"Are you done?" The middle one asked as he had a slim build and short brown hair.
"Why does it matter?" Star glared.
"You're holding up the cage."
"Read the sign," Rei said as he grabbed the barrel of the bat and used the handle to point toward a wall that read, 'No Unnecessary rushing.'
"I've only used one token, so no, I'm not holding up the cage, but sure go for it." He spoke coldly, as he exited the cage.
The guy snorted, as Star and Stiles stood next to Rei.
"Why did you get out, you still didn't do the left side," Star whispered in a puzzled manner, while Stiles agreed.
Rei turned to Star, a mischievous smile on his face, "I thought you said you want to hustle people."
Star's face turned giddy with joy, while Stiles shook his head helplessly.
"I don't know why they're so haughty, they don't stand a chance against us, they should keep their arrogance in check." Star scoffed slightly loudly, purposely gaining the attention of three of the four guys.
Two of them looked at one another, communicating without words.
The third turned all the way to stare them down.
A slight smirk, appeared on Star's face, as he looked at the one hitting.
"Mr. Buzzcut sucks, he keeps missing, he missed two, oops three, oh he hit one, probably a grounder for an out, foul, foul, so bad~" Star teased as he continued narrating his hitting, in the end, the 'leader' went three for twelve with three hits, three misses, and six fouls.
Mr. Buzzcut exited the cage and walked towards the three stopping just before the three, specifically Star, "You got something to say?"
"You mean besides me going blind watching you trying to hit a baseball? Sure, you have a better chance of leaning into the pitch, than getting a hit." Star joked causing Rei and Stiles to chuckle.
"Oh, so you think you could do better?"
"Me? Yeah naturally, although I can't hit all twelve, I can hit more than a measly three, but my friend can, and he could do it left-handed."
"Bull fucking shit. Do you think he can do better? We play varsity for our high school, not some pickup ball in the park." The buzzcut guy slightly raised his voice, trying to contain his anger.
"3rd division baseball doesn't count." Star scoffed.
"Were 1st division," he rebutted grinding his teeth.
"In fairyland?" Star tilted his face innocently.
'He has a sharp tongue,' Rei thought as he didn't expect Star to be so good at comebacks.
'Why did you have to get him started Rei,' Stiles helplessly sighed, already used to Star's sharp tongue.
At this point, Mr. Buzzcut's head was as red as a baboon's butt.
"You want to go?" Suddenly he tilted his gaze to Rei.
"Sure, but let's make this interesting," Rei said with a slight smile.
"Fine then let's wager."
"How much?"
"Ten dollars, whoever can get more contact wins."
Rei scoffed, "I have no interest in pocket change."
This time it was Star and Stiles who almost puked blood.
"Let's do fifty to take it easy on you."
"You have fifty?" he looked doubtful.
"You scared? Yeah, I have fifty." Rei responded, as he took out his wallet and handed Star a hundred, though to Rei even a thousand was considered, pocket change to him.
"Go get change, please."
Star nodded, as he left, while Rei looked back at Mr. Buzzcut.
"So we have a deal?"
"Deal! Let's go. Your friend versus mine." He stated firmly through clenched teeth, as he abruptly turned and went back to his group.
"Is this a good idea Rei?" Stiles finally chimed in.
Rei shrugged, "Why wouldn't it be, even if he loses they can't do anything to us. Besides they started it."
Stiles sighed, while Star came back with two, fifty's.
"Here." Star laughed in joy.
"Thanks." he smiled as he took his money and put it back in his wallet.
"Let's go." suddenly the other guy interrupted as they started walking away.
"Where are you going?" Star furrowed his brows.
"I didn't say we would do the 85. We should obviously do the most challenging at 100. My friend Baker will be going for us. He's our cleanup hitter so it's only natural that he would represent our school." He nodded towards a slender but lean man on his left.
He was a tall, slender man with a pale complexion and long, wavy black hair that reached down his shoulders, brown eyes, and black glasses, although he was shorter than Rei.
"Fine, just don't cry when you lose," Rei shrugged before the other two could intervene.
"Rei, can you even hit a hundred?" Stiles asked worriedly.
"Sure, it's not that hard."
Baker scoffed hearing Rei.
"I'll go first." Baker put on a helmet and walked into the 100 mph cage, since ordinary people 100 was too much to hit, even in the big leagues, as 100 mph isn't very common, as there aren't many major league pitchers that can clock in at 100, as in history there have only been around 230 pitchers in total throughout history clocking in at a 100, hence heir was no line.
The rest of them followed and stood just outside the cage in order to watch.
"Do you think he could hit it?" Stiles asked slightly nervous.
"Of course not, the other guy couldn't even hit an 85 mph one." Star chimed in.
Due to everyone standing in front of the cage, everyone was in close proximity, so they heard Star.
"I'm a pitcher," the buzzcut guy butted in.
Star scoffed, "So what, so is he, and he doesn't use that as an excuse."
The three guys looked at Rei with doubt.
"You're a pitcher?" buzzcut asked.
Rei nodded.
A loud clank came from the cage.
Everyone looked just in time to see the ball hit the netting beyond the machine.
"That's one," Buzzcut stated.
Baker had already put the token in and started on his twelve pitches.
He was in the righty's box, looking lean and fierce.
Baker's swing was nice and solid, with almost no holes or faults, which helped prove they were 1st decision.
The buzzcut called out every swing, he turned to us. "That's eleven out of twelve."
Baker had hit six, fouled off five, and missed one.
"No that's 6 out of 12." Stiles fired back.
He shrugged as a devious smile appeared on his face, "Contact means hit or foul, as long as it makes contact with any part of the barrel it counts."
Star was about to retaliate but Rei stopped him.
Rei just shrugged at him as he headed inside the cage.
"No helmet?" Stiles asked worriedly.
"No there's no need for it." Rei chuckled, before stopping and turning to Stiles.
"Lend me your bat."
Stiles nodded as they switched bats and he proceeded to enter the cage, as he inserted a token and got in his position.
The machine shot out an insane fastball.
Bunt.
Bunt.
Bunt.
...
...
...
"Twelve for twelve, now pay up," Rei said as he exited the cage, under the shocked gazes of everyone.
"Bullshit those were bunts those don't count!" Buzzcut yelled angrily.
Rei laughed, "So what? it still counts if you haven't forgotten the rules of baseball, bunts can count as hits if laid down correctly, and since this is a batting cage, it still counts as a hit, besides you never said anything about hits only, you said 'as long as it makes contact with any part of the barrel it counts.' and if I remember correctly during a bunt the ball hits the barrel."
By the time Rei finished, he had a devilish smile that looked like it came out of the devil himself.
"Unless your backing down, with how big a game you talk, I didn't think you had such small balls." He continued as his smile got more frightening.
Buzzcut grumbled but nonetheless smacked the money into Rei's hand, "Double or nothing."
"Fine but I get to go right-handed now." Rei countered.
"Most hits this time, no fouls no bunts," Buzzcut shot back.
"Deal," Rei replied as his face went back to its normal cold look.
He looked at Baker. "Show them how it's done, just getting the same amount of hits again will do it."
Baker put his helmet back on and got back in the cage, swaggering with a bigger attitude than a loser should have.
He slid his token in and got ready.
This time, Baker had hit eight, fouled off three, and missed one, every time he swung buzzcut would repeat it out loud.
This time Rei used the wooden bat, as he slid in the token, and took his place on the righty box.
As he entered the righty box, the machine began to fire baseballs at him at a blistering 100 mph. He took a deep breath and began his fluid motion, his eyes perfectly focused on the ball as it left the machine.
He swung his bat with perfect timing, and the sound of the bat popping against the ball created a beautiful sound.
The ball flew back to the machine perfectly like he's done it a million times before.
Rei slightly smiled feeling exhilarated.
He continued to hit each ball with precision and accuracy never changing his form, each shot sending the ball back to the machine with a satisfying crack of the bat.
After all twelve pitches, Rei stepped out of the batting cage.
"Just because you're on a varsity team in a D1 high school doesn't mean much, your upperclassman, yet you're not even ranked stately or nationally so that doesn't give you the right to be assholes when we were just trying to have fun, I'm a freshman on varsity in a top D1 school, now pay up and get out." Rei reprimanded with a cold face, before pointing toward a pair of security guards waiting.
All four of their faces turned a bright red in complete anger, as they gave Rei a hundred before they were escorted out, leaving behind just the three of them.
"What just happened?" Stiles asked dumbfoundedly.
"We won some money," Rei responded with a smile.
"No, no I get that part, I meant why was security here."
Rei turned to Star, with a knowing smile.
"What? Don't look at me like that, I just... told Mr. Kaiden about what happened as I happened to run into him, he was going to kick them out but told him not to until after." Star said sheepishly.
The three of them looked at each other before bursting out in laughter.
- Beep!
They were interrupted by Rei's phone, as he looked at it and let out a gentle smile.
"Thankfully your girlfriend wasn't here, otherwise we would die of you guys being all lovey-dovey." Star teased, which gained a chuckle from Stiles.
Rei texted on his phone with a smile, before putting it away.
"You're just jealous I'm dating the school belle." Rei shot back with a silly smile on his face, as they continued batting until Chase picked them up to take them back to the academy.