Chapter 12 - (The Discovery)

As nighttime rolled around, I was a bit worried that our losses might've dampened the high spirits of our school.

It was a valid concern as the last time I saw most of them, they all appeared quite defeated and drained by Hakuo Academy's brilliant showing. The thunderous chants and excited grins at the beginning of the day had all but disappeared and completely replaced by a solemn shroud looming over them.

When I was inquired about the first of the festival by my family, I told them everything that had happened without hiding anything. It was quite refreshing to hear their words of encouragement and assuring me that fulfilling my responsibility to the best of my abilities took precedence over everything else.

I decided to keep that in mind and not let my initial failure overwhelm me.

Thankfully, Raizou also did what I asked of him and that night, he concocted a humorous post in the school's group chat which was shared by the students from different years of high school.

Nothing spectacular was to be expected from him but the motivational post Raizou made had effectively nullified the woes from the first few events…at least on the online front.

I still knew that once morning rolled around, there was a chance a lot of our students might feel anxious about going up against Hakuo Academy for the second day running.

I necessarily had nothing to participate in on the second day but we did have baseball in the forenoon which was always going to be super competitive. A number of athletic sports such as javelin throws, sprints and jumps were to be held in the afternoon.

Since Raizou, Souya, Mitsumi and Kasumi-senpai were going to participate in those sports, all of my energy would have to be directed towards showing my undying support for them and our school as a whole.

I was fairly optimistic about our chances though.

My friends were much better at sports than I was so if I somehow could manage a close loss against Hakuo, they were more than capable of securing a victory.

"He's still borrowing your bicycle?"

"Y-Yes…he still has it."

I had come up with the brilliant idea of rushing outside school before the rest of the students had left the grounds to head over to Hakuo. That way, I was I'd be able to confront Raizou regarding borrowing Chihiro's bicycle.

Several minutes had passed since all of the students had gathered up in our school grounds around 9 o'clock in the morning and since the weather was clear and sunny, a lot of us didn't bother wearing our blazers.

They were all relatively rowdy much to my relief and Raizou once again brought the required energy to bring the students out from their temporary slump. I was happy to see eager faces the moment I stepped into school and more so to hear a few of them voicing their unwavering support for our representatives.

But still, I couldn't be a part of the march to Hakuo Academy while I was afflicted with motion sickness.

Luckily, Chihiro was present once again to accompany me the whole way.

I didn't mind her presence at all but I felt a bit guilty dragging her along with me when she could've easily gone with her friends on her own bicycle so I had the bright idea of making sure Raizou really needed to borrow her bicycle.

And also, because I had completely forgotten to pursue that the previous day.

"Aha! There he is!" I pointed out the moment I saw Raizou leading a group of kouhais out from the school grounds.

They were all following him like he was the pied piper leading a band of children. I was actually excited to witness Raizou in action since an entertaining show was a certainty whenever he was involved. Perhaps it may have been a bit annoying at times but I openly welcomed the chaos for at least the baseball game.

"Raizou!"

Through the wall of noise coming from the students, my friend managed to hear my call and he turned in my direction immediately.

He then made a beeline straight towards me, ignoring the group he was leading.

"What's up, President-sama?" he asked.

Ignoring the smirk pasted on his face, I focused on the matter at hand.

"Are you using Chihiro's bicycle again?" I inquired.

"Yes! It's been very useful" he answered before turning to Chihiro, "Thank you so much, Chihiro-chan!"

Of course, Chihiro wouldn't have the heart to press him about it once he suddenly thanked her.

"U-Um…you're welcome…" she replied softly.

I promptly interjected right in between them.

"What are you using it for?" I asked him.

"You know that movie about the delivery guys?"

A moment was all I needed to connect the dots instantly.

Letting out an annoyed sigh, I shook my head. His reasoning was absolutely idiotic and certainly not good enough to deprive Chihiro of her only form of transport.

"You borrowed it to just take photos with it?" I asked exasperatedly.

"Yes" he simply replied.

"How is that reason good enough?" I facepalmed.

"Chihiro-chan said I could borrow it" he replied coolly, "I don't see a problem if she said so."

I was about to say something but I could not run the risk of accidentally scaring Chihiro away.

"If that is all, we'll be off, President-sama" Raizou then winked.

Before I could retort, he had rejoined his group and driven off on Chihiro's bicycle towards Hakuo Academy. The second he left, several students trailed him in their own bicycles, continuing to uphold a reignited fire in their hearts. Like an army following their general, our students had ridden off in a matter of seconds.

As much as I wanted to drill Raizou further for inconveniencing Chihiro, I had nothing to say on the matter if she had allowed him to do so.

"Why does he keep calling that?" I threw my arms up in annoyance, "I swear, I need to come up with something to annoy him back one of these days!"

"Esashi-san?" Chihiro softly said.

I turned instantly to face her.

"T-They'll win today, right?"

I was left a bit ashamed that I wasn't able to get the job done the previous day when Chihiro was giving me all the support she could give. But knowing that Raizou and co. wouldn't fare worse than me in their clash with Hakuo made me confident they had more than a half decent chance.

"We've got a good baseball team" I told her, "Even if Raizou doesn't do well, I'm sure he'll inspire the rest of the team to win."

"I want to see that" she nodded before suddenly looking rather sullen, "I-I'm sorry, Esashi-san."

Initially, I thought it was just Chihiro being her usual docile and apologetic self but the second I stared at her clearly, I noticed she was on the verge of tears.

"Eh? What's the matter? Why are you saying sorry for?" I quickly said, taking care not to sound harsh.

Sniffling, she wiped her eyes with the back of her hand.

"I-I'm sorry I…I couldn't give you enough support yesterday" she said quietly, "…I-I promise I'll do better next time!"

Confused, I leant close to her to confirm that she was really close to crying.

Before I said anything else, I looked around and checked my surroundings to see if anyone was nearby. Luckily, everyone had already headed off to Hakuo so it was safe for me to proceed without any worries.

"Where's this coming from?" I asked, "You don't have to say sorry for that. You did what you could and the result was on me…not you."

Slowly, she glanced at me. I was able to make out her tear-soaked eyes clearly.

"R-Really?"

"Yes" I smiled awkwardly, "Uh…there's no need to say sorry for that."

I held my breath, waiting for her reply as she slowly grabbed a napkin from her bag and held it close to either side of her face. I was fairly certain that I had successfully defused the situation but I knew I wasn't in the clear until I saw her change her expression.

"I-I'm sorry for thinking like that…" she apologized again, staring at the ground, "…I…I had heard that n-not enough support could ruin things and I…I-I thought that you d-didn't win because I didn't do enough."

"Stop bringing up my loss up please…" I thought to myself.

I readjusted my bag and stared off into the distance, wondering what would've happened that had caused her to think like that. It was never a nice experience seeing her on the verge of tears and if she had been convinced by an external agent to blame herself like that, I would've instantly investigated the foul play.

"Where did you hear that?" I asked her.

"F-From an episode I saw last night" she answered nervously.

"Eh? Episode?"

Having not heard anything about her mentioning getting into a new show recently, I was a bit perplexed that she had started watching an episodic show once again. Usually, if she had ever shown interest in any form of media on her own volition, she would mention it to me or Raizou but in this case, I had learnt about it in an abrupt manner.

Or so I thought!

"I'm such a goddamned idiot!" I said through gritted teeth, fed up of my forgetful nature.

"Um…E-Esashi-san?"

"It was from the chess TV series I told you about, wasn't it?" I sighed.

Cautiously, she nodded.

I had not…no…I had forgotten to take into account that the easily influenced girl would have taken certain themes and lessons from a fictional series as true and applicable in real life. It was my damned fault that she had believed that there was such a thing as "not giving enough support".

"Ah…you don't have to worry about that" I quickly decided to explain to her, "I'm not like anyone who's featured in that series! I'm just me and I appreciate even the littlest bit of support from you! Don't worry about that anymore."

She then slowly lifted her head and faced me once more. I noticed that her eyes gleamed a bit under the sunlight.

"I-I guess…if you say so, then I'll keep that in mind…" she managed to smile.

Relieved that I had taken care of that particular situation before it snowballed any further, I wanted to change topics now that we were free to get into what would transpire in just over an hour.

"That's the spirit!" I exclaimed, smiling at her, "We should…uh…join the others soon. We wouldn't want to miss the game!"

"I-If…" she was about to say something but she shook her head first, "No…w-when the baseball team wins, we'll give a big cheer, right?"

Well…that would be a pretty obvious reaction from us but I didn't have the heart to tell her that.

"Of course!" I said aloud, "We'll give them the biggest applause we've ever given anyone!"

Her eyes then lit up with enthusiasm.

"And then…a-and then we'll set off flares at the stands like they did when the chess team won in that one episo-"

"Chihiro-san!" I chuckled.

Thankfully, I wasn't required to give further explanations as she realized she had immersed herself too much into the TV series.

"I…ummm…I" she stammered, "…I don't think that's a good idea now that I think about it…"

I let out a short, hearty laugh in response.

"Haha! For a second, I thought you might've secretly been an arsonist with that suggestion" I told her light-heartedly.

She lowered her head but in a slightly shy way.

"I-I hope I'm not" she joked.

I could not help but beam happily upon hearing her reply in a joking manner. It was such a rare occurrence for her to lower herself to our unserious level but whenever that happened, I was glad to know that since it meant she was, mentally, at a good place.

"For my sake" I added.

And with that, our brief conversation to start off our journey back towards Hakuo Academy ended and we followed the faint bicycle trails left behind by our friends.

For some reason, I was sorta happy that Raizou had rendered Chihiro unable to ride her own bicycle. I wasn't exactly certain if walking and talking with her filled the void left by Kasumi-senpai but the introverted side of me was more than willing to take the back seat and allow me spend my precious alone time with her.

It was a chore though to try and figure out what Chihiro thought of me. Believing that we were just friends who supported each other was enough for the time being. Although, I knew if I pushed myself harder, then we'd be friends whose undying support had led them to an incredible victory!

And if we were lucky, we could have that later in the day.

"STRIKE THREE! OuT!"

I felt like I was the only one in the Shiomi High stands to even notice that the umpire had almost cracked his voice shouting that.

It was nearly 10:30 am by the time the baseball match between our school and Hakuo Academy had begun. Unlike the previous day where we traversed a portion of the institution by ourselves, Chihiro and I were able to join up with a couple of our senpais near the main entrance and then made our way towards the baseball ground.

As expected, Hakuo's baseball field was much larger than ours and was of the standard size used in professional baseball leagues all over the country. And there were actual proper stands with roofs on the sidelines and behind the dugouts.

I thought it was quite a pleasant place to laze around while people were having fun on the field.

However, that notion had to end as soon as the baseball match started and unsurprisingly, Hakuo began to strike our team out one by one.

First, it was Souya, then Ono-senpai and recently, Ishikawa-san.

They were falling like flies near an electric zapper!

I had to hold in my laughter upon hearing the voice crack so as to not incite the wrath of our students. I had no idea why I wasn't as pissed off as they were about Hakuo Academy once again asserting their dominance in a competition.

You could feel the anger in the air around our stands upon hearing the Hakuo crowd let out another jubilant cheer. If the festival wasn't taking place, I could've sworn all hell would've broken loose and several altercations would've taken place.

Staring at the pitcher's mound, I realized the reason behind my rather nonchalant reaction.

Standing with the ball in her hand and in full baseball gear was Katsura-san.

I didn't know why but I wasn't at all enraged that she was the reason why three of our batters had already been sent to the dugouts.

My opposite number was the pitcher for the Hakuo Academy baseball team and judging from their performance so far, they had made no mistake appointing her as such. In one single inning, she had managed to strike out three batters and the inning wasn't even over yet!

I could hear whispers around me saying rather uncouth things about her but since they were all kneejerk reactions, I paid no heed to them.

Perhaps it was because of the awe I felt upon seeing Katsura-san perform to the expectations I had of her but there was no sort of animosity from my side.

She was as amazing as I had thought.

CRACK!

"COME ON!"

Raizou's loud war cry brought the Shiomi crowd back to life in an instant.

I quickly shifted my attention towards the batter's box to find Raizou pumping his fist excitedly; his body shaking from the exhilaration of being the first to successfully hit one of Katsura-san's strikes.

Rows of students around me rose from their seats as they all gasped in amazement upon seeing the baseball fly high up.

I too had my gaze taken by the soaring ball which gracefully lost its momentum in the air before it began to plummet towards the ground. Was this the moment for the start of a brilliant comeback? Would this crucial piece of action be the catalyst for our first victory?

Raizou was now sporting a relieved smile, knowing that he was the first one capable of returning Katsura-san's vicious pitches.

"GOT IT!"

The baseball then gently fell into the gloved hands of a Hakuo Academy boy near the stand before he lifted the ball for all to see.

A cheer boomed once more, but from the Hakuo side.

I was confused by the sudden change in emotions on either side of the field as an eerie silence befell the students around me.

As the other team celebrated, it dawned upon me that my dear friend had smashed the baseball successfully but it had unluckily landed right into the hands of the monster cyclist from the previous day.

And that meant Raizou was caught out.

"Four in a single inning…" Hideo pointed out, "She's a literal beast."

"Seems to be…" I sighed, watching our sliver of hope fading away.

Standing with the other members of the Student Council, we watched intently as Hirayama-sensei rounded the baseball team, presumably to give them some sort of a pep talk. I could tell they were reeling from their opponent's merciless display and were completely shellshocked.

Even Raizou had lost his mojo and was now standing near the dugout with his arms crossed, obviously disappointed that his perfect strike was instantly caught out.

With Hakuo taking an astounding lead through Katsura-san, it would take nothing less than a miracle for our school to turn it around.

But that miracle wouldn't happen.

In total, the baseball match ended 20-3 in favour of Hakuo Academy. As I had expected, Katsura-san and that other amazing student were responsible for racking up the points for their school, preventing us from even having a glimpse of a comeback through the massacre. To be brutally honest, the moment Katsura-san struck out three of our baseball players, I knew we were fucked.

More and more, it seemed as though our close contest in the relay race the previous day was nothing but a fluke. I had thought that the true athletes of our school would've faired better in future events but that couldn't be further from the truth.

Though Raizou had managed to score our only three points of the match, it was only because the pitcher was the least experienced member of the Hakuo baseball team and even he managed to strike out Souya!

The battering we faced at the hands of Hakuo had left a lot of our students feeling quite bitter and dejected and the energy we had brought before the events started had completely disappeared.

And there was still an afternoon session to go!

I stayed behind at the baseball field while everyone else headed to Hakuo's cafeteria to have lunch.

Understandably, I felt a bit iffy about talking to anyone from our school when it seemed like everything we worked on had unraveled in an instant. And I wouldn't dare strike up a conversation with our representatives knowing full well that not a single one of them would want to talk about the festival so far.

As the winds began to pick up a bit, I walked over to the pitcher's mound and stood facing the batter's box. The crowd that packed the stands and the players who battled it out had all left and my ears could only pick up the sound of a breeze passing through and the rustling of leaves.

Even if I knew the best technique to pitch or bat, I would've not made a difference in the contest. I imagined myself watching helplessly as the ball I threw was struck by an imaginary Katsura-san in the batter's box.

I could only groan in response.

"She still hits the damn ball even in my imagination…" I said to myself.

Looking up into the blue sky, I wondered if Kasumi-senpai and Matsuda-san together would be enough for us to muster up a challenge once again. Victory now seemed to be far out of reach just as the sparse clouds were.

I was just about to blindly kick the dirt below my feet in frustration when a spherical object hit me right in the shin softly.

Curious, I stared at the ground for a few seconds, confused as to why a baseball would just be rolling about in the somewhat empty field.

However, my natural instincts kicked in and alerted me to a presence looming over the batter's box.

Steadily, I looked straight forward.

There she was…again.

"Not feeling hungry?"

I was slightly amused by the question directed my way by Katsura-san.

She was still in her baseball gear but without any headwear and with a towel around her neck. She also had a baseball bat with her and like me, she didn't have any of her "followers" hounding her. Maybe they were feeling hungry.

"Not necessarily" I replied.

I would've forgiven her if she wanted to gloat a bit but I knew her well enough to be certain that it was out of character for her.

"Just hanging around for a bit" I added, picking up the baseball.

Needless to say, I wasn't going to tell her outright that it was awkward for me to go around and hang out with the rest of my school so soon after they had been basically destroyed. No, I wasn't going to shove my face amongst them until a bunch of them had left the cafeteria.

"I thought you were going to be part of the team" she said, "Ayumu-chan mentioned that you'd be starting for your school."

"Eh? It must've been a long time ago" I replied, "I gave my spot up."

I wasn't sure how that bit of information got to Ayumu and to Katsura-san but it was nothing but trivial at that point. I was already certain my inclusion would've done nothing to help our team and would've only furthered our team's pitiful display.

Now that I thought of it, I hadn't seen Ayumu at all since the festival had started. Like always, she seemed to be evading my sights successfully. I wasn't going to expend my energy trying to find her though.

"Oh…well, that's a nice gesture" Katsura-san nodded.

"It's nothing."

As I watched her, she took the baseball bat she held up to her shoulder for a brief moment before plopping it down to the ground.

"Would it be a bother to ask you to pitch?" she asked.

"Uhh…." I was puzzled by the request.

I blankly stared at the baseball, unsure of how I should answer her.

She must've noticed the change in my expressions as she promptly proceeded to pick her baseball bat up and put her hands up rather erratically.

"Err…It's alright if you don't want to!" she followed up in an uneasy tone, "Sorry for that! I…I don't know what came over me…"

There it was again.

The unwanted pathway to an awkward interaction.

I had enough of them for the time being.

"Welllllllll…" I dragged my syllables again, "…you're there and I'm here with a baseball so why not?"

The little shrug accompanying my acceptance was enough to, thankfully, kill the growing nerves within her and she visibly calmed down a bit.

"Uh…alright then" she nodded.

As her smile returned, she placed her bat down again, facing me and staring at me with her cat-like eyes.

"Shoot your best shot then, Esashi-san!"

I blushed a bit and laughed at the same time when it was obvious that she was serious in that delivery. If Raizou had been there with me, he too would've pointed out how Katsura-san's command sounded completely different and flirtatious when taken out of context.

Anyway, I was not averse to granting her wish.

Planting my feet upon the pitcher's mound, I held the baseball as tightly as I could. The lack of a glove made no difference to me, who had no idea what the difference even was.

"Okay then…" I prepared to throw the ball with all that I had.

One single inhale as the winds began to die down.

Not one other soul in the entire baseball field save for her.

Her.

I suppose you could call her the Scourge at this point as she was the main source of the pain that my-

Okay…that went way too dramatic!

But still, it was surreal being alone with and having a chance to show what I could do in front of the one person responsible for our school's steady downfall in the festival.

How was it fair that they had all these gifts and these extraordinary people while all we had were normal, high school students? No wonder everything was going according to the Hakuo game plan and we were left in the dust in every battle we waged.

All that frustration…funneled into one, gigantic pitch.

CLANG!

The chain linked walls of the batter's box reverberated and rang mysteriously a split second after the baseball left my hand.

I couldn't put my finger on it but I had a feeling it had something to do with me.

Katsura-san was still at the batter's box, practically in the same stance although with her bat raised close to her hips. There seemed to be a remnant of a breeze judging from the way her bangs swayed without her even moving her head.

Something had evidently whizzed past her but what could it be?

"I-Incredible…" she muttered.

Releasing the tension in my body, I returned to a more relaxed state, unsure of what had happened.

But then, witnessing Katsura-san's widened eyes revealed the situation to me.

You see, somehow, I had managed to throw the baseball with such speed that even the great Student Council President of Hakuo Academy was unable to strike it. It had slammed right into the metal chains of the batter's box and fell to the ground.

"Uh…I didn't expect that" I blurted out, "How did that happen?"

Katsura-san slowly glanced at the stationary ball while I was staring at it, as dumbstruck as she was. I had no clue how I was able to muster enough force to evade her strike when she had effortlessly returned every pitch from our baseball team just not too long ago.

"Esashi-san…how did you do that?" she asked, clearing her throat.

Seeing her trying to compose herself after being left stunned by my pitch was more than I could comprehend. No…scratch that! I was too caught off guard by my own doing that I couldn't even take in the fact that I had managed to surprise her!

My mind defaulted to apologizing for something to give me time to think.

"Sorry, Katsura-san…I didn't aim for your head, did I?"

In hindsight, it was a stupid question but a genuine concern at the time.

"N-No…" she cleared her throat again, "Actually, it went perfectly…too perfectly, in fact."

"Eh?"

I arched my eyebrow in response.

As I waited for her to add something, she bent down and picked the baseball.

"Can I bother you for another pitch?" she asked, smiling.

I cupped my hands as soon as she flung the ball in my direction.

"Uhh…I guess so…" I mumbled, staying fixated at the ball.

Was she just messing with me to make me feel better about the loss? Had she intentionally missed her shot? Or had I actually managed to throw the ball so fast that she was unable to even react let alone strike back?

I had to dispel my disbelief in order to figure out the truth.

Arching back a bit, I held the ball firmly in my right hand. My eyes were kept laser focused on Katsura-san's side, hoping to bypass her strikes.

And then, I threw it again.

And once again, the ball hit the back of the batter's box.

"Wait…" I could barely stutter, "…what's going on?"

It took Katsura-san a bit more time to understand what was happening but she soon let out a sigh and placed her bat down.

Despite having never been properly trained in baseball before, I was amazed by whatever hidden power I had that allowed me to effectively throw with such ferocity! It was something entirely out of the ordinary!

Two strikes! If that had been a normal baseball game, she'd been one strike away from going out!

"You have a strong throw, Esashi-san…" Katsura-san said in a sheepish way, "No, that's…an understatement. You've got an extremely powerful throw."

"I do?" I feigned a modest reaction, "Weren't you just going easy on me?"

She shook her head.

"I wouldn't try to demean your abilities like that" she replied, "I'm surprised you weren't part of the team. With that up your sleeves…well, literally…I don't think we'd have a chance at winning."

I couldn't help but chuckle at that joke.

"Ah…but throwing a ball is only a part of the game" I told her, "I didn't even know I could do that until now…hehe...it's nothing more than a party trick at this point."

"Be that as it may, I've always thought you secretly excelled in something apart from your already impeccable leadership qualities" she answered.

It was a huge task trying to not feel flustered at the praise flung my way by someone I had admired. Also, adding the fact that she wasn't one to joke about that made it all the more amazing that she was saying such good things about me!

"I've only discovered it" I reiterated while glancing at the ground, "And I'm just doing what I can for my school…"

I would've loved to go the Raizou route and brag about my achievements and what I could do in front of a cute girl like her but I was too overwhelmed by her words to even think of doing that.

"I'm going to head over to the cafeteria now. Would you like to join me?" she suddenly asked.

I looked back up and saw that she had shifted her body towards the exit, ready to head off.

Every fiber inside my heart urged me to say "yes" and continue having a conversation with her to my heart's content but my head was telling me that it was still too soon for me to be hanging out with her; especially, after the baseball contest.

"I'll catch up with you" I told her before pointing at the baseball, "I…uh…have a few things to check out first."

For a split second, she appeared quite skeptical of my alibi but she pressed no further.

Waving a hand at me, she placed the baseball bat upon her shoulder.

"I'll be off then. I'll see you soon, Esashi-san!"

"Alright then. I'll see you soon as well, Katsura-san!"

I kept on observing her until she walked out of sight.

I had never thought of it but there seemed to be some sort of an underlying chemistry each time we conversed; almost like we were always destined to meet. Well…of course, the inter-school festival may have been the destined event but beyond that, there was a feeling that someone was pulling the strings to have us talking to each other.

And I was more than happy to thank whoever the fuck that was.

Having such an accomplished and respectable person sing my undeserved praises and speak to me as an equal was something I thought I would've only achieved once I reached adulthood.

But what about the other important thing I had learned?

Was I also destined to be a baseball player seeing that I had a wicked sick throw that even Katsura-san couldn't handle? How did I even possess that? There were so many questions running through my head.

Luckily, there was one person who could answer them.

"She didn't figure it out fully yet, huh? That's promising…"

"Eh?"

I quickly turned around, only to be face to face with the other person that I admired.

"I suppose the more important matter is whether or not you've figured it out yet" Kasumi-senpai added while approaching me.

In an unexpected twist, my beloved senpai had suddenly appeared from out of nowhere when I was certain she had gone off to the cafeteria with the rest of the third year high school students.

As she was part of the 100m sprint in the afternoon, she was already wearing the blue and white sports dress of our school but had let her hair down for the time being. She had always had a nice, athletic figure and the attire really made her look like an Olympian!

"S-Senpai?" I stammered…in a rather typical cartoonish way.

"Before you ask…" she giggled, "I saw you standing by yourself over here while everyone was leaving, so I was interested in seeing what you were up to."

"Oh…" I let out a nervous laugh, "…I thought no one saw me…but then again, Katsura-san was just with me so I guess I wasn't as discreet as I thought I was…hehe…"

It was then I realized Kasumi-senpai was by herself!

"Uh…isn't Matsuda-san with you?" I inquired.

"He's already off to the cafeteria" she replied, "You know what it's like with real athletes like him. They need to follow a steady diet and timings."

"Yeah, I can see that" I nodded, "So, wait! What's this thing about me that needs to be figured out? You've said this before too at our kendo training!"

Instead of answering straightaway, she laughed.

"You still don't know it, huh?" she asked.

"Apparently, yes" I put my hands inside my pockets, "Is it something to do with baseball because I ca-"

"You do have an amazing throw" she said, "But that's not all there is to it."

I groaned, knowing that she was being intentionally cryptic even when I was cripplingly curious.

"Come on! Can't you just tell me? You know I can't figure it out" I crossed my arms and pouted a bit.

There was a slight hint that she found my pout a bit adorable and she shook her head and smiled in response. Even though I put her on a high pedestal, Kasumi-senpai's playful side would sometimes evoke the easily annoyed side of mine.

"Alright! I can't say "no" at this point, can I?" she giggled.

"No, you can't" I sternly answered.

Reaching out with her hand, she ruffled the top of my head and tapped it twice.

"Okay…" she then closed her eyes for a second before opening them, "…You see, Kenta-kun, you're blessed with incredible arm strength!"

"WHAT!?"

"Take a few seconds to let it sink in."

"M…My arm is strong? Eh?"

I began to mumble to myself, trying to decipher whatever cryptic message Kasumi-senpai hid behind that reply. She was always a fan of vague answers which were quite difficult to break down to an understandable level.

And what had she meant by my arm being strong?

I had never ever, in my life, thought that I was the strongest person in my group of friends. Every fiber of my body was generic and average at best and I had never seen even a hint of an evidence that I was above average in that regard.

"Let it sink in and think about it…"

As soon as I got kicked out of my head space, I realized that Kasumi-senpai had casually strolled away and left me alone to think.

"Sen…" I understood it was too late to call out to her, "…pai…"

So, she wanted me to put my mind into that and figure the rest out on my own. What was there to ponder? Sure, the two pitches I had with Katsura-san could've been a result of my "incredible arm strength" but what other evidences were there?

Then, I recalled a lot of what had occurred in the past two weeks.

And it was like a light bulb was turned on in my head.

"Wait…wait…WAIT!" I suddenly exclaimed, my voice echoing for a split second.

Surely, it would've been a strange sight to see the Student Council President of Shiomi High screaming to no one in particular in the middle of Hakuo Academy's baseball field but the emptiness of the area helped me in taking in exactly what Kasumi-senpai had mentioned.

The first one I could recall was that time I was in our classroom and Chihiro asked me to retrieve her earring.

It didn't seem to be such an incredible feat at the time but I vividly remembered the students nearby being in awe that I was able to lift the metal cabinet with no problems at all!

The second one was when I was supposed to have a one-on-one meeting with Katsura-san. Moving the crates in front of the old classroom wasn't a difficult task but Katsura-san showing a brief expression of surprise was not without reason now that I thought about it!

And the same could be said about the incident where a baseball I struck accidentally hit a kouhai on the first day of practice!

I simply took it as nothing out of the ordinary at the time. However, looking back, Raizou had mentioned that it would've been impossible to clear the whole fucking classroom building with just a single strike but I managed exactly that!

And also, in kendo with Kasumi-senpai, an expert like her called for a sudden stop to our initial practice when I hit her kendo as hard as I could.

From what I had just learned, it was clear that the reason she told me to hold it back then was because she simply could not handle the force I was bearing down on her with.

And that was all I could think of without even recalling the countless times my family would call upon me to move or lift things they deemed too heavy for them!

Kasumi-senpai had figured it all out and had laid all the clues down for me to finally realize the talent that I had!

..

..

..

Well, other than the unwanted superpower of being able to return any insult thrown my way.

Anyway, there I was…standing alone in the baseball field with the wind moving through my frame and the sounds of rustling trees filling my ears. One could frame that moment of clarity paired with the calmness of the surroundings as a moment for the ages and one that would never ever be forgotten.

A smile then came across my face; one of relief and hope.

I had now known my true rival Katsura-san could not handle the power I had discovered.

With kendo still to go and another sport day in between, there was more than enough time left for a turn around.

And with my help, we actually had a chance to do so.