Chapter 24 : Let's play Hitball! (2)

As soon as the teacher yelled for the start of the match, children instantly ran up to try and grab a ball. It was a match with around 7 kids in each team. In the middle of the field there were three balls, old and beaten, made of some animal’s hide. Kieran stayed back to analyze the scene. His team managed to secure two balls, while the other team had one. Ren took the ball, and instantly launched it. It was insanely quick and accurate, striking a student directly in the stomach. He had a natural talent for throwing things

“He could have been a baseball pitcher with that speed and accuracy”

As the match went on, people started surrounding the field, cheering them on and calling for next, wanting to join the match as well. Over time, Ren’s team had lost 4 kids, while Kieran’s team only had Liam and himself left on the team. Ren and a few others had eliminated their entire team, and they were the only ones left standing. In Kieran's hand was one ball, and in Liam’s were two. Since they had possession of all the balls, they didn’t need to rush. He walked over to Liam and whispered to him,

“Liam, I have a plan.”

Though they were at a major disadvantage, they were still against children. Naive, dumb kids. Kieran’s plan was simple, he was going to throw a weak lob at one of the kids, and when they took the bait to try and catch it, Liam was to eliminate him.

“Wouldn’t it be better to just try and throw them all instantly?” Liam asked, in which Kieran replied with “No.”

Liam agreed with the plan, and they looked for their first target. Near the front, there was a kid who seemed incredibly cocky. He was quick, so he liked to boast his speed by dodging all the balls at the front. “Let’s go with him over there,” Kieran said while looking at the kid.

Kieran tried his best impersonation of trying his hardest, doing a whole windup to try to get the attention on him.

AGHHHH!

He launched the ball as hard as he could, but only threw so hard. It was a soft lob, and when the kid realized this, he let his guard down. He looked up, ready to catch, when suddenly

WHACK

He got hit straight in the chest, he fell to the ground shocked.

“Thats not fair!” he protested. “They used a dirty trick!”

“It’s fair game, you’re out, Damien. Leave the field,” the teacher told him.

They lost two balls, but managed to get one person out. It was now a two versus two. Kieran hid behind Liam who had the last ball.

“Hey, what are you doing? Don’t hide behind me!” he exclaimed, trying to budge Kieran out.

‘You have the ball, you idiot!” said Kieran holding on to him. “You can use it as a shield and deflect the balls!”

Liam grunted in frustration, but yielded. He watched carefully for signs of movement, eyeing both Ren and the other boy. Ren was the first to move, winding up a throw and launching it. It was like a rocket, everybody was screaming in excitement as the match went on. Liam blocked the ball and gave one to Kieran. The two teams kept throwing balls at each other, dodging and deflecting, but they were at a stalemate.

Kieran thought of what to do. His weak body wasn’t strong enough to throw anything to get anything out. They had already gotten used to the bait tactic, so that was a no go as well. What could he do? Ren was tall and had long arms, the other boy was more average. Liam, though not tall, had good strength.

“It’s all or nothing at this point,” he thought.

He whispered a plan to Liam.

“Are you serious?” Liam asked, shocked at what Kieran had just proposed.

“Yes, I’m sure. It’s the only way, we only have one shot,” he replied.

Ren saw this on the other side, and told his teammate to be ready. They were probably going to do the bait tactic again. Ren’s plan was simple. As Kieran was going to throw the ball, he would throw his ball back at Kieran, interrupting it.

“READY?” Kieran yelled

“Yes!”

And in an instant, Kieran started running. With a ball in hand, he ran closer to the line, getting closer to the other boy. The other boy didn’t know what to do, he wasn’t expecting Kieran to run at him. He screamed in fear, and started running away as well.

“Hey! Get away from meee!!” he screamed

Kieran did a small hop, pulling his arm backward. Ren saw this, and got into his windup.

“You aren’t going to hit my teammate!” he yelled, as he threw the ball.

Like everyone expected, Ren’s ball hit Kieran dead on the spot, hitting him straight in the body. Kieran tried to grab it, but couldn’t grip it due to the spin of the ball. Kieran was out. As soon as Ren saw this, he looked to his teammate and started celebrating.

Fshhh-

“What’s that sound?”

Just as Ren looked towards the sound, he was instantly greeted by a punch to the face. Or rather, a ball struck him straight in the nose. It hurt a lot, and Ren was on the ground, tears streaking from his face. The other boy was surprised, and ran to grab Kieran’s ball which was on the ground, but it was too late. Liam was faster, running to where Kieran was and grabbed the ball. He didn’t wait to ready himself into a stance, but rather twisted his body and chucked it straight at the kid. It was like watching a shortstop catching a hard groundball, and throwing it instantly to first base. He tumbled and rolled on the ground before springing up, looking at the field to see if there were any more threats. 

Everyone went wild.

“Wow! Did you see that? Liam’s throw was so cool! He was turning midair!”

“Yeah, but what about Ren? Ren threw all his balls so hard it was like a bullet!”

“Liam won the match though, why are you talking about Ren?”

Everybody cheered and chanted Liam’s name. Ren laid on the floor looking at the sky, smiling. He wasn’t salty about it. He had fun, and that’s all he cared about.

Liam turned his head and ran to Kieran, grabbing him and jumping in the air with joy.

“We won!”, Liam exclaimed, smiling cheek to cheek. “You’re such a smart guy! How did you think of sacrificing yourself? How did you know how they would react?”

“It’s just all a part of the plan,” Kieran said laughing with Liam.

“Match over! Winner, Team Ren!”

???

Everyone looked in confusion at the teacher. Liam went up to the teacher and started complaining, saying that they were all eliminated, so how did their team win? It’s not like they cheated or anything, all the tactics were far. The teacher explained that hitting the face was not okay and that it wouldn’t count as an out, and the person who did it would be out. The hit on Kieran was fair, so it was a 1v2 at that point. But because of what Liam did to Ren, it became a 0v2, meaning their team had won officially.

Team Liam was sad and devastated, especially after they had celebrated. The other team was celebrating now, and they all felt embarrassed and sad. But after a while, they had all forgotten about it. They were kids, their attention spans were non-existent. Liam, though a little salty for a while, eventually forgot about the match and was back on friendly terms with Ren. The two boys were inseparable. Marie followed them, standing next to Ren, laughing as well.

“Does she like Ren?” Kieran thought, as he smiled and patted the dirt off his clothes. The bell eventually rang, and classes were back in session. The boys said their goodbyes, and went off in their separate ways.

Meanwhile, in a dark, empty classroom, Mr. Anavos sat in his seat, drinking tea. His windows closed, with just a simple candle on his desk.

“Interesting…” he said, sipping on his tea.

“The way he thinks is not normal. There’s something about this child..”

“I’ll have to take note of this and report it to the principal. This child is valuable..” he said as he opened his eyes, and blew the candle out.