Ace of Diamond: Return of the Pitcher

"Stop looking down on people!"

When the outfielder who was retrieving the ball saw Mima, he immediately threw the ball toward second base.

At this moment, he felt like his lungs were going to explode from anger! How much did the other side look down on him to make such a choice?

After all, he was an elite player from the Tokyo area, and being treated like this made him feel furious.

But fortunately, he knew in his heart that anger wouldn't solve anything, so to truly solve the issue of this powerful opponent, he needed skills and other things.

The baseball flew like a laser, heading straight toward second base.

At second base, someone was already there to receive it.

It wasn't the second baseman, but the shortstop, Shirakawa.

Being selected for the national team itself proved that these players were all highly skilled.

For the Inashiro High School baseball team to have four players selected, it's easy to guess just how excellent these four players must be.

Shirakawa's strengths, apart from his superb skills, were his sharp intuition.

It was almost like he had special abilities; he could always tell where the baseball was hit.

Generally, balls hit to his position rarely get past him.

This time was no different. Before anyone else could react, Shirakawa keenly realized that this was a situation where he needed to step in.

Without hesitation, he rushed to second base, and the baseball came flying toward him.

Snap!

He securely caught the ball in his mitt and prepared to face Mima, who was rushing toward him.

If he could handle Mima here, then there would be no issue with Narumiya's previous mistake.

As long as he could stop him, it would mean that Mima had wasted a hit.

Looking at Mima charging toward him, Shirakawa did not take the initiative.

He was very clear on what kind of person Mima was.

His reaction speed was extremely quick and agile.

Mima's parents were both athletes in the sports competition world! They had extraordinary talents in the sprinting and long-distance running worlds.

Mima had perfectly inherited his parents' advantages, and his athletic abilities were quite impressive.

If Shirakawa had rushed in recklessly, the chances of Mima dodging him would have been very high.

Shirakawa stood his ground as Mima came barreling toward him.

He didn't slow down even an inch, charging straight for Shirakawa, and it looked like they were about to collide.

A dangerous scene suddenly unfolded on the baseball field.

Both sides of the stands, where the rest areas were, had all the players standing up in concern.

"Stop!"

"Danger!"

Mima was going so fast, and if he collided with Shirakawa, it could end up with one of them getting injured.

Though they had all retired from high school baseball, the impact of an injury could still be significant, especially as they were about to attend the draft for professional baseball. Their performance now could greatly influence their future baseball careers.

In this context, any injury from such a collision would be disastrous.

At this moment, even Sawamura stood up in anxiety.

Though he didn't interact with these two much, he got along well with them, and he felt that if an accident occurred, it would be a blow to him, too.

With everyone watching in worry, Shirakawa gritted his teeth.

He wasn't planning to back off or retreat. Since Mima wanted to charge, he would take it head-on.

Could the men of Tokyo really be inferior to the hot-blooded men of Gunma?

"Perish!"

Shirakawa put his mitt out in front of his body.

Even though there was a high chance of an accident, he did not forget his current duty.

That was to get Mima Out!

Mima was about to crash into Shirakawa, or rather into the mitt that was extended forward.

Somehow, Mima managed to spin 360 degrees and evade the mitt as easily as a basketball player dribbling past an opponent, then dashed to the side.

"Wow!!!!"

The players watching from the stands were mostly famous and skilled players, but even they couldn't believe what they had just seen.

How incredible was Mima's body coordination and agility to pull that off?

They couldn't help but admire him.

Shirakawa was left stunned.

He always thought of himself as highly skilled, not weaker than anyone in other aspects. Though his height was limited by his genetics, in every other way, he worked hard to be the best for his size.

In a direct confrontation with Mima, Shirakawa didn't think he would lose.

He had prepared himself, originally thinking that Mima had no way to dodge, but suddenly, Mima charged directly at him.

Shirakawa had believed that Mima was out of options, choosing to go for a desperate, mutual destruction type of attack.

But unexpectedly, Mima wasn't trying to face him head-on. Instead, he used a nimble stunt to avoid Shirakawa's interference and got to the base.

No Outs, runner on second base.

The situation, which had been favorable for them, had now turned completely unfavorable.

It was very likely that they might lose a point.

On the mound, Narumiya and behind the plate, Miyuki, both quickly realized how troublesome this situation had become.

They had to be extremely cautious in the upcoming face-off, or they risked being the ones to give up the first point.

As mentioned earlier, both teams had strong pitching lineups.

In such a game, relying solely on a makeshift batting lineup to score hits or runs wouldn't be easy.

For the batters, it was an unfair fight.

On the other hand, pitchers could easily show their strength in such games if they had good support.

They were all top-tier players, and batters found it hard to show their strength, while pitchers were more likely to shine.

It was simple logic—this was a pitcher's duel!

Both sides were unlikely to score.

In such a game, the first team to score would have a significant advantage, not only for the point but also for the mental edge.

A win was about mindset, and the first to score would have a big mental advantage.

This was a thrilling match.

Miyuki and Narumiya, both extremely familiar with baseball, realized exactly what this game meant and what was at stake.

The opponent was now on second base, and they couldn't allow a stolen base, or the situation would become even more dangerous.

While communicating with Narumiya, Miyuki had already done his homework.

He shared his strategy, the code for signals, and information about the opponent's strengths.

Fortunately, the opponents weren't complete strangers. They had all faced the Seidou High School baseball team in the past.

Miyuki had faced most of them, and although their current strength was unknown, he knew a bit about their styles.

He had a rough idea of how to deal with these opponents.

The next batter to come up was the second hitter, Akashi.

The reason Miyuki and Narumiya were so tense wasn't just because of the current situation on the field, or Mima on second base.

The real concern was Akashi.

Akashi was a very talented batter, he was able to contribute to a giant team like Seihou from his freshman year with his batting, even when he was injured.

Not only was he talented, but during his years in high school, he honed his batting techniques to a very high level, and his slugging strength to the max, as he thought this would be his main weapon in the higher baseball worlds.

And him being the fourth batter of Seihou after Sano's retirement proved it all.

'To beat Akashi, you'd need all your strength.'

Meanwhile, Miyuki and Narumiya were on full alert.

As they focused on dealing with the batter, a nimble figure suddenly moved.

It was Mima!

Miyuki's eyes gleamed coldly.

'I knew you'd do this!'

Mima's speed was impressive, but when it came to stealing a base, did he really think he could outpace his opponent?

Narumiya's pitch speed reached 150 km/h, and Miyuki quickly sent the ball to third base.

It took just over two seconds—2.5, 2.6 seconds.

Even Mima couldn't be faster than that!

Boom!

Akashi, at the Batter's Box, clearly hadn't communicated with his runner.

If he had, and had hit the ball at the right moment, they could have pulled off a successful hit-and-run, possibly even scoring a run.

If they had scored, it would have been a game-changer.

But now, with the ball in hand, Miyuki quickly threw to third.

'Wait, something felt off.'

At first, Miyuki hadn't thought much of it, but then, when he saw who was receiving the ball at third base, his sweat instantly ran cold.

'Oh No!'

He'd had a strange feeling earlier, and now he realized—Mima wasn't acting impulsively. He had carefully planned everything.

The issue was that on third base, it wasn't just any player receiving the ball.

It was the unpredictable Raichi from the Yakushi High School baseball team. He had only recently started playing baseball and hadn't had formal training, but his unorthodox methods could make him dangerous.

Though Raichi was aggressive, his technique was lacking, and he couldn't tag Mima out in time.

As expected, Mima leaped and tagged the base first.

"SAFE!!"

With no Outs, the runner was now on third.

The Tokyo Stars were left completely stunned.

They had entered the game full of excitement, but now the momentum had completely shifted in their opponent's favor.

Now, it was only a matter of time before the opponent scored.

The semi-Tokyo team was in a bad spot, and they couldn't even come up with a counterattack strategy.

Things had taken a turn for the worse.

…

T/N: This game won't take long!

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