Chapter 142: Hit
"BOOM!!!"
"THUMP!!!"
"Three outs! Change!"
While Seihou High School's players were still shaken by that mysterious final pitch and hadn't fully recovered from the shock, Kitamura Kou had already struck out the fifth and sixth batters in quick succession.
Only then did the audience truly realize the magnitude of what had just happened.
"The Monster Cannon, Shuzo Sano… actually struck out?"
"If neither your memory nor mine is broken, then yes."
"Not only did he refuse to back down against the number one slugger in high school baseball, he struck him out with three pitches! And the one who did it is just a first-year? This is ridiculous!"
"What's even crazier is that last pitch. The baseball looked like it passed right through the bat. Was I even watching normal baseball?"
"How could something that supernatural happen? And in broad daylight too! The sky is perfectly clear!"
As Kitamura Kou walked back toward the dugout, the Yakushi players immediately surrounded him, all eager to uncover the secret behind that bizarre pitch.
Among them, Todoroki Raichi was the most excited. His eyes gleamed with fanaticism as he rushed forward, laughing wildly.
"Hahaha! Kitamura! I want to hit a pitch like that too!"
Mishima Yuta rudely shoved Raichi aside, though his own expression was equally excited.
"Kitamura, forget that idiot for a second. What I really want to know is why the ball passed through the bat. Explain it!"
"We want to know too!" the others chimed in together.
But Kitamura Kou clearly had no intention of revealing the answer so easily.
Instead, he deliberately teased them.
"If you want to learn that pitch, it's not impossible. I can tell you the secret…"
Everyone's eyes instantly lit up.
"But not now," Kitamura Kou continued calmly. "There's a condition."
"Condition? What condition?" everyone asked impatiently.
Kitamura Kou ignored their anxious expressions and slowly replied,
"It's simple. Win this Summer Koshien."
His gaze swept across every teammate.
"If you want to know the secret, then fight with everything you have. Bat seriously. Defend seriously. Give your all to win."
Then he smiled faintly.
"And I'll throw as many of those pitches as you want."
At that moment, Todoroki Raichi was still laughing excitedly—
Until he suddenly realized that everyone except Kitamura Kou was staring at him with murderous intent.
Cold sweat instantly poured down his back.
Mishima Yuta forced out a terrifyingly fake smile and heavily slapped Raichi on the shoulder hard enough to make even Kitamura Kou feel pain just watching it.
"Raichi… I'm sure you won't make any more stupid mistakes in the upcoming games, right?"
Akiba Kazuma also stepped forward with a gentle smile, patting Raichi's other shoulder.
"Don't worry. If Raichi makes another mistake, I'll personally teach him how to play defense properly. No need for Coach to interfere."
His smile somehow became even gentler.
"You agree, right, Raichi?"
Todoroki Raichi felt that everyone around him had suddenly become terrifying.
He could only nod stiffly, desperately promising himself that he would absolutely try harder on defense.
After that brief commotion, the game resumed.
"Bottom of the second inning! Yakushi High School is up to bat, and the fourth batter is the pitcher himself—Kitamura-san!"
"He's here! His batting ability is said to be just as terrifying as his pitching! Let's see whether Seihou High School can stop him!"
"That might be difficult. Baseball Kingdom reported that Kitamura Kou's batting is strong enough to compete with Shuzo Sano for the title of best hitter in high school baseball!"
"That can't be true. No one can polish both their pitching and batting to that level at the same time!"
"Maybe others can't but Kitamura Kou might actually pull it off."
"You two can stop arguing. We'll know soon enough."
The surrounding crowd immediately fell silent, their eyes fixed on the batter's box.
Everyone wanted to witness what kind of performance Kitamura Kou would deliver next.
Seihou High School's pitcher was no weakling.
Facing Kitamura Kou, he showed no fear at all and confidently fired the baseball toward the plate.
"WHOOSH!"
The pitch came in at around 145 km/h, with sharp movement that barely grazed the outside corner.
Unlike most batters, however, Kitamura Kou had no intention of watching the first pitch.
The instant the ball left the pitcher's hand, he stepped diagonally forward and decisively swung the bat.
His swing exploded across home plate like thunder.
"CLANG!!!"
Although he didn't hit the ball perfectly on the sweet spot, the sheer power behind the swing still sent the baseball screaming into the field.
The ball shot back toward the mound even faster than it had arrived.
Seihou's pitcher reacted quickly, but he still couldn't stop it.
The shortstop and left fielder also rushed to intercept the ball—
Too late.
The baseball slammed into the wall between left-center field and center field.
Fortunately, the center fielder managed to recover it in time.
Otherwise, Kitamura Kou would have reached third base directly.
Still—
Did anyone really think that was enough to stop him?
The next batter was Akaishi Osamu.
Completely trusting Kitamura Kou's speed, he had no intention of swinging at the first pitch.
And the result immediately proved his confidence correct.
The moment the catcher received the ball, Kitamura Kou exploded off second base.
By the time Seihou's catcher reacted and fired the throw toward third—
Kitamura Kou was already standing firmly on the bag.
No outs.
Runner on third.
Under these circumstances, the chances of Yakushi scoring were extremely high.
However, Seihou High School had no intention of giving up this run so easily.
They immediately shifted into an aggressive defensive formation, bringing the infield forward while keeping the outfield in normal position, determined to escape the crisis.
Although Akaishi Osamu hadn't appeared much in previous games, Seihou had still gathered some basic information on him.
And judging from his noticeably larger physique compared to ordinary first-year students, they concluded one thing:
Akaishi Osamu definitely possessed serious power.
That was precisely why they arranged their defense this way—
Just in case.