At the summer Koshien, on the finals field, people were stunned by the sudden appearance of a hit.
The player who hit the ball was the fifth batter of the Komadai Fujimaki High School baseball team, Enjo Renji.
He and Hongou are childhood friends, and he is also a very talented baseball player.
Hongou Masamune and Furuya Satoru were both born in Hokkaido, a place not particularly suited for baseball. Both had a super talent for fastballs, but their life paths took very different directions.
Before entering high school, Furuya's life could be summed up in one word:
Lonely.
A very, very lonely one.
No one could catch his pitches, and people were even unwilling to play baseball with him.
In contrast to Furuya's lonely life, Hongou Masamune walked down a smooth path.
Not only did he smoothly join the baseball team, but he also achieved great results with his teammates.
The two of them, despite having the same talent, walked entirely different paths in life.
The main reason for this is that Furuya lacked a childhood friend like Renji.
Life is hard to predict. If it weren't for Renji, would Hongou Masamune's life have turned out like Furuya's?
It's hard to say, really hard to say!
Now, when Hongou Masamune encounters difficulties, Renji steps in.
Helping his friend recover from a disadvantage.
He successfully hit out a pitch from Sawamura.
The fans in the stands were all silent.
The finals were definitely challenging.
More than 80% of the fans at the site were supporters of the Seidou High School baseball team.
Even though the remaining 20% were mostly neutral fans, the number of people supporting Komadai Fujimaki High School baseball team, apart from their own schoolmates, was actually quite small.
In this situation, what people really wanted to see was Seidou High School's baseball team winning the finals smoothly, cementing their legendary status.
But the reality was much harsher.
In today's game, Seidou High School's baseball team had not performed poorly.
The players played normally, and the Demon King Sawamura also showed his Last Boss-level abilities.
Whether in batting or pitching, he did not give the players of Komadai Fujimaki High School baseball team even the slightest chance.
Just when all the supporters thought Seidou High School's baseball team might charge forward and take the final victory, unexpected things kept happening!
Hongou Masamune's pitching had been stopping Seidou High School baseball team's attacks over and over again.
And that was not all; they even managed to hit out the Last Boss Sawamura's pitch.
Was that a good sign?
On the pitcher's mound, Sawamura Eijun's face was full of embarrassment.
So embarrassing!
In the catcher's position, Miyuki Kazuya also had a somewhat strange expression.
Previously, they had successfully taken out the first four batters from Komadai Fujimaki High School.
Whether it was he or Sawamura Eijun, they were both confident about dealing with the Komadai Fujimaki High School baseball team's lineup.
The score on the field was 1:0.
Both of them were confident, with Sawamura Eijun's current state and the cooperation from their teammates.
It was a matter of minutes to solve their opponents.
Even though they were only one point ahead, they were absolutely confident and sure they could beat the opponents and win the final victory.
During this process, the players from Komadai Fujimaki High School baseball team never gave up.
They were constantly trying to find an opportunity, hoping to get a hit off Sawamura Eijun.
But it wasn't that easy.
Neither Sawamura nor Miyuki would give them such an opportunity.
But honestly, the players from Komadai Fujimaki High School were quite annoying. They were like stubborn patches of band-aid; once they stuck to you, they wouldn't let go.
Both Sawamura and Miyuki were tired of them.
Both of them were daring. Seeing the momentum of Komadai Fujimaki High School baseball team growing stronger, they naturally wanted to strike back hard.
Once these guys from Komadai Fujimaki were shaken, their situation would become much easier.
Even a strikeout wasn't the best way to solve the problem!
Because Sawamura Eijun had already collected so many strikeouts in the previous games, especially against Inashiro and Yakushi.
People naturally thought that even if the Last Boss Sawamura Eijun struck someone out, it wasn't a big deal.
After all, the opponent was the Demon King, the Last Boss!
Now, it was the same with the players from Komadai Fujimaki High School baseball team.
Even if Sawamura Eijun struck someone out, it didn't cause much harm to them.
Perhaps they were already used to Sawamura's might.
On the other hand, Nitta had trained the players of Komadai Fujimaki High School baseball team very well.
Their strength was high, and Sawamura Eijun would have to put in real effort if he wanted to strike them out.
Sawamura felt it was a waste.
He didn't want to do that because it wasn't just about showing off.
It was mainly because throwing such high-difficulty pitches was also quite a burden on Sawamura himself.
If he could solve the problem, throwing such a pitch was like using a sledgehammer to crack a nut.
He didn't need to overdo it!
Sawamura thought about it and realized that there might be a ball type that suited the situation perfectly.
In the previous game, when he faced the Osaka Kiryu lineup, he had used his Magic ball.
It was easy to throw, and if the opponent didn't understand the trick, it could even have unexpected effects.
Sawamura felt that it was the right choice.
So in the fifth inning, he signaled to Miyuki to use this ball to solve the opponent.
When they faced the Osaka Kiryu High School baseball team, this pitch had worked wonders.
Miyuki didn't have any objections; in fact, he thought it was a good idea.
So they nodded in agreement.
Before they showed off their operation, both of them were well aware of the risks involved.
Sawamura's Magic ball, if the opponent didn't understand its principle, no matter how they hit, they couldn't make contact with it.
But if the opponent understood the principle and had some good hitting skills, it would be a different story. In that case, the one who would suffer would be Sawamura.
Fortunately, when they faced the Osaka Kiryu High School baseball team before, the opponent never figured out what was going on.
This, in turn, gave Sawamura and Miyuki a lot of confidence.
Since the top-tier team Osaka Kiryu couldn't figure it out, then it was unlikely that the current Komadai Fujimaki would.
They were just as unlikely to figure out Sawamura's true pitching trick.
And as long as the opponent didn't figure out the trick, this pitch would be like a nuclear bomb to them.
That's not an exaggeration; it's just the truth.
With this in mind, Sawamura confidently set up and threw the pitch.
The baseball whizzed out and reached the batter in the blink of an eye.
Renji's eyes flashed with a sharp light when he saw Sawamura's pitching stance.
It seemed like the duo of Seidou's pitcher and catcher were underestimating them.
Although they hadn't fully figured out Sawamura's trick through game footage, their coach Nitta hadn't given up. He had a feeling that such a pitch was a huge blow to the confidence of players.
If they couldn't figure out how to deal with it, the players would likely find it hard to give their all in the game.
Considering this, he quickly took action.
In addition to professional recordings, he also gathered plenty of videos shot from a spectator's perspective.
And it was in these blurry videos that Komadai Fujimaki High School's coach Nitta discovered the truth behind Sawamura's misplaced Magic ball.
It was the direction of the foot Sawamura stepped out with.
Usually, Sawamura's front foot should face the home plate.
Not just him, nearly all pitchers do this.
The reason is simple: the shortest distance between two points is a straight line.
By having the foot facing the home plate, the speed and sharpness of the pitch increase naturally.
But when Sawamura threw this ball, the angle of his stride was different.
His body tilted about ten degrees, and from a spectator's point of view, it was clear that he was throwing the ball while his body was tilted.
However, from the batter's perspective or without careful observation, this characteristic was difficult to notice.
If they didn't spot this, trying to hit the ball was like a dream.
This was the truth behind Sawamura's magic ball.
Because when the batter saw Sawamura's stance, they subconsciously adjusted their hitting position based on it.
But if at that moment, Sawamura's pitch didn't affect him, thanks to his naturally flexible body and fierce control over the baseball, he could still throw the ball to the original target.
But from the batter's perspective, they found it hard to understand.
Because, from their viewpoint, the ball should have flown to where their bat was swinging.
But in reality, the ball would always deviate by a few centimeters, successfully avoiding the bat.
This was Sawamura's Magic ball.
The success in the past gave both Sawamura and Miyuki strong confidence.
So in today's game, the two of them just exchanged a few words and decided to use this Magic ball to disrupt the Komadai batters' mindset.
However, as soon as they released this ball, they were immediately hit hard by the opponent.
The players from Komadai Fujimaki High School baseball team were clearly more capable than they had imagined.
Especially this guy named Renji.
Even though the players from Komadai Fujimaki High School had already figured out Sawamura's pitching trick, theoretically speaking, it should still have been hard for Renji to hit the ball out the first time he saw it.
Sawamura's pitch speed and angle were both sharp.
Ignoring the visual disturbance factor, his pitch alone was already very powerful.
To hit this ball easily, the players from Komadai Fujimaki High School baseball team had clearly practiced a lot in private.
One Out, runner on first base.
After five innings, the players from Komadai Fujimaki High School finally revealed their sharp teeth.
Even though their opponent was the near-invincible Last Boss Sawamura, the players from Komadai Fujimaki High School didn't care at all.
They resolutely chose to go all out against Seidou High School's players.
They absolutely wouldn't allow Seidou's players to continue playing freely.
On the pitcher's mound, after giving up the hit, Sawamura wished he could crawl into a hole in the ground.
He was too overconfident!
Once the opponent became familiar with it and found the flaw, it was easy to hit the ball.
Just like Renji did earlier.
In Komadai Fujimaki High School's dugout, the teammates were incredibly excited.
The feeling didn't seem like they just got a hit.
It felt more like they had already won.
Sawamura was a little angry!
Because his decision-making mistake had led the team into this crisis.
He wasn't happy, and when he wasn't happy, the consequences were sure to be severe.
Sawamura on the mound silently observed Hongou in the Batter's Box.
At this point, Sawamura had clearly made up his mind about something.
As Sawamura's partner, no one understood his inner thoughts better than Miyuki.
He glanced sympathetically at the Komadai Fujimaki High School dugout.
If there was still a slim chance for them to win, it had already vanished.
Now, Miyuki could almost guarantee.
Komadai Fujimaki High School had absolutely no chance left!
Not even the smallest chance!
They had no idea who they had just awakened.
Who was the terrifying figure they were up against?
...