11 Starts

"Impossible. Last year, Narumiya had the same idea as you. No idea where he got a fake sick leave note, but after Coach Kunimoto saw it, he personally took Narumiya to the hospital for an examination."

"Car! Los!"

Narumiya Mei had sensed something was wrong the moment Carlos opened his mouth, but he had been some distance away from Carlos. By the time he rushed over, Carlos had already finished.

The two immediately started wrestling.

Judging by Narumiya Mei's reaction, what Carlos said was probably true. In an instant, Su Qing's heart sank halfway.

"Morning training is mainly running and stretching. It's not that important, and we'll do stretching drills again in the afternoon. There's no point going so early."

Harada caught the meaning behind Su Qing's words. Didn't he just want to skip morning training during the camp?

"We'll wake you up on time when the time comes."

The whole dormitory woke up together, and he still wanted to sleep in? Impossible!

"Ah!"

Su Qing suddenly wanted to go back to the United States to play baseball. They didn't have morning training that early in the United States!

Early Saturday morning, Su Qing was dragged out of bed. They had to catch the first train to Miyagi, because after playing Ikuei, an additional practice game had been scheduled for the afternoon. It was against another local Miyagi school. Coach Kunimoto figured that since they had made the trip anyway, they might as well play a few more games, so he accepted the scrimmage.

That meant they had to leave even earlier!

Narumiya Mei started against Ikuei, while Su Qing played third base. The game was incredibly difficult. Before they had even left, Su Qing had learned about Ikuei from Harada.

Ikuei was very similar to Inashiro in the past: one pitcher carried the entire team. Their starting ace, Sato, was a powerhouse pitcher whose velocity was roughly on par with Su Qing's current speed. His control naturally couldn't compare to Su Qing's, but he could barely manage the Nine-Panel Grid. As for breaking pitches, besides a Changeup, he also had a Forkball.

Su Qing didn't know much about the Forkball. All he knew was that it seemed similar to the Knuckle Curve—fast, with sharp movement, both breaking vertically. And Narumiya Mei seemed to be able to throw one as well.

It did not take long for Su Qing to see the pitch in action, completely overturning his impression of the Forkball. It was nothing like a Knuckle Curve!

Su Qing didn't know how to describe it. If you called it a big Curveball, its break was faster than a Curveball's, and it only moved vertically. If you called it a Knuckle Curve, it still had an arc. All he could do was classify it as a variant of the Curveball.

Sure enough, facing a pitch type he had never encountered before, Su Qing swung and missed. Honestly, he had initially been aiming for a low pitch. Who knew it would drop that sharply? If he had known, he would have choked up on the bat.

Still, Su Qing eventually hit one of Sato's Fastballs and reached second base. Unfortunately, Inashiro's lineup failed to follow through, leaving runners on base once again.

But Ikuei could do nothing against Narumiya Mei either. The Narumiya Mei whom Su Qing had trained was no longer what he used to be. He performed steadily throughout the game, leaving Ikuei's players unable to find any opening.

It could be called a complete pitchers' duel.

In the end, Narumiya Mei threw a complete game on 113 pitches: 1 run allowed, 8 strikeouts, 4 hits allowed, 1 walk or hit batter, and 0 errors. Ikuei's Sato also threw a complete game on 141 pitches: 3 runs allowed, 6 strikeouts, 6 hits allowed, 3 walks or hit batters, and 0 errors.

The sight made Su Qing's heart pound. It was only a practice game—did they really need to throw that many pitches? The most pitches he had ever thrown in a professional game in his previous life was 120. And he had pitched once every four days! That game had only happened because it was the first Perfect Game of his professional career, so the coach had left him in. Under normal circumstances, once he exceeded 80 pitches, the coach would start considering taking him out. After 80 pitches, the quality of his pitching would decline, more or less.

After the game, Coach Kunimoto shook hands with Ikuei's coach as usual. Naturally, the two agreed to meet again at Koshien. Yet both were uneasy inside. Whether it was Tokyo or Miyagi, the competition was a bloodbath. Reaching Koshien would not be easy!

Su Qing started the afternoon game, but all the fielders had been replaced by substitutes. So despite Su Qing's strength, the game remained evenly matched.

In the end, Su Qing pitched all eight innings on 91 pitches: 3 runs allowed, 0 earned runs, 11 strikeouts, 5 hits allowed, 0 walks or hit batters, and 0 errors. Inashiro lost the game 4-5.

Su Qing truly hadn't expected the first game of his new life in which he appeared as a starting pitcher to end in a loss. In the final inning, Inashiro scored two runs in a row, and Coach Kunimoto took Su Qing out. Then Maruse immediately gave up two runs. Su Qing was so furious he could explode, but he couldn't exactly say anything.

Their chemistry still wasn't good enough. Inashiro's entire defensive line was terribly out of sync!

Would you believe all three runs he allowed came because of errors? But that was fate too. If he had been more serious and made it impossible for the batters to even touch his pitches, where would those errors have come from?

That night, the team returned to Tokyo. The next day, Yamamori, whose game had long since been arranged, would come to Inashiro for a practice match.

Yamamori had lost in the finals to Urashima Academy of Saitama and finished as runner-up. It was a real shame.

That evening, when Su Qing met Tada, he learned that Tada had performed exceptionally well. He had actually led his team to defeat Sosei's main squad. It was truly incredible!

Inashiro's other team had not been so fortunate. They lost to Yakushi in a complete slugfest, ending 13-6.

In fact, the moment Su Qing heard Yakushi's name, he knew Inashiro would lose. Yakushi had only just hired Todoroki Raizo as their coach this year. Yakushi's road to rise had only just begun!

After returning, Coach Kunimoto naturally heard the news as well and was quite surprised. The Second String Team led by Tada was mainly made up of first- and second-year players, yet they had managed to win. It was truly unbelievable. Meanwhile, the team that played Yakushi was made entirely of third-year players. They were desperate to prove themselves and earn a spot on the First String in their final summer, so they definitely would not take any game lightly!

They were a pack of hungry wolves! How could they possibly lose like that? Coach Kunimoto immediately pulled up Yakushi's information. He was instantly drawn to Yakushi's stacked batting lineup, especially Todoroki Raichi. Even just watching the footage, he could sense that there was something extraordinary about the boy.

Back in the dormitory, Su Qing was feeling down. He was still brooding over being handed the loss. If Coach Kunimoto hadn't taken him out in the final inning, he definitely would have earned the win!

This time, Narumiya Mei unusually switched roles with Su Qing and came over to comfort him. Although he nearly pissed Su Qing to death, Su Qing understood that he meant well. Still, he remained unhappy.

Because Su Qing would not get another chance to start in the upcoming practice games. The coach chose to take another look at Maruse and Kuwahara. Across the three practice games, he scheduled Maruse, Kuwahara, and Narumiya Mei, meaning Su Qing only had relief appearances left. How miserable. Absolutely miserable.

As for the crossover, it was mainly because the current Inashiro was too invincible, and a crossover plot would be more interesting. This was a parallel world, so they were actually unrelated. It was just borrowing the name.

And about the dormitory issue, somehow I magically turned it into a five-person room!!! I don't want to change it, so let's leave it like this.

Ikuei's character setup was mainly based on Sendai Ikuei in 2007.