Chapter 39: Injury (1)

"Nice catch!" Chris yelled out from the crowd, feeling his blood boil with excitement. Yuki too was jumping up and down with happiness as she saw the quick reflexes of Daichi. She had heard from Chris that Daichi was talented, however she had never been present while they were training. The game continued shortly after with the morale on the team visibly increasing. Kouichi breathed a sigh of relief thanks to Daichi cleaning up his mess. The next batter came up to the batters box and gripped his bat tightly, focusing his attention on the pitcher. The next pitch came flying towards the strike zone, making a crisp pah sound as it landed in the catchers glove. "Strike one." It was only when the umpire called the pitch when the batter registered what had happened. He originally thought the pitch was too high, only for it to drop at the last moment. "Forkball!?" The batter looked towards his Coach in the dugout with a confused expression. They had not expected a different pitcher to start in this game, meaning this had caught them completely off guard. Being in the same prefecture as Seiko, they had crossed paths many times in the fight to win the Kanto Tournament. However, that had always been with their Ace pitcher Ken Takagi. The Coach kept his poker face as he made a few hand signals, telling the batter to continue to watch the ball, even if he gets out. The batter nodded, receiving the info and turning back towards the pitcher. "Strike" "Strike! Out!" The umpire called as the batter walked back towards the dugout with a mystified expression. The next two pitches were fastballs on the outside which he probably could have hit if he really tried. The Kanagawa Coach said a few words to the next batter who then made his way up to the batters box. Kouichi had a feeling that he would be swinging right from the first pitch. Hikaru made the signal for a fastball on the outside, to which Kouichi shook his head. It was only when he motioned for a fork that he nodded. At this point in time, Hikaru was not experienced enough to properly lead the pitcher. This is why Coach Yoshida had given Kouichi the 3rd year a lot of freedom to pitch how he wanted. This was a far cry from his experience as a relief pitcher in the past two years. Kouichi made his pitch, sending the ball directly to the center of the strike zone. 'Meatball right down the middle!' The batters eyes lit up as the ball flew towards. He swung hard, wanting to send the ball out of the park and get the first run on the board. DING However, the ball felt weird coming off the bat and causing him to pause. Dirt was kicked up as the ball grounded towards the pitcher. "Damn!" he cursed before dropping the bat and running towards first base as quickly as he could. Kouichi reacted fast, stepping off the mound and bending down to collect the ball. In his haste, the ball slipped out of his hand before he could throw it towards first base, bouncing a few feet in front of him. "Argh!" He grunted in annoyance and once again collected the ball, throwing it to first base, hoping that it would make it in time. Jin Hatake, the first baseman held his foot on the first base and stretched his glove out in anticipation for the ball. He could hear the batter bounding his large body towards the base, making his heart beat fast in his chest. It seemed as if the ball was going to be just out of his reach though. But instead of taking his foot off the base, he stretched his entire body out and somehow managed to capture the poor throw. A moment later, the large batter stepped on the first base which was followed by a shout of pain. Jin dropped to the ground holding his ankle and writhing around on the dirt, clearly in agony. "Damn! What happened?" Kouichi was the first person to run over, feeling a huge weight of guilt come over him for his poor throw. The first base umpire paled and he quickly waved to the medics on the sideline to come over before comforting the teenager on the ground. Coach Yoshida also seemed worried as he ran onto the field as play was stopped. Ken's face contorted. How had they received an injury in the very first innings, and in a friendly match of all things? It was then that his attention was snatched away by the sound of a notification. *DING* SYSTEM HAS DETECTED THAT USER WILL BE PLAYING IN THE SEIKO VS KANAGAWA SENIOR FRIENDLY BASEBALL MATCH - NEW MISSION AVAILABLE. 'What is this?' Ken balked, not believing his eyes and ears. He quickly opened up the system after checking that no one had their eyes on him. MISSIONS: #NEW MISSION: Get into Starting Lineup *Task 1: Drop no catches throughout the game *Task 2: Get on base or advance the runner 3 times *Task 3: Impress Coach Yoshida *Task 4: Win the game REWARDS: >B-grade random elixir >Silver tier Lottery ticket >5 Major points PUNISHMENT: (In case of failure) >Relegated to the bench THIS MISSION IS CONSIDERED IMPORTANT TO THE CAREER OF THE USER AND WILL BE AUTOMATICALLY ACCEPTED. GOOD LUCK. Ken's eyes widened as he viewed the new mission which had appeared out of nowhere, yet his mind was filled with questions. Firstly, how did it know that he was going to be playing this match? Was it because Jin got injured? But what was to say that the Coach would put him in as a replacement? He had never played 1st base before, so there was no way he would be the first to be subbed, right? Yet as he was thinking this, the coach returned with a grave look on his face. "Ken. Grab your hat and glove and head to first base." He said gruffly, as if he would not take no for an answer. "Y-Yes Coach." Ken answered, feeling a mixture of emotions. He saw Jin being taken off on a stretcher, his face contorted in pain. As he walked onto the field, he saw that everyone was in a somber mood, especially Kouichi who obviously blamed himself for the incident. Ken with all of his wisdom instantly knew that their performance was going to get worse. If Kouichi let this affect him then they would start conceding runs and he had no confidence in being able to outscore the Kanagawa Senior team.