Chapter 33: Disappointment!

In private, Narumiya Mei, who usually has an eccentric personality, underwent a dramatic transformation the moment he stepped onto the pitcher's mound.

It was like he became an unsheathed sword.

His presence seemed poised to pierce through everything in front of him.

Faced with such a Narumiya Mei, the players of Ichidai Sankou High School were helpless.

Roaar!

A sharp fastball, reaching speeds of 150 km/h, shot straight from Narumiya's hand and into Tadano's mitt.

Snap!

"STRIKE!"

"STRIKE!!"

"STRIKE BATTER OUT!!!"

Without any suspense, the first batter from Ichidai Sankou High School was struck out.

"Hey, Mori, why didn't you swing the bat just now?"

In the dugout, Tahara Toshihiko—Sankou's Coach—was furious.

But no amount of anger could change the fact that the batter who just stepped off the field was still trembling with fear.

'What the hell?!'

As soon as he saw the ball pitched, it was already right in front of him roaring like a beast.

Although they had simulated that pitch speed using a pitching machine before the game, standing in the Batter's Box and facing Narumiya Mei felt entirely different.

The small ball zoomed over without any warning!

It left no time for a reaction.

Thinking back on it now, he was shaking all over.

"Damn!"

Tahara Toshihiko glared at Narumiya on the mound, unwilling to accept the situation.

Although he felt fortunate to have Amahisa Kousei, he knew there was still a gap compared to Seidou High School and Inajitsu.

The Coach could confidently say that Amahisa Kousei definitely has the strength of a top national pitcher.

However, even so, when comparing Amahisa Kousei to Narumiya Mei and Sawamura Eijun, it was clear that Amahisa was a level below those two.

This difference was obvious to the naked eye.

Just like now, when it came to easily getting three Outs.

Narumiya from Inajitsu High School clearly had an easier time doing that.

On the contrary, for Ichidaisan High School!

The Amahisa Kousei just now had obviously given it his all.

In such a horizontal comparison, it was uncertain how long Amahisa Kousei could hold out.

"Has he fully recovered?"

In the stands, Watanabe watched Narumiya, who had just recorded two strikeouts and one out, feeling a mix of emotions.

Previously, during the Spring Koshien, Inajitsu High School had struggled immensely due to their groupings.

Especially their Ace pitcher, Narumiya, who had been overworked and performed poorly toward the end of the Koshien.

Now, just ten days had passed since the finals.

Given how severely he had been drained, it seemed impossible for him to fully recover in such a short time.

Yet, Narumiya's current form looked excellent, even showing slight improvement.

'This guy is truly resilient!' Watanabe complained.

It was tragic that both teams were in the same division.

Whether it was Seidou or Inajitsu, one of them would inevitably miss out on Koshien this summer.

Thinking about it made him feel a sense of regret.

However, Watanabe had full confidence that the team making it to Koshien would definitely be Seidou High School.

He had absolute faith in his teammates.

The game continued on the field.

The Aces of both teams were locked in a battle, and under their impressive performances, neither team had scored in the early innings.

This continued until the sixth inning.

Carlos, stepping up to the plate for the third time, suddenly erupted after being toyed with twice.

PANG!!!!

The white ball, after being hit, soared directly into the left-field stands.

Pak!

"YEAAAHHHHH!!!!!"

Carlos raised his arms and screamed.

'Recently, it seemed like every strong team in the Tokyo area had an Ace pitcher.'

'This made things quite awkward for us strong batters.'

'You could tell that when pitchers perform well, the batters become mere background players.'

'Just wait!'

'The real Era Of Batters is not far off!'

'Amahisa, Sanada, Furuya, Mukai, and…'

'Sawamura!!!!'

'One day, I will hit your pitches, one by one.'

With this home run, Carlos helped his team take the lead.

Immediately after, Shirakawa reached base, and Yamaoka landed a timely hit.

Inajitsu High School took a commanding two-point lead.

The score was now 2:0.

Next, Ichidai Sankou High School launched their offense!

Coach Kunitomo of Inajitsu High School chose to change pitchers.

This move caught the audience off guard.

"With four innings left in the game and Narumiya still in good form, why change now?"

"This is simply perplexing!"

"You must know that Ichidai's offense had yet to fully explode!"

"Yeah, once they did, it is unlikely that the backup pitcher, Hirano, could hold up!"

Even the audience could see that, let alone reporters who specialize in high school baseball.

Owada Akiko rested her chin on her hand, puzzled.

"Is Coach Kunitomo being too overconfident?"

She didn't say this without reason; it was based on logic. Under normal circumstances, you wouldn't take out your Ace pitcher at this point.

If you had to change, you could do it like Seidou High School does.

Let Narumiya go play in the outfield!

This way, if the situation went south, Narumiya could easily come back in.

Fujio, next to her, shook his head and said, "It's probably not that simple!"

'There were only two possibilities for Coach Kunitomo to decide to pull Narumiya at this moment.'

'One is that he wanted to do it voluntarily, and the other is that he had to do it.'

If Coach Kunitomo chose to do this voluntarily, the intention was clear.

That would mean he was giving up on the Spring Tournament.

Such a possibility should not exist; after all, the Spring Tournament affects the seed spots for the Summer Tournament.

In other words, it would affect the summer groupings.

'Didn't they experience how terrifying is a death group during the spring Koshien?'

In a battle zone like Tokyo, the severity of a death group is magnified.

Even the mighty Seidou High School was down because of poor grouping in the Fall Tournament.

Coach Kunitomo had to be aware of this. Given their current grouping, as long as they defeated Ichidai Sankou High School, they should easily advance to the top 16.

In other words, the seed spots would be within reach.

Under such circumstances, how could they voluntarily give up the game?

"No matter how unbelievable it seems, in the current situation, Coach Kunitomo has to do this."

"But Narumiya seems fine, doesn't he?" Akiko Owada asked, confused.

"Look at the issue beyond the surface; consider the significance of their actions," Fujio explained.

'Inajitsu High School's decision revealed everything.'

'There must be a reason why Narumiya had to come off.'

'But what exactly triggered his exit? Was it the pitch count or the situation on the field?'

'If it's the situation on the field, it suggests that Narumiya can still hold on.'

'If it's the pitch count…'

'60 pitches!'

'In the previous five innings, Narumiya-kun had only thrown a total of 60 pitches.'

This raised serious concerns!

"Coward!"

As for Inajitsu High School's decision to replace Narumiya from the mound, Amahisa Kousei was filled with dissatisfaction.

He had just found his rhythm, and now the opponent's Ace was fleeing.

It didn't matter if it was the Coach's decision or if Narumiya's body couldn't take it. As the Ace pitcher of the team, occupying the mound of a prestigious school like Inajitsu, he absolutely should not choose to back down now.

Such behavior made Amahisa immensely disappointed and dissatisfied.

He has expected more from the only pitcher who can go toe to toe against the great Demon King.

This successfully angered Narumiya in Inajitsu's dugout.

"Damn, I obviously…"

Just as Narumiya wanted to say something, a cold glare from his Coach instantly silenced him.

Coach Kunitomo was radiating a chilling aura.

It was like a massive iceberg, putting immense pressure on the surrounding players.

The game continued on the field.

Though Hirano didn't have Narumiya's intimidating presence, he quickly gave up a hit but managed to hold the sixth inning with defensive support.

To support Hirano's pitching, the lower half of Inajitsu High School's lineup erupted in the seventh inning.

They scored a run thanks to a fortunate double.

The team extended their lead to three points.

The audience, who thought Inajitsu High School was on the verge of defeat, was pleasantly surprised to see this.

Especially when Inajitsu High School scored their third run, they briefly believed the team might actually win.

Of course, this was destined to be just an illusion.

In the second half of the seventh inning, the Ichidai Sankou High School lineup started firing their guns back.

Ping!

The white ball was hit and soared out of the park.

The one who hit the home run was Hoshida.

Immediately after, Sasaki hit a double and was sent home by subsequent batters.

The score became 3:2.

The stalemate continued into the eighth inning, where Sankou High School scored again.

The score was now tied at 3:3.

In the final two innings, Amahisa Kousei seemed to be on fire.

He suppressed the entire Inajitsu High School lineup, leaving them no room to breathe.

Even top batters like Carlos and Shirakawa were helpless.

In the last inning, Hoshida hit a two-run home run.

He helped the team completely turn the game around.

The score was now at 5:3.

Previously, the tenacious Inajitsu High School, which seemed indomitable, was eliminated in the third round of the spring tournament.

It was Ichidaisan High School that took them out.

Although many objective factors played a part in this match, it cannot be denied that Ichidai Sankou High School was also a formidable opponent.

Throughout the entire process, they only allowed Inajitsu High School's batters to hit six times.

They only scored three runs.

If we solely discuss the performance of the pitcher, Amahisa Kousei now possesses the caliber of a top national pitcher, having suppressed Inajitsu's lineup to such an extent.

…

T/N: That was unexpected, right?