Chapter 202: Partner Chris

Returning to school, the First String members dispersed to rest on the spot. Huangqian Yangyi, who had no physical exhaustion at all, felt his body restless, so after lunch, he dragged Miyuki to the gym to work on his core muscles.

By the time school ended in the afternoon, Huangqian Yangyi finally walked out of the gym, rubbing his waist with a satisfied look on his face.

"Senior Huangqian, you're back!"

Just as he pushed the door open to enter the dormitory, Arima Kazusa, who had returned from school and was changing into his training gear, turned his head in surprise.

"Yeah." Huangqian Yangyi smiled and nodded.

"Senior, I watched today's game, your batting was super cool! Two home runs!" Arima Kazusa's eyes were filled with admiration.

Hearing this, Huangqian Yangyi sat on a chair, looking at Arima Kazusa with a half-smile.

"Senior, why are you looking at me?" Arima Kazusa felt inexplicably flustered under his gaze.

"Heh, you didn't listen well in class and snuck a peek at the game broadcast, didn't you?" Huangqian Yangyi said.

Arima Kazusa turned his head away guiltily, looking as if he didn't understand what was said.

"Alright, it's no big deal. Hurry up and get ready. If I'm not mistaken, your training program today should change," Huangqian Yangyi said.

Upon hearing this, Arima Kazusa immediately leaned in curiously, "Senior, what kind of training will it be?"

It was no wonder Arima Kazusa was so excited; in the week since school started, 90% of their training had been focused on physical conditioning, and the time they spent touching bats and baseballs was pitifully small.

"You'll know in a moment," Huangqian Yangyi said.

The afternoon training was about to begin, and the First String members were still doing some simple training due to the game.

When Chris returned to the dormitory, the three of them went to the field together.

"Senior Chris, I'll have to trouble you to catch for me again today," Huangqian Yangyi said, turning his head.

Perhaps because Coach Kataoka wanted Chris to regain his form as soon as possible, the number of times Chris and Huangqian Yangyi partnered in training these days was significantly higher than with Miyuki.

"Alright, just pitch away, leave the pitch calling to me," Chris said softly.

Their training today had only one item, which was the live simulation at the very end.

The two entered the field, and the First String teammates were doing their own independent training, occasionally glancing at the First Year side's training.

Just as Huangqian Yangyi had guessed, after a week, the coaching staff began to adjust the training for the newcomers, gradually incorporating items like defensive training, batting practice, and baserunning training.

Among the freshmen, Furuya Satoru and Sawamura Eijun even got the opportunity to enter the bullpen to pitch.

Bang!

The sound coming from the bullpen made many people look over slightly. That guy named Furuya Satoru really had a lot of presence when pitching, and the freshmen were shocked by it.

The second and third-year members, however, all had expressions of gratification but were not surprised in the slightest.

What a joke, they had experienced a whole year of Huangqian Yangyi's pitching; in their view, Furuya Satoru's current pitching, which only had speed, couldn't even compare to Huangqian when he came to Seido to challenge them back in middle school.

Huangqian Yangyi stood on the sidelines swinging his bat, but his gaze remained fixed on Ochiai Hiromitsu in the dugout. He wondered what this Technical Head Coach would do next, and how Coach Kataoka would arrange his work.

Not long after, as the sun gradually set, today's training drew to a close.

The First String members consciously gathered at the B-side Field, and Huangqian Yangyi and Chris were also ready.

"Yahahaha, I'm first!" Kuramochi Yoichi walked to the Batter's Box holding a bat. Today's live simulation had a restriction on pitch types.

Only fastball-type pitches were allowed; neither the cutter slider nor the changeup could be thrown.

Kuramochi Yoichi was confident that knowing only those pitches were allowed, he would definitely be able to hit the ball to the outfield.

"Kuramochi, this pitch is an inside pitch," Chris suddenly raised his head and said to Kuramochi Yoichi.

"Huh?" Kuramochi didn't react for a moment, and after a while, he said, "Senior Chris, don't try to trick me, I won't fall for it."

Chris smiled and said nothing. The reason he did this was because he had been lonely for too long and couldn't help but want to joke with his junior.

Setting his glove, Chris decisively gave the sign.

The other players on the sidelines were all watching home plate intently at this moment. They also wanted to see to what extent the partnership between Chris and Huangqian Yangyi could perform under the restriction of only fastball-type pitches.

The first pitch, an inside high four-seam fastball.

Huangqian Yangyi nodded slightly. He had no doubts about Chris's pitch calling. Perhaps the other's body hadn't fully caught up to the rhythm of the current First String, but Chris's theoretical knowledge was definitely far beyond theirs.

Whoosh!

The little white ball flew diagonally toward Kuramochi's chest.

Kuramochi Yoichi's eyes widened; it really was an inside pitch!

After hesitating for just an instant, Kuramochi's swing speed couldn't keep up at all.

"Strike!" Coach Kataoka shouted from behind Chris.

Kuramochi grinned. It seemed Senior Chris was also a bit of a black-bellied guy.

"Huangqian! Throw it here!" Kuramochi shouted.

Receiving the return throw from Chris, Huangqian Yangyi tilted his chin at Kuramochi: if you have the ability, hit it!

Whoosh!

The second pitch flew out, this time an outside pitch, and Kuramochi swung and missed again.

"A two-seam, that's hard to hit," Kuramochi said.

He was batting left-handed now, and the direction of the movement of Huangqian Yangyi's two-seam fastball was moving away from his body, which was a relatively difficult pitch for him to hit.

"The next pitch is coming," Chris stood up, returned the baseball, and said with a smile.

"Bring it on!" Kuramochi roared, getting ready again.

Chris smiled, squatted down, and gave the sign: forkball!

This was a pitch Huangqian Yangyi had only mastered halfway through last year's Autumn Tournament. At that time, the completion level wasn't high, and he threw quite a few balls, but it got much better by the time of the Jingu Tournament later on.

After months of practice, Huangqian Yangyi's current forkball was definitely a true "vanishing magic ball."

With a high trajectory and an exaggerated drop, once this pitch was thrown, it would definitely cause the batter's rhythm to completely collapse.

As Huangqian Yangyi swung his arm, the little white ball flew toward the center of the strike zone.

A red center pitch! Hehe, I won't be polite!

Kuramochi saw the pitch trajectory at a glance and swept his bat toward the bottom of the Strike zone; clearly, he had guessed that this pitch would be a Forkball.

However, as the bat swung through, the baseball was still lower than Kuramochi had anticipated; with a 'bang', the bat struck the top of the baseball, resulting in a soft grounder.

"Exaggerated, I clearly already swung toward the very bottom of the Strike zone," Kuramochi couldn't help but complain.