After the previous day's debacle with the storm, Itsuki was alright with avoiding Tokuchi. Hell, Tokuchi was avoiding him even more than usual. Pushing that thought aside, Itsuki turned his focus back to batting practice. Later that evening, they would play the Blue Mars. Thinking back to what Tokuchi said, he tried to think about what it meant. And the motivation behind it. He then decided that maybe it was worth looking into.
Itsuki called out to the second string pitcher that was helping him and let him know he was stopping early. The pitcher did his best to not look relieved. On his way over to the AV room, Itsuki thought about the game that night and what Tokuchi meant when he said to check out Williams's knuckle ball. Once he got the tapes set up, he settled back to observe.
After about 5 minutes of watching pitch after pitch, Itsuki felt a bit sick. There was no way around it. That knuckle ball was spinning. That was bad. Very bad. He had to tell Imawano. He honestly had no idea how Tokuchi had caught that if even he hadn't seen it from the bench. He sat there for a minute in shock, trying to reconcile what he saw with what he knew.
The Blue Mars had always been polite and sportsmanlike. They had always tried their hardest, and they truly seemed to care for each other when they did interviews. Itsuki's hands fisted on the table. How could they have all been so blind? If they were willing to risk a fake knuckle ball, who knows what else they were pulling? Itsuki stood up suddenly, knocking his chair over backwards. He paused for a second, and made his decision.
On the way to the coach's office, he reviewed what he knew. One. The Blue Mars had to know Williams was cheating. Two. Tokuchi somehow found out. And three. This would no doubt blow up into a huge scandal. He had no idea whether or not Tokuchi would get blowback for his discovery.
Itsuki had no idea how this hadn't been caught yet. Didn't they have people whose whole job was to analyze pitches? He was confused as hell. Why would they want to cheat anyway?
Just then, Itsuki started to get angry. How had they not seen this? How had he not seen this? No wonder he wasn't pitching knuckleballs to him or Amami. They would have noticed it. At that, his confidence in his teammates wavered a bit. How had they not noticed?
As Itsuki stormed down the corridor, he felt his anger fade a bit. This wasn't his teammates' fault. He should have noticed the knuckleball way sooner. His anger was quickly replaced by disappointment as he came to a stop in front of the coaching offices. He took a deep breath, and then knocked on the door.
Ten minutes later, his ears were ringing as he stood by half the coaching staff in front of the projector. They had gotten an audiovisual tech to slow down the footage and zoom in. The quality was horrible, but Itsuki was able to show some evidence as to the nature of the knuckleball. After the video ended, he stood there dumbly along with the other occupants of the room. Slowly, Coach Imawano stood up and turned so that he could face the entire room.
"As you all know, this is extremely distressing," he began. "While I am certain that Takami is right about this knuckleball, the league chairs may be thrown off. They certainly won't do anything before the game tonight. Even if we do expose them now, we would be the ones looking foolish. Who knows how long they've been pulling this? Williams has been playing for quite some time now."
With that, the rest of the coaches started muttering amongst themselves.
"We could try to appeal after the game," Assistant Coach Takahashi suggested.
"We would look like sore losers," Second Base Coach Oeda countered.
"You're assuming we'll lose again, aren't you?" Assistant Batting Coach Tanaka spat.
Before the hoard of coaches could start the brawl that had apparently been a long time coming, Coach Imawano raised his voice.
"We'll catch them during the game," he said. "There's no way we can let them get away with making us look like fools in front of the entire country." There was some muttering from the coaching staff, but not one spoke up against him. Finally, he turned to Itsuki. "How did you find out about this fake knuckleball?" he asked. "Why didn't you catch it before?"
Itsuki glanced over at Tokuchi in the corner of the room. He still maintained his usual icy exterior. "Tokuchi pointed it out," he finally said, shamefully. "I never caught it. Tokuchi mentioned that he thought something was off." Itsuki paused, realizing that he could be getting him in trouble. "He didn't say anything to you because he wasn't sure, and didn't want to cause a fuss. He figured that I would see if anything was wrong with it," He finished lamely.
Coach Imawano looked over at Tokuchi suspiciously. "Didn't want to cause a fuss, huh? Sounds just like you." he said, then turned to face him all the way. "Fine then. How did YOU manage to catch it?" he asked, narrowing his eyes.
Tokuchi however, didn't seem to be bothered by the sudden suspicion cast over himself. "The other day, the ball was moving strangely, and in the playback, it didn't move like a typical knuckleball."
Coach Imawano sighed in exasperation. "So you're telling me that some rookie was able to catch what could be the biggest scandal in recent memory by watching a few playbacks?" He took his hat off and rubbed his face. "How was it, then, that our own analysts weren't able to catch it?"
Tokuchi shrugged. "I was wondering the same thing myself," he said. "I'm obviously not anything special since I'm an assistant to the assistant coach, but somehow I was able to catch it".
Coach Imawano glared at him. "You're here on special consideration. If I were you, I would watch my tongue."
Tokuchi looked back at him, unperturbed. "If I were you, I'd be embarrassed."
Itsuki saw the situation quickly escalating, so he quickly interrupted. "We get it!" he began. "The point is, we found Williams out, and now we need to catch him in action. All we need now is a plan."
The tension in the room dropped palpably after he spoke, and Coach Imawano turned away from Tokuchi. "Fine," he said. "As I was saying, we need to catch them in action. Otherwise, we'll have to face a much larger investigation. One I'd like to avoid if possible. So." He said, turning his attention to Tokuchi. "You'll be assisting us tonight." With that, he picked up his jacket and his hat, and walked out of the room, leaving everyone behind.
The rest of the coaching staff left soon after that, one actually pausing to compliment Tokuchi on his catch. Finally, it was just the two of them left in the room. "Why did you tell them I caught it?" Tokuchi finally asked.
"Because it was your find. I wanted to make sure you got credit where it was due," Itsuki replied.
"I really don't need your help with that," Tokuchi said, before turning and walking out of the room, leaving Itsuki by himself.
Itsuki stood there for a moment, going over the interaction he had just had. For some reason, the confrontation with Coach Imawano wasn't bothering him nearly as much as it should have. He was more perturbed by Tokuchi. He was being given an opportunity that most people in his position would have given their right nut for. But here he was, asking him why he didn't take all the credit. That guy really needed to get some new friends. The ones he had obviously weren't treating him right.
That night, Toa was standing in the dugout next to Imawano in full uniform. He was officially on coaching duty tonight, something he had not agreed to. He was supposed to be helping with teamwork, not strategy. But one glance over at Imawano, and he knew that not even he could argue the issue down. He would be assisting the head coach tonight, and he better act like he's enjoying it. Glancing out over the field, he felt a familiar little thrill in his stomach. Even though he was being forced to do this, he had to admit to himself that he was probably going to have fun. He had fun when he beat them the first time, and to Toa, it looked like they had gotten better over the winter intersession.
Looking down, he flipped through the charts and figures an assistant had provided him with before the game. The Blue Mars were in good shape today. Poor guys didn't even know what was coming. They had to have some idea of what the Mariners were capable of, knowing he was helping them now, but their performance in the first game probably reassured them that he wouldn't be participating. Looking over at the players on the bench, Toa caught Takami's eye, and gave him a little half smile. The prospect of the upcoming beatdown was putting him in a good mood.
Once the batting order had been determined, the game started with a bang. Rodrigo got a pretty good hit off of Mizuhashi, but thankfully it rolled to Takami on third, who was able to get it to first in time. Close call though. After a mediocre beginning, most likely due to sign stealing or whatnot, they were up to bat. Williams stayed put in the Blue Mars dugout. So Toa stayed put next to Imawano, listening to his comments and delegating the signs he was ordered to give, leaving the batting lineup to do what they did best.
Soon though, they were up by five points with good hits by both Brooklyn and Thomas, and a pitcher change was announced. Williams would be taking the mound. He looked over at the Mariners dugout, made eye contact with Toa, and smirked. Toa smiled serenely back, causing Williams to falter briefly. Nobody liked it when he smiled genuinely. Before Kitaooji could go out, Toa gave Imawano the sign that he would tell him what to do, then signalled Kitaooji to strike out. Kitaooji grimaced at him, then sighed in acquiescence.
Kitaooji followed Toa's instructions, and struck out on the third knuckleball Williams threw. The bastard was really showing off tonight. The next few batters struck out without any need for Toa to tell them to, and the inning was over. Mizuhashi held them off beautifully in the next inning, and after only six at-bats, they were at the top of the second. The next few innings stretched out like that, with only Takami and Amami getting hits. Before long though, Toa was getting bored of assuring the Blue Mars that he wasn't going to mess with them, then signalled Imawano again. After giving Thomas the go-ahead, his plan was in motion.
Thomas, now aware of the fake knuckleball, was given the momentous task of fouling the ball, which, after two strikes, he did beautifully. The ball sailed into the net, but before it could be caught, Thomas was running to first. Williams looked over sharply in shock, then glanced over to the catcher to see what he would do, but it was too late. Thomas was much faster than they had anticipated, and was already on first. Williams briefly bent over, putting his hands on his knees. Probably having a flashback or something. His moment of shock didn't last long however, and he was back to pitching. He was obviously on to them, as he didn't pitch a knuckleball for the rest of the inning, surrendering a few more points.
Toa knew Imawano was beginning to get impatient with how slow the revelation was coming, so he figured that he'd speed it along. Surprisingly enough, he just wasn't feeling another game of cat and mouse. Next inning, he would finish it. The Blue Mars were up to bat, and Mizuhashi was looking ready to hold them off. Toa looked over to tell Imawano that he was going to the back for a minute, but was interrupted by someone violently yanking him down to the ground. Before he could even react, there was a loud CRACK, and splinters flew everywhere. Toa looked around from his position on the ground. Everybody was either staring down at him, or over at Rodrigo, who briefly tipped his helmet and shouted an apology. Looking up, he could see that a bat had struck the wall where his head had been only milliseconds ago. Looking to his right, he could see that it was Amami who had yanked him out of the way. Toa made the motions to thank him, but he was already up with the other players shouting at Rodrigo and the umpire. Toa sat there for another second before he got back up. He shook it off and took his place next to where Imawano would have been had he not been yelling at a referee.
Toa sighed shortly and concentrated on getting back to the game. Rodrigo was suitably admonished, and things were back on track. Honestly, Toa should have expected that. The flying bat really didn't deter him. It was honestly kind of funny. It was a nice throwback to when he just about took that pitcher's head off.
By the next inning, things had progressed enough that Toa felt comfortable going ahead and finishing things. With a sign, Thomas fouled the ball, although he hit it hard enough to blast its guts out, exposing a sliver of something that seemed to catch the umpire's attention. A little sliver of ice. They had not only weighted the ball with water; they had frozen it. That would give it less distance when it was hit. Unfortunately for Williams, it also left solid evidence of his misdeeds behind. Unsurprisingly, he and the catcher were ejected from the game. Toa smiled at him one last time as he was being escorted off the field.
Sometimes the simplest solution was the most effective. He doubted another team could have pulled it off. To hit it with that kind of precision in such a way that destroys the ball, exposing something suspicious, took a level of skill that only a few players had. He had enjoyed the lead up though. By the time he was ready to act, the Blue Mars probably thought he was going to pull some complicated trick like he had last time.
Toa heaved a sigh, then took a seat. His work was done. He had exposed the knuckleball, now Imawano just had to yell and fuss enough that there would be some kind of retribution. Apparently Imawano was especially good at screaming and fussing that Shirooka soon emerged from the Blue Mars dugout and forfeited the game. That was a surprise. The mood in the dugout was suddenly brighter than before. After the attempted decapitation on his person, the team was significantly happier with the resounding boos and jeers the other team was receiving. Toa stood up and exited the dugout, leaving the team to their celebration. He had other things to do.
Before he could make it too far, someone came up behind him, and shoved him into the locker room, slamming him against a locker. Toa blinked away the stars, and shoved the other man away. Expecting an attack, Toa thrust the heel of his hand up to break the other person's nose, but paused. It was just Takami.
Takami maintained eye contact with him for a second, looking overwhelmed, then kissed him long and hard, pressing him harder into the locker. They stood like that for a second before Toa opened his mouth, deepening the kiss before wrapping his arms around the other. After a minute, they pulled apart, looking at each other. Toa had never seen Takami look so vulnerable. That, along with the elation of grinding the Blue Mars into the dust spurred him on, and he yanked Takami back to kiss him harder than before.
Takami was obviously excited about the victory too, but judging by the press against his side, he was obviously excited about something else. Toa reached down with one hand, grabbed Takami's hip, and pressed it into his own. Judging by the gasp he got, he had the right idea. Before long, they were both out of breath. Takami pulled away first, and buried his head in the crook of Toa's shoulder, lips ghosting over his neck as he muttered something incomprehensible. The nearing voices of his teammates seemed to knock some sense back into him, as he muttered a quick apology, and rushed deeper into the locker room, leaving Toa standing alone once more.
I hope everyone is enjoying my fic so far! Just a heads up; the rating will change next chapter.
