Chapter 25: What Will Seidou Do

The 'golden generation' of the Inashiro baseball team.

This refers not only to Narumiya Mei but also to the guys who joined the Inashiro baseball team alongside him.

Narumiya Mei, Kamiya Carlos, Yamaoka Riku, and the one currently on the field, Shirakawa Katsuyuki...

No one understands just how talented these individuals are better than Harada, who is currently squatting as the catcher.

He isn't unfamiliar with being a Senpai. Ever since he started playing baseball, he has always played the role of Senpai and Kohai.

When he was a Kohai, he was the kind of player who could make Senpais take notice of his skills.

As a Senpai, he always played the part of a responsible and capable leader, guiding the Kohais with both strength and kindness.

Strong, a little aloof on the outside, but with a gentle inner personality.

Such a Senpai is someone no baseball player could ever dislike, right?

Harada Masatoshi has always thrived in these roles.

But when Narumiya Mei and his teammates joined the team, Harada had his first true encounter with something different.

For the first time, he realized that Kohais could have skills and potential that surpassed their Senpais.

If it were just one or two, Harada could have accepted it. After all, in the baseball world, there were always exceptional players.

But at that time, the Inashiro baseball team had more than one or two Kohais who were better than the Senpais.

There were at least four.

These four were not just better than the average Senpais but had surpassed the majority of the third-year players, despite still being underclassmen. They had earned spots in the starting lineup.

This was unimaginable in such a prestigious team like the Inashiro baseball team.

But it happened.

In this situation, how could Harada possibly ignore the actions of these Kohais?

He immediately began studying them, figuring out exactly what made them so formidable.

The more he researched, the more he realized how terrifying these Kohais were.

It was true: geniuses really do exist. The reason Harada hadn't noticed before was that he had never encountered so many outstanding players at once.

For a Senpai, the shock was enough to overturn his entire worldview.

Harada's worldview had been shattered, and so he worked even harder to understand his younger teammates.

As a result, no one understands their strengths and weaknesses better than Harada.

In his mind, he had already envisioned these Kohais as hypothetical opponents and had faced off against them in his mind many times.

Take Shirakawa, for instance—his skills look nearly perfect. His fielding and batting techniques, honed to the maximum possible with his physical potential, are impeccable.

Even though his body isn't particularly muscular, he doesn't give off the impression of being weak.

On the contrary, his batting power is quite threatening.

But that doesn't change the fact that his biggest weakness is his lack of power.

'Against a pitcher like Fumei, there's no need for complicated tricks. Just targeting his weakness is enough to defeat Shirakawa.'

Paak!

The baseball was hit and fell in front of the second baseman.

The second baseman took a step forward and threw the ball to first baseman Tetsuya.

Snap!

"OUT!!!"

First, it was Carlos, now it's Shirakawa Seiji.

Both of them were more than capable of securing a starting position on the All-Tokyo team.

Yet, they were both defeated by their opponents...

This is truly unimaginable.

It's a massive blow to the All-Tokyo team's batting lineup.

Especially considering the players from the Inashiro baseball team.

"Dammit, having Masa-san as our opponent, it's like they're cheating!" Narumiya muttered in dissatisfaction.

With Harada Masatoshi's understanding of them, it's no surprise that dealing with them isn't difficult.

Coach Kunitomo turned his neck, making it crack and pop, before glancing at his prized players with a cold expression.

"Harada knows you all very well, that's true. But don't you understand him as well? Why is it that in the end, you're the ones being outplayed by him, and not the other way around? That's the real issue here..."

His words were like a sharp needle, piercing through the weaknesses of the players.

Narumiya and the others exchanged looks, reluctantly admitting that Coach Kunitomo had a point.

Up to this point, it seemed like they had always been outwitted by Harada Masatoshi. Meanwhile, they had failed to find any point against him.

As a result, the team lost a point and didn't manage to achieve anything in their turn at bat.

As the key players of the representative team, they had failed to live up to expectations.

"It's okay if you don't understand it now. Just look at how the Seidou High School players do it."

Coach Kunitomo said, shifting his gaze to the field.

His words were clearly intended to provoke and motivate the players.

There was no better way than to stimulate Narumiya and the others by pointing to the star players of Seidou High.

It didn't matter whether the method was old or new, as long as it worked.

The players from Inashiro were glaring as if they were facing an enemy.

Currently in the Batter's Box is the third batter, Miyuki.

He could feel the intense gazes from the players of Inashiro.

'Have these guys gone crazy?' Miyuki thought.

No matter what rivalry they have, they should still be teammates on the same side now, right?

'Shouldn't their fire and fighting spirit be directed at the opponents, not at me?'

It's insane.

Miyuki muttered to himself, but his gaze was fixed on the pitcher's mound.

He didn't have time to pay attention to those crazy guys; he needed to focus on dealing with the opponent in front of him.

The score was 1:1.

On the surface, it looked evenly matched, but in reality, the All-Tokyo team was at a disadvantage.

Up until now, the All-Tokyo team had only one hit, the home run from Sawamura, which gave them a single point.

That point was completely thanks to Sawamura's powerful individual performance.

The team hadn't found any weaknesses in the pitcher yet.

On the other hand, the All-Tokyo team had already used their top two pitchers, Narumiya and Sawamura, to try and stabilize the situation.

But the results hadn't been great. So far, Inashiro had already recorded three hits, though one was eliminated by Sawamura with the double play.

But three hits are still three hits.

In terms of the number of hits, they were at a clear disadvantage.

If they wanted to change the situation, they couldn't let things continue this way.

Miyuki knew this very well, and in order to ease the pressure on Sawamura and the other pitchers after him, they had to find a way to break through the current pitcher.

Fumei Tsuyoi, one of the rising stars of NPB.

Graduated from Tokyo University, entered the draft, and was selected in the first round.

After being drafted, he smoothly joined a professional baseball team. Although his signing bonus and salary weren't record-breaking, they were still at the top level.

Two years with the team, he was named Rookie of the Year and even became the Ace pitcher.

This is an amazing career.

It is something Miyuki hopes to achieve too.

Though he was more mature than most of his peers, he was still just an 18-year-old high school student.

Like anyone else, he had dreams.

Especially dreams related to baseball—he had his own pursuits.

The one thing that set him apart from Sawamura was that Sawamura had always known what he wanted from the start, knowing exactly what path he needed to take.

Miyuki, on the other hand, didn't think too much about it.

He just wanted to focus on being the best he could be now. Even though he had already attracted the attention of nearly every professional baseball team, his goal had never changed.

It was to win the Koshien Summer Tournament with his friends.

And to achieve a three-peat in Koshien.

It was rare for a team to win both the Summer and Spring Championships, but it had happened before.

But achieving a three-peat?

That was the real goal, and once he accomplished it, he would feel content leaving high school baseball behind and fully focusing on his future.

Although he had such a viable goal, that didn't mean he wasn't still interested in professional baseball.

In fact, he paid close attention to every player performing well in the professional leagues, especially pitchers.

This might be due to his position, or the prestige of pitchers in baseball.

To understand a team's style, you usually just need to look at their pitchers.

That's how Miyuki approached things.

By learning about professional players and imagining how he would face them in battle, he could prepare for the future.

Though he didn't have Sawamura's terrifying abilities, capable of hitting a ball against top professional players on his first try…

It didn't mean Miyuki was helpless against these players either.

On the contrary, in his mind, he was ready and eager to take them on.

Paak!

"FOUL!"

After several exchanges, Miyuki sent the ball foul.

He was observing his opponent's pitching, trying to figure out his strategy.

Catcher Harada immediately realized they couldn't keep stalling.

If they kept dragging this out, the risks would be very high.

'Let's decide this!'

'Throw your best pitch.'

Up until now, Fumei hadn't used his absolute best pitch against these kids.

Sawamura's home run had been a fluke, after all. Against Fumei's winning shot, it wasn't guaranteed that Sawamura could have hit it.

On the pitcher's mound, Fumei nodded and began his wind-up.

Whoosh!

The baseball flew like an arrow, crossing the distance in a blink and landing right in the strike zone, just as the batter prepared to face it.

It looked like it was going to land in the catcher's Mitt.

Miyuki finally showed a satisfied smile.

He'd been waiting for this pitch, and now, it had arrived.

Now was the time.

He swung his bat with full force and sent the ball flying.

Paak!

It was as if everything had been calculated perfectly. The baseball flew off in a perfect arc, landing in the gap in the defense.

After Sawamura's home run, the All-Tokyo team had another hit.

And once again, it came from Seidou High.

At that moment, the players from Inashiro High School were almost losing their minds.

'Why was this happening?'

'Why were we being targeted so much while Seidou's players kept getting hits?'

…