"I never thought you'd be the one to benefit from this, you brat," Azuma Kiyokuni said with a laugh.
"Azuma-senpai, you're too kind. I just got lucky."
Miyuki smiled as well.
Hitting a home run on the Koshien field truly felt different. Every one of his thirty-six thousand pores felt unbelievably comfortable.
Although his words were modest, the expression on his face was enough to infuriate anyone.
"Brat!"
Azuma Kiyokuni grumbled irritably.
Although he didn't particularly like Miyuki, he had to admit that the boy's talent for baseball was impeccable.
Azuma Kiyokuni had never seen hitting talent like Zhang Han's in anyone else. Zhang Han was unique. Not only was there no newcomer who could surpass him now, it was unlikely anyone would catch up to him in the future.
Azuma Kiyokuni had originally thought Zhang Han was truly one of a kind.
Now, it seems that might not be the case.
Not to mention Zhang Han, even Miyuki who had only just joined the baseball team would never have been able to hit a home run off Shinko High School's tall pitcher during the Summer Tournament.
Yet now, barely a month later, Miyuki already possessed that ability.
Zhang Han hadn't broken the record, but Miyuki had caught up.
These first-year newcomers were terrifying.
"Nice job!"
Everyone went up to congratulate him. Zhang Han didn't want to be an exception, so he walked over and gave Miyuki a thumbs-up.
"Are you praising me, or mocking me?"
Miyuki, who had been feeling pleased, immediately sobered up.
"Are you crazy? Can't you tell that was sincere?"
"Forget it. With the five runs from today's game, you already have ten runs total and two home runs. If I perform well too, what does that make you?"
Good players stimulated each other.
Sometimes, Miyuki was truly grateful that he had met Zhang Han among players of the same era at Seido High School. Although they didn't play the same position, they could compete in baseball skills, especially hitting.
Because he didn't want to lose to Zhang Han, his progress had been so rapid.
In the past, Miyuki only practiced an extra one hundred swings privately each day.
It wasn't because he was lazy. As the team's main catcher, he had to master too many techniques and simply couldn't devote all his energy to batting practice.
But now, he had added three hundred more swings on his own.
Combined with the two hundred swings practiced with the team, that meant he was swinging the bat more than five hundred times a day.
As a baseball genius, Miyuki didn't lack talent.
But talent alone would never have allowed him to improve this quickly.
It was talent combined with sweat that produced his astonishing performance on the Koshien field.
"You've got big ambitions, kid. Are you trying to catch up to Zhang Han?"
Captain Tanaka stared at Miyuki in disbelief.
Zhang Han had not been particularly famous during his middle school years.
Among players of their generation in Tokyo, if one listed ten star players, Zhang Han would have barely made the list if at all.
That was only because Matsukata Little League made it to the national tournament, allowing its main players to gain fame.
Otherwise, whether Zhang Han could even rank in the top ten was questionable.
Not to mention star players from other prestigious Little League teams even within Matsukata, two players were more famous than Zhang Han.
They were Hoshida and Miyakawa, who went on to Ichidai Third High School.
Others like Carlos, Narumiya Mei, Shirakawa, Miyuki, Yabe, and many more also subtly overshadowed Zhang Han in fame.
Yet this very player, who ranked near the bottom during his junior baseball days, seemed to gain a cheat code after entering high school.
He continuously surpassed second- and third-year senpais, rapidly growing into a core player of the baseball team.
Now, aside from Azuma Kiyokuni and Yuuki, no one even dared to compete with Zhang Han in hitting.
Tanaka himself had once been known as one of the three mainstays of Seido High School Baseball Team.
But after witnessing Zhang Han's growth firsthand, even he had completely abandoned the idea of competing with him.
It wasn't that Tanaka wasn't working hard.
Reality simply didn't allow it.
Zhang Han had already reached a point where Tanaka could barely see his back.
It had only been a few short months.
When Zhang Han first joined the team, in Tanaka's eyes, he had still been extremely green.
But now, only months later, they couldn't even glimpse his silhouette anymore.
And Miyuki wanted to compete with such a monster?
Tanaka originally wanted to say something, but suddenly found himself unable to speak.
He had previously seen the notes kept by the team manager, Takako, and was well aware of everyone's batting statistics.
Miyuki's hitting success rate and runs scored were already very impressive.
And now, he has hit a home run at Koshien.
Without them realizing it, it wasn't only Zhang Han who had surpassed them.
Miyuki had caught up as well.
"These first-years are truly unbelievable…"
Tanaka felt momentarily dejected.
They couldn't see Zhang Han's back, but Miyuki probably still could.
Even so, Tanaka didn't believe Miyuki had any chance of truly catching up to Zhang Han.
In just two games, Seido High School Baseball Team had scored over thirty runs.
Their offensive power was nothing short of terrifying.
And among all of them, the most outstanding performer was still Zhang Han.
Even though Azuma Kiyokuni had already hit four home runs, he couldn't overshadow Zhang Han's brilliance.
After all, Zhang Han had scored ten runs in just two games, nearly one-third of Seido High School Baseball Team's total score.
Such a performance was dazzling enough to illuminate everything around him.
Truly astonishing.
The game ended, and Seido High School Baseball Team successfully advanced to the quarterfinals.
This achievement alone was already exceptional.
Every team that makes it to Koshien aims to win the championship.
But only one team can achieve that goal each year.
Does that mean that failing to win the championship makes a team a failure?
Of course not.
Even without winning it all, reaching the quarterfinals is a respectable accomplishment for most teams.
They played brilliantly.
Although Seido High School Baseball Team always shouted about dominating the nation, reaching this stage was already a tremendous achievement.
They could proudly answer to both the fans and the school.
Once again, Seido High School Baseball Team became famous nationwide.
No one could say they had failed.
They were a success.
Even though the Koshien tournament was not yet over, the players of Seido High School Baseball Team knew in their hearts that their biggest strategic goal had already been accomplished.
This Summer Tournament left them with nothing but joy and celebration.
Even if their journey ended here, there would only be slight regret nothing more.
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