Songs for Daddy- Chapter 47: Play the Game Tonight (Part 8 [Hiruma's plan])
“His hand really is injured.” Yamato confirmed with a pair of binoculars a few downs into the next offense. “He’s using runs because that’s the only thing he can use.”
“Except that even with only runs he’s still steadily advancing.” Banba observed.
“It’s because of the kind of running plays he’s doing. There’s at least three, no four, separate running patterns and every runner is capable of tossing the ball to someone else if needed.” Yamato explained. “And because it’s Hiruma, there’s no pattern to the runs or runners at all.”
“First down!” Sanada announced. “15 yards to go.”
“Coach-!” One of the defenders was pleading for help.
“…Crush his line and blitz, concentrate the defense on the sides, nothing’s going to be coming up center.” Yamato advised with confidence.
“It’s time to pass it.” Hiruma announced. “Trap Shotgun Formation.” A trap shotgun was when you sent out four receivers, but they didn’t appear to be receiving. They were closer to the start than usual in their running sets, but they all looked like they were about to run.
“Can you really-?” Kaitani protested.
“I fucking can, now you’re on shotgun!” Hiruma left it at that. He wasn’t about to explain that despite the injury, you can still throw a reliable spiral as long as the wrist and arm were uninjured. The hand stayed in about the same place during a throw, so he’d be okay for throwing.
No, it wasn’t throwing that would suck, it would be catching the snap. That required two hands and there was no way around the pain. Hiruma grit his teeth and prepared. One long pass, 15 yards in one shot. He’d sent out his fastest receivers, they were thinking it was going to be a run since that was his entire pattern this offense, this would work.
The Stands
Emiko bit her lip, worried.
Papa was about to hurt himself.
It was really, really hard to watch.
Part 9