Chapter 26: What Did Seidou Do

On the pitcher's mound, Fumei Tsuyoi was completely stunned.

Despite his personal pride, Fumei was not someone who looked down on his opponents. He knew that in such a large world, there were always powerful players that could emerge from anywhere... Even in the players he had encountered before, any one of them could suddenly get a New Final Form and give him a run for his money if he is not careful.

He had often thought about what he would do if he ever faced an opponent with overwhelming strength. Fumei believed that it would certainly be an incredibly tough game. He might allow a lot of hits, give up many runs, and feel utterly passive.

But even when faced with such a crisis, Fumei was confident that he could make it through. At the very least, he would show his fighting spirit and not embarrass himself too much.

Such a scenario had appeared in his mind many times before, but when it happened in reality, Fumei found it very difficult to accept. His pitch had actually been hit, and it was his signature winning shot that was taken.

It wasn't that his winning shot had never been hit before, but it was such a rare occurrence. Even some of the famous sluggers in the professional leagues rarely managed to get a hit off it. Even if they made contact, it was hard to ensure they would make solid contact with the ball.

Because of this confidence, after two Strikes, he decided to throw his winning shot.

Fumei originally thought the strikeout was practically secured. Not only was his opponent just a regular high school player who had never seen this pitch before, but even if it were a slugger from the pros who had faced this pitch several times, they would also struggle to make solid contact.

But to his surprise, that seemingly unremarkable high schooler actually hit the ball out.

Miyuki immediately ran to first base after making the hit.

For Fumei, what was happening in front of him was completely incomprehensible. But for Miyuki, this situation wasn't strange at all.

He would periodically pull up data on outstanding professional players and simulate their performances.

Despite claiming that he was solely focused on high school baseball and had no thoughts about professional baseball, Miyuki never slacked off when it came to studying the pros. His biggest dream was to lead his team to dominate the national stage and complete a three-peat, pushing his school to unprecedented heights and making the players legends.

His loud declarations were heard by everyone, but privately, Miyuki never stopped researching professional players.

He wasn't exactly sure why he did this, but it felt instinctively necessary.

That's why, when facing Fumei's pitches, he felt so confident.

Of course, there was another point that couldn't be ignored. Miyuki had already witnessed Fumei's real pitching before.

Although he hadn't seen the winning shot, based on his observations, Miyuki could tell that Fumei's winning shot was quite different from the sharp-breaking balls of a pitcher like Sawamura Eijun.

Fumei's final pitch wasn't the kind of pitch that could cause the batter to swing and miss. Instead, it was more of a pitch that tempted the batter to swing.

If they were facing professional players from the Giants, even if Miyuki hit the ball, it probably wouldn't have had much of an effect. With their elite defense, they could easily catch the ball once it was hit.

But now, it wasn't the Giants players who were defending. It was players from Tokyo University.

The level of the pitcher was high, but compared to Fumei, the defense was clearly at a different tier.

An outstanding pitcher combined with slightly weaker fielders created many potential weaknesses for Miyuki to exploit.

Miyuki capitalized on this and got the hit.

After hitting the ball, he didn't stop, running all the way to second base.

The situation now was one Out and a runner on second base. Tokyo University was in trouble.

But, really, this wasn't a huge crisis. In baseball, anything could happen, and a true Ace would be able to handle all sorts of crises.

Fumei was undoubtedly a true Ace pitcher. In his eyes, this situation wasn't that serious. The people around him should have had absolute confidence in him.

But the current situation was quite different.

Everyone now saw this as a significant crisis for Fumei. Even his teammates from Tokyo University no longer had much faith in their pitcher.

The reason? Standing in the Batter's Box was Tokyo's fourth hitter, Sawamura Eijun, who had previously hit a home run.

Behind the plate, Harada was also frowning. Every time he faced Sawamura, it seemed like he had no idea what the batter was going to do next.

His head throbbed, feeling like it might explode.

He truly didn't understand what Sawamura was planning this time. Harada even had a fleeting thought:

'Maybe we should just Walk Sawamura.'

But that was just a thought...

In their current positions, it was impossible for them to intentionally Walk a high school player. Even if they had to push through it, they would still have to face Sawamura head-on.

Harada glanced at Fumei on the mound and signaled.

Against an opponent like Sawamura, any bluff or intimidation was useless. They might as well face him directly and let things play out.

That way, they might have a better chance of winning.

'Come on!'

'Throw your best ball here!'

Harada's signal would've worked fine in a normal situation. But now, it felt like the timing was off.

What was Fumei's best pitch? It was his winning shot. But that pitch had just been hit by Miyuki.

This made Fumei wonder whether something was wrong with his current form, or if his opponent had figured out his pitching habit.

With that question in his mind, how could he face Sawamura head-on?

'Harada didn't know, right?'

Of course, Harada knew this.

But he still thought this was the best option. It wasn't hard to choose. After all, he couldn't think of any other way.

At this point, they had to take a gamble. If they won, they could gain everything. If they lost, the damage wouldn't be too severe. Either way, there was no better choice.

Fumei didn't know what Harada was thinking and didn't have the same resolve.

When he saw Harada's signal, Fumei hesitated for a moment before shaking his head.

At this point, he wasn't willing to throw his winning shot. The memory of the ball being hit was still fresh in his mind.

He didn't believe he could perform at his usual level, so he decided to skip it.

Instead, he decided to try another pitch.

At the Batter's Box, Sawamura stood properly, holding his bat high and swaying it slightly. His eyes were fixed on the pitcher.

When he saw Fumei shake his head, Sawamura's lips curled into a smile.

Originally, he wasn't sure what pitch Harada and Fumei would call for. But after seeing Fumei shake his head, Sawamura instantly understood.

He could pretty much guess what pitch was coming next.

While he couldn't be certain about other things, seeing Fumei shake his head made it clear.

'This meant he would no longer throw his winning shot.'

This was great news for Sawamura.

Sawamura had no confidence in hitting Fumei's final winning shot, but now that he knew it wasn't coming, he felt confident he could hit whatever Fumei threw next.

At that moment, what pitch Fumei would throw became all too clear.

'Inside course!'

'And it was too close. It shouldn't be a Strike.'

'A Ball!!'

This wasn't just Sawamura's thought; it was his sharp intuition.

Once he was sure of this, he saw Fumei throw the ball.

Sawamura had already anticipated it, and with one swift step, he pulled his body away.

The pitch, originally inside and out of the strike zone, was meant to push Sawamura back. But it fell perfectly into his trap.

Seeing the ball fly towards him, Sawamura decisively swung his bat.

Paak!

The baseball was struck solidly and flew past the first baseman, landing for a long hit.

Miyuki, taking advantage of this, sprinted past third base and made it home.

Sawamura didn't slow down either, and ran past the first base, reaching second base.

After the home run, Sawamura delivered a timely hit, not only tying the game but also putting his team ahead.

The score was now 2-1.

The All-Tokyo team had completed the comeback in the fourth inning.

The game was now at its peak.

…

T/N: The Third Chapter!

As always, Thank you all for reading!!

I hope you all have a nice day!

You also can check my Patre0n for extra Chapters.

https://www.patre0n.com/ColdColt

There are +160 Chapters there.