The Old Baseball Player System

"She came!" - Shun smiled and quickly looked away. He noticed that Kazuki had left the dugout, heading toward the umpire. On the other side of the field, a white-haired boy also came out of his dugout and walked toward the umpire.

"Shoto, your call." - The umpire held a coin in his hand and spoke to Kazuki.

"Heads." - Kazuki said without thinking too much about it, since heads or tails was just a game of luck.

The umpire nodded and flipped the coin. Both captains and the umpire watched the coin fall to the ground and spin until one of its faces came up.

"Hokuto, your choice." - The umpire said, seeing the tails side up.

"We'll start on offense." - The white-haired boy, Sugawara, said disinterestedly. He turned around right after speaking, without bothering to greet the opposing captain.

"Tch!" - Kazuki was a bit irritated by the boy's attitude. He greeted the umpire and returned to his team's dugout.

"We're starting on defense!" - Kazuki said as soon as he arrived.

"Get ready!" - Coach Yamada nodded before shouting loudly to his players.

"Yeeaahh!" - All the Shoto players shouted as they raised their fighting spirit. None of them hesitated anymore.

"They seem fired up." - Kohei said, observing Shoto Junior High's dugout shouting loudly.

"Eh? Whatever... Toru, finish them off. Let's get this over with quickly." - Sugawara said to a small boy with black hair and an ugly face.

"Hehe, leave it to me!" - The small, ugly boy said with a smug smile as he climbed the dugout steps with his bat in hand. That was Toru Okada, the center fielder and leadoff hitter for the Hokuto team.

Meanwhile, the Shoto players started to take their positions on the field. The young Sora Okamoto was chosen to start the game, and the boy was warming up his shoulder, throwing a few pitches to the team captain on the mound.

"Huh?" - In the stands, Shun's father, Kenshin, almost choked on the food he was eating after looking at the field.

"Why the hell is Shun in right field?" - He said, shocked, looking at his wife for answers.

The three girls were also confused. They all thought Shun would be Shoto's pitcher, but for some reason, a first-year boy was on the mound with the number 1 on his back, while Shun was in right field.

"Dad? That's Bro's position! He's really good!" - Little Yumi didn't understand her father's surprise. She was too young the last time she saw Shun pitch, so to the little girl, her brother had always been a right fielder, and for her, that was the best position in baseball, of course.

"Pft! I'm sorry, dear, I don't know why either, but Shun has been playing in right field since the beginning of the tournament." - Aiko laughed at her daughter's cute response but quickly explained that she didn't know either.

"Eh, I guess I'll have to ask him after the game..." - Kenshin just sighed. He really didn't expect to see his son off the mound, especially since the boy had refused to play any other position besides pitcher from a young age.

Meanwhile, Toru Okada stepped into the batter's box, ready for the first duel of the game.

"Let's do this, Sora!" - Captain Kazuki thought as he gave the signal and positioned his glove. The first pitch came.

WOOSH

DOONG

Toru had no trouble identifying the outside fastball and easily sent the ball far into center field. By the time the ball was thrown to Ren at second base, Toru was already safe. The ugly boy was smiling confidently with his fist raised in the air.

"Nice hit, Toru!"

The Hokuto dugout cheered as the second batter walked toward the batter's box. He was also short, with an aggressive look, the boy seemed more like a delinquent than a baseball player.

"Finish them, Isamu!"

"Keep it going, Isamu!"

The dugout continued cheering. Kazuki looked worried about the situation.

"Isamu Endo, second-year shortstop. He has a good bat, we can't let them score this early in the game!" - Kazuki began to think of a plan, but it was much more difficult than he thought. All he knew about this batter was what he had seen in the game against Seishin.

"Damn! I can't overthink this, I need to get the best out of Sora." - Kazuki made up his mind. He gave a signal and positioned his glove. He called for a curveball that would fall right at the lower edge of the zone for a strike. Sora nodded at the sign and pitched.

PAH

"Ball!"

The pitch dropped a little more than it should have, and Isamu just watched the pitch without moving.

"Damn! Is his control off? Or was he shaken by the previous hit?" - Kazuki began to worry about Sora's condition. The boy seemed fine during warm-ups. Since it was still too early to judge, Kazuki called for an inside high fastball.

Sora nodded at the sign and pitched.

"Damn!" - Kazuki realized the pitch hadn't gone where he wanted, it was an easy fastball right down the middle. The captain hoped Isamu wouldn't swing, but unfortunately, his hope wasn't enough.

WOOSH

DOOOOOONG

"Damn it!" - The young samurai Ren shouted as he watched the ball fly high and fast toward the right-field stands. He saw the runner on second base trot past him with a smile on his face.

Shun looked at the ball and ran for a bit before giving up, sighing deeply. He glanced at Sora on the mound with concern.

"This isn't going to be easy..."