𝐣𝐮𝐝𝐠𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 [𝐟𝐮𝐫𝐮𝐲𝐚 𝐬.]

𝐟𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐭𝐞𝐞𝐧.

katsumi sat in the dugout, biting her lip nervously. "we will now begin the second round of the tokyo tournament, with the match between seidou high and maimon west high school.

"finally, seidou's summer is starting."

"it's their all-important first game, i hope they aren't too nervous."

"they'll pull it off!"

"hey, hey.. number ten?" kuramochi smirked as he walked up to the batter's box. "not their left handed ace?"

the players in the dugout looked to chris, "number ten, minamidaira mamoru. in his first year, he pitched a few games, but after that he hadn't appeared in any official games. i don't want to believe it... but i think they trained him for two years just for this summer..." katsumi hummed, looking at the pitcher with narrowed eyes.

'hm.. a slow under throw...' she scowled. 'i want to hit...'

"fuhahaha! did you see his face? those seidou bastards! they have no information on this pitcher, so they must be quite confused!" the maimon coach laughed. katsumi frowned, watching another ball be pitched to an unmoving kuramochi. another ball was thrown, and kuramochi swung only for the ball to drop and hit the dirt in front of the catcher. the boy took off running, but was quickly gotten out by the catcher's quick arm.

"even on a deflected ball, they still kept their composure..." yuki crossed his arms as jun pulled his helmet on. katsumi held her helmet in her lap, bouncing her legs and praying she'd be able to hit after jun.

"ryo-san! i'm sorry!" kuramochi yelled to the third year as he jogged back to the dugout.

"it was enough, since i got to see that breaking ball." the pinkette smirked, stepping up to the batter's box.

"hey, furuya, let's do some catch ball for now." kazuya told the boy, pulling his mitt on.

"s- should i join you too?" eijun excitedly pointed to himself.

"why?" kazuya snickered.

katsumi rolled her eyes, 'so mean, brother.' she signed, earning a grin from the catcher. she hummed quietly, watching ryosuke hit a pitch to the third baseman, the boy catching it. jun was up next, and katsumi got ready, pulling her gloves on. 'hopefully jun-senpai can get a hit..'

"isashiki, hit it out~!"

"howl, seidou's spitz!"

"who are you calling a spitz?!" jun swung the bat angrily, his helmet flying off as he missed the ball.

"strike!"

"calm down, isashiki! so he heard that.."

"look carefully at the ball, beard-senpai!" jun whipped around to yell at eijun, only to be distracted by katsumi's quiet clapping. he smiled, a soft chuckle leaving him as he turned back to face the pitcher.

"i think from the right batter's box, that outside pitch looks rather fast.." kuramochi said, katsumi nodding in response as she pulled her helmet on. the pitcher threw to jun, and he swung forward, hitting the ball to right field. it was caught, and katsumi puffed her cheeks out. kuramochi laughed, patting the pouting girl on the head softly as she replaced her batting gloves with her mitt.

"fuhahaha! they were careless. even if their head tells them not to, unconsciously, they're underestimating us! but that's specifically what we, the weaker team, aim for!" the maimon coach eyed furuya and katsumi angrily as they walked onto the field. "and there's the proof: their starters are first years! even if they're a powerhouse, to send out a first year, and a girl, in their first match!" the coach laughed loudly.