Chapter Text
It was a hot day in the Koshien Stadium. There was a fierce battle between the mysterious Akagi Junior High, a dark horse which has made it to the nationals, supposedly by luck in the minds of the spectators and Rukawa Academy, the reigning champions who have won the National championship for the past five years in a row without much difficulty.
Of course, initially everyone thought Akagi Junior High making it to nationals for the first time in its very long existence was nothing short of luck. A miracle. It had to be. Nagano had no powerhouses. There are a few good teams but they are nothing but dust in the national level. The fact that every team that has qualified from Nagano has been knocked out in the first round of the Summer National Championship Tournament for the past 10 years can attest to that.
Yet contrary to everyone’s opinion on the matter, Akagi Junior High survived four grueling rounds and managed to make itself best eight. They thought they were winning on momentum. It was hard to understand how a team that made errors on catching pop flies and grounders every once in a while can make it to top eight. They thought “Everyone is supposed to hit an obstacle, right? Rukawa will finish them”
So you can imagine everyone’s shock when Akagi Junior High held Rukawa Academy scoreless in the first five innings. But it was rather clear. The reason why Akagi Junior High managed to make it so far. It was clear that they were a one-man team. The team whose life clings to its Ace like ivy.
Rukawa’s head coach, Ishida couldn’t comprehend whether it was a dream or reality that he was witnessing in front of his eyes. He had always known Akagi would be a challenge but never on his worst nightmares had he thought that ones to falter would be them. After watching all of their previous four games and analyzing their game plan, Ishida had thought Rukawa Academy was ready to win. But Akagi Junior High has exceeded his expectations. He couldn’t believe the line-up he had created couldn’t even get on the base, let alone get a run from that pitcher. It cannot be.
There cannot be such a talent.
Yet there he was.
Soaked in sweat, his brown eyes sharpened with determination and resolve. With a stupid smile on his face. Sawamura Eijun. The boy whose potential was far higher than Ishida had understood it to be. It was well-known after the first round that his arsenal of pitches was just something else. But he had struggled to keep control of his pitches often which he showed no sign of today. How can he have six breaking balls when it was already quite difficult to have three as a junior-schooler?
He was raising his left leg so high. As high as humanly possible. He threw the ball with an instantaneous explosive power. In a blink of an eye, the ball was caught in the glove of the catcher. The umpire declared in a loud voice.
“STRIKE”
“Batter Out. Three outs. Change.”
The crowd lost it completely. The silence suddenly switched into roars, cheers and claps. People started shouting in excitement as they had witnessed something that reached far out of their wildest imaginations.
“Oh my god. He did it again”
“The champions are getting slaughtered here.”
“How many breaking balls does he freaking have?”
“He is a magician”
“Sawamura-kun”
The crowd shouted loud but they couldn’t compete with the loud pitcher on the mound who was yelling ,”Oshi Oshi Oshi”, even though he was panting hard, as he walked towards the dugout. He was swarmed with appreciation and praises instantly.
“Nice pitching Ei-chan”
“You are amazing, Ei-chan”
“Ei-chan”
Eijun replied with his classic stupid smile on his face, “ Of course. It is only natural that this Sawamura Eijun performs beyond your expectations”. Everyone bursted out laughing immediately. Eijun could feel his face flush with embarrassment. An overflowing smile soon decorated his face. He said, pretending to be angry, “What? I was just trying to sound cool okay?”
“You don’t have to try, Ei-chan. You are already our hero.”, said Nobi, the catcher of the team.
“Plus your control is crazy good today. Completely different from yesterday’s match where we loaded the bases twice”
Eijun felt dazed with all the compliments but a bit annoyed at the last bit. He replied, “Shut up. I held them scoreless in the end. But yeah. Today is a good day.” With the stupid smile again. The sweat that has soaked his shirt reminded him of something. Something terrible. Recollecting himself quickly, he said in a sober voice.
“Lets carry this momentum from the defense to the offense this inning. The opponent pitcher is really good, yielding no runs. We have come this far. Let’s make it all the way to the top, everyone.”
At the ending note, Eijun dropped his serious look with a smile that showed that he is confident they can win today. They were enough.
His teammates responded by shouting back “Let’s win Ei-chan”
If only if it was that easy.
On the other side of the dugout. The atmosphere was tense. The players lowered their heads in shame, disappointment and most importantly fear of what they will hear from their coach.
Ishida had finally calmed down after that sixth inning. He knew what they were supposed to do. It is rather simple. Only difficult to do so. But simple nonetheless.
“Score one run. One run is enough. Sawamura has been pitching all the games fully in this tournament. Compared to the first three rounds where there is a rest day in between, the fourth and fifth rounds are held back-to-back. No matter how amazing he is, he is still a junior-schooler. He cannot pitch a complete game twice in a row without rest. Make him throw balls. Foul as much as you can. Drain him. We will win just like how they have been winning all this time. If you all get one run out of him, Daiki will take care of their weak offense. If you cannot do this little thing, you don’t deserve be the winners.”
Silence filled the room. This is what the best offensive line-up in junior high has been reduced to. The players could do nothing but nod their heads in unison. A fire was raging inside them. They are the champions. They cannot let a pitcher who came out of nowhere to push them around. They were going to show him what it means to be a champion.
The bottom of the sixth inning ended fairly quickly, setting the pace for their attack.
Ishida thought, “Sawamura has already crossed the junior high level.”. He was sure of it. Although his control in general was mediocre at best and his speed and fielding was average too, his uniquely moving breaking balls and mentality more than made up for it. He was still very raw. The dust has been removed only from one face of the diamond. Still so much is covered by it. But baseball is not that easy. Baseball is a team sport. Only because of that, Sawamura Eijun couldn’t possibly win this match.
Sawamura could feel it since the game had started. He was tired. So tired. He tried not to show it outside. They were so close to winning. He didn’t want to bring down everyone’s morale because of that. He breathed deeply letting go of his turbulent thoughts. “No point in thinking about that now. I will go as far as I can”, he thought.
He could feel there was something different about this inning. He could feel it. The pressure. The tension that is unsettled in the air. When he looked at the look on the lead-off batter’s face, he realised why. The look a predator gave to a prey just before it pounced on it.
Sawamura tried to compose himself but the pressure had already gotten to him. He was tired physically. He wondered if he can possibly pull through . The thought left as soon as it had appeared. Sawamura shaked his head and raised his leg high, preparing to throw again. “No need for unwanted thoughts. I will just do the best I can now”
Inside fastball.
The batter reacted immediately and hit it to the center-field. Sawamura gasped in shock.
It was too high. Too high.
The pressure had gotten to him. Eijun let out a sigh, trying to relax. His teammates shouted from behind his back.
“It’s okay, Ei-chan”
“You got this.”
Eijun returned a smile in response. The next batter stood on the batter-box with the same look. This time Eijun didn’t let it bother him. ”I’m just going to do what I usually do”, he thought.
Change-up.
Fouled.
Cutter.
Ball.
Splitter.
Fouled.
After eleven more pitches, Eijun was panting hard. He raised a hand to stop his teammates from rushing to the mound. He was well beyond his limits. He knew that. He didn’t want to give up just yet. He threw the next ball with all his will.
“Ball four.”
It was no outs and runners on first and second. He knew he had to do something. “This cannot end here” he thought. Yet his body simply failed to obey.
It was only a matter of time before a batter popped a fly and the fielders couldn’t catch it. It was over.
The board that was filled with zeroes until then, for the first time, on the top of the seventh inning held a one for Rukawa Academy. That single run sealed the match.
********************************************
The match had caught the attention of many, if not all. Interviewers swarmed around Sawamura as soon as he was out of the field. Sawamura felt anger and disappointment rage inside him. His body was stiff and his muscles tense. But he contained it inside him very well. He had failed in his objective. He couldn’t win the nationals. He couldn’t fulfill his promise. The interviewers were overwhelming him with questions regardless of how tense he looked.
“Are you disappointed in your teammates?”
“Did you expect to shut down Rukawa for the first six innings?”
“Where are you going for High school?”
“Inashiro has not invited you. Will you be going to Ichidai or Seidou?”
“Do you consider Narumiya your rival?”
"What do you think of your nickname, Magician?”
The barrage of questions were answered by a single sentence from the teenager.
“I’m going to Seidou”
The blunt reply shocked many reporters who had gathered there. But before they could recover, Sawamura left the place, walking at a fast pace, towards his school bus.