Chapter 237: Round-Robin Practice Tournament

The next day, it was another practice game.

Seido, Shubei, and Inashiro, the three teams would conduct a round-robin tournament.

At Seido Baseball Stadium, the three teams met at the A-side Field.

"Yo, isn't this our cute little blondie Narumiya Mei? To think you'd dare run onto our Seido's home turf, you've got some nerve." Huangqian Yangyi walked up to the Inashiro team with a bat over his shoulder and began the pre-game trash talk session.

Hearing this annoying voice, Narumiya Mei zipped out from behind Harada Masatoshi, pointed a finger at Huangqian Yangyi, and shouted: "Chestnut-hair freak, what are you putting on an act for? You clearly said on the phone last night you'd treat me to limited-edition pudding, but the moment we meet, you start with the taunts. You two-faced, despicable person, hmph!"

Upon hearing this, Huangqian Yangyi was stunned for a full three seconds. No way, when did Narumiya Mei get so eloquent?

"You, are you alright?"

"Ha?! What do you mean by that?"

Huangqian Yangyi walked up to Narumiya Mei and looked at him with a concerned gaze, "Overusing your brain will break it."

Slap!

Swatting away Huangqian Yangyi's hand, Narumiya Mei's cheeks turned bright red, and his head was steaming.

"Bastard, piece of shit, I'm definitely going to beat you to a pulp today!"

"Hahaha, is that so? But it's a pity, I'm not playing today," Huangqian Yangyi laughed.

Hearing this, the Inashiro members all widened their eyes and glared at Huangqian Yangyi.

What does Seido mean by this? Huangqian Yangyi isn't playing? Are they looking down on them?

Although Inashiro had lost to Seido repeatedly over the past year, Seido had never won easily. Without Huangqian Yangyi, the Inashiro members could guarantee that their chance of winning was over 80 percent.

"What are you surprised about? Do you think Coach Kunitomo would allow you to play in the game against us today? Aren't you afraid we'd figure something out?" Huangqian Yangyi laughed.

Hm?

The Inashiro group instantly came to their senses. Oh right, they weren't planning to send out Narumiya Mei in the practice game against Seido today either.

Damn it, it's all this guy's fault for being so provocative that they even forgot their pre-game deployment.

Not far from Inashiro and Seido, the Shubei High School players looked bitter; they were completely ignored.

Half an hour later, at the A-side Field.

The game between Seido and Shubei began, with Tanba Koichiro as the starting pitcher and Ryukawa Chris Yu as the starting catcher.

The pace of the game was fast, and Tanba's performance was also excellent. Perhaps because the pressure of a practice game was low, Tanba dared to throw any pitch. After 5 innings, Shubei had only scored 1 run.

Starting in the 6th inning, Kawakami and Miyuki took the field, and Arima Kazusa and Kominato Haruichi got another chance to play.

On the grass by the sidelines, Huangqian Yangyi and Narumiya Mei had left their teams and were sitting together.

"Senior Tanba is in good form today; it's completely different from an official game, hehe," Narumiya Mei said, covering his mouth and laughing.

Tanba's weakness of not being able to handle pressure was famous throughout Tokyo; in high school baseball, there wasn't a soul who didn't know about it.

"What are you laughing at? Senior Tanba is actually quite formidable, you know," Huangqian Yangyi rolled his eyes.

"Heehee, that's true. If his mentality could be a bit more stable, he'd be a very troublesome pitcher," Narumiya Mei nodded in agreement. Tanba's pitching ability was indeed there; no one would deny that.

"Speaking of which, you brat, do you have any new weapons?" Huangqian Yangyi turned his head to ask.

"Ha?"

Narumiya Mei looked at Huangqian Yangyi as if he were an idiot: "Do you think I'd tell you that kind of intelligence? You're underestimating me too much."

Hearing this, Huangqian Yangyi said with a look of disappointment: "It seems you don't. What a pity."

"Heh, that trick won't work. I'm not the same person I was before," Narumiya Mei lifted his chin haughtily.

The two chatted while watching the game on the field. The combination of Kawakami and Miyuki remained sharp. After the game ended, Seido defeated Shubei 8:2.

"It'll be our turn next. Even though neither of us is playing, it's probably not good to keep sitting here," Huangqian Yangyi said as he stood up.

"That's right, that's right. If I stay away from the team any longer, the coach will kill me," Narumiya Mei said, patting his backside and turning to run toward his own team.

Half an hour later, the second practice game began: Seido vs. Inashiro.

Seido's starting pitcher was Sawamura Eijun, and the catcher was Miyauchi Keisuke.

In this game, both sides traded blows. Sawamura's bizarre pitching form caused quite a bit of trouble for Inashiro at the start. The baseballs kept flying out, but the on-base percentage was indeed very low. After 5 innings, Seido led 5:4.

Then, a pitching change was made, and Furuya Satoru took the mound.

A pitch with a speed approaching 150 km/h shocked the Inashiro side. Narumiya Mei in the dugout was so angry his face turned red and his neck swelled. A First Year! His pitch speed was actually on par with his own now; it was too hateful.

Coach Kunitomo looked at Furuya Satoru on the pitcher's mound. Having experienced many storms, he couldn't help but sigh at Seido's luck—first there was Huangqian Yangyi, and now there were two First Years with impressive potential.

Whoosh!

Zoom!

Under a barrage of fastballs, it was almost impossible for the Inashiro players to get a hit. Furuya Satoru successfully suppressed the Inashiro batting lineup.

"Seido in the future will be hard to deal with even after that bastard Huangqian graduates," Carlos said in a low voice while sitting next to Narumiya Mei.

"Well, that's a matter for the future. When Huangqian graduates, won't we be the same?" Shirakawa Katsuyuki said, crossing his legs.

Seido hadn't sent out their starters, and neither had Inashiro; their main players were almost all resting.

"Hmph! Even if he graduates, that chestnut-hair freak will still be my greatest enemy!" Narumiya Mei said, looking toward the Seido dugout again. He didn't care if Huangqian Yangyi was looking at him or not; glaring was all that mattered.

In the evening, after a day of round-robin games, the players were all quite exhausted.

"Chestnut-hair freak, see you on the field!"

"Mm, see you on the field. I hope you guys don't lose too early," Huangqian Yangyi said.

"You're just as annoying as Kazuya! You don't even forget to disgust me before you leave!" Narumiya Mei punched Huangqian Yangyi in the chest, wishing he could knock him all the way into the Pacific Ocean.

"Hey, here's the pudding you wanted."

Huangqian Yangyi didn't care about Narumiya Mei's "meow-meow punches" and shoved a bag of pudding he had prepared earlier into Narumiya Mei's arms.

"Next time I have a chance to go to Inashiro, you have to treat me to something too."

"Hahaha, it's a must!" Narumiya Mei took the pudding, happy as a child.

"Mei!"

At this moment, Miyuki walked over.

"Kazuya!"

"Ah, it's a real pity I didn't get to see you pitch today," Miyuki said with a mischievous grin.

Narumiya Mei was just about to speak when Harada Masatoshi stood behind him, "We won't give you any chance to gather intelligence."

"Heh."

Huangqian Yangyi and Miyuki looked speechless; this Harada Masatoshi really was just like a parent to Narumiya Mei, constantly worried about him being deceived.

After chatting for a few moments, the people from Inashiro and Shubei left, and the members of Seido returned to their dormitories while discussing the details of today's game; the period ahead would be dedicated to preparations for the Summer Tournament.