"A direct showdown against the cleanup batter… and he suppressed him completely."
"That takes guts."
"And skill."
Azuma Kiyokuni grinned as he looked toward the mound.
"If you'd had this kind of courage back then, we might've won three straight Koshien championships," Nitta mocked from the side.
"Oh please," Uesugi shot back immediately. "If you'd had Ushijima's velocity, we probably would've conquered the entire universe already."
The crowd burst into laughter.
At the same time, cheers thundered throughout the stadium.
Ushijima Wakatoshi striking out Inashiro's cleanup batter in only three pitches had completely ignited Seido's supporters.
"What the hell are you doing, cleanup batter?!"
After seeing Harada strike out, Narumiya Mei instantly ran over to mock him without mercy.
Harada's expression darkened.
He had already been struck out.
Now he still had to deal with this brat rubbing salt in the wound.
"Sorry about that, Ace," Harada snapped back irritably.
Narumiya Mei stood in the batter's box with the expression of a mischievous child staring challengingly at Ushijima on the mound.
Meanwhile, Ushijima looked back at him with the calm, disdainful gaze of an untamed wild beast.
Narumiya puffed his cheeks unhappily, clearly unconvinced.
Ushijima merely narrowed his eyes calmly.
Even the home plate umpire couldn't help muttering inwardly:
"They really are just two troublesome brats…"
"Four straight strikeouts already. Your ace is terrifying, Miyuki."
"Well, hahaha~ thanks for the compliment."
Miyuki laughed proudly from behind the plate.
Narumiya adjusted his stance.
Clearly, he was waiting for Ushijima's inside Cutter.
But on the very first pitch—
Ushijima chose the exact opposite.
Whoosh!
The baseball flew toward the plate—
Then suddenly broke away toward the outside corner.
"What?! Shootball?!"
Narumiya hurriedly swung, but completely missed.
THWACK!
Miyuki caught the pitch cleanly before grinning at Narumiya.
"An eye for an eye."
"Last inning, I was waiting for your changeup and you used a forkball instead."
"So this inning, since you were waiting for the inside Cutter…"
"We gave you an outside Shootball."
"Damn you!"
Narumiya glared furiously at Miyuki.
"Haha~"
Miyuki tossed the ball back happily.
Narumiya's irritation visibly increased.
"Damn it…"
"First-years should act like first-years!"
He angrily waited for the next pitch.
But Ushijima showed absolutely no hesitation.
The second pitch exploded out of his hand.
Seeing another fastball approaching the zone, Narumiya swung aggressively once more.
But again—
The ball suddenly drifted away at the last second.
THWACK!
The Shootball buried itself perfectly into Miyuki's mitt.
"DAMN IT!! Another Shootball?!"
Two consecutive outside Shootballs.
Narumiya was furious.
He couldn't touch the ball at all.
The audience's cheers only grew louder after seeing Narumiya completely toyed with.
Even Seido's fielders were watching the duel with excitement.
Then came the third pitch.
Ushijima calmly delivered the ball while staring directly at the visibly irritated Narumiya Mei.
WHOOSH!!
The baseball screamed toward the inside corner at terrifying speed.
"It's here! Cutter!!"
Narumiya's eyes lit up instantly.
Finally!
The pitch he had been waiting for!
He swung happily and aggressively.
But at the last moment—
The ball didn't cut downward like a Cutter.
Instead, it subtly shifted differently across the strike zone.
Two-Seam Fastball.
Because Narumiya had adjusted his swing path for a Cutter's downward break, his bat struck underneath the baseball.
Clang!
The ball shot high into the air.
Without even stepping off the mound, Ushijima casually raised his glove—
And caught the pop fly cleanly.
"Out!"
The umpire's call echoed through the stadium.
Narumiya immediately stomped off the field angrily like a spoiled child throwing a tantrum.
"Damn it!"
"They didn't throw the Cutter!"
"They switched to a Two-Seamer instead!"
Narumiya was genuinely furious.
After all—
When Ushijima faced him earlier, Ushijima had gotten on base and even scored.
But now?
Narumiya couldn't even reach first.
Compared side by side, it made him feel completely inferior.
And worst of all—
Ushijima had dealt with him effortlessly in only three pitches.
"USHIJIMA!!"
"KEEP IT UP!!"
The female manager cheered excitedly from the stands.
"Go! Go! Go, Ushijima!!"
The Seido baseball club members shouted in unison.
But Ushijima himself remained completely calm.
Inashiro's sixth batter, Yamaoka Riku, stepped into the box.
No mercy.
Inside pitch.
Outside pitch.
Two quick strikes.
Then—
A sharp inside Two-Seamer.
Swing and miss.
"Strike three!"
"Another three-pitch strikeout!! Ushijima strikes out Inashiro's sixth batter!"
The commentators were practically shouting from excitement.
"This is already his fifth strikeout of the game!"
The entire stadium erupted once more.
Meanwhile, the Inashiro supporters had gone completely silent.
Six batters across two innings—
And not a single one had reached base.
How was this even possible?
Back in the Inashiro dugout, Narumiya Mei sat there wearing his glove while acting like an angry child.
"What the hell are you guys doing?!"
"Turns out I'm the only one who didn't strike out!"
His complaint instantly silenced the others.
Carlos.
Shirakawa.
Yoshizawa.
Harada.
Yamaoka.
All five of them awkwardly looked away after being called out.
Because Narumiya technically wasn't wrong.
Out of Inashiro's first six batters—
He was the only one who hadn't struck out.
The other five had all gone down swinging.
And the worst part?
They had all confidently mocked Seido beforehand.
"This is the finals, you know?"
"Can you all take this seriously already?!"
Narumiya's childish rant left everyone speechless.
They wanted to argue back.
But they couldn't.
After all… they really had struck out.
Still—
The others couldn't help thinking the exact same thing internally:
"How does a guy who got retired on a pop fly have the nerve to lecture people about getting out?!"
At the end of two innings, the scoreboard read:
Seido: 2
Inashiro: 0