He took the water bottle from her and took a small sip before tipping the remaining contents over his head. It ran down his hair and cooled down his face, bringing him back to reality.
He flashed a grin and handed her the bottle.
Perhaps it was because he was elated from their win, or maybe Yuta had enough of waiting, but he felt rather bold in that moment. Taking a page straight out of Tatsuya’s handbook, he looked Yuko in the eyes.
“Hey Yuko, we should go out sometime.” He said casually.
“Eh?”
On another part of the field, Kazuhiro clutched his left wrist and walked back to the dugout. He stopped right in front of Carlos and let out a small sigh.
“Sorry, I wasn’t strong enough.”
He placed his hand on the teen’s shoulder and continued on his way, feeling tears of frustration well up in his eyes.
It wasn’t only him. Shinji also mumbled his apologies to Carlos before retreating, leaving the stunned youth rooted in place.
‘Why aren’t they blaming me?’ He thought, feeling a bitter taste in his mouth. He stared at the ground, his earlier smile now replaced with a confused expression.
He felt an arm wrap around his shoulders before pulling him in.
“You did well Carlos. You’re gonna be a great player in the future.”
The soft yet impactful voice of his coach caused a shock to run through his body.
“I… I couldn’t live up to their expectations.” He said bitterly.
After saying these words, he felt the coach’s strong arms pull him in a little tighter as they continued to walk to the dugout.
“Don’t say that. You did your best young one.” For the first time, Carlos heard his coach’s voice break a little. This seemed to destroy the emotional dam he’d built up over the last 6 years, bringing with it a flood.
Without warning he began to cry, the warm tears flowing down his face like a waterfall.
He felt bitter, but a large part of him felt liberated. The last at-bat was the most fun he’d had playing baseball since elementary school.
After arriving at the bench, each one of his teammates came up and consoled him, apologizing for holding him back. They poured out their true feelings, causing him to second guess everything he’d done.
‘Is this the way they’ve felt the entire time?’
As if to back up this sentiment, Coach Goto ruffled his curly hair.
“It took you a while, but now you know what it’s like to be a true star player.”
His eyes widened, as if he’d finally figured it all out.
Seiji Hanada breathed out a sigh of relief. Despite having confidence in their team and hanging onto a 4 run lead for most of the game, his heart felt as if it had been doing gymnastics every time Carlos was up to bat.
However, the last ball that Ken had thrown was something else, it gave him goosebumps just thinking about it.
‘I’ve only seen pitches like that in the pro league…’
He wasn’t exaggerating either, the pitch was magnificent. He wasn’t at all surprised that a 3rd year even on the level of Carlos couldn’t touch the ball.
“Nice work coach.”
The assistant coach snapped him out of his train of thought, bringing him back to the current reality.
“Ah, I didn’t really do anything.” He said after a while, looking at the teens celebrating on the field. Despite saying so, he was feeling a sense of pride wash over him.
It was only after another 5 minutes that everyone began to calm down, yet it still felt so surreal. The coach rounded everyone up for the ceremonial bow on the field.
Ken stood across from both Kazuhiro and Carlos. The Ace had his left wrist wrapped up since he’d been hit by his pitch, whereas the curly-haired teen gave him a smile. There were still tear marks left on his face, evidence of his earlier emotions.
“Thank you for the game!”
The two teams bowed to each other, signifying an end to the proceedings.
Before they went their separate ways, Carlos came up to Ken as if he wanted to say something. Ken was slightly taller than the half-Dominican, but it was not by much.
“That was really fun. Thank you for showing me your type of baseball.”
His voice was deep, yet his tone was earnest and pleasing to the ears. Ken was honestly a little surprised that he was receiving thanks, especially after coming out victorious.
“I didn’t do anything, it was your teammates who were able to convey their feelings to you towards the end.”
Ken then held out his hand, a little grin forming on his face.
“Let’s see each other in the pro leagues.”
The tone in which he used was filled with absolute confidence. Not only was Ken acknowledging that Carlos had the ability to go pro, he was also declaring his own intentions.
Carlos stared at the outstretched hand and let out a chuckle. He grasped the hand reciprocated the smile.
“Next time I won’t let you win.”
“We’ll see about that.”
On another part of the field, the two coaches stood apart from each other casually. The earlier rivalry and pettiness seemed to have been forgotten as they performed a solid handshake.
“Well done on raising a bunch of stars.” Coach Goto said, his usual smile replaced with a genuine one.
If he was completely honest, he didn’t mind losing such a match. He felt that his team had grown closer together with the revitalization of Carlos and sudden improvement of Kazuhiro.
He was already looking forward to competing again next year.
“Your team isn’t so bad yourself coach. We’ll have to watch out for that Kazuhiro again next year.” Seiji replied sincerely.
“Heh. How can you say that when you have a sniper of your own. That last pitch was something I’ve never seen from a High Schooler before.”
Coach Hanada couldn’t deny those words and he no longer tried to be humble, nodding in agreement.
“He’s definitely special.” He admitted.
Coach Goto relinquished his hand and began to walk off with the rest of his team. Yet when he was only a few meters away he suddenly turned around, flashing his usual smile.
“Make sure you win the whole thing okay?”