kimura ran after the ball but he barely caught it. When he turned around to throw it to Isogai, Hashimoto was safe.

"It's the E class's turn to see their share of hell! E class, this is how bunting is done!"

Kimura returned the ball to Sugino, apologising as he did so.

Yet again the team set up for a bunt as Sugino set up the pitch. The bunt sent the ball flying, forcing class E's moments. "No outs and bases loaded! And the batter that's up is our school's superstar! Our pride and joy! It's Shindou-kun!"

Shindou walked out with a series of bats wrapped together. "I'll trample you, Sugino!"

Nagisa snapped his fingers in front of Sugino's eyes, a smile on his face. "I think it's time to put Karma's earlier taunting to good use."

"Now the game resumes... with... a-an unusually tight defence!"

Karma and Okabe stood directly in front of Shindou. "We're clearly defending in positions that would disrupt the batter's focus," Karma announced simply.

"But I didn't hear any objections from the umpire when you guys did it earlier. You've got no problem with this, right principal?" Okabe leaned backwards to look at the principal with a smirk on his face.

"Feel free. Mere changes in defence will not faze the chosen," the principal declared making Karma smirk.

"Wow, big words," Karma teased. "Then we'll do just that." Karma and Okabe stepped forward yet again.

"T-Talk about close! Forget about tight defence! This is point-blank! He could hit them with his swing at that distance!"

"Don't mind us, just swing away, superstar. We won't get in the way of the pitch," Okabe joked with a psychotic look in his eye, his scared eye making him even more scary.

"A worthless bluff," the principal stated. "Swing away without a care, Shindou-kun. Even if you break some bones, it will be E class that gets penalized for obstructing the batter."

Shindou tried to ignore the fielders as Sugino pitched. Okabe and Karma easily jumped out of the way of the bat as Nagisa caught the ball.

"A slow swing like that won't cut it," Nagisa teased as he threw the ball up and down before throwing it back to Sugino.

"Next time," Okabe started as he got as close as he could.

“Try swinging like you mean to kill us,” Karma ordered his blood lust seeping out.

Sugino pitched his ball as Shindou hit it. Karma easily caught the ball before throwing it to Nagisa who hit against the base. He wasted no time throwing to third and getting the other batter out. Finally, they threw the ball to first and all the game was won.

The announcer couldn't believe it as the girls cheered.

Sugino sighed as he approached Shindou. "Sorry for turning it into such a crazy game. But I know, you're a way better baseball player than I am. I don't consider this a victory over you or anything."

"then...Why did you go to all this trouble to win? Weren't you trying to produce real results to show that you're stronger than me?"

"Nagisa always keeps me company when I'm practising my breaking balls. Not to mention Karma and Okabe reflexes, our skill at bunting, and all that was pretty cool, right? But without real results to show for it, it's hard to get that across. I guess what it boils down to is I wanted to show off a little. Show off my current friends to my old friends." Sugino offered out his hand as he pulled up Shindou.

"Nagisa! That was great!" Zen jumped over the fence and tackled Nagisa in a tight hug. "Oh, and Karma, could we talk after this?"

Both Karma and Nagisa shared a look as Zen dragged Karma away.