Chapter 279: Jerk Aniki

Whoosh!

Pop!

"Strike!"

The Batter swings and misses, then looks at Sawamura in disbelief.

"Yahahaha, it's always fun to see these guys get spooked by Sawamura's pitching," Kuramochi Yoichi laughs.

A pitch where the release point cannot be seen always surprises a batter seeing it for the first time; this is what is known as a "first-look kill."

With one pitch effective, Miyuki immediately calls the next: a Fastball on the low outer edge.

After months of practice, Sawamura's Nine-Grid is not yet perfectly precise, but Miyuki does not force him to land this pitch; as long as it is not an obvious ball, it will set the stage for the next pitch.

Sawamura nods, then throws the ball.

Sure enough, Sawamura fails to control the ball to the spot Miyuki wanted, missing the strike zone by half a ball's width.

But the Sensen High School lead-off hitter does not have such a keen eye; he swings, the bat grazes the ball slightly, and the ball flies toward Third Base, out of bounds.

"Jianjie!"

"Good!"

"Two strikes!"

"Sawamura, you're in great form today~!"

"Make them hit it!"

Hearing his teammates' voices, Sawamura can't help but curl the corners of his mouth.

"Hey! Don't lose focus!"

"Yes!" Sawamura stands at attention and shouts.

Miyuki shakes his head helplessly, then looks at the Batter; after two consecutive outside pitches, it is time for an inside pitch.

Come on, jam the ball into the Batter's chest!

Sawamura takes a deep breath; although he has thrown this high inside pitch to the chest many times, he still feels a thrill every time he throws it, as the slightest deviation could hit the Batter.

Hooo~

With steady breathing, Sawamura's gaze is sharp, and he raises his hands high.

Whoosh!

A diagonal Fastball flies toward home plate; the Batter swings his bat violently, but fails to make contact, the ball skimming beneath the bat and entering Miyuki's glove with precision.

"Strikeout!!"

"Yeah!!"

In the stands, Sawamura's friends cheer and jump for joy.

"So amazing, he truly is our representative."

"Yeah, so moving."

The friends weep with joy, while Cangyue Ruolai wears a smile, her gaze gentle and firm.

On such a grand stage and in such a tense atmosphere, Sawamura completed a Strikeout, and Cangyue Ruolai feels happy and proud for Sawamura from the bottom of her heart.

Having dealt with the lead-off hitter, Sawamura's form gets better and better; even though there were hits and runners on base, he ultimately defended the inning successfully.

"Well done, kid."

Huangqian Yangyi jogs over to Sawamura's side and says; just a moment ago, a ball had flown to his position in Left Fielder, and the opposing runner had foolishly tried to dash straight to Third Base, only to be thrown out by his super-light-speed throw.

"Hahaha, Big Brother! I'm in super great form today," Sawamura says smugly.

Huangqian Yangyi smiles, then reaches out, presses down on Sawamura's head, and pulls it back.

"Hey, look who's over there."

"Eh?" Sawamura tilts his head, his gaze landing right behind the Seido Dugout, where several familiar figures are waving at him, and a girl sits on a chair hugging her legs, her face turning red the moment their eyes meet.

"Eh!!!"

"Ruolai!!"

"And everyone else!"

Sawamura's pupils dilate, and he cannot help but tremble.

"Alright, knowing your friends are here is enough." Having achieved his goal, Huangqian Yangyi pushes the stunned Sawamura into the Dugout.

"Aniki! I..."

"Play the game well; whatever you want to talk about can wait until the game is over. Don't you dare embarrass yourself in front of your hometown friends and childhood sweetheart," Huangqian Yangyi says with a wicked grin.

Hearing this, Sawamura freezes, and after reacting, he grabs Huangqian Yangyi by the collar, "You jerk Aniki! You're just as annoying as that idiot Miyuki."

"Yeah, I'm catching strays even while lying down," Miyuki says from the side, gloating; he never expected that one day, Huangqian Yangyi would also be called a jerk by Sawamura.

Huangqian Yangyi laughs "hahaha"; he is actually a little happy to be able to cause some trouble for Sawamura.

"Well, doing this is to train your mentality; if you get nervous because your friends are here to watch, leading to inaccurate pitching, it just means you still have a long way to go," Huangqian Yangyi says with a straight face.

Sawamura tilts his head, "Really?"

"Of course! When have I ever lied to you?"

Thinking back, Sawamura realizes that Huangqian Yangyi has indeed never lied to him, unlike a certain jerk idiot.

Seeing Sawamura being fooled by Huangqian Yangyi in just a few words, everyone cannot help but cover their foreheads—this silly kid.

Top of the second inning, Seido on offense.

Eighth Batter Shirasu Kenjiro steps up and plays steadily, not letting go of any hittable balls, bringing the count to a full count of two strikes and three balls.

Maki Yosuke grinds his teeth hard; he never expected that Seido's bottom-of-the-order, the Eighth Batter, could tangle with him for so long!

Consumed by rage, he throws a Curveball toward home plate.

It's too high!!

Seeing this pitch, Manager Wukai Yiliang of Sensen High School knew it was bad; are you getting anxious, Maki?

Bang!

Shirasu's bat connected with the baseball, and the little white ball flew toward third base, passing right in front of the Third Baseman's outstretched glove.

Seizing the opportunity, Shirasu reached second base in one go.

"Nice!"

"A beautiful double!"

Raising his fist, Shirasu stood at second base and nodded toward Sawamura.

Sawamura did not understand what Shirasu meant, but he nodded back anyway, then prepared himself to bat.

Seeing Sawamura wearing the Seido uniform, the unwillingness and jealousy in Maki Yosuke's heart reached their peak at this moment.

"Tsk tsk, this Maki Yosuke looks like he's really angry," Isashiki Jun said with a frown.

"Yeah, I get the feeling his resentment is huge; we never even offended him."

"Just now in the Batter's Box, I felt like he wanted to kill me," Arima Kazusa said.

"Hahaha."

Huangqian Yangyi couldn't help but laugh out loud.

"Hey, I know a little secret; do you guys want to hear it?" Huangqian Yangyi said.

Hearing this, the people around all looked over in unison.

"Ahem, let me state beforehand, this is just hearsay, don't take it seriously."

"Mm-hmm," the group nodded.

"I heard that this Maki Yosuke has been a fan of our Seido since he was a kid, and his dream before entering high school was to join the Seido Baseball Team."

Huangqian Yangyi's first sentence left everyone stunned.

"What do you mean?" Isashiki Jun asked, puzzled.

"But, because he didn't receive an invitation from Seido after graduating middle school, he ended up going to Sensen High School, and ever since then, he's held a grudge against Seido, determined to prove himself."

"In this match, I reckon he's holding onto the idea of defeating us to prove his own strength, which is why he's so hostile toward the First Year Arima and Sawamura."

After hearing Huangqian Yangyi's words, the expressions on everyone's faces were very strange.

"He's sick, isn't he? To hold such a huge grudge just because he didn't get an invitation," Isashiki Jun said dismissively.

"Well, he could have just gotten in by taking the entrance exam," Kominato Ryosuke said.

"We must crush him hard! We absolutely cannot let him get cocky."