Chapter 48: Narumiya Mei Takes the Mound, the Forkball

"Tanba, it's your turn." Director Kataoka turned his head and said to Tanba, who was already prepared on the side.

Tanba gave a heavy nod, then immediately walked toward the field with his teammates.

On the sidelines, hearing the announcement that Seido was changing pitchers, Mamiko excitedly leaned over the railing, only to see that Huangqian Yangyi in the bullpen hadn't moved at all.

Just as she was wondering, she heard the name of the pitcher taking the mound announced as Tanba Koichiro.

Having gotten excited for nothing, Mamiko pouted and sat back down in her seat.

Just then, Mamiko saw Huangqian Yangyi in the bullpen look toward her side and wave at her.

"Go, little brother!"

Mamiko immediately regained her spirit and shouted downward.

Huangqian Yangyi smiled, waved back, and then looked toward the field; Senior Tanba's pitching was actually quite good, and as long as it wasn't a headwind game, he usually performed well.

It was precisely because he understood this that this time, Director Kataoka had only given Tanba two innings—no, now it was a one-inning opportunity; as long as Tanba could pitch this inning well, he would naturally have more opportunities in the future.

Tanba's performance did not disappoint Director Kataoka, and the Inashiro players' expressions became somewhat strange after seeing Seido switch to Tanba.

The Seido ace had been performing quite well today, so why was he taken off, and why was he replaced by that Tanba, who looked so introverted he even seemed weak?

If Tanba knew that he was perceived as weak in others' eyes, he would probably be angry enough to find a block of tofu to smash his head against.

Watching Huangqian Yangyi still warming up in the bullpen, Narumiya Mei, who had already finished warming up and was ready to take the field, immediately revealed a smile.

I'm going on first, hehe, I win.

Narumiya Mei's foolish expression made Harada Masatoshi beside him sigh deeply; this kid was so hard to manage.

On the field, Tanba was holding back a belly full of frustration; with only a one-inning opportunity, he had to seize it!

Holding onto this conviction, the fired-up Tanba pitched with superhuman performance, and even when the ball was hit, he managed to turn danger into safety with the cooperation of his teammates.

Successfully securing three outs to hold this half-inning, Tanba walked off the pitcher's mound feeling a bit unsatisfied; pitching only one inning simply couldn't satisfy him.

Bottom of the 6th, Seido on offense, and just then, there was movement from the Inashiro side.

"Inashiro Industrial is making a player change: Pitcher Matsumoto Takuhai is moving to Right Fielder, and the pitcher is being replaced by the First Year player, Narumiya Mei!"

Hearing the voice over the broadcast, a burst of cheers suddenly erupted from the stands.

"This kid has quite a lot of fans," Huangqian Yangyi, who was also prepared to take the field, said with a smile.

"Mei accumulated a batch of loyal fans back in middle school," Miyuki said, shaking his head.

"I can tell, a bunch of big sister fans and mom fans."

"Unlike me, all of mine are wife fans who want to bear my children."

"How can you say such shameless and brazen things?" Miyuki felt he had underestimated this partner of his.

Huangqian Yangyi didn't care about Miyuki's retort, slinging his arm around Miyuki's shoulder and laughing, "Just say you're jealous, it's not a big deal."

"Ha? I have fans too, you know!" Miyuki was unconvinced; although he couldn't compare to Narumiya Mei, he had been very famous back in middle school too.

While the two were bickering, on the Inashiro side, Narumiya Mei had already walked onto the field.

The cocky kid bared his teeth and waved at the audience, and the sunlight hitting his blonde hair gave him an aura that faintly resembled a protagonist.

"Look closely, this guy will be our future rival," Miyuki said, his gaze following Narumiya Mei on the field.

"Not the future, he already is one now," Huangqian Yangyi said.

Even as a Narumiya Mei who had just entered high school, his strength was definitely top-tier among high school pitchers; if he settled for another year, he would truly become that powerful Prince of Tokyo from the original story.

"No, we are the ones who will win today," Miyuki suddenly said.

Huangqian Yangyi was a bit surprised and asked curiously, "Why so certain all of a sudden? Haven't you been saying Narumiya Mei is very strong?"

Miyuki turned his head, looked at Huangqian Yangyi, and smiled, saying, "Because it's Mei right now, I believe our batting lineup can definitely score runs off him."

"And as for you, I believe you can definitely suppress Inashiro's batting lineup."

Hearing this, Huangqian Yangyi was truly a bit unaccustomed to it. "No, you suddenly saying things like this, making it all sentimental—I'll tell you in advance, I don't do that gay stuff."

"Heh, besides pitching, that mouth of yours is the only other thing that's sharp," Miyuki said.

While the two were talking, the game on the field had already begun; seeing Narumiya Mei about to start pitching, Huangqian Yangyi quieted down to watch carefully.

Bottom of the 5th, the first batter Narumiya Mei faced was Seido's 7th batter, Right Fielder Shinoki Keita.

Little thing, watch me hit you flying!

Shinoki Keita gripped his bat tightly, staring fiercely at Narumiya Mei—this was the guy they had discussed in the meeting last night, the one who would most likely become their greatest enemy at Seido this summer.

The fierce expression didn't scare Narumiya Mei; instead, it stirred up his arrogance. So what if he was a third-year? Hitting his ball wouldn't be that easy.

After confirming the signals with Catcher Harada Masatoshi, Narumiya Mei moved extremely quickly, throwing the ball almost without thinking.

Inside corner!

Shinoki Keita swung his bat violently!

Pop~

"Strike!"

A Four-seam Fastball was jammed straight into Shinoki Keita's chest.

The swing was slow!

Shinoki Keita pulled back his bat and rested it on his shoulder, then his gaze met Narumiya Mei's face, which wore an arrogant smile.

Damn it!

Shinoki Keita was secretly annoyed, but he wasn't too anxious in his heart; if it was just this speed, he could hit it!

After all, back at school, he had managed to hit Huangqian Yangyi's pitches that reached 150 km/h, even if they were just grounders or Foul Balls.

"Although the speed isn't as fast as yours, the pitch path is just as tricky," Miyuki said after watching this pitch.

"Yeah, it's hard to hit," Huangqian Yangyi nodded and said; Narumiya Mei's Fastball was already quite threatening, and if you added Breaking Balls to that...

"I hope this pitch didn't make Senior Shinoki too concerned, otherwise the result won't be very good," Miyuki said thoughtfully.

Just as he finished speaking, Narumiya Mei had already thrown the second pitch.

Shinoki Keita looked at the ball flying toward the outside corner and was instantly overjoyed, I can do this!

Exerting all his strength, the bat swung out with a whistle; the distance between the bat and the ball grew smaller and smaller, and Shinoki Keita felt as if he had already seen the outcome of him hitting the ball.

However, just as the baseball entered the Home Plate, it suddenly dropped, narrowly missing the bat, and with a 'pop', it entered Harada Masatoshi's glove.

"Forkball!"

Shinoki Keita gritted his teeth as he looked at Narumiya Mei standing in front; had he brought out the forkball so soon?