Devilish (Diamond no Ace)

Unleash the First-Years

"In tomorrow's game, how would you two control the two first-years?"

Hana stood by Kataoka's side as he faced the two first-string catchers, Yuki, Jun, and Masuko.

"If it were me, I'd let Furuya plow through with his powerful fastballs," Miyauchi punched his palm to emphasize his point.

Kataoka gave a grunt of affirmation before turning his attention to the younger catcher, "And Miyuki?"

"I don't plan on doing anything in particular with Furuya. He's going to be tired. He'll take a lot of hits tomorrow," the third-years gaped at him as he continued his explanation, "At the moment, he doesn't care about pitching patterns and combinations. I want to take tomorrow's game and teach him, through experience, about how important ball control is."

Jun scoffed beneath his breath, "Cruel bastard."

"What do you think, Tokuchi?" Kataoka addressed the shorter girl by his side.

Dark red connected with amber as a twisted smirk made its way onto her face.

Miyuki laughed humorlessly, 'Wow, that's quite an expression. Is she going to agree with Miyauchi just to spite me?'

"I, unfortunately, have to agree with Goggles-senpai on this one. Furuya is a one-trick pony right now Overwhelming the opponent with speed and power has only worked because no one had any info on him. The more games we use him in, the less we'll have the element of surprise. Higher-level teams known for their batting like Inashiro or Ichidaisan will have no problems hitting those high-speed fastballs. It's imperative that he learns control and stops throwing those high balls."

The five older boys blinked at the insightful explanation. None of them had been privy to her long-term thinking and deductive reasoning that she had constantly graced Takashima and Kataoka with. Of course, they shouldn't have been as surprised as they were since she had been making those training menus for all the players. But hearing something first-hand is different than seeing it after the fact.

"Do you know what happens to a pony when they can no longer perform the on trick they know? They get put down."

They couldn't help the shiver that traveled up their spines at the dark tone of her voice. The unsaid promise behind it was irrefutable.

"So if he's going to die, I'd rather it be by our hands than someone else's. I say beat the need for control into him, even if it kills 'em. And then pulverize him with it some more," Hana ended her speech with a close-eyed smile.

Jun reeled back, "Talk about beating the dead horse." Internally he was promising himself to keep the girl away from Ryosuke. She had been spending way too much time with the pink-haired oni. She's even begun to pick up some of his more terrifying habits.

"Right..." Kataoka sweatdropped at the violent wording of the wavy-haired blonde, "Miyuki, you're catching tomorrow. We're going up against Osaka Kiryuu. It's going to be a tough game, but stick with me until the end."

He received a nod of affirmation from the brown-haired catcher.

"Ah, one more thing about Furuya," Hana once again gained the attention of those present as she spoke up, "According to him, he's never been on an actual team before."

"So?" Jun crossed his arms, not seeing the relevance in her statement.

"With all the hopes everyone's putting on him as a freshman starter, his pitcher's ego has got to be inflated as all hell. He won't handle taking all the upcoming hits and walked batters well. He'll probably say something along the lines of," she deepened her voice in a mock deadpan. " 'How can I stop giving up runs?' before even thinking about control as we want."