After the game, when the two sides shook hands, Azuma Kiyokuni and Ishihi Yohei didn't say a word, but the way they looked at each other seemed to say everything.
"Is this what it feels like to be both an enemy and a friend?" Kanzaki Ryou said while packing his things.
Miyuki shook his head when he heard this. "Who knows."
"You don't know? I think you and Little Blondie are like that, right?"
Kanzaki Ryou chuckled. "When we meet in the semi-finals, we'll beat that guy badly. Kazuya, will you feel bad too?"
Hearing this, Miyuki actually stopped his movements and thought carefully for several seconds.
"Koshien is everyone's dream. No matter who loses, they will be sad. I don't want to be sad, so I can only inconvenience Narumiya Mei," Miyuki said.
"He'll cry, won't he?"
"Definitely."
Kanzaki Ryou and Miyuki Kazuya went back and forth, talking about Narumiya Mei.
At this time, the outside world was already hotly discussing Seido's recently concluded game. In the quarter-finals, facing Takasaki High School, Seido still scored 9:1, which made many people feel Seido's strength this year—especially since this was without the Ace pitching.
When the summer qualifiers first started, although Tokyo baseball fans didn't underestimate Seido, most believed this year should be a competition between the three major powerhouses, even if Seido seemed to have a slightly better chance of winning.
However, after the first few rounds, Seido's dominance was more straightforward than the other two powerhouses, winning every game by a large margin. This made many who were originally optimistic about Seido even more confident, even directly shouting after the game that Seido would definitely be the champion.
Seido's supporters' confidence greatly increased, but Inajitsu's fans were not in a good mood. Seeing Seido's excellent performance, they couldn't help but worry about their own team. Seido had always given the impression of having a very strong batting lineup—one of the top batting lineups in West Tokyo and nationwide.
Back then, everyone knew that Seido's weakness was an unstable pitcher's mound. As long as the pitching problem could be solved, Seido would become a strong contender for the West Tokyo championship.
Later, Kanzaki Ryou appeared, compensating for Seido's unstable pitching. But even so, Inajitsu's fans still didn't believe Seido could surpass Inajitsu.
One reason was that Inajitsu also had powerful pitchers—their Ace, and the equally formidable first-year rookie Narumiya Mei.
The second reason was the strong confidence from Inajitsu's impressive record.
Since Coach Kunitomo took over Inashiro Industrial, they had advanced to Koshien more than ten times, and in recent years, they had entered Koshien six times. It could be said that every Inajitsu team member had Koshien experience.
As for the other two powerhouses, in the past five years, Ichidai Third High had entered Koshien twice, and Seido had not entered once.
Now, after watching these past few games, Seido had begun to make Inajitsu's fans feel threatened. What made them most uneasy was not Ace Kanzaki Ryou, but Seido's batting lineup.
The strength of this batting lineup seemed to have improved further. Maybe this growth wasn't obvious with Azuma Kiyokuni and Yuki Tetsuya, but if you carefully compared past data, the improvement of Seido's lower batting lineup was extremely clear.
Seido's current batting lineup was no longer relying on two or three players as before, but multiple players contributing—everyone able to perform as expected and connect offenses smoothly.
Could their pitchers completely suppress Seido?
An hour later, Inajitsu's players stood on the field, while the Seido team collected information from the stands.
In the 1/8 finals, Inashiro Industrial faced Kokushikan High School.
That's right—this game featured Zaizen's Kokuto-kan against Inajitsu. There were many highlights!
Sitting next to Chris, Kanzaki Ryou quietly observed Chris's expression.
Seeing his former good friend and partner fighting on the field, he must have been happy for him but also unwilling.
Thinking of this, Kanzaki Ryou couldn't help but worry about Zaizen. This guy got injured in this year's summer qualifiers. Could it be this game?
Kokushikan High had experienced a brutal journey so far. This team could almost be described as a one-man army—there was Zaizen, and without Zaizen, they were completely different.
It's often said that powerhouses lack strong pitchers, and dark horses lack strong batters.
This statement was only half true for Kokuto-kan. They didn't lack strong pitchers or strong batters—it was all Zaizen.
Being on a weak team, Zaizen's immense strength also meant he bore the heaviest pressure. After several rounds of games, Kokushikan had nearly exhausted all their innings, and Zaizen himself was over-exerted. Combined with this devilish schedule, it was not surprising that he would eventually get injured.
"Chris-senpai, who do you think will win?" Kanzaki Ryou asked while watching the game.
After two innings, Inajitsu led Kokushikan 2:1.
"Inajitsu," Chris said.
"Then who do you hope wins?"
Chris paused for a few seconds and said softly, "Kokushikan, I guess. Facing them, we'd have an easier time."
Kanzaki Ryou smiled. That was indeed a very reasonable reason.
As time passed and the game grew more intense, Kanzaki Ryou noticed that Zaizen's pitching gradually grew weaker.
Facing Inajitsu, Zaizen keeping the score at 3:1 after five innings was already extremely difficult.
But now, his body finally reached its limit.
Two more innings passed. The score became 4:1, and Zaizen suddenly collapsed on the pitcher's mound, clutching his leg while groaning in pain. The entire stadium gasped in shock, and Chris beside Kanzaki Ryou shot up from his seat, his notebook falling to the ground.
"Zaizen…" Chris whispered.
Zaizen was soon carried onto a stretcher. As he left the field, he raised his arm to cover his eyes—unwilling tears dripping onto the ground.
Kanzaki Ryou sighed helplessly. He could find ways to prevent Chris-senpai's situation back then, but he was helpless with Zaizen—they weren't on the same team.
Watching such a talented player get injured and leave the field—with his future baseball career possibly affected—Kanzaki Ryou's mood grew heavy.
A few minutes later, the paused game resumed. Without Zaizen, Kokushikan was completely unable to resist Inajitsu's offense. The Inajitsu players didn't hold back just because their opponent's Ace had just been injured.
They scored eight runs in two innings, ending the game 12:1.
Kokushikan's players didn't even have time to cry over losing. As soon as the game ended, everyone packed up and rushed out of the stadium with their Coach straight to the hospital, they wanted to know Zaizen's condition immediately.