Chapter 36: A Good Game

Looking at the baseball flying out of the field, Harada Masatoshi felt a tingling sensation on his scalp.

In today's game, the rising star of the professional baseball league, Fumei, had faced off against Sawamura Eijun four times.

And the result was a disaster...

Looking at the reporters outside the field, holding cameras and camcorders, frantically taking pictures and recording, Harada Masatoshi could already imagine that by tomorrow, before the exchange games even began, the reports about today's game, especially the duel between Sawamura Eijun and Fumei Tsuyoi, would flood the media.

For those people who follow mobile networks, they wouldn't even have to wait until tomorrow. They'd probably find out the news in just a short while — the rising star professional baseball lost to the high school "Big Demon King."

Harada Masatoshi knew all too well what kind of people reporters are.

They love to stir up a fuss, and with such explosive news, if they didn't spread it far and wide, that would be strange indeed.

If Harada wasn't directly involved in today's match, he would probably have a lot of thoughts upon hearing the reports about today's game.

The four encounters between Fumei and Sawamura— there was only one time when Fumei forced Sawamura to hit a Pop fly.

Other than that one time, Sawamura hit the ball three times and two of which were home runs.

A 75% success rate for hitting.

The opponent was once the Rookie of the Year. Even if there were various objective factors involved, this statistic alone said a lot.

The player named Sawamura in front of them seemed to have already far exceeded the high school level.

Even among the monsters in the All-Tokyo team, his presence stood out like a phoenix among chickens.

Harada looked regretfully at his younger teammates.

'To be born in the same era as such a monster... these guys were truly unfortunate...'

Two home runs, one timely hit.

Sawamura single-handedly scored four runs from Fumei.

Faced with such an overwhelming performance, Harada Masatoshi didn't even know what to say.

If it were someone else hearing this news, they would probably start doubting Fumei's abilities.

But was Fumei's skill really lacking?

If you removed Sawamura Eijun from the equation, the All-Tokyo team only managed to score one point from Harada's pitching.

Considering the best hitters from the high school teams in the Tokyo area, Fumei managed to suppress them to this extent, which wasn't bad at all.

The only reason this situation arose was because of Sawamura.

This guy had always been well-known in the past.

However, people originally thought his uniqueness could only shine in where he is mow, and once he moved up a level, it wouldn't be as effective.

But who could have expected that in a confrontation with professional pitchers and batters, Sawamura's performance would be even more eye-catching?

Harada even had a strange feeling — compared to high school games, Sawamura seemed to be more adept at facing professional players.

If Sawamura knew about Harada's guess, he would definitely be impressed.

From a certain perspective, Harada wasn't wrong.

Sawamura, over two lifetimes, how much experience did he have in high school baseball? But in professional baseball, that was different.

He had played for over a decade.

Even if they weren't in the same league, there were still plenty of similarities.

In today's game, the reason Sawamura had such an advantage was actually due to the information imbalance between the two sides...

If Sawamura had really been in professional baseball,

When facing Fumei, he probably wouldn't have been able to achieve such a dominant performance.

Of course, these things were only known to Sawamura himself. Everyone else couldn't possibly know about them.

So to everyone else, Sawamura's record looked incredibly impressive.

He almost single-handedly destroyed the Tokyo University's defense and the professional rookie Fumei.

With such an overwhelming performance, it was impossible for anyone to look away.

With this home run, the All-Tokyo team also completed their comeback.

The score became 5:4.

When Sawamura returned to the dugout, Narumiya gave him a hug.

"You did great, kid! You didn't embarrass us!"

At this point, Narumiya had clearly become a brother-in-arms with Sawamura.

Kunitomo's cold gaze swept over, but Narumiya acted as if he didn't see it.

Turning his head in the other direction.

No one was a fool. Narumiya, of course, understood what the Superintendent Kunitomo was thinking.

Understanding or not, it didn't mean that Narumiya agreed with it.

As a student, his thoughts were still relatively pure.

In Narumiya's world, once both sides had already determined the outcome, the game should be played to the fullest.

If that was the case, he would naturally give it his all!

Saving reputations and holding back, what was that all about?

Wasn't the most respectful way to treat an opponent by competing with all your might?

Kunitomo Superintendent opened his mouth, intending to compliment Sawamura at that moment.

But to his surprise, all the players were also crowding around Sawamura, so he didn't get the chance.

He had already given the other side the chance; if his players were still dominate, that was not his fault.

He couldn't possibly ask his players to surrender, could he?

Both professional baseball players and the Superintendent of Tokyo University would certainly understand this point.

And so the game continued.

After Sawamura's home run gave the All-Tokyo team the lead, although there were no runners on base, the Tokyo team's offensive spirit was still as fierce as ever.

Their eyes were glowing with a fiery red intensity, as if they wanted to devour their opponents whole.

After being crushed so hard by Sawamura, it was clear that the Tokyo University players weren't feeling great.

Especially the pitcher, Fumei.

As a professional star, how could he accept such a result?

If he couldn't accept it, what would he do?

Get anxious, frustrated, and perhaps even lose his rationality…

Regardless of what it was, the Tokyo team's batters saw it as a rare opportunity.

It wasn't easy to find an opening in the flawless Fumei.

But once there was a crack, it would be a different story.

These guys were experts at taking advantage of others' weaknesses.

As long as Fumei showed even the slightest opening, the Tokyo team would unleash a storm of attacks.

"Nice thinking!"

On the pitcher's mound, Fumei looked up at the bright blue sky and smiled bitterly in his mind.

With his status and position, without holding back, he had already given up five runs in a single game against high school students.

He knew that tomorrow he would probably be ruthlessly criticized by all the media.

Since joining professional baseball, Fumei had sailed through a lot of difficulty.

And this was his biggest hurdle so far.

However, after going through all of this, Fumei didn't let this setback bother him too much.

Before joining professional baseball, he knew that a baseball career wouldn't be smooth sailing, and there would inevitably be setbacks.

Fumei understood that he would eventually face a period of decline.

After all, his pitching style wasn't one that completely neutralized the batters.

Since the opponents could easily hit the ball, they would eventually figure out strategies to deal with him...

Once their skills improved, Fumei would also have to adjust.

Professional baseball was like this, sometimes you, and sometimes you lose.

Fumei understood this pattern very well.

But he never expected this day to come so soon, and in such a situation.

Fortunately, he had already mentally prepared for it, so he wasn't panicking now.

"Well!"

Looking at the opponents with their eyes locked onto him.

Fumei, who had already given up five runs in today's game, completely let go.

All the restraints that professional baseball had placed on him disappeared without a trace.

If the pot is already broken, use the next one.

The situation had already reached such a point, how much worse could it get?

Although his opponent, Nagata, wasn't weak either.

In comparison to the current Fumei, it seemed like he was still a little lacking.

Whoosh!

The small baseball whizzed through the air and flew toward the end of the zone.

Nagata in the Batter's Box frowned slightly.

This ball felt so far from his comfort zone...

But it wasn't completely out of reach.

After all, this ball landed within the strike zone.

Since it was in the strike zone, there was no reason to let it go. Kanetsu raised his bat and decisively swung.

Paak!

The baseball was hit and bounced toward the direction of third base.

The third baseman from the Tokyo University team scooped up the ball and threw it directly to first base where Tetsuya was waiting.

Snap!

"OUT!!"

Three outs, the teams exchanged sides.

The Tokyo University players had managed to survive this crisis.

With the score at 5:4, the All-Tokyo team led by one run.

Now, the game was entering its final inning.

Top of the 9th, Tokyo University was on the offense.

In the dugout, Coach Kunitomo stood there, calm as a mountain.

He showed no intention of changing the pitcher.

Behind the plate, Miyuki scratched his head.

Actually, before facing Tetsuya and the others, Umemiya had opportunities to deal with those tough opponents.

However, after their previous encounters, all of Umemiya's tricks had already been exposed.

Given the situation, facing off with Tetsuya and the others again head-on...

Miyuki Kazuya felt like that was just asking for trouble.

It wasn't that he was afraid to face these tough opponents. It was just that Umemiya's ability was only so-so. He could fool high school batters, but when facing professional stars, he was far from a match.

There wasn't much chance of success…

Even though they were leading by one run.

Miyuki Kazuya didn't have much confidence in being able to hold the game in the final inning.

It wasn't that Miyuki was belittling himself or undermining his own team's strength.

It was just a reasonable judgment based on the game's situation.

As a catcher, sometimes Miyuki felt helpless. If the pitcher's ability wasn't up to par, there wasn't much he could do...

Before Sawamura joined the Seidou High School baseball team, Miyuki's skills were widely recognized.

But in the end, without a suitable partner, there is a limit to what he could do.

This was reality.

Coach Kunitomo didn't plan on stepping in at this moment.

Even though Miyuki Kazuya had many thoughts in his mind, it was useless.

He could only bite the bullet and work with Umemiya.

"The opponents have already seen all of our pitching patterns. Continuing to go head-to-head with them isn't a good choice for us."

Before they called for the next pitch, Miyuki gave Umemiya a bit of mental preparation.

Umemiya wasn't hard to convince at this point.

After working with Miyuki for the past two innings, Umemiya felt his own pitching had greatly improved.

At the same time, his trust in Miyuki had reached an amazing level.

He was willing to follow whatever Miyuki suggested.

This attitude from Umemiya surprised Miyuki.

It didn't seem so hard to accept facing off with seniors like Yuuki anymore…

In the top of the 9th inning, the first batter Miyuki and Umemiya would face was Yuuki Tetsuya.

Looking at the Batter's Box where Yuuki stood, perfectly in position.

Miyuki Kazuya couldn't help but feel a headache.

To be honest, Yuuki, as a contender for the Rookie of the Year this season, was certainly deserving of the title.

As long as the ball entered the strike zone, it felt like there was no pitch Yuuki couldn't hit.

"The pressure is overwhelming!"

Against such an opponent, any bluffs or feints were unlikely to work.

So, they might as well throw their sharpest pitch first.

Miyuki, thinking this, signaled to Umemiya.

Whoosh!

Receiving the signal, Umemiya pulled back his stance and threw the ball.

Miyuki's face twitched as he watched the ball fly.

Because Umemiya was so confident in his throw, Miyuki instinctively called for a tricky pitch.

However, Umemiya ended up throwing a meat ball.

'Oh no, this one's going to get hit!'

As soon as Miyuki saw the pitch, he quickly made a judgment.

The probability of this pitch being hit was very high.

Sure enough, the pitcher's personal skill was a major flaw. When control wasn't good, it was a critical weakness.

In the Batter's Box.

Yuuki hadn't intended to swing at the first pitch.

After all, Umemiya had been pitching well, and Yuuki wanted to let him throw a few more balls to find an opportunity.

But the opponent handed the opportunity to him on a silver platter.

Seeing such a perfect pitch, it would be a shame to let it go!

Yuuki didn't hesitate for a moment. The instant he saw the ball, his body naturally reacted.

PAAAAKKKK!

The bat swung like a whirlwind tearing through the land, striking the baseball with such force that it flew out.

The baseball was hit with over 200 km/h, instantly cutting through the defense and flying into the outfield.

Several outfielders rushed towards the landing spot of the ball, but they couldn't catch up.

They could only watch as the ball sailed over their heads and hit the back wall of the field.

By the time the ball was returned, Yuuki had already reached third base.

With no Outs and a runner on third base.

At this point, it was very difficult to stop Tokyo University from scoring.

Paak!

The cleanup hitter, Fumei, despite giving up a few runs as a pitcher.

On the offense, his performance remained commendable, leaving no room for complaints.

Yuuki safely returned to home plate.

Fumei swiftly reached second base.

In this inning, the score was tied.

And it looked like Tokyo University's offensive momentum hadn't ended.

Next up, they faced the fifth batter, catcher Harada Masatoshi.

After some hesitation, Miyuki signaled Umemiya to intentionally walk Harada.

Umemiya complied and walked Harada to first base.

Then, he worked hard to get three Outs.

In the process, Fumei was able to advance to third base, and made it home.

But ultimately, they managed to hold the defense.

With the score of 5:6, this was the final score of the game.

After a hard-fought battle, both teams shook hands friendly.

On the surface, it seemed like a happy and harmonious conclusion.

However, when one reflected on the details of this match, it became chilling.

First, no one had expected that Fumei, the Rookie of the Year in professional baseball,

Would be at such a disadvantage in his duel with Sawamura.

Secondly, Tokyo University's combined team with professional players was, on average, much older than the high school players.

Under these circumstances, the match had been evenly contested.

From this, it was clear just how strong the All-Tokyo team was.

Their level far exceeded that of their peers.

"Hey, who are those foreigners?"

Because the game had been so intense, no one had noticed the situation around them.

They were completely focused on their opponents.

But unexpectedly, during the match, a group of guests arrived.

...