‘Carlos Toro? From Shuei High? No way…’
Ken stepped forward until he was right in front of the curly haired man, his eyes blazing.
“Carlos? Is that you?” Ken asked in Japanese.
The man’s expression faltered briefly, as if not expecting Ken to speak Japanese. He looked him up and down for a few moments with confusion.
“You look familiar… Do I know you?” He asked suspiciously.
‘It is him!’ Ken was gobsmacked, he had not seen this guy in almost 7 years. Back when they played against each other in his first year of High School, he’d received the showdown skill.
After graduating, the guy had disappeared off the face of the earth.
“It’s me, Ken. I used to play for Yokohama High.” He said, pointing to himself.
“EH!? Ken, what are you doing here?” Carlos’s eyes widened in shock.
“Um, guys. We have a lot of things to do today, can you leave your chit-chat for afterwards?” The Julian, the short director stated.
“Of course, my apologies.” Ken said, bowing slightly.
“Okay good. Ken, you go up to the mound, we’re going to first get some tape of you pitching.” Julian said, making a shooing motion.
Steve was directed to the plate and Carlos stood back while he watched the proceedings.
So after warming up his arm, Ken was told to pitch as usual. Nodding, Ken got into position and fired off a fastball, almost knocking the nearby camera guy over.
“No no, that’s too fast.” Julian said, shaking his head. “Go slower. Remember we’re showcasing the shoe today. When you plant your foot, I want to see some dirt fly up.”
So, Ken spent the half an hour being yelled at by Julian as he went through many adjustments. Just as he was starting to get pissed off, the short man decided that he had gotten enough footage and moved on.
Ken breathed a sigh of relief. If he had to keep pitching differently, he was worried that he might lose his normal form.
They then went over to the dugout where Julian directed Carlos to go through some moves and walk onto the field. Surprisingly, the guy only had to perform it two times before the short director was satisfied.
Ken grumbled in annoyance, but kept watching. The sooner this was over, the quicker he could leave this place.
Carlos went through some impressive bat tricks, his curly hair bouncing unabashedly in the breeze. He was charismatic, without a doubt.
“Ken! Go stand on the mound and look serious.” Julian barked, clicking his fingers.
Ken’s face darkened, but he did as he was told. He tried to calm himself a little, this was part of his endorsement deal, so he couldn’t exactly complain right now.
Once Carlos stepped into the batters box, the camera panned from him to Ken on the mound. But the annoyed sigh of Julian broke through the silence.
“Ken for god’s sake man, where is your intensity?”
‘Intensity?’ Ken’s anger surged.
‘You want intensity, you bastard? Stand still for me…’ He thought, gripping the ball in his hand tightly.
“Yes! That’s it. Looks like you’re not useless after all. Now, let’s try again.”
‘This is fine… everything is fine…’ Ken chanted in his mind, trying to calm down the urge to injure this man.
They went through the scene a few more times before it was Steve’s turn to be in the spotlight. It made Ken feel a little better to see his friend also struggle with Julian. He was barked at for 20 minutes before finally getting it right.
“Alright, next scene. Ken, I want you to pitch down the middle, and Carlos you hit a home run.” Julian stated, “Let’s go.”
Ken froze. ‘He wants me to throw a meatball?’
Just the thought of such an action hurt him. What would it be like if he actually went through with it…
However, it didn’t seem like he had a choice in the matter. Letting out a sigh, Ken got into his pitching action and threw it right down the middle, granted, the ball was still at 80% of his power.
WHACK
Carlos managed to hit the ball, but it only went as far as the outfield.
“Why are you pitching so fast Ken? I told you to give him an easy one down the middle.” Julian frowned.
“With all due respect, director. If I throw slow, I would have to lob the ball in the air. This will be obvious in the video.” Ken explained.
“He’s right. It needs to look believable.” Carlos said, before Julian could respond.
After a few moments, Julian finally agreed. With Ken’s level of pitching and Carlos’s batting prowess, the two dueled for over 10 minutes before the latter was finally able to get a decent shot at the ball.
THWACKK
Carlos crunched the ball into the stands, to the point where everyone could only sit back and appreciate the hit.
Ken grinned. While it didn’t feel good to have a home run hit against him, he had already struck the guy out 3 times before this. If it was a real match he’d probably also be using showdown on him too.
‘I can’t give away all my secrets.’ Ken thought, letting out a chuckle.
From then on, the director took them through some more shoots which lasted another couple of hours. By the time Lunch came around, they were given the all clear to leave.
Ken let out a sigh of relief. When Sharon had told him the shoot could take days, he’d been a little uneasy. But apparently they did well enough to get an early mark.
Now that things were over, Ken could finally catch up with Carlos. As they made their way back to the locker room, the two decided to go out for lunch.
Steve being the kind of extrovert he was, decided to tag along, regardless of if he was invited or not. Not that Ken would have an issue with it.
The trio went out to a nearby restaurant for lunch.
