The moment Takashi was announced as a substitute, Koenji Rokusuke—who had just voluntarily stepped down and tossed his jersey to the ground—looked like he was constipated.
His only thought now was: Takashi , are you fcking kidding me!?*
I take the field, you don't.
I leave the field, you go in.
If this isn't playing me, then what is?
It was obviously intentional.
"Can I still go back in?"
Koenji Rokusuke looked down at the jersey he had thrown on the ground and asked the coach in a low, gloomy voice.
It had been less than a minute—maybe not even ten seconds—since he had stepped down. He should still have a chance.
The Advanced Nurturing coach stood up, walked over to the umpire, exchanged a few words, then shook his head at Koenji.
Koenji ripped the towel from around his neck and hurled it to the ground.
He'd been completely played.
To someone as proud as Koenji Rokusuke, this was worse than death.
He didn't care what most people thought—but if it was Takashi , that was a different matter.
He came here for Takashi. Otherwise, he wouldn't have entered the Koshien Summer Tournament at all.
For ordinary people, Koshien meant youth, passion, and honor. But for rich heirs like them, it was just another business opportunity.
He didn't need honor to prove anything.
He only wanted to compete against Takashi —to see who was better—or rather, to prove to Hitomi that he was the best. That was all.
To do so, he joined a club activity he normally wouldn't be caught dead in, and even teamed up with Ayanokouji Kiyotaka and others to form a baseball team.
With his prideful personality, he had no interest in teaming up with people like Horikita Manabu or Ayanokouji Kiyotaka to try and take down Takashi.
He would rather lead his own team—not necessarily strong, just at Aoba's level.
Only by winning with such a team would it mean he was better than Takashi.
Winning would only prove that Advanced Nurturing was better than Aoba. It wouldn't prove that Koenji Rokusuke was better than Takashi .
To ordinary people, a win was a win. Why compare?
But to someone as proud and competitive as Koenji, it wasn't the same.
The team could lose, but he had to beat Takashi .
However, Advanced Nurturing only had one slot for the tournament. As a school aiming for the championship, they were never going to give it to him for something so personal.
Their stance was simple: join, or don't.
At first, Koenji wasn't going to join. But then Ayanokouji Kiyotaka approached him and changed his mind with one sentence:
"Don't you want to compete with Takashi on the same stage? This might be your only chance in all three years of high school to beat him."
Anyone familiar with Advanced Nurturing knows—it's a fully closed-off school. A prison.
The students there couldn't leave.
Only a national-level event like Koshien could make the administration break the rules and allow a student to leave.
If he didn't join this year, who knows whether Takashi would be allowed to participate next year?
Just as Ayanokouji Kiyotaka said, this was the only chance.
To stand on the same stage as Takashi and to prove he was better, he chose to join.
He worked hard to the end—only to make a wrong decision at the very last step, right before finally facing Takashi .
Then what did everything before amount to?
All those sweaty days under the blazing sun, all that effort… was it all for nothing?
Was it just him asking to suffer?
"Finally can't hold it in and coming to the field?" he muttered.
"Fine. No matter how fast you pitch, I'm gonna crush the ball."
The moment they heard Takashi was about to take the field, the Advanced Nurturing players had varied expressions.
Nagumo Miyabi lit up with excitement.
Ryuen Kakeru stared eagerly toward the Aoba bullpen. Kanzaki Ryuji turned serious.
Katsuragi Kohei looked grim. And Sudo Ken shouted that he'd be the first to hit a home run off Takashi.
Only Horikita Manabu and Ayanokouji Kiyotaka remained calm.
Ayanokouji's calm came from simple disinterest.
He didn't care about many things. Getting him to take anything seriously was difficult.
Horikita's calm, though, made Ayanokouji glance at him suspiciously. "You don't seem the least bit surprised Takashi is coming onto the field?"
Horikita took off his cap, wiped sweat from his brow, and put it back on. "What do you think Kitahara is like?"
What kind of person was Takashi ?
Ayanokouji was stumped.
He hadn't paid much attention to Takashi. They hadn't interacted personally. His knowledge of Takashi came only from the media.
So how could he know what kind of person Takashi really was?
"Ask a reporter or paparazzi, they'll say Kitahara's arrogant and prideful. Ask his teachers and classmates, and they'll say he's easygoing, never causes trouble, humble."
"But what if I told you… he's all of those things?"
Ayanokouji glanced toward the bullpen. "You're saying he can be sharp as a blade and patient beyond belief at the same time."
Horikita looked toward the same spot, watching the two boys fist bump.
"Why didn't you tell Koenji?"
"Koenji's a genius, but he's too arrogant—just like Advanced Nurturing itself."
"And arrogance comes at a price."
The school's arrogance was believing every one of their players was the strongest, and that winning the championship was inevitable.
But team sports aren't just a sum of individuals.
Team chemistry, bonding, even mindset—all of those are key to winning.
And aside from stats on paper, Advanced Nurturing had none of that.
"What am I supposed to wear?"
Takashi came down from the adrenaline rush and realized something important.
He had given his uniform to Otani Shota—he didn't have one now.
"Kitahara, your jersey is right here."
Anai Tatsuya unfolded the jersey bearing Takashi's number.
Takashi stared at the number like he was looking at a scroll.
In the breeze, the jersey fluttered lightly. The number on it: 1.
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