𝐣𝐮𝐝𝐠𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 [𝐟𝐮𝐫𝐮𝐲𝐚 𝐬.]

𝐭𝐰𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐲-𝐬𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧.

it was the bottom of the fifth inning, and sanada quickly made three outs for yakushi, his pitches giving the seidou batters irregular hits and dead locking them. jun scowled as he pulled his helmet off, roughly patting the head of a clapping and smiling katsumi. she hummed quietly as she shuffled out of the dugout, ignoring the familiar feeling of ryosuke chopping her head and kuramochi kicking her butt. "hey, stop humming, idiot!" the shortstop scowled.

"you look too happy! look more scary!" jun shouted as he reached to grab the girl in a headlock. she ducked under his arm, continuing to hum.

"ah, katsumi-chan is just too soft." ryosuke smiled. katsumi looked over to the yakushi dugout and made eye contact with raichi, who was watching her with wide eyes and a small blush. katsumi smiled wider, a dark aura overtaking her usual warm aura. raichi jumped, looking away quickly.

"ah, katsumi!" kuramochi jumped at the sudden change in emotion, eyes wide in shock. "too scary!"

"not scary enough!" jun grinned, grabbing the girl's arm and dragging her to the outfield. "get more fired up!" katsumi nodded, aura growing as she got in position. eijun threw his first pitch, the yakushi batter unmoving as the ball flew past him.

"strike!" the batter scowled, glaring at the ball in kazuya's mitt. eijun pitched another strike, smiling as kazuya called out 'nice pitch!'.

the batter's scowl deepened, "i- i'm sorry, timeout! my shoe laces..." katsumi raised an eyebrow as the batter bent down, bat leaning against his shoulder as he 'adjusted' his shoe laces.

her eyes darted to sawamura, who was flopping his throwing arm while chanting 'yosh yosh yosh!' with an idiotic smile. the batter stood back up, exhaling and stretching his arms out. eijun quickly pitched the third ball, the batter hastily swinging and watching the ball fly through the air.

"yeaaah!" eijun yelled with a grin, watching the ball. his smile quickly dropped as he realized that no one was able to properly retrieve the ball. "leader? onii-san?" ryosuke stuck his arm out in an attempt to catch it and katsumi gasped quietly. the runner stepped on first, yelling happily as the yakushi players cheered from their dugout.

"good good goooood!" raichi shouted, punching the air.

"don't worry about it, sawamura!" kuramochi called to the boy, who was gaping in shock.

"when you let them hit, sometimes it flies to a bad place!" eijun yelled, suddenly grinning as he bent his knees.

"that's right!" kuramochi jumped, leaning away from the boy.

"batting ninth, center, oota-kun." the batter signed to his coach and katsumi shuffled forward with an uneasy feeling in her stomach.

'they're planning something...' katsumi turned her eyes to the yakushi coach, who was smirking. as eijun winded up his pitch, the batter quickly got into a bunting position, shocking everyone on the seidou team. masuko and katsumi ran forward, eyes wide.

the ball was bunted towards first and yuki darted forward, scowling slightly. 'the ball's momentum is slowing... that's not something you can do after practicing bunting for one day...' katsumi frowned as her heart pounded harshly in her chest. yuki threw to ryosuke, successfully getting the runner out as the other runner proceeded to second.

katsumi glanced over to the batter's box, frown growing as she saw raichi grinning at eijun. the stands suddenly erupted into cheers for the boy, praising his batting skills. the infielders gathered around eijun, when a figure suddenly emerged from seidou's dugout.

katsumi watched with wide eyes as haruichi jogged towards the huddle on the mound, taking his cap off and nodding at the umpire. katsumi crossed her arms, gazing up at the baby blue skies as she waited. 'be a wall...' she closed her eyes, ignoring jun's shouts for her to pay attention.