Chapter 23: What does Ugahh mean?

Kousei had originally thought Raichi was the toughest opponent he could face.

Now, it seemed he had been looking at things from a narrow perspective. The opponent was much stronger than he had imagined.

The pitcher blood inside him started flaring, and his concentration became as sharp as a sword.

Kousei raised both hands high, with his mitt engulfing his pitching hand.

At this moment, Amahisa Kousei displayed extraordinary focus.

He went through his pitching form and threw the ball with all his might.

Whoosh!

The ball seemed to shine, making it impossible to look away.

In the blink of an eye, the ball was at Sawamura's hands.

'A Straight!'

This was Eijun's initial judgment.

He had no solid proof, just a feeling that the ball was Straight.

Following Coach Kataoka's instructions, he knew he could not let a hittable ball go.

With a large step, Sawamura swung his bat, his upper body was like a lashing whip splitting the air.

Ping!

The white ball was struck and flew high.

Then it landed out of bounds.

"FOUL!"

Although the ball didn't result in a hit, the crowd was thrilled.

Sawamura's clean and precise swing was captivating.

The spectators hoped he would channel even more power and deliver better results.

"Sawamura!"

"Sawamura!!!"

The previously scattered cheers were unified at this moment.

Everyone was shouting Sawamura's name as if conveying their own power to him.

Not everyone present was a die-hard baseball fan.

Many were just here to accompany their friends and family.

Nevertheless, the atmosphere was charged and the excitement was high, which infected them into cheering.

But Sawamura was completely immersed in the battle with Amahisa and didn't care about all of that. Even with the brass band playing his favorite 'Abarenbou Shogun'.

His bat was raised high, and his eyes were locked on the pitcher's mound.

'Bring it on!!!'

His mind was filled with the desire to hit, eagerly waiting for the ball to come.

"Really tough!"

Seeing the ball's flight direction, Kousei's expression turned grim.

Based on Sawamura's build, he had initially thought Eijun was not a particularly powerful batter.

'But in actual confrontation, it was a different story.'

Sawamura could harness so much power with his stance and skills.

A sharp and tricky fastball on the outside corner had slightly missed the strike zone.

For the batter, it was a very heavy pitch.

That it could be hit so far was simply incredible.

'If I rely solely on strength to suppress this opponent, it seems impossible.'

In this situation, to win, Amahisa knew he had to use his breaking balls.

Amahisa was very aware of this.

The key was how to effectively use his breaking balls.

'From the data collected earlier, Sawamura seemed particularly skilled at hitting breaking balls with a significant break.'

Unfortunately, Kousei's breaking ball fell into this category.

'To solve Sawamura with this type of breaking ball, it needed to be carefully selected.' Takami Akito—the catcher—was aware of this as well, so he signaled with extra caution.

'The opponent can hit any course. In this case, it's best to force him to step back first and get more space to work with.'

As long as Sawamura stepped back, their subsequent breaking balls would have much more flexibility.

The catcher Takami thought this way and acted accordingly.

'This was not an escape but a prelude to defeating Sawamura.'

Seeing the sign from the catcher, Kousei nodded subtly.

He agreed that an aggressive approach to force Sawamura back was a very good suggestion.

Without other better methods, this approach was acceptable.

Even if the plan failed, it would only result in a Ball.

With this thought, Amahisa opened his form and threw the ball with all his might.

Whoosh!

Without giving Sawamura any time to react, the white ball hurtled toward his knee.

Instinctively, Eijun's body reacted.

He stepped back half a step, avoiding the incoming Ball.

Snap!

The ball landed precisely in the catcher's Mitt.

"BALL!!"

The count was one Ball and one Strike.

"Damn, what are you doing? Are you throwing directly at him?"

"What would you do if you injured him?!!"

"Get that blind pitcher out!!!"

The last one was Isashiki, who came to watch the game of his Kohais with his yearmates.

***

"They forced Sawamura-kun to step back?"

Akiko in the stands looked very surprised.

"Sawamura-kun isn't someone who fears the ball. If he stepped back, it means that pitch might have really hit his knee. At least, Sawamura-kun himself must think so," Fujio said solemnly.

As the most famous high school player currently, Sawamura Eijun had many devoted fans, some of whom were extremely zealous.

When these fans saw Amahisa Kousei pitch towards Sawamura's knee, they were outraged!

If not for the stadium's barrier, they might have jumped onto the field to give Amahisa a piece of their minds.

Playing ball is one thing, but intentionally injuring someone is unacceptable!

Even though they didn't jump down to confront Kousei, they made threats from the stands.

"Little brat, just wait!"

"If anything happens to our Demon King, you'll pay for it."

"Amahisa you shithead!! Remember this!!!"

"UGAAAH!!"

These harsh words startled the catcher Takami.

He looked at the fans in the stands, Bewildered by their reaction.

'And what does Ugahh mean?'

If things went wrong, this game could turn into a violent incident.

'Just now, that pitch was indeed dangerous. If Sawamura hadn't instinctively dodged...'

Takami was scared to think what would have happened if it hit Sawamura's knee.

'It was too risky!'

He looked up at Amahisa on the mound with a reproachful glance.

'Even if the intent was to intimidate, there was no need to be so realistic. What if it went wrong?'

'It won't go wrong!'

Amahisa Kousei was very confident.

Given Sawamura's level, if the ball is too far from his body, it wouldn't force him back.

In such a situation, gaining an advantage requires some risks.

For example, making the ball closer to Sawamura.

That was Kousei's plan, and he executed it well.

At the Batter's Box, Sawamura glanced at the catcher's Mitt and then at Amahisa on the mound.

He silently returned to his original position.

His fans—and Senpais—in the stands were still fervently condemning Kousei.

Even though Kousei didn't take it seriously.

Takami looked at the spot where Sawamura was standing.

'He had moved back! Although not very obvious, it was about three or four centimeters behind his previous position.'

Despite the suspense, their goal had been achieved.

'Now, it was time to Strikeout and completely defeat Sawamura.'

'Let's do it!'

After the catcher signaled, he opened his mitt.

The Mitt was positioned for an outside corner, and the signal was for a slider!

'An outside corner slider!!'

This was Amahisa Kousei's winning shot.

There was no better thing to deal with Sawamura.

'Here we go!'

Seeing the signal from the catcher, Kousei nodded silently, then took his stance and concentrated all his energy on his fingertips for the pitch.

Whoosh!

The ball zipped towards the batter in the blink of an eye—fast, as if it were lightning.

Such a pitch would initially be perceived as a fastball.

'A breaking ball couldn't spin like that.'

Facing this extremely sharp pitch that veered to the outside corner, Sawamura acted calmly and stepped toward the zone.

When the opponent forced him back, Sawamura stepped back in response.

The earlier retreat was intentional, not because Amahisa's pitch was really going to hit him.

He stepped back deliberately, anticipating that the opponent wanted to use an outside corner pitch to decide the game.

Rather than being forced to retreat, Sawamura Eijun had intentionally created an opening for the opponent.

Now, the Sankou's battery had indeed fallen into his trap.

Moreover, the pitch they threw was exactly what Sawamura Eijun had anticipated.

'A Slider!'

'Perfect!!!'

BUZZZ!!

Sawamura's form was opened in full, and the bat swung with all of his power, ready to meet the Slider that suddenly broke.

PIIIING!

The anticipated meeting happened, and the ball was Hammered with the bat, sending it soaring beautifully.

In the stands, all the spectators were momentarily silent.

Even the most fervent fans, who had been cheering hoarsely for Sawamura, were speechless.

All their eyes were on the white ball, watching it fly into the outfield stands of Jingu Stadium.

Pak!!

With a solid home run, Sawamura struck first and claimed the lead in the game.

"H-He DID IT!! A CLEAN HOME RUN!!!!" the commentator awakened the people from their astonishment with his cheering

"SAWAMURA!"

"SAWAMURA!!!"

In less than two seconds, the entire crowd in the stands erupted with the name "Sawamura."

The stands of Jingu Stadium shook with the roar of excitement.

Outside Jingu Stadium, many passing tourists looked at the stadium in amazement.

"Is there a major event happening?"

"No, it's a high school baseball match."

"High school students?"

A teenage tourist looked up at the stadium, puzzled.

Is high school baseball really this thrilling?

"Which teams are playing right now?"

"Tokyo Seidou High School and Ichidaisan High School!"

The tour guide, clearly a fan, knew the details of the ongoing game.

He had a hint of regret in his eyes—he wished he could see the game in person.

But he had to work.

'Seidou High School?'

"Are high school games free?"

"Yes! This one is!"

Aside from Koshien and Jingu tournaments, most other high school games are free, requiring no tickets.

"Lee-Hyun, want to go see it together? Are you not joining Seidou next year?"

…