Ace of Diamond: Return of the Pitcher

Standing proudly on the pitcher's mound, Sawamura's figure seemed extraordinarily tall in the eyes of the players from Hakuryu High School.

Especially when the entire crowd of fans simultaneously chanted Sawamura's name, his figure became overwhelmingly imposing.

He looked like a true Demon King, standing there with pride, making others too intimidated to provoke him.

In the past, whenever they played against other opponents, no matter how strong the opponent was, they could always see their limits.

What was terrifying about Sawamura was that you could never see his limits.

The only time you might be able to get a couple of hits was when the Maou was momentarily distracted.

But if you thought those hits meant something, you were sorely mistaken.

Once a hit was allowed, Sawamura would immediately shift into another mode.

It seemed he was particularly adept at handling these kinds of crises, and the more desperate the situation, the better he performed. It almost felt like he had been purposely going easy before.

It was only when someone reached base that he would play seriously.

This sense of hopelessness was extremely overwhelming.

When you've given everything you have and realize your opponent is just toying with you—yet even when they are toying with you, they can still utterly suppress you—it is a feeling that words could hardly describe.

It is like he came out of an anime.

The Sawamura Eijun on the mound was invincible.

After the changeover, the game reached the bottom of the fourth inning.

Seidou High School started their offense.

Nishiyama took his place in the Batter's Box.

Nishiyama had never felt so desperate before.

As mentioned earlier, he was a rising star from middle school and had once led his team high up on the world stage.

With such a halo surrounding him, it wasn't hard to understand if he had a bit of overconfidence.

Nishiyama never belittled himself; he believed in his abilities. Since joining Seidou High School, Coach Kataoka has taken good care of him.

Although due to Sawamura's presence, he wasn't assigned the Ace pitcher position, he was still given a starting position, which even Furuya had not received.

After his previous game, Nishiyama was eager to perform well.

However, he sadly realized that his abilities were of no use in the top-tier competition between high school powerhouses.

Ouno, who had previously been repeatedly overwhelmed by Sawamura and Miyuki, didn't appear too formidable.

Nishiyama had originally thought he could beat him.

But when they actually faced off, he realized that it was nothing like he had imagined. The opponent's strength far exceeded his expectations. When they competed, it felt like someone was leading him by the nose.

It was beyond frustrating.

Snap!

"STRIKE! BATTER OUT!"

Nishiyama was struck Out without much resistance.

With his cold face, Ouno made Nishiyama feel like he was an enigma.

'Is the opponent really that formidable?' Nishiyama wondered.

He remembered how his Senpais were walking all over the pitcher in front of him...

A feeling of shame and frustration filled Nishiyama's heart.

Maybe he had been too arrogant, perhaps.

"Don't take it too hard!"

When Nishiyama returned to the dugout, Lee-Hyun, who had always been a quiet, invisible figure in the Seidou baseball team, approached him and offered some comfort.

Lee-Hyun had been a silent presence in the team, interacting with almost no one other than his mentor Kuramochi. He had diligently studied Japanese, and thanks to the great learning environment around him, he had progressed rapidly.

Now, he had no problems understanding what was said, but expressing himself clearly was still a challenge.

He hadn't expected Nishiyama to take the initiative to speak to him at this moment.

"Don't worry about me!"

Nishiyama was still holding up well.

Though the road had been harder than he had expected since joining Seidou High School, this was exactly why he had come to Seidou.

He had turned down all the offers in favor of this one, and he hadn't regretted it.

On the contrary, he was very excited, it was because Seidou was this strong that he could face such strong opponents just after he entered high school.

'I will catch up!' Nishiyama thought.

The players in front of him were all absolute mainstays of elite teams.

They were the rivals Nishiyama needed to surpass.

He felt the strength of the top-tier teams.

This was also a serious challenge for Seidou High School's team.

Although his Senpais had easily gotten hits, the overall number of hits for Seidou High School wasn't very high.

Hakuryu High School was still a strong opponent, not one to be easily defeated.

If Seidou High School wanted to challenge such a powerful opponent, they would really need to bring out some coordinated attack.

Soon, Ouno got three Outs, completing the fourth inning's defense.

The game moved on to the fifth inning.

In the fifth inning, Sawamura remained dominant, Striking Out one batter, getting a fly high Out, and an infield grounder Out, and taking three Outs smoothly in just over three minutes.

Such a terrifying pace put immense mental pressure on the players of Hakuryu High School.

He was too strong—really too strong.

They had almost no time to rest.

The fielders had just come off the field for barely three minutes, and many hadn't even finished their drinks before they were forced to go back out and defend.

How could they keep going like this?

But no matter how hard it was, they had to step up when it was their turn. They could only grit their teeth and return to their positions.

They focused all their attention on the batter about to step up, ready to face Seidou High School's next move.

Seidou High School was also not holding back. It was their turn to go on the offense, and they were determined to be aggressive.

In this round of offense, they displayed extraordinary power.

When it was Sawamura's turn, there were two Outs and a runner on second base.

Standing on second base was none other than the first batter, Kuramochi.

Since he had entered his third year, Kuramochi's performance at the plate had become increasingly impressive.

Not to mention today, when he had come up to bat three times, getting on base three times.

Against weaker teams, this wouldn't be anything remarkable, but the opponent today was Ouno.

Having learned a new breaking ball, Ouno's current ability was at least at an All-Japan Level.

Combined with his typically calm demeanor, Sawamura deduced that he could even rank last among high school's top pitchers.

Never underestimate the pitchers at the bottom of the national rankings.

Even if they were at the bottom, they were still among the top pitchers in the country.

Out of thousands of pitchers nationwide, being ranked in the top 20 was terrifying.

Against such an opponent, Kuramochi's performance was outstanding.

Most importantly, he had extended the lineup to Sawamura.

Next, it was Seidou High School's cleaners.

Despite having two Outs, Seidou High School's chances of scoring were still quite high—one might even say extremely high.

At this point, Hakuryu High School also took action.

Ouno immediately adopted an aggressive Four-Ball Walk.

Seeing this from Ouno, Sawamura, standing in the Batter's Box, could only helplessly accept it.

The opponent was dead set on not letting him hit normally. While Sawamura could still barely hit the ball, the outcome was too unpredictable.

At this point, he had no choice but to let it happen and get Walked.

After Sawamura was walked, the situation became two Outs with runners on first and second.

Now, Miyuki was up to bat.

No one knew what the players from Hakuryu High School were thinking. When facing Miyuki, they surprisingly chose to attack directly.

The first pitch was a Strike.

"STRIKE!"

Miyuki, who had expected to be Walked, was caught off guard by this sudden Strike.

He could only watch helplessly as the ball passed by.

'What was going on?'

Miyuki was confused.

Sawamura, who had just been Walked, was also stunned.

He had thought that after he was Walked, Miyuki would also most likely be Walked too. Since they had already started acting, their next move was easy to predict.

But to his surprise, the opponent was so bold.

It was as if they were fearless.

'Don't worry about what the opponent is thinking. Since they've given us this opportunity, we should just take the score!' Sawamura made a sign to Miyuki.

Miyuki, who understood the message, nodded at Sawamura and raised his bat.

At this point, everyone thought Seidou was almost certain to score.

But the reality, unfortunately, was very cruel.

...

T/N: The game is almost over, but Hakuryu's bag of tricks is not.

However, That's it for now.

Thank you all for reading!

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