Mash-Up: I'm Not A Substitute

On the third day of the Koshien tournament, Takashi woke up even earlier than usual, thanks to having gone to bed early the night before.

The room's air conditioning was set quite low.

The three roommates sharing the room with Takashi were now tightly wrapped in their blankets.

After coaxing Narii to sleep last night, Takashi didn't go to the luxury suite booked by Hitomi. Instead, he chose to stay with the baseball team members.

This helped foster closer relationships between teammates.

Takashi placed a high value on maintaining interpersonal relationships.

He hadn't done this earlier mainly because, at first, he wasn't exactly welcomed by the team.

Back then, inserting himself into the group would have just felt like trying to warm up a cold shoulder.

He wasn't the type to force himself into such situations.

But now, after their successful advancement past the first round of Koshien, his relationship with his teammates has improved rapidly.

Moving in with them now felt just right.

Worried about waking his roommates, Takashi deliberately kept his movements light. He tiptoed out of the room and walked outside while stretching his neck.

The courtyard had a few wooden tables and chairs, all covered in morning dew.

The early morning air was a little chilly. Takashi took a deep breath, letting the clean air replace the stale air in his lungs. 

He did a few chest stretches, loosened up his legs, put on his headphones, and began his morning jog.

Even before meeting Yotsuba, Takashi had already developed the habit of jogging in the morning, and by now it had become second nature.

Except on rainy days or if he was really unwell, Takashi never skipped his morning runs.

He didn't do it for anyone else—he simply enjoyed the feeling of running in the morning.

Discipline is a habit. Maybe at first jogging feels exhausting and the body instinctively resists, but over time it becomes something to enjoy. 

After a while, skipping a day feels like something's missing.

The hotel where Aoba Private Academy was staying was much more upscale compared to the shabby one booked by Arayada High School. 

It was a high-end inn, located less than 300 meters from the Koshien stadium—close enough to walk to.

Since Aoba was a regular at Koshien, the hotel had a long-standing partnership with the school.

Every year during the tournament, they reserved all rooms for Aoba students.

The hotel also had a dedicated fitness area. The reason Takashi chose to run outside was that he wanted to take a stroll back through the hotel after his jog.

That was his plan, anyway, but...

"Why is everyone staring at me?"

Wearing his headphones while jogging, Takashi began to notice the gazes people were casting his way.

In the past, people had also looked at him during his runs—it was natural, given his handsome appearance. 

But today's looks were different.

There was disdain, disgust, even loathing. A few women looked at him as if he were a total sleazebag.

Takashi was completely puzzled.

He didn't understand why people were looking at him like that.

Thankfully, he didn't care much about others' opinions.

After finishing his jog, he returned to the hotel, took a shower, and headed to the restaurant for breakfast.

By then, the rest of the team had begun waking up one by one.

They were athletes, after all—used to getting up earlier than most people.

Breakfast at the hotel was buffet-style. 

Takashi served himself a big bowl of miso soup, a huge bowl of Japanese pork rib noodles, a plate of fried dumplings, some pork cutlets, and a few rice balls for good measure.

Breakfast was just a matter of eating whatever, really.

Maybe it was because of his improved physical fitness, but Takashi had been eating a lot more lately.

Carrying his tray, he found a spot and had just sat down when the team captain and cleanup hitter, Katsuda Musashi, came over with his own tray and asked, 

"Kitahara, where were you this morning? I went to your room but didn't see you."

"Woke up early. Went for a run."

Takashi casually took a sip of his miso soup. The taste was decent—he nodded in satisfaction.

"You've got a ton of energy, huh."

Yukura Kento also arrived with his breakfast tray and sat near Takashi.

"Seriously. After a day of training, all I wanna do is crash."

"Watching game footage every day is driving me crazy."

"Man, I hope Koshien ends soon."

Some of the players who had originally sat elsewhere also, for some reason, started moving over with their trays and sat around Takashi.

Soon, he was surrounded by a noisy circle of teammates. The atmosphere was loud and lively.

"Why is everyone sitting around me?"

Takashi found it all rather annoying.

He didn't understand why they had all crowded around him. The only explanation he could think of was that people in this country really liked sticking together.

He actually had no idea that this wasn't just because of the group mentality common in Japan—it was also because he was a strong player.

Their first-round opponent, Sobu High, was actually quite formidable—at least a top-eight team.

Even if their ace pitcher, Momodani, hadn't been injured, would they have definitely won?

Not necessarily.

Sure, their batting lineup was strong, but the opposing pitcher was no slouch either.

Even if they had managed to win, it would've been a hard-fought victory.

But with the appearance of Takashi, everything became easy.

He pitched the entire game from start to finish and didn't let the opponents land even a single hit.

What does that mean?

It means they could focus all their attention on offense—because on defense, Takashi alone was enough.

What Takashi considered nothing special was immensely encouraging for Aoba's team.

Up until now, Aoba's inability to progress further had always stemmed from their pitching lineup.

For Aoba, even though luck hadn't favored them this year, this was clearly their most promising shot at the championship.

While Takashi casually chatted with the others over breakfast, a substitute player suddenly shouted while holding his phone, "Takashi, you're being cancelled online!"

"Cancelled?"

Takashi looked up from his bowl of tonkotsu ramen, confused.

Cancelled online?

What a strange phrase.

"Check the trending topics!"

Following the teammate's prompt, everyone quickly pulled out their phones.

Soon, all of them—including Takashi—saw a headline: "Cheating, Two-Timing, Stealing Lovers: The Truth Behind Tokyo's King of the Sea, Takashi."

Takashi's heart sank. He kept reading.

By the time he finished, his face had darkened.

The article detailed how Takashi had allegedly cheated on Yukino while dating her—flirting with flashy girls, two-timing a rich heiress, and even stealing someone else's girlfriend.

The "flashy girls" he was said to have cheated with were Watanabe Akari, Kitagawa Marin, and Miura Yumiko.

The so-called proof of his cheating on Akari had come from that balding old man he'd extorted during his return trip—he'd apparently leaked it.

The photos of him and Marin at the cosplay convention were the basis for that accusation. 

A few of them were quite risqué—like the one where he was sitting in a chair, tugging on a dog collar around Marin's neck.

(Seriously?) Just one photo and the rest is all made up?

As for Yumiko, that whole scene at the Tokyo Cat & Dog Expo was loud enough that many must have noticed.

The "rich heiress" he was supposedly two-timing was none other than Adagaki Aki—based on a photo from the Tokyo Cat & Dog Expo where he was caught between her and Yukino.

And the claim that he'd stolen someone's girlfriend?

That was about Umaru—just yesterday.

No explanation needed.

The other one was Kotonoha.

That video of him sending her home had also been shared—an interview clip, no less.

At that time, Kotonoha and Makoto hadn't officially broken up yet. They were still technically a couple.

What else would you call it if not stealing someone's girlfriend?

The comments under the article were all over the place—some scolding, some mocking, some clearly just joking around.

[Handsome guys take everything good!]

[Scumbag! You have such a beautiful girlfriend and still don't know how to cherish her. Go die.]

[Look at Yukino—her eyes are dead inside. All because of Takashi!]

[Fastest "fall from grace" I've ever seen, lol.]

[His fame rose in the morning, collapsed by nightfall.]

[Seriously, why does this scumbag get to date girls this beautiful every time? Where did I lose?]

[Don't you know about "Takashi's Elite Selection"?]

[Bro, please open a masterclass. I'll kneel and listen.]

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