Toru Watanabe stood on the pitcher's mound, and the other eight players of Kamikawa dispersed and took their positions.
The first batter of Qingshan High School walked into the batter's box with a swinging bat.
"Watanabe! Watanabe!" On the left, the Kamikawa support team in the audience shouted in unison.
In the audience seats on the right, the Aoyama Gakuin cheering team was also cheering.
There were more than two or three hundred people on both sides, but their momentum could not be underestimated. The sparse spectators looked at them frequently, and it was more eye-catching than the game itself.
After the first batter of Aoyama High School adjusted his swing posture and the umpire standing behind the catcher made a gesture, Toru Watanabe could pitch.
As for pitching, he had learned a little bit about it when he trained with Kunii Osamu.
To be more specific, the so-called some is only the rule of the strike zone.
The so-called strike zone...the area that is easy for batters to hit is the strike zone, which is used to restrict pitchers - this is what Kunii Osamu said at the time.
"It's not easy for a pitcher to throw at an area that the opponent can easily hit." Watanabe Toru recalled in his mind, while assuming a very standard pitching posture.
The above is all his knowledge and actions about baseball.
He took a pitching stance, but instead of being quiet, Kamikawa's cheers became even louder.
As the woman shouted "Watanabe! Watanabe!", Watanabe Toru threw the ball out.
With a dull "bang", the ball fell into the catcher's glove.
"Strike!" The umpire behind the catcher said something meaningless.
"ah--"
"Watanabe! Watanabe!"
"Aoyama! Aoyama! Aoyama!" The number of people in Aoyama High School cheerleading team seems to be larger than that of Kamikawa.
The catcher threw the ball back to Toru Watanabe, who adjusted his grip and looked at the first batter at Aoyama, who had not swung the bat.
"That's all we need to do." He glanced at the audience and confirmed that the two young ladies and their wives were safe.
Lift your legs and throw the ball.
"Bang——" With a crisp sound, the ball was hit by the bat and rolled out.
After confirming the hit, the first batter, Aoyama, threw away the baseball bat and ran towards Kunii Osamu on first base.
As Toru Watanabe was watching the batter running, the hit ball suddenly flew out from behind him and headed towards Kunii Osamu.
Kunii Osamu caught the ball neatly.
"One out!" the referee near Kuni Osamu shouted.
"It seems embarrassing." Toru Watanabe adjusted his baseball cap, walked down the pitcher's mound and walked towards the coaching seats.
When he was about to leave the court, Kunii Osamu stopped him and looked at him in disbelief:
"Where are you going?"
"Isn't he out?"
"…The one who was out was the batter from before! You bastard!" Kunii Osamu yelled, "As long as I'm here, they can't even get to first base!"
"I see." Toru Watanabe turned and walked back to the pitcher's mound.
"The place where Kunii is standing is called first base. Just now the batter hit the ball and ran there immediately... Will he score when he reaches first base? Or... forget it."
There's no need to think about the rules when it comes to just this one game.
"What we should do now..." Watanabe Toru looked at the second batter of Aoyama High School.
Make the opponent miss the ball.
The second batter is in position, the catcher is crouching, and the umpire behind the catcher is paying full attention.
"How can I make the opponent miss the target?" Watanabe Toru glanced at the audience again, thinking idly.
"For the first pitch, the batter didn't swing on purpose to observe the path of the ball. For the second pitch, he hit it directly and almost got a single. Watanabe-kun is very dangerous." Mrs. Kujo, Toru Watanabe's first baseball fan, said happily.
"Shame on you." Kujo Miki was unhappy and decided to punish him at night.
Kiyono Rin yawned gracefully.
The temperature was neither hot nor cold, there was no wind, and the cheerleaders on both sides kept shouting.
"You missed the target... because the ball was too slow? Then try hitting it faster." Watanabe Toru raised his legs and assumed a standard stance.
The second batter, Aoyama, held the bat with both hands and stared at Toru Watanabe.
The first batter told him that the pitcher who came from nowhere just threw two fastballs in the middle of the strike zone .
There is no better ball to play.
The question is, the opposing defense is very strong, can he get to first base?
No, I run very fast. If I hit the ball well enough, I might even get to second base...
"Strike!" the referee shouted.
Qingshan's second batter: "..."
The ball speed is normal? It was about 140 km/h just now, right? It definitely was!
"Beautiful!" The catcher threw the ball back.
Toru Watanabe caught the ball thrown back by the catcher.
"The speed of the ball just now should be fine... No, the previous batter didn't take the first swing either, and his expression was just as calm."
'Considering the possibility that not swinging the first bat was a tactic, it would be safer to hit the second pitch a little harder.'
Toru Watanabe raised his legs, swung his arms, and threw the ball.
The sound of the harsh wind.
At that moment, the catcher, who had been facing high-speed pitches for many years, had no courage or not. The ball rushing towards him like a cannonball made him instinctively close his eyes.
"It's over! Mistake!"
As the catcher had the thought, he felt a drilling force coming from the baseball glove in his left hand that seemed to pierce through his palm!
"Two strike!" the referee shouted.
"Nice Ball!" With his left hand slightly numb, the catcher shouted excitedly and threw the ball back to Toru Watanabe with all his might.
Qingshan's second batter: "..."
Toru Watanabe caught the ball easily, feeling the same confusion as the batter.
The catcher suddenly spoke English? Baseball rules?
So it seems that baseball originated in the United States.
"This pitch speed seems to be enough to deal with Aoyama." Looking at the nervous expression of the second batter, Watanabe Toru confirmed.
Lift your legs and throw the ball.
"Strikeout! Batter out!"
Following the referee's voice, the second batter walked back to the Qingshan High School coaching booth with his bat and a look of doubt on his face.
Toru Watanabe caught the ball thrown by the catcher, found a comfortable foothold on the pitcher's mound, and looked towards the audience.
The two young ladies are safe, Madam...
"Watanabe! Watanabe!" When did she join Kamikawa's cheerleading team?
Cheerleading?
Toru Watanabe finally remembered that there was such a group of people. He looked over there, then immediately looked away.
Although the skirt is short, it is all safety pants like shorts.
"If this continues, baseball will lose its charm sooner or later." Watanabe Toru looked at the third batter of Aoyama High School.
As he was about to get in position to throw the ball, the catcher's gloved hand suddenly began making meaningless movements in his crotch.
Watanabe Toru: “…”
One can guess that it's a secret code, but secret codes are something that are not meant to be easily understood by outsiders.
"Do you understand?" The catcher gave him a simple and understandable look and shifted his position slightly.
“……” Toru Watanabe shook his head.
The catcher paused in his movement, then quickly made another motion to his crotch.
Without waiting for him to finish his gesture, Watanabe Toru just shook his head.
If you don’t understand, you don’t understand.
Even if he is number one in the country, he cannot understand what the other party is expressing.
“…” The catcher returned to the starting position and placed his glove right in the middle of the strike zone.
Toru Watanabe raised his leg and threw the ball.
The harsh sound of wind sounded again.
Because of the experience just now, although the catcher didn't know how good Watanabe Toru was at controlling the ball, he was at least sure that he had a certain ability to control the ball and didn't have to worry about it hitting him.
He opened his eyes and watched the ball, which, based on his years of catching ball experience, was estimated to be at a speed of almost 160km/h, fall into the holster like a cannonball.
The slight numbness in the palms increased.
"Strike!" the referee shouted.
'The speed of the two balls is almost the same...' The catcher threw the ball back into the holster.
"Baseball seems a bit boring." Thinking this, Watanabe Toru mechanically threw the second pitch.
"Two strikes!"
The catcher threw the ball back, and it was Toru Watanabe's third pitch with the same speed.
"Strike out! Three outs! Attack and defense switch!"
"Watanabe! Watanabe!"
After shouting, they sang the school song happily in unison.
"The Yotsuya hills, the school building where crows fly over, our alma mater, Kamikawa!"
On the large scoreboard in the distance, Aoyama Gakuin's score in the second half was zero.
"The game ends when three batters are out." Watanabe Toru thought about the baseball rules, which he was not sure if they were right or wrong, and walked towards the coaching booth.
"Watanabe!" Kunii Osamu trotted over, "You know how powerful I am, right? During training, I hit all your balls away!"
"Aoyama High School is too weak." Toru Watanabe took off his gloves.
"That's also the reason. I can hit a straight ball like yours no matter how fast it is!"
“I only know how to play straight.”
The catcher, who was about to come up to talk, closed his open mouth when he heard these words.
After the Kamikawa cheerleaders finished singing the school song, they started shouting again: "Watanabe! Come on! Kamikawa! First!"
The other school was not to be outdone: "Qingshan! Come on!"
During the short break, the cheerleading teams of both teams cheered for each other across the fan-shaped stadium.
The cheering was so loud that the empty stadium that could seat 30,000 people was filled with their voices.
"Watanabe-kun!" The female manager came over with a towel and water. "Great! We completely suppressed the opponent's batting line!"
"Good luck." said Toru Watanabe.
"It's not luck! The ball was going really, really fast! Oh, here, a towel and some water!"
"Thank you. I'm not thirsty and I'm not sweating."
"Then I'll give you a massage! Your arms need to relax in time after continuous high-speed throwing!"
"Thank you, I'm not tired at all."
"You're welcome..."
"Yukiko," Kunii Shuu-shu rubbed his arm, "Give me a massage, it hurts."
Kobayashi Yukiko put her hands on her hips and glared at him: "You didn't do anything! Watanabe-kun struck out three batters by himself!"
"I... the second ball was clearly hit out..."
"Was it as hard as Watanabe's? He only caught one ball! But Watanabe threw three balls!" Yukiko Kobayashi looked down at Kunii Osamu.
"……No."
When the second row was arguing, Kamikawa's first batter had already walked onto the field.
The coach looked at the batter's box and asked the catcher, "How's it going?"
"It's going very fast," the catcher replied.
“Can he play?”
The catcher glanced at the batter on the field, and it was Kamikawa's ace pitcher Uchida.
Uchida's pitching speed is not as good as Watanabe's, but it is not slow either. The highest record is 150km/h. In Koshien, he may not be the fastest, but he is definitely the top pitcher and has the ability to win the championship.
In addition, with a batting line-up consisting of strong hitters such as Kunii Osamu, everyone's goal this year is to win the championship.
This is also the reason why the baseball team dared to promise that "if we fail to make it to the Koshien finals, we will kick everyone out of their seats at the school gate."
Watanabe Toru is the school's star figure. His club is the legendary Human Observation Club, which belongs to the cultural club. He has only been seen a few times on the playground.
Even if the ball is very fast, it will only go straight... After all, is the ball really 160km/h?
With that kind of monster-level pitching speed, he could definitely dominate the major leagues in the United States!
Now that he has calmed down and thought about it carefully, perhaps it was simply because he was facing a high-speed high-speed ball that he had an illusion.
He himself has never caught a ball at 160km/h.
Not to mention Kamikawa's pitching, such a pitching speed only appeared a few times in Koshien.
Every time it would draw thunderous applause, make the commentators spit, and have an entire page of the newspaper printed with the pitcher's photo.
Watanabe Toru, who had never trained before, could throw a ball like this? Impossible!
As long as nothing unexpected happens this year, their team will have no problem reaching the semi-finals.
The finals require a little bit of luck, and the championship requires a little bit of luck. In this case, there is no need to take the risk of letting Toru Watanabe, who never trains, play.
And even if Uchida is very good, he must cooperate with his catcher, who is of the same mind as him, to bring out his true strength.
Toru Watanabe is a guy who can only throw straight balls, and only in the middle of the strike zone... This makes him, as a catcher, almost like a robot. No, a robot.
What’s the point of winning like that?
However, the numbness in my left hand still remains...
In order to win and for the honor of Shenchuan, he is willing to squat and not move!
Everything for Kamikawa! Everything for dominating Koshien!
"Coach, I think he..."
“Watanabe! Watanabe! Ah——!!!”
Clearly, Toru Watanabe was not on the field. He was in the coaching booth out of sight of the cheering team. On the field was the ace pitcher Uchida who was running towards first base. Above his head, there were still many people shouting Toru Watanabe's name.
"...Coach, he only has ball speed, nothing else."
"Um."
The catcher was fat and had his arms folded, watching calmly as the ace pitcher Uchida sprinted to the bases.
"Watanabe, you are already popular enough in Kamikawa. Koshien, the sacred stadium, will never be trampled upon by you!"
The batters' order had already been decided at the beginning, and Toru Watanabe had no chance to come on.
Kunii Osamu came on as the fourth batter.
He hit the first ball thrown by the pitcher of Qingshan High School cleanly and efficiently.
With almost no hesitation, as if he knew he could hit it, he dropped the bat and ran towards first base.
Finally, he stepped on second base opposite the batter's box. At the same time, Uchida, who was originally standing on third base, ran back to home base smoothly, helping Kamikawa get a point.
The player originally on first base ran past second base and was hit on the way to third base and was out.
With two outs, Kamikawa can continue to score and can bring on the fifth batter.
Watanabe Toru dealt with the enthusiastic Kobayashi Yukiko, took the time to take a look, and understood a little more about the rules of baseball:
To score, the batter must run from the batter's box (home plate) where the ball is hit, to first base, second base, third base, and finally back to home plate to score a point.
It seems that you can't keep running in the middle. If the defense gets the ball and touches the runner on the base, the runner will be eliminated directly.
"So the pitcher is on the defensive side?" Watanabe Toru felt like he had finally gotten the hang of it.
Baseball, it's pretty simple.
The pitcher should not let the ball get hit; the batter should run after hitting the ball, and keep running as long as he is not touched by the opposing player with the ball.
"If I were the batter, wouldn't it be a sure win?" Watanabe Toru, who was fast and had the skill of [Dodge], thought to himself.
In the top of the third inning, Kamikawa scored 3 points.
In the second half, Toru Watanabe came on the field and hit nine fast, simple, boring, but screaming strikes, striking out three opposing batters and immediately starting the top of the fourth inning.
The catcher took off his glove, looked at his trembling left hand, and then looked at the back of Toru Watanabe who was greeting the audience.
Nine balls, same speed, same landing point.
This is absolute talent!
"Du..." He opened his mouth.
"Watanabe! Watanabe!"
"ah--"
"Watanabe! I love you!"
“…” The catcher clenched his trembling hands into fists.
He sat down next to ace pitcher Uchida, crossed his arms, and pulled his baseball cap down:
"Uchida, let's dominate Koshien together."
“Yeah, come on!”
Toru Watanabe was bored with the simple pitching game and couldn't pitch to his heart's content.
As for the cheers from the Kamikawa cheerleaders, he was tired of hearing them when they yelled “Shout out my name loudly” during last year’s sports festival – it was even louder than this at the time, with the entire school cheering.
In the fifth inning, after striking out three opposing batters, the game that should have lasted nine innings suddenly ended.
"Did the other party admit defeat?" asked Toru Watanabe.
"The score is 21:0, it's over early! Let's go!"
"Where are you going?"
"Curtain call."
Toru Watanabe followed the baseball team members onto the field. Because he was a reserve player among the reserves, he stood at the end of the team.
The two schools faced each other, each standing in a row.
As soon as they stood in position and took off their hats to salute each other, the air raid alarm sounded in the stadium.
The "Woo——" sound was extremely harsh.
Toru Watanabe straightened up, turned around and ran towards the audience where Miki Kujo, Rin Kiyono and Mrs. Kujo were sitting.
Because he was running so fast, when he rushed out of the baseball field, he found that except him, no one seemed to have responded to the air raid alarm.
“…”
Under the mocking gazes of Kujo Miki and others, he slowed down, took off his baseball cap as if nothing had happened, and flicked off the non-existent dust on it.
'At the end of it, the air raid sirens sounded and I learned a little bit about baseball. ' He put his baseball cap back on.
"Watanabe! Watanabe!" Although the cheering team was surprised by his behavior just now, it did not prevent them from being excited when they saw Watanabe Toru up close and face to face, and they all shouted loudly.
"You guy, do you have to be so anxious?" Kunijimasu and others came over.
The Kamikawa baseball team stood in a row again, bowed to salute the supporting team, and shouted in unison:
"Thank you so much!"
After the ceremony, the competition is considered to be over.
When leaving the field with the Kamikawa team members who were chatting and laughing, Toru Watanabe suddenly heard the uniform cheering from the opposite side.
"Come on, Qingshan! Come on, Qingshan!"
They are the cheering team of Aoyama High School.
They were eliminated in the first inning of the preliminaries. The rainy season had not yet ended, and summer had not really begun, but the Aoyama High School baseball team's journey to Koshien had already ended.
They bowed to the classmates who came to support them even though it was the weekend, and did not look up for a long time.
A few people in the middle lowered their heads and wiped their tears.
Most people hide their expressions under their baseball caps.
"Watanabe-kun, don't feel sorry for them!" The female baseball manager was holding her luggage. "There are winners and losers in every game. Since we were eliminated in the first round of Koshien last year, we have been training every day and deserve every victory!"
"I know, it's hard." Toru Watanabe thought of the baseball team jogging every morning, the cheers he heard after school every day, and the figures swinging bats on the playground on weekends.
"Watanabe-kun, my father asked me to ask you if you are interested in officially joining the team?"
"Thank you, but no thanks. I still have to coach the wind band."
Koshien, this stage filled with passion, hard work and dreams, is not a place for him who has never participated in a day of training and does not know the rules, to show off himself.
Returning to the audience, he was warmly welcomed by the cheering team and the wind band.
"Watanabe-kun, didn't they let you officially join the team?" Mrs. Kujo still held the inflatable ball in her hand.
“Yes.”
"When is the next game? I'll be here with Xiaolin, Miki and I to cheer you on. Oh, and call Yuuko to join us! Let's march to Koshien! Let's march to Koshien!"
Youko is the name of Mrs. Kiyono.
Qing Ye Lin continued:
"I'm going to coach the wind band, and I'm not interested in baseball, no, I'm not interested in any sports. People who like sports are my second most hated group of people, except for liars."
As she spoke, her expression became gloomy and cold.
"I have work and don't have time." said Miki Kujo.
"That's Watanabe-kun's match, and it's not held every day. I just asked, and there are only 8 preliminaries at most." Mrs. Kujo tempted.
Qing Ye Lin glanced at Watanabe Toru and said with a faint smile:
"It's a win anyway, there's no suspense in the game, and it's a sports game, so I don't think it's worth going out of my way to watch it."
"What Xiaolin means is that as long as Watanabe-kun plays, we will definitely win?" asked Mrs. Kujo.
"I believe in my subordinates." Qingye Rin confidently lifted her long hair from her shoulders.
"Thank you for your envious remarks." Kujo Miki said with a smile, "But he is mine."
Qing Ye Lin looked at her, and before she could speak, Watanabe Toru quickly said, "They did invite me, but I refused."
"Reject? What's the reason?" Mrs. Kujo asked, "For male high school students, Koshien should be everyone's dream."
Watanabe Toru glanced at the court and said, "That's why I refused."
After hearing this, Qingye Rin stared at Watanabe Toru with her cold and charming eyes.
"What's wrong?" he asked curiously.
“…Forget it.” Qingye Rin withdrew his gaze.
Her shiny and charming long black hair was draped over her chest, and her profile was submerged in the black hair.
Watanabe Toru couldn't see her expression clearly.
【You have a new email】
[Temporary event: Game time: 3:11 on June 20th, in the audience seats of Jingu Stadium, the pure, cold, beautiful girl who only likes you is hesitant to speak]
[Activity content: Let Qing Ye Lin say what she wants to say. Direct questioning or indirect hints are prohibited.]
[Event time: before the end of the 104th Koshien]
[Activity Reward: A Little Charm]
[Special note: Players can only use the charm points awarded by this temporary event for the following:]
[Appearance: hair, facial features, neck, back, waist, hands, shoulders, upper arms, forearms, hands, buttocks, thighs, calves, feet]
[Expressions: laugh (smile, sneer, ridicule, mockery...); cry (tears); anger (expressionless, staring); yawn...]
[Temperament: aloof, calm, elegant, indifferent...]
[Personality: Confidence, rationality, self-reliance, single-mindedness, leadership, competitiveness...]
Limited charm points...
It can't be that these are all the charms of Kiyono Rin herself, right?