Runner's on third.
Fat lot of good that did a righty like him at the moment. Come to think of it, everyone except Mihashi, Oki, and Tajima batted right.
Maybe we should have thought of that when we were coming up with this whole thing in the first place.
"Strike!"
Dammit!
Mizutani broke his stance to tramp down some dirt at the edge of the box.
Bottom of the ninth, two outs, full count, runners on the corners. Cannot afford to lose focus now.
Stretching his arm out in front of him, Mizutani took a few half-hearted swings. He strained to see Tajima out of his peripherals, ninety feet away, ready to run as soon as he made contact.
I need to make contact.
Mihashi knelt in the on-deck circle, cradling a bat in his arms, looking absolutely terrified as usual.
Even if we manage to score the run here, it's likely we'll be going into extra innings. I don't want to put so much pressure on Mihashi, but if it's down to a loss now or even the slightest possibility of winning later, I'll take my chances.
Just behind Mihashi, Momo-kan signaled frantically. Mizutani reached up automatically to grip the visor of his helmet.
Yeah, yeah, I know. Just bring him home.
"Come on, you've got this, man!"
"Let's go! Get the RBI!"
"One run, kome! Runner on third!"
His grip tightened around the bat's handle as he settled back into his stance, jaw clenching at Izumi's shout.
Runner's on third.
This isn't working.
Nothing worked anymore. None of Mr. Shiga's meditation shit, Izumi's stupid tickling, Abe's constant yelling, even Mihashi's hourly freak outs didn't entertain him nearly as much as they used to. He thought of Sakaeguchi telling him to think of the practice field when he couldn't see the base runner.
Our first meeting as a real team. He said it relaxed him, thinking about that morning. That's when we started all that meditation bullshit, holding hands and everything. Only …
The pitcher was winding up.
How can that possibly relax me ….
Mizutani swung with all his might.
…when the hand I was holding was hers?
