Chapter 268: Double Happiness
"Number three! Third baseman, Yoshizawa!"
"No outs, runner on first! Inashiro Industrial their powerful heart of the lineup!"
"Attack him, Tanba!"
"Focus on the batter!"
"Don't count on the opponent making mistakes—crush him yourself! Yoshizawa!"
Coach Kunimoto was extremely serious. He expected at least a tie this inning from the core lineup.
"Don't back down! Overwhelm him with your fighting spirit, Tanba!"
Coach Kataoka wasn't planning to retreat either.
Once the batter got into position, Miyuki quickly flashed the signs.
Ping!
Yoshizawa swung through the curveball completely, his form breaking apart without touching even a hair of the ball.
This curveball was not something you could hit just because you wanted to—especially not the first time facing it.
"Nice ball!"
"Yoshi! Good ball, Tanba-san!"
"Keep attacking!"
"You matched the swing timing! Yoshizawa!"
"Stay on him!"
….
"Another inside pitch?!" Seeing the sign for the second pitch, Tanba swallowed hard.
"That bastard…"
Ping!
"Strike!"
Still shaken from his broken form earlier and lacking any mental preparation, Yoshizawa couldn't react in time.
And unlike Shirakawa's chest-high fastball earlier, this pitch came near the knees—right at the bottom edge of the strike zone.
In terms of ball sense, Yoshizawa was still far inferior to Harada or Narumiya.
In this situation, he needed to show strength and boost his pitcher's confidence.
Only then would Tanba's mindset stabilize, making his pitches even harder to hit.
"Ball!"
The third pitch was again inside, but lower than the previous.
Yoshizawa watched it carefully and didn't swing.
"Where will the next one be? Inside? Outside?"
"Outside!"
"He swung!!"
"He swung!! He swung!!"
"Strikeout!!"
By the time Yoshizawa realized something was off, it was too late to hold back.
A beautiful outside forkball—entirely meant to bait the swing, not to throw a real strike. It wasn't a pitch meant to be hit at all.
Even Sendo, who loves low pitches, wouldn't have hit it—the ball bounced before reaching Miyuki.
If it were Sendo reacting quickly enough, he might have hit a slow roller hugging the ground and gambled on leg speed… but not Yoshizawa.
"YOSSHAAA!!!"
Miyuki's commanding presence ignited the ace's fighting spirit. The fierce, spirited pitch secured the first out from the heart of the lineup.
"Keep attacking!"
"Don't relax!"
"Number four! Catcher, Harada!"
"Harada!!!"
"We're counting on you, Captain!"
"Send it flying!"
"Now it gets serious, Tanba-san! Don't fear getting hit—stay aggressive!"
As the cheering roared, Miyuki gave a stern sign.
Since Tanba's control hadn't fully returned, he could only start with a curveball aimed to clip the strike zone.
Harada knew this well.
Ping!
"Foul!"
"Ahhh! Too bad!"
"Just a bit more!"
Unfortunately for Harada, his luck wasn't great—he sent the ball toward third base, barely foul.
If that had landed fair in the outfield, it would've been an easy extra-base hit.
"Don't lose the momentum, Tanba!"
"We're still leading! Attack!"
"Second pitch!"
"Inside?"
Harada, with his flexible joints and fast swing, could afford to wait longer.
Tanba's velocity was far below Furuya's—this difference matters a lot.
"Forkball!"
Ping!
"He hit it! Between first and second!! Isashiki and Sendo are charging forward!"
"Jun-san!"
Seeing Isashiki catch the ball but lacking time for a proper throw, Sendo shouted.
Understanding instantly, Isashiki didn't even bother transferring the ball to his right hand—he flicked it with his glove hand, using pure wrist strength.
Not something anyone could do. Isashiki was amazing.
Harada, who had barely run past first, and Shirakawa at second, immediately slammed the brakes and returned.
Sendo looked to second, threw, and then passed it to first—ending the play.
"A brilliant defensive relay from Seidou! What could've been an extra-base hit becomes a force out!"
"Oi oi! Are those two outfielders or middle infielders?!"
Harada complained to Kuramochi.
"Right?!" Kuramochi laughed.
"What are you looking at?"
Isashiki, the 'Pomeranian,' noticed Harada's stare and glared fiercely.
"Damn it! Damn it! Damn it!"
Compared to Harada's composed complaining, Shirakawa was whispering nonstop curses.
In this inning, both teams' fielders showed outstanding defense. After so many innings, the audience could see clearly—Seidou's fielding was superior, but Inashiro controlled the game thanks to pitching strength.
Which brings us to the next man.
"Number five! Pitcher, Narumiya!"
"Now it's Narumiya, who hit a two-run RBI earlier!
Inashiro's attack continues!"
"Tanba! One out! Take them one at a time!"
Yuuki was first to shout this time.
"Tanba-san! One out!"
"Stay calm!"
"Be careful with the first pitch!"
And at this moment—Narumiya showed a bunt stance.
"Bunt?"
Miyuki frowned.
If the bunt succeeded, it would be two outs with runners on second and third, and the next batter would be Yamaoka, who had just blasted a home run in his previous at-bat.
Honestly, Miyuki had zero confidence letting Tanba face Yamaoka again.
This was still the next inning from that home run. No pitcher forgets something like that so quickly.
Even Sawamura in the original series wasn't unaffected when facing Raichi the second time—that was much later, too.
"Only someone like Sendo wouldn't care and instead get even more fired up… He might have the most perfect pitcher's mentality in the field. Too bad he refuses to pitch," Miyuki joked to himself.
"If he bunts, let him. But we cannot lose momentum."
Miyuki decided and gave the signal.
As a third-year, Tanba wasn't like a first-year who panicked at bunts and threw wildly.
If he chose to challenge directly, he wouldn't run away.
Narumiya waited until the exact moment Tanba was about to release—
—and raised the bat.
"Hit-and-run!"
Too late to change the pitch now—changing would risk a wild throw.
Everyone tensed.
Ping!
"It's hit to right field!"
"You've got to be kidding!"
Isashiki sprinted full speed.
"It drops! Runner from second scores—TIE GAME!!!
And the runner from first reaches third! Narumiya with back-to-back RBI hits! Now it's one out, runners on second and third! And next up—Yamaoka, who blasted a home run last inning!!!"
"Don't! Don't! Don't! Don't!"
Sawamura was panicking.
"At least say 'mind', idiot!"
Miyauchi-senpai snapped.
"Calm down!"
"One out!!"
Seidou tried to calm Tanba.
"Number six! First baseman, Yamaoka!"
Yamaoka stepped into the box—his cheer song was the same as Sendo's and Harada's…
"Yamaoka!"
"Keep attacking!"
"Send it!"
As the primary candidate for the next cleanup hitter, Yamaoka wasn't someone you handled easily.
In normal circumstances, he could've been the fifth batter. But Narumiya had an extremely high batting average, and behind Yamaoka was the skilled contact hitter Hirai Tsubasa, so they placed Yamaoka sixth.
Tanba looked at him, sweating.
His mind filled with the memory of that home run.
"In this situation, to drain Tanba-san's mentality, Inashiro definitely won't give us an easy out. They won't force a sacrifice fly. We should focus on the batter and pitch sharply."
After a quick calculation, Miyuki raised his glove.
Smack!
"Ball!"
Tanba's pitch clearly missed the zone.
Miyuki knew he had to make a decision.
He again set the glove at a sharp, challenging spot—if Tanba could hit it, great; if not, at least it wouldn't be a hittable pitch.
Smack!
Smack!
Smack!
"Ball four!"
The immense psychological pressure crushed Tanba exactly as Miyuki feared—he was far too fixated on that previous home run, and his pitches completely went off track.
With the score tied, and with Narumiya displaying that level of pitching…one out, bases loaded!
Even though they had mentally prepared for the worst, it didn't lessen the weight pressing down on Miyuki and Tanba.
In this kind of situation, if the battery failed to hold their ground and the ball was hit, the fielders could only grit their teeth helplessly.
....
"Number seven! Second baseman, Hirai!"
"Your pitches have power! Keep attacking, Tanba-san!" Miyuki shouted.
Clenching his teeth, determination burning in his eyes, Tanba showed his fighting spirit.
"Safety squeeze!!!"
Whoosh!
Ding!
"In this situation?!"
Miyuki's expression froze—he had assumed Inashiro Industrial, rather than pushing for runs, would prioritize wearing down Tanba's mental stamina. And
Hirai wasn't a weak batter either.
This made one thing clear: Inashiro believed that taking the lead would crush Tanba far harder than simple pressure.
"Damn it! First base!"
Miyuki could only grit his teeth and make the call.
Pop!
"Out!"
"A reversal! In this situation, Inashiro chooses the safe route and secures a run! Bottom of the 6th—Inashiro finally turns the tables! 5–4! And it's still two outs with runners on second and third! Another scoring chance!"
....
Ping!
The eighth batter took advantage of Seidou's tense defense and swung at the first pitch.
"First-pitch swing! It passes through the left side!
Number eight, Bon, sends a single to left!
Runner from third scores—that's run number six!
Runner from second is heading for th—"
"STOP!!!"
Whoosh!
THUMP!
A white laser shot in from left field, completely cutting through Inashiro's momentum and the rising heat of the stadium.
"HE STOPPED HIM!!! Dono what an incredible throw from left fielder Furuya! The runner froze at third—he didn't dare challenge home!!!"
"Furuya!!!"
"Nice one, Furuya!"
The Seidou bench, which had nearly fallen into despair, erupted in wild cheers.
Being down by two against Inashiro was already terrifying enough.
If they allowed another run, the hitters might not recover mentally—Narumiya was fully locked in now.
"No wonder he's called Monster-kun!"
"The Monster Prince!!" Even the upperclassman managers were excited.
No matter what, allowing only one run eased the batting lineup's pressure considerably.
At the moment the ball landed, nearly everyone on Seidou's side had felt a stab of despair.
So the contrast of holding it to one run instead of two earned a burst of cheers.
"Nice job, Furuya! Even if it was just luck!"
Sawamura said—though it was impossible to tell if he was praising or insulting him.
Judging from his expression… probably praise.
Miyauchi-senpai nodded along with a snort, supporting the statement in his own way.
"Oi, Kura! Don't steal my spotlight!"
Just returning to home, Narumiya shouted furiously.
He had just scored, hadn't even celebrated yet, and the guy he had "crushed" earlier—Furuya—suddenly stole all the attention.
How could the tsundere king not get mad?
Sure, Sendo also competed with Furuya for attention, but people were used to Sendo—he was a star for hitting, baserunning, fielding… everything.
But for a pitcher like Furuya to steal his moment—Narumiya was having none of it.
"You idiot! Throw a bounce next time!"
Jun shouted—again, unclear whether he was praising Furuya or complaining.
Either way, Furuya ignored all of them…and simply stared at Tanba.
In his heart, he was thinking: I can replace you at any moment.
But to Tanba, this was actually a huge encouragement.
"Beautiful throw!" Sendo exclaimed.
The moment Sendo's voice rang out, Furuya's ears perked up, and his expression turned slightly… happy?
Because Sendo almost never raised his voice.
Earlier, when he shouted at Tanba, Furuya was the one most shocked—because he admired Sendo, he understood how rare that was.
And Sendo sounded genuinely happy.
As the author of the "Sendo Body Language Encyclopedia," Furuya also knew—Sendo almost never enjoyed a game this much.
It was practically unheard of.
For Furuya, this was double happiness.
As for Sendo—of course he was happy.
Allowing three runs was basically a forced loss for him as center fielder.
And Inashiro's bottom lineup didn't dare aim at center anymore—they avoided his zone like their lives depended on it.
Furuya's performance relieved a huge amount of pressure from Sendo, letting him focus on facing Narumiya at the plate without being crushed by defensive stress.
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