"You sure that wasn't a wild pitch?" Miyuki asked, rubbing the side of his mask.
"Of course not! A wild pitch? Impossible! Never in my life! You're just underestimating my control!" Kanzaki Ryou snapped indignantly.
Heh… control, my ass. That thing flew all the way to the Pacific.
Miyuki groaned inwardly. It was his first time missing two consecutive pitches — and both were because of Kanzaki. Definitely not his fault.
Still, after a few deep breaths, Miyuki couldn't resist. He had never seen such an outrageous slider in his life.
"Come on, throw it again."
Kanzaki shrugged. "Sure."
Whoosh!
The ball took off… and flew again.
Then another one.
And another.
By the third pitch, it was official — Kanzaki's slider and cutter both had major problems.
One barely broke at all, while the other broke so wildly it didn't even know where it was going.
"So?" Kanzaki asked, looking at Miyuki expectantly. "Any way to fix it?"
Miyuki frowned deeply, arms crossed in thought. "Hmm… when you throw the slider, maybe try not putting so much force into your fingers?"
"It doesn't work. I've already tried that," Kanzaki sighed. "The only difference is the pitch slows down, but it still drifts off to the left."
He sounded genuinely frustrated. He'd already thought through multiple adjustments, but none worked — that's why he brought Miyuki to check.
"This is tough," Miyuki muttered. "Even if you aim it inside, it'll still drift out of the strike zone. And it starts breaking halfway, so it's useless for fooling batters."
He finally looked up with a deadpan expression. "It's basically… a junk pitch."
"Huh? Junk?!" Kanzaki's eyes widened. "No way! Absolutely not!"
"Isn't it though?" Miyuki asked flatly.
"Impossible!" Kanzaki protested dramatically, throwing his arms out. "Have you ever seen a slider that drifts that far? It's a one-of-a-kind pitch! The world's first unique slider!"
"What a weirdo," Miyuki muttered under his breath, watching Kanzaki flail around ten meters away. He quietly shuffled a step to the side in case another ball went flying.
"I can't think of any solution right now," Miyuki said finally. "Maybe ask Coach Kataoka or Chris-senpai about it?"
Kanzaki shot him a sharp look. "You're useless, huh? What's the point of you then?"
Miyuki almost choked on his own air. "You—! You can't even throw straight and I'm the useless one?!"
"Forget it," Miyuki sighed, waving a hand. "Let's drop the cutter and slider for now. Just focus on your fastball and changeup. We'll talk about new pitches after tomorrow's game."
"Fine," Kanzaki said, rolling his eyes. "I just got inspired after seeing Nanjo-senpai practicing new pitches."
He wasn't that serious anyway — it was just a passing curiosity. He'd hoped Miyuki might have some insight, but it turned out the great Miyuki Kazuya didn't have a clue.
They dropped the experiment and moved on to regular training, throwing about twenty pitches each — four-seam, two-seam, and changeup.
After finishing in the bullpen, they helped Miyuki remove his gear and then grabbed their bats for hitting practice.
By now, the practice area was alive with activity. Most of the upperclassmen were already deep in their self-training: batting, fielding, base-running, pitching.
Even without Coach Kataoka's supervision, everyone trained as if tomorrow were their last game.
No wonder high school baseball was said to be brutal. After just twenty days in Seidou, Kanzaki truly understood.
Scanning the field, Kanzaki spotted Kuramochi, Kawakami, and Ono Hiroshi practicing together — pitching and hitting drills.
"Yahaha!" Kuramochi let out his signature laugh as he stood in the left batter's box and smacked Kawakami's slider toward left field.
Masu Son, doing fielding practice there, caught it neatly. "Out!"
"Tch!" Kuramochi clicked his tongue, switched to the right batter's box, and barked, "Again!"
Kawakami sighed. Was his slider really that easy to hit? Switching sides wasn't going to change much…
Just then, he noticed Kanzaki and Miyuki nearby. Earlier, Kuramochi had been ranting that he couldn't find them — like some jilted lover who'd been stood up.
"Oi! What are you two doing over there? Where'd you run off to just now?!" Kuramochi shouted, pointing his bat dramatically.
"Practicing. Why?" Kanzaki asked, walking over.
"Why didn't you call me, huh?! You two ran off behind my back!"
"Hey, hey, don't say it like that," Miyuki said, laughing nervously. "It sounds wrong when you put it that way."
Kuramochi grabbed Miyuki by the collar, shaking him in mock anger. Kanzaki just chuckled and turned to Kawakami.
"Hey, Kawakami — mind if I hit your pitches?"
"M-me?" Kawakami froze, clearly caught off guard.
Since Kanzaki and Miyuki had joined the first-string so quickly, Kawakami hadn't had much chance to talk to either of them. He was naturally reserved, so the two had only exchanged polite nods before. Kanzaki suddenly asking to hit his pitches left him flustered.
"What? Is it not okay?" Kanzaki tilted his head. "Am I interrupting your training?"
He'd actually been intrigued after seeing Kawakami's slider. Maybe by facing it directly, he could pick up some insight into fixing his own broken version.
But Kawakami's hesitant look made him wonder if he was being too pushy.
"N-no! Not at all, Kanzaki-san. I can pitch for you," Kawakami said quickly, worried Kanzaki might take it the wrong way.
"That's great." Kanzaki smiled, twirling his bat. "And you can just call me Kanzaki, or Ryou is fine."
Kawakami blinked, surprised by how easygoing he was. "A-alright then, Kanzaki-san."
Kanzaki shook his head with a small smile and stepped into the batter's box. He looked back at Ono.
"Sorry to trouble you, Ono-kun."
Ono lifted his mask, smiling. "Don't expect me to go easy on you, Kanzaki."
Feeling the fiery spirit in Ono's tone, Kanzaki chuckled softly. It seemed the other first-years had officially started seeing him and Miyuki as rivals.
"Don't take it so seriously," Kanzaki said lightly. "I just want to see the movement on Kawakami's slider. Try throwing more of those."
If possible, he planned to ask Nanjo-senpai for advice later, too.
With Nanjo's sharp high-speed slider and his own experimental pitches, maybe—just maybe—he could create something entirely new.
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(Bonus Chapter: 100 Power stones)
(Bonus Chapter: 200 Power stones)
(Bonus Chapter: 300 Power stones)