SMACK!
The baseball snapped cleanly into the glove.
But Mishima didn't swing.
"Strike!"
The umpire waved his hand decisively.
Behind the plate, Miyuki Kazuya became even more certain of his guess.
Yakushi's hitters were clearly expecting inside pitches from Ushijima Wakatoshi.
So Miyuki set his glove again.
This time—
Outside corner.
A high fastball.
Ushijima nodded and delivered the second pitch.
In the batter's box, Mishima saw the pitch trajectory.
Another high outside fastball.
It looked almost identical to the previous one.
Seeing the opportunity, Mishima swung quickly.
CLANG!
The very tip of the bat grazed the bottom of the ball.
"Foul!"
The umpire signaled.
Now Mishima was in trouble.
Two strikes.
What's going on?
Wasn't this pitcher supposed to attack inside?
Why are all the pitches outside?
Is the third pitch going to the outside again?
Mishima began guarding the outside corner carefully.
Behind the plate, Miyuki watched his reaction and made his decision.
He flashed the sign.
Pitch type.
Location.
Wakatoshi understood instantly.
He raised both hands.
Lifted his left leg.
Then stepped forward and fired the pitch.
In the batter's box, Mishima's eyes lit up when he saw the trajectory.
"Outside pitch—mine!"
He swung immediately, confident in his guess.
But just before the bat connected—
The ball dropped.
The pitch suddenly cut downward toward the outside corner.
The bat sliced through empty air.
SMACK!
The baseball slammed into Miyuki's glove.
Swing and miss.
Mishima froze in disbelief.
"A cutter?!"
He had guessed outside correctly—
But he hadn't expected the cutter's sharp drop.
Wasn't this battery supposed to favor inside attacks?
Why are they attacking outside instead?
And why use a cutter there?
"Strike three!"
"Strikeout!"
"Amazing! A perfect three-up, three-down inning!"
The announcer's excited voice echoed throughout the stadium.
"Only seven pitches to retire three batters!"
In the Seido dugout, the players erupted.
"Ushijima! That was incredible!"
Kanemaru shouted excitedly.
"Yeah! He heats up instantly like a microwave!"
Hideaki Tojo laughed.
"Keep it up, Ushijima! Completely shut down Yakushi's lineup!"
Maezono yelled.
On the field, Wakatoshi received cheers from his teammates.
"Hah! Not bad, kid."
Jun Isashiki shouted proudly.
"That fastball's gotten even faster!"
"Those pitches were pretty terrifying,"
Ryosuke Kominato added with a smile.
But as they returned to the dugout—
They crossed paths with Raichi Todoroki running onto the field to defend.
Raichi's eyes never left Wakatoshi.
Wakatoshi stopped and spoke calmly.
"So?"
"Is your father still looking down on me?"
"Do you still think Narumiya Mei is the only rival worth facing in West Tokyo?"
Raichi didn't answer immediately.
Instead, he stared intensely at Wakatoshi.
"That pitch just now…"
"Was that your full strength?"
Wakatoshi laughed.
"I'll answer that after you beat him."
With that, he jogged away.
Raichi clenched his fists.
"I'll beat you."
"Fourth inning at the latest."
"Maybe even the third."
He believed in Yakushi's explosive offense.
If things moved quickly, he would get another at-bat in the third inning.
With that thought, Raichi ran to take his position at third base.
Back in Seido's dugout, Tesshin Kataoka spoke.
"Those pitches were impressive."
Wakatoshi scratched his head slightly.
"To be honest… I got lucky."
"I didn't expect the first two pitches to land in the strike zone."
"I was just planning to throw hard."
"But somehow they went in."
"If the first pitch hadn't been a strike, the second one probably wouldn't have worked either."
He smiled calmly.
Then he picked up his pitching glove again and looked toward Yakushi's mound.
The pitcher wearing number 10 stood there.
Not number 1.
Everyone in Seido noticed immediately.
Yakushi hadn't sent out their ace.
"They're still hiding their trump card…"
Wakatoshi muttered.
"So they're underestimating us."
His words instantly raised the team's morale.
Yakushi's ace still hadn't appeared.
Instead, they were using their number 10 pitcher.
Wakatoshi then added calmly:
"If we can't score five runs this inning…"
"I'll stop pitching batting practice for you guys."
"Huh?!"
The Seido players were shocked.
Then furious.
Wakatoshi's batting practice was incredibly valuable.
He threw professional-level fastballs and a huge variety of pitches:
Four-seam
Two-seam
Cutter
Sinker
Shootball
Curveball
Slider
Forkball
Facing those pitches had drastically improved their batting.
If Wakatoshi stopped throwing batting practice—
That would be a disaster.
Inside, Wakatoshi smiled secretly.
Two months of training had made them completely addicted to his pitching practice.
Threatening to stop it was the perfect motivation.
"Charge!!!"
Jun Isashiki roared.
"Kuramochi! If you don't get on base, you might as well kill yourself!"
"Just dig a hole and bury yourself!"
Ryosuke Kominato added mercilessly.
"Uh… hehe…"
Youichi Kuramochi chuckled nervously as he stepped into the batter's box.
"If you can't reach base, don't come back!"
Isashiki shouted again.
Kuramochi simply grinned.
Then—
The pitcher threw the first pitch.
Kuramochi swung instantly.
"Too slow!"
After getting used to Wakatoshi's blazing pitches, Yakushi's pitcher felt slow.
The fastball didn't even reach 135 km/h.
CRACK!
Kuramochi blasted the ball deep into center field.
Using his incredible speed—
He sprinted all the way to second base.
Standing on second, he laughed confidently.
"Haha!"
Then he clenched his fist toward the Seido dugout.