One Outs 22

One Outs, Volume 3, Chapter 22 (pp. 114~135)


<114>
Chapter 22: Double-dealing


<115>
=Bases loaded!! One out, and the bases are loaded!!
=After 8 innings of perfect pitching, the defending champion Mariners have finally caught on to Tokuchi—!!

=Next up is the slugger, Brooklyn!!

=Amazing...//But how?
=He was unhittable before, but now all of a sudden he's...
=Mariners hitting coach//Yukio Awaguchi


<116>
=To put it simply,
=Dealing with Tokuchi is like playing a guessing game.

He has 2 cards, a black one and a white one. He picks one of them,
And we try to guess what color that card is.

=Two cards, black and white...
=That's the normal fastball and the low rotation fastball, huh?

=It's a 1 in 2 chance. We win if we get it right, but he has the ability to know exactly what we're thinking, and he tricks us every single time.
=So how do we win?

=The answer is actually quite simple.

=We make it so that our actions are independent from our thoughts.


<117>
=What does that mean?
=Let's use that card game metaphor from before.

Let's say there's a foreigner here who knows absolutely no English.
We give him...

False information that "Blanche = Black," and "Noire = White."
Then what would happen?

=Oh—!

The foreigner thinks the card is "Blanche,"
[bubble]Black
But he unwittingly declares that the card is "Black."

=That's making actions independent from one's thoughts.

=I see...//...But wait a sec... I get that, but how does it apply to Tokuchi?


<118>
=Do you remember//What I said at the very beginning?

=...Forget about the low rotation fastballs...
=And just try to hit the normal fastballs...?

=Right...//And they must've taken that to heart... However—

=In actuality, all 3 of them hit the low rotation fastball.

=Wh-What does that mean—?
=It's all because their actions were made independent from their thoughts.

All of them were trying to hit the normal fastball, but they really ended up connecting with the low rotation fastball.
How could something like that happen?


<119>
=Here's the reason.
=Brooklyn's bat.

=All 3 of the batters were using Brooklyn's bat instead of their own.

Professional ballplayers solidify their batting form through daily practice, and choose bats that are best suited to their needs.
So naturally, they get thrown off-stride when they suddenly start using an unfamiliar bat.

This bat weight 2.5 pounds. It's 0.5 pounds heavier than a normal bat. When you swing something like this for the first time, the weight causes the swing to cut a lower trajectory than what was intended.
About one ball's width lower, I would imagine.


<120>
=That difference
=Matches the course of Tokuchi's low rotation fastball.

=Ohh—I get it!
=That should fool Tokuchi—!

That's the real reason I told them to only take one swing.
They're professionals after all. Just a couple practice swings would fix the trajectory of the swing that we worked so hard to mess up.

=Amazing! This will work!
=This plan will totally destroy Tokuchi!!
=But...

=Unfortunately, even this plan has a weakness—
=You see...

=It doesn't work on Brooklyn.

=...Oh.


<121>
=Steeerike yer out!!
BWHAP

=Ahh...

=Shit!
CRACK
[bubble]Broke it again

=Oh well,
=This is all part of the plan

=I'll go and finish him off.


<122>
=The Lycaons are still in a tricky situation!! The next batter is...
=Itsuki Takami, the prodigy!!

=2 outs, top of the 9th! Still bases loaded!!
=Will Toua Tokuchi survive this situation—!?


<123>
OHHHHHHH

=Toua Tokuchi's first pitch to Takami...
ZUP

GRIT

=He throws!!

GWUSH


<124>
=Steeerike!!
BLAM

=Wow—! Bold move!!
=A first-pitch fastball smack dab in the middle of the strikezone!

=Phew—His knack for reading batters is beyond human.

[bubble]WHAP

=Tokuchi...


<125>
=Steeerike two—!!

=Now he throws a low fastball just inside the strikezone!!
=Takami's in the hole, 0-2!

=No... It doesn't seem like Takami really thinks he's in the hole.
=Take a look at his expression.

He's... Smiling?

=It's almost like this is all part of his plan.

=Exactly... Takami planned all of this in advance... He'll pretend to wait for the normal fastball, and then...

=Whack the low rotation pitch using Brooklyn's bat!!


<126>
OHHHHHHHHH
=What a breathtaking match-up—!//Will the next pitch bring it all to an end—!?

=...//Huh?

Takami...
Could he be...!?

=The leg goes up!!
ZUP

=Tokuchi's 3rd pitch—!


<127>
BWHUP
=He throws!!

GUSHHH

It's over, Tokuchi! Takami's definitely going to hit—
That sinking pitch of yours!!


<128>
=It's not sinking—!?

=He tricked us again—!!
=It's not the low rotation pitch—!!!

Could it be... That Tokuchi saw Brooklyn striking out, and...
Saw through the trick with the bats—!?

=No... It's going exactly as planned.


<129>
=That bat he's using...
=It's his own bat!

=What!?

That's right... After seeing Brooklyn strike out,
You would be sharp enough to notice the trick with the heavy bat. However...

I took all that into account when I devised this plan!!

I got you, Tokuchi!!

I saw the wheels within the wheels—And I've won this battle!!!


<130>
WHOOSH


<131>
THUD

=S-
=Strike three. He's out.


<132>
=Takami strikes out—!!
=Tokuchi has gotten through another tight situation—!!

=Takami...

=I can't believe it...
=I should've beaten him just now.

=Realizing that Tokuchi wouldn't throw his low rotation fastball...//Should've been enough for me to win...
=But...


<133>
But to think—
The pitch would stretch upwards as it came in...

=I realized he could lower the rotation of his fastball
=But...

=I never imagined he could increase the rotation too.

=A low rotation pitch,
=And a high rotation pitch, huh...

=He completely outsmarted me!
=I was trying to guess between the black card and the white card—


<134>
And he pulls out a gray card without batting an eyelash...

In the end, the Lycaons scored a walk-off run in the bottom half of the inning to win the game.

And defying all prior expectations,
The Lycaons had taken the first game of the series.

BLIT

=...O-
=Owner...!

=No worries.
=It's just another step...


<135>
=Slowly but surely...
=Tokuchi is approaching total and complete defeat.

Tokuchi pitched 9 innings today.
33 at-bats
3 hits
2 walks
Zero runs...
Toua Tokuchi's tentative salary under the One Outs contract is—

555 million yen

Amazing work, Tokuchi... You're an even greater opponent than I ever expected... However...

The real battle starts tomorrow.


Proofread by quantula