Chapter 340: The Impermanence of the World
"Seidou High… has evolved! Both their pitching staff and their batting lineup! Who would've thought that simply swapping the order of two hitters could bring about such earth-shaking changes?" Mine Fujio said as he watched the stadium erupt in cheers.
"Mine-san? What do you mean by that?"
"What are the defining traits of Sendo and Yuuki from Seidou?" Mine countered instead of answering.
"Well… Sendo-kun feels like a slugger who can change the game with one swing. Yuuki-kun—Tetsu-san—seems more focused on batting average, especially clutch, timely hits, rather than deliberately aiming for home runs?"
"That's not wrong. In the regional final, having cleanup Yuuki get on base and Sendo clear the bases made perfect sense. But now that today's batting order has appeared, we realize that arrangement actually limited both Sendo and Yuuki's potential."
"Huh?"
"From what this game reveals, this was a long-planned adjustment by Seidou—and it's been a huge success. Sendo has the kind of swing that can shock—or even shatter—a pitcher's psyche. Yet against Inashiro, they didn't maximize that strength.
Because Narumiya Mei's mentality isn't so easily broken. When Sendo hit his first home run in that game, Narumiya struggled but managed to recover. And Seidou gave him the time to do so. At that moment, Narumiya's mindset clearly wavered and his control slipped—but Masuko didn't capitalize. Now imagine if that batter had been Yuuki instead."
Owada's eyes widened.
If Yuuki had stepped in while Narumiya was still mentally unstable and trying to regain composure… the pitch Masuko failed to punish might have been driven deep.
That game might have exploded right then and there.
"Exactly. As I said, Sendo is the kind of batter who can crack a pitcher's mental foundation. Even a strong-willed pitcher—like today's Ino—once his most confident pitch gets launched, won't collapse on the spot, but the damage is real. Cracks form. And when the pitcher urgently needs to stabilize himself, facing Yuuki next would be devastating. Even walking Yuuki would only deepen the wound. That's one purpose of Seidou's current batting order. Placing a power hitter behind Sendo is far more terrifying than stacking runners ahead of him. Giving up one or two extra runs is better than having your pitcher's mind shattered.
For any pitcher, Seidou's current lineup is the gates of hell."
"Mine-san! You said that's only one purpose?"
"That's right. Even Sendo can't hit a bomb every single time. But when both teams are locked in a scoring stalemate—when runs are hard to come by—
Assuming they won't walk both Sendo and Yuuki at once—Which would a pitcher rather face first: Yuuki or Sendo?"
"That's—!"
"Exactly. If pitchers could choose, they'd rather not face Sendo first. No one can confidently suppress both of them. If Sendo comes first, and given Seidou's lineup strength you can't just walk Yuuki afterward, then you're forced to accept a brutal condition: When facing Sendo, you must not let him reach base. Not via hit. Not via walk. Not via hit-by-pitch. Not even via something like that safety bunt he used against Inashiro."
"That's impossible, isn't it?"
"Precisely. And if Sendō reaches third base? Then your only option is to perfectly shut down Yuuki. Meaning, if Sendo is on third, you can't even allow a squeeze play opportunity."
"That's another nearly impossible condition…"
"Now you understand, right? When both lineups stall, the combination of cleanup Sendo and fifth batter Yuuki possesses terrifying siege power. And on top of that, you must always stay alert for Sendo's next bomb."
As for walking both batters consecutively—even for a pitcher at Narumiya Mei's level—that would be like drinking poison to quench thirst.
It would also be a blatant disrespect to Masuko and Miyuki.
Narumiya himself had no confidence in shutting down those two for an entire game. Giving up two free bases would be suicidal.
What Mine Fujio described was only what he could see.
The reality was even more terrifying.
Because no one outside Seidou knew about the cooperation between Sendo and Yuuki—
The way Sendo, standing on second base, would identify the pitch type and use a steal as a signal if it matched what Yuuki was waiting for.
If that ever came to light, opponents would lose their minds.
Of course, no one at Seidou would ever reveal such a true trump card.
As runners slowly returned home, the game prepared to resume—after Yokohama's mound visit ended.
No one expected a miracle anymore.
The only question left was:
By how many runs would Seidou slaughter Yokohama?
Though the bases were now empty with no outs, Yokohama's second-year pitcher Yamada had to face Yuuki immediately after giving up a home run.
Just as Mine had said—
Sendo cracked the pitcher's mental foundation, and Yuuki came in to finish the job.
Those who understood this situation best were the Inashiro players watching the game—everyone except their "self-isolating" king.
After all, they had once been the victims.
Now they were almost relieved Seidou hadn't thought of this batting order earlier.
Of course, that was half a joke.
Back then, Sendō wasn't as strong as he is now.
And no one could have predicted that day's god-tier performance.
That last at-bat had felt almost divine.
Yamada wasn't Ino. All Shiraha could do was stabilize him temporarily.
They couldn't change pitchers again—there was only a first-year left on the bench, brought to Koshien just to gain experience. They couldn't throw him into the fire and scar him for life.
After the timeout, the outcome was exactly what everyone expected.
With Yamada still visibly shaken, Yokohama walked Yuuki.
And then what?
Shiraha wanted to ask that too.
Facing Yuuki head-on was suicide.
But the next batter was Masuko—the very one who had homered earlier.
Yes, that homer had come after Sendo broke Ino's spirit.
But didn't the situation feel eerily similar?
"Game over!"
When the game ended, it felt almost unreal.
In the end, Yokohama still had no way to break through Seidou's ace. Tanba faced six batters and struck out all six—a perfect closing statement.
But what truly stunned everyone was Seidou's batting lineup.
18–0.
This wasn't a showdown between powerhouse schools.
It was a massacre.
After Sendo's explosion, the next one to "taste crab" wasn't Masuko or Miyuki—but the ninth batter, Furuya.
That airheaded genius blasted Seidou's fourth home run of the day.
That swing completely killed the game.
On Yokohama's side, they didn't even have the energy to hold grudges. Losing like this… there were no regrets left.
Who would believe that after the final salute, Yokohama's players actually offered words of encouragement to Seidou?
That day, powerhouses across the country engraved two names into memory:
Furuya Satoru.
Sendo Akira.
For the next three years, they would have to deal with these two.
Of course, some teams were even more troubled—because their Koshien run wasn't over yet.
After the quarterfinals, the bracket would be redrawn. No one wanted to draw Seidou.
It wasn't just the lineup.
Seidou's pitching depth was terrifying.
Across eight defensive innings today, their three pitchers barely broke a sweat—more like a warm-up. And there was still one more pitcher on the bench who hadn't even taken the mound.
This summer, no one could hope Seidou's pitching staff would collapse from fatigue in consecutive games.
If they wanted to beat them, they'd have to do it head-on.
.....
The players sent to the interview were Sendo and Yuuki.
Seidou wasn't ready to let Furuya handle media duties just yet.
Some of the upperclassmen broke into cold sweat when Sendo stepped up to the microphones.
After all… that mouth of his.
But surprisingly, Sendo didn't say anything outrageous this time. Jun and the others quietly breathed in relief.
After the Summer Qualifier interview incident, they were wary.
What they didn't know was—
Sendo simply felt there wasn't much to say.
He was "collecting material."
During that interview, Sendo heard the name Hongo Masamune for the first time and recalled Komadai Fujimaki, a team that, like Seidou, had four pitchers.
The difference?
Komadai had a true ace—Hongo Masamune.
In their match against Inashiro, it had been Hongo vs. Narumiya Mei in a pitcher's duel. From what little was mentioned, Hongo only came off the mound late in the game.
In the original timeline, it was noted that he could still maintain over 140 km/h late into games.
Today's Ino wasn't weak—his velocity was there. His control simply wasn't as stable as the elite-tier aces.
Most reporters believed Seidou held the edge in raw power over Komadai.
Komadai's lineup wasn't particularly fearsome.
Yes, they beat Inashiro—but Narumiya Mei had pitched three days before the final and thrown a complete game against Seiho. He also pitched seven innings in the semifinal.
By the time he faced Komadai, he was physically and mentally drained.
Even then, he only allowed two runs over nine innings.
If Yuuki hadn't been injured in the original timeline, Seidou might have crushed that fatigued Narumiya.
But facts were facts:
Komadai faced an exhausted Narumiya and dragged the game to fourteen innings to win the title.
Seidou faced a fully rested, peak-condition Narumiya—and lost.
.....
After defeating Yokohama in this timeline, Seidou crushed an unknown "experience donation" team 15–0 in the third round and advanced to the quarterfinals.
Notably, their pitching rotation was:
Furuya → Kawakami → Tanba.
Kawakami was brought in mainly to experience Koshien atmosphere—to prevent him from collapsing under pressure later if suddenly called upon.
With Tanba fully revived, Seidou's pitching staff became incredibly stable.
Coach Kataoka also made subtle adjustments, rotating players. Miyauchi even started at catcher.
The lineup remained explosive, keeping Seidou at peak attention across Koshien.
....
Advancing teams included:
Seiho
Seidou
Komadai Fujimaki
Hakuryu
Kiryu
Ikuei
(Two more to be decided)
In this timeline, Kiryu did not clash with Seiho early.
Sano hit his 67th and 68th career home runs in the second and third rounds.
Seiho's second-round game came after Seidou's.
Interestingly, Seidou's third-round opponent had gone to extremes—after Sendo hit one home run in the first inning, they walked both Sendo and Yuuki every single at-bat, trying to "lose by less."
It didn't work.
They still lost badly.
And Sendo was thoroughly disgusted.
It reminded him of his junior high days—the endless intentional walks.
A dark memory.
....
Before the quarterfinals, Seidou had one rest day.
The new draw would take place immediately after the final game of the round.
Up to this point, Yuuki's luck with draws had been excellent—no consecutive brutal matchups before the quarterfinal stage.
But after that?
There were no easy opponents left.
Title contenders:
Seiho
Kiryu
Komadai Fujimaki
None were on Inashiro's level in both offense and defense simultaneously.
The closest might be Seihō—a "weaker pitching, stronger batting" version of Inashiro.
The final two games concluded.
Yuuki stepped up again for the draw.
His luck… finally ran out.
Quarterfinal, first match:
Seidou vs. Kiryu.
If they advanced, they would face the winner of:
Seiho vs. Ikuei.
And the final?
Though others didn't know—
Sendo had a feeling.
It would be Komadai Fujimaki.
Three games.
Two championship favorites.
And the last one? The original timeline's Summer–Spring back-to-back champion.
"Come out and fight long enough, and sooner or later you'll have to pay."
Still, if Sendo could choose, he'd rather swap Komadai and Seiho.
Facing Seihō in the final would mean their pitchers were exhausted from consecutive games.
Komadai, like Seidou, had a four-pitcher rotation—fatigue wouldn't be an issue. The earlier they faced them, the better.
So what was Yuuki's luck?
Top-tier early draws.
Bottom-tier nightmare afterward.
Was he lucky or unlucky?
....
Ikuei—the team Inashiro beat 7–2—wasn't impressive.
Narumiya's two runs allowed came largely from fatigue after battling Seiho and pitching deep into the quarterfinal.
As for Ikuei's defense…
Better not mention it.
Looking at all summer opponents, Seidou's worst matchup was:
1. Inashiro (regional qualifiers)
2. Seiho
3. Kiryu
Inashiro possessed the offensive firepower to crack Seidou's pitchers.
More terrifyingly, they had Narumiya Mei, who could suppress Seidou's lineup.
When Seidou's bats go silent—that's their fatal weakness.
But compared to the Summer Qualifiers, Seidou's pitching staff had improved drastically.
Still—even now—Sendo couldn't compare to the monster Narumiya was that day.
Putting it all together:
Seidou's quarterfinal path meant facing the three most troublesome teams—
In the worst possible order.
Even Sendo, who had believed Seidou would ride Yuuki's lucky draws to a championship…
Couldn't help but sigh.
The world is unpredictable indeed.
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