Could Narumiya Mei and Carlos truly be the hidden aces of Inashiro Industrial High School Baseball Team?
Takashima Rei's question hung in the air.
Zhang Han and Miyuki exchanged a brief glance. After a moment of silent understanding, Miyuki spoke first.
"Carlos is fast. His physical abilities are outstanding, and his defense is very solid. He's definitely a promising player," Miyuki said calmly. "But his batting isn't particularly strong—at least, it wasn't in middle school. It would be difficult for him to suddenly become a decisive trump card."
He paused briefly, then added, "Of course, what I'm saying is based on his middle school performance. Even if he's improved rapidly, it's unlikely that he could replace Inashiro's current core players in such a short time. At most, he could be considered a surprise move… not a real trump card."
The players nodded subconsciously.
Then Miyuki's expression grew more serious.
"But Narumiya Mei is different."
Everyone straightened slightly.
"I've never seen a pitcher as talented as him," Miyuki continued. "Back in middle school, his fastball velocity had already reached 140 kilometers per hour. He was a textbook power pitcher, and on top of that, he had already mastered a Slider."
A fastball at 140 kilometers per hour in middle school.
What would his current velocity be now?
The impact of that realization hit the Seido players like a hammer.
If this information was true, then Narumiya Mei was very likely to become Inashiro Industrial's true trump card.
And yet—
Even knowing this, the Seido High School players felt helpless.
Up to now, Inashiro Industrial had never sent Narumiya Mei onto the field. There was no high school game footage of him at all.
Everything Seido could find came from his middle school days.
But that information was already a year old.
For young players, a year could mean a complete transformation. Old data was almost meaningless.
That was why they hadn't bothered to study it in depth.
"Haha, he's just a first-year brat," Azuma Kiyokuni said with a laugh, breaking the tension. "Are we really going to be scared of him?"
He turned toward Zhang Han with a grin.
"Zhang Han, you should've faced him before, right? Didn't you even beat him? What do you think?"
Azuma casually tossed the question over.
Last year's Tokyo Youth Baseball Championship final had been between Matsukata and Narumiya Mei's team. Matsukata had won by a large margin.
That match wasn't just famous in middle school circles—it was also well known among high school teams.
The final score had been something like 5–1 or 6–1.
As the ace pitcher, Narumiya Mei had given up that many runs.
And that was during his youth baseball days.
Azuma believed that even if Narumiya was talented, he couldn't possibly be that terrifying.
The record was right there. Didn't it already explain everything?
But Zhang Han didn't nod as Azuma expected.
"We did face each other," Zhang Han said slowly. "Overall, the win–loss record between our two teams was about fifty–fifty. In our last game last summer, the score was 5–1. Narumiya Mei isn't invincible."
Hearing that, several teammates quietly breathed a sigh of relief.
If this were before, they wouldn't have been so cautious about a first-year player.
But now they had no choice.
Miyuki and Zhang Han were living examples standing right in front of them.
First-year players could also grow into terrifying monsters.
They couldn't afford to ignore that possibility.
Zhang Han's words lowered their guard—if only slightly.
As long as Narumiya Mei wasn't some unstoppable demon, they could deal with him.
But then Zhang Han spoke again.
"However," he said calmly, "personally speaking… out of the seven or eight times I've faced him directly, I haven't won a single one."
Silence.
Not a single win?
Zhang Han?!
The room froze.
That was Zhang Han—the same Zhang Han who was now competing head-on with Azuma Kiyokuni and Yuuki Tetsuya.
And yet he had never beaten Narumiya Mei even once? The shock was overwhelming.
On the other side of the city, inside the strategy meeting room of the Inashiro Industrial High School Baseball Team—
"Since you didn't lose to Zhang Han, then how did you lose the last game?"
When someone asked that question, Narumiya Mei fell silent.
Last year's Matsukata Little League team had been at the peak of its strength.
Even though Narumiya himself had been powerful at the time, how could he possibly stop a batting lineup composed of Zhang Han, Hoshida, Miyakawa, Yamamoto, Ono, Kanemaru, Toujou, and others?
That lineup was pure brutality. One teammate after another collapsed, leaving Narumiya standing alone on the mound, powerless.
That memory still made his chest tighten.
Why did Narumiya Mei gather a group of friends and enter Inashiro Industrial together after graduating?
A large part of the reason was simple. He believed he couldn't win alone.
Look at Matsukata.
They had gathered elites from everywhere, overcome countless obstacles, and advanced all the way to the national finals.
Even though they ultimately lost, that wasn't because they were weak.
It was just bad luck.
Whenever Narumiya thought back to that game, he felt a deep sense of helplessness.
But now, things were different. He no longer needed to be afraid.
First, his own strength had improved dramatically after joining Inashiro Industrial. If he were to replay that match now, even if he wasn't confident he could win, given the massive gap between the two sides, he was absolutely certain he wouldn't be reduced to such a miserable state again.
Second, he now had reliable teammates.
This year's Inashiro Industrial was in a transitional phase.
The second-year players had begun to emerge but hadn't fully matured. The third-year players lacked figures like Azuma Kiyokuni or Kameshima to lead them.
As for the first-years, they were still playing minor roles.
It wasn't the weakest Inashiro of the past decade—but it was undeniably one of the weaker ones.
In truth, at this moment, none of the three great powerhouses were truly perfect.
Victory wasn't about who was stronger.
It was about who made fewer mistakes.
Compared to the powerhouse lineups that would appear in the next one or two years, there was still a noticeable gap.
But even so—
An uncrowned king was still an uncrowned king.
Every position was filled by a capable senior.
Narumiya Mei was no longer fighting alone.
He had teammates he could trust. Tomorrow, when he faced Seido and stood opposite Zhang Han once more, he would make that petty guy understand something clearly.
The so-called "strongest newcomer of West Tokyo"?
In Narumiya Mei's eyes, that title existed only because the tiger hadn't appeared yet. Zhang Han had merely taken advantage of his absence. Once Narumiya stepped onto the field, he would reclaim the title himself.
With their own thoughts and calculations, both teams planned deep into the night.
The next morning, almost simultaneously, Seido High School and Inashiro Industrial set out for Jingu Stadium—
To fight for a place in the semifinals, and for a step closer to Koshien.
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