Diamond Ace: Another Story of Sawamura

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"Right field!"

The catcher hurriedly called the right outfielder, but he didn't expect that the right outfielder, who had just rushed forward, had no time to catch the ball. "You actually retreated to guard without permission, pass to first base!"

It was too late for the catcher to tag Chris who was heading straight for home plate, so he made the decision to give the first out, resulting in a situation with no one on base and two outs.

"Chris, you were awesome! My short hit was awesome too!"

"Yeah, that was a very clever short hit." Facing Rongchun who came to take credit, Chris smiled helplessly and responded to Rongchun's high five.

"Minato played really well, too." Chris looked at Koharu who had returned. "His unpredictable swinging skills are truly a gift from God for baseball... He may even be better than his brother in baseball..."

"No, I was just lucky..."

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A good opening will be the prerequisite for smooth development afterwards.

As a seeded team from another division, Kuroshikan was obviously no pushover and quickly cheered up, striking out Seidou's batter three times.

Although the batting line was broken, Eijun and Chris used their tricky ball paths to allow Kuroshikan to hit kills one after another.

The brisk pitching rhythm pushes the game forward very quickly, and the opponents often have to go on the field to defend again before they have time to catch their breath.

This rally continued until the bottom of the sixth inning, when the fast pace of the game made the defense of the Black Shi Hall increasingly overwhelmed, resulting in defensive errors and the loss of two points.

It wasn't until the top of the seventh inning that the third batter came on to break the rhythm of the game.

"Chris, is this the guy you were talking about? Let me beat him to death!"

"Zaizen..."

Chris has complicated feelings when facing Zaizen. As teammates from the same team in junior high school, Chris knows Zaizen's strength very well.

But in last year's summer preliminaries, an accident occurred... causing him to rupture the ligament in his left knee...

Chris was suffering from a shoulder injury at the time, and I met him in the hospital. Both of them were highly-regarded members of the team, but they ended up in the same situation, which really made both of them feel helpless.

"..." Looking at Naoyuki Zaizen who looked like a bad guy in the batter's box, Eijun looked at Chris who was slow to give a signal.

Chris gave a signal firmly, a ball near the inside corner of the bad ball area, "Come on!"

Eijun nodded and held the ball slightly, "This guy's hitting is very strong, the first ball must be tricky enough."

As his raised right leg dropped, the ball hit home plate without hesitation. Zaizen looked at the sudden pitch and took a step forward without being moved.

"Bah!"

"Snapped!"

The baseball hit the ground outside the foul line hard and flew out. Eijun looked at Zaizen-senpai who ignored his pitching posture as the first batter. He didn't expect that it would be hit out so easily.

Given the powerful swing that comes with his own momentum, it’s hard to imagine that this is a hitter who played with an injury. “What a pity.”

"Huh?" As if he heard something, Zaizen wanted to say something when he saw the pitcher on the mound move and immediately adjusted the bat to hit the ball.

"Snapped!"

"The outside world!"

"Snapped!"

"The outside world!"

"..."

"Hey! Which ball is this?"

"That batter can really stick to the ball!"

The ball was hit continuously, and with his rich experience and strength, Zaizen swept all of Eijun's pitches out of bounds, so much so that the person pitching and hitting the ball forgot which ball it was, let alone the spectators.

"Damn it..." Zaizen glared at Eijun on the pitcher's mound with gritted teeth, "It's ok that the ball is sometimes fast and sometimes slow... but he even threw this disgusting ball that runs around everywhere."

"..." Rongchun threw the anti-slip powder aside, raised his hand to wipe the sweat from his forehead, and then lowered his hat again, but his eyes were looking at the batter's box, or to be more precise, at Zaizen's left foot that was beginning to tremble.

If Eijun on the pitcher's mound noticed it, how could Chris not notice it? Chris was stunned for a moment, but still spoke, "Zaizen..."

"I can still fight... I can still fight..." Zaizen interrupted Chris, his weak voice revealing reluctance and despair, "I won't end up in a place like this... Damn it..."

Looking at Zaizen like this, Chris pursed his lips and made the next shot.

"Huh..." Rong Chun let out a breath, raised his foot high, and the ball flew out of his hand.

"The outside world!"

"Zaizen!"

"Zaizen! Hit the ball out!"

"You'll definitely get a hit if you say that!"

"Humph... Why are you taking such a small competition so seriously!" Although he said this, Zaizen actually hadn't been so excited for a long time. His trembling legs kept reminding him, "This is really lame... Forget Koshien, even getting on the field is hard..."

"Um..."

"Judging from your performance, you have recovered." Looking at Eijun on the pitcher's mound, Zaizen continued, "This weird masked boy, do you have any secret weapons that you haven't used yet? Just use them and let's fight to the death!"

"Don't worry! We won't show mercy..."

"Hahaha! I'm not that easy to defeat!"

"..." Seeing Chris's signal, Rongchun's eyes suddenly brightened, 'I just practiced throwing it a few times! Chris, I think you can catch it!'

Seeing the atmosphere clearly changed for the better, Zaizen smiled arrogantly, facing the incoming ball, he swung his bat and said, "Don't underestimate me!"

"Oh!"

"Good ball! Batter out!"

The ball...disappeared, he heard the sound of himself being out, and finally he couldn't hold on any longer, staggered twice, and fell to his knees.

"Zaizen!"

"Zaizen!"

When the people in Kuroshikan saw Zaizen unsteadily standing, they all ran to the home base and looked at him worriedly, but no one went to help him up. They knew that this was Zaizen's pride.

"It's so noisy..." After being distracted for a moment, Zaizen calmed down and stood up, "Don't come here with a sad face! The game is just about to start..."

"Hurry up and take up your positions, idiots!"

Looking at Zaizen who was still full of energy, Chris smiled with relief.

In the next game, Seidou replaced a group of batters and snatched two more points from Kuroshikan with great momentum.

Inspired by Zaizen's performance, Kuroshikan's morale was high. They kept sticking to Eijun's pitches and snatched back two points in the final inning.

The final score was 2-7.

After the game, under the puzzled gazes of both teams, Eijun squatted in front of Zaizen's left leg and grabbed his knee.

"Ah! It hurts so much!"

"Zaizen!"

"Hey! What are you doing!?"

"Eijun!" Chris looked at Eijun who was holding onto Zaizen's knees with worry, "Let him go! His..."

"Anterior cruciate ligament rupture, cruciate ligament injury..." Rong Chun stopped the others from talking as soon as he opened his mouth, and then he softened his force and felt for the other ligaments. "It's a serious injury."

"How did you know?" Feeling that it didn't hurt that much after Rongchun kneaded it, Zaizen was puzzled and gritted his teeth in pain, "Don't press it randomly, kid!"

"..." Looking at the legs that were pulled apart, Eijun thought for a moment, then stood up and looked at Zaizen, "Zaizen-senpai, you're just trying to train before you've fully recovered, right?"

"What..." What he said came true completely, and Zaizen looked at Eijun with an expression of disbelief.

Just like his predecessor Chris, his talent seemed to be overflowing, but because of injuries, he was kept silent in the corner and no one knew about it.

"This isn't an incurable injury." Rong Chun took out a notebook and a pen, "I know a very good doctor. I believe that with his medical skills, he will be able to fully recover from Zaizen-senpai's knee."

"..." Looking at the paper handed to him, the contact information written on it seemed to be real. Zaizen said with a smile: "Boy, even if you want to comfort me, you don't have to use this method..."

"..." Eijun looked at Zaizen who looked unconvinced, blinked his eyes and responded seriously, "I'm not kidding! He's really amazing."

"..." Zaizen took the paper and said that he was not doubting the doctor's ability, but he thought that there was no reason for the pitcher he met for the first time to help him like this, and the authenticity of the matter.

"Just give it a try, Zaizen!" Chris suggested to Zaizen that he should go and have a look, with an attitude that since he had nothing else to do, there was no harm in giving it a try.

"Yes, yes... If there is hope, I will come to your house to thank you!"

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In the afternoon, because he had finished pitching in the morning, Rongjun was asked by his senior Chris to take a rest. He did not participate in the next training and huddled in a corner to read a book.

Then, while no one was paying attention, Eijun sneaked away, but only after he ran away did he remember to send a message to Chris and Takashima Rei to report it.

"This kid actually ran away!" Takashima Rei was so angry that he pushed his glasses and scolded Rongchun in his heart for being always disobedient.

“…”Chris was also a little worried, but he was amused when he saw the message on his phone, just like a child telling his parents that he was going out to play.

'I'm going to go out and play for a while. I'll be back before dinner!'

After getting off the car, Rong Chun looked at the scene in front of him and sighed, "It's completely different from the first time I came here..."

The abandoned auto repair shop and the surrounding land were acquired by Xin, and the project transformed the place at an incredible pace, even though it has not yet been completed and opened.

This unique theater has attracted many people to watch. The sense of reality, as if entering Alice in Wonderland, has long made this acrobatic theater famous.

The small roadside supermarket was converted into a coffee shop. Because it was opened for trial operation to the public first, it attracted many people to come and experience Alice's afternoon tea.

"Hey! You kid, there are so many people queuing, how can you cut in line!"

The person who had been waiting in line for a long time and whose turn was finally coming, saw Rongchun walking straight past and about to enter the door, and reached out to grab him.

"..." Rong Chun took two steps back quickly, dodging the hand that was grabbing him, and comforted the anxious person, "I'm just here to look for someone, and I'll leave soon."

"This way, we don't have to wait in line as long as we say we're here to look for someone!"

"Yup!"

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