Chapter 336: We Want to Win
"So fast!"
"What an incredible swing!"
Many spectators around the field couldn't help but gasp.
"It really was an incredible swing! But if it doesn't go out, it means nothing! That's baseball… that's the game! Two balls, two strikes! At least this won't leave too bad an impression on the umpire!" Shiraha steadied himself despite how frighteningly fast that ball had come off the bat.
"If it doesn't go out, it means nothing," Sendo suddenly said.
"Huh?" Shiraha was startled. Anyone would feel uneasy if their thoughts were read like that.
"With that kind of expression… senpai. But if we didn't let you get the second strike, you wouldn't be willing to face me head-on like this, right?" Sendo continued.
"You…!" Even the mild-tempered Shiraha felt irritation rising.
"Stop talking!" The home plate umpire quickly stepped in, noticing that Sendo had managed to rile up Yokohama's main catcher with just a few words.
"This guy… Did he deliberately let us get the second strike? Is he looking down on us that much?
Does his coach really allow this?" Shiraha began doubting reality itself.
To act this willfully at such a crucial moment—did Seidou's coach really tolerate it? How was a player like this even raised in such a disciplined powerhouse school?
In truth, it wasn't that Sendo had special privilege—Kataoka didn't know what he was thinking either.
If Kataoka had heard Sendo's words, he probably would have thought:
"You're still too young. With this guy, no one knows whether what he says is true or false—not even his teammates. Sometimes nine sentences are true just to make the tenth lie work. Sometimes everything he says is true. When it comes to guiding others' thoughts, Sendo is a monster. When he's your opponent, you can never read him. The more you think about it, the more traps you see—no matter which path you take, it feels like a pitfall."
Still, Shiraha calmed down. He considered that Sendo might be deliberately provoking him and ultimately decided to trust and stick to their baseball.
"Same course as before—inside slider!" Shiraha didn't plan to decide it just yet.
Ino didn't know what had happened at the plate, but he could tell his partner was angry. Even he could sense that Sendo had some kind of presence to push the steady Shiraha this far.
"Puh!"
"Shoo!"
"Damn! It ran a bit too far inside!" Both Shiraha and Ino realized the mistake as the ball left his hand.
A right-hander's slider already moves in toward a left-handed batter.
The previous fastball had barely clipped the edge of the strike zone—this one drifted too far inside and out of the zone.
"It's going to hit him!" Ino thought in the final second.
From Sendo's perspective, it initially looked slightly inside, but he knew it was a ball based on the previous pitch. He had no intention of swinging. When it suddenly broke further inside, he was genuinely startled and jerked his upper body back to avoid what nearly became a hit-by-pitch.
Even as a breaking ball, it was close to 130 km/h and high—if that had hit him, it wouldn't have been a joke.
"Ball… ball!" The umpire sounded shaken as well.
"That's dangerous! Be careful!" Sawamura and Isashiki shouted almost in unison with fierce expressions.
Sendo let out a small laugh, though a bead of sweat slid down his face. If it had hit him, his summer might have ended in a hospital bed watching Koshien on TV.
The umpire confirmed he was fine and resumed play. Shiraha immediately called for a mound visit to check Inoue's condition.
"Did it slip?"
"Yeah."
"Can you still throw inside? Even if it wasn't intentional, this is an opportunity for us. Both inside and outside can work now. Even that guy won't be able to face inside pitches without hesitation after almost getting hit. If we take down the cleanup here, we can turn the game around!"
"I'm fine."
"Everything's on you. First, an outside fork to let him relax—and to reset you. Then finish him with an inside fastball."
"Leave it to me."
They tapped gloves.
"Interesting…" Sendo looked up at the sky, a faint smile on his lips—but no humor in his eyes.
Even knowing it wasn't intentional, that near-miss left a flicker of anger in him.
He didn't resent them—but that didn't mean he wasn't upset.
Fair's fair.
Back in Seidou's dugout, Miyuki and the others were worried about Sendo's mindset—whether anger would make him over-swing, or fear would make him hesitate.
But this was up to their cleanup hitter.
"Play!"
After Shiraha returned behind the plate, the umpire called the game back on.
"Go, Ino!"
"Finish him!"
"You can hit it, Sendo!"
"Don't let that last pitch get to you!"
"Just aim for the edge of the zone!" Shiraha reminded himself one last time, still nervous.
"Puh!"
"Shoo!"
This pitch came out exactly as he wanted.
"Good! Now we can decide it on the next one!"
"Boom!"
"PING!!!"
Before Shiraha could even finish his thought, he realized the ball hadn't been missed—or fouled.
"Center fielder!!!" He ripped off his mask and shouted.
The runners were already sprinting. Two outs, bases loaded—just run.
"He got it! It's deep! The center fielder is going back!
Can he catch it?!"
"Ha…" Shiraha heard Sendo exhale beside him.
"Nice working with you, senpai."
The roar of the stadium swallowed everything.
"It's not coming down!!!"
"Pop!"
"It's gone!!! A towering grand slam over the center field scoreboard!!! A single swing from the cleanup hitter!!! Four runs in one blow—7 to 0!!!"
"The Yokohama pitcher Ino, who had been holding firm until now, has given up five runs in this inning alone—and Seidou's offense isn't over yet!" the commentator's impassioned voice echoed through the entire stadium after seeing the ball land in the glove of a spectator in the upper stands behind the scoreboard.
"OH!!!"
Tens of thousands of spectators instantly erupted.
Home runs aren't rare at Koshien—but a towering blast over the scoreboard is.
"That's unbelievable! That home run must have traveled at least 140 meters!" the commentator exclaimed.
"That's right! It had to be over 140 meters! Absolutely astonishing! This is Sendo-kun's 23rd career high school home run—and his first at Koshien! It's hard to believe he's only been in high school for just over four months! Even the third-year monster slugger Sanou only has 66!"
...
A crowd burst out of the Seidou dugout.
"Yoshi!" The Seidou runners crossed home one after another. Isashiki muttered a small cheer to himself.
Now everyone near home plate was waiting for the one who was taking his sweet time.
No matter how slowly Sendo jogged, 100-plus meters would eventually end.
"Thud!"
"Nice job, you bastard! Now that's what a cleanup hitter looks like!"
As soon as Sendo stepped on home plate, Isashiki hooked him off the plate with an arm.
Like a wobbling doll, Sendo endured the wild celebration from his upperclassmen.
That one swing had practically put one foot into the next round.
"Nice batting," the captain said with a smile after Sendo was finally released.
He extended his left hand.
"Leave the rest to you, Captain."
"Clap!!!"
"Yeah. Leave it to me!"
The strongest duo exchanged a firm high-five on the sidelines, like a passing of the torch.
Sendo then walked back into the dugout.
"Did you aim for that? Were all those earlier moves not like you just to set up that one shot?" Miyuki asked with a half-smile, unsure.
"Maybe. If I didn't make them hesitate, how could they commit so quickly to throwing their most confident pitch to me? Though that inside pitch earlier messed up my layout a bit. Otherwise, I could've waited for them to challenge me with the forkball. Well… same result," Sendo replied casually.
"You scheming bastard," Miyuki said, kicking him lightly in the backside.
Coming from Miyuki, the insult sounded oddly fitting.
"Did that one swing crush your spirit, Yokohama's ace?"
Miyuki looked back toward the mound, where Inoue still stood with his head tilted up at the sky, unmoving.
"A complete defeat… in that one-on-one duel," Ino finally said when Shiraha called for a mound meeting and the infield gathered.
He still hadn't lowered his head.
"Yeah. We got beaten head-on," Shiraha added.
"Hey, Shiraha!" The infielders were stunned.
Aren't you supposed to be comforting the ace?
But neither Shiraha nor Inoue paid them any mind.
Pitcher and catcher—one heart, one body.
"It's hot today… I want to feel this heat a little longer…" Inoue's eyes finally grew moist.
Tears streamed down his face.
The others understood what their ace meant and relaxed.
"Black-hearted glasses," Sendo muttered from afar.
"Huh? Don't call me that!" Miyuki instinctively protested.
"That team… their eyes aren't dead yet."
"Yeah. They're a good team," Miyuki nodded heavily.
"But there can only be one winner," Sendo said.
...
After letting the tears fall for a moment, Inoue clenched his fist.
"We haven't lost yet. Until the very end, we'll stick to our baseball… fight it out. I don't want any regrets.
Miracle or not—we want to win!"
His eyes burned with unprecedented determination.
"That's right! And it's two outs, bases empty now! You can pitch freely!" Shiraha added.
"Let our summer continue!" The final shout had to come from the ace.
That was the pride of a third-year with no tomorrow—never surrendering easily.
"OHH!!!"
...
"Men all have their own worlds! If we were to compare—It's like a star streaking across the sky!!!"
"Fifth batter! First baseman, Yuuki!"
"Fifth batter! First baseman, Yuuki!"
"Hit it…! Yuuki! Yuuki Yuuki! Yuuki…! Yuuki…! Yuuki…!"
"Men all have their own worlds! If we were to compare—It's like a star streaking across the sky!!!"
With Seidou's cheering section, reserves, and students singing in unison, the game continued.
But Yokohama's fielders didn't move.
Shiraha didn't even squat behind the plate.
They intentionally walked Yuuki.
No matter how fired up they were, pretending that home run hadn't shaken them would be a lie.
Their ace's most confident pitch had just been sent over the scoreboard.
Their hearts had taken a blow like never before.
And precisely because they still wanted to win, they could not recklessly challenge Seidou's other cleanup-level slugger here.
That would be giving up.
The crowd booed loudly—two outs, bases empty, and you're still walking him?
But Yokohama didn't care.
They wanted a miracle.
They wanted to win.
No matter the method. No matter the process.
They refused to let their summer end so meaninglessly.
Cruise past a weak opponent in the first round, then get crushed by a powerhouse from West Tokyo and go home?
What kind of joke was that?
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