Chapter 256: Magic Ball
"Bottom of the second inning, Inashiro Industrial on offense!
Batting fourth! Catcher, Harada!"
"Please, we're counting on you! Cleanup!"
"Shut up."
Harada immediately shut down Narumiya's unserious cheer.
Dun-dun-dun-dun-dun! Hey!!!
Dun-dun-dun-dun-dun! Hey!!!
Dun-dun-dun-dun! Dun-dun-dun-dun-dun!
Dun-dun-dun! Dun-dun-dun-dun! Harada!
With their cleanup hitter stepping up, Inashiro's cheering section exploded with energy.
"He's here! Inashiro Industrial's cleanup!"
"He never lets a hittable pitch go!"
In the Seidou dugout, the genius battery acted like commentators—completely forgetting that the last time they said that during a knuckleball, it turned into a pop-up…
"Crush him! Bastard!!!"
Seidou's little watchdog was already barking.
"That's right! While Furuya is in great condition, shut them down hard! If we suppress them here, even Inashiro Industrial won't be able to stay calm!"
That was Sendo's inner thought.
Right. "They won't sit still."
But because of Coach Kunitomo, even Sendo didn't dare imagine Inashiro collapsing just because of the game flow.
In reality, it was almost impossible to shake their mentality.
Even Coach Kataoka—who excelled at motivating players—couldn't replicate that mental steel.
It wasn't his fault; it was because Inashiro's years of achievements gave them unshakable pride and tradition.
That tradition made them believe winning and reaching Koshien was natural.
Whether leading or trailing, they always performed steadily.
Seidou, on the other hand, had gone too long without winning in the summer.
They lacked that deep-rooted confidence.
In the previous timeline, even Jun-san couldn't fully suppress the swelling joy as they approached victory.
They were a powerhouse, yes, but one lacking decisive-game experience.
Against opponents on equal footing, they inevitably lacked the steel that Inashiro possessed.
Not everyone was like Sendo—whose excitement grew the stronger the opponent became.
Sendo had gone too long without feeling real tension—just like Saitama's dream in One Punch Man when the Subterraneans appeared, or Aomine Daiki's line in Kuroko no Basuke:
"I've longed for an opponent equal to me—or even stronger—so I can fight to my heart's content."
Others, however, were normal athletes.
Their lives had always been wins and losses; they desired victory, but the desire came from not having won, which made them emotionally unstable once victory seemed near.
Not like teams who believed they would win.
Last year, how did Seidou lose?
A major reason was simply—they didn't crave victory enough.
They fought hard, yes.
But they had never experienced true life-or-death battles.
At the very end, they overlooked one thing:
Inashiro was a team that would do anything to win.
Seidou lacked that instinct.
Not unwilling to sacrifice—they simply couldn't shift their mindset in time.
And so Inashiro's cleanup forced a run, took the lead, and Narumiya—with his overwhelming ability—shut down Seidou's final comeback.
Tojo could only watch helplessly as they lost.
As a first-year, Narumiya didn't have "absolute strength."
But that depends on context.
As a reliever or closer, he had enough dominance that in short spans he did have absolute strength.
In limited confrontations, freshman Narumiya was nearly unscorable.
This year's third-years had learned from last year's failure, but people don't change their mindset overnight.
In the previous timeline, Seidou held out largely because of reckless, fearless first-years who dragged the momentum forward.
In this timeline, they had an even bigger "disruptor"—Sendo.
When it came to clutch-time condition, no one could match him.
In Aomine's words:
"He's been yearning for a rival equal to or stronger than himself. In this extreme tension, winning is the only thing that gives the battle meaning."
The game was still early, so it wasn't obvious,
but Chris-senpai could already tell: Sendo was unusually focused, noticing more details, spacing out less.
Usually, Sendo could stare off in another direction even while in the batter's box, distracting himself until the pitcher began the motion.
But desire alone didn't matter.
Against a power pitcher like Furuya, the only way was to fight him head-on.
Especially now, with Furuya still in great condition.
At least he hadn't forgotten Sendo's teachings.
He wasn't as effortless as the last inning, but the extra force added unconsciously wasn't too much yet.
"Don't force your arm too much."
Furuya muttered to himself before pitching.
Though his motion looked relaxed and gentle, the ball he threw was anything but.
Ping!
"Foul ball!"
The first pitch was smashed into the back net.
Harada tracked it well.
Even he nearly mistimed his first look at Furuya's pitch.
"Good! Nice speed!"
"Furuya!"
Whoosh!
Thud!
"Ball!"
"That pitch was powerful!!!"
"Keep attacking!"
Whoosh!
Ping!
"Foul!"
Even after adjusting and swinging earlier, Harada was still a bit late.
His aim was perfect, but his timing was off, sending it foul.
"To swing late even after adjusting… What a ridiculous first-year."
Harada immediately abandoned his extra-base-hit mentality and choked up on the bat.
With runners on, Furuya had to use a fixed posture to guard against steals, which reduced pitch speed and power.
Harada intended to sacrifice himself for a chance to get on base and give his teammates a chance to crack Furuya.
This was Inashiro's relentless desire to win—their decisiveness.
"The cleanup is choking up?"
Even though they saw this last year, Miyuki was still shocked by such selfless resolve.
"Relax, okay? Like Sendo said—if you force it, you're done."
Miyuki gave the signal, raising his mitt while thinking that.
Furuya nodded deeply.
Sendo-san said…
"Furuya, that fast forkball—don't be afraid to throw it high… throw it high! If you throw it high, they'll swing at it!"
"So if I throw it high… they'll go for it…
Sendo-san said so…!"
Whoosh!
"Fastball!? ×2"
Both catchers thought the same thing at home plate.
"No—that idiot's advice!"
Miyuki instantly remembered Sendo's words, gritted his teeth, and trusted that this wasn't a mistake.
Even if it was, it would just hit his protective gear.
Whether it hurt was another matter.
BOOM!
Harada swung at the "very hittable pitch."
They had intentionally ignored curves and aimed for this exact kind of ball.
And after seeing Furuya's insane speed from the first pitch, he knew he'd get no time to think.
Miss this chance and he'd be forced to swing at unpredictable pitches instead.
"Got it!!"
Right before impact, Harada felt certain he'd connected.
But—
PAH!!
With only a few dozen centimeters left, the ball suddenly plummeted violently—as if alive—dodging the bat.
"STRIKE!!!
BATTER OUT!!!"
"Ahhh!!!"
"Yoshhhh!! Four consecutive strikeouts!"
"This kid is in incredible form!"
"Furuya!!!"
"That scared me! I thought it was a straight fastball!
I almost missed it again! But throwing a pitch like that—the real headache is the batter…"
Miyuki wiped the sweat from his brow.
The unfriendly part of the fast forkball, praised as the last "magic pitch" of the 20th century, is exactly this: just when you finally get used to a pitch that looks completely identical to a straight fastball before it drops, if the pitcher suddenly misfires, there's no way anyone can hit it.
"What the hell are you doing? You're the clean-up hitter!" Narumiya marched forward holding his bat in his left hand, moving with that "I don't recognize anybody" swagger, clearly ready to hit someone.
"S-sorry!!" Harada snapped, visibly irritated.
"That fast forkball looks exactly like a fastball! And this pitcher's condition looks kind of dangerous…"
In truth, Harada was seriously worried about the game.
With Furu— no, Sendo pitching like this, it didn't look like he could be knocked out easily.
And Inashiro Industrial had no choice but to account for all four Seidou pitchers when making their calculations. They couldn't base their strategy on assuming Seidou's pitchers would collapse. And with a three-run deficit already, no matter how they looked at it, Inashiro was at a clear disadvantage.
They gave up swinging at high pitches — pitches too easy to hit meant they had to stay alert for the fast forkball. Something like the fast fork that made Carlos swing and miss earlier wouldn't fool them as easily this time.
But pitches that weren't too high or too low — not particularly easy to hit yet not unreasonably difficult — combined with a forkball that maintained such high quality before dropping… this was a nightmare for any batter.
After all, a fast forkball only breaks right in front of the batter, and before that it's almost indistinguishable from a straight fastball — truly a "magic ball."
Of course, Furuya wasn't thinking that deeply.
He simply saw that if he followed Sendo's— no, Sendo's— instructions, the batters would obediently swing and miss. And since he'd even made the clean-up hitter of Inashiro whiff, he now admired Sendo even more.
But Miyuki now had new thoughts. He knew the bench's strategy better than anyone and desperately hoped Furuya could hold out for as many innings as possible.
Although he didn't know the full intention — that the coaches wanted Furuya and Tanba to finish the entire game — the longer Furuya pitched, the more pressure it created for Inashiro.
Seidou had too many pitchers. If Furuya lasted too long, the remaining pitchers would each have so few innings left for Inashiro to adjust to. Imagine Furuya holding for six innings — no matter how calm Inashiro's lineup was, their nerves would crumble trying to conquer three pitchers in three innings.
…Though Furuya lasting six innings was, honestly, impossible.
But the idea was what mattered.
The stadium continued roaring with excitement over Sendo's strikeout.
"Fifth batter! Pitcher, Narumiya-kun!"
To be honest, Narumiya was exactly Miyuki's favorite type of batter.
Not only because Miyuki understood Narumiya's personality, but also because Narumiya was extremely direct when batting. But unlike Raichi or Sendo, he lacked that wild, animal-like instinct.
"If the pitch comes, swing!"
Narumiya's batting philosophy was similar to Haruichi's — but it wasn't something ordinary people could do.
It required enormous natural talent.
Narumiya entered the batter's box as cheers for Furuya continued to echo through the stadium — a freshman striking out the opponent's clean-up hitter was just too shocking.
"So damn loud…"
As always, the tsundere Narumiya hated it when anyone else stole the spotlight.
Meanwhile, Tanba, who had been practicing pitches with Ono, was told to take a break.
However, thanks to Sendo's earlier advice, Ono didn't tell him to go back to the bench — he told him to keep moving and maintain his joint mobility.
Because of Sendo's unintentional actions, the ankle injury Tanba suffered in the original timeline was now basically impossible.
With this level of joint preparation, the only way Tanba would twist his ankle would be if he had some joint-related disease that affected his career.
"Don't think too much! Just overpower him completely with fastballs."
Miyuki's strategy against Narumiya remained the same — overwhelm him with pure speed and raw power.
Given Narumiya's physique, it was difficult for him to counter Furuya's brute-force style unless there were runners on base — a situation that forced Furuya to use a fixed form and lose speed and power.
Thud!
Clang!
"This bastard… throw something more fitting for a first-year! Something cute!!"
Narumiya glared at the fastball, furious — his competitive spirit exploding.
Thud!
Clang!
Even though he saw the ball clearly, the past two pitches still overwhelmed him.
The moment the ball hit the bat, the bat visibly recoiled backward — proof that Narumiya couldn't hold the bat firmly at impact. He was being overpowered by Furuya's raw strength.
At this moment Furuya, just like in the original timeline, stared at Narumiya with intense fighting spirit — and even forgot Furuya's earlier instructions, starting to add more force to his pitches.
Adding force wouldn't affect his fastball much while his stamina was still adequate, but if he couldn't regain his earlier form, he wouldn't be able to throw the true fast forkball — the one that fooled Harada so badly.
Only that quality deserved to be called a real "magic ball."
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