The ball zipped through the air.
Kusunoki Fumiya, standing in the batter's box, instinctively widened his eyes.
With his experience, he could roughly guess the pitch speed.
It probably didn't go over 120 km/h.
But that wasn't what surprised him.
What caught him off guard was that the pitch wasn't a Spiral ball.
He'd heard this junior, who had just been promoted, only knew how to throw a Spiral ball.
So why was he throwing a Straight ball now?
And it wasn't a bad pitch either; besides being a bit slow, the location and angle were spot on.
He suppressed the urge to swing and watched as the ball landed in Takigawa Chris Yū's mitt.
Thwack!
"Strike!"
A smile appeared on Takigawa's handsome face.
When Takumi had said he could throw a Straight ball before, he had been somewhat skeptical.
After all, he'd heard similar claims earlier.
Someone who claimed yesterday that he could only throw a Spiral ball now says he can throw a Straight ball?
That didn't seem likely.
The only reasonable explanation was that Takumi wasn't confident in his Straight ball and had told Miyuki Kazuya he only threw Spiral balls.
Now it looked like Takagiwa had been wrong.
Takumi could throw a Straight ball—and quite well at that.
His control was solid, just a bit slow.
"Second pitch, Spiral ball," Takigawa instructed firmly.
Takumi acknowledged with a nod.
He felt an inexplicable trust in this senior with Caucasian blood.
Whoosh!
He lifted his leg, stepped forward, and swung his arm to pitch.
His motion looked pretty ordinary, like most pitchers.
But when he threw, that ordinary motion felt unusually smooth.
Boom!
What started as a natural pitching motion suddenly felt different once the ball left his hand.
This simple pitch gained surprising power.
It was fast.
The last pitch was under 120 km/h, but this one was over 130 km/h, even hitting 135 km/h.
The ball's speed soared by nearly twenty kilometers per hour.
That alone was impressive, but the spin on the ball was unique, too.
Kusunoki had already prepared himself, ready to hit the ball.
But when Takumi's Spiral ball came in, he couldn't swing right away.
He felt it, deep down, just how terrifying this pitch was.
In short, it was a high-quality pitch.
He didn't have time to react before the ball flew past him.
Thwack!
"Strike!"
Two strikes, zero balls.
The batter was backed into a corner.
Kusunoki, known for his sharp instincts, felt completely outmatched by Takumi.
How was this possible?
The five players waiting to bat exchanged quick glances.
They had thought of many possibilities but never expected him to be so overwhelmed.
"Takumi's Spiral ball spins much faster than a regular one," one of them murmured thoughtfully. "His pitching motion looks ordinary, but it actually adds spin from the moment he grips the ball…"
"It must feel even more intense when you're standing in the batter's box," another added quietly.
No matter how reluctant they were to admit it, the seniors—including Azuma Kiyokuni—acknowledged that their earlier assumptions had been completely off.
No wonder the coach gave Takumi a special promotion; his pitching was really impressive.
Seidō was short on strong pitchers right now.
So it made sense for him to move up.
But understanding that was one thing; facing him was another.
Since it had begun, as seniors of Seidō First String, they couldn't just give up.
"Kusunoki!" Azuma called out urgently.
Still, Kusunoki, standing in the batter's box, knew he had to keep his cool without needing his teammates to tell him.
He gripped the bat tightly and waited for the third pitch.
Whether it was a normal Straight ball or the Spiral ball he had just witnessed, he was determined to hit it.
Takigawa, crouched behind the plate, felt his fingers tremble slightly.
That last pitch caught him off guard.
Especially that Spiral ball—it wasn't content just to land in his mitt; it nearly slipped out.
This kind of pitching, this kind of teammate…
It was new to him.
Watching Takigawa steady the pitch without letting the ball slip from his mitt, Miyuki's eyes lit up.
"As expected of Takigawa-senpai—he caught Takumi's Spiral ball on his first try," he noted with a grin. "That's how it should be. Otherwise, what fun would it be to beat you?"
He wasn't discouraged by his rival's skill; if anything, it made him more fired up.
The duel went on, and Takumi, following Takigawa's signal, threw the Spiral ball again without hesitation.
The previous Spiral ball had already made a strong impression on the batter.
Continuing to use it now would not only make things difficult for Kusunoki—it would also make the batters waiting their turn focus heavily on the Spiral ball.
That was Takigawa's plan.
He wanted the seniors to focus on the Straight ball first, then use the Spiral ball to finish them off when the time was right.
Takumi's Straight ball was actually pretty good.
Even if it was a bit slow, it could still be an effective weapon.
Of course, that was just Takigawa's idea; Kusunoki didn't see it the same way.
When he saw the Spiral ball coming at him, he gripped the bat with both hands, waited for the right moment, and swung with confidence.
"What if it's fast? As long as I hit the sweet spot, I can still make contact!" he muttered determinedly.
He swung hard.
He knew a ball with that speed and spin wouldn't be easy to hit.
At that moment, he gave it his all.
As long as he had enough strength, he could handle the extra spin on the ball.
With that in mind, his bat connected perfectly with the ball.
Clang!
He hit it!
But before he could celebrate, he felt like his hands were about to split open.
It was so heavy!
It didn't feel like hitting a ball at all; it was more like hitting a bulldozer.
Surprised by the force, he let go of the bat.
It flew out of his hands!
Coach Kataoka Tesshin, acting as the home plate umpire, quickly dodged the flying bat, watching it sail behind him.
His reflexes were sharp, almost too sharp.
The ball dropped right in front of the catcher.
Takigawa reached out, caught the ball, and tucked it into his mitt.
Then he tagged Kusunoki with the mitt.
"Out!" he declared firmly.