Tokyo Girlfriend Illustrated Book

Naturally, Matsuo Keijin's abnormal state was noticed by the coach Natsuhi Daiki on the sidelines. Without looking directly at Hojo Kyosuke, he could not understand the pressure his ace was under, but as a coach who was much more professional than Tonkatsuhan's coach, he still gave instructions immediately.

Swish, swish, swish——

Xia Rishu first formed a seal quickly, then slapped his clothes and threw his hands to the side.

This is the code word he designed for a walk, which means to send the batter to the base like throwing away dirty clothes.

If he had seen such a signal at any other time, Matsuo Keijin would have felt indignant and felt that the coach underestimated him, but at this moment he breathed a sigh of relief.

He communicated with the catcher with his eyes and got a definite answer. The catcher also further determined the angle of the pitch.

The coach didn't know the pressure Matsuo was under, but the catcher knew it clearly. Squatting under Hojo Kyosuke's crotch, he could clearly see any slight change in the other's expression, and what he had observed for so long was - no change!

Hojo Kyosuke's handsome face, which made people jealous, had no expression since he held the baseball bat. Whether it was when his ace was sweating profusely or when the speakers praised him, there was no change, only indifference.

The catcher interpreted only one message from that handsome face: this man was ready to kill Matsuo.

That strong self-confidence made the catcher feel that the future had become a fait accompli.

The close relationship between the batter and the catcher is reflected here. If the catcher doesn't know what ball the pitcher is going to throw, it will be difficult for him to catch it, especially a ball that is thrown at a very strange angle like a ball. If he accidentally misses the ball, judging from the performance of the first batter at Sobu High School just now, he will definitely run the bases at the first opportunity, and it will become a wild pitch or a missed catch.

In that case, it would be better to just walk him with four balls. Anyway, there are only two batters after Sobu High School blocked, so no matter how strong Hojo Kyosuke is, it will be useless.

The two exchanged their decisions, and Matsuo Keijin wiped the sweat on his pants, then picked up the rosin bag and squeezed it.

His heartbeat has calmed down now. If you ask why, it's because walking four balls is an almost invincible tactic.

The pitcher can get the other batter out with three strikes, and the strikes must be thrown in the strike zone, which is determined by the batter's body position. This is because if there is no range that is favorable to the batter, it is not easy for such a thin bat to focus such a fast and small ball. It is much easier to throw a bad ball, just throw it hard to the batter's reach or close to his body.

This tactic of avoiding strong enemies is often regarded as a cowardly and despicable act, especially in an environment where the Japanese ace pitcher dominates the outcome of the game. If you don’t even have the courage to face a strong bat, how can you win the game! ?

Fortunately, Keijin Matsuo is not a well-known pitcher and has no idol burden at all. He took a deep breath and raised his left leg...

The catcher stared at his pitcher while observing Hojo Kyosuke out of the corner of his eye. Or rather, he couldn't observe even if he didn't want to, because the batter was standing in front of him and most of his vision was blocked by the batter.

When Matsuo raised his leg, he keenly sensed the "movement" of Hojo Kyosuke's body. Anyone who wants to make a move will have signs in his body, even the invincible Hojo is no exception.

On the other side, at the moment the baseball flew out of his hand, Matsuo also saw Hojo Kyosuke's preparation for swinging the bat.

Is he going to swing?

But I threw a bad ball?

Haha, Hojo Kyosuke? This is the 165cm Hojo? He can't even tell if it's a bad ball?

A series of thoughts appeared in his head, but unfortunately, what the pitcher and catcher duo of Komatsukawa didn't know was that not only in terms of physical speed, but also in terms of the speed of their thinking, they were lagging behind Hojo Kyosuke in all aspects.

"After you go on the field, you don't have to put too much pressure on the opposing pitcher. You can choose the strategy of not looking at him. By the way, praise Nekoda for his good performance just now, so that the opposing pitcher feels despised, motivates him, and can perform better."

"I failed. This guy was indeed irritated, but I didn't expect his mental state to be so poor. I tried my best to be calm and composed without showing any expression, but he was still frightened like this."

"Are you serious about sweating so much, brother? If you sweat any more, you'll collapse. Take a deep breath, calm down, calm down. My victory will be boring without your cooperation."

"Haha, Nitro-chan's commentary is pretty decent. Is it the script given by Yukino? But you will embarrass Coach Mihara if you act like this. But it doesn't matter. As long as everyone has fun, that's fine."

"Oh, what's up with Miss Hyodo's band? Trumpet? Cello? Suona? She is truly a genius as praised by Lord Tsuchiya. She can arrange so many instruments in such an orderly manner. I must thank her properly during the celebration later."

"Eh? Coach Komatsukawa is starting to signal. Let me take a look. Three fingers, four fingers, thumb, wipe clothes, shake hands. Is he trying to execute a four-ball walk tactic? I don't understand the logic of this signal, but with the pitcher under so much pressure, this is the only option left."

"Oh, now it's the turn of the pitcher and catcher to exchange signals, right? Let me see. Asshole, isn't it too frivolous to use your pinky finger to indicate the pitching angle? At least use double crossed numbers to indicate the direction! And, that pitcher's name is Matsuo, right? He actually wants to throw towards my body? Aren't you afraid of hitting my precious body? I don't mind it myself, I am happy to use hit balls to exercise my body, but the girls on the stage will be very worried if they see it."

"so……"

"No, I can only hit the ball you threw at me hard."

"Think about it, should I retaliate by hitting the ball into Matsuo's face? It seems a bit too cruel, right? It's better not to be so scary in the first game, otherwise everyone will use four balls to walk against me in the next game, which will be so boring..."

Thinking of this, the muscles in Hojo Kyosuke's arms suddenly exploded, and his arms, which were not very strong to begin with, immediately became muscular.

Keihito Matsuo on the opposite side had already thrown the ball, and one and a half seconds before the baseball left his hand, the ball's speed, trajectory, landing point... and all that information had already appeared in Hojo Kyosuke's mind in the form of data and images. If he wanted, even the trajectory of the ball in the air would appear in his fantasy vision like the lyrics of a karaoke song.

Then in reality, the white baseball will gradually light up along the dotted line and become real.

The professionals with better eyesight on the sidelines also guessed that Komatsukawa would execute the four-ball tactic. After all, anyone with eyes can see that Matsuo Keijin is extremely nervous. He is almost exhausted by the pressure before he even pitches. How can he deal with such a strong enemy?

The scouts and reporters were all disappointed, thinking that they would not have the chance to enjoy Hojo Kyousuke's strikes in this round, but...

"Hojo-kun is going to swing the bat!?"

The Hokkaido Ham Giant's scout screamed.

“What what!?”

As a puzzled voice sounded, Hojo Kyosuke swung the bat cleanly. However, he was not the fastest man on the field. The Nekoda Juju, who had been on first base for a long time, had already started to move quietly like a crab before Matsuo Keijin threw the ball.

When the baseball was thrown, Nekoda, who had moved to the position between first and second base, ran as fast as he could as if he had heard the starting gun. It was as if he had not observed where the baseball would land before. The only word in his mind was "charge".

"Hojo-sama will definitely hit the target!"

"Home run! At worst it's a hit!"

"Run! Just run and it's all over!"

“Run! Run! Run!”

There was only one thought in Maotian Juju's mind, and that was to run!

Coincidentally, after hitting the baseball, Hojo Kyosuke also dropped the bat without even looking and started running. His 28-yard foot immediately made a pit on the soft brown-black ground, and then he pushed off again, and the sand splashed backwards while his whole body shot forward.

In the eyes of the audience, Hojo Kyosuke's legs seemed to have crossed only twice before he ran from home base to first base, and the twenty-seven-meter distance between the two bases seemed to have been shortened in an instant.

At this time, Mao Tian, ​​who was originally on first base, had already passed second base and sprinted towards third base. The two 1.8-meter-tall strong men turned the baseball field into a sprinting stadium.

Even more terrifying is...

"Ahhh! Kyousuke-kun is almost catching up with contestant Nekoda!"

Nishimiya Naoko's surprised voice was heard on the radio. At this time, we should have paid attention to the baseball that was hit away, but unfortunately, the three people in the commentary booth seemed to be here to watch Hojo Kyosuke rather than to watch the baseball game.

"Asshole, Nekota, run faster and don't block Lord Hojo's way!"

Mihara Akizo grabbed the microphone and cursed loudly.

Hearing the sound, Maotian subconsciously looked back, but before he could see anything clearly, he felt a gust of wind blowing past him.

What the hell!?

His pupils suddenly contracted. Even though he had experienced Hojo-sama's sprinting speed from the beginning, this was too terrifying! He started sprinting from the middle of first base and second base, while Hojo-sama started after hitting the ball. He actually... actually surpassed me! ?

"Idiot Maotian, hurry up and suck up the wake! Wake!"

Mihara Akizo shouted excitedly.

But the glass next to him immediately said: "No smoking!"

The Ruyiliao cheering group all turned around and looked towards the commentary booth. Coach Tonkatsufan, who had been taught a lesson by Ryota Tsuchiya and knew that he must not offend these girls, quickly shouted into the microphone:

"Stop sucking, stop sucking, Maotian, stop right now! Otherwise, I won't let you play next time!"

The audience laughed, but Nekota on the field simply ignored his coach's crazy words. Except when choosing a hotel after training, no one listened to Mihara Akizo.

Where did the baseball go when Hojo Kyosuke was running?

A familiar position, the outfield between second and third base.

It didn't fly high or far, it wasn't a home run, it was just a ball that landed quickly and started rolling.

Because Matsuo's pitch was very close to Hojo Kyosuke's body, even someone as invincible as him could not hit the ball high and far. He could only hit the ball with the bat close to the handle. If it were someone else, the ball would have become a bunt and would not have been able to fly to the outfield, which means that they would not have much time to run the bases.

"Hurry up and pass the ball! Pass it to third base!"

Komatsukawa's catcher yelled as he saw the outfielder had caught up to the ball.

But just as he shouted, he felt a city wall approaching him rapidly.

Swoosh! !

"Safe!!"

The referee yelled.

Did Maotian score? I let that guy run away too many times before, and I thought he wouldn't dare to run, but I didn't expect that guy to be so brainless...

The catcher thought so and was about to look up to see where Hojo Kyosuke was running to and then direct his teammates to pass the ball and defend, but he saw Nekoda Juju running towards him with his tongue wagging.

Wait a minute, if Nekota is here, then who was the person who just ran over there...

scare!?

"Kita, Kita, Hojo Kyousuke!? How come you can run faster than Nekoda!?"

The catcher opened his mouth and screamed like a little girl who was molested.

Um?

Hojo Kyosuke, who was just leisurely taking off his protective gear, was stunned. This is really a good question.

"Why do I run faster than Maotian? Maybe it's because I run faster than Maotian?"

He himself felt a little unconfident when he said this.

When the outfielder picked up the baseball and tried to throw it, he saw the umpire flipping the scoreboard.

In the bottom of the first inning, Sobu High School has scored two points so far.

"Ha repression!"

Nekoda Juju was almost vomiting from running, but she gasped for breath, but she did not forget to praise her beloved Ticket Master:

"It's too fast, Lord Hojo. It's like lightning! I ate a mouthful of dirt!"

The two of them walked towards the rest area on the sidelines, talking and laughing, leaving behind Komatsukawa who was jaw-dropping.

"You can also hit this!?"

Keihito Matsuo stood there in amazement. Facing Hojo Kyosuke, the leader of a violent gang famous throughout Tokyo, he did not have the courage to throw a pitch. Although he wanted to, he tried to throw the ball towards the side close to the human body. At that angle, wouldn't his arm feel like it would be broken?

He had a hundred doubts in his mind. If there was a replay, he would have to study it a hundred times. Is that angle really something a human can hit? (End of this chapter)