Didn’t you say you were just using me as a substitute?

Horikita Manabu, Ayanokouji Kiyotaka, Katsuragi Kōhei and others all looked up at Kitahara Takashi in the bullpen.

They thought that Kitahara Takashi would win one point at a time, but they didn't expect that it was not just about winning one point.

From Rokusuke Takaharadera leaving the field, Ken Sudo being ejected in anger, to Yusei Noda rushing to third base, everything was within his calculations.

This man has calculated everything.

This was never a gamble, but a trap set by Kitahara Takashi long ago.

A trap waiting for them to step into.

*

The ball came back to Ayanokouji Kiyotaka, and Noda Yusei stepped out again and again, heading for home base.

Ayanokouji Kiyotaka ignored him and focused on facing Musashi Katsuda.

Because in this case you have to be prepared to lose a point.

When Ayanokouji Kiyotaka raised his legs and swung his arms, Noda Yusei rushed towards home base like a cheetah waiting for an opportunity.

The white ball adds spin and flies towards the inside corner with a tricky angle.

"Inside corner kick!"

Musashi Katsuda swung the bat, and with a "bang!" the baseball flew towards the right fielder's defensive area again. It was still a ground ball, and the angle of flight was still as low.

After Albert Yamada bent down with great effort to pick up the baseball, he took a look and found that Musashi Katsuda had reached first base and rushed straight to second base.

He just had to smash the ball toward the second baseman.

However, he encountered the same problem as Kōhei Katsuragi.

The ball he threw was too much for the backup second baseman to catch.

After losing two important positions in a row, the entire team began to collapse.

Musashi Katsuda successfully reached second base, and Yusei Noda also stepped onto home plate early and easily scored a point.

3: 11.

From this moment on, Qingye officially sounded the clarion call for counterattack.

240

Chapter 240 We are the champions!

"Pretty!"

Ichiro Suzuki and Shohei Ohtani couldn't help but cheer for Aoba's tactics when they saw him score right from the start.

After he finished shouting, Suzuki Ichiro seemed to remember his position. He quickly added, "The highly trained coaches must now quickly resolve the issue of their containment tactics. Otherwise, Aoba will continue to chase points against them using the same method for the next five innings."

"But their coach was sent off."

Mai Sakurajima kindly reminded.

"Forehead……"

Suzuki Ichiro suddenly didn't know what to say, so he changed the subject: "Let's take a look at Aoba's next player, Kitahara Takashi."

In the bullpen, Takashi Kitahara suddenly stood up, picked up his own metal baseball bat and walked to the batter's position.

"Will you be admitted?"

'Admitted.'

Ayanokouji Kiyotaka and first baseman Horikita Manabu looked at each other and quickly came to the same decision.

Kitahara Takashi was walked and reached base safely.

Takashi Kitahara is the player with the most home runs in this Koshien and the only player with a hit rate close to 100%.

A walk would at most send him to first base, but if he hit a home run, it would cost two runs.

Even though Beiyuan Zun is injured now, they dare not ignore him.

Because the heavy blood lesson of Zhongjing taught them that they should never think they are safe until the end of the game.

After making up his mind, Ayanokouji Kiyotaka threw a pitch that was extremely bad.

Kitahara Takashi was standing in the batter's box and knew it was a bad pitch.

"Will you be admitted?"

Kitahara Takashi slowly straightened up, and although he was still holding the baseball bat, he looked at Ayanokouji Kiyotaka with contempt.

The camera lens was aimed at Kitahara Takashi's face, and the big screen in the stadium gave Kitahara Takashi a close-up.

Everyone saw Kitahara Takashi's extremely contemptuous look, and immediately the students in the cheering seats on Aoba's side booed Ayanokouji Kiyotaka.

Soon, neutral spectators also started booing.

The students from High School Education, who were at the center of the booing, all had ugly expressions on their faces, and the cheerleaders fell silent and stopped dancing.

Ayanokouji Kiyotaka was completely unmoved. He was a person with excellent personal abilities, but he didn't care too much about the opinions of the outside world.

In this respect, he is very similar to Takaharaji Rokusuke, except that Takaharaji Rokusuke disdains to prove anything, while he has no emotions and doesn't care at all.

This is also the reason why Horikita Manabu chose Ayanokouji Kiyotaka to be the pitcher.

One word: Steady as a dog!

Kitahara Takashi's provocation had no effect on him. No matter how the outside world booed him, Ayanokouji Kiyotaka continued to do his own thing, throwing one bad ball after another that was so crooked that it was impossible to catch it, and walked Kitahara Takashi to the base.

"I wish all high-level training students were as clueless as Sudo Ken."

With this feeling, Kitahara Takashi walked from home plate to first base, while Katsuda Musashi walked to third base.

"We must solemnly introduce the following contestant."

When introducing Ohtani Shouta, Suzuki Ichiro said in a low, serious voice: "It was him who allowed Kitahara to hold the baseball."

"His injury led Kitahara to decide to carry his friend's dream forward, and he set foot on Koshien, becoming a nightmare for all the players."

"Without him, Aoba wouldn't be here, and we might never see Kitahara on the field."

"Next, let's give a warm round of applause to the fourth batter of Aoba, the only one who became the team's main force as a freshman, and the original owner of Aoba No. 7 - Shota Otani."

As soon as Ichiro Suzuki finished speaking, the audience immediately gave Shota Ohtani thunderous applause and cheers. He felt his heart beating faster, his chest feeling tight, and even his whole body going numb.

When the mood exceeds a certain threshold, people will feel numb.

Shota Ohtani stepped into the batter's box with legs that had lost some of their intuition, and suddenly he didn't know what to do.

"We're in a daze. We're still behind."

In the end, it was Takashi Kitahara who discovered that something was wrong with Shota Otani and poured a bucket of cold water on him.

It was not until this moment that Shota Otani felt that he had returned to reality.

“Three balls!”

Kitahara Takashi raised three fingers and began to pressure his teammates: "I will only give you three chances to score."

"If you can't hit it, don't even think about appearing in the starting lineup for any major competitions in the next three years of high school."

"You understand my influence in Qingye. I promise to do what I say."

After saying this, Kitahara Takashi turned around, his eyes fixed on second base, his body leaning forward slightly, like a cheetah ready to pounce.

"You underestimate Ayanokouji-kun, Kitahara-sama."

The one who spoke was Horikita Manabu, who was standing at first base.

"Ayanokouji-kun's ball isn't that easy to catch."

Don't think that the opponent's ball is easy to receive just because Aoba has hit Ayanokouji Kiyotaka's ball twice in a row.

Not counting Kitahara Takashi, it took Aoba four full innings before only two people were able to capitalize on the ball thrown by Ayanokouji Kiyotaka.

Shota Ohtani had previously retired due to injury and had not been practicing with the team. He had been lying in the hospital for more than half a month.

He must not be back to form yet.

In competitive games, on-the-spot state is very important.

Not to mention three goals, he might not be able to adjust even if he is given a game.

It's just like running. If you haven't run for a while, you will feel very tired when running the same distance as before.

"Horikita Manabu, I have never looked down on you."

When Kitahara Takashi opened his mouth to talk to Horikita Manabu, the referee's voice rang in his ears: "Strike!"

"On the contrary, I value you very much."

"I've been thinking about how to defeat you."

Whether it was plotting to trick Rokusuke Takahara into taking him down, or sending a date invitation to Horikita Suzune, angering Sudo Ken to make him take action, or even just showing disdain for Ayanokouji Kiyotaka, it was all for victory.

"I value you guys, but you keep looking down on us."

Horikita was stunned.

"Two good shots."

"I've never denied how great Ayanokouji Kiyotaka is. He's a genius, I admit that."

Through Yozakura Hitomi, Kitahara Takashi learned some of Ayanokouji Kiyotaka's past.

For example: the white room thing.

"But the world never revolves around one person."

"Whether you leave me or Ayanokouji Kiyotaka, the world will still turn."

"This era will not stop you from shining, but you can't cover up anyone else's brilliance either."

When Ayanokouji Kiyotaka was about to pitch, Kitahara Takashi and Katsuda Musashi started to rush forward at the same time like athletes receiving the command gunshot, with Kitahara Takashi's last words floating in the air.

"Ayanokouji Kiyotaka is a genius, but in baseball, Otani is also a genius!"

"You shouldn't underestimate him."

On the pitcher's mound, Shota Ohtani looked at the flying white ball, and he suddenly remembered a conversation he had with Kitahara Takashi and Tanaka Kouta when they were walking home together after school one time.

He couldn't remember the exact time anymore, as it had been too long, and it was last semester.

He couldn't remember the initial topic of conversation, because boys always talked about whatever came to their mind.

There was only one conversation that remained fresh in his memory, and he has not forgotten it even to this day.

"Zun, sometimes I really envy you."

In front of the vending machine, Shota Otani suddenly spoke after Kitahara Takashi rejected the advances of other student girls.

"Why do you envy me?"

Kitahara Takashi didn't even turn his head, but rested his chin on his hand and stared at the various sodas and drinks, lost in thought.

"You're handsome, have good grades, are popular with girls, and live alone without nagging parents. How can I not envy you?"

As long as you are a boy in Aoba, there is no one who does not envy Kitahara Takashi.

"Yeah, I really suspect you're the protagonist of some Qingri novel."

Tanaka Kouta strongly agreed with this and interrupted.

"You envy me for my good looks and good grades, but how do you know if I envy you in the same way?"

"You don't have to face society as early as I did."

"As long as you go home early, someone will prepare dinner for you."

"And every time I go home, all I find is an empty, dark house."

"Have you ever experienced the feeling of suddenly fainting and waking up alone on a cold floor?"

"What you envy about me is that I show my good and positive side."

After hesitating for a long time, Kitahara Takashi finally chose ramune.

"And I'm the protagonist. Aren't you the protagonists?"

"What kind of protagonists are we? We are clearly your supporting roles."