Chapter 301: Tsundere! Childish!

Bottom of the third, Inashiro on offense.

Inashiro's lower batting order was destroyed with ease under the coordination of Huangqian Yangyi and Miyuki, showing almost no ability to resist.

Huangqian Yangyi played right into their intentions, throwing absolutely no inside pitches; they were all outside pitches—four-seam fastballs, forkballs, cutter sliders, and circle changeups—taking turns with several pitch types. After 9 pitches, only one person managed to make contact, but in the end, it was a flyout.

Having ended the half-inning cleanly and efficiently, the Seido fans in the stands immediately let out a unified chorus of boos toward the Inashiro spectator section, infuriating the Inashiro crowd.

The game reached the fourth inning.

Seido's second batter, Second Baseman Kominato Ryosuke, stepped into the batter's box. With the goal of draining Narumiya Mei's stamina, Kominato Ryosuke pushed his batting technique to the limit.

A full 8 pitches!

Tangled up until the end, Narumiya Mei was consumed by anger and nearly couldn't stop himself from cursing on the Pitcher's Mound. It was so annoying! Clearly, there were times when making contact would have resulted in a hit, but this guy was intentionally pulling the ball foul—his composure was about to break!

Kominato Ryosuke noticed Narumiya Mei's expression and smiled to himself. If he could truly hit a good ball to get on base, he certainly wouldn't miss the chance, but it couldn't be helped; Narumiya Mei's pitches were fast, accurate, and tricky. It wasn't easy to hit them well, so he could only do his best to foul the balls off.

By the 8th pitch, Kominato Ryosuke couldn't manage another foul ball, and the baseball flew straight toward first base, landing right in front of the First Baseman.

Having drained 8 pitches from Narumiya Mei, Kominato Ryosuke still felt unsatisfied.

"If only I could have gotten on base."

Kominato Ryosuke said this after returning to the Dugout.

"Heh, Ryosuke-san, sometimes you really are quite the devil," Huangqian Yangyi said.

Kominato Ryosuke smiled and said nothing.

"Nii-san, doing this will make you very tired."

Kominato Haruichi appeared behind Kominato Ryosuke and said in a low voice.

Such precise batting, even though it didn't result in a hit, was against Narumiya Mei after all. To tangle with him for so long required absolute mental focus, which was also a huge drain on Kominato Ryosuke himself.

"Heh, since when do you need to worry about me?"

Kominato Ryosuke said after rubbing his dry eyes.

"Tsundere."

Someone's voice rang out at an inopportune moment.

The others covered their mouths, laughing, and snuck glances at Kominato Ryosuke, only to see that a hint of a blush had actually appeared on the face that was still maintaining a smile—he was shy!

Just then, Isashiki Jun on the field seemed possessed by a god. After hitting two consecutive foul balls, he actually smashed into a changeup. Unfortunately, the contact point was too far forward, making it hard for his body to generate power, and it turned into a high pop-up that was easily collected by the Inashiro Second Baseman—a flyout, no explanation needed.

"Damn changeup!"

Isashiki Jun walked off the field cursing; his batting style was just annoyed by these changeups—it was disgusting!

On the Pitcher's Mound, watching Isashiki Jun walk off, Narumiya Mei curled his lips. This upperclassman's style was too straightforward; it wasn't hard to deal with him. However, sometimes his straightforward style of hitting whatever came his way could really break a person out in a cold sweat.

Just like that changeup earlier, even with his batting stance completely compromised, he had forced himself to follow through and hit it with an extremely contorted motion—it was absurd.

Having secured two outs, Narumiya Mei and Harada Masatoshi still didn't dare to be even half-careless; the person coming up next was Yuki Tetsuya.

It wasn't just because Yuki Tetsuya's own batting level was strong enough, but also because Huangqian Yangyi was behind him. Once Yuki Tetsuya got on base, the danger of facing Huangqian Yangyi afterward would be even greater. To completely suppress Seido's batting order, they absolutely could not let Yuki Tetsuya get on base, as that would give Huangqian Yangyi and Miyuki Kazuya the greatest room to perform.

They had to retire him here!

Harada Masatoshi looked up, observing Yuki Tetsuya's batting stance and expression. Well, he couldn't tell anything.

Both were Captains and both were Fourth Batters. Harada Masatoshi felt he could be counted as a top-tier slugger nationwide, but since last summer, this guy's batting level had clearly improved by a grade. Honestly, he could go straight to playing professionally.

Although they had retired Yuki Tetsuya in the previous at-bat, that didn't guarantee they could do it now, especially since the opponent had already seen Narumiya Mei's pitches.

After a moment of thought, Harada Masatoshi quickly reached out to signal: a cutter on the outside edge.

Narumiya Mei nodded, looking at Yuki Tetsuya with composure. Now that they had two outs, as long as they could retire this guy, the next inning would start with Huangqian Yangyi. Hmph! He'd just walk that guy!

Having made up his mind, Narumiya Mei focused all his energy on the batter in front of him, and a cutter, sharper than ever before, shot toward home plate.

Whoosh~

Yuki Tetsuya's pupils flickered slightly, and the bat in his hands swung out violently, like a tiger ready to pounce, carrying an astonishing momentum as it smashed directly toward the outside corner.

Bang!!

The thickest part of the bat accurately hit the sweet spot of the baseball. The little white ball shot out with a 'whoosh', a line drive heading toward center field that pierced straight through Inashiro's infield defense.

The Inashiro players reacted quickly, both in positioning and catching, especially since that person was Carlos.

While the ball was being thrown to second base, Yuki Tetsuya successfully reached first base.

"Captain is so cool!"

"A-Zhe!"

"As expected, we have to rely on you, Jiecheng!"

Amidst the cheers, Yuki Tetsuya smiled and waved at the stands.

At the Catcher position, Harada Masatoshi's brow furrowed into a knot. Swinging big on the first pitch, and aiming for the low outside corner—was he specifically looking for the cutter to hit?

Harada Masatoshi had ten thousand questions in his mind, but it was a done deal. Yuki Tetsuya getting on base meant they would have to face Huangqian Yangyi next. They couldn't just walk him and then go fight some bastard who came with a buff whenever there were runners on base.

Narumiya Mei was also very annoyed at this moment. He admitted Yuki Tetsuya was strong, but that last ball definitely had a component of luck; otherwise, how could he have swung so accurately and decisively at that spot?

Could it be that the Goddess of Luck was on Seido's side today?

Narumiya Mei shook his head and stopped overthinking. Next, he had to focus on dealing with that bastard chestnut-haired monster.

Turning his head to look at the batter's box, Narumiya Mei immediately felt his anger flare up.

Bastard, what are you smiling at!

In the batter's box, Huangqian Yangyi shouldered his bat, mimicking Kominato Ryosuke's expression—squinting, smiling.

"Um, could you not do that? It's a bit disgusting."

Even Harada Masatoshi couldn't take it and looked up to say a word.

Huangqian Yangyi hummed, "I'm happy, what's it to you?"

Harada Masatoshi sighed helplessly. This guy was intentionally provoking Narumiya Mei, and yet Narumiya Mei would fall for it. How childish—both of them were childish!