Mash-Up: I'm Not A Substitute

Ichika felt a twinge of discomfort as she watched Takashi and Hoshino Ai flirting and bantering, completely ignoring her presence.

Still, as a professional actress, she didn't show it.

"Takashi-kun, yesterday, Aroyada High's cleanup hitter Izuno Ren said he'd be the one to end your run and keep you out of the final eight. What's your take on that?"

Ichika forcibly pulled the conversation back on topic.

"Did he eat too many mushrooms? Is that why he's hallucinating now?"

Takashi had watched Aroyada High's games.

At best, they were evenly matched with Aoba without him playing. Their strength was clearly below that of the Osaka Kirin team they had just beaten.

The reason they made it to the top eight was pure luck in the draw.

If even Osaka Kirin couldn't handle his pitch speed, what made you think you could?

And if you could, you wouldn't be in Koshien—you'd be in Major League Baseball.

"Takashi-kun, Izuno Ren is a legitimate genius," Ichika reminded him kindly.

She didn't want him to slip up and fall into a trap.

Takashi scoffed. "Maybe Izuno Ren is a genius—of Aroyada High, or even the East Tokyo region—but, Miss Nakano, you must understand: every player I've defeated so far has been a genius from their own region."

Hearing that, the likes of Saita Yu from Soubu High, Hamanishi Kazuya from Shuwa Academy, and Uezumi Yuta from Osaka Kirin—all players who'd been defeated by Takashi—could only smile bitterly.

It was true.

Before facing Takashi, each of them was considered a genius.

To make it to Koshien, you had to be the one-in-a-million kind of talent.

But after facing Takashi, they realized what a true genius was.

His sheer strength—his presence—made every other genius of his era fade in comparison. His very existence made others feel inadequate.

But were they really inadequate?

No. They were all outstanding.

Professional scouts had already recognized their talents.

Their only misfortune was that they were born in the same era as Takashi.

"If you're a baseball genius with maxed-out talent, trained under a systematic program from a young age, winning consistently and working harder than anyone else—so much so that you lead your team into Koshien… then congratulations, you've earned a spot in my strikeout highlight reel."

Takashi's brazen arrogance left the entire livestream silent for a moment.

Viewers were stunned by his audacity.

"If you don't play baseball, then seeing me is like a frog in a well looking up at the moon."

"If you do play baseball, then seeing me is like a dust mote drifting into the sky."

Ichika's lips parted slightly, but she couldn't find the words.

'That felt amazing!'

Takashi was absolutely loving it, seeing Ichika stunned into silence.

CRACK!

A sharp crack rang out as a white ball flew rapidly toward Ichika.

"Watch out!!!"

The Aoba team members instantly panicked.

If that ball hit her, a concussion was all but guaranteed.

Before Ichika could even turn around, Takashi—who had his back to the incoming ball—seemed to sense something. 

With a quick glance out of the corner of his eye, he calculated its trajectory in 0.01 seconds, turned, and caught it with one hand.

"Wooooooaah!!!"

The students gathered near the fence erupted into cheers.

"That was so cool."

"Caught it barehanded! Is this even real?"

"Even if it's scripted, would you dare catch a 150 km/h fastball barehanded?"

No one had ever seen someone with their back turned manage to catch a baseball like that.

Ichika looked from Takashi to the ball firmly held in his hand—and only then did she realize…

Takashi had just saved her.

Her heart pounded furiously.

Part of it was excitement. Part of it was fear.

'I probably shouldn't have shown off with that catch…'

As cool as it looked, Takashi's hand was killing him right now.

Worse, he'd caught it with his pitching hand.

He'd already paid the price. So now he was going to make it worth it.

"No one is my equal."

Fighting through the searing pain in his palm, Takashi lifted his leg and swung his arm, activating his Popeye skill and pitching the next ball.

The pitch moved like lightning.

There was no professional tracking equipment on site this time, and the ball's 166 km/h speed was impossible for the naked eye to track.

All anyone saw was the ball vanishing from Takashi's hand.

POP!

Everyone instinctively looked at the catcher's glove—

It was empty.

"Takashi, you killed a pigeon."

Someone in the crowd shouted.

People looked more closely.

On the ground, a pigeon had exploded into a mess, completely lifeless, not moving at all.

Takashi's eye twitched.

What the hell was that bird doing?!

Of all the places in the sky it could've flown, why the hell did it dive there?

Maybe others didn't see it clearly, but Takashi did.

At the moment he released the ball, the pigeon decided—for whatever reason—to sweep across the strike zone at low altitude.

Takashi's pitch was already crazy fast.

The bird flying through it was like someone running into a speeding car on the highway.

By the time he realized something was wrong, it was too late.

The entire stadium went dead silent.

No one said a word.

After all, seeing a baseball take down a flying bird was absurdly rare. You could go your whole life without witnessing something like that.

But today, it happened. During a live broadcast, with a full crowd watching.

Was this… scripted?

A barehanded catch while facing away from the ball, followed by a pitch that exploded a bird in midair?

Either one of those alone would've been all over the news the next day—no, that day.

But both in one sequence?

Way too convenient.

Takashi walked over, borrowed a jersey and cap with Aoba Academy's emblem, and carefully wrapped the bird.

He picked up the pigeon and silently mourned it for a moment.

Let's be honest…

This spiky-feathered comrade was a real MVP.

He sacrificed himself to boost Takashi's moment of glory to god-tier levels.

Takashi got all the spotlight.

The pigeon paid the price.

Heroic. No further explanation needed.

'Gege must be devastated. A life ended just like that.'

Watching Takashi silently bow his head in prayer, the girls around him were nearly in tears themselves. 

They wanted to rush over and hug their precious pigeon.

But in truth, Takashi was thinking: "Fly high, my good brother. Tonight—I'm going to stew you into oblivion."

He swore in his heart that the pigeon's death would not be in vain.

He'd eat at least three big bowls of rice in its honor tonight.

The thought nearly brought tears to his mouth, but thankfully, he held it back.

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