"SWOOSH!"
"Ping!"
"I've got it!" Hirai Tsubasa shouted loudly, making sure there was no confusion with his teammates.
"Smack!"
"Out!"
Akiba Kazuma managed to drag the at-bat to six pitches, but in the end, he was still deceived by Narumiya Mei's slider. The ball floated between first and second base, where Hirai Tsubasa calmly caught it for the out.
"Nice, two outs!"
"Well done, Mei! They can't touch your pitches at all—keep it coming!"
Hearing his teammates' praise, Narumiya Mei turned his head with a smug expression.
"No way. I'm striking them all out."
Then, in a voice too low for others to hear, he muttered,
"I'm not losing to some first-year."
Behind the plate, Masatoshi Harada's veins throbbed visibly. If not for the ongoing game, he might have already walked up and smacked that brat on the head.
"Third batter, third baseman, Todoroki Raichi!"
Despite being struck out in his previous at-bat, Todoroki Raichi showed no signs of discouragement. He stepped into the batter's box with his usual manic grin, eyes gleaming like a wild beast locked onto its prey.
"Kahahahaha! Come on—throw that changeup! I'm gonna smash it!"
Narumiya Mei shot him a disdainful look.
"You want to hit my changeup? Then try it."
Behind the plate, Harada weighed his options.
After the last round, they can barely keep up with Mei's fastball… If we reverse the approach, we might get better results. This could turn into a pitcher's duel—letting them make contact and relying on defense might also conserve Mei's pitch count.
He sighed inwardly.
But with Mei's personality… dealing with pitchers is exhausting.
Even so, Harada ultimately chose to go along with Narumiya's preference and called for a breaking ball.
Narumiya's eyes lit up instantly, his expression practically saying, "That's more like it, Masa-san!"
Harada's veins bulged even harder.
You idiot—just throw the pitch already!
"Whoosh!"
The baseball sped toward home plate—high and inside.
Raichi's eyes burned with excitement.
"It's here, it's here! Is this the changeup?! Hahaha!"
As the ball neared the plate, Raichi swung with all his might.
"BOOM!!!"
The swing was as monstrous as ever.
And the ball did indeed slow down, dropping with a slight lateral drift.
"Smack!"
"Strike!"
Even though Raichi guessed correctly, his timing was off. The bat cut through empty air as the ball settled cleanly into Harada's glove.
"Hahaha! So this is Narumiya Mei's changeup? Amazing—seriously amazing!"
Raichi shouted excitedly, completely unfazed.
In the Yakushi dugout, Todoroki Raizo sighed and rubbed his forehead.
"That idiot… always yelling. I wonder where he got that from."
Immediately, he felt multiple gazes land on him. Looking up, he saw his teammates staring with teasing expressions.
"…Don't look at me like that! I'm not admitting anything!"
"Hahahahaha!"
Laughter erupted throughout the Yakushi bench.
Meanwhile, the audience in the stands looked utterly confused.
"Did Yakushi lose it from the pressure?"
"I don't think so… the game's still even."
"Hard to say. If Raichi gets struck out twice, that's gotta sting."
Back on the field, Narumiya had already pushed Raichi into a two-strike count with just two pitches.
Although Raichi managed to foul off the changeup on his second attempt, it was nowhere near fair territory.
Behind the plate, Harada gave a subtle signal.
That changeup should be burned into his mind by now. But throwing it too often will make it float. Even you have limits, Mei.
Next pitch—end it here.
Narumiya frowned slightly but nodded.
"Whoosh!"
The third pitch came in at a similar speed, aimed just outside the strike zone—clearly a ball.
But Raichi, relying on his previous reads, committed fully and swung at where he expected the ball to drop.
Only—
The ball didn't slow down.
It kept its speed, cutting straight toward the glove.
Realizing he'd been fooled, Raichi tried to adjust mid-swing.
"BOOM!!!"
"Ping!"
But his rhythm was completely disrupted. Even with his monstrous power, he couldn't recover.
The ball popped weakly into the air.
Narumiya calmly stepped forward and caught it himself.
"Out! Three outs—change sides!"
The crowd erupted into cheers once again.
Narumiya looked at Raichi with a smug expression, clearly mocking his miscalculation.
The commentator's voice rang out across the stadium:
"As expected of Narumiya Mei! A flawless performance shuts down Yakushi High School once again! Still no runs allowed in this tournament!"
"But don't forget—on the other side, Kitamura Kou has been just as incredible! Not only has he kept Inashiro hitless, he's already struck out nine consecutive batters!"
"Will this unbelievable pitcher's duel continue? Let's find out!"