Chapter 144: Sensation
The next morning, at a newsstand on a busy street in Tokyo—
Many office workers who loved baseball but were too busy to watch the Summer Koshien broadcasts could only grab a newspaper on their way to work and read about the games during their spare moments.
One middle-aged man in a wrinkled suit suddenly stopped in his tracks.
With thinning hair, thick bottle-bottom glasses, and a hurried expression, he adjusted his spectacles with trembling fingers before nearly pressing his face against the newspaper.
"H-Hey… am I seeing things?" he muttered in disbelief. "Seihou High School—the championship favorite—didn't even make the Top 8?!"
Around the newsstand, countless salarymen dressed similarly froze where they stood.
Their expressions ranged from shock to complete disbelief.
Some die-hard Seihou supporters even clutched their chests dramatically, looking as though the world had just ended.
"No way! The newspaper must've printed it wrong!"
"I'm calling the publisher right now! How could a major newspaper make such a ridiculous mistake?!"
"That's right! There's no way Seihou High School could lose 7–0 to a first-time Koshien team!"
"And Sano Shuzo didn't even score a single run?! Something's definitely fishy here!"
"We can't let the organizers get away with this!"
…
At the offices of Baseball Kingdom Monthly, the atmosphere was equally chaotic.
Phones rang nonstop throughout the building.
The staff member handling incoming calls was so overwhelmed she barely had time to wipe the sweat from her forehead before the next phone started ringing again.
In the end, several additional employees had to be pulled over just to help answer calls.
Akiko Owada, who had just arrived at work, stared blankly at the frantic scene around her.
"This is way too exaggerated…"
At that moment, a familiar voice came from behind her.
"It's actually not that surprising."
Fujio Mine walked over while adjusting the documents in his hands.
"As last year's national champions, Seihou High School entered this tournament with enormous expectations. None of their core players graduated, and their fourth batter, Shuzo Sano, is considered one of the biggest prospects in this year's professional draft."
Mine paused briefly before continuing.
"But against Yakushi High School, not only did they lose badly, Sano himself was completely shut down. You can imagine how shocked the entire country must be."
"And?" Owada asked curiously.
"And Kitamura Kou accomplished something unbelievable."
Mine's voice trembled slightly from excitement.
"Ever since Sano entered Seihou High School, they've never once been completely shut out in an official game."
"But Kou didn't just beat them…"
"He completely annihilated them."
Owada blinked in confusion.
"But… didn't Kitamura Kou already throw a perfect game against Inashiro Industrial during the West Tokyo Finals? That didn't cause this kind of sensation."
Mine smiled helplessly.
"You're underestimating Seihou High School's influence—and Sano Shuzo's popularity."
"Earlier this year, Japan's U18 National Team, built around Seihou players with Sano as the cleanup batter, narrowly lost to the American team by just one run."
"Even though they didn't win the championship, it was still Japan's best U18 international result in nearly a decade."
"The impact of a team like that getting crushed is obvious."
Only then did Owada fully understand the magnitude of what Yakushi High School had accomplished.
Her eyes widened in disbelief.
She suddenly remembered the confident words Todoroki Raizo had spoken during her earlier interview at Yakushi.
Could it really be possible…?
Could Kitamura Kou and Yakushi High School truly…?
"Alright, stop daydreaming and get to work," Mine said with a laugh. "Looks like today's going to be incredibly busy."
Owada quickly suppressed the storm of emotions in her heart and hurried into the office to join the chaos.
After several fierce rounds of competition, the Top 8 teams of this year's Summer Koshien Tournament had finally been decided.
Unexpectedly, two dark horses had emerged among the quarterfinalists.
Such a situation was actually quite rare.
Throughout Koshien's long history, there had certainly been Cinderella runs before—some dark horse teams had even gone on to win the championship—but usually there would only be one surprise team at most.
Sometimes none at all.
But this year, there were two.
One was Yakushi High School.
The other was Komadai Fujimaki High School from Hokkaido.
Although Komadai Fujimaki possessed a proud baseball tradition, it had been many years since they last made a serious impact at Koshien.
This summer, however, they were on an unstoppable run.
So far, Komadai Fujimaki was the only team in the tournament that had not allowed a single run.
Of course, part of that was due to favorable circumstances.
They had received a first-round bye and had yet to face powerhouses like Osaka Kiryu or Seihou High School.
Still, maintaining a perfect defensive record at Koshien was an incredible achievement no matter how you looked at it.
As for the remaining six teams, every single one was a seasoned Koshien powerhouse:
Hakuryu High School.
Yamamori Academy.
Teito High School.
Kaido High School.
Ikuei High School.
And Osaka Seiseisha High School.
None of them were opponents that could be underestimated.
One careless mistake, and your summer would be over.
Given Yakushi High School's limited roster and resources, it was impossible for them to thoroughly investigate every team in advance.
They could only wait for the quarterfinal draw before conducting targeted analysis on their next opponent.
Meanwhile, the four Tsukishima sisters, accompanied by both families' parents, had also traveled to Hyogo Prefecture to cheer for Kitamura Kou in person.
Unfortunately, because Yakushi High School was busy preparing for the upcoming matches, Kou only had enough time to meet them briefly before returning to the team.