Ping!
Before most of the spectators could even understand what had happened, the baseball had already slammed into the protective netting behind home plate.
"Foul ball!"
The umpire's voice rang out across the stadium.
"This game just keeps surprising me…"
Feeling the lingering numbness in his palms, Kitamura Kou had to admit something.
For the first time in this duel, he no longer possessed absolute confidence in blasting away Naoki Enomoto's Gyro Ball.
Slowly, he raised his head and looked toward the electronic scoreboard.
The pitch speed was displayed clearly for everyone to see.
151 km/h.
The moment the number appeared, the already tense Hanshin Koshien Stadium fell completely silent.
No one dared look away.
Everyone's attention was fixed on the field.
They feared that if they blinked, they might miss the next miraculous moment.
The game continued.
"Heh! It's not over yet, brat!"
Naoki Enomoto let out another furious roar.
Gripping the baseball tightly, the muscles in his arm bulged as he gathered every ounce of strength he had left.
Then he threw.
Whoosh!!!
Ping!
"Foul ball!"
The battle returned to its exhausting stalemate.
Neither side was willing to yield.
Pitch after pitch.
Swing after swing.
The two continued to clash head-on, refusing to take a single step back.
What made the spectators even more stunned was that Naoki Enomoto's Gyro Ball showed no signs of slowing down.
Instead, it kept getting faster.
151 km/h.
152 km/h.
153 km/h.
The speed continued to rise like an untamed beast charging forward without restraint.
The tension throughout the stadium became almost suffocating.
Everyone watched with their hearts in their throats.
No one dared make a sound.
"You damned brat!"
"How long are you planning to keep pestering This Great Master?!"
"Just go down already!"
"Aaaaahhhh!!!"
With a roar that seemed capable of shaking the heavens, Naoki Enomoto poured every remaining ounce of strength into one final pitch.
WHOOSH!!!
The baseball exploded from his hand.
Like a bolt of lightning.
Like a cannon shell tearing through the air.
This was the fastest pitch Naoki Enomoto had ever thrown in his entire baseball career.
154 km/h.
A terrifying Gyro Ball.
Meanwhile, after enduring wave after wave of relentless pressure, Kitamura Kou had unconsciously entered the ZONE.
At that moment, the world around him seemed to disappear.
There was no crowd.
No stadium.
No opponents.
Only three things remained.
The baseball.
The bat in his hands.
And a single unwavering belief.
Hit it.
Hit it farther than anyone ever has.
Blast it completely out of sight.
As the baseball rapidly closed in on home plate, the atmosphere inside Koshien became so tense that it felt impossible to breathe.
Then—
Before his conscious mind could even react, Kitamura Kou's body moved instinctively.
His swing was born from pure reflex.
Pure talent.
Pure determination.
The bat tore through the air.
So fast that nobody could see it clearly.
CLANG!!!
A thunderous sound echoed throughout the stadium.
The baseball soared into the sky.
Farther.
Higher.
Farther still.
It traced a breathtaking arc through the air, carrying seemingly limitless power toward center field.
Everyone watched in stunned silence.
No one could look away.
Then it happened.
After traveling well over a hundred meters, the baseball smashed directly into the center of the giant "Kaidou" lettering on the scoreboard.
BOOM!!!
The entire scoreboard trembled from the impact.
A second later, the baseball embedded itself deep into the structure, refusing to fall.
As if it had been nailed there permanently.
Silence.
Absolute silence.
The entire Hanshin Koshien Stadium fell deathly quiet.
Time itself seemed to freeze.
No one knew how many seconds passed.
Then—
BOOOOOOOOOOM!!!
The stadium erupted.
Cheers exploded like a tidal wave.
Thunderous applause shook the stands.
The noise was so overwhelming that it seemed capable of piercing the clouds themselves.
The commentator had long since forgotten about protecting his voice.
With unrestrained excitement, he shouted at the top of his lungs:
"It's happened!"
"The third Home Run of the game!"
"And what a Home Run it is!"
"Yakushi High School's Ace, Kitamura Kou, has blasted Kaidou High School Ace Naoki Enomoto's 154 km/h Gyro Ball directly into the scoreboard!"
"Three at-bats!"
"Three Home Runs!"
"What an unbelievable performance!"
"Oh my God!"
"This is incredible!"
"He's hit Home Runs against three completely different Pitchers in three consecutive at-bats!"
"And none of those Pitchers are ordinary players!"
"They're among the very best high school Pitchers in Japan!"
"Especially that last swing!"
"A 154 km/h Gyro Ball!"
"Even professional hitters would struggle to keep up with a pitch like that!"
"And yet Kitamura Kou not only made contact—he sent it into the scoreboard!"
"This is simply unbelievable!"
"I can't believe what I'm seeing!"
"Are these really high school players?"
"How can someone possess this level of ability?"
"Kitamura Kou's performance today is beyond astonishing!"
"The strength he has displayed has already surpassed the limits of ordinary high school baseball!"
The entire stadium buzzed with excitement.
Every conversation revolved around one name.
Kitamura Kou.
The batter who had just accomplished the impossible.
Meanwhile, Naoki Enomoto stood frozen on the mound.
His eyes were wide.
His mouth hung slightly open.
His face was filled with disbelief.
He stared blankly at the figure jogging around the bases.
Kitamura Kou wore a bright smile as he raised his right fist high into the air.
Confidence.
Joy.
Victory.
Every step he took felt like a hammer striking directly against Naoki Enomoto's heart.
The rest of the world became blurry.
Only that figure remained painfully clear.
The shock was simply too overwhelming.
For a moment, Naoki Enomoto wondered if he was trapped inside a nightmare.
Perhaps none of this was real.
Perhaps he would wake up soon and everything would return to normal.
But the sharp pain from his fingernails digging into his palm mercilessly shattered that final illusion.
Reality stood before him.
Cold.
Unavoidable.
Undeniable.
He had lost.