Chapter One: The Home Run That Hadn't Happened

“It's gone! Second deck in right! A three-run homer!” Cheng looked up. In the second deck, a little girl in a yellow raincoat held up her glove beside an exposed metal advertising frame. “Where are you going?” the host shouted. Cheng was already running. The entrance was more than thirty meters away. Ten seconds sounded generous until it had to contain a rescue: one breath, three stairs at a time, and a warning no sane person would believe. “Right field! Get down!” he yelled in Mandarin, then Japanese. “Fusete!” No one listened. Five seconds. Sato raised his leg. Cheng vaulted a rope. A guard grabbed for him and caught only his sleeve. The girl's father stepped in front of him. “What are you doing?” Two seconds.