At that moment, the Yakushi High School dugout erupted with laughter.
After enduring Sengoku Masato's arrogant provocations earlier, the team finally had the chance to vent their frustration.
"Where'd all that confidence go?" one player laughed. "You were acting so high and mighty a minute ago!"
Another chimed in,
"Yeah! Why do you look like a rooster that just lost a fight?"
"Hahaha!"
The entire dugout burst into laughter.
Meanwhile, Sengoku Masato slowly made his way back from the batter's box.
He looked completely different from the overbearing cleanup hitter who had swaggered to the plate moments earlier.
Yet surprisingly, the Kaidou players showed little shock.
Instead, most of them wore teasing smiles.
They exchanged glances before deliberately speaking just loudly enough for Sengoku to hear.
"As expected of our cleanup hitter. Even your swinging strikeout has more style than the rest of us."
"Hahaha! We could practice that swing for our entire lives and still never look as impressive!"
"I really thought all that trash talk was leading up to a monster home run..."
"...Turns out it was just a strikeout!"
"Hahaha!"
At first, Sengoku tried his best to ignore them.
But as the jokes kept coming, his face gradually changed colors.
It flushed bright red with embarrassment, then turned deathly pale before becoming crimson once again.
The dramatic shift was almost comical.
Seeing that Sengoku was on the verge of exploding, Kaidou's coach finally stepped in.
"Ahem."
"That's enough."
He looked toward Sengoku.
"Sengoku, what's your assessment of that pitcher?"
"Cough... cough..."
Sengoku covered his mouth with a fist, pretending to cough as if to hide his embarrassment.
After collecting himself, he slowly raised his head.
The easygoing smile he usually wore had completely disappeared.
In its place was an unusually serious expression.
"I have to admit..."
"He's far more troublesome than we anticipated."
"Using nothing but his fastball, he struck out four batters from our lineup in a row."
"Before this game, I never would've believed that was possible."
He paused before continuing.
"At this point, breaking through his pitching in a short amount of time is almost impossible."
"That's true."
Kusano nodded with a grim expression.
"If all he had was a 156 km/h fastball, we could still wear him down by forcing him to throw more pitches."
"The problem is that mysterious pitch."
"It moves very similarly to a Gyro Ball, making his fastball even more effective."
"And once you factor in his breaking ball..."
He frowned.
"...The difficulty of dealing with him increases severalfold."
"Coach."
Sato Toshiya finally spoke.
"It's time to change our strategy."
"Abandon Plan A."
"We'll switch to Plan B."
The dugout instantly fell silent.
Not a single player spoke.
After a brief pause, Sato calmly continued,
"There's no point forcing a head-on battle we aren't likely to win."
"We should shift our focus to the later innings and bet everything there."
"Indecision only leads to defeat."
"I agree."
Naoki Enomoto slowly raised his hand.
"Managing stamina efficiently is a science in itself."
"I refuse to believe a first-year pitcher can maintain this pace for an entire game."
He snorted.
"That's nothing but wishful thinking."
Then...
His expression suddenly twisted into something completely different.
The calm look vanished, replaced by a chilling grin that sent a shiver through everyone nearby.
"And besides..."
"The thought of that brat collapsing from exhaustion..."
His grin widened.
"...fills me with anticipation."
"Hahaha..."
"Hehehe..."
His eerie laughter echoed throughout the Kaidou dugout.
No one knew exactly why, but from the very first moment Naoki had laid eyes on Kitamura Kou, he'd developed an instinctive dislike for him.
It was as though an invisible wall existed between them.
Rather than fading over time, that resentment had only grown stronger.
The more Kitamura suffered...
The happier Naoki became.
The rest of Kaidou's players stared at him in stunned silence.
Several blinked.
Others quietly shifted away from him.
It was as though they were meeting him for the very first time.
The dugout fell silent once more.
"Ahem."
The coach cleared his throat again.
"Does anyone have a different opinion?"
He swept his gaze across the team.
No one objected.
"Very well."
"We'll proceed with Plan B."
"Until the late innings, do everything you can to force their pitcher to throw."
"Wear him down."
"Drain every ounce of his stamina."
"Yes, Coach!"
The players answered in perfect unison, their voices as disciplined as soldiers responding to a command.
BOOM!!
THUD!!
"Strike three! Batter out!"
"Three outs! Side retired!"
While Kaidou's dugout had been discussing its new strategy, Kitamura Kou had already made quick work of the remainder of the inning.
Maruo struck out.
Yakushiji followed soon after.
Just like that, Kaidou's offense came to another abrupt end.
"Top of the third inning!"
"Yakushi High School's turn to bat!"
"Ninth batter, second baseman, Fukuda-kun!"
"Hehehe..."
Coach Todoroki Raizo once again wore his trademark sly grin.
He looked every bit like a crafty old fox whose plan was unfolding perfectly.
"Fukuda is the fastest runner on the team after Kitamura."
His eyes drifted toward Kaidou's dugout.
"This time..."
"I'd like to see whether you're still willing to intentionally walk the batter before Kitamura."
The smile on Todoroki's face grew even wider.
He was clearly pleased with the lineup arrangement he had carefully prepared.
Now...
The next move belonged to Kaidou High School.