"Tch."
Standing on the mound, Kitamura Kou clicked his tongue in dissatisfaction and kicked at the dirt in front of him.
The pitch he had just thrown hadn't landed where he wanted.
Instead of hitting the exact target, it had missed by nearly the width of an entire baseball and drifted outside the strike zone.
A moment later, the electronic scoreboard displayed the pitch speed:
153 km/h
Of course, the spectators had no idea why Kou was unhappy.
To them, the pitch had been nothing short of incredible.
"Wow! That ball is ridiculously fast!"
"It looks way more impressive in person than on television!"
"And that's not even Kitamura-san's fastest pitch yet!"
"I can't wait to see him throw 160 kilometers per hour!"
"Seriously. There aren't even many professional pitchers in Japan throwing that kind of speed right now."
"Kitamura-san might become the first!"
"Not necessarily! Our Seido pitcher, Furuya, isn't far behind. It's hard to say who'll reach 160 first."
"Hmph! Don't forget about Hongo from Komadai Fujimaki!"
"He throws over 150 too!"
"Why are you only talking about those schools? Kanagawa has a pitcher like that as well!"
"You mean Shigeno?"
"I'm a huge fan of him!"
The crowd buzzed with excitement.
But the game continued uninterrupted.
"Next batter, center fielder, Mima!"
Mima Soichiro stepped into the batter's box.
For a brief moment, excitement flickered across his usually calm face before quickly disappearing.
Like everyone else, he was curious.
Could he steal a base against a pitcher like Kitamura Kou?
Could he challenge a fastball that few high school players had ever seen?
But before any of that—
He first needed to reach base.
Let's watch one pitch first.
With that decision made, Mima focused completely on the mound.
Searching.
Observing.
Looking for any weakness he could exploit.
In the Hakuryu dugout, Coach Sasaki stared at Kou intently.
A stopwatch rested in his hand.
The moment Kou began his motion, Sasaki pressed the start button.
BOOM!
The baseball exploded from Kou's hand and rocketed toward the plate at a steep angle.
THUMP!!!
"Ball!"
As soon as the pitch settled into Akaishi Osamu's glove, Sasaki stopped the stopwatch.
His eyes narrowed.
"One and a half seconds."
"Just as expected."
Even if someone managed to get on base, stealing against Kou wouldn't be easy.
That made the current one-run deficit incredibly significant.
For the hundredth time that game, Sasaki found himself envying Todoroki Raizo's luck.
The scoreboard flashed:
153 km/h
Mima nodded slightly.
As expected.
A real pitch is completely different from a pitching machine.
It's alive.
The movement.
The spin.
The pressure.
Everything felt different.
Simply watching would accomplish nothing.
If he continued waiting, Kou's control would only put him deeper into the count.
Fine.
I'll swing.
Meanwhile, Kou had no interest in overthinking things.
He still hadn't fully measured Mima's batting ability.
But that didn't matter.
His job was simple.
Strike out every remaining batter.
BOOM!!!
Another blazing fastball screamed toward the outer corner.
Mima had already committed to swinging.
But when he saw the pitch location, he couldn't help but admire it.
That's really far outside.
Even so, his hands moved without hesitation.
He attacked the ball with a full-power swing.
THUMP!!!
The pitch slammed into Akaishi's glove before Mima's bat could even arrive.
"Strike!"
The scoreboard flashed again:
151 km/h
Still too fast.
Mima wasn't discouraged.
Instead, he immediately adjusted his plan.
Then I'll try it this way.
Seeing Mima refuse to give up, Kou decided to stop playing around.
Forget precision.
Forget corners.
This time—
He would simply overpower him.
Kou gripped the baseball tightly and unleashed his full strength.
Even when he noticed Mima suddenly switch to a shortened bat grip, he didn't hesitate.
BOOM!!!
The baseball roared toward the plate like a charging beast.
Mima's eyes sharpened.
He knew exactly what was coming.
And he swung anyway.
PING!!!
The moment bat met ball—
Mima's expression changed.
Heavy!
The impact felt like colliding with a speeding car.
Pain exploded through both hands.
For a moment, he nearly lost his grip on the bat entirely.
Ignoring the pain, Mima desperately forced the bat through the zone, trying to guide the ball toward third base.
But the sheer weight behind the pitch ruined his plan.
Instead of dribbling weakly down the line, the ball shot toward third base much faster than he had expected.
Mima immediately abandoned all thoughts of the ball.
He sprinted toward first base at full speed.
At third base, Nakanishi Daiki once again displayed athleticism that seemed completely at odds with his large frame.
Moving surprisingly quickly, he charged forward and cleanly fielded the ball.
Without hesitation, he fired a throw across the diamond.
SMACK!
The ball settled into Mishima Yuta's glove.
"Out!"
No miracle.
No defensive mistake.
No Todoroki Raichi-style mishap.
Just clean baseball.
With Nakanishi's stronger defense securing the play, Mima was retired by a full step.
Only after the play ended did the scoreboard reveal the pitch speed.
154 km/h
The fastest pitch Kou had thrown all day.
Mima's out was anything but shameful.
Few high school players could successfully deaden a 154 km/h fastball.
The crowd erupted into thunderous applause.
Even in professional baseball, pitchers capable of consistently throwing above 150 km/h were rare.
In high school baseball?
A monster like Kitamura Kou was nearly unprecedented.
Still, many spectators couldn't hide their disappointment.
They had hoped to witness the showdown everyone was waiting for—
Mima Soichiro's speed versus Kitamura Kou's arm.
But Mima never reached first base.
That duel would have to wait for another day.
Hakuryu's second batter, Miyako, fared no better.
He too fell victim to Kou's overpowering pitching and struck out.
With that, Yakushi High School finally completed a scoreless inning.
For the first time in a while, they had completely halted Hakuryu's offense.
Now—
It was Yakushi High School's turn to attack.