On the bench in the batting training shed.

Tetsu Nishino and the others stopped practicing, stopped playing, and just started discussing happily there.

Just now we learned that the director, Hiroki, is also a fan of "Ace of Diamonds". Tetsu Nishino and the others were very surprised. They had funny expressions on their faces, as if the director actually reads comics.

It made Hiroki almost want to give them both a few punches to give them a taste of the majesty of a minister.

Nishino Kazuya quickly grabbed Hiroki to prevent him from leaving, insisting on holding an offline "Diamond Ace" fan meeting here.

The minister must stay!

I must let the minister hear my sadness and tears over the years!

Nishino Kazuya secretly swore in his heart.

"The author...the author, he is the stepfather!" In order to express his inner resentment, Nishino Kazuya deliberately said in a plaintive tone.

After hearing this, Tetsu Nishino quickly nodded in agreement. Yes, that's right, the author is his stepfather.

Hiroki didn't know whether to laugh or cry. He knew what Nishino Kazuya and the others were talking about.

Because the comic "Ace of Diamonds" is a realistic high school baseball comic, although the protagonist is a pitcher, other senior characters are also portrayed very well.

The author of "Ace of Diamonds" uses a lot of space to describe the story of the protagonist Sawamura Eijun and his second and third grade seniors after joining the private Seido High School. Each person's role is very vividly portrayed.

But just because the author portrayed the seniors of Aomichi's third graders so well, when Aomichi High School lost to Inami High School in the Nishi-Tokyo finals and was reversed at the last moment, the readers were all shocked.

The third-year Seido seniors who were so strong actually lost and failed to fulfill their dream of reaching Koshien.

This behavior of feeding glass slag to readers made fans call the author Qingdao's stepfather.

"Minister, I'm so miserable. I don't even dare to turn to the page where Qingdao lost..."

Seeing the uncomfortable look on Nishino Kazuya's face, Hiroki expressed deep sympathy, "There's nothing we can do about it, it only looks real this way."

"It's just too real."

"It's so real that it hurts."

"Now in the latest chapter, it's almost the second year of Hagar's drawing. Eijun should be able to..."

Kazuya Nishino was talking to himself, Tetsu Nishino quickly interrupted him, "Stop! Kazuya, don't spoil it! I haven't seen it yet!"

"Then Azhe, please tell me about your sharing."

Tetsu Nishino thought about it for a while. When he was watching the anime "Ace of Diamonds", he discovered something that he found a little strange.

"How does the catcher Kazuya Miyuki in the anime communicate with the pitcher during the game? Why can they tell where the opponent is thinking about the ball just by looking at it? Do they have telepathy?"

"Eh?! Don't you know?" Hiroki and Nishino Kazuya looked at each other.

You understand what I mean, Kazuya?

Well, it seems that we really haven’t told Azhe yet.

When Tetsu Nishino practiced pitching for so many days, the pitcher would just call out the type of pitch and pitch he wanted to throw. Or if Tetsu Nishino wanted to try to catch a ball, he would just call out it.

So he has no idea how catchers and pitchers communicate in actual games.

Shout it out directly? That would be too stupid, wouldn’t everyone else know? Nishino Tetsu thought.

"Use the code! Azhe." Nishino Kazuya replied.

"Secret code?" Tetsu Nishino suddenly remembered that he seemed to have seen such a plot in anime.

"Are you talking about the gesture that the catcher Miyuki Kazuya in the anime often makes with his crotch?"

"That's right," Hiroki replied from the side, "Since we can't do any training now, I'll just tell you about the secret codes between surrenders and the layout of the inner and outer fields."

"It is the signal between the catcher and the pitcher when pitching. The catcher uses gestures to indicate the ball he wants to match, and the pitcher nods or shakes his head to express agreement or rejection."

Although I'm not wearing catcher gear today, it's just a secret signal, so it doesn't need to be that troublesome.

Hiroki got up from the bench, made a squatting posture, and gestured with numbers with his right hand.

"That's probably the case, but there are a few things you should pay attention to." Hiroki reminded.

"For example, if your right hand is placed in the middle, the signal will be seen if there is a runner on first base. Therefore, the hand should be placed slightly to the right, so that you can block the opponent's line of sight with your right leg.

....”

Nishino Tetsu made a gesture himself and felt that there was still something wrong, "But in that case, wouldn't the runner on third base be clearly visible?"

"So when calling a signal, try to use the catcher's glove of your left hand to block the view of third base." Hiroki explained in detail.

"What about the runner on second base?"

The entire baseball field forms a fan shape, with home plate at the bottom point, and counting counterclockwise, they are home plate, first base, second base, third base, and back to home plate.

A runner needs to touch the bases in sequence, return to home plate, and score a run.

So if you look at it this way, the runner on second base is directly opposite the catcher, and it is difficult to prevent the opponent from seeing the secret code. "As for the runner on second base, you can only rely on the secret code to encrypt it." Hiroki added

road.

Hiroki raised his right hand and typed several different numbers.

"The most basic method is to compare numbers with your hands. For example, one finger is a straight ball, two fingers are a curveball, three fingers are a slider, etc."

"It's just a ball type, no pitching position?" Tetsu Nishino thought for a moment, and it seemed that the pitcher's ball could be divided into inside and outside corners and high and low positions.

"An ordinary pitcher is probably like this. The position is roughly determined by the position of the glove..."

Hiroki suddenly remembered a classic game in Koshien. The opponent's player deciphered the code by observing the position of the catcher's glove, so he could play whatever he wanted.

"However, if you only display the gloves, there is still a high risk of being cracked. In this case, you can use a code in addition to the ball type to represent the position of the pitch."

Among them, the strike zone is mainly divided into two types: nine-square grid and four-square grid.

Although being able to divide the strike zone into nine grids and control the ball is the goal of many pitchers, very few can actually do it in high school baseball leagues.

Most high school pitchers can only play outside or inside, high or low. Pitchers like Yamamoto Sakuya, the main pitcher of the Hakusan High School Baseball Club, who are confident in controlling the ball, can only agree with the catcher on inside, outside and high or low.

Some code for dividing the strike zone into four.

"There is also a code for commanding the fielders." Hiroki said.

Next, Hiroki continued to explain various gestures about coordinating with fielders.

In addition to the path of the ball, there are also signals such as good and bad balls, containment of each base, or warning of stolen bases.

Of course, there are also ways to encrypt passwords during competitions.

But this was more complicated, and he couldn't finish it in a short while, so Hiroki decided to wait until next time.
Chapter completed!