The official tournament draw. That day, the results were announced.
In the cafeteria, a large crowd gathered around to see the bracket.
Maezono Kenta reacted the loudest:
"Our first-round opponent is Teito?!"
Looking at the groupings, the second-years all went pale.
Rinichi heard a name that was very familiar to him, and curiously stepped closer to look at the bracket.
"This is a group of death…" Kuramochi gritted his teeth. "Why is your luck always so rotten?"
Miyuki laughed heartily, without a shred of guilt:
"Pretty exciting, huh?"
Rinichi, however, wasn't focused on Miyuki's bad draw luck. His eyes were locked on the word "Teito."
If he remembered right… Taiyo had gone to Teito, hadn't he?
He hadn't expected to face him even before Koshien.
The corner of Rinichi's mouth curled upward, a chuckle slipping out, dripping with malice. His eyes gleamed with amusement.
Perfect… this would be his first time facing Taiyo.
He was already plotting something wicked in his mind.
When he came back to his senses, everyone else was staring at him.
Kuramochi's expression was hostile.
"What the hell are you laughing at?"
"Koshien appearances—21 times, spring and summer combined. Twice national champions. They're practically a dynasty."
Takashima Rei explained.
"The captain, Kenji Inui, is a power hitter with a cannon arm. Then there's first-year pitcher Taiyo Mukai, who debuted at Koshien. In the opening game, they'll definitely use that battery."
They hadn't faced each other at Koshien, apparently because Teito had lost badly.
Rinichi recalled this.
"They're the ones who basically carried Teito into the Best Sixteen."
Miyuki added: "They also have a second-year who can throw 140 km/h, but the real ace should be him."
"A left-handed sidearm, with a screwball as his weapon…" Kuramochi thought aloud.
Especially for left-handed batters, it felt like the ball came flying from behind them.
Coach Kataoka, watching video, said:
"Identify the low-breaking pitches. If the ball comes in high, attack it. Simple in principle—but it has to be executed perfectly."
"Also, their hit-and-run tactics. They'll use their speed to disrupt pitchers. They'll pull every trick in the book."
"In the end, it comes down to whether we can stick to our rhythm."
"First and foremost, enjoy the fight against a strong opponent. And beyond that—win!"
The next day's training focused on situational defense.
Rinichi didn't drill at all.
Starting with runners on base, and being asked to throw "easy pitches to hit" just irritated him.
His feelings were complicated.
And today, Miyuki was calling only for pitches on the edges. Combined with Rinichi's speed, the batters couldn't even touch the ball.
Which was why his defensive drills never went smoothly.
Before long, he was pulled out.
Almost everyone had tasted what it was like to face his edge-corner pitches.
The point, of course, was to prepare him for Teito's ace by forcing him to pitch only to the edges.
A ball running from the inside corner across the plate to the outside was already tough enough—but against a sidearm pitcher, the angle would be even harsher.
Kuramochi turned to Kanemaru Shinji and Toujou Hideaki. "You two faced Taiyo Mukai back in junior high, right?"
Rinichi, heading back to the dugout, caught their conversation about Taiyo.
Kanemaru instinctively glanced at Rinichi.
"Not often… We mostly faced Rinichi's complete games instead."
The second-years were surprised.
So Taiyo and Rinichi had been on the same team back in junior high?
"If we're talking tricky angles… Taiyo's were sharper than Rinichi's. But the velocity was nowhere close."
Just a little sharper—that's all. In the bigger picture, they were about the same.
"His command of both inside and outside pitches, combined with the sidearm angle—he was way beyond our level back then."
"I heard Rinichi used to be his battery-mate, right? He'd know best." Kanemaru said.
Everyone's eyes shifted to Rinichi.
That was so long ago.
"It was back in elementary school. By junior high, I wasn't a catcher anymore. And by third year, Taiyo had completely transformed."
He was nothing like before.
If anyone should know, it would be Shinomiya.
"…Still, his strikes aren't like other pitchers'. The backdoor pitch…" Rinichi muttered.
He had casually excluded himself from "other pitchers."
This guy… does he seriously not even remember what his old teammate throws?
"I've thrown pitches like that, haven't I?"
Rinichi turned, genuinely puzzled, and shouted to Miyuki crouching behind the plate:
"Kamishiro, stop disrupting practice!"
The senior on base shouted angrily.
Rinichi answered, then looked back at them.
A pitcher who couldn't even remember what kind of pitches he threw… utterly ridiculous.
Miyuki was deeply troubled by this.
Sometimes Rinichi would unconsciously throw a pitch that Miyuki had never seen before.
Fortunately, this never happened in actual games.
The main issue was that in the bullpen, Rinichi never really thought about what he was throwing—his mind was usually just blank.
The roster for the Autumn Tournament was announced.
Rinichi still firmly held jersey No. 1.
What he couldn't understand, however, was—
why wasn't he batting cleanup?!
Because of that, he glared at Miyuki for a long while.
"Meeting's over. Dismissed!" Coach Kataoka declared.
Miyuki started forward to say something to Rinichi, but Rinichi was already walking away.
"Ah, I'm tired. I'm going to bed."
Without even looking back, he left.
It was only seven o'clock.
A bit too early to be going to sleep.
This scene did not escape Ochiai's eyes.
Batting fifth and still not satisfied…
But then again, back in his second year of junior high, Rinichi was already batting cleanup. For him, cleanup plus the ace's jersey No. 1 was simply the natural order of things.
…The problem was, his relationship with the catcher didn't seem very good.
This captain really had it tough—not only did he have to lead the team, but he also had to pour energy into managing the pitchers.
Even though, truthfully, he only needed to focus on the ace.
When Kuramochi returned to the dorm, he saw Rinichi lying on the floor, reading a book and munching on cookies.
"Hey, didn't you say you were going to bed?"
Rinichi was silent for a few seconds.
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