Chapter 75: Summer Tournament, Begins

After the opening ceremony concluded, Seido, Inashiro, and Ichidai Sanko—including the three major powerhouses—all tacitly disbanded their teams for free time. Whether it was watching games or just hanging out, they had no matches on this first day, so everyone was relatively relaxed.

"Hey! Little Blondie!"

As soon as Narumiya Mei walked out of the venue, he heard a very annoying voice.

"Chestnut-haired monster, you idiot!"

Narumiya Mei turned his head, and upon seeing Huangqian Yangyi waving at him not far away, he felt so irritated his whole body ached.

This jerk had specifically sent a message a few days ago saying he wanted to share some good news. Narumiya Mei had thought it was something great, only to see a photo of Huangqian Yangyi wearing the ace jersey.

Walking toward Huangqian Yangyi with a crab-like gait, Narumiya Mei snorted and then flipped him around. Sure enough, there was a big number one.

So infuriating, so infuriating! This idiot actually became an ace before me!

"Yo, Little Blondie, jealous?" Huangqian Yangyi laughed.

"Go die, go die, go die. I don't want to deal with you." Narumiya Mei said, turning to leave.

"Ah!"

Having been grabbed by the back of his neck, Narumiya Mei turned his head and glared at Huangqian Yangyi.

"What's the rush? Want to go buy milk tea together?"

"I don't want to go with you!"

"Kazuya is there too."

"I'm going!"

Without even greeting the coach, Narumiya Mei was just like that, led away by Huangqian Yangyi.

Leading Narumiya Mei, Huangqian Yangyi found Miyuki, who was queuing at the entrance of the milk tea shop.

"Hi, Kazuya!" As soon as Narumiya Mei saw him, he stuck to him.

"Mei?" Miyuki heard the voice, turned his head, and looked confused. "Why are you here?"

Narumiya Mei laughed, "The chestnut-haired monster brought me."

"Chestnut-haired monster? Oh, Yangyi, where is he?" Miyuki looked left and right but didn't see Huangqian Yangyi. This guy had told him to come queue, only to disappear himself.

Narumiya Mei snorted, "He went to buy water manju."

"Water manju? That limited-edition water manju from Anshindo?" Miyuki's eyes lit up instantly. Those were limited in both time and quantity every day; could Yangyi actually snag one?

"I heard he has an acquaintance. Hmph, having to use a back door just to buy a water manju, I despise him." Narumiya Mei never missed an opportunity to roast Huangqian Yangyi.

"Aren't you going to eat?"

"I am! I'll eat until he's broke!"

Not long after, Huangqian Yangyi returned with two bags of limited-edition water manju.

"Kazuya, come have a manju." Huangqian Yangyi took out a green water manju and stuffed it into Miyuki's hand.

"Hmm, the taste is good!" Miyuki said after taking a bite.

Huangqian Yangyi chuckled, "Right?"

Narumiya Mei, standing to the side, looked left and right. What was going on with these two? Ignoring him?

Unable to bear it any longer, Narumiya Mei punched Huangqian Yangyi on the arm.

"Oh? Little Blondie is still here."

"Go die!"

"Ya-ha-ha." Huangqian Yangyi laughed loudly and stuffed a water manju into Narumiya Mei's mouth.

After the three of them strolled around outside the venue and attracted quite a few onlookers, they quickly re-entered the venue and returned to their respective teams.

After watching two games, the Seido side left the venue, boarded the bus, and returned to school.

Because they were the champions of the Spring Metropolitan Tournament, they joined the competition from the third round as a seeded team, which meant they could wait at their leisure for the first few days.

However, the bad luck was that the three powerhouses of West Tokyo, Seido and Inashiro Industrial, were placed in the same half of the bracket. This meant they would meet at the latest in the semi-finals, and their opponent in the final would very likely be Ichidai Sanko High School.

I have to say, Department Head Ota, who represented Seido in the drawing, really had terrible luck; he must have been picking at his feet the night before.

A few days later, the tournament entered the third round.

West Tokyo, Nitta Stadium.

When the Seido First String team arrived by bus, they happened to run into their opponent for this round, Omori Academy.

This team had also entered Koshien many years ago and was considered a traditional, long-standing powerhouse. It was just that in recent years, the gap between them and the three major powerhouses of West Tokyo had grown larger and larger. It was rumored that there were internal management problems, and many speculated it was due to an uneven distribution of profits.

The Seido team had watched the game footage of Omori Academy many times. Overall, their strength was considered upper-middle level in West Tokyo, and the pitching of their ace, Xiangtian Dahe, was not to be underestimated.

"The third round of the West Tokyo Tournament, the second game, Seido High School versus Omori Academy, officially begins."

As the stadium broadcast sounded, the stands on the third base side immediately erupted with thunderous applause. The student fan club held up banners and blew horns, cheering for Seido at the top of their lungs.

The managers sitting in the front row each held a megaphone.

"Seido! Seido!"

The entire cheering squad of nearly a thousand people consisted not only of student fans from the school, the cheerleading squad, and the orchestra, but also many uniform alumni, as well as friends and family of the players.

"Everyone, let's go!"

Huangqian Yangyi stepped forward and shouted.

"Woo-oh!!!"

Behind the team, Dong Qingguo had black lines on his face. Wasn't this supposed to be the job of the Captain?

As the starting players walked out of the dugout, Coach Kataoka glanced at them and said, "Today's game is just the beginning. Bring out your strength and end it as quickly as possible."

"Yes!" ×9

All 9 starting players of Seido walked onto the field.

First batter: Zhitian Jiangtai (Shortstop)

Second batter: Kominato Ryosuke (Second Baseman)

Third Batter: Yuki Tetsuya (First Baseman)

Fourth Batter: Dong Qingguo (Third Baseman)

Fifth Batter: Tanaka Wataru (Catcher)

Sixth Batter: Isashiki Jun (Center Fielder)

Seventh Batter: Shinoki Keita (Right Fielder)

Eighth Batter: Yoshikawa Junpei (Left Fielder)

Ninth Batter: Huangqian Yangyi (Pitcher)

There were not many changes in the starting lineup; only Kominato Ryosuke came up from the bench, replacing the original Second Baseman, Yanagiya Kazuki.

Such a change was not particularly strange; what truly left the audience and opponents baffled was Huangqian Yangyi.

This First Year ace clearly possessed impressive batting strength, yet he was placed in the Ninth Batter spot—why? Was Manager Kataoka bullying him?

Some irrational spectators even thought of conspiracy theories, but upon second thought, the fact that Huangqian Yangyi became the ace in his First Year was enough to show the importance and favoritism Manager Kataoka placed on him.

What they did not know was that when Huangqian Yangyi took the initiative to ask to bat Ninth, Manager Kataoka was also stunned for quite a while.

The 9-1 connection—this was Huangqian Yangyi's idea.

In traditional baseball batting order arrangements, the player with the fastest on-base speed is generally placed first, the second batter is an assist-type player, the third batter is the player with the second-best batting ability on the team, then the best and most powerful hitter is placed fourth, the second most powerful fifth, the next sixth, and then the seventh, eighth, and ninth are relatively weaker.