"Two straight strikeouts. He's in incredible form!"
In the dugout, Haruichi Kominato spoke to Sawamura beside him.
"No, no, no! That bastard Ushijima is definitely going to cause trouble!" Sawamura grumbled in dissatisfaction.
"Uh… hasn't Ushijima been flawless so far? If anything, you're the one who usually messes up, Eijun."
"Ah, Ushijima's way too cocky. He's bound to crash and burn eventually," Sawamura shamelessly declared.
On the mound, Ushijima Wakatoshi rolled his shoulders and stretched his neck.
Two consecutive strikeouts gave him a perfect start.
But…
There was no way Inashiro would let him dominate forever.
The first time through the lineup, they might struggle to react to his pitches. But once they adjusted and got a clearer read on the movement, the second round of at-bats would become much harder.
After all, this was Inashiro Industrial — a powerhouse whose batting lineup rivaled Seido's.
Ushijima shifted his gaze toward the next batter stepping into the box: Yoshizawa Hideaki.
Inashiro's third batter.
Their cleanup-level hitter.
Looking at him, Ushijima suddenly recalled a certain name.
"Yoshizawa…?"
For some reason, the surname reminded him of a famous actress he had seen before.
"…Could they be related?"
He tilted his head thoughtfully.
"Maybe siblings?"
"Should I ask him another day?" Ushijima seriously wondered.
Then, without hesitation, he delivered the first pitch.
"Strike!"
Bang!
Yoshizawa didn't swing.
He could only watch as the Two-Seam Fastball sharply sliced through the inside corner of the strike zone.
When Ushijima intentionally kept the velocity below 145 km/h, the movement and control of his Two-Seamer became incredibly nasty.
"You brat…!"
Yoshizawa's expression darkened.
"You really think you can keep jamming Inashiro hitters inside?!"
"Don't underestimate me!"
He angrily swung at the next pitch.
Clang!
He managed to make contact—
But the ball immediately hooked foul.
Ushijima showed no surprise whatsoever.
A Two-Seamer traveling close to 145 km/h wasn't easy to handle.
Today, Ushijima had intentionally sealed away his signature Four-Seam Fastball and was instead focusing on moving fastballs.
"Is the 150 km/h Four-Seamer coming now?!"
With two strikes against him, Yoshizawa tensed up.
So far, despite already facing the third batter, Ushijima still hadn't thrown a single true Four-Seam Fastball.
For any pitcher, the fastball was the foundation.
But today, although Ushijima's pitches all belonged to the "fastball family," every single one carried movement.
Two-Seamers.
Cutters.
They all looked like fastballs, but they weren't pure Four-Seam heaters.
And that uncertainty only made things worse for the batters.
Then came the fourth pitch.
A Cutter.
The ball looked like a straight fastball at first—
Before suddenly slicing sharply toward the outside corner.
"Cutter?!"
Yoshizawa gritted his teeth as his bat cut through empty air.
"Strike three! Batter out!"
"Change sides!"
The umpire's voice rang out across the field.
Three consecutive strikeouts.
A dominant opening from Ushijima Wakatoshi.
"WOOOOAHHH!"
"Three straight strikeouts to start the game!"
"Ushijima's pitching is incredible!"
"Keep it up!!"
The Seido cheering section instantly erupted.
"This opening couldn't have gone any better," Seido's female manager said excitedly to the upperclassman beside her.
"Yeah. Ushijima's always terrifying at the start of games," Fujiwara Takako agreed with a firm nod.
Beside them, Rei Takashima narrowed her eyes thoughtfully.
"Inashiro's too focused on Ushijima's 150 km/h Four-Seamer…"
"The Four-Seamer itself is being deliberately hidden today. He'll only reveal it at critical moments."
"Instead, he's using high-speed Two-Seamers and Cutters early to completely disrupt their timing."
"Now Inashiro has to deal with three different 150-class fastballs."
"That makes their adjustments far more difficult."
As expected of Seido's strategist, Rei immediately saw through the battery's plan.
On the field, the Seido players jogged back toward the dugout.
"You brat, when did you learn those pitches?!" Jun Isashiki shouted while smacking Ushijima on the back.
"Seriously, I've never seen you throw them before," Ryosuke Kominato added.
"Haha! Not just Inashiro — even we were shocked!" Kuramochi laughed loudly.
"This is definitely going to leave a psychological scar on them," Shirasu said calmly.
Ushijima, however, looked at them strangely.
"Did none of you think this through properly?"
"They're all fastball variations."
"My Four-Seamer can already hit 158 km/h."
"With my arm strength, why wouldn't my Two-Seamer break 150?"
"The only problem is control. Once I throw it too hard, I lose command."
"So I intentionally lowered the velocity to improve movement and accuracy."
The Seido players were instantly speechless.
…That actually made perfect sense.
"So when can your Cutter hit 150?" Yuki asked curiously.
"That last pitch to Shirakawa looked insanely fast."
"It can reach 150," Ushijima answered honestly, "but that pitch just now wasn't 150."
"It was probably around 148 or 149."
"If I pushed it all the way to 150, the movement would've become too obvious. Shirakawa wouldn't have chased."
"So I held back slightly to make the break sharper."
"But velocity isn't something you can increase infinitely whenever you want."
Ushijima understood his own pitching mechanics extremely well.
His Diamond-tier Cutter had a theoretical maximum velocity of 160 km/h.
But his Gold-tier Cutter could only realistically reach around 150.
"And honestly…"
"That Cutter against Shirakawa was mostly luck."
"I originally wanted him to weakly ground out."
"Instead, the pitch unexpectedly cut even sharper than I anticipated."
Ushijima smiled faintly.
"Looks like luck is on Seido's side today."
The entire Seido dugout grinned as they looked toward the Inashiro bench across the field.
At the beginning of the game, Narumiya Mei had shown instability, allowing Seido to seize two early runs.
Meanwhile, Ushijima had opened with a perfect three-strikeout inning.
The difference between the two aces was already becoming obvious.
Now the real question was—
How would Inashiro respond?
"…Sigh. I'm leading off next inning," Miyuki Kazuya muttered helplessly.
"I've got a bad feeling Mei's about to take his frustration out on me."
His complaint immediately made Ushijima laugh.