Ace of Diamond: Return of the Pitcher

Faced with such a 'Metabolic' the batters of the Seidou High School Baseball Team were at a complete loss.

Mima, who came to watch the game, muttered softly, "I told you, the opponent's strength is extraordinary. You all need to be careful."

Of course, they had to be careful.

Facing an opponent like this, they could easily lose if they weren't careful.

How could the Seidou High School players not be cautious?

The first batter, Takatsu, failed. The second batter, Kijima, also had no luck.

Kijima had a shaved cut and usually gave off an image of being quite capable.

His idol was the Devil Brother, Kominato Ryosuke.

Though their personalities were completely different, in terms of baseball skills, they were very similar.

Both focused on selective hitting and fouling off pitches during their at-bats.

But when facing an opponent like Mutoyama, Kijima was completely stunned.

The opponent's pitching was simple and brutal, resembling the style of Furuya.

He didn't bother with anything fancy; all his pitches were aimed straight down the middle.

It was a frustrating approach!

The message was clear: if you're good enough, hit the ball.

Even Takatsu, who had decent hitting power, couldn't handle it. Kijima, who relied more on technique, was even worse off.

PIIING!

He could only grit his teeth and swing hard.

The moment the bat made contact with the ball, he felt as if his bat was about to snap.

Fortunately, he was using a metal bat.

If he had been using a wooden one, the situation could have been quite dangerous.

The ball hit the bat and fell straight in front of the pitcher.

Kijima, enduring the soreness in his hands, prepared to run to first base.

Normally, a ground ball right back to the pitcher would not require running.

He would be out for sure.

But against an opponent like this...'Meat Tank' it was different.

Looking at his physique, Kijima could tell that the pitcher's movement speed must be as slow as a fat ox pulling a cart.

In this situation, Kijima thought he still had a good chance to reach base.

But to his surprise, even though Mutoyama looked like a mountain of meat, his movement speed was surprisingly fast.

In just a few steps, he reached the ball, grabbed it with one hand, and threw it to first base.

It was only when he got closer that Kijima saw Mutoyama's hands clearly.

They were completely different from his body size. Mutoyama's hands were not as big as expected.

Instead, they were small and chubby.

It was hard to believe that such chubby hands could possess such great strength!

Smack!

"OUT!!!"

Kijima was Out.

The Seidou High School batters had absolutely no answer for this Meat Tank

Today, Sawamura was still batting third.

Under normal circumstances, without Miyuki playing, he should have been batting fourth. But today, due to special circumstances, the fourth spot was given to the newcomer whom Coach Kataoka trusted most.

It was unclear what the coaching staff and Coach Kataoka were thinking. Sawamura didn't care and continued to perform his duties as the third batter.

Vaguely, Sawamura knew.

Coach Kataoka probably didn't want to put all the pressure on him—the Ace pitcher, the team Captain, and the Fourth Batter.

He probably had planned to take one of those responsibilities off Sawamura's shoulders.

Sawamura could never relinquish his position as the Ace pitcher.

Even if he wanted to, the coaching staff and the players of Seidou High School would never allow it.

So, what was left? One of the roles—Captain or Fourth Batter.

Coach Kataoka must have already made up his mind about this.

But those were matters for the future.

Right now, Sawamura's task was to deal with the Meat Tank

Mutoyama Hosotori.

That name had never appeared in Sawamura's memory before.

But that wasn't impossible.

After all, Gunma Prefecture's current champion was Hakuryu High School. As long as they couldn't defeat Hakuryu High, they wouldn't advance to nationals. And teams that didn't make it to nationals wouldn't get the chance to play against Seidou High.

Perhaps a media outlet or two had reported on him.

But with Sawamura's current training intensity, he hadn't had the time to follow such things. Even if he had seen a report, he likely skimmed over it without much thought.

In any case, he had no impression of him.

However, actually facing this guy gave him a completely different feeling.

Such a violent pitcher, relying entirely on raw strength to overpower his opponents.

Sawamura had rarely encountered anything like it.

A contest of might!

Although he wasn't a batter known for power, he had still managed to gain some recognition in the Major Leagues. Sawamura certainly had ways to deal with pitchers like this.

The opponent's control was barely there. He could only throw straight down the middle.

Because his control was unstable, the ball could also veer off into the corners.

So, blindly aiming for the center wasn't going to work.

But overall, the pitches from this Meat Tank were not particularly difficult to hit.

Takatsu and Kijima, with their actual performances, had proven this point.

Both of them made contact with the ball, even if they didn't hit it well. It was clear that they had simply been overpowered by the opponent's strength!

Once that strength was overcome, hitting the ball shouldn't be hard.

Stepping into the batter's box, Sawamura raised his bat high.

At the same time, his body twisted like a rope.

Theoretically, the wider the swing, the greater the power generated. Most people couldn't swing the bat all the way back like that. Even if they tried, it would affect their ability to hit.

But Sawamura was different.

He was born with flexible joints.

Even if he raised the bat to an angle that seemed uncomfortable to others, he could still perfectly channel his strength.

In fact, because of the extended acceleration, his swing had even more power!

The opponent had powerful pitches, didn't he?

Then Sawamura would use even greater power to send that ball flying.

Just as Sawamura set himself up, the opponent's pitch flew toward him.

Whoosh!

The fat pitcher's delivery wasn't especially fast.

From Sawamura's own estimation, the pitch was about 145 km/h at most. (90 mph)

It wasn't that this speed was slow for a high school pitcher. It was still a solid fastball, but it didn't belong to the "unhittable" category.

Among the pitchers Sawamura had faced, this speed was quite average.

What mattered wasn't the speed, but the power of the pitch!

For reasons that were unclear, from the previous results, Sawamura could tell that this pitcher's ball was incredibly heavy.

'Well, let's see how heavy this ball really is.'

Sawamura was determined, swinging the bat without hesitation at the incoming ball.

PANG!!

The bat made contact with the ball, and Sawamura felt like his bat had hit a wall.

'So heavy!!!'

The recoil force coming from his arm was much heavier than Sawamura had anticipated.

'This sensation, not to mention among high school pitchers, is rare even in the Major Leagues.'

Sawamura has seen pitchers with this kind of monstrous strength in the major leagues.

This chubby guy in front of him isn't considered weak, even among those hunk pitchers in the Major League.

'This guy's a gem!'

As long as this guy doesn't mess things up himself, he doesn't even need a professional track record. He could easily go to the Minor Leagues and try out.

And he would certainly succeed.

In a team with ten or so pitchers, handling various roles, any Coach would love to have such a pitcher on their roster.

The ball that was hit flew high into the air and became a high-fly ball.

In the end, it was caught by an outfielder.

Sawamura, feeling disheartened, released his bat and walked back to the dugout in a dispirited manner.

Three Outs, sides switched.

For the top three batters of Seidou High School to go down in order like that so easily—this would usually be enough for the Kuroba Academy players to celebrate. It was a great start for them.

But surprisingly, no one celebrated.

Everyone was staring at Sawamura as if looking at an unknown monster.

"He actually hit Mutoyama's pitch to the outfield!"

"Guess that's why he's called the Demon King."

"He's so strong!"

"He's on a completely different level from us."

Back in the dugout, the Seidou's baseball team's players were all looking dejected.

The opposing team's overall strength was actually quite average, and Seidou High School could have easily taken them down.

But the premise was that they had to score first against this monster fat guy.

Otherwise, everything would be pointless.

"Strange. Mima said they figured out a way to deal with this guy. Could it be that there's a batter in Hakuryu High who can counter him?"

Though Miyuki wasn't on the field, he knew Mutoyama's pitching was definitely not simple.

Even Sawamura had been affected, so there's no reason Hakuryu High's players would do better.

In fact, besides Mima Soichirou, Miyuki couldn't think of any particularly good batters in Hakuryu High.

"They're going to hit that fat guy's pitch? That's definitely not going to be easy."

Sawamura gave a confident judgment.

It wasn't that he was underestimating them.

A monster like this appearing in high school was basically equivalent to being invincible.

His existence was inherently illogical.

For a high school baseball player, it wasn't going to be easy to deal with him.

This wasn't about skill or tactics anymore.

It was a matter of different levels of power.

If the third-year seniors hadn't retired, maybe there were two of them who could deal with this guy.

Yuuki Tetsuya and the senior from Sawamura's dorm, Masuko Toru.

One had monstrous strength, and the other had perfected his batting skills.

They could have potentially hit a ball from someone like this.

Anyone else didn't have that ability.

Including Sawamura himself.

To hit this kind of pitch, he would also need some luck.

The key was that the fat guy's control was off, so there was no way to predict where the ball would come from.

The pitch might even have small deviations.

In that case, Sawamura couldn't hit the ball with a small bat.

With a big bat, it would be hard to hit the sweet spot.

It was a real dilemma.

It would have been the same for Miyuki.

The opponent's control was just that bad!

Even if Miyuki could accurately predict what kind of pitch was coming, he wouldn't necessarily be able to hit it…

Because the pitch could be completely different from what he expected.

From the perspective of Seidou High's baseball players, Mutouyama's pitching wasn't actually that impressive.

Aside from his terrifying pitch power, he almost had nothing else.

But with just his terrifying pitch power, Seidou High's players couldn't figure him out at all.

It was like when a person encounters a hedgehog.

On paper, an adult would be much stronger than a hedgehog in terms of fighting ability.

But it's difficult to fight because the person can't figure out where to strike.

To really win this battle, a weapon would be necessary.

Right now, Seidou's baseball team faces a similar dilemma.

To beat Mutoyama, they would have to find the right weapon.

"How did the guys from Hakuryu High deal with him?"

Kuramochi mumbled in dissatisfaction.

Miyuki shook his head. "Mima didn't say!"

Sawamura nodded inwardly.

"It's fine that they didn't say. We can guess. With Hakuryu High's style, they should have a method to deal with this kind of battle."

He just hinted at the idea. Miyuki and Watanabe immediately showed expressions of understanding.

Talking to smart people is such a breeze.

Sawamura nodded to the two, confirming their thoughts.

"You mean we can try to copy them?"

"Probably very difficult. The weapons that Hakuryu High has, we don't have yet."

The few of them chatted in vague terms, which left Kuramochi frustrated.

"Can you guys speak in a way we can understand?"

...