Chapter 303: Did You Cry?
"What's with that look on your face, Miyuki Kazuya?!"
Before the inning started, Sawamura complained on the mound, staring at the guy in front of him.
"It's nothing. What did Sendo say to you?"
"Uh… well…"
"You don't have to tell me. Just surprise me even more, okay?"
"Huh? You're actually letting that guy do whatever he wants?"
"Hehehe. Whether it's reckless or not, we'll only know after it's over, right? I heard something about the outside corner. Either way, if there's a chance, I'll give you the sign. No matter what, the outside pitch is still basically a ball."
"You… sometimes you really are just like Sendo," Sawamura muttered, even managing to complain back.
"Well, thank you very much! I'm always learning," Miyuki said, scratching the back of his head.
"That wasn't a compliment! Get serious already!
This is the finals! Be nervous, damn it!" Sawamura panicked—and then, right in front of tens of thousands of people, he lifted Miyuki up.
"I… I'm your senior!" Miyuki protested, finally realizing how embarrassing this was.
"It's fine! Trust me—and trust Sendo!" Miyuki said, patting Sawamura after being put down.
"Well… in a situation like this, you guys are worth trusting."
"Alright! Then it's settled! I'll give you that sign when the time comes!"
With that, Miyuki turned and walked away.
Sawamura had been completely led astray by the two reckless idiots, becoming an unwilling temporary member of their chaos.
...
Bottom of the 12th inning!
Inashiro's turn at bat!
Cleanup hitter! Catcher—Harada!
"We're not done yet!"
"Come on, Harada!"
"Harada-san!"
...
"Yeah… no matter where you're from, no team wants to lose. But only victory proves strength. I… will never back down!"
Whoosh!
Pop!
"Strike!"
"Alright!" Sawamura's fighting spirit surged again.
"Th-this is his pitching…!" Harada stared in shock at the pitcher on the mound.
He had thought this guy was just a substitute before—yet now, he was the final wall standing in front of him.
Harada tightened his grip on the bat.
Whoosh!
Clack!
"Foul!"
"Damn it—I can't catch the timing!"
"What?! He already chased the cleanup hitter in just two pitches?!"
"Is this for real?"
"That guy really is Sawamura, right? Not someone else?"
Even the cheers from the stands were starting to sound strange.
"Inside pitch, then a diagonal inside fastball!
Two strikes, no balls! He's got him cornered, but getting the out won't be easy. Still… isn't this the perfect chance to test it? What the hell did Sendo tell him? Go on—shock me as much as you want!"
Miyuki happily gave the sign.
"Seriously? This is the cleanup hitter! You're really impatient…But… can this really work out?"
Sawamura asked himself.
"But… there's no turning back now…!"
At that moment, he remembered what Sendo had said earlier.
"Listen carefully, idiot!"
"Don't call me an idiot!"
Sawamura shook his head wildly on the mound, muttering to himself—so much so that the infield seniors stared at him in confusion.
Who are you even talking to? their expressions seemed to say.
Sawamura didn't notice and continued recalling.
"I'm going to teach you how to control the ball. This is based on my own experience. Do you have any idea how hard it is to break down something that doesn't even need practice?"
"To control your pitch, you need to focus part of your attention on your fingers. But since you're an idiot, you need to focus all of it. Your whole body and arm generate the power, but in the end, everything is released through your fingers—and controlled by them. The last two fingers that touch the ball before release decide everything. Focus all your attention on those two fingers. Let them guide the ball's trajectory.
If you can't concentrate, then relax your whole body before pitching. That movement the coach taught you before—it wasn't bad."
Unlike the method Sawamura had figured out in his previous life, Sendo's control was instinctive.
But by carefully recalling how his body generated force and applying logic, he could reverse-engineer a reliable method.
It was similar to Sawamura's own ideas—but advice from a control master was far more practical.
Sendo himself had long forgotten this explanation.
It had been too brutal, so he only watched it once and then selectively erased it from memory.
All he really remembered from the original story was someone shouting:
"First match is Teito?!"
So the outside pitch idea was entirely Sendo's own.
Even Sawamura felt thinking about it was insane.
This is the final! The match that decides Koshien!
And you want me to throw some half-baked outside pitch?!
But when Sawamura protested, Sendo had only said:
"Today's you can do it."
And that was that.
At the time, Sawamura had gotten carried away.
Only now, standing on the mound, did the unease finally hit—right before Miyuki perfectly supported him and dragged him along anyway.
"Today's you can do it!"
Recalling those words, Sawamura made up his mind.
"Relax your whole body! Focus all your attention on your fingertips! Let your fingers guide the ball's path!"
Whoosh!
Pop!
"Ah!" Harada couldn't even attempt a swing at that vicious pitch.
"…!"
"Ball!"
The umpire hesitated for a long moment—it grazed the strike zone—but ultimately ruled it a ball.
"That was… a low outside pitch… How did he even do that?" Miyuki stared at the ball in disbelief.
Harada's eyes nearly popped out.
He had almost watched strike three go by.
He gulped down air desperately.
Inashiro's bench did the same.
"Low outside…?"
Chris-senpai's pen froze mid-note.
Everyone was stunned.
"Wait… don't tell me Miyuki's having him practice a new pitch now?"
Ota exclaimed.
"Sigh… those guys are seriously nerve-wracking."
"Guys?"
"You really think that idiot didn't have a hand in this?" Coach Kataoka asked calmly.
"That idiot… you mean—?!"
"Miyuki wouldn't have the guts, and no one else could help Sawamura master the outside pitch this fast. Only that guy—with natural four-quadrant control—could do it. It's probably a rushed version, though.
Only possible because of Sawamura's condition today."
Coach Kataoka saw through everything instantly.
"Coach—!"
"No need to stop it. In this state, Sawamura's fine. And those two idiots aren't completely reckless."
"Understood."
…
"This pitcher… he can throw there?"
Harada couldn't calm his heart.
Admittedly, just adjusting to Sawamura's timing was hard enough.
Coach Kunimoto's face was drenched in sweat.
Luck or peak condition—it didn't matter.
What mattered was that he threw it.
A low outside pitch, even if not perfectly sharp,
combined with that hidden release point, was brutal.
And all the batters before had been facing him for the first time—in a life-or-death inning.
If this pitcher could command both high inside and low outside pitches…
The only thing Kunimoto could do was order the batter to focus on the inside.
That was the only possible response.
Such a quick decision showed his decisiveness and experience.
A younger Kataoka might have hesitated far longer.
"That outside pitch looks really far… the coach's call is right! Focus! We're not supposed to lose here! Focus!"
Whoosh!
Crack!
"Focus!"
Clack!
"Foul!"
"Cutter—close one!"
Harada's hit barely went foul, nearly caught by a diving Masuko.
Inside or outside—if it's caught before it lands, you're dead.
"That outside pitch nearly froze me!"
Harada was drenched in cold sweat.
Miyuki was already setting his glove again.
"That was… Narumiya…!"
As Sawamura lifted his right leg, Harada felt like he was seeing last year's Narumiya Mei.
Whoosh!
Clack!
Pop!
"Out!"
When Haruichi caught the fly ball, Harada stared up at the sky.
"Alright! One out!" Sawamura shouted first.
"One out!"
"One out!"
"So the outside pitch entered the strike zone… that's why Harada swung?"
Iguchi was caught in a dilemma.
As a relief pitcher, he usually came in after the game was decided.
Batting cleanup in a do-or-die inning was something he had never experienced.
Whoosh!
Crack!
Pop!
"Out!"
A single inside fastball sent the ball high to center field—easily caught by Sendo.
"Two outs!"
"Two outs!"
Six pitches. Two outs.
"One more…" Fumino whispered.
"One more!"
"One more!"
"One more!"
"One more!"
The entire stadium roared in unison.
"Sixth batter! First baseman—Yamaoka!"
"Yamaoka! Please!"
"Just one hit!"
"One more!"
"One more!"
"One more!"
However, Inashiro's cheers were quickly drowned out.
"Against Yamaoka, we have to be careful of his power hitting! Even if he doesn't square it up, he can still muscle it out! He's the same type of batter as Masuko—and in a way, Sawamura's natural enemy!
I'll gladly make use of the surprise Sendo gave me!
First pitch—let's probe with a low outside pitch!"
Whoosh!
Pop!
"Strike!"
"That's it—so this really is a pitcher whose release point you can't see! But I'm not about to give up that easily! His control is only this sharp because of his condition today, and even if it's a ball, it's not a pitch my bat can't reach! We're down by four runs—even a walk would be a loss! As long as I endure… as long as I endure…!"
Whoosh!
Pop!
"Ball!"
"If I just hold on… there will be a chance!"
Whoosh!
Clack!
"Foul!"
"The chance… it has to come!"
Whoosh!
Clack!
"Cutter!"
Yamaoka dropped the bat and sprinted toward first.
"This one's deep! Will it drop?!"
"Center fielder!!!"
"Let it fall!!!"
"Stop it!!!"
"Ku! Ku! Ku! Ku! Ku!"
"Ah!"
Pop!
In the end—before the despairing eyes of the Inashiro players—the long drive tracing a beautiful arc into the outfield was intercepted.
"Out!"
"Ballgame!!"
"OH!!!"
"YAAAH!!!"
As the umpire declared the end of the game,
Inashiro's players stood frozen, staring blankly into the outfield amid the roaring cheers.
A sharp pain stabbed into their chests.
Tears burst forth uncontrollably, their bodies feeling as though all strength had been drained away.
Narumiya Mei—who had only just begun to recover—
once again went slack, this time not for himself, but for his team.
Their summer… was over.
Coach Kunimoto closed his eyes once more.
No matter how many defeats he had experienced,
each one still hurt the same.
This time, their overall strength had clearly been superior—but that was exactly what made single-elimination tournaments so cruel.
One game decides everything.
....
At the instant the game ended, the air-raid siren blared once again.
Every Seidou player burst out of the dugout and rushed toward the mound.
"The game is over!.Starting with the home run by fifth batter Sendo in the top of the 12th, and ending with a perfect closing by pitcher Sawamura Eijun! After a grueling battle lasting four hours and seven minutes!!! The king's dream of a repeat championship is shattered! Seidou High returns to Koshien after six long years!!!"
As the announcer spoke, Sawamura—just about to shout—was tackled by Kuramochi in a flying leap.
Then another player piled on.
And another.
Until there was no room for anyone else.
"Jun-san… are you crying this time?"
Sendo asked, looking at Isashiki beside him.
"Something got in my eye, you idiot!"
"Ohhh, I see. That's really unfortunate then."
"AH!!!"
Isashiki screamed with the last of his strength, no longer able to hold back his emotions.
"YOSHA!!! Congratulations, Coach!!! And congratulations to all you idiots!!!"
Azuma cried out as he offered his blessings to the team and his juniors.
"Haa… man… I'm exhausted,"
Sendo said, tilting his head back to look at the still-scorching sky—even though it was already five in the afternoon.
-------------------
If you want to read 20 chapters advanced.
Visit my patreon: patreon.com/Shu_21