His expression looked as if he was staring at an idiot, to the point where he didn’t even feel the need to explain himself.
“You were obstructing the plate and you didn’t even have the ball yet. Are you sure you don’t have a concussion from that hit?” He replied in exasperation, not forgetting to add some sass at the end.
“PFFT”
Ken felt his body seize as he heard the umpires words. He did his best not to break out into laughter and risk escalating the situation. Yet his antics didn’t go unnoticed.
Guillermo felt his face go red in anger. He couldn’t lash out at the umpire otherwise he could risk getting thrown out of the game for good.
He set his eyes on Ken for a moment, as if to burn his features into his mind.
‘We’ll see who is laughing soon.’ Guillermo said in his heart as he returned to his position.
“Batting 6th, Right outfield, Ken.”
As Ken stepped into the batters box, Daichi did his best not to limp on his way back to the dugout. Upon arrival, he was met with lots of praise, particularly from his father who seemed fired up.
“Ohohoho my boy!” He could hardly contain his excitement as he shook Daichi by the shoulders.
‘I’m dying…’
Still not recovered from the earlier collision, Daichi did his best to endure the thrashing around of his father and teammates in the vicinity.
Amid his rendezvous with the team, there were a pair of eyes that looked at him suspiciously from the side with a burning gaze. As if feeling his life in peril, Daichi turned his head slowly only to see Coach Takashi scrutinizing him.
Daichi let out a gulp, not knowing what was happening.
The Head Coach slowly approached him and placed his hands on each of his shoulders while staring at him intently.
‘Oh no… has he found out?’ Daichi despaired inwardly, his mind already thinking the worst.
Yet his worries were quickly forgotten with the next words out of the coach’s mouth.
“Miho, grab some ice. Daichi’s shoulder is inflamed.”
“Yes Grandfather.”
Meanwhile on the field, Ken was in the hot seat as he awaited the first pitch to come his way. Cuba had used a timeout in order for Guillermo to catch his breath after the collision.
Ken could feel some animosity in the air for some reason, making him high on alert. There was a part of him that believed they would try some funny business in order to get back at their team.
It was currently 4-2 in favor of Japan and they were only in the first inning and with 2 more outs remaining, they still had an opportunity to score.
‘Let’s see if I can hit another home run.’ He thought with a grin.
Finally, play resumed once again.
Gustavo’s eyes widened briefly after receiving the sign from his catcher. However, his face turned up into a grin a moment later before he let out a nod.
In one swift movement, he lifted his arms and began his pitching action, using his large upper body to send a roaring fastball towards the plate.
Ken felt his body tingle the moment the ball left the pitchers hand.
‘W-What the hell!?’
Instinctively, Ken leaned back with all of his might, falling to the ground in the process.
The ball which was flying at at least 150km/h, shot straight past him, narrowly missing his chest on the way down.
“Oops. Sorry the ball slipped!” Gustavo yelled out, however his expression said otherwise.
“Hey, if you do that crap again, I’m ejecting you!” The umpire was having none of it, quickly sending a direct warning to the pitcher.
“Oi that was on purpose!”
“These dirty players…”
The Japan bench were livid, as was the few members of the audience. Even they could see that the actions of the Cuban team were blatant.
The Head Coach of the Cuban team felt a headache coming on. He massaged his glabella and resisted the urge to lose his cool. It was only the first inning, yet this kind of crap was happening.
Ken got back to his feet and dusted off his pants, doing his best to keep his cool. In reality, he was super pissed off right now.
After being hit by an errant pitch only a few weeks ago, he did not take such things lightly. If he hadn’t have had the Recovery Elixir back then, there was a large possibility he could have suffered brain damage.
It was also a one time use item per individual, meaning he could no longer use it again on himself despite having one in his inventory.
“You think this is funny?” Ken asked in an icy tone.
“Eh? You speak English?” Guillermo was stunned as he heard the fluent americanized accent from the teen.
“Answer my question.”
“Tch, I don’t know what you are talking about. The ball slipped out of his hands.” After being ignored, Guillermo gave a half-hearted response.
Hearing this, Ken gripped his bat tightly before turning his attention towards the pitcher, his expression cold.
[Limit Break activated. All grades increased by 2]
Mika’s monotonous voice rang within his mind before he felt his body fill with strength. It seemed like the system had felt his rage and decided now was the time to go all out.
Ken did not move, focusing all of his attention onto the pitcher.
In the dugout, Daichi now had a bag of ice on his left shoulder. He looked onto the field with a hint of worry on his features after seeing the blatant attempt at a Beanball.
The scene of Ken unconscious in the batters box was still fresh in his mind, causing some anxiety to surface. If he felt such a way, then how did Ken feel right now?
Gustavo entered his wind up once more, sending the ball towards the strike zone for real this time. There was only so many times he could get away with such a stunt, so he focused on trying to strike the guy out.
Yet Ken had other plans.