Chapter 63: Aftermath Of Koshien (S1 End)
"Lineup!", yelled the umpire.
Both teams lined up.
On Komadai Fujimaki's side, all the players were either smiling or laughing.
"Whew! Thank God! Our team didn't lose, " said Kengo, sighing in relief.
"What…you were worried our team was going to lose".
"How, ridiculous".
"I was starting to get a little worried when Rei came to the mound and shut us out", said Kengo silencing his teammates.
"And his homerun was awesome…", muttered a player.
"SHH!", the player silenced his teammate seeing Hongo glare at them.
"Why are you glaring at them like that?", said Nishi coming to the rescue of his teammates.
Masamune clicked his tongue in annoyance.
The atmosphere of Seido's team was the opposite of Komadai Fujimaki's.
Sawamura was dazed feeling shocked.
All the other 3rd year players were brought to tears as this was their last match before their high school baseball career officially ended.
Haruichi had his head lowered. He was feeling frustrated and anxious at the same time since he kept blaming himself for not scoring when he was given the opportunity.
Miyuki, Chris, and Yuki were frustrated with their loss but as the leaders of the team, they held their heads high.
"BOW!", yelled the umpire.
"THANK YOU FOR A GREAT GAME!", yelled both teams bowing toward each other.
After finally qualifying for Koshien, Seido High School is defeated in their first match.
In the parking lot.
"I…I…have to be with Rei right now", said Chiaki sobbing at her son's loss.
"It's fine you can call him. I bet he wants to be alone right now", said Reiji convincing his wife to not bother their son right now.
Inside the locker room.
"How does it feel to be able to qualify for Koshien after a long time", questioned a reporter.
"It felt great. I thought that my team and its efforts had finally paid off", said Kataoka.
"Why do you think Seido lost?", questioned the reporter.
"I blame myself, if I had switched Tanba off the mound earlier then this situation might have been a bit different. Otherwise, I do think that my players gave it their all even though our opponents were strong", said Kataoka.
Outside the Stadium, 2 reporters were discussing the match.
"I don't know what to say but they were both high-level teams, and the game was incredible".
"I do agree both teams were good in their respective ways but when Seido switched their pitcher to Rei Fujikawa. For a second I thought Seido was going to make a comeback and win".
"Yeah, I remember that 1st year was incredible he changed the pace of the game by himself".
"So, you think it's the coach's fault since he didn't switch out the player at the right moment".
"Kataoka, I heard he is a great coach, but I think he got way too emotional coaching this match".
"Another thing about Seido was that their offense wasn't in great condition today. In the later innings they could have scored".
"Baka! How do you expect them to score off Masamune with their skills".
"Well, I think Seido's cleanup hitters aren't bad. Some of them even hit Masamune's pitch".
"What was wrong with their leadoff batter today".
"He couldn't hit though his defending was awesome".
"What do you think about their ace?"
"THAT F*****".
"Calm down. Why are you cursing?"
"I don't know why he was so persistent in staying on the mound. If he was crumbling, he could have requested to be replaced and not take the team down with him".
"You seem frustrated".
"Of COURSE, with this kind of bullshit I will be. Damn it…I even betted for Seido to win".
'Oh, so that's why you're so frustrated', thought the other reporter.
A few minutes later, Inside Seido's Bus.
'Is-is…this it…we just needed to score 2 more runs and we could have tied', thought Sawamura dazed.
Rei looked out the window quietly. The other players didn't know how to approach him. Since he put the team back on track through his pitching, but they couldn't score some runs for him.
Rei looked around the bus and saw literally everyone sobbing but he didn't feel that sad because he realized it was only his 1st year, he had time and Seido losing the match wasn't his fault since he did his part.
1 Day After the loss, in the dorms.
Chris was packing his stuff ready to leave the dorm.
Kanemaru and Rei were helping him pack.
"Where will you be going, next?", asked Rei.
"Are you going pro?", asked Kanemaru.
"I will be playing in college right now but maybe in the future there's a possibility of me going pro", said Chris chuckling.
"I will be going now. Take care and don't fight with each other. Oh, and look out for your new Kouhai's", said Chris as he left the dorm.
Rei looked around the room feeling the space and muttered, "Kouhai…huh?".
"How come you're not sobbing", commented Kanemaru.
As Rei was pissed with Kanemaru's comment, he jumped him.
It has been like 5 minutes since Chris left and they already started fighting.
Everyone in their dorms had a lot to think about especially the 1st and 2nd years.
In the Field at night.
Rei just came out to walk and saw Furuya and Sawamura jogging. He instinctively hid behind the tree trying to overhear them.
"I don't want to feel like that anymore. I-I…couldn't do anything to help the team and was stuck in the dugout while Rei and Tanba fought on the mound. If only I had been better than Rei then maybe Coach would have considered me…I want to keep the mound for myself. I want to be the ace for this team", said Furuya frustrated while having his main character moment.
"Hold up…hold up…If you want to be the ace then you will have to win against me", said Rei suddenly appearing from behind the tree.
"It's obvious who's going to be the next ace. Me", said Rei pointing toward himself.
Furuya groaned and glared at Rei knowing what he said was correct.
"Why do you look like that", said Rei looking at Sawamura.
Sawamura had eye bags and looked like a ghost.
"Don't tell me you…you're still stuck on our loss", commented Rei.
"Another reason you can't ever be the ace is because of your mentality. You must move on Baka or how else do you expect to lead the team", said Rei nudging Sawamura.
Furuya started jogging again, aggressively. Maybe he felt motivated or inspired who knows? 'Never again', he thought.
Sawamura who had his head lowered looked up to Rei, "I will catch up to you".
"Don't let me down. I will be looking forward to it", said Rei as he continued walking towards the meeting room.
Sawamura smiled thinking, 'Rei is amazing. I'll someday pitch better than him'. He seemed determined more than ever.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
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