Ace of Diamond: Return of the Pitcher

In Sawamura's impression, Tetsuya wasn't someone who liked gossip.

Right now, the media in the baseball world are making a big deal about what Miyuki and Sawamura planned to do after graduation.

But both of them were very discreet.

No matter how loud the media were, they kept their mouths shut and didn't say anything.

Both were smart enough to understand that once they opened their mouths, they would be dragged into this matter, consuming a lot of their energy.

In their view, this was very unwise.

So they chose not to bother with it and risk spiraling into a hot mess.

Now, Yuuki had spoken up and asked.

Sawamura instinctively thought that the senior had been bought by the media. This kind of thing happened frequently before his regression.

Some players, lacking professional ethics, would get sold out by the media and leak information about their teammates or coaches.

For example, who was in a relationship with whom, which player was rumored to be involved with a celebrity, or which player had a conflict with another. These were all newsworthy.

And such news had a massive market.

Sawamura and Miyuki's future? That topic also had a huge market. Any baseball journalist who got a hold of it would be able to produce an entire article.

After thinking for a moment, Sawamura realized that Yuuki couldn't possibly be that kind of person.

He trusted his senior in this regard.

Sawamura's mind spun in circles, but he didn't speak up.

Despite the fact that Sawamura was more famous and was often the first name mentioned when talking about the Seidou High baseball team, at the end of the day, he was only a second year.

He still had a long way to go before graduating, so there was no need to rush things.

On the other hand, Miyuki was already a senior.

He was facing graduation soon, so it made sense for him to answer the question first.

In the past, when they were still on the team, some friends had asked Miyuki this same question.

Not to mention when Sawamura was present—there were two instances.

Miyuki's response back then was clear in Sawamura's mind.

He said that he hadn't thought about it yet and that his focus was on leading Seidou to its third consecutive Title.

The teammates around them were fired up, and even Sawamura was inspired.

He thought that Miyuki would definitely say the same thing now.

But to his surprise, he heard a completely different answer.

"To be honest, I haven't figured it out yet."

It wasn't that he hadn't thought about it, it was that he hadn't made up his mind yet.

A small difference in wording, but the meaning was vastly different.

Sawamura stared at Miyuki in surprise but quickly understood.

Miyuki had said that to encourage his teammates when they were still on the team, to avoid creating cliques or conflicts.

Being too outstanding in a team wasn't always a good thing.

Miyuki brought up their shared goal to unite everyone and focus on the greater objective.

"Think carefully and follow your heart. If you can't decide, it's okay. Just focus on doing what you can now. You won't be staying on the team much longer, and once you leave, you'll have plenty of time to think about whether you want to go to university or join the professional league."

Yuuki certainly didn't bring up the question for no reason.

He asked it to share his experience and advice with the two Kohais in front of him.

He believed his advice would be helpful to them.

Miyuki sincerely bent his waist toward Yuuki.

Not everyone could say such things, even to a Kohai.

Since being called Seidou High's savior, this was the first time Miyuki had felt this sense of being cared for.

To be honest, it felt good.

No matter how tough a person appeared on the outside, they all had their vulnerable sides. When facing Yuuki, Miyuki didn't mind showing his weak side.

"Senpai, do you regret not going to university and joining the professional league directly?"

This was what Miyuki really wanted to know.

He viewed Yuuki as a model for his future, so of course, he wanted to understand more of his thoughts.

Yuuki was momentarily stunned by the question but smiled and answered, "It was my choice. Since I made it, I will never regret it."

"I can't say I don't feel any regret about not going to university. After all, university life is something people yearn for."

"But compared to that kind of life, I love baseball more, so I don't regret my choice!"

Yuuki's words had a big impact on Miyuki.

They made this confused young man see the path ahead of him.

"And you? What are your plans?"

After asking Miyuki, Yuuki turned his gaze toward Sawamura.

Unlike the enigmatic Miyuki, Sawamura was an outgoing person.

When he joined Seidou's baseball team, he immediately stated his goal.

His goal was the Major League.

A year had passed, and now Yuuki wanted to know if Sawamura's goal had changed.

"Joining the professional world is a given, but whether it's here or in the Major League, I'm still considering!"

Sawamura made a thoughtful pose.

Yuuki nodded in satisfaction.

What he liked most about Sawamura was that once he set a goal, he would never give up.

He would work tirelessly toward that goal.

Based on Yuuki's understanding of Sawamura, it was clear that he had already decided to dedicate his entire life to baseball.

Even if he couldn't continue in the professional league, Sawamura's future would still be tied to baseball.

"Have you thought about going to university?"

"Forget it, I'm not cut out for it, so I don't want to waste the country's educational resources. But if I have the chance, I'd like to take a Coaching Certification."

With that, the conversation seemed to be nearing its end.

As they were about to part ways, Yuuki suddenly turned back and said to his two juniors:

"I'm in the professional baseball world, waiting for you guys!"

Whether as teammates or opponents.

It seemed Yuuki was truly looking forward to meeting his two Kohais again.

Sawamura Eijun and Miyuki Kazuya exchanged a glance, and from each other's eyes, they understood each other's feelings.

They smiled at each other, and neither of them continued the topic.

The match against the Tokyo University team was crucial for the All-Tokyo team.

What was originally a team with no cohesion finally started to take shape after this match.

For a team to truly mature, just one or two matches were not enough. Thankfully, everyone was an excellent player. Even if they just performed their roles and executed simple teamwork, they already had considerable combat strength.

In addition, the players' confidence had increased significantly.

The opponent was composed of star players from professional baseball and top-tier university teams.

Facing such opponents, they managed not to fall behind.

The American players, even if their strength was extraordinary, how could they be stronger than this team?

Ridiculous.

At the very least, the All-Tokyo team didn't believe that a team formed by American players could surpass the strength of their current opponents.

So, they were all very confident about their upcoming match against the American team.

As the All-Tokyo team prepares for their match against the American team tomorrow, let's shift our focus to the Seidou High School baseball team.

While the All-Tokyo team was having an intense match with the Tokyo University team, the Seidou High School baseball team was also playing a very important practice match.

Their opponent was the nationally strong Kizaki High School, which had previously entered the Koshien.

The strength of the team was formidable.

Seidou High School was missing their catcher and Ace pitcher—two critical players.

Facing such a top-tier national team made people a little concerned.

Coach Ochiai, in the resting area, pinched the little beard on his chin and muttered to himself.

"Without Sawamura and Miyuki, the overall strength of the team is at least 70% of its full potential."

This was not an exaggeration at all.

Although Seidou High School had decent replacements for Sawamura and Miyuki.

The fastest pitcher in the country, Furuya Satoru.

The solid, top-level catcher, Ono Hiroshi.

The strength of these two players was unquestionable. Even when compared to other excellent players across the country, they didn't seem particularly weak.

With them stepping in to replace Sawamura and Miyuki, it was acceptable.

At least, it didn't feel like there was much of a difference...

But feelings like that weren't reliable, were they?

Once they stood on the field, everyone quickly realized.

Feelings were indeed very unreliable.

Before the match against Kizaki High School, the team had been quite confident. They believed that even if they couldn't win easily, they could at least compete evenly.

However, once the match started, they found themselves in trouble.

The fastest pitcher in the country, Furuya, tried to suppress the opponent with his fastball.

But he never considered that the opponent's batters didn't care about his pitching speed at all.

They simply targeted the pitches they could hit and struck with no mercy.

Before Furuya could demonstrate his full power, he was already under pressure.

He gave up three runs in the first inning.

However, he regained his composure in the later innings, striking out batter after batter.

The three Runs given up early became a fatal wound.

The Seidou High School baseball team was missing the decisive batters Sawamura and Miyuki.

By the end of the match, Seidou was still trailing by two runs.

The score on the field was 3:1.

If we're being honest, Seidou's team managed to land quite a few hits in this game.

Several excellent batters got hits.

But strangely, their batting lineup couldn't string together any solid offense.

"We're still lacking the decisive batter," Coach Ochiai commented.

When Sawamura and Miyuki were on the field, they would have been able to score in situations like this.

And those runs would often have been the winning runs for Seidou High School.

Especially when playing against strong teams, these decisive Runs were invaluable.

But now, without Sawamura and Miyuki, the team realized they couldn't make the lineup click.

At the critical moments, when a score was in reach, their batters would falter.

Apart from lacking decisive batters, there was another issue that couldn't be ignored.

Kizaki High School's pitcher had a particularly tricky breaking ball.

The Seidou High School batters hadn't figured out how to handle it.

The tricky breaking ball had a lot to do with it.

Every time a critical moment arrived, the pitcher would throw that key breaking ball.

Using this pitch to deal with Seidou's batters, preventing the team from getting any momentum.

"No wonder this is a nationally-ranked team, their strength is indeed extraordinary," Takashima Rei said, pushing up her glasses.

"The problem isn't that," Kataoka, the superintendent, had a completely different perspective on the current situation.

"After losing their soul leaders, the players don't even know how to play anymore!"

"Is this really Seidou's style of play?"

Of course not, he would never train such disciples.

Hearing the cold words from the superintendent, the Seidou High School team members were all filled with shame.

After glancing at each other, the acting team captains, Kuramochi and Maezono, stepped forward.

"Right now, Sawamura and Miyuki are probably playing against the university seniors. With their strength, even the university seniors would be hard-pressed to stop them."

"I believe they will definitely defeat the university seniors, and they will also defeat those opponents from America." Maezono made the statement.

"And what about us?"

"Are we just going to wait for them to return with their victories, and hear about our defeat?"

Kuramochi's eyes became fierce.

"Sorry, I can't do that."

"Even without those two, as a member of the Seidou baseball team, I will never such accept failure."

"Now That We've Come This Far, What Is There To Be Afraid Of? Let's Do This!"

"Let's Do It!!!"

"YEEEEAAAAHHHH!!!!!"

Suddenly, a loud, unseemly shout echoed through the Seidou High School baseball team's resting area.

The person responsible for this outburst was the vice captains, Maezono Kenta-kun and Kuramochi Youichi-kun.

With a different leadership, the atmosphere of the team naturally changed.

Now, the Seidou High School baseball team seemed to have transformed into a completely different team.

The players no longer resembled baseball players at all. They looked more like members of a Yakuza.

...

T/N: It is Kuramochi's Fault!

Anyway, Thank you all for reading!!

I hope you all have a nice day!

You also can check my Patre0n for extra Chapters.

https://www.patre0n.com/ColdColt

There are +160 Chapters there.