Chapter 323: The Finals, an Expected Opponent

Director Kataoka, standing to the side, prepared to take over and answer personally, but Huangqian Yangyi had already spoken.

"Yes."

Uh...

The reporters were stunned for a moment. Just two words?

"But Seibo High School is also a top-tier team in the country. Leaving the Pitcher's Mound in the middle of the game, aren't you afraid that Seibo High School will take advantage of the momentum to overtake you?" the reporter asked, unwilling to give up.

"Not afraid."

The reporter was dumbfounded again. Couldn't he say at least two more words?

"Is it because you were prepared in advance?"

"Yes."

Seeing that they really couldn't get anything out of this line of questioning, the reporters immediately changed the subject, and the reporter who was called upon asked immediately.

"Regarding the upcoming Semi-finals..."

A few minutes passed, and the reporters interviewed Huangqian Yangyi, Chris, and Director Kataoka one after another. The latter two were fine, answering questions normally, but Huangqian Yangyi consistently gave two-word answers, which left the reporters baffled; it clearly wasn't like this during previous interviews.

"What's wrong with you today? Are you unhappy?" Chris asked with concern after the interview ended, and even Director Kataoka cast a worried look.

Huangqian Yangyi shook his head: "No, don't you think this is fun?"

"Fun? Fun how? The reporters?" Chris was surprised.

"Hehe, ostentatious and domineering on the field, quiet and reserved off the field—this kind of contrast should attract quite a few fans," Huangqian Yangyi laughed.

"Ha, too late for that." Chris gave Huangqian Yangyi a rare jab; what kind of personality you have was exposed long ago, and now you want to build a persona.

"Just for fun, this is called a sense of humor."

Chris and Director Kataoka shook their heads at the same time. Indeed, based on the personality of Huangqian Yangyi they knew, this kind of sudden whim, doing things on a whim, was something he was capable of.

When the three of them arrived at the spectator stands, the second game of the day had already begun. After finding a seat and sitting down, Huangqian Yangyi picked up his phone to check it. There were no messages, so he opened a horse-raising game and started "serving time."

"What are you doing not watching the game?" Miyuki leaned over to take a look. "No way, Uma Musume! When did you start playing this?"

"Just a few days ago," Huangqian Yangyi said casually.

Miyuki curled his lip. He knew this game; it was a game made after anthropomorphizing Japanese horse racing culture, and it had become a huge hit across Japan.

"I heard this game is a real grind, you should play less."

"Grind? I pay-to-win!"

"You've got money, you're amazing." Miyuki stopped talking and turned his head to continue watching the game.

This match was between two teams in the same bracket as them; whoever won would be their next opponent.

Huangqian Yangyi played the game while watching the match. It wasn't that he was underestimating his opponents, but the batting lineups of these two teams wouldn't even rank in West Tokyo. They were only able to make it to the Koshien Top 8 because they hadn't encountered any strong opponents; otherwise, they should have been eliminated long ago.

On the field, the two teams traded blows, with the score reaching double digits at one point, finally settling at 14:13.

After this game ended, Huangqian Yangyi, who had just finished his game, put away his phone. He had to watch the next game, Osaka Kiryu versus Jumo Daitengjuan, carefully.

When the game started, everyone at Seido became serious. They weren't familiar with Jumo Daitengjuan, but Osaka Kiryu was definitely worth their focused attention.

As it turned out, Jumo Daitengjuan defeated Osaka Kiryu to enter the Top 4, which left the entire stadium and even the national audience with their jaws dropped.

Jumo Daitengjuan, which school is this?

Many people opened their phones to search the moment the game ended.

A dark horse!

An absolute dark horse!

"You guy, did you know about Jumo Daitengjuan all along?" Miyuki asked Huangqian Yangyi curiously after the game ended.

"Hehe, of course. I did say at the time that I was very optimistic about this team; you guys didn't forget, did you?" Huangqian Yangyi laughed.

When everyone heard this, it was true. They had even made a bet at the time, and now they were only one game away; if Jumo Daitengjuan entered the finals, they would owe Huangqian Yangyi a meal.

"Their pitcher-swapping strategy is executed so perfectly, and the strength of each pitcher is not to be underestimated, especially that First Year, Hongo Masamune. His pitching not only has a speed on par with Furuya, but his control is also a cut above," Chris said, describing what he had observed.

"The timing of the pitcher swaps is also grasped perfectly, disrupting the rhythm of the Osaka Kiryu batting lineup every time," Miyuki said.

The friends from Seido discussed Jumo Daitengjuan, and the next game started shortly after.

After all 4 games of the day concluded, the Seido group took a bus back to the hotel.

In the blink of an eye, it was the Semi-finals. The opponent for this game was more than a grade below Seido in terms of both the pitching staff and the batting lineup. Facing Seido, anchored by Huangqian Yangyi, they lost the game almost effortlessly, with a score of 14:1, the run allowed by Kawakami.

After this game ended, Seido High School was the first to enter the finals. Not long after, the game between Jumo Daitengjuan and Hakuryu High School ended. Both sides played quite intensely; the clash between Jumo Daitengjuan's pitcher-swapping strategy and the constant stolen bases and hit-and-run tactics initiated by Hakuryu had the live audience cheering with excitement. In the end, Jumo Daitengjuan emerged victorious.

This dark horse from Hokkaido had completely become another major highlight of this year's Koshien.

"You really called it, the finals are actually against Jumo Daitengjuan."

"Can you tell fortunes?"

"A prophet, Huangqian."

"You've got something going on."

"Help me look, when can I get a girlfriend?"

With the final opponent decided, the friends gathered around Huangqian Yangyi, joking around.

On the night before the finals, Huangqian Yangyi had a phone call with his younger sister, Huangqian Kumiko.

"Nii-chan, you must win the championship tomorrow!" Kumiko said.

"You too, do your best tomorrow. You must win the Gold Prize and break into the National Tournament," Huangqian Yangyi said.

For this Koshien final, his sister Kumiko couldn't come to watch in person, and she couldn't even watch the television broadcast because tomorrow was also the day of the Kansai Band Competition.

The two siblings were participating in their respective competitions at different locations at almost the same time.

After chatting for half an hour, Huangqian Yangyi hung up the phone and picked up the detailed information about Jumo Daitengjuan lying on the bed to read it again.

The hard strength of this team was actually not very strong; in terms of batting lineup, they couldn't compare to Osaka Kiryu or Seibo High School, but their tactics were very effective, always able to drag down the opponent's ace pitcher.

Four pitchers, completely different styles, mastering different types of pitches, plus the fact that the other side had a director who had studied the pitcher-swapping strategy deeply—many teams, when facing them for the first time, found their batting lineups unable to adapt to their pitcher-swapping rhythm for a time, eventually leading to a complete pitcher's duel and losing the game in the end.