Ace of Diamond: Return of the Pitcher

Boom!!

The ball thrown from the pitcher's mound colliding with the Mitt felt like a meteor falling from the sky, giving the impression of an apocalypse.

Not only were the players from Tobuyasu scared out of their wits, but the members of the Seidou's baseball team were equally astonished.

An assistant coach from the team, while keeping notes, muttered to himself.

"Ever since the spring Koshien ended, Furuya seems to have taken something, like he's on a power boost. He's completely turned into a different player."

The teammates around him nodded in agreement.

They had the same feeling.

But before, they thought it was just their own impression, and only after hearing the assistant coach's words today did they realize that it wasn't just their imagination.

"After the Spring Koshien, the game where he pitched the full game against the powerful Komadai Fujimaki High School team seems to have given him a huge confidence boost."

Every development has its own cause.

Furuya's sudden spike in performance, like he's on steroids, must have a trigger.

After thinking it through, the only trigger that could convince Seidou's coaching staff and most of the players was his match against the ace pitcher, Hongou Masamune, from Komadai Fujimaki High School.

Since that game, Furuya has fully showcased his strength as one of the top pitchers in the country. Before that, he was just known for having the fastest fastball in high school.

Having the title of the fastest pitcher in high school is certainly eye-catching. However, if you dig deeper, it's not exactly an impressive honor.

It rather gives the impression of being all look with no skills.

The fastest pitcher but not the strongest—this makes it hard to instill a sense of fear in others about Furuya's potential.

But after that game, he proved his true strength to the entire nation.

Unquestionable, real power—top-tier national strength.

When he's in top form, he can go toe to toe with Hongou Masamune.

However, there is still some concern.

Kataoka furrowed his brow and didn't loosen it.

The assistant coach, unsure of the situation, looked at the manager.

With Aces like Sawamura on the team and backup pitchers like Furuya, Kataoka should theoretically be in a comfortable situation.

But looking at his expression, it seemed entirely the opposite.

The assistant coach had sharp insight. Kataoka wasn't at ease due to Furuya's pitching.

In fact, he looked even more worried.

Furuya's pitching appeared strong, but many pitches floated high and went out of the strike zone.

At some point, Furuya had returned to the state he was in when he first entered the school.

It was like before when his pitching was more raw and reckless.

Now, his pitching was filled with a sense of wildness.

It felt like he was relying purely on his fastball to bulldoze through everything.

'That's certainly not a good thing.'

In fact, in Kataoka's eyes, Furuya's current state was worse than before.

Everyone had put so much effort into getting his pitches to mostly land in the strike zone.

Now, while not a complete failure, it was definitely a step backward.

Just now, about half of Furuya's pitches were Balls.

This percentage was far higher than before.

How could Kataoka feel at ease?

Despite his concerns, the situation on the field was highly favorable to Seidou High's baseball team.

Facing Furuya's terrifyingly heavy pitches, the players from Tobuyasu High School couldn't handle the pressure and kept swinging their bats wildly.

This played into Furuya's hands, making both Strikes and Balls highly effective.

He Struck out three batters in a row.

And since most of his pitches were Strikes, the occasional Ball seemed like it was intentionally thrown to lure the batters into swinging for a strike.

As a result, his presence in front of the opponents rose significantly.

You could tell by the heavy atmosphere in Tobuyasu's dugout.

Their players were staring grimly at Seidou's baseball team and at Furuya on the pitcher's mound.

They felt their minds were losing pace with the game.

Could it be that Seidou is truly this strong?

Could they even handle Seidou's substitute pitcher, Furuya. Much less the Ace.

"The gap shouldn't be this large!" Tobuyasu High School's Coach frowned lightly.

He had prepared for this match for a long time and come up with several strategies.

But he had never imagined the difference between the two teams would be so huge.

This was completely different from what he had envisioned when he prepared the data.

Before Tobuyasu's Coach could figure out what was going on, Seidou's defense had already finished their turn.

He shook his head, casting aside the confused thoughts in his mind, and focused on dealing with the match.

He still firmly believed that the gap between the two teams couldn't be that big.

'At this point, the most important thing was to keep our composure and not let the team fall into disarray.'

'As long as we held our ground, we would certainly find an opportunity for a counterattack.'

In the bottom of the inning, Seidou began their attack.

"Let's drag the game out! As time goes on, flaws will appear," was Tobuyasu's Coach's strategy.

The members of Seidou High's baseball team knew what their opponents were thinking.

The flow of the game was obvious to anyone who understood baseball.

Tobuyasu's Coach wasn't wrong—if they dragged the game out, problems would inevitably emerge.

Even the Seidou players themselves thought the same.

Though they knew Furuya was strong and had frequently performed well, they never fully trusted him.

It wasn't that Furuya's skill was unreliable. Among top national pitchers, there are many with small flaws.

So why were they not fully trusting him?

A big part of it was that Seidou had other choices.

If Seidou didn't have Sawamura on the team, they would be incredibly grateful to have someone like Furuya, without any hesitation.

This mistrust had both its downsides and upsides.

Because they weren't completely trusting Furuya, the players preparing for the offense silently decided to take matters into their own hands.

They weren't thinking of pulling him from the game; after all, this wasn't a crucial match but a practice game to adjust their states.

Practice games are for testing various possibilities.

This current situation was just another test.

So, they never thought of blaming the pitcher. If they wanted to win, they just needed to score more than their opponents.

"Hyaa-ha-haa!"

Kawamura was the first to step into the Batter's Box.

The player who resembled a Eurasian hybrid was now standing on the pitcher's mound.

He was Tobuyasu High's Ace pitcher, their only hope.

Despite the tall, powerful-looking players on Tobuyasu, everyone who knew them well understood that their true strength wasn't nearly as impressive as their appearance.

Most of their abilities were pretty average.

Otherwise, Tobuyasu High wouldn't have been consistently mediocre.

It wasn't until this man joined that Tobuyasu High experienced a fundamental change.

Senzo Shiki!

This world is so unfair, and in sports, it shows most clearly.

Some people are just naturally talented; there's no helping it.

It's like basketball, where height is often a key advantage.

The same logic applies to baseball.

Many people practice hard, but few can reach the top tier. Why?

It's all about talent.

Senzo Shiki might not be as dedicated as the others, but his talents are top-notch.

His talents are quite obvious.

First, his tall height—188 cm—combined with his long arms.

He occupies a commanding position!

When he pitches from his position, the trajectory of the baseball isn't a straight line but a downward diagonal line.

As a result, for a batter to make contact with his pitch, they must find the precise point where the bat and the ball intersect.

This requires impeccable timing from the batter.

In addition, his pitch speed isn't slow, with speeds in the 137 km/h range (85 mph). His control is also quite tricky, almost always concentrating on low angles.

This makes the downward angle of the pitch even steeper!

Ping!

"FOUL!"

Ping!

"FOUL!!"

Even though Kuramochi Youichi's skills have improved greatly, he still needs to get used to Senzo's pitching.

The first two pitches were Fouled off.

'Damn, this guy's skill is higher than I thought.'

Kuramochi had initially thought that Senzo was just a pretty face with no real substance.

But when they faced off, he realized he was completely wrong.

Although Senzo's pitches appeared simple, their effectiveness was unexpectedly high.

Trying to hit his seemingly average-speed pitch was not an easy task at all.

Ping!

After a few exchanges, the ball was finally hit into the field.

The ball bounced in the infield and was heading toward third base.

'Good opportunity!'

The third baseman from Tobuyasu High School was already unable to hide his excitement.

He ran quickly to get the ball and was ready to tag Kuramochi out.

Snap!

He caught the rebounding ball in his mitt.

The third baseman of Tobuyasu was preparing to throw the ball to first base to get the Out.

But when he turned to look toward first base, he froze.

'Oh my God, what's that?'

The batter who had just hit the ball, Kuramochi, was only about a few meters away from first base!

'How could he be this fast…?'

The third baseman was stunned for a moment.

On the mound, Senzo was almost going mad.

"Quick, throw it!"

He urgently called for his teammate to throw the ball.

The third baseman finally reacted and tossed the ball to first base.

Snap!

The small ball shot like an arrow toward first base.

But someone was faster than the ball.

In the instant before the ball reached first base, a cyan-blue streak had already passed by.

"SAFE!!"

Once the umpire made the call, the crowd erupted in excitement.

"What was that just now?"

"A direct infield grounder to the third baseman, and someone was able to reach first base!"

"How fast is this guy?!"

The Tobuyasu players were all dumbfounded.

The Seidou High School players, on the other hand, were exhilarated.

They cheered loudly for Kuramochi.

Sawamura and Miyuki exchanged surprised glances.

It didn't seem like an illusion. Kuramochi's speed had definitely increased.

Though Kuramochi had been able to make it to base before with infield rebounds, those hits were usually in more favorable positions.

A ball like this hit directly in front of the third baseman, would generally make it hard for Kuramochi to force his way to first base unless there was a fielding error.

He may have been just a few steps short, but those few steps were enough to decide the outcome.

But just now, Kuramochi had managed to reach first base with a direct grounder to third base.

Although no stopwatch was involved, it was clear his speed had improved.

And it had improved significantly.

Sawamura looked thoughtfully at the coach sitting in the dugout, Lee-Hyun.

'This was strange.'

'Could it be that speed was contagious, making Kuramochi faster?'

If that were the case, should he get closer to Lee-Hyun to form a pair of close partners?

Maybe Lee-Hyun's speed would rub off on him...

With no Outs and a runner on first, the second batter, Kominato Haruichi, stepped up to bat.

Following Coach Kataoka's instructions, he positioned himself for a bunt.

Paak!

The ball was hit and rolled toward first base.

"SAFE!"

"OUT!!"

Kuramochi was safe at first, while Kominato was Out.

Now there was one out with a runner on second.

With Kuramochi's speed, any hit at this point would allow him to score easily.

This was also part of Coach Kataoka's strategy.

Coach Kataoka had a vague sense that Senzo Shiki was a threat.

In order to support Furuya, he thought it would be best to score a run now.

That way, Furuya could pitch with more peace of mind.

If Furuya could realize and correct his current issue on his own, it would be much better than having Coach Kataoka point it out.

Though Coach Kataoka might lack some experience in directing games or coaching techniques, when it came to cultivating players' mentality, he was the best on the field.

Most of the players he trained had a positive and proactive mindset.

When faced with challenges, a strong inner mentality is key.

Sports competitions are often about this—especially in direct face-to-face matchups.

Without a strong heart, even the best techniques are hard to execute.

"Third batter, outfielder, Sawamura!"

At this moment, Sawamura stepped up to the Batter's Box.

From the moment he stood there, the atmosphere around him changed noticeably.

The chatter of the audience became louder than before.

Standing there, he seemed like a giant shining beacon.

While Senzo's presence had been strong too, compared to Sawamura, it was like the moon beside the stars.

Both were bright, but clearly not in the same league.

"So this is the legendary Maou!"

Back in their middle school days, there had been talk of the 12 Rising Talents.

One of them was Senzo Shiki.

That title had once been prominent, but after comparing it with the current Sawamura, it had completely faded into the background.

Every excellent athlete has their pride.

During their middle school years, Senzo had never had the chance to face Sawamura.

Now that he had the opportunity, he was eager to measure himself against the Demon King.

At that moment, the Tobuyasu Coach signaled for an intentional Walk.

Senzo Shiki on the mound frowned.

'ME?'

'Walk Him?!'

'How could that be!'

…