Diamond Ace: Another Story of Sawamura

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Eijun shouted with excitement until his voice broke, and after coughing twice, he continued to shout, "With Chris-senpai's pitching, we can definitely beat the shit out of all the batters. Chris-senpai is the best!"

“Hey!!!” All the first-year students behind Rong Jun complained, “It’s our turn to play now! Aren’t you the next batter?!”

“Hahaha…Come on, Chris-senpai!” Rongjun, who was jumping up and down with excitement, didn’t hear anything at all.

"Ahem..." Chris, who almost laughed, coughed twice, blushed and made a gesture to Rongchun, "Shh, be quiet."

After receiving the instructions, Rongchun quickly covered his mask and nodded vigorously.

When Rongchun was nodding like a shaking drum, the senior on the opposite side teased Chris.

"Chris, your little fan is as excited as a puppy. Are you sure you don't want to go over and feed him?"

"He's not a puppy... Maybe that kid Eijun is just too excited to go out and bat."

Chris is so gentle that no one else would say much. After all, Chris can compete like he is now thanks to Rongchun. Chris also likes Rongchun very much, so it is not strange for him to dote on him.

"..." Looking at Chris walking onto the field, Eijun grinned and looked behind him, "I will definitely get on base. Anyway, I'll get a point first."

"..." The players were surprised that Sawamura hadn't given up even though the gap was so big. They were also confused, "By the way...is he a pitcher or a catcher?"

"Please give me your guidance." Eijun bowed and walked directly in front of Chris. "Chris-senpai is finally on the court. I'm very happy to be able to play with Chris-senpai!"

“Yeah.” Looking at Rongchun who was showing his joy, Chris responded softly, “I believe that there will be more and more opportunities for us to compete together.”

"Yes!" Eijun stood up and got into batting stance, looking at senior Kawakami on the pitcher's mound, waiting for the ball.

"..." Chris looked at Rongchun's position, standing very close to the inside, almost sticking to the inside corner, 'This kid, it's obviously the first time for a high school student to hit, but he's not afraid of a close-range ball...'

"Are you trying to force me to give up the ball in the inside corner?" Kawakami looked at Chris with a questioning look.

"No, Sawamura's idea is not that simple. In this case, let's throw an inside corner ball close to the strike zone to test it out."

“……” Kawakami nodded and threw as instructed.

"nice shot!"

Eijun watched the first ball slide past his calf.

The second ball went straight to his face, and Rongchun subconsciously took a step back and hit the ball, but it just hit the edge of the ball and went out of bounds.

"Oh! This ball actually hit the target!"

"Because the posture is ruined, otherwise it feels like it will hit out."

"Huh... Chris-senpai is indeed worthy of his name." Lifting his mask, Eijun got into batting stance again, waiting for the ball.

"..." Kawakami, who was on the pitcher's mound, let out a heavy breath, 'This guy's momentum is not inferior to that of his predecessors.'

"Oh no!" Kawakami felt that he had missed the ball the moment it left his hand, but the ball had already flown out.

"Here it comes!" Eijun didn't know if it was a mistake or not, but this was the pitch he wanted, so he followed the ball with his bat.

With a crisp impact sound, everyone's eyes followed the ball in the awkward position until the ball passed through two gloves and fell to the ground.

"Landed!!"

Amid the exclamations of the crowd, Rongjun stepped past first base and headed straight for second base. Seeing this, the right fielder picked up the bounced ball and quickly threw it to second base.

"It's a chance..." Eijun, who was already close to second base, suddenly increased his speed, stepped over second base and rushed to third base in the eyes of others who couldn't believe it.

"Take the risk and rush to third base!"

"So fast!"

The second baseman was also shocked when he saw this, and after receiving the ball, he quickly passed it to third base, but Rongjun had already successfully jumped to third base.

"Safety on base!"

"Ouch... a field hit went straight to third base!"

"This base-running speed is too abnormal! He rushed to third base without hesitation!"

Amid the discussion, Chris called a timeout, and the other sophomores and juniors followed suit and ran to the pitcher's mound.

"I'm sorry, because my mistake let him get on base..."

"We missed the ball, sorry."

"It's okay." Chris laughed softly and patted Kawakami with his gloves, "Use your strength to deal with the people behind you!"

"Yes!"

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"Good ball! Batter out!"

"Hahaha..."

The spectators were helpless at the situation, "It's still no use... Two players have been struck out in a row!"

"Unable to get runners back to home plate...hitters don't have the guts to score."

"In this situation, the runners on the bases are really pitiful."

"..." Now the poor runner standing on third base was looking at the first-year dugout, who were full of resentment and seemed to be having some dispute.

Then, Xiaochun suddenly pointed the bat at her peers, and then left without permission...

"Sorry! We need a substitution! I'll take over!"

Amid the exclamations of "How can you act on your own" from your peers, Xiaochun walked to the batting cage on his own, "Please give me your guidance."

"..." Looking at Koharu who was making some gestures to him in the batter's box, Eijun tilted his head, made a few random hand gestures in response, and prepared to run the bases.

"signal?"

"When did the two of them come up with the secret code?"

"..." Koharu himself was surprised by this. He wanted to use this to distract the catcher and the pitcher, but he didn't expect that Eijun not only understood it, but also followed his lead.

"..." Chris looked up at Xiao Minato. He didn't look like a hitter with long hitting ability. The bat he held was particularly short, which made Chris couldn't help but smile. 'If the signal just now was false, then now, he is trying to lure me into playing the outside corner.'

'Since he wants the outside corner ball so much, let's throw it to him!'

“……” Kawakami read Chris’s instructions carefully, nodded, and made a pitching gesture.

The moment before the ball was thrown, Rongjun had already rushed out.

"Stealing a base!!"

While lifting the bat, Xiaochun held the long bat back, but what he could not have expected was that the outside corner ball he had expected suddenly turned.

"Sliding ball!" Although Xiaochun hit the ball, the feeling of his hand made his face change.

Sure enough, the ball turned into a fly ball in front of the pitcher, which bounced and was caught by Kawakami, who immediately passed it back to home base.

Chris was not careless either. He caught the ball and turned to face Rongchun.

"Injury!" In his previous life, Eijun would have rushed straight into him, but he realized that this might hit Chris, so he rolled over to avoid the glove that was coming to kill him.

He slid behind Chris, twisted his body, and stretched out his arms to touch home plate.

"Safety on base!"

"Wow - the first grade finally got a point!"

"awesome!"

Once again, Xiaochun didn't expect that kind of ball, "That guy actually ran back to home base!"

"Sawamura!" Amid the cheers of the first-year students, Chris's face turned pale and he grabbed Eijun who had stood up, "Are you feeling unwell?"

"No."

"Do you know that the posture you just held was very dangerous? If you're not careful, you might sprain your shoulder and waist!"

"..." Rong Chun let Chris knead his shoulders and waist to check if there was anything wrong. Until he confirmed that everything was fine, Rong Chun said softly: "Chris Senior, my body is very flexible, so I won't get hurt."

"Even so, you can't do such dangerous things again, understand?"

"Yeah." Seeing Chris's angry look, Rongchun had no choice but to obey him.

Coach Kataoka would not use a pitcher like him who doesn't take care of his body, but when he thinks about his pitching characteristics...

After all, last year's performance was achieved more than two years after leaving baseball, so to what extent would he have improved by now?

"..." After returning to the dugout, Eijun put on the pitcher's glove directly, felt the feel of it, and then looked at his first-year students.

Their destroyed self-confidence was rebuilt during the recovery, and the light in their eyes was rekindled and became stronger.

"Although we only scored one point, baseball games are fun only when there are no certain variables, right? Let's raise our morale!"

"Oh...Okay!!"

With Rong Chun's encouragement, the freshmen cheered up and prepared to go on stage.

"Hey! Isn't he the catcher?"

"What's going on? Are the first graders so short of pitchers that they need a catcher to pitch?"

"Where's the pitcher from before?"

On the pitcher's mound, facing everyone's concerns and doubts, Rongjun said that he could understand it. After all, they had never seen him pitch properly, and he had just played as a catcher.

"The ball will keep being hit out. I'll leave the defense behind me to you guys." Then he turned to Kariba Kou and said, "I'll throw all the balls into your glove. Just trust your pitching."

"...oh!!"

No one expected that Sawamura, who is usually quiet and taciturn, would say such words in addition to the encouragement just now. For some reason, they felt particularly moved.

Eijun looked at the batter on the field, exchanged glances with Kariba, nodded, and prepared to pitch, "The first pitch must not be the same as last time."

"You must hit your ball this time." The batter in the batter's box stared at Eijun with full caution, and swung the bat without hesitation at the ball thrown, "Don't underestimate me!"

"Wow! He's hit out! Is that a sudden home run?"

"Of course!" Kariba jumped up in panic, "How can a ball with that speed be used against a third grader!"

But to his surprise, the ball flew right to the right fielder and was caught steadily.

"The defense really helped a lot in that shot just now."

"But it's probably only a matter of time before he gets beaten. For a third grader, his pitching speed should be the easiest to beat."

"This kid's ball quality is not that simple..." If his ball quality had not been mentioned before, many people would not have noticed it. The batter who was out gritted his teeth and whispered to the batter on the field, "The ball is very slow..."

Even so, the second batter hit a fly ball to left field.

"Wow...it flew into the glove again!"

"The ball was hit right in front of the outfielder!"

"That pitcher is so lucky!"

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