Chapter 259: Pharmacist

Bottom of the eighth, two outs, no one on base, the batter is the eighth batter, Shirasu Kenjiro.

After Shirasu stepped into the Batter's Box, he swung at the very first pitch; his luck was a bit off, as it was an outside, low Breaking Ball, and Shirasu barely managed to graze it with his bat, hitting it toward First Base, where it was caught by the Mingchuan first baseman, resulting in a putout.

The eighth inning ended, and Mingchuan High School was about to face their final offensive opportunity.

As soon as Sawamura took the mound, the batter he faced was the Mingchuan Fifth Batter, Yang Shunchen.

Unlike Sawamura's excitement, Miyuki was quite cautious; although the outcome of the game could be said to be without any suspense, he still hoped to help Sawamura put on a better performance.

Let's start with an outside, low cutter.

Miyuki thought this and gave the sign; Sawamura nodded obediently, and facing the Mingchuan Fifth Batter made him feel excited from the bottom of his heart. He had heard so much about how amazing this Yang Shunchen was before the game even started, and he had watched his batting many times from the sidelines, but now that he was actually facing him, it still gave him the feeling of encountering a final boss in a video game.

Whoosh!

Sawamura pitched the baseball quickly, the little white ball shooting toward home plate like a streak of white light.

Pop!

"Strike!"

Yang Shunchen watched quietly as the ball entered Miyuki's glove; outside, low?

"Nice ball!"

Miyuki returned the ball and glanced at Yang Shunchen; he couldn't guess what the other party was thinking, but since he didn't swing, he would try another outside pitch.

Giving the sign, Sawamura quickly threw the second pitch, an outside, high Fastball.

Bang!

Yang Shunchen swung his bat.

"Jianjie!"

Pushing up his glasses, Yang Shunchen looked at Miyuki silently.

This pitch didn't exceed his expectations, but the pitcher had thrown it too high, outside the strike zone, which actually made it so he couldn't hit it well.

One outside, low, one outside, high; if nothing went wrong, the next pitch would be an inside pitch!

Yang Shunchen deduced this and prepared himself to bat.

This guy, he wants to throw an inside pitch, right? Very likely!

Miyuki thought for a moment and decided to have Sawamura throw an inside, high Fastball to face Yang Shunchen head-on; it was quite difficult to hit a ball jammed in from the opposite corner.

Come on, let's see what your pitching can do when facing a batter like Yang Shunchen head-on.

Sawamura bent his body and nodded his chin slightly; an inside, high Fastball to decide the outcome—he loved these kinds of head-on duels the most.

Whoosh!

The baseball flew in, and a white light flashed across Yang Shunchen's lenses; it really was an inside pitch!

Swing! Bang!

The baseball flew out instantly, heading toward Right Fielder, and Yang Shunchen took the opportunity to reach First Base.

It really was hit, Miyuki smiled; although Sawamura's inside pitch had been thrown quite well and could be considered a good pitch, it was still impossible to get a strike count when the opponent was already prepared. What kind of expression would Sawamura have at this moment?

Miyuki looked toward the Pitcher's Mound and found that Sawamura really had a great mindset; he was actually still glaring at Yang Shunchen with an angry look on his face.

"Sawamura, focus on the batter!" Miyuki shouted.

Sawamura said "Oh" and turned his head to look at home plate; the Mingchuan Seventh Batter was already prepared.

Hehe, finish off the rest of them and the game will be over, Sawamura thought to himself, feeling a bit happy.

Even though he only came on in the eighth inning, being able to pitch until the end of the game made him so happy.

Sawamura chuckled to himself, and Miyuki was speechless; how could he have just finished speaking and this kid was already spacing out again.

"Sawamura! What are you laughing at? Hurry up and pitch!"

The voice of a teammate came from behind, and Sawamura gave a start, quickly throwing the ball out.

Uh...

"Ball!"

Hiss~

Miyuki gasped; the ball had flown right over his head, and if he hadn't stood up, he wouldn't even have been able to catch it.

"Focus!" Miyuki said helplessly.

"Sumimasen!!"

Sawamura bent over and shouted.

After this, the now-focused Sawamura successfully resolved the lower part of the Mingchuan batting order, and the game ended there; the score was 9:1, Seido won.

Yang Shunchen looked helplessly at the Seido Dugout, his teammates beside him still sobbing softly; to be honest, they had really tried their best, and Yang Shunchen wouldn't blame them, but it was truly a pity not to have been able to bat against Huangqian Yangyi's pitching on the field.

"Line up!!"

"Thank you for the game!!"

The two sides shook hands, and Huangqian Yangyi looked at Yang Shunchen in front of him and smiled: "You lost."

Yang Shunchen was stunned for a moment, "You..."

"Pretty cool, right?"

Ignoring Huangqian Yangyi's nonsense, Yang Shunchen sighed and said: "I hope there will be another chance to face each other in the future."

"Not anymore, aren't you going back to your country?"

"You know that too?!" Yang Shunchen was truly puzzled; wasn't it your Seido that researched my information so thoroughly?

"Hehe, a piece of advice: aren't you going back for the college entrance exam? Apply to university here, and then we can play baseball together again."

"I can tell, you really love baseball."

Hearing this, Yang Shunchen was stunned again; hey buddy, we just met, and you've already planned out my future?

"Haha, we'll see, it's still early." Yang Shunchen gave a forced smile, truly not knowing what to say.

The game ended, and the two teams went their separate ways.

On the bus ride back, Huangqian Yangyi sat behind the Director Kataoka in the front row.

"Boss, there's something."

Director Kataoka turned his head, "Hm, go ahead."

"I just arranged a practice game with Yang Shunchen," Huangqian Yangyi said.

"Oh?" Director Kataoka was truly a bit surprised; how did this kid end up doing the Department Head's job?

Takashima Rei and Department Head Ota also looked over.

"As for Mingchuan, although their overall strength is a bit lacking, that Pitcher is quite good. Playing another game against them will still be beneficial," Ochiai Hiromitsu suddenly spoke up.

"Yes, that's what I was thinking too," Huangqian Yangyi said.

Director Kataoka nodded, "Since that's the case, let's set the time for after the summer preliminaries end. When preparing for Koshien then, we will indeed need two practice games to warm up."

Hearing Director Kataoka's words, everyone on the bus smiled in tacit agreement.

The current Seido had already undergone a change in mentality; they would definitely make it to Koshien!

Having received the Director's permission, Huangqian Yangyi also informed Yang Shunchen about this on his phone.

Over at Mingchuan, seeing the message on his phone, Yang Shunchen couldn't help but smile, and he began to look forward to it in his heart; although it was only a practice game, Huangqian Yangyi would definitely take the mound, and he would have to properly witness the other's pitching then.

Just as the Seido bus had returned to the school, Takashima Rei, who had been sitting in the front row looking at her phone, suddenly turned her head, her expression incomparably grave.

"Director!"

"At Jingu No. 2 Stadium, Ichidai Sanko lost!"

Hearing this, everyone on the bus was shocked.

Huangqian Yangyi also suddenly remembered at this moment, it was Yakushi!