Seido's Lovely Manager (Miyuki Kazuya x Female OC)

XXIII. An Uncompromising Challenge

Umemiya was able to hit the pitch, but Kuramochi was quick to catch it and throw it to first base as Umemiya approached. Seido cheered loudly as the judge quickly called out. Emi let out the breath she had been holding, and she, Haruno, and Yui joined the crowd in cheering for Seido. Sawamura was later able to get back on his feet and pitch until the end without incidents and not allowing Ugumori to score any more points. Seido won with a one-run lead over Ugumori, and Ugumori was disqualified from the Fall tournament. Seido advanced to the quarterfinals, and their next opponent was Ouya High School.

"YES! YES! YES!" Sawamura roared as the crowd cheered, "YES! YES! YES!"

"Be as loud as you want!" Haruichi cheered on Sawamura.

On the other blocks, Sensen, Ichidai Third, Yakushi, and Seiko Academy all advanced to the quaterfinals.

===

"Oh please! I wasn't scared at all!" Sawamura told the team with slight rosy cheeks. It was a little after dinner and all the players were gathered in the cafeteria disscussing about the game earlier today.

"How could I say it? That last pitch was a fight with myself, you know? It was and obstacle I had to overcome, you know? HAHAHAHA"

"How about you be quiet now, Eijun-kun," Haruichi told the pitcher who was starting to become a little prideful of his performance today.

"Why?"

"Shut up," Kuramochi demanded to Sawamura and caught the boy in a chokehold.

"Sawamura-kun is quite noisy today," Emi said lowly to Miyuki who sat by her side.

"It's not a surprise, he did well today," Miyuki shrugged his shoulders.

"He's really happy with the result," someone agreed.

"Well, he deserves it, it was his first time closing too," another teammate said.

"But did you think Sawamura would pitch?" Someone asked.

"No, I thought Kawakami would," the other responded.

"Was that cutter at the end you idea?" Ono asked Miyuki.

"Hm? Yeah," Miyuki said with a smile, "He was losing himself to the batter, so I thought it's be best to use that energy instead of forcing him back. It was an inside pitch after showing him plenty of outside pitches. The perfect angle and control, exactly what I wanted, " Miyuki finished as he looked at Sawamura, proud that the pitcher did well at the game.

"He's really gutsy," Miyuki said about Sawamura once again, "I've gotta give it to him, though I don't want to."

"Kazuya-san is becoming way too sincere, aren't you, Captain?" Emi teased the captain making everyone chuckle at her words.

"Shut up," Miyuki told her turning around to face her and give a slight forehead flick.

"Hey!" Emi pouted holding her forehead and glaring playfully at Miyuki who just laughed at her.

"But you know, we owe a lot to Emi-chan and Nabe's data," Ono complimented his fellow second year interrupting the couple's moment.

"If he'd only been watching Inashiro, we'd have been screwed," someone commented.

"Higasa got and RBI too!" Seki complimented his friend who was happy that he got to bat during the game today.

"You look disgustingly happy!" Asou told Higasa.

"Our lineup is finally meshing well," Ono said.

"We got five runs from the four and five-holes," Seki happily mentioned about Miyuki and Maezono's batting. Both Maezono and Miyuki stared at each other and Emi couldn't help but feel the tension start rising.