After that, Kōshū had no time to concern himself with Eijun's affairs. The second game of the Kanto Tournament was about to begin.
Sure enough, he was the starting pitcher. Standing on the untouched Pitcher's Mound felt great. Kōshū shook the Anti-Slip Powder from his hand. There were many people around the field wearing uniforms from different schools, and cameras had been set up everywhere. They appeared to be scouts.
They think too highly of me. I only have a few tricks up my sleeve—who knows when they'll see through them. He teased himself inwardly. Lately, he had been focused on solidifying the pitching he had developed in middle school and adjusting his form, leaving him no time to improve his existing pitches.
"Play!"
Kōshū looked at the glove set on the inside corner. Excitement and familiarity slowly crawled up his back. To some extent, Hayakawa and Miyuki had become friends because their naturally forceful personalities attracted each other. Hayakawa's aggressiveness was wrapped in cheerful tolerance, while Miyuki's was much sharper.
Tokai Ohara came from Chiba Prefecture and was a local powerhouse. As soon as they heard Seido had produced an extraordinary first-year pitcher, they immediately looked into his previous games. This pitcher named Kōshū was most threatening with his fastball. It generated swings and misses extremely well, and his control allowed him to execute the catcher's intentions perfectly.
"This kid really doesn't seem like a first-year. You watched his last game too—his pitching was very stable. But no matter what, he's still a first-year. His lack of training volume can't be made up for. So wear down his stamina and knock him out of the game." As for how they would handle Seido's ace after Kōshū left the mound, Tokai Ohara's manager went on at length.
Because he had