One Outs 2

One Outs, Volume 1, Chapter 2 (pp. 36~67)


<36>
Chapter 2: Error


<38>
=Well?
=Gonna do it?
=Or not

=Don't
=It's a trap!! He's planning something

=Trap? What're you talking about
=I don't need to pull a stunt like that

=He's not even gonna be able to graze my pitches


<39>
=All right let's do this!
=I make my living off baseball//I can't pull out after he's talked this much shit!

=Cool

Scattered wads of cash
They're in Nakane's sights even when he looks away
And they all become his should he win

But Nakane's mind was elsewhere

His mind had taken quite the opposite direction...


<40>
Fear of the possibility of losing that much money!!
[x8]THUMP

=...What's with him
=His total confidence...


<41>
=Is 5 million not a large sum of money to him...? Or it is

=That he's absolutely certain he's going to win?

=Nakane!
=You're thinking too much!!

=Take it easy!
=There's no way you could lose this!

=Damn it//Nakane—He's...


<42>
=Completely lost it!!
[x?]THUP

He maybe a pro, but he's still young and on the lower echelons
5 million in one at-bat is

=Much too pressure...

ZWUSH

[x?]THUP


<43>
BWUSH

WUSH

[x?]THUP

GRIP


<44>
THUNK

...He let it go...

=Huh

=Had me worried but...
=It's just an ordinary fastball


<45>
=First strike...
OHHHHH

PH—EW

=That's it Nakane!!
=Stay calm!!

=It's over
=He's going to regret taking the pitch

=You're overreacting...
=It's one strategy to take a pitch...

=Hah
=Strategy, huh


<46>
=That was no strategy//It was a clear "runaround"
=Typical Jap behavior

=When faced with an important decision
=Japs always...

=Wait

=Prolong

A kid who procrastinates and piles up homework
Youths who go to college just for the sake of going
Lawmakers who do nothing even at times of economic distress

=All fools who avert their eyes from the problem at hand and leave it for later


<47>
=Meaning they have
=An emotional dependence on the passing of time...

=A "runaround"
=That's all it was

=Much less
=Part of some master strategy

=Maybe he made you accept these rules on purpose
=That guy

=On purpose?
=Hah-hah...
=No way
=Rules which completely favor the batter? You're kidding

=Still stupid?
=You guys haven't understood the nature of these rules. That's why you wasted a strike

=You guys have completely fallen into his trap

=Right
=Damn it!!


<48>
In baseball, it's common practice to wait for a good pitch instead of just hitting into an out...
But under rules where just making contact count as a win
Letting a strike go by is utterly meaningless

Merely a waste of a precious opportunity
A clear judgmental error!!

ZWUSH

=Nakane!
=Swing!! Just take a swing!!

Huh


<49>
BWUSH

=Swing!
=Swing your ass off—!!

=Swing!!

=Ah...


<50>
DWHACK


<51>
OHHHHHH
=So he finally realized his mistake
=At the worst possible timing

[x3]OHHHHH
=Disrupted his concentration
=And the count is 0-2.

=Last chance...

=How do you whiff
=Two easy fastballs in a row!!

=If only
=He were calm...


<52>
=0-2...
=Only... One pitch left...

What is he planning...
On throwing next?

A fastball?
A breaking ball?

Or... Will he plant one on the outside...


<53>
I don't have a clue...
GWOOOOO—SH


<54>
=T-
=Timeout!!

OHHHH

=Calm down Nakane
=Take a deep breath

=Right...
PHEW—

=Listen carefully
=Don't take big cuts. Just think about making contact

=His fastball is nothing
=And breaking pitches... Even that won't be an issue


<55>
=You can read his next pitch

=Huh!?
=Take a good look at the pitcher

=They don't need gloves in this game
=Meaning

=You can see his "grip" before each pitch

=That was all?
=Yeah

Yeah...
Why didn't I notice something so simple
...But now


<56>
=I've got this!!

=His hands...
=His "grip" is...


<57>
Fo-...
Forkball!?

=I see!!
=So his other pitch is the forkball!!

That makes sense
The forkball is the easiest breaking pitch to get a batter to swing and miss

That's why he had so much confidence, even under these unfair rules
So...
ZWUSH


<58>
=His intention
=Is to make me swing and miss with his first forkball!

=HUFF
BIP


<59>
SHWUUSH

=Low and outside
=It's gotta be a forkball!

=A pitch like this
=It'll sink and bounce in the dirt before it even reaches the plate

=Think you've tricked me!?
G-GRIP


<60>
THUUUNK


<61>
...Fastball...

=What about that forkball grip!?

=A bluff!?

=The batter's lost!
=Three-pitch strikeout!!
OHHHHHHH

=This...
=Is impossible
OHHHHH


<62>
=He ran
=Not once, but twice

=Didn't I tell you before?
=Japs always prolong the most important things

=That guy proves it
=He's in the hole with two strikes


<63>
And he waited
The pitcher's forkball grip//That gave him enough hope to return to waiting

=And he determined the next pitch to be a forkball
=No, he assumed
=And by assuming, he averted his eyes from reality

=A runaround mentality
=That's what sealed his fate

=I guess...
=That guy Nakane wasn't cut out for a game worth 5 million


<64>
=You guys lost
=Well, just leave all your cash and credit here for now

=Don't try and blame us
=You guys were the ones who wanted to play that way

=Oh
=One more thing

=Yeah, I was trying to set you up when I called you
=I'll admit that... But

=You've got one big misunderstanding


<65>
=We're not in cohorts with that pitcher

=Having the batters purposely lose so we could make money...
=Wasn't what happened

=Those guys went at it for real
=And they ended up losing for real...

=Take a look


<66>
=That game just now
=All three pitches in the same spot. Low and outside corner

=But he still couldn't even graze it

=That's the kind of pitcher he is

=He's on a different level
=Normal people can try as hard as they want but they won't hit them. Toua's pitches

=Toua?
=...Yeah


<67>
Toua Tokuchi
That's the guy's name