<13> First Signs of Brilliance!

Chapter 13: First Signs of Brilliance!

This is what high school-level pitching is like? Watching the pitch skim past his body, Furuya felt a massive jolt of realization.

However, this shock didn't intimidate him; it fired up his fighting spirit.

Excitedly, Furuya licked his upper lip, his eyes glowing with the thrill of a newfound challenge.

A significant reason Furuya played baseball was to experience that adrenaline rush.

Now, his first real opponent had presented himself: Koichiro Tanba.

"Bring it on!"

Furuya lowered his center of gravity once more, the veins in his gripping hands becoming visible.

The nearby first-string players quickly took notice.

The mustached senior grinned mischievously, "This rookie sure is a tough nut, huh?"

"Maybe you haven't heard, but this rookie is something special. In the freshman tests, he threw a ball 131 meters."

"That's him? Makes sense then!"

In this world, geniuses always catch the eye.

If it were any other newcomer performing like this on the field, the first-string players might find it odd.

But for Furuya, the one who pitched an astounding 131 meters, it was all justifiable.

One could even say it was expected.

"Let's show this genius what high school baseball is all about."

"With Tanba in good form, that rookie will have a tough time."

You know your own people best.

Even if the Seidou first-string players occasionally doubted their ace's consistency, it didn't mean they lacked faith in him.

In truth, it was quite the opposite.

They knew well that when their ace was in the zone, his pitches were among the nation's best.

Take last year's Autumn Tournament, for example.

During that tournament, their ace's performance was nothing short of spectacular.

Even the usually strict Coach Kataoka had been impressed with Tanba's pitching back then.

He had openly stated that if Tanba could maintain that level, Seidou could break through the barriers of the other powerhouse schools and make it to Koshien from Tokyo.

Moreover, on the Koshien stage, they could perform well and achieve impressive results.

Now that Tanba was back in form, dealing with a freshman like Furuya, despite his stunning talents, seemed straightforward.

As expected.

Tanba quickly took the second strike.

Starting with a high-difference curveball, Tanba's signature move, he followed it up with an unremarkable fastball.

However, due to the strong momentum and the impact of the previous curveball, Furuya didn't react in time to the fastball.

"Thwack…"

"Strike!"

The count was now two strikes and no balls.

"He's in a tough spot!"

"Even though this rookie seems promising, it's clear he won't be able to hit the ball now."

"The gap in skill is too wide to be overcome by mere determination."

Clearly, the observers did not have high expectations for Furuya's next move.

Even Miyuki felt that Furuya had completely fallen into the trap set by Tanba and the catcher.

"The next pitch will be a low outside ball for the strikeout," Miyuki predicted.

True to Miyuki's forecast, the catcher and Tanba seemed to follow his script, throwing a low outside pitch.

They executed the pitch with ease, confident that all they needed was for Furuya to swing at it, securing the third out without trouble.

And with Furuya cornered, he had every reason to swing.

As predicted by Miyuki and the others, Furuya swung his bat.

Coach Kataoka, standing as the chief umpire, frowned slightly.

He admired Furuya's fighting spirit but felt a tinge of disappointment at his apparent lack of composure.

"Still too green!"

To fall for such a basic pitch setup.

Just as everyone entertained these thoughts, anticipating Furuya's imminent out, something unexpected occurred.

Furuya didn't swing at where everyone thought he would.

It seemed he had anticipated this pitch would be a ball.

Therefore, he was aiming outside the strike zone.

The third-year catcher recognized this first.

"Did he see through it?"

This realization caught him by surprise, but as an experienced Seidou catcher, he maintained his composure.

The pitch location had been carefully chosen.

Even if Furuya saw it coming and managed to hit it, it wouldn't make any difference.

The ball was struck solidly, not merely deflected into foul territory.

"Ping!"

The baseball soared into the sky, flying over 80 meters, to the disbelief of everyone watching.

Ultimately, it landed just inside the foul line.

"Thump!"

After it hit the ground, it bounced directly into the netting.

"Wow!!!"

The crowd, who had only moments ago predicted that Furuya had no chance of hitting the ball, gaped in astonishment, gasping in surprise.

"How is this possible?"

They simply couldn't comprehend it.

Even Coach Kataoka, serving as the umpire, was wide-eyed with surprise.

Given the location of the pitch, everyone, including the seasoned coach, had assumed it would inevitably go foul.

The expected scenario never happened.

Instead, Furuya astonishingly managed to pull the off-target pitch back into the game.

The potential this kid had!

As Coach Kataoka stood there in disbelief, cheers erupted from the freshmen's side.

"Well done! We've finally scored one back," Sawamura exclaimed, waving his arms excitedly. "Next, we just need to secure that first run!"

He was full of enthusiasm, although, embarrassingly, it seemed like he was the only one really caught up in the excitement.