Ace of Diamond: Return of the Pitcher

WHRROOSH!!

In the outfield, Toujou, relying on his strong willpower, caught up with the baseball that had landed in the outfield.

After grabbing the ball, he didn't waste a second and immediately threw it back to home plate.

If we're being honest, he was quite brave for attempting it. From the distance he was at—at least eighty meters from home plate—it was an extremely challenging task to get the ball to the catcher's Mitt.

If he had a choice, Toujou definitely wouldn't have chosen to do this.

But at this moment, he had no choice.

If he didn't return the ball to home plate now, he would have to watch as the Tobuyasu player scored the second run.

This was absolutely unacceptable for the players of Seidou's baseball team.

So, despite the risk involved, he had no option but to do it.

The ball traveled seventy to eighty meters and landed in Miyuki's Mitt.

Snap!

By the time Miyuki received the ball, the Tobuyasu High School runner was already nearing home plate.

At this point, the runner was only about five or six meters away from home plate.

Because Toujou's throw was slightly off-target, Miyuki ended up receiving the ball about two meters away from the plate.

Even though Miyuki was closer to home plate, he wasn't in a relaxed state.

The runner was still sprinting at full speed, moving rapidly.

In contrast, Miyuki was still.

If he had just followed the usual routine of heading to home plate, the runner would have already stepped on the plate by now.

Miyuki's resolve hardened, and he pushed off the ground with his right foot, leaping forward. His entire body stretched out as he swung his mitt toward the runner.

This series of impressive movements completely bewildered the Tobuyasu runner.

Dazed, he tried to rush toward home plate, only to have Miyuki's Mitt suddenly block him.

Tap!

Just as the runner stepped on the plate, everyone's gaze turned to the umpire.

"OUT!!"

Without hesitation, the umpire made the call.

Anyone with functioning eyes would have agreed with this decision.

Thanks to the combined efforts of Toujou and Miyuki, Furuya had narrowly escaped the crisis.

The situation became one out, with a runner on second.

At the same time that Miyuki tagged Out the runner, the previous batter, Kosugi, had already reached second base.

Seidou was still facing danger, as Furuya's recent performance had been concerning.

"Time!"

It had reached a point where something needed to be done.

Miyuki called for a time-out.

He pushed away the face mask from his face and jogged to the pitcher's mound.

Furuya lowered his head, feeling frustrated.

He wasn't the kind of person to make excuses for his mistakes.

Although he didn't know exactly where he had gone wrong, one thing was very clear to him: he had made a mistake.

Seeing Miyuki approach the mound, he braced himself for a scolding.

Don't be deceived by Miyuki's glasses and handsome looks.

He was no gentleman.

When it came to verbal abuse, he was a champion—more ruthless than anyone. Even Sawamura, who was tough and hard to break, sometimes felt embarrassed by Miyuki's words.

So, Furuya braced himself for the scolding.

Unexpectedly, Miyuki didn't directly scold him.

Instead, he gently asked a question.

"Why didn't you cover home plate just now?"

'Huh??'

Furuya was confused.

To be honest, he had no idea what Miyuki was getting at.

"In that situation, shouldn't you have covered home plate? What if the outfielder's throw went wrong? What if I couldn't catch it?"

Furuya's head dropped even lower.

He originally thought his mistake was only related to his pitching, but after hearing Miyuki's words, he suddenly realized.

His mistake wasn't just in pitching.

"If you really want to follow in the footsteps of Sawamura, your focus shouldn't be limited to just pitching. In that situation, if it were Sawamura standing on the mound, he would have already rushed to cover home plate…"

Miyuki's tone grew more serious as he covered his mouth with his mitt.

"Blindly charging forward won't get you anywhere, it will only make you stumble and fall and everyone else will overtake you."

"If you're willing to just be a backup pitcher, I won't say anything. But if you're not willing, then you need to get your act together and think about what you can do right now."

Maezono glanced at Furuya with concern.

He feared that this younger teammate might not be able to handle all of this pressure.

He tried to stop Miyuki with his gaze.

But Miyuki's look was very firm.

His decision was resolute.

If Furuya was the material, then he needed to get back up and catch up to Sawamura's level.

If he wasn't the material for it, or if it wasn't time yet, then exposing all his issues might be for the best.

Right now, Furuya has a huge reputation.

In comparison to the best pitchers in the country, he was no worse.

But in terms of real strength, especially his overall abilities, he still lagged far behind the top pitchers in the country.

To catch up to them, he first had to understand where he stood and work hard to close the gap.

If he couldn't find his way, perhaps it was time to break everything down and start over.

Even as an important reliever for Seidou, the team didn't have much time to waste on him.

After all, in the six practice games, Sawamura was scheduled to pitch two games, Furuya and Kawakami one each, and the four pitchers would pitch together for two games.

In this situation, if Furuya didn't quickly identify his problems and fix them, he would soon be replaced by the current pitching staff.

For now, Sawamura's position as the Ace was still unshakable.

But the first backup position wasn't as stable.

Not to mention the very capable first-year rookie.

Everyone could see how much effort Kawakami had put in recently. Kawakami was already a significant threat to Furuya.

If Furuya could maintain his peak form, there was nothing to say. Both Kawakami and Nishiyama won't pose a challenge to him.

But if Furuya's current form remained the same, everything would be much more uncertain.

After hearing Miyuki's words, Furuya finally came to his senses.

He no longer blindly pursued speed but adjusted his pitching rhythm and kept the pitches within the strike zone.

Even if Furuya lowered his speed a notch, he was still the fastest pitcher in high school.

His pitches were still traveling at over 152 km/h (94 mph), dominating the Tobuyasu High School team.

Originally, Tobuyasu High's strategy was to completely ignore the tricky pitches and only swing at the ones they could hit.

They wouldn't swing at any pitch unless it was 2 strikes ahead!

This strategy wasn't flawed. As long as Furuya couldn't throw the ball in the strike zone, he would eventually self-destruct.

However, if he could consistently hit the strike zone, the Tobuyasu players would be forced into a passive position.

Just like now, as the ball kept flying into the strike zone, the batter had no choice.

"STRIKE!"

"STRIKE!!"

With two consecutive strikes, Tobuyasu's cleanup hitter was under intense pressure.

Now, regardless of what kind of pitch came next, he had no choice but to swing his bat!

'I can do it!'

"I can do it!!'

The fourth batter of Tobuyasu encouraged himself in his heart.

Although Furuya had regained control of his pitching, that didn't mean everything was fine with him.

For instance, right now, he has a big problem.

That was, his pitch speed had decreased…

The once despairingly fast pitches were now replaced by ordinary fastballs.

Though still fast, they were no longer impossible to hit.

So, he made up his mind to swing for the ball.

Roaar!

At that moment, a sharp pitch identical to the previous one flew toward him.

'How… is that possible?!'

The fourth batter from Tobuyasu High School was completely stunned.

'Wasn't he supposed to slow down his pitching speed and focus on accuracy?'

How could the mighty Seidou not follow the usual strategy?

Boom!

"STRIKE! BATTER OUT!!!"

Unfortunately, this time, the bat didn't hit the baseball.

The fourth batter from Tobuyasu High School was Struck Out for the second time.

Behind the plate, Miyuki's eyes narrowed dangerously.

The opponent's intentions were clear as day. If he couldn't deal with him now, it would be an embarrassment to the title of the best catcher in the country.

With two Outs and a runner on second base, the situation began to turn in Seidou High School's favor.

Although they had inevitably allowed a run this inning, allowing only one run was still an acceptable outcome.

In fact, if Furuya could adjust back to his usual form, it might even be a good thing for Seidou's baseball team.

Sawamura needed a substitute.

No matter how talented Kawakami and Nishiyama were, compared to the fully unleashed Furuya, there was still a gap.

If they had to choose, the Seidou's baseball team still hoped Furuya would get back on track.

The game continued.

Just as it seemed like Seidou High School was about to escape this crisis, an unexpected turn of events occurred.

The cause of this surprise was the fifth batter from Tobuyasu High School:

Senzo Shiki!

He was someone who couldn't stand being idle. Seeing their chances grow slimmer, he took action without hesitation.

Ping!

Changing his previous waiting approach, Senzo Shiki immediately hit the first pitch Furuya threw at him.

This move even surprised Miyuki.

He knew the opponent would eventually alter their batting strategy, but according to his earlier thinking, Tobuyasu would wait until the next inning to adjust their tactics.

'He couldn't abandon his pre-established strategy because of a mere coincidence.'

'It was reckless to do so.'

'But I didn't expect Senzo to be so decisive.'

There was no hesitation at all, and he just swung and hit.

The ball flew to the side of the second baseman, landing just behind the pitcher.

It was a typical gap!

'Damn it!'

Behind the plate, Miyuki's heart jolted.

He had to raise his evaluation of Senzo.

Initially, he thought Senzo was just good at pitching and looked handsome.

But now, it seemed his game-reading ability and batting skills were quite formidable too.

To hit the ball in that direction required an incredible ability to read the game and the right technique.

Not to mention the decisiveness.

This guy had clearly made a big name for himself in middle school.

The '12 rising talents' and the 'Great Demon King' Sawamura were among those who made their mark in middle school.

From what Miyuki had seen, every single one of those players was not to be underestimated.

For example, Narumiya from Inashiro, Hongou from Komadai, Mima from Hakuryu, and Nanami from Hoshiryu.

Not to mention his partner, Sawamura.

None of them were ordinary players.

Miyuki shook his head, pushing these unrelated thoughts aside.

He followed the trajectory of the ball with his gaze.

If this ball hit the ground, it would be hard to stop the batter from getting on base.

The runner on second base had a good chance of coming home too.

Miyuki had already mentally prepared for the worst outcome.

At that moment, a nimble figure suddenly jumped toward the ball.

With a sideways dive, the figure extended his mitt just in time to catch the ball at its first drop point.

Snap!

Next, the figure crashed to the ground, rolling twice before coming to a stop.

It was clear how forcefully he had charged forward.

"HARUICHI!!!"

From the outfield, Sawamura called out in concern.

The figure who had just appeared was none other than Kominato Haruichi, Sawamura's friend.

A bit slowly, Haruichi stood up.

He raised one hand high, his mitt in it.

Inside his eyes, were his inexhaustible spirit!

Inside his mitt was a ball!

It was as if his whole demeanor was speaking.

'Don't you dare look down on our efforts!!'

'Don't you dare look down on Seidou!!!'

...