Well, it might be looking grim for Snuka…and, derivitative of that situation, Yogi…which naturally also drags in Riko…but everyone else just tries to get on with their day.
Things looking grim for Snuka and everyone else getting on with their day isn’t anything new, of course. More like, it’s another standard feature of the universe. And it has to be! Without such callous disregard of his well-being by everyone else, Snuka would lack any kind of justification for his antisocial behavior and criminality. While he’s not really motivated by a desire to gain revenge on society, the fact that he would have a basis for that still makes it all slightly more acceptable.
Honest-Abe-kun, of course, is only interested in the functional aspects of Snuka’s captivity. He is immobile, so the pressure is all on Gregory-kun to hit it out of the park. And with his super-keen observation skill, Honest-Abe-kun can see that the pressure is taking a toll. He has recognized, likely from some sort of characteristic fluttering of an eyelid, that Gregory-kun doesn’t have his head in the game. In fact, he had his head in his head an was talking to a dead pharaoh. That’s exactly the kind of disturbed psychological state Honest-Abe-kun loves to see in an opposing batter.
So he orders a very special pitch from Mihashi-kun. They might not have the Pitch of the Gods at their disposal, but they still have a very special pitch saved up for the crisis of the battle, which point clearly has been reached. The very special nature of the upcoming pitch is clearly underlined by Mihashi-kun’s reacion: his face looks even more shell-shocked than his resting face already does. And the other piece of evidence is the hand-sign. That looks like exactly the kind of hand-sign you’d assign to a very special, once-a-game match-winning pitch…because, really, this looks so painful it’s probably hard to pull off more than once a game.
It’s all on Mihashi’s shoulders now!*
More on Monday.
* Well, it’s not all on Mihashi’s shoulders. A bit of it fell down to the left and right because Mihashi’s shoulders aren’t broad enough.