The game continued.
Top of the 3rd inning. One out, no runners on base.
The Changeup thrown by Narumiya Mei made the expressions in Seido High's dugout turn grim.
Miyuki Kazuya rubbed the back of his head and glanced at his teammates.
Then he noticed something unbelievable.
While everyone else wore gloomy expressions, Zhou Hao looked pleasantly surprised.
"Did you win the lottery or something?"
Hearing that, Zhou Hao instinctively raised an eyebrow.
"No."
"Then why are you smiling like that? You look like you just hit second prize."
Only then did Zhou Hao realize what Miyuki meant.
Apparently, his grin had been a little too obvious.
"I didn't win the lottery," Zhou Hao replied. "But I did get something just as valuable."
A Screwball Changeup.
A weapon capable of dealing with Yuki Tetsuya.
If he mastered it properly, it would become a massive boost to his pitching arsenal.
Just thinking about it made Zhou Hao excited.
At that moment, Seido's eighth batter stepped into the Batter's Box, his entire body tense.
Everyone in the Seido dugout could see it clearly.
Against Narumiya Mei, he was at a complete disadvantage.
"Damn it… this guy's pitching got even nastier!"
Hearing his teammates complain, Zhou Hao simply chuckled and shook his head.
"Isn't that only natural?"
Ever since Seido High School rose to prominence, the balance among the nation's elite teams had completely changed.
Before Seido appeared, the powerhouse schools had remained relatively stable.
But once Seido emerged, every top team in the country began treating them as the ultimate enemy.
Much like the legendary "Cosmic Team" before them, Seido had become the mountain everyone wanted to overcome.
As long as Zhou Hao and Seido remained at the top, other teams could never truly dominate the nation.
And for ambitious teams, that was unacceptable.
So they trained desperately.
Under that pressure, some players inevitably fell behind.
Not everyone could survive hellish training regimens.
Those who couldn't keep up were quickly eliminated.
But at the same time, others flourished under the pressure.
Those players gradually evolved into genuine rivals for Seido High School.
It was like throwing a catfish into a pond.
The fish that had once lived comfortably were suddenly forced to swim harder just to survive.
Inashiro Industrial was undoubtedly one of the teams that had risen because of that pressure.
And Narumiya Mei stood at the center of it all.
As long as he was on the mound, Inashiro possessed the strength to challenge Seido head-on.
And not just barely.
They were a legitimate threat.
"Whoosh!"
Narumiya Mei adjusted his strategy again.
Facing Seido's lower-order batters, he decisively threw an Eephus pitch.
The Seido batter wasn't unfamiliar with Narumiya's tricks, but he still swung without hesitation.
Normally, against Narumiya Mei, even making contact was difficult.
Now that an opportunity had appeared, how could he possibly let it pass?
Maybe—just maybe—he could squeeze out a Hit.
The odds were slim, but it was still worth trying.
Shirasu swung decisively, the bat slicing through the air.
Behind the plate, Harada's eyes widened slightly.
This usually unremarkable batter from Seido actually had a pretty solid swing.
Could Inashiro really get caught off guard here?
Just as that thought crossed his mind—
"Crack!"
The ball was hit.
But instead of soaring into the outfield, it bounced weakly off the ground.
Shirasu tightened his lips in frustration.
This was clearly not the result he wanted.
He had intentionally put extra power into the swing, hoping to drive the ball deep.
Instead, he had fallen straight into Narumiya Mei's trap.
Shirakawa calmly stepped forward, fielded the ball cleanly, and immediately threw to first base.
"Pop!"
"Out!"
Two outs. Bases empty.
Narumiya Mei's pitching was overwhelmingly dominant.
The Seido supporters in the stands felt their hearts sink.
No one understood better than they did what this performance meant.
Even Seido's lower-order batters possessed solid hitting ability.
Yet Narumiya was toying with them effortlessly.
More than striking out, this feeling was humiliating.
It was as if Seido's batters were trapped in the palm of his hand, manipulated however he pleased.
Were they nothing more than clay dolls to him?
As unwilling as they were to admit it, the reality before them seemed to say exactly that.
Against Narumiya Mei, they looked powerless.
After the second out, Seido's ninth batter stepped up to the plate.
"Outfielder, Oshima-kun!"
Standing in the Batter's Box was Seido's first-year super rookie, Oshima Shin.
He had already made major contributions throughout the tournament.
Now, both Seido's players and their supporters fixed their eyes on him.
Everyone knew how difficult it was to hit Narumiya Mei's pitches.
Even so, they still hoped.
Even the slimmest possibility was still a possibility.
"A pitcher compared to Senior Zhou Hao…"
Oshima's eyes burned with excitement.
"How interesting!"
Every cell in his body trembled eagerly.
He wanted to swing.
He wanted to get a Hit off the pitcher standing before him.
A fierce greed blazed within Oshima's heart.
Most people didn't fully understand him.
Oshima was someone who craved challenges.
One of the biggest reasons he chose Seido High School was because he believed a national powerhouse would gather the strongest opponents possible.
And he had been absolutely right.
At Seido, monsters were everywhere.
Zhou Hao.
Yuki.
Miyuki.
Chris.
Isashiki Jun.
Kominato Ryosuke.
Most of them were stronger than him.
Even those on his level still possessed skills far beyond his own in certain areas.
Being surrounded by players like that allowed Oshima to feel himself improving every single day.
And he loved that feeling.
The feeling of constantly growing stronger thrilled him to the core.
He never hesitated to challenge even his own seniors.
So how could he possibly back down against an opponent?
To Oshima, Narumiya Mei looked like fresh prey.
He raised his bat high, radiating the determination to crush whatever pitch came his way.
Narumiya Mei narrowed his eyes dangerously.
"Are you seriously treating me like some easy target?"
This first-year rookie was giving him a faint sense of danger.
And that caused every nerve in Narumiya's body to tense.
"Such an arrogant first-year…"
Narumiya Mei tightened his grip on the baseball.
"West Tokyo doesn't allow rookies like you to run wild."
Without the slightest hesitation, he fired the pitch.
"BOOM!"
The baseball exploded across the field with terrifying force.
The spectators in the stands were stunned.
At this moment, the aura surrounding Narumiya Mei was downright dangerous.
"He's not even worrying about stamina?"
The way he pitched made it obvious—he had no intention of letting this game drag into extra innings.
It was the complete opposite of Zhou Hao.
After suffering through last autumn's defeat, Zhou Hao had become far more careful with his stamina management. He absolutely refused to stumble over the same mistake twice.
That was why he pitched with restraint, always conserving enough energy for unexpected situations.
Narumiya Mei, however, seemed limitless.
From the very beginning, he attacked with full-power Fastballs.
Oshima, who had been eager to crush the pitch, froze the instant he saw the ball coming.
Even though he had dominated middle school baseball, he was still only a first-year high school player.
Where had he ever faced a pitch this fast?
And with such terrifying precision?
Even Oshima couldn't help but admire it.
To blast this pitch away?
It wasn't that he lacked confidence.
He genuinely couldn't do it.
No matter how prepared he thought he was, actually standing in the Batter's Box against this monster was a completely different experience.
The pitch was simply too fast.
Ridiculously fast.
How was he supposed to hit it?
All he could do was helplessly watch the baseball blaze past him again and again.
To avoid looking completely pathetic, he forced himself to swing.
But the result was obvious.
He hit nothing.
"Pop!"
"Strike!"
"Strikeout!"
Three outs.
Change of offense and defense.
The game entered the top of the fourth inning with the score still tied at 0:0.
The crowd couldn't help but gasp in amazement.
"Who would've thought both Aces would be this terrifying?"
"We already saw it last autumn. These two are absolute monsters."
"If Zhou Hao hadn't run out of stamina back then, that game might've stayed scoreless even through the fifteenth inning."
"This kind of pitching duel is almost unheard of in high school baseball."
The spectators discussed it excitedly.
But Inashiro Industrial had no intention of recreating last autumn's legend.
A legend was called a legend precisely because it was nearly impossible to repeat.
The players of Inashiro knew very well that Zhou Hao would never lose the same way twice.
There would not be a second collapse from exhaustion.
That was why they never planned to drag this game into extra innings.
As their coach had bluntly stated:
"If this reaches extra innings, we're finished."
The words sounded unpleasant, but they were true.
Seido had already prepared for such a situation in advance.
Inashiro had not.
Which meant they had only one option:
Score off Zhou Hao as quickly as possible.
Top of the fourth inning.
Inashiro Industrial High School was on offense.
The first batter to step into the Batter's Box was their leadoff hitter—
Carlos.
Dark skin.
A tall, athletic frame.
And most eye-catching of all, his incredibly long legs.
Once he started running, his speed was terrifying.
Seido absolutely could not allow a player like him to reach base.
Because once Carlos got on, the consequences would be severe.
Even if Inashiro failed to get a Hit afterward, Carlos still had an extremely high chance of stealing a base successfully.
"We absolutely can't let him get on."
"Take him out immediately."
Even while standing on the mound, Zhou Hao could hear his teammates discussing strategy.
And honestly, he agreed completely.
There was no way he could allow Carlos onto the bases.
More importantly, he needed to suppress him completely.
Carlos was too active, too dangerous.
A player capable of turning the flow of the game by himself.
Against threats like that, hesitation was fatal.
You had to crush them before they ever gained momentum.
At least in today's game, giving Carlos an opportunity would simply be asking for trouble.
And Zhou Hao had no intention of making that mistake.
He set himself on the mound and pitched decisively.
"BOOM!"
The baseball roared through the air, arriving in front of Carlos in the blink of an eye.
Fast!
That was Carlos's immediate impression.
This was completely different from the Breaking Ball Zhou Hao had used in their earlier confrontation.
This pitch was simple.
Direct.
Violent.
Carlos instantly sensed the danger behind it.
There was no time to wait and react.
He had to swing early.
"Pop!"
"Strike!"
The batter fell behind with one strike.
Carlos's muscles tightened as he stared at Zhou Hao intensely.
On the mound, Zhou Hao remained expressionless.
Without wasting a second, he delivered the next pitch.
"BOOM!"
Another blazing Fastball.
Nearly 160 kilometers per hour.
Before Zhou Hao had revealed all of his pitches, Carlos had no intention of swinging recklessly at a pitch like that.
"Pop!"
"Strike!"
Two strikes.
Carlos still remained calm, his eyes locked firmly onto Zhou Hao.
That last pitch…
Just as the thought crossed his mind, Zhou Hao threw again.
The motion looked almost identical to the previous pitches.
In fact, it was even slightly faster.
But something felt off.
Carlos's near-animal instinct screamed at him.
Instead of swinging blindly while cornered, he held back and carefully watched the ball.
"I knew it… a Changeup!"
Carlos's eyes flashed with excitement.
The moment the baseball approached the plate, he swung decisively.
In his mind, Zhou Hao's trick had already been exposed.
This pitch should have been easy to crush.
But then—
Something unbelievable happened.
The baseball suddenly dropped.
His bat sliced through empty air.
"Pop!"
"Strike!"
"Strikeout!"
One out.
No runners on base.
Every player in the Inashiro Industrial dugout looked as if they had just seen a ghost.