Unlike Su Qing, who was thoroughly fired up, Shin Kō's seventh batter was feeling utterly miserable. He had actually lost the courage to swing! Was there anything more humiliating than that?!
But there was something more important to do right now.
"Hirakawa! That first-year kid's Fastball breaks at the last moment—it's different from an ordinary Fastball! Make sure you watch it carefully before you swing!"
Shin Kō's seventh batter frantically told eighth batter Hirakawa about what he had just experienced, hoping it would help Hirakawa at the plate.
But Hirakawa could only smile bitterly.
Come on, don't joke with me. A 154 km/h fastball! I've only faced that kind of pitch when practicing at a batting cage. I'd already be thanking my lucky stars if I could even touch it. And now you're telling me it isn't even an ordinary high-speed fastball, but one with movement?
So it has movement. Whatever. It's not like I'm guaranteed to hit it anyway.
With the attitude that simply gaining experience—and making contact at all—would be a win, Hirakawa stepped into the batter's box.
Unlike Narumiya Mei, Su Qing was a perfectly ordinary right-handed pitcher. Judging from his pitching motion alone, aside from opening up his arm more and taking a larger stride, Su Qing was no different from any other pitcher.
So why was his pitch speed this ridiculous?!
Hirakawa only saw the ball fly from Su Qing's hand like a streak of light. Before he could even swing, it had already landed in Harada's mitt.
The home plate umpire raised his right hand high and shouted:
"Strike!"
Hirakawa quickly stepped out of the batter's box. Not to practice his swing, but simply to catch his breath. If he had seen that pitch correctly, it had entered the strike zone from the lower right, slightly toward the upper left, then broken straight toward the corner.
Are you kidding me?! A first-year pitcher with not only such insane velocity, but terrifying control too! Even his fastballs move! How is anyone supposed to survive this?!
Hirakawa truly had no answer. He clearly couldn't hit a pitch like that, so he turned to look at Shin Kō's coach.
Shin Kō's coach had no good solution either. He had thought Inashiro was taking the opportunity to give a newcomer some practice, but it turned out Inashiro, just like neighboring Seido, had sent out a monster. Shin Kō's coach could only sigh. As expected of a big city. So many tricks up their sleeves!
This game still seemed destined to be a one-sided affair. Since that was the case, he might as well let his players handle things themselves. They could hit however well they could. In any case, they weren't in the same district as Inashiro. Their next meeting this year could only be at Koshien. If they really made it to the Summer Koshien, they would naturally have plenty of time to study Inashiro then.
When Hirakawa saw his coach give him the sign to decide for himself, he touched the brim of his cap to show he understood, then returned to the batter's box in despair.
No! I'm a batter! How can I be afraid of a pitcher's pitches?! No matter how hard they are to hit, my job is still to hit the ball! So how can I be afraid?!
This time, Hirakawa swung without watching. His earlier experience had told him that if he waited until he saw the pitch's movement clearly, it would already be too late. He would not even get the chance to swing. He might as well gamble and see if he could make contact.
"Strike!"
Su Qing calmly took the ball from Harada.
As he weighed the rosin bag in his hand again, he began silently complaining about Japanese high school baseball's home plate umpires. Their strike calls were far too stiff, completely lacking in passion.
As a pitcher, Su Qing liked umpires with particularly distinctive strike-call poses. They always brought him a lot of amusement. But he disliked umpires who took so long to make their calls that he thought they had called a ball. His poor heart couldn't handle that kind of shock.
After five pitches, Su Qing had also figured out today's umpire's strike-zone standard. It was a little inside-biased, and calls on outside pitches were somewhat strict. That low outside pitch he had just thrown would probably have been called a ball if the Shin Kō batter had not swung. Fortunately, he had.
Just as Su Qing set himself again and waited for Harada's pitch call, he suddenly noticed that Shin Kō's eighth batter, Hirakawa, had pulled his bat back.
Hirakawa had decided to go all out. He had made up his mind: no matter what, he had to touch the ball. This was his final stubborn stand!
Harada noticed Hirakawa squaring to bunt as well, but he called the pitch the same way he normally would. After all, there was no one on base. Hirakawa bunting had no meaning whatsoever.
Trying to bunt for a hit was just a pipe dream. Even Carlos and Shirakawa couldn't do it, so who did Hirakawa think he was? If he really had that ability, he would have bunted in his previous at-bat. Why wait until now?
Su Qing did not feel much about it either. He only thought that if Hirakawa made contact with the bunt, he would definitely have to come off the mound to field, and his uniform might get dirty. He did not want his jersey to get filthy. The team dormitory did not even have a washing machine, so he had to wash everything by hand!
Not wanting to come off the mound to field, Su Qing threw a Slider straight into the spot Harada had called for.
Harada jumped when he saw the pitch, thinking Su Qing had thrown a wild one. But wild pitches usually gained speed—why had this one slowed down instead?
Harada was flustered, but Hirakawa was delighted. The pitch was not absurdly fast. He could hit it! Hirakawa immediately pulled his bat back, ready to hit this somewhat juicy fastball.
But just as he thought he was about to make contact, the ball traced a small arc and ran toward another corner, making him swing and miss completely.
Harada had been fooled as well. He did not pick up the ball until it dropped to the ground.
Harada hurriedly dropped to his knees and used his huge body to block the ball. Then he quickly scooped it up and moved to tag Hirakawa. Only then did Hirakawa understand what had happened. He tried to run, but it was already too late. Harada tagged him directly with the glove holding the baseball.
"Strikeout!"
Hirakawa walked off with his bat in hand, unwilling to accept it. How had he fallen for that?! If he had stuck with the bunt, he might have been able to touch that pitch.
Shin Kō's ninth batter, their relief pitcher, patted Hirakawa on the shoulder to comfort him before stepping into the batter's box.
Before he had even settled in, Harada called a timeout and walked to the mound. Seeing Harada head there, Inashiro's infielders followed him.
"Not bad! Your pitching's already almost as good as Mei's! Keep it up!" The first to speak was the carefree second baseman, Hirai Tsubasa.
"Yes."
The others also offered Su Qing their encouragement. Yamaoka Riku and Yoshizawa Hideaki went even further, reaching out to rub Su Qing's hair. They turned his originally handsome curls into a bird's nest.
That made Su Qing desperately want to grow taller, because then they would not be able to reach the top of his head!
"That last pitch wasn't a Fastball. It was a Slider, right?"
The last to speak was Harada Masaru. Of course, he had not called the timeout just to praise Su Qing.
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