Kumon Hyodo/The Road to Koshien

After School Baseball!

Backstage Stories

Part 1Part 2

Kumon	31! 32! 33…!
Izumi	Good morning, Kumon-kun.
	Swinging practise since morning?
Kumon	Ah, Director! Morning!
	It’s been my daily routine since I was young so,
	I can’t calm down if I don’t do it.
	Somehow when I’m doing practise swings,
	I start wanting to hit the ball with all my might~.
Izumi	Hmm, but you can’t do that right here, huh?
	If you accidentally break the window’s glass,
	Sakyo-san’s rage will be far from cleansed with a home run…
Kumon	That’s true.
	Ahh—hh, I sure want to hit the ball…
	…Oh right!
	Director! Can’t we go to a batting centre together?
Izumi	Sure. I also want to move my body from time to time!
Kumon	Yay!
	Then, let’s meet up on my way home from school!
Izumi	Yeah.
Kumon	Alri~ght, I wonder if I’ll hit a home run straight away!
	I’ll be off—!
Izumi	Good luck, Kumon-kun!
Kumon	—!
	*hits*
Izumi	Wah, a home run right off the bat!
Kumon	One more time!
	*hits*
Izumi	Amazing, consecutive home runs!
	*hits*
Kumon	From here on is the imitation pro baseball series!
Izumi	Imitation pro baseball series?
Kumon	This is… Jai Singh’s Player, Rivola!
	*hits*
	And, Soft Holiday’s Player Suzuki is… Like this!
	*hits*
	How’s it? Great, right!
Izumi	It’s too elaborate that I don’t really understand…
Kumon	Ha~ that was fun!
	Okay, next is Director’s turn!
Izumi	I wonder if I’ll hit them like Kumon-kun…
Kumon	It’s fine, since I adjusted the speed so it should be easy to hit.
Izumi	Thanks.
	Then I’m going!
	…Heree!
	*swings*
	…Huh?
Kumon	Too bad!
	Director, put your waist more into it!
Izumi	Waist? L-like this?
	—!
	*swings*
Kumon	Ohh! An incredibly beautiful missed swing!
	Your form is super pretty~!
	Director, it’s amazing in a way—!
Izumi	I’m not happy about that…!
	As expected, I have no sense for baseball, huh…
Kumon	Hmmm… Ah!
	Batting is no good, but maybe if it’s throwing you can do it!
Izumi	Throwing?

Kumon	Ta da~h!
Izumi	A glove and ball?
	Could it be…
Kumon	Yep!
	Director, let’s play catch!
Izumi	—Theree!
	*throws*
Kumon	Ohh! That felt good!
	Director, see, you have baseball sense!
Izumi	Ahaha, thanks.
	Come to think of it, I often hear about breaking balls,
	But how do you go about throwing one?
Kumon	The way you hold the ball is different.
	This grip is for the splitter.
	Err then, with this grip it becomes the slider…
Izumi	???
Kumon	…Alright! For now, try throwing one as a test!
	It’s easier to understand by trying it out more than listening to the explanation, right?
Izumi	Even if you say that…
Kumon	It’s fine, it’s fine!
	Change the grip accordingly and try throwing it.
Izumi	Then, I’ll test it out like this…
	*throws*
	—Ah, just now it curved a little!?
Kumon	Ohh! Amazing—!
	Oh right! Since you threw one, why don’t you name that breaking ball just now!
Izumi	Name!?
	Umm… Ethnic Curry Tornado!
Kumon	Ahaha, that kinda sounds tasty!
Izumi	Since we have the chance, try doing it too, Kumon-kun.
	An interesting breaking ball might be born.
Kumon	Alright then…
	Let's go!
	White ball that cuts through the jet black. The time has come.
	NOW IS THE TIME TO AWAKEN TO YOUR TRUE POWER—MAGIC EXCITING BALL!
	*throws*
Izumi	THAT TECHNIQUE NAME!?
Kumon	WOAH—! It fell in a strange way!
	Director, did you see!?
Izumi	Ah, I saw but I was distracted by the name…
Kumon	Ah~ I wanted to show nii-chan though~!
	Hey, didn’t you take a video or something!?
Izumi	Sorry, as expected I didn’t take a video…
Kumon	—And then, and then!
	When I threw it while saying the move name, I unleashed an amazing breaking ball!
Juza	I see. That’s great.
Kumon	I’ll show nii-chan too next time!
Juza	Yea. Wait, what was the move name?
Kumon	Ummmm… jet black meteor… no, not that.
	The true unknown… also not that.
	…Huh, what was it again?
	W-what should I do! I can’t remember the name!
	I probably won’t be able to throw that breaking ball again a second time…!

Anna