Chapter 39: Studying Inashiro

Achievements from junior high school are just a piece of waste paper once you reach high school; to this day, who knows how many players hailed as geniuses in junior high became mediocre after entering high school, gradually disappearing from the public eye.

But then again, people don't think Narumiya Mei, the pitcher hailed as the strongest of his generation, will fade into the crowd; they only look forward to his performance.

After all, before him, a First Year player who was unknown in junior high had already stood on the Pitcher's Mound and delivered a shocking, perfect performance.

With the example of Huangqian Yangyi before them, people couldn't help but have even higher expectations for Narumiya Mei, and among the crowd, there were even many fans Narumiya Mei had accumulated during his junior high days, shouting his name with all their might.

With a smile he couldn't control at all, standing on the Pitcher's Mound like a child, the smug Narumiya Mei turned his head only to be met with the serious, rigid face of the Catcher, Harada Masatoshi.

His smile vanished instantly, and Narumiya Mei immediately entered his game state.

It must be said that Narumiya Mei truly lived up to his reputation; facing Teito's powerful lineup, he pitched for a total of three innings, and although he gave up two hits, he didn't lose a single run.

His 145 km/h Four-seam Fastball and sharp-breaking Slider made it difficult for Teito's Batters to effectively connect their offense when facing him.

After watching Narumiya Mei's pitching performance, Coach Kataoka glanced at Huangqian Yangyi; as things stand now, both Narumiya Mei and Huangqian Yangyi are pitchers with a high degree of completion who can be used as soon as they are put on the field, but their biggest drawback is their stamina—in high school baseball, where the intensity far exceeds that of junior high, they simply cannot support a complete game.

Not long after, the game between Inashiro and Teito ended; there was no dramatic comeback, and Inashiro successfully secured their ticket to the finals.

After the team finished, Narumiya Mei turned his head to look at the stands where the Seido group was located.

"He's looking at you," Huangqian Yangyi said.

"No, he's looking at you," Miyuki denied.

"I'm not close with him."

"If you're not close, why do you call him 'Little Blondie'?"

Miyuki complained while picking up his bag and turning to leave; Huangqian Yangyi took one more look at Narumiya Mei before leaving as well.

Returning to school, the principal and the director greeted everyone with beaming smiles, only to be dismissed from the conference room by Coach Kataoka on the grounds of it being a mere Dudahui and the finals being tomorrow.

Inside the conference room, regarding tomorrow's game against Inashiro, Coach Kataoka and Senior Chris conducted a detailed analysis of every First String player on Inashiro.

"Finally, we must pay attention to Inashiro's pitchers: the ace Matsumoto Takuhai, and the First Year pitcher who is with Huangqian Yangyi, Narumiya Mei," Chris said, holding a small notebook.

"Third batter, Matsumoto Takuhai, third year, pitch speed 146 km/h; besides the Four-seam Fastball, he has also mastered two types of Breaking Ball: the Forkball and the High-speed Slider; he is a pitcher who extremely loves to attack the Batter's inside corner."

"According to statistics from recent games, the Breaking Ball Matsumoto Takuhai uses the most is the Forkball, which makes it very difficult for Batters to hit an Extra-base Hit; most end up hitting grounders, resulting in an inability to get on base—we need to pay extra attention to this."

Everyone nodded; they all understood the characteristics of the Forkball—the trajectory and speed are almost indistinguishable from a Fastball, but it suddenly drops before entering the Home Plate, causing the Batter to swing and miss, or hit the top half of the ball, forming a soft, weak grounder.

After Coach Kataoka finished another analysis of Matsumoto Takuhai, Chris flipped a page in his small notebook.

"There is one more pitcher to watch out for, and that is the First Year, Narumiya Mei," Chris said, glancing at Huangqian Yangyi.

"That's the brat who was called the strongest of his generation back in junior high, right?" Isashiki Jun said.

"I remember Department Head Takashima went to invite him, but was rejected," Yuki Tetsuya said.

Takashima Rei nodded and smiled helplessly: "At that time, he had already decided to go to Inashiro; there really was nothing I could do."

Speaking of recruiting newcomers, Takashima Rei couldn't help but feel fortunate again; luckily, when she first met Miyuki, he was still in his first year of junior high, young and easy to fool.

"Well, Rei-chan, even though Mei went to Inashiro, we have Yangyi."

After Miyuki finished speaking, everyone's eyes turned to Huangqian Yangyi.

Indeed, they didn't care about Narumiya Mei or whoever; they had their own super rookie.

"Why are you looking at me? We're talking about Narumiya Mei," Huangqian Yangyi reminded everyone.

"We're saying you're amazing; even though you had no achievements or fame in junior high, the outside world is now comparing you and Narumiya Mei together," Miyuki laughed.

Huangqian Yangyi rolled his eyes at this bastard: "Stop with the bullshit, hurry up and let the senior finish what he's saying; I'm still hungry."

After returning from the game, the Seido group came straight to the conference room for a meeting without even eating.

Speaking of eating, everyone immediately turned their heads back to look at Chris, their eyes filled with the desire to eat.

Chris smiled and continued: "Narumiya Mei, left-handed pitcher, current top speed 145."

"He pitched three innings in today's game, throwing a total of 32 pitches, nearly half of which were Sliders, while the two hits he gave up were Four-seam Fastballs."

"Of course, the Four-seam Fastball and Slider are just the pitch types he showed today; combined with his data from junior high, he has also mastered the Forkball."

After hearing the intelligence Chris had gathered, Huangqian Yangyi nodded silently; being able to master two types of Breaking Ball at this stage, being able to play a role on the field, and having a pitch speed of 145—Narumiya Mei's strength is indeed solid.

But Huangqian Yangyi knew more; Narumiya Mei would later master the Cutter and the Circle Changeup.

He should have mastered the Cutter during his first year, and the Circle Changeup in his second year.

A fully developed Narumiya Mei is definitely the top pitcher in the country; even now, it wouldn't be easy for Seido's lineup to score runs off him.

Just looking at the arrangements Chris and Coach Kataoka made for Narumiya Mei, Huangqian Yangyi could feel the importance Seido placed on him.

"In tomorrow's game, it is highly likely that Narumiya Mei will appear in the latter half; when that time comes, swing your bats actively—you must never underestimate others just because they are First Years," Coach Kataoka said.

"Yes!"

After the meeting ended, everyone couldn't wait to go to the cafeteria to eat.

After finishing three big bowls of rice, Huangqian Yangyi found Miyuki, who had already returned to the dormitory to rest.

"Wanna catch?"

"Sure!"

Because the rest of the time today was for self-training, Huangqian Yangyi had originally thought there would be no one in the Bullpen right now.

As it turned out, when the two arrived at the Bullpen, the third years Nanjo Taishi and Tanaka Wataru, and the second years Tanba Koichiro and Miyauchi Keisuke, were already there starting their self-training.