Bang!!!
The sound of batting practice echoed continuously throughout Seido's baseball field the day before the finals.
Hearing it, Sawamura, practicing nearby, looked over with obvious envy.
"Damn it, Haru…"
Watching Kominato Haruichi hit so smoothly made Sawamura both jealous and frustrated.
Miyuki Kazuya, who understood him perfectly, immediately called out:
"Sawamura, bunt practice."
"Huh?"
Sawamura instinctively turned around.
Whoosh!
The pitching machine fired a 150 km/h fastball.
Clang!
Sawamura skillfully absorbed the ball's power, deadening it softly toward the foul line.
"What a beautiful bunt!"
Everyone nearby exclaimed in surprise.
"This guy really knows how to kill the ball's momentum."
"That's a 150 km/h pitching machine!"
"How did he manage that?"
"Wait… does this guy actually have talent?"
"Damn, suddenly he looks pretty impressive."
Hearing the praise around him, Sawamura instantly revealed his classic cat-like smug expression.
Meanwhile, Ushijima Wakatoshi, who had been practicing batting nearby, watched the "Prince of Bunt" with an amused smile.
Because of him, Sawamura hadn't been able to officially pitch this semester.
That had been Ushijima's promise from the beginning:
Focus on training for one semester first.
If they could master two pitch types before the Autumn Tournament, he would hand over the ace number.
Because of that, both Sawamura and Furuya had been training desperately hard.
And their progress had been excellent.
Now, they only lacked real-game experience.
"Sawamura, want to pitch?" Ushijima suddenly asked.
Sawamura's eyes immediately lit up.
"Can I finally get on the mound?!"
"How about pitching to me?" Ushijima asked casually.
"That's exactly what I want—revenge!" Sawamura shouted fiercely.
"Damn it! It's been months and I still haven't struck out that bastard Ushijima even once!"
"Today I'll make you regret underestimating me!!!"
Sawamura rushed excitedly onto the mound.
Standing in the batter's box, Ushijima watched the furious Sawamura with a faint smirk.
To be fair—
he really had bullied Sawamura a lot this semester.
Almost every winning pitch Sawamura threw had been sent flying.
Not always for home runs—
sometimes for infield hits or long extra-base hits—
but still hit cleanly.
So far, among all Seido's first-string pitchers…
only Ushijima Wakatoshi had never been struck out by Sawamura.
Even Yuki had struck out against him before.
The main reason was that after learning the cutter and improving his grip under Ushijima's guidance, Sawamura's pitching had improved tremendously.
Combined with his natural moving fastball—
even Yuki Tetsuya had been caught off guard.
Bang!!!
Ushijima's bat smashed directly into the sweet spot.
"So high!" Kuramochi shouted while looking into the sky.
"That one's gone," Kominato said with a smile.
"Poor Sawamura…" Isashiki sighed sympathetically.
The baseball soared over the fence.
Home run.
But instead of feeling discouraged—
Sawamura's fighting spirit only grew stronger.
"That's enough, let's stop there," Ushijima deliberately said.
"What?!"
Sawamura exploded immediately.
"You're stopping after one pitch?!"
"You hit a home run and now you're running away?!"
"I already took off my pants and you're telling me the fight's over?!"
"Hahaha!"
Everyone burst into laughter at Sawamura's outrageous wording.
"Damn it! You stop right after hitting a home run?! I haven't even gotten serious yet!"
Laughing while Sawamura grabbed his neck dramatically, Ushijima explained:
"We have the finals tomorrow, idiot!"
"No! We're fighting properly!"
Just as the two were fooling around—
a tall, heavyset figure approached.
"Hey… aren't you that brat from back then?"
Azuma Kiyokuni walked over slowly.
Sawamura froze after hearing the voice.
"You brat," Azuma said menacingly, "what are you doing on the field?"
"Huh…?"
Sawamura stared blankly for a second—
before suddenly remembering.
"The guy who was silenced by my anger…"
"The legendary obese veteran…"
"…Obese?"
Azuma's already dangerous expression became even darker.
"Wait… weren't you thinner before?" Sawamura added innocently.
Everyone nearby immediately realized:
Sawamura was speedrunning death.
Every sentence he said somehow made things worse.
"Are you asking to get beaten up, brat?!" Azuma roared.
But Sawamura stubbornly refused to back down.
Azuma effortlessly lifted him with one hand.
"You were the brat who said you hated prestigious schools, right?!"
"Then why did you end up at Seido?!"
"I don't remember anything," Sawamura replied shamelessly.
"If you dare insult Seido again, I'll personally throw you back to the countryside!"
Sawamura immediately counterattacked:
"Your body's all soft and flabby though."
"Ugh… you little brat…"
The two looked seconds away from starting an actual fight.
Watching the chaos, Ushijima asked curiously:
"This is Seido's cleanup hitter from last year?"
"Yes," Yuki Tetsuya replied. "Azuma Kiyokuni."
"Hm?"
Azuma suddenly noticed the number on Ushijima's jersey.
Normally, players didn't wear numbered jerseys during practice—
but Ushijima had forgotten to remove his after yesterday.
"…Number 1?"
Azuma stared at him in disbelief.
Then he glanced toward Tanba and Kawakami nearby.
"Hey—who's this kid?"
"He's wearing the ace number."
"Why didn't I see him last year?"
"Are you a second-year? Third-year?"
Azuma looked directly at Ushijima.
"Azuma-senpai," Yuki answered calmly,
"he's our current ace."
"A first-year."
"…What?!"
Azuma's eyes widened instantly.
"A first-year became Seido's ace?!"
"That's right," Yuki replied with a smile.
"Our first-year ace pitcher."
Takashima Rei added from the side:
"He's also part of the core batting lineup."
"And he currently has a 100% batting average in this Summer Tournament."
"What?!"
Azuma was completely stunned.
He knew better than anyone how strict Seido was.
Coach Kataoka would never hand the ace number to someone without overwhelming talent.
Which meant—
this first-year pitcher…
was genuinely stronger than Tanba and Kawakami?