Chapter 07: Ultra-Instinct

The battery duo of Sankou High School, for whatever reason, ultimately chose to confront Sawamura head-on. Throughout the process, Sankou High School showed no signs of sneaking around and displayed a proactive attitude from the start, clearly stating that they would not back down and would settle things with Sawamura in the strike zone.

The opponent's boldness naturally excited the audience, who relished a genuine showdown between pitcher and batter.

This was especially true for the supporters of Seidou High School's baseball team, who delighted in such scenes. They had complete confidence in Sawamura on the field.

The Demon King had never let them down.

Sankou's battery's choice to confront their Demon King directly was commendable courage.

But the outcome was never in doubt.

"Sawamura!"

"Smash it! Sawamura!!"

Including Sawamura's two fan clubs, at least tens of thousands of people cheered in unison.

Such a scene made even the stands of Jingu Stadium tremble.

A stadium official watched the surrounding structures with concern. Every time Seidou High School played at their stadium, he felt anxious.

"Our stadium won't collapse from the cheers, will it?"

"Don't worry, the momentum at Koshien is much bigger than this. The stadium is fine, right?" a colleague quickly reassured him.

For the two sides currently in battle, the uproar in the audience was of little relevance to them.

They could only see each other.

Especially Amahisa Kousei, who, after being hit by Kuramochi, was momentarily distracted.

'That pitch was good, so how could the ball be hit?'

This puzzled him greatly.

In Amahisa's thoughts, as long as his pitching state was fine, it was difficult for anyone other than a few people to hit his ball.

Among those few were Sawamura from Seidou and Raichi from Yakushi…

'But it didn't include Kuramochi!'

This made him question whether something was wrong with his pitching just now.

Later, when facing Kominato Haruichi, he couldn't focus. His attention was drawn more to Kuramochi Youichi.

Seeing his state become increasingly unstable, he was likely to mess up in the first inning.

Unexpectedly, when facing Sawamura, all the chaotic thoughts in his mind disappeared.

Amahisa Kousei is very focused right now. Almost all his attention was on Sawamura in front of him.

In such a situation, even the initial signs of instability were forcibly suppressed.

Ever since losing to Sawamura last fall, Amahisa had often imagined this scene.

He stood on the pitcher's mound, facing Sawamura of Seidou one-on-one.

Over the past seven months, this scene had appeared in his mind many times.

Although he had not faced Sawamura as much, in his mind, he had battled him innumerable times.

Now he felt very confident, ready to cleanly eliminate Sawamura right here.

Confidence is a wondrous thing; players who possess it and those who don't display entirely different states.

Current Amahisa Kousei radiated confidence as if he were a massive source of light illuminating the surrounding space.

Sawamura in the strike zone naturally noticed his opponent's performance.

'Quite confident, indeed.'

This was not their first duel; in their last encounter, Amahisa had suffered a crushing defeat. But now, that previous sense of defeat had vanished.

Instead, it felt like a sword hidden in its sheath; unsheathed even, and a sharp aura had emerged.

'This is interesting!'

Sawamura's hitting style was well-suited to pitchers like Amahisa, along with ample experience...

Sawamura had initially thought it would be easy to handle Amahisa.

However, when they actually played against each other, it felt completely different. The rising momentum from his opponent made even Sawamura feel the need to be cautious.

'This was more intriguing.'

'No one's momentum rises without reason. Since Amahisa could display such powerful momentum, it meant he must have sufficient confidence in his pitching.'

If it weren't for the current situation on the field, where Sawamura needed to score, he would be quite interested to see what had given Amahisa such strong confidence.

'Now, of course, the most important thing was to send Kuramochi-senpai home.'

To help Seidou High School take the lead in scoring and completely control the rhythm of the game.

'What a pity!'

Sawamura felt a twinge of regret.

However, there was no way around it. The team's interests were far more important than his own fleeting whims.

'Bring it on!'

Whrroosh!

Without waiting for Sawamura to think, a sharp inside pitch was thrown.

The ball clearly missed the strike zone.

The reason Sankou's battery threw such an obvious Ball was primarily to force Sawamura to shift his focus.

As long as Sawamura shifted his focus, they would have many more tactics available.

The ball was still flying in the air, and Sawamura was still opening his stance.

Seeing the first pitch was obviously a Ball, he understood the battery's intention.

'They must have a new trick!'

While he wanted to face Amahisa, now is not the time.

There is a chance right now, and he has to make use of it.

'Only the runs you score are yours; the rest, no matter how great the chances, won't add a single point to Seidou's score.'

With this mindset, Sawamura certainly couldn't wait for Amahisa to throw his new pitch.

So he resolved from the start to hit the Ball flying towards him.

Sawamura was confident that he could hit it because he instinctive realized a few things due to his experience.

'First of all, the pitch should be a straight ball.'

An inside pitch so close to the batter makes it difficult for a pitcher to throw a breaking ball. Being so close to the batter means that if a breaking ball is used, it might hit the batter directly.

In this way, the batter not only gets to first base for free but also creates a very negative influence on the team.

The more such pitches are thrown, the more careful the pitcher becomes.

'The less likely he is to throw a breaking ball!'

Knowing this, Sawamura's body moved in reaction, as he knew what he had to do next.

Originally, this was just a testing pitch set up by Sankou's battery.

Given Sawamura's current stance, there was no way he could swing at this pitch.

Thus, for the first pitch, Sawamura would likely not swing, at most taking a step away in reaction.

Sawamura did indeed step away.

As the flying ball was about to enter into his reach, Sawamura increased the width of his stride, pulling his whole body away from the zone.

Of course, Sawamura's movements weren't entirely fluid, as this kind of stunt was more close to Isashiki Jun's batting style.

But the effect was no different.

When the inside pitch that strayed from the strike zone flew into Sawamura's reach, His eyes lit up.

From his current position, that ball had become a relatively easier inside pitch to hit.

'Perfect!'

Although his stance was awkward, Sawamura's actions showed no hesitation and didn't lack power.

Ping!

As if it were a matter of course, the bat precisely struck the ball, sending it flying.

The small ball hit by Sawamura drew a perfect arc in the air, soaring over the heads of the Sankou fielders and landing in the outfield.

With this hit, Sawamura smoothly reached second base.

Kuramochi, who had been on third base, returned to home plate almost at a walking pace.

"SAFE!!"

Sawamura's hit brought Seidou High School into the lead.

The score on the field became 1:0.

"WHAT WAS THAT?!?!"

"AMAZING!!"

"KING SEIDOU!"

"SEIDOU!!!"

"SAWAMURA!

"DEMON KING!!!"

Although their Demon King didn't manage a beautiful home run, he successfully brought the runner home.

Sawamura's performance was commendable.

The audience erupted in cheers once again.

"Nice batting!"

"Well played!"

"As expected of Eijun-kun!!!"

The players in Seidou's dugout were also cheered, excitedly waving their arms to cheer for Sawamura!

In stark contrast to the excitement of Seidou High School, the mood on Sankou's side could be described as tense silence.

Everyone wore cold expressions, not uttering a word.

Despite Seidou High School leading by only one point, that single point was enough for the Sankou players to feel the despair sitting with them on the bench.

So far, they hadn't faced Sawamura yet. And they knew that scoring against him wouldn't be an easy feat.

Losing runs from the beginning is a doom call.

One out, a runner on second!

The game continued!

…

T/H: Back to the Tournament, and the game with Sankou starts with a Bang!

As always, Thank you all for reading!!

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