So, Kusunoki Fumiya was up again as the sixth batter.
The crowd was getting hyped, ready for another face-off.
Even though he and the others lost to Takumi the first time, there were reasons for that.
First off, Takigawa, the catcher, knew the First String hitters really well.
Calling the right pitches for Takumi was a big part of his success.
On the flip side, Kusunoki and the others didn't know anything about Takumi.
It's pretty normal to lose when you're facing a pitcher you've never seen before and have no intel on.
What was surprising was that Takumi took down a bunch of good hitters, making their team's batting lineup look kinda weak.
Now, going into their second matchup, even if we ignore the whole fatigue thing, the batters understanding of Takumi was totally different.
They'd faced him before and failed, and they'd been watching him from the sidelines.
They probably had a decent handle on his style by now.
So, it wasn't going to be easy for him to beat them again with the same old tricks.
The first pitch seemed to hint at that.
He got into his windup and threw, and the pitch still had some serious heat.
Boom!
That same spiral ball had sent Kusunoki's bat flying last time.
But this time, facing it head-on, he didn't even blink.
He stepped into the pitch and swung hard.
Ping!
The ball went foul, landing just outside the third-base line.
"Foul ball!"
Takumi got a strike, though.
But you could tell that, after seeing it once, Kusunoki had pretty much figured out the spiral ball.
"That's a nasty pitch, alright; even if you know it's coming, it's tough to get a good hit on it!"
He said it loud enough from the batter's box, clearly trying to get Takigawa's attention.
Think you can call the pitches? Go ahead and try.
He was dead set on knocking one out of the park.
When he raised his bat again, he was staring down Takumi like he meant business.
Looked like he was gonna swing for the fences as soon as Takumi let it go.
As one of the team's top hitters, he was definitely intimidating when he was locked in like that.
Most pitchers would probably be rattled by his intensity.
But Takumi was different.
He didn't seem to notice any of that; he was just focused on pitching the way Takigawa had told him to.
"Kusunoki's got solid technique; no point in trying to trick him. Just keep battling, trust the guys behind you," Takigawa signaled.
It was kind of a last-ditch effort.
But Takumi didn't seem fazed at all.
Seeing the signal, he nodded without hesitating and just threw the pitch.
Boom!
Another nasty spiral ball; this one seemed even faster than before.
Kusunoki gritted his teeth in the batter's box.
'Damn it, Takigawa, why isn't he taking the bait?' he fumed inwardly, his frustration palpable.
He'd fouled that last one on purpose.
Thing was, he'd actually figured out Takumi's pitching style by now.
It wasn't that hard for him to get the ball into fair territory.
But the problem was, with that crazy spin and tail on the ball, even if he hit it fair, he couldn't be sure where it would end up.
The guys out on the field were all his teammates from the First String.
What was the point of hitting a ball he couldn't control to them? It was basically just giving them an easy out.
He'd been trying to get under Takigawa's skin with all that talk, but he wasn't buying it, making Takumi come at him with his best spiral ball.
Kusunoki was frustrated, but there wasn't much he could do about it.
So he just gritted his teeth and fouled another one off.
Ping!
"Foul ball!!"
With two foul balls in a row, the crowd was getting pumped.
They were picturing a real showdown between the batter and the pitcher.
Takumi's pitching was definitely strong, and he had a good rhythm, usually getting an out in one or two pitches, three at the most.
So, even though he was throwing back-to-back, he wasn't running up his pitch count too much.
If Kusunoki could just hang in there and make him work, even if he couldn't get a hit himself, he could create some chances for the guys coming up next.
"Let's show these first-year kids what we're made of!" some of the third-year seniors started yelling from the stands.
But right as he shouted that, the mood on the field suddenly shifted.
Kusunoki, who'd seemed ready to fight it out to the end.
He gritted his teeth and swung, not trying to foul it off anymore, just trying to get it in play.
The ball landed in a pretty good spot.
He tossed his bat and took off for first.
Wasn't he trying to prove a point?
If he could show those first-year kids and Takigawa how it's done, he was all in.
But the thing was, every time he connected with Takumi's pitch, he felt this crazy jolt in his hand.
It wasn't so bad when he was ready for it, but by the second pitch, he was already feeling the strain.
By the third pitch, it felt like the skin between his thumb and forefinger was about to split open.
And it wasn't just a feeling, it was actually starting to happen.
If he kept going like this, he was afraid he'd tear his hand open.
So, he didn't really have a choice but to put the ball in play.
Luckily, he got a decent hit...
He sprinted, almost reaching first base.
Just then, the ball came flying in.
The first baseman, standing right on the bag, didn't even flinch, just snagged the ball.
Slap!
The ball beat him there by a hair.
"Out!"
As the umpire's voice fell, a sigh of disappoinment spread through the crowd.
So close...
Even though it was a close call, Takumi managed to snag the out thanks to his teammate's play.
That's six wins in a row against the First String seniors.
Just then, a notification popped up in his head.
[Congrats, you passed the sixth trial. Reward: Basic Physique +1]
Unlike the last three rewards—Sharingan, Spiral ball Rasengan, and Kunai Throwing Technique—this time, the system gave him a +1 to his physical stats.
At first, he didn't really know what that meant.
But as the reward appeared, he also saw his physical stat.
[Physique: 5.5 Trial completion reward +1]
So, it used to be 4.5, and now it's 5.5.
Besides the number, the system also gave him a little rating for the 5.5.
[Congrats, you're now a slightly stronger genin!]