Diamond no Ace: I Am Kitamura Kou

"Kitamura-san has opened the game in dominant fashion, striking out the first three batters from Seihou High School in a row! Not only has he shown off the fastest pitch in the tournament, but his control is also comparable to pitchers famous for their precision! Now the question is—can Seihou High School's pitchers respond in kind?"

The commentator's highly charged words pushed the atmosphere in the stadium to another level.

Although Seihou High School's ace pitcher might not be on Narumiya Mei's level, he was still famous throughout the country.

His fastballs consistently reached around 145 km/h, his control rivaled Kitamura Kou's, and he possessed at least three highly refined breaking balls.

As a result, Todoroki Raizo's attempts to disrupt Seihou before the game had little effect. Seihou responded with a clean three-up, three-down inning of their own, preventing Yakushi High School from completely seizing momentum—and they even used fewer pitches than Kitamura Kou.

Now came the showdown the entire audience had been waiting for.

On one side was Kitamura Kou, the flamethrower expected to compete for the title of the best pitcher in Japanese high school baseball.

On the other side was Shuzo Sano, the acknowledged number one slugger in active high school baseball, the terrifying "Monster Cannon."

Who would come out on top?

"Sano! Break another home run record!"

"Kitamura! Use your speed to crush the monster!"

"Sano, don't let that first-year brat keep acting arrogant! Show him who the real monster is!"

"Kitamura, keep leading Yakushi forward! Show Seihou what a giant-killer looks like!"

"That kid isn't going to get scared and intentionally walk Sano, right?"

"No way! Kitamura Kou has never avoided facing a cleanup hitter head-on!"

Supporters from both sides roared passionately, neither side willing to back down. The tension inside the stadium grew heavier and heavier.

At the Inashiro Industrial High School baseball field, Carlos and the others were watching the live broadcast on their phones with complete focus.

"Shuzo Sano is even stronger than Harada-senpai. If the pitcher is smart, he'll work the corners carefully. If the count gets dangerous, he should just walk him."

Shirakawa Katsuyuki calmly gave his opinion.

"Idiot. That brat's pitching ability is on my level. How could he possibly back down?"

Narumiya Mei's voice suddenly sounded from behind them, startling everyone.

"If it were me, I'd crush Sano head-on with my pitching and completely control the game."

Carlos looked at Narumiya with a teasing smile.

"Didn't you say you weren't interested in watching games that Inashiro wasn't playing in?"

Narumiya Mei immediately turned his head away with a look of disdain.

"This isn't because I wanted to come. Itsuki kept begging me, saying he really wanted to see how Kitamura Kou planned to suppress Sano. Since I'm such a generous prince, I took pity on him and came along."

His expression practically screamed: Praise me already.

"Huh?"

Tadano Itsuki was completely confused.

Did he ever say that?

Unfortunately, he didn't dare expose Narumiya's lie and could only silently take the blame.

Carlos and the others naturally understood what was happening, but since they didn't want to miss the upcoming duel, they wisely chose to pretend they understood nothing.

At Seido High School, the baseball team's key players had also gathered to watch the game together.

Hearing everyone discuss the confrontation between Kitamura Kou and Sano Shuzo, Sawamura Eijun quietly leaned toward Kominato Haruichi.

"Haruichi… is that Sano Shuzo guy really that strong?"

Haruichi had already developed resistance to Sawamura's ignorance by now.

"He's even stronger than Captain Yuki."

Sawamura instantly froze.

The image of Yuki Tetsuya's terrifying swings flashed through his mind, making him swallow nervously.

Someone even stronger than Captain Yuki?

Could Kitamura Kou—the pitcher who defeated Seido—really suppress a monster like that?

At that moment, Sawamura stopped fidgeting completely and stared at the television with full concentration.

Meanwhile, Shuzo Sano had already stepped into the batter's box.

His eyes locked onto Kitamura Kou with undisguised excitement as he released the overwhelming aura of a power hitter without restraint.

"Hurry up and throw that fastball that gets my blood pumping."

Kitamura Kou showed no fear.

He unleashed his own aura in response, directly clashing against Sano's.

Between the pitcher's mound and home plate, the invisible pressure from both sides collided violently. Neither side gave way, and for a brief moment, the entire stadium seemed to hold its breath.

Then—

Kitamura Kou threw the baseball with all his strength.

"BOOM!!!"

The pitch was unbelievably fast, but the location clearly wasn't centered.

At full power, Kitamura Kou still couldn't perfectly guarantee every pitch would remain inside the strike zone.

However, that unpredictability made the pitch even more dangerous.

Because if even the pitcher himself didn't know exactly where the ball would end up, how could the batter possibly predict it?

To hit a pitch like this required not only extraordinary skill, but luck as well.

Shuzo Sano had already prepared himself.

The moment he saw the baseball tearing toward him with that terrifying whistle, the excitement in his eyes exploded.

Without hesitation, he swung.

"WHOOSH!!!"

Shuzo Sano truly deserved his reputation as the number one slugger in high school baseball.

The sound created by his swing alone was probably even more terrifying than Todoroki Raichi's.

The bat, carrying overwhelming force, crashed toward the blazing fastball.

For an instant, the audience felt as though they were witnessing an unstoppable flaming spear colliding head-on against an indestructible blue shield radiating icy pressure.

"THUMP!!!"

In the end, however—

The baseball arrived first, smashing into Akaishi Osamu's glove.

"Strike!!!"

Even the home plate umpire had become swept up in the intensity of the battle, his voice noticeably louder than before.

At the same time, the speed gun displayed the result.

155 km/h!

"What an unbelievable clash between monsters! The very first pitch is already the fastest of the game!"

"That's insane! Even Shuzo Sano missed!"

"Looks like even Sano's swing speed couldn't keep up with the baseball!"

"Don't be ridiculous! Sano was obviously holding back so the kid wouldn't lose too badly!"

"Exactly! Just watch—Sano's going to blast the next pitch out of the stadium!"

The battle between pitcher and batter on the field was already intense enough—

But the clash between the supporters in the stands was no less fierce.