The sixth inning began, and perhaps Haruto had been affected by Jiro's strong performance because he gave up a walk to the first batter. Kenta then stepped into the batter's box, watching intently.
The first pitch came.
PAH
"Ball!"
Kenta didn't move as he saw a fastball way above the strike zone. The second pitch came.
POFT
"Ball!"
This time it was a curveball that bounced in the dirt, and Kenta continued to watch. The third pitch came.
"Finally!" - Kenta could clearly see the pitch. It was the one that had gotten him out earlier, a fastball that cut sharply as it reached the plate, a cutter.
WOOOSH
DOONG
The ball flew off Kenta's bat at high speed towards the outfield, a two-run home run that tied the game. Kenta smiled as he rounded the bases.
"Yeaaaaahhhh! Nice one, Kenta! Great home run!" - the beautiful Mio Shimizu shouted, jumping up and down with excitement.
Kenta felt a bit embarrassed but quickly raised his fist towards the girl as if striking a victory pose, causing Mio to smile sweetly, a little surprised by the sudden gesture.
Kenta returned to the dugout, hearing the cheers from his teammates.
"Nice homer, Kenta!" - Shun said excitedly, raising his hand.
* Clap *
Kenta high-fived his friend with a smile. But he was soon surprised by a young samurai-bun-wearing boy grabbing his shirt collar.
"You jerk! Did you have to hit it that far? Are you trying to show you're better than me or something, you bastard? Isn't having a beautiful girlfriend enough for you?" - Ren complained as he shook his friend, but he stopped when he was suddenly interrupted by a loud sound.
WOOSH
DONG
"UOOOOHHHHH"
"Nice homer, Captain!"
"That's how it's done, Captain!"
The dugout erupted in cheers again as they watched their captain hit a home run. Captain Kazuki raised his fist as he rounded the bases, his home run putting the team in the lead. It was now 6 X 5 for Shoto Junior High, and with no outs, the inning was far from over.
On the way home:
"Ahhh, that jerk Kenta! He really ditched his friends to go home with a girl!" - Ren, complained as he remembered the scene of Kenta saying he would go home with Mio, scratching his head in embarrassment.
"Well, maybe if you hit two home runs and two doubles in a game, you'd have a girl to walk home with too." - Shun said, recalling the results of the game. After Captain Kazuki's home run, the team scored three more runs in the sixth inning, and by the end of the game, the team had racked up 14 runs. Jiro gave up only one run, and the game ended with a 14 X 6 victory for Shoto Junior High.
His friend Kenta had been the star of the game with two home runs, but both he and Ren had also done very well. Shun reached base via walk all four times he came up to bat, and he successfully stole bases each time. Ren, for his part, brought Shun home all four times, but after his home run, he managed only a single and a sacrifice fly.
"Ah, wait!" - Shun suddenly stopped, startling Ren, who had been daydreaming about the possibility of walking home with a girl.
"What happened?" - Ren asked, concerned.
"Forget what I said. Even if you hit two home runs and two doubles, it's impossible for any girl to want to walk home with you." - Shun said with a regretful expression, as if he felt bad for lying to his friend.
"YOU—YOU BASTARD!!" - Ren fumed and quickly chased after his friend.
"Hahahahahahahahaha!!" - Shun laughed heartily as he ran away from his friend.
"Oh, I'll stop here" - Shun said, stopping his run as they approached a park.
"Huh? We're not close to your house yet" - Ren said, confused. He usually walked home with Shun, and this wasn't the spot where they typically parted ways.
"Oh, I still need to finish my daily exercises, and the park seems like a good place for that." - Shun said honestly. His friend already knew he trained like a maniac, so there was no point in hiding it.
"Huh? You're going to train today? Even after the game, you're still going to train? What kind of idiot are you?" - Ren started to say as he walked towards the park.
"Huh? Where are you going?" - Shun asked, confused, but was quickly answered.
"Where do you think? If you're going to train, there's no way I'm going to slack off. No matter how many home runs I have to hit, as long as I can get a pretty girl to walk home with me, I'll train until I hit 50 home runs in a game!" - Ren said determinedly.
"Huh? I guess you'll be training forever, then..." - Shun smiled at his friend's determined words, but he couldn't resist teasing Ren a little.
"What? Are you—are you going to train or keep talking nonsense, you bastard!" - Ren said indignantly.
"Hahaha! Sure, sure, let's train." - Shun had a good laugh before heading into the park.
The two friends then began their training on that Sunday afternoon since neither of them had a girlfriend to hang out with. Life is tough for a young and single guy.