Chapter 117

Short Summary
Tokuchi is forced to play against the Blue Mars with an injured finger and pitches poorly.

Long Summary
Tokuchi is pitching against the Blue Mars with a finger injury and a 200x One Outs rate. The commentator observes Tokuchi’s right index finger has been bruised pitch black. The umpire asks Tokuchi about his warm up, but he forgoes it as usual.

Tokuchi pitches to the first batter. It bounces on the ground before it reaches first plate. The batter hits it but fortunately it travels to the centre. The Blue Mars laugh among themselves and see that hitting Tokuchi will be easy this game.

The Secretary shows Oikawa Tokuchi’s hit-by-pitch again from the yesterday’s match. He says his one finger took the full force and it must be painful for him just to grip the ball now. The batter fouls Tokuchi’s next ball.

Oikawa examines the injury footage more closely and says he finds something weird. As a right-handed batter, the angle Tokuchi held the bat would have exposed his left hand and kept most of the right one protected. The Secretary dismisses this as being down to Tokuchi’s amateur batting abilities, but Oikawa remains bothered. He asks what he’s missed in the game and Saikawa says Tokuchi’s pitches aren’t improving and it’s only a matter of time before his failure. The batters gets multiple hits off Tokuchi but they foul or are put out by the fielders. Tokuchi’s max speed has only been 117km/h, which the commentator describes as ‘beer league’ pitches. Nonetheless, he finishes the inning with no runs.

After three innings, the Owner finally feels something is odd. Despite throwing slow balls, a batter has yet to get onto base. The Blue Mars taunt Tokuchi, saying they’ve been holding back out of pity, but now they’ll go all out. Tokuchi laughs and calls them naive, saying they’ll die with that attitude. It’s the top of the fourth and Saikawa remembers Tokuchi only has to play for five innings. He calls for the Blue Mars to ‘light him up.’

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Characters

 * Tokuchi Toua


 * Saikawa- The Owner


 * Mitsou Oikawa
 * The Secretary