Chapter 235: The Eternal Baserunner

On October 2nd, Seido defeated Teito, and the news quickly spread throughout Tokyo.

Although Seido’s ace, Ushijima Wakatoshi, never took the mound, he dominated the game with his bat and once again became the center of attention.

Their next opponent, Nanamori Academy, awaited them on October 9th.

With a full week before the next game, the team returned to its usual training schedule.

Of course, baseball wasn’t everything.

They still had classes to attend.

Today happened to be music class.

Ushijima sat near the back of the classroom, absentmindedly stifling a yawn.

The music teacher immediately noticed.

“Ushijima.”

“Are my lessons really that boring?”

She was a young, elegant woman dressed in professional attire, speaking with a teasing smile.

Ushijima scratched his cheek.

“Not really.”

“I’m just a little sleepy.”

“I stayed up playing games last night, so I didn’t get enough sleep.”

He assumed that would be the end of it.

Instead, the teacher smiled even wider.

“Then why don’t you come up and sing a song?”

“That should wake you up.”

Ushijima smiled helplessly.

Last semester, he had already demonstrated his piano skills during class.

His classmates also knew he could sing.

“Yay! We get to hear Ushijima sing again!”

The girls immediately applauded excitedly.

Meanwhile…

Kanemaru, Sawamura, and the other baseball players wore expressions of utter annoyance.

This guy…

He’s already handsome.

He’s the ace of the baseball team.

He’s popular with everyone.

And that’s still not enough?

To make matters worse…

His grades were absurdly good.

Aside from barely passing History during the previous semester’s final exams, he had scored almost perfect marks in every other subject, making him the top student in the first-year class.

As if that weren’t enough…

He could play both the piano and guitar.

And he could sing.

People like that were destined to be popular.

“What should I sing?”

Ushijima looked toward the teacher.

She waved her hand casually.

“Anything you like.”

“Class is almost over anyway.”

“If you’re still sleepy…”

“Why not play the piano while you sing?”

“There aren’t any restrictions.”

“Just perform whatever comes to mind.”

Since she left the choice entirely to him, Ushijima walked over to the piano.

As he sat down, a familiar melody suddenly surfaced in his memory.

It was a song he had loved in his previous life.

A song that perfectly suited him…

And baseball itself.

He had played it countless times before.

His fingers naturally found the keys.

The opening melody burst forth with urgency and passion.

Every note carried the spirit of youth.

His slender fingers danced gracefully across the keyboard.

The entire classroom gradually fell silent.

Then he began to sing.

“Everyone dreams of becoming the Eternal Baserunner…”

The opening lyric stunned everyone.

The music teacher frowned slightly.

I’ve never heard this song before…

Meanwhile…

Kanemaru, Sawamura, and the other baseball players stared blankly at Ushijima.

The lyrics continued.

“Beneath the endless blue sky,

That distant figure keeps running.”

“Along the river of time…”

“Everyone dreams beneath the summer sun…”

“You continue looking toward the horizon…”

“I can no longer hide my admiration for you…”

“Live on…”

“That person is the Eternal Baserunner, chasing an endless dream…”

“Breathing out white mist, running forward without stopping…”

“That person is the Eternal Baserunner…”

“With tears burning in his heart…”

“Running endlessly along the basepaths of youth…”

As the final note faded, silence filled the classroom.

The song Ushijima had just performed—

“The Eternal Baserunner.”

It had originally been an insert song from a baseball anime he had loved in his previous life.

It was one of his favorite baseball songs.

But…

This wasn’t his previous world.

This was the world of Diamond no Ace.

That anime didn’t exist here.

Neither did the song.

Every student stared at him in complete amazement.

No one had ever heard such a baseball song before.

It was emotional.

Passionate.

Filled with dreams.

More importantly…

It was completely original to them.

Seeing everyone’s strange expressions, Ushijima blinked.

“Hm?”

“What’s wrong?”

“Was it… not very good?”

He looked toward the music teacher.

Instead of answering, she asked,

“Ushijima…”

“Did you write this song yourself?”

“…”

Ushijima instinctively opened his mouth.

“I…”

He had almost said—

“It’s an insert song from a baseball anime.”

Then he suddenly froze.

…Wait.

This was Japan.

But it was also an anime world.

The baseball anime from his previous life simply didn’t exist here.

There was no way anyone could know this song.

After a brief silence, Ushijima awkwardly scratched his head.

“Uh…”

“I just… wrote it whenever inspiration struck.”

The moment those words left his mouth…

He immediately regretted them.

The music teacher’s eyes sparkled.

“That’s incredible!”

“I never imagined you had talent for songwriting and composition as well.”

“Hehe…”

Ushijima laughed awkwardly.

There was no way to explain it now.

“WHOOOOAA!!”

The classroom suddenly exploded into cheers.

“Ushijima, you jerk!”

“You actually wrote something this good?!”

“It gave me goosebumps!”

“Seriously!”

Sawamura pointed at him excitedly.

His eyes were even a little red.

As a baseball player…

The song had resonated with him far more deeply than anyone else.

Watching everyone’s enthusiastic reactions, Ushijima could only scratch his head helplessly.

…I think I’ve accidentally made a huge mistake.

Unfortunately…

His worries soon became reality.

Several classmates had secretly recorded the performance on their phones.

Before long, the video spread throughout Seido.

It appeared on the school forum…

Then on blogs…

Then across baseball communities.

Within days, “The Eternal Baserunner”—a song supposedly written by Seido’s ace, Ushijima Wakatoshi—had become the talk of the school.

Its popularity even began spreading beyond Seido.

When Ushijima eventually found out…

He could only sigh helplessly.

Before singing it, he had specifically searched online.

The baseball anime from his previous life truly didn’t exist in this world.

Which meant…

Neither did its songs.

Since no one else could claim ownership…

Everyone naturally believed the song was his original creation.

He couldn’t exactly tell them the truth.

So all he could do…

Was quietly accept the misunderstanding, even if it left him feeling more than a little embarrassed.