WON'T TURN BACK, miyuki kazuya

chapter 18

After your meal, you all head for the stadium. Traffic bogs you down, turning what should be a ten minute drive into an entire hour.

You make it inside. Eijun snagged you excellent second row seats right in front of the Mariners' dugout.

The stadium is packed to the brim. You've never seen it so busy. Mariners fans dominate the stands, decked out in grey and green.

The grounds crew are working last minute to ascertain that the field is perfect and within regulations. You could've worked — they'd double your pay for it — and while it would've been cool, you still don't feel entirely comfortable standing on the same field as West.

After pre-game activities to get the crowd going and the usual patriotic obligations, the game begins.

As the Mariners have home-field advantage, they're first up to defend at the top of the first inning.

With Eijun starting and Miyuki catching, they start off strong, shutting out the Astros with no runs from them.

When the teams switch out, you're fairly surprised to see that —

"West isn't starting," Chris murmurs, watching the field intently as another pitcher takes his place on the mound, kicking around the dirt.

"He didn't play a whole lot during the first round," you say, leg bouncing. "I thought it was to save him for this. So, why not?"

"They could be doing a pitcher relay."

"They didn't do that during the season..."

"Would make more sense to do it now, then. Especially if the players are used to the pitchers that they have been consistently using and have gotten to know their quirks."

"West is still strong, though," you mumble, watching Jared walk up to the batter's box.

The bottom of the first inning closes out with no runs from the Mariners, either. They get some hits, but the infielders work overtime to make sure none of them make it home, while the pitcher helps to get the outs needed.

No runs are scored in the first four innings. Eijun is pitching steadily, relying on the team when he needs to, helping to keep the Astros from scoring. But the Astros are just as tough in their defense.

Bottom of the fourth inning, the Astros call for a pitcher switch. The previous pitcher — Murphy — is swapped out for —

"There he is," Chris murmurs, all of you watching West jog from the bullpen, meeting the team around the mound.

They take a moment to talk, then disperse. The batting lineup is starting off, with Jared, Will, and then Eijun. He'll only be DH for this game. After, they're putting in one of the other players to cover for the pitchers. You know he'd debated heavily with Jimenez and the others about it; they'd weaned him off the DH towards the end of the regular season to save his shoulder but he'd really wanted a chance to bat in the playoffs. This is it.

Jared is walked to first and he manages to steal second. Will sacrifices a bunt to get him to third. It's the first time they've managed to get there since the start of the game. Tension thickens in the stadium as the crowd thunderously cheers for Eijun during his walk-up.

An angry swarm of bees forms in your stomach. You sit forward, at the very edge of your seat.

Lula reaches out to hold onto your elbow, her grip tight, nervous, too.

Eijun comes to stand in the lefthand batter's box, tipping his helmet at the ump and catcher like he always does. The familiarity of the action soothes you a little.