Diamond No Ace: The Strongest Hitter Has Arrived

Standing on first base, Zhang Han felt none of the satisfaction that reaching base was supposed to produce.

There was a particular kind of frustration specific to being denied the confrontation itself rather than losing it. If Maki had thrown his best pitch and Zhang Han had swung through it, or hit it weakly and been retired, the outcome would have been disappointing but honest.

That was competition. What had just happened was the competition being removed before it could begin, the at-bat dissolved into four pitches that asked nothing of him and gave nothing back.

The contrast made it worse. Maki had looked at Yuuki Tetsuya and chosen to compete. He had taken his best material and thrown it directly at one of the most dangerous bats in the tournament, and done it without hesitation.

Zhang Han had watched that choice from the on-deck circle and felt something quicken in him. The opponent had a genuine competitive personality underneath the quiet exterior. The upcoming at-bat was going to be worth something.

And then Ugai had walked out of the dugout.

Zhang Han stood on first base and worked through the frustration with the methodical patience he applied to most internal states that threatened to affect his performance. The logic of the decision was not difficult to follow. Yuuki was on second base. A single hit with Zhang Han at the plate scored a run automatically and potentially two.

A home run ended the inning with Sensen behind. Against a batter with Zhang Han's profile in that situation, Ugai's calculation was clean and correct, and the expression on Ugai's face as he delivered his instructions reflected that correctness with complete comfort.

Zhang Han understood all of it. Understanding it did not make it less frustrating.

He also understood that this was not going to be an isolated experience. The Koshien performance had changed his profile in a specific way: he had become the kind of player that opposing coaches built their game plans around avoiding rather than confronting.

The intentional walk in dangerous situations was going to be a recurring feature of his future at-bats, and developing the equanimity to absorb it without letting it contaminate his focus for the rest of the game was a skill he was going to need.

Today was practice for that skill.

He found his focus, set it aside from the frustration, and watched the situation develop.

Sensen's belief, apparently, was that removing Zhang Han and Yuuki from the equation through avoidance would neutralize the Seido offense. Zhang Han had a clear view of why that belief was going to produce problems for them.

Seido recruited selectively. The program had navigated several difficult years where results had suffered and the reputation that drew elite players had been temporarily diminished, but the recruitment infrastructure had never collapsed entirely. The players who had fought through the internal competition and emerged as first-team regulars were not passengers.

Every one of them was a legitimate competitive baseball player. Walking the two most dangerous bats in the lineup did not create a soft middle in the order. It created a situation with runners on base and players who were capable of doing something about it.

"Sixth batter. Catcher. Miyuki Kazuya."

The batting order adjustment that had moved Miyuki into the middle of the lineup reflected exactly the principle Zhang Han was thinking about. Coach Kataoka had identified what the Koshien data confirmed: Miyuki with runners on base was a different offensive proposition from Miyuki with the bases empty.

His destructive potential in those situations was specific and documented, and the slot he now occupied in the order was one that previous iterations of the Seido lineup had reserved for players whose profiles matched that description.

On the mound, Maki prepared for the new confrontation.

Miyuki stepped into the box.

The mood he carried to the plate was not the tightly wound alertness that most players brought to high-leverage situations. There was something looser in it, something that suggested a person who had already decided how the situation was going to resolve and was presently enjoying the confirmation process.

The Koshien march from the stadium orchestra had worked its way into some corner of his awareness, and he was moving slightly with it in a way that nobody watching would describe as particularly baseball-like.

The Sensen catcher, watching this from behind the plate, was not sure what to make of it.

Maki delivered his pitch.

It was a curveball, the pitch that had been giving Seido's batters difficulty since the first inning, breaking with the sharp late movement that had frozen several hitters already.

The contact was immediate and full, the kind of sound that bats produce when the barrel finds the exact location it was looking for. The Sensen catcher's pupils expanded in real time.

It had been hit cleanly. Maki's curveball, the pitch around which Sensen's entire pitching plan was organized, had been found and driven.

The ball traced a high arc outward, descended, and landed heavily on the outfield grass beyond the infielders. It bounced hard. The outfielder moved toward it and arrived too late to prevent anything.

Miyuki ran to first base with his lips already curving upward, the expression of someone whose confidence had just been confirmed rather than tested.

Zhang Han moved from first to second.

Yuuki, reading the play from second, turned for third without slowing.

He reached the bag and his momentum did not diminish.

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