Pop!
"Strike!"
Seihou High School's eighth batter swung and missed.
Miyuki didn't relax in the slightest.
From the batter's swing path, he could tell—after so many innings, even the lower-order hitters were beginning to adapt to Kanzaki's velocity. Their timing wasn't perfect yet, but it was no longer chaotic.
If Kanzaki Ryou continued pitching like this until the end, Miyuki believed he would give up at most one or two runs.
But—
This was the Koshien Final.
One run could decide everything.
They couldn't afford to gamble.
Miyuki returned the ball, took a deep breath, and raised his right hand—
Changeup.
Whoosh—
Almost simultaneously, Kanzaki Ryou exhaled deeply.
This was the first time he would use the Changeup he had sealed away for months—
and it was happening on the biggest stage of all.
The Koshien Final.
Excitement surged through his chest.
Switching to a circle change grip, Kanzaki Ryou glanced calmly at the batter, lifted his leg, and whipped his arm forward.
The batter was fully locked in.
Against pitches exceeding 150 km/h, even a moment of hesitation meant defeat. His swing had to be fast—faster than ever.
Whoosh!
The baseball shot out like an arrow released from a bow.
Seeing the pitch, the batter stepped forward decisively and unleashed his swing—
But halfway through, his expression suddenly froze.
Slow…?
The speed felt wrong.
Unnaturally slow.
Time itself seemed to stretch.
The batter's eyes widened in disbelief. For an instant, he even wondered if he was hallucinating.
In his vision, the world fell into slow motion.
The baseball floated forward clearly, almost mockingly, while his bat had already cut through empty air. His swing posture collapsed, completely out of sync.
A wild pitch?
That thought flashed through his mind—
But before it could fully form, the baseball had already passed his gaze and snapped into Miyuki's glove.
Pop!
Only then did the batter awaken as if from a dream.
He stared at the ball in Miyuki's mitt, lips trembling.
"…Changeup."
The entire stadium went silent.
From the regional tournament…
to Koshien…
and all the way to this final—
No one had ever seen Kanzaki Ryou throw anything other than a fastball and a slider.
Early on, there had been speculation.
Is he hiding something?
Is he deliberately sealing a pitch?
But even after the semifinals ended, nothing new appeared.
Gradually, the public reached a conclusion—
Kanzaki Ryou was a first-year.
He simply didn't have enough time to master more pitches.
And honestly—
Who would demand more?
A terrifying fastball and a razor-sharp cutter-slider were already enough to dominate high school baseball.
Yet—
Just when everyone believed the script was set—
Kanzaki Ryou shattered expectations in the Koshien Final.
He revealed a Changeup.
And not just any Changeup.
The radar gun flashed:
124 km/h.
Compared to his blazing fastball—
It was absurdly slow.
"Ohhhhhh!!"
The stadium exploded.
"Kanzaki!!"
"Ryou!!"
Fans leapt to their feet, roaring toward the field.
Inashiro Industrial – Cafeteria
The lively atmosphere abruptly turned gloomy.
Inashiro's players stared at the broadcast as if they'd swallowed something bitter.
"DAMN THAT CHESTNUT-HAIRED MONSTER!" Narumiya Mei shouted, eyes bulging. "He didn't even go all out against us?!"
Harada Masatoshi sighed and spoke calmly.
"It seems Seidou planned from the start to save that Changeup for the most critical moment."
Mei slammed the table.
"Huh?! What do you mean 'not critical'?! We're Inashiro! Since when do we get treated like warm-up opponents?!"
Harada shook his head helplessly.
"That's not underestimating us. It's simply Seidou taking a risk. They probably believed they could beat us without exposing it."
Even as he spoke, Harada felt displeased.
He understood Inashiro's strength better than anyone.
And yet—
They still hadn't seen Kanzaki Ryou's full arsenal.
"Autumn!" Mei growled. "We'll get revenge in autumn!"
"Mm," Harada nodded. "Train harder. Your pitching isn't inferior to his."
Since their summer defeat, Inashiro's third-years were effectively retired, even if they still trained.
Everyone knew—
Narumiya Mei was the future Ace.
Seihou High School Dugout
The Seihou coach's once-calm expression finally hardened.
Before today, he had believed Kanzaki Ryou possessed no other pitches. Their entire strategy revolved around dragging the game out, exhausting his stamina, and waiting for control to break down.
That logic was sound.
No pitcher—especially a power pitcher—could maintain perfection for an entire game.
And until the fifth inning—
Everything had gone according to plan.
Kanzaki Ryou's control had begun to waver.
They had created scoring chances.
But then—
This.
Changeup.
The pitch itself wasn't terrifying.
What was terrifying was who was throwing it.
A 124 km/h Changeup, paired with a 150+ km/h fastball—
The speed difference exceeded 30 km/h.
That gap alone was enough to completely destroy a batter's timing.
Just like the hitter on the field—
He had finally begun to adapt to Kanzaki Ryou's velocity—
Only to be utterly frozen by this pitch.
He had seen Changeups before.
But never—
Never one this slow.
And never with such a brutal contrast.
The Seihou coach clenched his fists.
This changes everything.