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Chapter 1593 - Chapter 100: The Draft (Final Chapter)

Two months later.

"It's Seidou High! The champions of the Jingu Tournament are the Seidou High School Baseball Team from West Tokyo!"

On the television, the recently concluded Jingu Tournament was still being broadcast.

After achieving an unprecedented three-peat championship, Seidou High's baseball team went on to win a Grand Slam.

For a team from West Tokyo, the major competitions they participated in included: the Spring Tournament, the Kanto Tournament, the Summer Tournament, the Summer Koshien, the Fall Tournament, the Jingu Tournament, and the Spring Koshien held the following spring.

A team that wins all seven championships within a single year is honored with the title of Grand Slam Champion.

Seidou's core players in their second year included:

Sawamura Eijun, the leader, along with Furuya Satoru, Kominato Haruichi, Kanemaru Shinji, and Toujou Hideaki—five players in total.

Starting from the previous Spring Koshien, they overcame every challenge, winning the Spring Koshien, Tokyo Spring Tournament, Kanto Tournament, West Tokyo Summer Tournament, Summer Koshien, Fall Tournament, and finally the Jingu Tournament.

Seven championships.

They became the undisputed Grand Slam champions.

In fact, ever since Seidou High established its legendary dominance, people had begun to speculate:

How far could Seidou go in the future?

A Super Grand Slam?

Four straight Spring championships? Five straight Summer wins? Six? Seven?

Speculations varied, and as die-hard supporters of Seidou, fans naturally hoped the team's journey would go further.

And the more glorious, the better!

But such expectations defy reality. Based on past experience, a dark horse is bound to emerge sooner or later.

Even a powerhouse like Seidou High would eventually face serious challenges.

Truth be told, the challenge came sooner than expected.

At the start of the Fall Tournament, Seidou suffered a major setback.

Sawamura, who had just returned from the World Championship, wasn't immediately put into the lineup.

Coach Kataoka and Coach Ochiai wanted him to rest—partly to let him adjust, but also to avoid overusing his stamina and potential.

The situation with Chris had left a deep scar in Kataoka's heart.

If it could be avoided, he would never allow Sawamura to exhaust himself endlessly.

Unexpectedly, Furuya gave up two runs right at the start.

Though he later found his rhythm and his coordination with Okumura became smoother, successfully halting the opponent's offense and racking up strikeouts...

Their opponent was no ordinary team.

The previous year, as a team of only freshmen, they had already caused Seidou considerable trouble.

Now, a year later, they had grown significantly stronger.

Seidou's batters couldn't break through the submarine-style pitcher for quite some time.

The game dragged on to the 7th inning, when Kominato, Toujou, and Okumura exploded with offensive plays.

They helped tie the score with two runs.

Near the end of the game, Kanemaru, who no one was paying attention to, finally made his move.

With a clean and decisive home run after a hit from Masashi, he helped the team secure a 5:2 victory.

The very first match was already that intense.

Would Seidou really be able to achieve all those grand goals?

It suddenly became uncertain.

Fortunately, teams like their first-round opponent were the exception.

Most teams were completely overwhelmed by Seidou's crushing offense.

They easily advanced to the finals!

Whether it was Sankou or Inashiro, both underperformed due to missing their Ace pitchers.

Neither even made it to the Final Four and were eliminated early.

Though both teams had promising newcomers, clearly, with time, their future is bright.

For now, though, they were no match for Seidou.

Among the traditional powerhouses, only Seidou and Yakushi retained many of their core starters.

As if destined, these two teams met before the final.

Their respective opponents—Sensen High and Teito High—were both crushed by their overwhelming attacks.

Seidou defeated Sensen with a staggering 11:2 score, ending the game early in the 7th inning.

Teito, too, fared poorly. Although their lineup scored three runs against Yakushi, they gave up seven in return.

Final score: 7:3.

And that was despite Yakushi not fielding their two top players:

Igarashi, their ace pitcher

Todoroki Raichi, the monstrous slugger

Even without them, they easily crushed Teito, the so-called "East Tokyo King."

Teito's loss shocked many.

They had been regarded as a team strong enough to rival West Tokyo's top three.

Unlike Inashiro and Sankou, they still had their ace pitcher, Mukai Taiyou.

With him, they shouldn't have been so weak—yet they lost.

The truth was undeniable.

No matter how talented Taiyou was, he lacked a catcher who could fully utilize his pitching.

When no one could handle his complex deliveries, his abilities were effectively sealed away.

It was the same for Seidou.

If there were a catcher who could perfectly receive Sawamura's pitches, Seidou would be invincible!

But at that time, none of the three catchers at Seidou had that level of skill.

So their future was also not entirely optimistic.

Facing Yakushi, their victory or defeat was entirely uncertain.

When the game began, both teams came out with full force.

Yakushi's coach, in a bid to win, intentionally walked Sawamura every time.

He knew: if Sawamura got a chance to bat, they were guaranteed to lose.

He absolutely couldn't be given a shot—he had to be shut down.

At the start, Seidou was at a huge disadvantage.

The players were frustrated, feeling they couldn't perform at their best.

This continued until Seidou deployed their secret weapon, Han Lee-Hyun.

His bold and fearless base-stealing earned them the first run.

Like a domino effect, that run was a lever that broke the momentum.

Yakushi's seemingly overwhelming force was suddenly shaken.

Seidou scored repeatedly. Though they lost one run late in the game due to Okumura's missed catch, they still won 4:1 and claimed the championship.

Yakushi didn't give up, though. In the playoff against Kanto's 5th-ranked team, they won and secured another Spring Koshien ticket.

Living in the same era as "Demon King" Sawamura, Yakushi's talented players couldn't exactly be called lucky.

But their strength was undeniable!

Gold will always shine—even in the shadow of a mountain of gold, true brilliance attracts attention.

That was Yakushi's reality. Even under Seidou's dominance, they still made it to Koshien twice.

An achievement not to be underestimated!

Coach Todoroki also breathed a huge sigh of relief.

Though living in the same era as Sawamura dulled his beloved son's light somewhat...

At least, luck wasn't completely against them.

With two Koshien appearances, plus a world championship earlier—

Todoroki Raichi had a bright future ahead.

Not just local teams—even Major League scouts would likely be very interested in him.

As the new season approached, new generation players began emerging all over Tokyo and across Japan.

Though they couldn't yet challenge Sawamura, Raichi, or Hongou...

They were already on par with other star players.

By next summer, a new wave of challengers would surely rise.

Just thinking about it was exciting!

As for the third-year players who are about to graduate, their views on the Fall Tournament and the Jingu Tournament have become more detached and calm, almost like outsiders.

In their eyes, these tournaments are no longer worth watching.

Even though many new-generation players have emerged, compared to Sawamura, who became one of the top high school players in his first year, the best in the country by his second, and the world's top unprofessional player by his third, their abilities are far inferior.

There's no comparison between the two sides.

The significance of this year's tournament was that the Champion was already predetermined—everyone else was relying on luck to compete for second place.

Don't get the wrong idea—that's meant literally.

Becoming champion was out of the question, and even contending for second depended on luck.

If you were unlucky and got placed in the same bracket as Seidou High, then you wouldn't even have the chance to make it to the finals.

The team that faced Seidou in the first round, in terms of strength, was definitely among the top four in all of Tokyo.

Whether it was Sensen or Teito, compared to Seidou, they had no advantage.

But so what?

They were simply unlucky to run into Seidou early—so all they could do was go home early.

Of course, in the end, the tournament committee extended special invitations for them to participate in the Spring Koshien.

Whether running into Seidou early was fortunate or unfortunate—

That's a hard question to answer.

***

Jingu Stadium

Four days after the Jingu Tournament ended, another group of talented players appeared here.

And not just from Tokyo—outstanding players from all over the country who had performed well in the tournaments showed up.

At least half of those with standout performances were here.

Besides these high school stars, there were also many players who had just graduated from university.

In a short while—specifically, in January of next year—

The new professional draft will begin!

This time, the draft organizers, in response to the demands of the times, gathered all the draft-eligible players in advance and organized a reality show-style selection event.

This gave the players a chance to showcase their abilities.

Because of the structure of high school baseball, many talented players don't even make it past their local regional tournaments.

They've had very limited opportunities to perform in front of a national audience.

The organizers did this partly to boost viewership ratings, but also to give these players a platform.

"Jingu Pre-Draft Training Camp!"

A total of 400 players participated:

270 high school players and 130 university players.

They were placed into randomized teams and went through layered elimination rounds.

To incentivize participation, the organizers offered cash prizes and the freedom to choose which team to join.

The Most Valuable Player would receive 10 million yen.

Players ranked 2nd to 10th would receive 3 million yen.

Players ranked 11th to 20th would receive 1 million yen.

And so on—even the lowest prize exceeded 100,000 yen.

To put it bluntly—the organizers spared no expense.

Naturally, the players gravitated toward those they were already familiar with.

Roughly twenty players from Tokyo quickly gathered together.

"Feels like it's been forever since we last met!"

"It hasn't been that long, has it...?"

"Can't believe you are here, Yoh Shunshin. I thought you were going to university."

"Sorry—school isn't as fun as baseball."

"Your parents didn't object?"

"I convinced them!"

Hearing this, everyone gave Yoh Shunshin a thumbs up.

Although they were technically adults now, standing up to their parents was something they still didn't have the courage for.

"What about Shirakawa? I thought he'd be here too?"

"That guy went to university. Baseball wasn't everything for him."

"Out of all people, it is Shirakawa?"

"What a shame... he's so talented."

These Tokyo star players were all baseball fanatics.

For them, the idea of playing baseball for life—nothing was more exciting.

So if they had the chance, most of them naturally chose to enter the professional draft.

For example, from Seidou:

Miyuki, Maezono, Shiratsu, Kawakami, and Kuramochi—all entered the draft.

Sawamura was especially happy when Kawakami entered the draft!

Because of his family's financial situation, he was planning on giving up on baseball. When he got the chance, and with the support of his family, he decided to give it a chance.

Not only him, players like Yamaguchi, Ono, and Kijima got invited too.

And the rest, although they didn't get an invitation from the draft, were picked up by the university like a hot commodity.

In the end, all the graduating players from Seidou got to taste the benefits of their efforts.

With their records at Seidou, they had no trouble finding teams.

Take Miyuki, for example—he was practically guaranteed to be picked in the first round.

The same was true for Inashiro's top players—most of them also entered the draft.

Those who didn't—usually it was due to lack of ability.

A star player like Shirakawa choosing not to go pro and to attend university instead...

That kind of decision wasn't unheard of, but it was definitely the minority.

Probably only about 30 to 40 percent made that choice.

As the group chatted, a sense of bittersweet nostalgia hung in the air.

They had consciously avoided discussing the recently concluded Jingu Tournament.

Why?

Because not bringing up the Jingu Tournament also meant they didn't have to mention that person.

And if they didn't talk about that person, they could all relax.

They were all-star players, and not just any star players.

But once that person entered the conversation, all their accomplishments and pride instantly lost their value.

So everyone, including those from Seidou High, avoided the topic.

Just then, a figure walked into the crowd.

As soon as he appeared, people naturally stepped aside, as if forming a path to welcome him.

That figure easily found the Tokyo group.

There was a flicker of joy in his eyes.

"Hey!"

The Tokyo star players all showed expressions like they were suffering from a stomach ache.

"HEY MY ASS!!! WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?!" Narumiya roared at the top of his voice just by looking at his face.

"I didn't want to come, but the organizers insisted. The terms were too tempting, so..."

"What kind of terms?"

"20 million yen for just an appearance fee!"

...

(RETURN OF THE PITCHEREND)

Afterword:

Yeah, as you had just seen, I'm announcing the end of this story for now.

One Year and Three Months, this is how long I have been working on this.

To tell the truth, I have never imagined reaching this point when I started. With how busy I was, I thought I would do it for a few months and then stop. In fact, my original plan was to stop after Tetsuya and the other retire.

But with how much support I got from you guys, I kept going. To the point that I was coming up with plans and ideas to continue updating on a very strict schedule. Surprising even myself.

Which brings me to why I am not continuing the story to the Pro era.

To be completely honest, I actually wrote a few chapters already. But suddenly, I started feeling that I wasn't writing about AoD anymore, and when I stopped for a while and picked it up again, there was only one thought in my mind.

'If it was me, I won't read this crap.'

Other than the novelty of Sawamura joining the pros, there is nothing I can offer. And even that, I was essentially wasting it with how mediocre my writing skills were. The plans for the plot were immature at best, and, again, I didn't feel like I was writing about AoD, and that alone made me lose interest.

Which brings me to why I started working on this story in the first place. I only started this because I wanted to improve my writing skills, and because I wanted to do something for Ace of Diamond.

I kind of felt indebted to Ace of Diamond; it was the only thing I could read during my army days, and it made those days a lot easier.

So, when I wanted to read more of it, there was nothing for AoD when I started this.

Other than a few stories that didn't exceed 80 chapters, the rest were…hmm, let's say that you girls were less interested in boys swinging bats and throwing balls, and more interested in boys swinging boys and throwing…stuff at each other. lol

Now, there are dozen of AoD stories about boys swinging bats and throwing balls. Thankfully. Which makes me feel like I have done something for AoD and this fandom.

As for my writing skills…I can only say I still have a long way to go…

Moreover, Terajima-sensei has stopped at Act II, and I have no idea if he wants to continue.

Therefore, I decided to go and explore some of the other ideas I have to hone my writing skills more, and maybe in the meantime, Terajima-sensei could have a change of mind and continue Ace of Diamond.

Hence, this story here will be considered complete for now.

After this, I will also publish a Volume 0, which would contain some of the events and matches that didn't make it to the 15 volumes because I thought it would cut the flow of the story. This one will only be available to you guys and won't make it to the public platforms.

Well, in the end, I Would Like To Thank You All For All The Support You Gave Me.

And especially the ones who stuck with me from the beginning, Nolan, Hector, Srinivas, Shahzada, John Garcia, Gisli, mud104, Marco, Matthew, Sava, Damayne, Xenox21, Howellsy, and everyone who is reading this from the start!!

I want to say that You guys were part of this as much as I was! If it wasn't for your love and support, I wouldn't be this motivated or the commitment to this story! (Damn, I want to cry now!)

It was a fun journey, really…

And one special Thanks to Flying Bear Rider! I hope I was able to get your vision to everyone!

Your work has inspired me and many else in this fandom.

If you are reading this, on behalf of all Ace of Diamond Fandom, I would like to express my deep thanks for your effort and passion! Again, truly, Thank You Very Much!!

And for you all, thank you for reading this!

See you again in another AoD! Until then, stay safe!

Goodbye, Cold Colt Out!

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