Chapter 309: The Summer of the Boys

"Bottom of the ninth inning, Inashiro Industrial High School on offense, seventh batter, Second Baseman, Hirai Tsubasa."

Stepping into the Batter's Box, Hirai Tsubasa was surprised to find his heart remarkably calm, as if the game had only just begun; the immense pressure from before had vanished, and this state made him feel inexplicably afraid—a final flash of clarity before the end?

Shaking his head vigorously, Hirai Tsubasa looked toward the Pitcher's Mound, where their greatest enemy from Inashiro stood.

Heh, Huangqian Yangyi smiled at Hirai Tsubasa; at the end of the game, whether one is to deliver the final, desperate blow or not, one should still leave a good impression on the opponent.

At the Catcher position, Miyuki covered his face; what is this idiot doing, can he not smile like that, the cameras are all pointed at you!

Forget it, forget it, he is his own team's Pitcher, what else can be done; only after Huangqian Yangyi finished laughing did Miyuki clap his mitt to signal the sign.

Whoosh!

Zoom!

Swish!

"Strike!"

"Strikeout!"

No surprises, no miracles; Hirai Tsubasa failed to touch the baseball with all three of his swings.

"Two more to go!"

"Ace! Finish them off!"

"One out!"

Hirai Tsubasa left the field, and the 8th Batter, Fan Shengmei, stepped into the Batter's Box.

Whoosh!

Zoom!

Swish!

"Strike!"

"Strikeout!"

Just like Hirai Tsubasa, Fan Shengmei was also struck out quickly.

"Two outs!!"

Amidst the cheers of Seido fans and the sighs and sobs of Inashiro fans, Inashiro's final batter walked to the Batter's Box.

Huangqian Yangyi and Miyuki showed no mercy; three Fastballs at speeds approaching 160 kilometers per hour perfectly displayed the absolute trust between this Pitcher and Catcher—this was the greatest pitching, the finest art.

"Strikeout!!!"

"Game set!!"

The voice of the home plate umpire resounded throughout the entire stadium.

"Ooooooooooooooh!!!!!"

In an instant, this historic Meiji Jingu Stadium erupted with an incomparable tremor.

"Out!! Game set! At this final moment, Seido's Ace, Huangqian Yangyi, has perfectly finished off Inashiro Industrial's 9th Batter with three consecutive Light Speed Balls! The Overlord of Tokyo... no! The Overlord of Japan!! Huangqian Yangyi has ended this game and reached the summit once again this summer!"

The commentator's emotions were impassioned.

On the Seido side, all the players charged into the field the moment the game ended, roaring; the teammates crowded around Huangqian Yangyi, tossing him high into the air, letting him fall, and tossing him again.

Huangqian Yangyi raised his fist high toward the sky.

"We won!"

"We won!"

"Koshien! Hahaha, we're coming back!"

"Seido! Seido! Seido!"

"Huangqian!!!"

The players celebrated wildly, and the fans cheered at the top of their lungs.

In the Dugout, Coach Kataoka, Coach Ochiai, Department Head Ota, and Department Head Takashima Rei, the four giants, looked at each other, each with an irrepressible smile on their faces.

Hiss~~

Ochiai Hiromitsu shuddered all over.

He did not quite understand; he had accompanied teams to Koshien many times while at Kogadai Sagami, but he had never been this excited before.

Just then, viewers across the country watching the game heard a shrill scream.

"Dear viewers! A new record, a new record has been born!"

"Nine innings, no runs allowed, no hits, no baserunners—this is a Perfect Game!!"

"The first Perfect Game in the history of Japanese high school baseball has appeared!!"

"West Tokyo Finals, Seido Ace Huangqian Yangyi has shut out his opponent, Inashiro Industrial, with no hits and no baserunners allowed!"

"A magnificent record!!"

As the commentator's voice faded, everyone learned of the birth of this great record.

And at this moment, although the news of the Perfect Game had not been announced on-site, some spectators had learned of it through their phones, and soon, the fact of the Perfect Game spread throughout the stadium.

Hearing the clamor, the Seido group set Huangqian Yangyi back down.

"Amazing! A Perfect Game!"

"And against Inashiro!"

"It's worth its weight in gold!"

"Show off, be happy, cheer to your heart's content!"

"Hahaha, as expected of our Ace, truly amazing!"

The teammates felt a sense of shared honor; a Perfect Game—this was a great match worthy of being recorded in history.

"What is a Perfect Game?" Sawamura turned his head, asking Chris, who stood beside him with a smile, in confusion.

Chris was stunned for a moment, then said helplessly: "A 'Perfect Game' is an extremely difficult achievement to attain; it requires a Pitcher to complete a game of 9 innings or more, during which no opposing player can reach base."

"Whether it's a hit, a Base on Balls, a Hit by Pitch, or any other error that allows an opponent to reach base, none of these can happen!"

"Under such circumstances, for a Pitcher to pitch the entire game, that is a Perfect Game!"

"How about it? Now you know how impressive the achievement of a 'Perfect Game' is, right?"

After hearing Chris's explanation, Sawamura was dumbfounded; a 9-inning game without letting a single person reach base, how is that possible?

Anyway, he absolutely could not do it, not in his entire life!

His pitching style was the type that pitched for the opponent to hit; he didn't know how many times he would let people reach base in a single game.

Behind the two, Furuya Satoru, who had also heard the conversation, first showed surprise, and then his fighting spirit burned fiercely.

He also wanted a Perfect Game!

On the other side, half of the people from Inashiro were kneeling on the ground powerlessly, covering their faces and crying after the game ended, while Narumiya Mei closed his eyes and tilted his head toward the sky, holding back his tears to keep them from falling.

After a while, Narumiya Mei opened his eyes and looked at the azure sky, his vision already blurred by tears; he reached his hand out toward the sky as if wanting to grasp something, and at this moment, all his resentment surged into his heart, and Narumiya Mei could no longer hold on and burst into tears, the tears sliding down his cheeks.

Dazed and desperate, the players of Inashiro seemed to have lost all their strength at this moment.

"It's over, then... my summer."

Harada Masatoshi looked up at the sky; as the team Captain, he was already a third-year, and if the National Sports Festival in a few months wasn't counted, this game was the last game of his high school career.

In his gradually blurring vision, Harada Masatoshi saw the figures of the Seido group on the opposite side.

So amazing, a Perfect Game, huh?

Hearing the voices coming from the spectator stands, Harada Masatoshi was truly convinced; he pulled the corner of his mouth into an arc, gave a helpless, bitter smile, and shook his head—how could there be such an amazing guy, and one who just happened to be in the same era as Mei? This was too cruel.

The entire stadium was divided into two halves: one side was the cheering and leaping Seido High School, and the other was the painful and desperate Inashiro Industrial.

The so-called joys and sorrows of humans are not shared.

Where there are people crying, there are people laughing; where there are people whose dreams come true, there are people whose dreams are shattered.

The summer of one group of boys had ended, while the summer of another group of boys had only just begun.