The ga between Seido High School Baseball Team and Inashiro Industrial High School Baseball Team was nearing its end. Both teams had been going back and forth, refusing to give an inch.
The score was 6:4, Seido trailing by two runs.
Despite being behind, Seido's supporters were still full of confidence in what was coming. After all, the next batter was Zhang Han.
If before it had been a budding sign, today's ga had settled it completely. Zhang Han had co to bat twice already, and both tis he had hit Narumiya i's pitching out of the park. As his fans saw it, Narumiya i hadn't gotten Zhang Han out once all ga. How could Inashiro expect to win?
"This guy has tricked twice."
Narumiya i's eyes burned. No one had said it to him, but he knew it perfectly well. He had not gotten Zhang Han out yet.
And that was a large part of why Seido still had such strong fighting spirit. Their players hadn't accepted defeat. They could still hit. They hadn't given up. They could keep fighting.
Zhang Han hadn't lost yet.
All of that had beco fuel for Seido. To break it, Narumiya i had to get Zhang Han out directly.
The truth was, he had never expected Zhang Han to develop this fast. Back in his last year of junior high, when they had faced each other, Narumiya i had given up a hit but had largely been able to suppress him.
By the Sumr Tournant this year, their matchup had been even. He gave up a hit and a run. Now, facing Zhang Han again, it was Narumiya i who was being suppressed.
Multiple matchups. Hit out every ti. Not once had he had the upper hand. Zhang Han had even hit a two-run ho run in the middle of it all.
Since when did he have to be wary of Zhang Han?
Narumiya i, with his extre pride, could not accept that. His next pitch ca out with everything he had, as if he were trying to settle it in one throw.
The white ball whizzed past. Zhang Han barely had ti to react.
Zhang Han had co prepared for exactly this.
They had been opponents for years, both becoming star players for their respective teams from their first year of junior high all the way through their third. Now in high school, the team nas had changed but nothing else had. No one understood you better than a long-standing opponent, sotis not even a friend.
Narumiya i was not soone who accepted defeat. Having co out the worse in their previous confrontations, he would be looking for a chance to even the score. He would be watching Zhang Han like a hawk.
Zhang Han knew this clearly and felt no anxiety over it.
Through their previous encounters, he believed he had a strong grasp of Narumiya i's pitching. Aside from the changeup he kept as a deterrent, Narumiya i's other pitches didn't have much variation. If Zhang Han waited patiently, he would eventually get the pitch he wanted.
Like this one.
The white ball ca in inside but stayed within the zone. Zhang Han had a clear read on it and swung.
"Ping!"
The ball flew seventy to eighty ters before hitting the ground. The Inashiro fielders had no ti to react.
"Foul ball!"
The ball had veered a few ters and landed just outside fair territory. Fortunately.
Zhang Han's expression didn't change. He retrieved his bat and reset his stance.
In the stands, the girls erupted.
"So cool, Zhang San…"
"Good hit!…"
"Zhang San, Zhang San, you're the strongest!! Zhang San, Zhang San, you're the best!!"
That was the restrained end of it. One girl had pushed her way to the front of the stands and was shouting at full volu.
"Zhang San, I like you!!"
"Go out with !!"
The fans around her exchanged looks. She was quite pretty. Not soone who would struggle to find a boyfriend. So what was the rush?
In Seido's dugout, the teammates were talking amongst themselves.
"This kid is really sothing."
They were all on the sa team. How could they not be a little envious?
"There's nothing to be done. It's a world that judges by looks."
Miyuki spread his hands.
He was imdiately t with cold stares from every direction.
The Seido players weren't as strikingly handso as Zhang Han, but most of them were reasonably good-looking. Miyuki and Yuuki were popular types at school. But others had more distinctive appearances. Not ugly, just unique. Isashiki Jun with his little beard, Masuko with his heavier build, Kominato Ryosuke, who was handso but shorter than most girls. These were sensitive topics.
"I really didn't an anything by it. Just stating the facts."
Miyuki tried to explain, but before he could finish, several of the second-year upperclassn had already closed in on him for a round of what could generously be called character education.
This junior was getting more and more presumptuous.
While the dugout was busy with that, the duel on the field took a new turn.
Zhang Han read the incoming pitch cleanly and swung with confidence. This ti, the ball went foul again.
Once was a coincidence. Two consecutive fouls gave Zhang Han a bad feeling. Sothing was off.
Two strikes. He was cornered.
Zhang Han waited for Narumiya i's third pitch.
He didn't hesitate. He swung at the incoming ball, completing his full swing, but his bat found nothing.
A changeup?
Zhang Han was stunned.
The changeup, used only once against Yuuki and never again since, had just reappeared. That ant everything they had previously assud about Narumiya i's changeup was wrong. It wasn't just a bluff, sothing thrown once for effect and then shelved. It was a genuine weapon he had developed, and he was willing to use it.
"Strike!"
"Strikeout!"
************************************
Upto 50 Chapters In Advance At: P@treon/Vividreader123
User Comments
0 comments from readers