Seidou High School defeated Yamamori Academy and was the first to advance to the semi-finals.
Among the top eight teams in the country, except for Yamamori Academy, whom Seidou High School had just defeated, all the other teams were old acquaintances of Seidou High School.
Naturally, Seidou High School would not miss watching the games of their old rivals.
To ensure fairness, all four quarterfinal matches were played on the same day.
The semi-finals were scheduled with one day rest after the quarterfinal.
The same with the finals.
Initially, there was no rest period between these matches. With only two weeks to determine the champion out of 32 teams, the schedule was extremely tight.
Later, due to the excessive use of pitchers, the rules were adjusted to extend the tournament by two days, allowing players some recovery time. (This is fictional and does not reflect real-life tournaments!)
After Seidou High School's game, the players did not immediately leave the Koshien stadium. Instead, they went to the stands to watch the other matches.
Tickets for the Koshien games needed to be purchased.
The chubby principal of Seidou High School generously covered the cost of tickets for the players.
This allowed them to watch the three remaining games.
With a full day's rest before their semi-final, they could study their opponents and enjoy the day watching potential future rivals.
Following Seidou High School's game, the next match featured Inashiro Industrial High School against Hakuryu High School.
Inashiro Industrial High School needed no introduction; they were the arch-rivals of Seidou High School from West Tokyo.
"I heard that Mei has burned out in the previous games. I'm really looking forward to it," Miyuki said with a mischievous grin.
Among the remaining six teams, the most formidable and feared by Miyuki was still the old rival, Inashiro Industrial High School.
Seidou High School's roster was already impressive, but compared to Inashiro Industrial High School's lineup, it was still a notch below.
To put it bluntly, Inashiro was the true, unclaimed king of high school baseball.
A truly dominant high school.
Seidou High School's top stars, Eijun Sawamura and Miyuki, numbered just two.
In contrast, Inashiro Industrial High School boasted four top stars.
The other players on their team were also definitely not inferior to Seidou's main players.
Add to that the shrewd Coach Kunitomo...
'Just thinking about facing Inashiro Industrial High School in the future was quite troubling.'
"Cut it out with the defeatist talk," Kuramochi retorted angrily.
"Of course, we must avenge ourselves!"
In the regional competition, Inashiro defeated Seidou High School.
Not avenging oneself is not the act of a true man.
Now that Seidou High School had the chance, how could they not seek revenge?
"Don't embarrass us!" Kuramochi shouted to the stands.
Among the tens of thousands of fans, he was merely a small figure in the vast sea.
No matter how loudly he shouted, it was unlikely the players would hear him.
But, miraculously, many people in the Inashiro Industrial High School's resting area turned to look in Seidou's direction.
Kuramochi was left feeling quite awkward.
He quickly withdrew his head and sat back down.
What made him so obedient wasn't the pointing eyes of Inashiro players but Coach Kataoka's cold gaze.
"It is you who shouldn't embarrass us."
"Ha ha!!!"
The team laughed along, and Sawamura laughed so hard his stomach hurt.
It was rare to see Kuramochi so flustered.
For some reason, Sawamura felt pleased.
In reality, Coach Kataoka and Kuramochi had misunderstood. The reason Inashiro's players were focused on Seidou wasn't because they had heard Kuramochi's words.
They didn't have clairvoyance or super hearing, so it was impossible for them to have overheard Kuramochi.
The real reason was that Coach Kunitomo was using Seidou High School's players as motivation for his own team.
"Look at the Seidou High School players in the stands!"
Coach Kunitomo's command was brief but effective.
This single line was enough to stir Inashiro's players into action.
Nothing could stimulate them more than this remark.
Their eyes turned fierce like they were ready to devour their opponents alive.
"Scary!"
Sawamura Eijun instinctively shrank back.
He felt an inexplicable sense of murderous intent around him.
Their semi-final opponents would be the winner between Komadai Fujimaki High School and Hoshiryu High School.
The two teams were the final match of the day.
They were probably still in their hotel rooms.
Where did such strong malice come from?
Sawamura glanced around, causing nearby female fans to scream.
A few girls even took out their phones to take pictures of him.
Sawamura smiled and waved at them.
This action infuriated Kuramochi, who yelled and charged at Sawamura.
"I didn't do anything!"
Sawamura looked at Kuramochi's sudden outburst with an innocent expression.
"You're being too haughty!"
The atmosphere among Seidou High School's team was relaxed since they had already advanced, allowing them to leisurely watch the remaining games.
The two teams playing the next match, however, were far from relaxed.
The tension between them was palpable.
As the game started, Hakuryu High School took the lead.
Perhaps Miyuki's prediction came true.
Narumiya Mei seemed drained, like oil that had been burned out, emitting a scent of exhaustion.
In previous games, Inashiro's Ace pitcher had not had any rest.
It wasn't that Coach Kunitomo lacked substitutes; it was that the opponents Inashiro faced did not allow their backup pitcher, Hirano, to play.
The standard was too high.
It was apparent that as soon as Hirano took the mound, he would be easily defeated.
In such a situation, even if Coach Kunitomo felt sorry, he had no choice but to rely on Narumiya Mei.
High school baseball doesn't allow for do-overs; lose a game, and the tournament ends.
Inashiro Industrial High School could not afford such a scenario.
So, despite the challenges, Narumiya Mei pushed through.
But he was just a person, not a deity.
Even with his endurance, there are limits.
And now, he had already given up runs at the start of the game.
At the start of the match, Hakuryu High School took an early lead of two points.
Continuous games might have left Narumiya feeling fatigued; his initial pitching quality was quite poor.
This gave Hakuryu High School an opportunity to attack.
The first batter stepped up and hit a solid single.
With no Outs and a runner on first base, the second batter quickly followed suit, sending the ball flying.
Narumiya, who had previously thrown at speeds of 150 km/h at Koshien, averaged around 145 km/h at the beginning of today's game. While this speed isn't slow, it clearly falls short of his peak performance.
This indicated that he was not in his prime condition.
It was no surprise that he was getting hit consistently.
Fortunately, their fielder Shirakawa rushed in and made a forceful stop on the ball.
After catching it, he threw the ball to Yamaoka at first base.
That secured the first Out.
"So fast!"
"That shortstop is so cool!!"
The star players' charm was on full display at that moment.
Next up was Mima Soichiro, the third batter.
Mima had incredibly sharp dynamic vision and exceptional hitting skills.
Facing the struggling Narumiya, he swung hard.
Ping!
The white ball soared into the outfield.
A timely hit!
Inajitsu High School gave up their first point.
This left the fans who had traveled far to support Inajitsu feeling particularly frustrated.
They came all this way to see the fearless King of Tokyo, not to watch a lackluster performance.
The current score was difficult for them to accept.
But this was reality, and no one could change it.
Fortunately, after that hit, Narumiya gradually regained his form.
Even though he was hit by Mima, he finally found his power.
The score was now 2-1.
Hakuryu High School had established a significant advantage from the beginning.
Following this, Inajitsu attacked.
To support Narumiya on the mound, Carlos and the others were also eager to score some points.
Hakuryu High School's Ace was Ouno Shintarou.
He was a cold, expressionless pitcher, he was not the extroverted type like Narumiya.
However, his pitching ability was still very strong.
He consistently threw the ball to the corners of the strike zone, forcing Inajitsu's batters into tough positions.
With them being led around, there was little chance for good results.
Before long, Inajitsu's batters were being sent Out one after another.
Hakuryu High School firmly held the initiative in the game.
Next, Narumiya regained his state, delivering powerful pitches.
In the back-and-forth exchanges, both sides were doing great.
While there were occasional hits, neither team scored.
…