Kuramochi couldn't help grinning when he saw his junior recklessly reach base again.
Standing on second, Ushijima Wakatoshi casually brushed the dirt off his pants.
On the mound, Narumiya Mei glared at him with a proud, annoyed pout.
"Is this fun for you?" Narumiya scoffed arrogantly.
"So what if you make it to third base?"
"As long as I don't give up a hit, you'll still die there."
Ushijima merely smiled faintly before continuing to toy with Narumiya's emotions.
"What if you collapse again?"
"DAMN IT, YOU BRAT!!"
Narumiya exploded instantly after having his sore spot poked again.
Ushijima shrugged innocently.
"Sorry, sorry."
"Kids get angry pretty easily."
Narumiya realized once again—
There was absolutely no way to win an argument against this monster.
So he forcefully suppressed his irritation and focused on the batter instead.
Kuramochi.
This time, Ushijima didn't attempt another steal.
Instead, he waited calmly for the right opportunity.
Clang!
Kuramochi slapped the baseball sharply into the infield.
The instant contact was made—
Ushijima exploded toward third base.
"First base!"
After fielding the ball, Hirai Tsubasa immediately heard Harada shouting instructions from behind the plate.
As Shirakawa moved to assist defensively, he glanced toward third.
"…This guy is ridiculously fast."
"Out!"
Kuramochi was retired at first, clicking his tongue in frustration as he returned to the dugout.
Now—
Isashiki stepped into the batter's box.
In the first inning, his timely hit had brought Ushijima home.
And now the exact same situation appeared again:
Ushijima on third base.
Isashiki at bat.
Narumiya unconsciously remembered Ushijima's earlier words.
If Seido scored again here—
Then Inashiro's chances would become dangerously slim.
As a result, Narumiya completely locked in.
This time, he quickly forced Isashiki into a high fly ball.
Carlos retreated rapidly with excellent footwork and secured the catch cleanly.
Two outs.
Next up—
Yuki Tetsuya.
But to everyone's surprise, Narumiya immediately went all-out against him.
After quickly getting ahead in the count, Narumiya finally unleashed his signature weapon again.
Changeup.
During his previous at-bat, Yuki's surprise bunt had caught Inashiro off guard.
But now, Yuki saw Narumiya's changeup for the very first time.
He had guessed correctly.
The instant he recognized the pitch, he adjusted and unleashed a full-power swing.
But just before contact—
The ball suddenly dropped.
That subtle sinking motion completely ruined the timing.
WHIFF!
"Thud!"
The baseball buried itself into Harada's mitt.
"Strike three! Batter out!"
"Side retired!"
The Seido dugout stared in disbelief as Ushijima and Yuki returned together.
"W-What was that?"
"That changeup actually made both of our strongest hitters miss?!"
The players were completely stunned.
Even Ushijima himself frowned slightly while removing his gloves.
"…There's downward movement."
"It's kind of similar to a sinker."
Beside him, Yuki nodded seriously.
"I completely predicted the pitch selection and trajectory."
"But I didn't expect the late drop."
"That was my mistake."
The moment the two brothers finished speaking—
BOOM!
An overwhelming aura suddenly erupted from both of them simultaneously.
"W-Whoa…"
Masuko physically trembled from the pressure alone.
Even the surrounding teammates instinctively stepped backward.
The atmosphere around the Ushijima brothers had become terrifyingly heavy.
Even the audience in the stands could feel it.
Ushijima's mother looked speechless.
"How did this child's aura become even stronger?"
His father sighed helplessly.
"He's just like Yuki."
"Does he think intimidation is free? He keeps turning it on nonstop."
Then he chuckled quietly.
"But Inashiro's changeup really is nasty."
"Still…"
"The more someone provokes our son…"
"The more fired up he becomes."
"He's extremely vindictive."
"And he always likes paying people back directly."
"The harder you push him…"
"The harder he pushes back."
Beside them, the Yuki couple could only smile bitterly.
After all—
Ushijima's pitching through the first two innings had already been nearly perfect.
Now the game entered the bottom of the third.
Inashiro's turn to attack once more.
Ushijima calmly picked up his glove and walked back onto the field.
"Seventh batter, second baseman, Hirai-kun!"
Upon seeing the batter step up, Ushijima squeezed the rosin bag lightly.
Then he looked toward Miyuki crouching behind the plate.
Their eyes met.
Everything was ready.
Meanwhile, Hirai Tsubasa silently analyzed his strategy.
"Ushijima specializes in high-speed fastball variations…"
"Four-seam."
"Two-seam."
"Cutter."
"And all of them can exceed 150 km/h."
"But once he increases the velocity too much, his control becomes unstable…"
At that exact moment—
Ushijima delivered the first pitch.
WHOOSH!
Shootball.
The baseball reached the plate in the blink of an eye.
Hirai instinctively froze instead of swinging.
The sharp inward movement startled him badly enough that he unconsciously stepped backward.
"Strike!"
Hirai stared at Ushijima in shock.
"…That Shootball is even nastier than I imagined."
Then came the second pitch.
Again, a 140+ km/h fastball-type pitch with an almost identical trajectory.
"Shootball?"
"Or maybe Two-seam?"
Hirai reacted quickly and swung.
But the moment he committed—
He realized the ball wasn't rising.
It was sinking.
Clang!
The top edge of the bat clipped the baseball, bouncing it weakly in front of home plate.
Hirai immediately sprinted toward first.
"…Damn it."
"Not Shootball or Two-seam…"
"…Sinker."
His mistaken read completely ruined the contact.
The ball rolled weakly into the infield.
Kominato Ryosuke quickly charged forward to field it.
But just as he reached down—
A sharp pain shot through his injured right foot.
His glove extended just a fraction too short.
And the ball slipped off the edge of the leather.
"A defensive error!!"
The entire stadium gasped.
Everyone from Seido immediately looked toward Kominato with concern.
Meanwhile, the Inashiro side erupted in celebration over finally getting a runner on base.
Kominato lowered his head slightly in frustration.
But before anyone could react further—
Ushijima calmly spoke toward Miyuki behind the plate.
"Sorry, sorry."
"The pitch was a little too fast."
"I didn't control it well enough."
Miyuki instantly understood.
Ushijima was deliberately covering for Kominato's mistake.
So Miyuki immediately played along.
"Don't rush."
"Even if the velocity drops a bit, they still might not hit you cleanly."
"Let's reset and go again."