Ace of Diamond: Return of the Pitcher

After securing two consecutive victories in Kanagawa Prefecture, Seidou High School, full of momentum, made its way to Chiba Prefecture.

When they arrived in Chiba, it was still early.

Additionally, two practice games were scheduled for the next day, so there was a gap of a few hours in the schedule.

In line with the idea of balancing work and rest, Coach Kataoka, for once, gave the players a few hours off.

He allowed them to go out and relax.

This was a rare opportunity for the Seidou's baseball team. The players excitedly discussed where they should go.

Sawamura wasn't particularly interested in where he should go, but it was nice to go out and relax with friends.

He took the initiative to find Kuramochi and Miyuki.

In a few months, the two of them would retire.

Although they would still be friends, it wouldn't be as easy to meet every day as it was now.

Sawamura still wanted to spend some time with these two, take a few photos together, and keep them as a memory.

However, both of them declined Sawamura's kind offer.

They both had extra practice to do.

"Isn't that a bit too extreme?" Sawamura frowned and said.

"We're different from you; we're already third-years," Kuramochi said with a slight tone of sentiment.

Kuramochi had always been carefree, but this sudden change really threw Sawamura off balance.

On the other hand, Miyuki seemed a bit more relaxed about it.

"The team's practice plan still hasn't been finalized, and I'm planning to discuss it more with Watanabe."

Not only was Miyuki a third-year, but he was also the Captain of the Seidou's baseball team.

At this point, Sawamura was extremely relieved that he hadn't accepted the position; otherwise, he would have been exhausted by now.

Sawamura didn't feel the same urgency as Miyuki and Kuramochi.

His pitching skills had already reached a certain level.

From here on, it was about consistent practice and accumulation—short-term intense training wouldn't help him much.

As long as he maintained a certain level of training every day, his skills would naturally improve as his body grew stronger.

The development of breaking balls wasn't something that could be achieved overnight.

So, being able to relax with his friends around him, Sawamura didn't feel the need to push himself to continue practicing.

In the end, when they looked at who had joined, it turned out that only first and second-year players had followed.

None of the third-year students came along.

Even among the first and second-year students, some stayed behind to continue practicing.

For example, second-year players Kanemaru and Takatsu.

While others had relatively stable positions, these two needed to compete.

For them, time was incredibly precious; it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say every second counted.

Naturally, they couldn't afford to relax at this point.

There was also first-year Yuuki Masashi.

Sawamura had originally thought he would join them, but unexpectedly, this young man, like his brother, had bet everything on baseball throughout his three years of high school.

So, he wouldn't be coming along either.

In the end, the group that came out together turned out to be an odd number—only six people.

Including Sawamura Eijun, Kominato Haruichi, Furuya Satoru, Toujou Hideaki, and first-years Nishiyama Kibo and Yui Kaoru.

When they were about to leave, a few of them felt embarrassed.

It was said that the team had a day off, so everyone's actions were up to them, and there was nothing to be embarrassed about.

But while everyone else was practicing, they had sneaked away.

No matter how you looked at it, it felt a bit strange.

"Did you see that? In Seidou's baseball team, you'd feel embarrassed if you didn't put in the effort," Sawamura said with a wry smile.

An environment can indeed influence everyone in that environment to some extent.

In an environment like Seidou's baseball team, it's hard to slack off.

When everyone around you is working hard, can you really just sit back and relax?

Humans are social animals.

Without realizing it, they begin to imitate the behavior of those around them.

The group didn't have much fun. They went to the zoo and saw a few unknown tigers that had been raised like pigs.

They returned to the hotel with little excitement, ready to join the 'lunatics' for some more practice.

And surprisingly, it was actually much more comfortable than they had expected.

"Have we gone crazy?" Sawamura asked with a smile, turning to Haruichi.

Haruichi smiled and nodded.

"I think so too!"

They must have really lost their minds, otherwise, how could they feel so comfortable after training more than relaxing?

Isn't this a bit of a masochistic tendency?

The next day, Seidou High School had two practice games.

The opponent in the first game was a powerhouse from the Chiba area.

In the previous spring tournament, they had unexpectedly lost to a dark horse team, 3:2.

But this didn't mean that this Chiba powerhouse team was weak.

On the contrary, for them to be considered a national powerhouse, they must have a solid foundation.

Before the game, Coach Kataoka also placed great importance on their opponent and decided to send out the entire starting lineup.

This time, it was the real full-strength team.

Sawamura was the starting pitcher.

Miyuki was also the catcher.

The others were first baseman Maezono, second baseman Kominato, third baseman Kanemaru, and shortstop Kuramochi.

The three outfielders were also main force players.

Asou, Toujou, and Shiratsu.

Apart from Kanemaru, this lineup represented the nine starters for Seidou High School during the spring Koshien.

As Kanemaru's skills matured, he gradually began to replace Higasa's position and became Seidou High School's main third baseman.

Today's game lineup was, without a doubt, Seidou High School's strongest at this stage.

Sending out such a lineup already had a massive impact on the substitute players.

But Coach Kataoka wasn't satisfied. He pointed to the players who were about to take the field and said to the substitutes behind him.

"If you want to earn a starting position, you have to be better than one of them."

At his words, the substitute players' eyes gleamed like wild wolves spotting their prey.

The nine starters had increasingly sour expressions.

Sawamura rolled his eyes and looked at his Coach.

"Boss! Is this about the yesterday's outing? I swear you are making a big deal out of it!"

Coach Kataoka had always been like that but left things a bit vague for the players to understand. Now, Sawamura really wasn't sure how to handle such a sudden shift in honesty.

"Let's get on the field!"

Since Coach Kataoka intended to stimulate the tension between the substitutes and the main players, Sawamura didn't mind fueling the fire.

He wanted to make sure the guys in the dugout understood exactly why they were the starters.

Sawamura took the lead, and his other teammates were no less eager, each of them standing up one by one.

Although they felt a bit embarrassed to be under the watchful eyes of the substitutes, it didn't mean they weren't proud deep down.

To be one of the nine starters in the current Seidou High School team was, without a doubt, the highest honor for a baseball player.

Even if it cost them their lives, they would never relinquish the positions they had earned.

"Coach, is this really the right way to go about it?"

The assistant coach who had come along was trembling as he spoke.

At just 27 years old, in today's age, he was still a big kid at best.

He couldn't handle this kind of scene; the pressure was too overwhelming.

"These prideful guys, if we don't whip them from behind, they might become lax. Rather than waiting until then and reacting passively, it's better to provoke the tension now and guide it in a positive direction," Coach Kataoka said with confidence, wearing his sunglasses.

When it came to coaching players and managing the team, he still had many areas to improve—after all, he had only been coaching for six years, and he wasn't exactly a brilliant prodigy.

But when it came to igniting the players' fighting spirit, he was a master at it.

How to cultivate a strong mindset in his players?

On a national scale, no Coach did it better than Kataoka!

The assistant coach looked at Kataoka with a look of awe.

It felt almost like looking at a demon.

'Too terrifying.'

The assistant coach's shock was something we don't have time to dwell on right now, so let's move on to the game.

For Kaihin Sougou High School, being able to play a practice match against the powerhouse Seidou High School was an incredibly fortunate opportunity.

Not every team's goal is to become the national champion.

There are teams that would be more than satisfied just making it to Koshien.

Kaihin Sougou High School was one of those teams.

Although Kaihin Sougou High School was a renowned powerhouse in Chiba Prefecture, it did not have a dominating position in the region.

There were schools stronger than them, and several more teams of comparable strength.

Being able to face Seidou High School, the reigning champion, was invaluable for Kaihin Sougou High School's upcoming Summer Tournament.

The experience of facing Seidou would give them a confidence boost when they met other teams.

After all, no matter how strong their next opponents were, could they be stronger than Seidou?

When they saw Sawamura, the Ace pitcher of Seidou High School, step onto the mound, the Kaihin Sougou High School Coach and players couldn't hide their excitement.

At this point, the stronger the practice opponent, the better.

The more problems they exposed in this game, the more chances they'd have to correct them.

Although the summer tournament seemed close, there were still two months left.

Two months was enough time for the team to make adjustments.

"Play hard, feel the pressure, but don't give up. Show your strength, and play a good game!"

Before the game began, the Kaihin Sougou High School Coach gave his players a motivational speech.

They didn't expect to defeat Seidou High School, not in the least.

When they saw Seidou send out their full-strength lineup, the Kaihin Sougou High School Coach knew that their chances of winning were slim.

In this situation, the content of the game was far more important than the result.

After all, the outcome was already decided.

The game began, and Kaihin Sougou High School's leadoff batter stepped up to the plate.

Looking at Sawamura standing on the mound, the batter felt his courage falter.

They say a name precedes a person.

The name Sawamura carried a massive reputation in the high school baseball world.

There was no way the batter wouldn't be intimidated.

He didn't know what kind of pitch Sawamura, the so-called "Great Demon King," would throw.

'Would it be like what they said online, that the ball would disappear midway through its flight…?'

Behind the plate, Miyuki Kazuya seemed to see right through the batter's thoughts.

His eyes narrowed slightly, and he signaled to Sawamura with a subtle gesture.

Sawamura nodded slightly, without hesitation, and threw the white ball in his hand.

Whrroosh!

The white ball didn't seem fast at all, traveling at a tad over 140 km/h.

The pitch was straightforward and simple.

It was a perfectly straight fastball, right down the middle.

'Right Down The Middle!!!'

When the batter saw this pitch coming, his eyes almost seemed to sparkle.

For any batter, such an opportunity was a once-in-a-lifetime chance.

It was the kind of pitch you absolutely couldn't miss.

But the leadoff batter from Kaihin Sougou High School just stood there, staring at the ball as it flew toward him, without making a move.

Snap!

The pitch landed securely in the catcher's mitt.

"STRIKE!!"

Looking back at the batter in the box, his frustration was clear on his face.

No matter what, he had never expected that Sawamura would throw just a plain old fastball down the middle.

But how could that be?

…