Chapter 522 - 522: The Bat Sent Flying

"A Changeup...?"

"Mr. Zhou Hao actually threw a Changeup at a time like this?"

Standing in the batter's box, Mishima felt as though his entire understanding of baseball had just been overturned.

Until this moment...

He hadn't truly understood Zhou Hao.

It didn't matter whether Mishima could eventually make contact with the ball.

As long as there was even the slightest chance he could hit a fastball...

Zhou Hao would never throw one.

That was what made the nation's number-one player so terrifying.

His dominance wasn't defined solely by overwhelming velocity or dazzling statistics.

It was also reflected in his baseball IQ...

His judgment...

His experience.

A bright smile spread across Mishima's face.

Seeing it, Seido's players and supporters exchanged puzzled looks.

"Did Zhou Hao break him?"

"He's just a first-year. Even if he doesn't look like one, he's still a rookie."

"I think his entire worldview just got shattered."

"He came in expecting a head-on battle, but Zhou Hao never even considered him worthy of one."

If Mishima had truly been a batter capable of threatening him, Zhou Hao wouldn't have minded facing him with pure speed.

But in Zhou Hao's eyes...

Mishima wasn't that kind of opponent.

His objective had been simple from the very beginning.

Strike him out.

Nothing else mattered.

Since that was the goal, there was no need to keep throwing exhausting high-velocity fastballs.

A single pitch capable of inducing a swing and miss...

Was more than enough.

Inside Yakushi's dugout...

Coach Todoroki Raizo wore a complicated expression.

Long before today's game, everyone on Yakushi had known just how extraordinary Zhou Hao was.

As the undisputed number one in the country...

He had dominated every stage he stepped onto.

Coach Todoroki had spent countless hours preparing his players mentally for this challenge.

He had repeatedly told them what kind of mindset they needed if they hoped to compete against someone like Zhou Hao.

But now...

Even he found himself questioning those preparations.

Reality was simply too overwhelming.

No amount of planning could bridge such an enormous gap in ability.

Compared with Zhou Hao's actual level...

Everything they had prepared seemed almost laughable.

Trying to stick to their original game plan would only make things worse.

Coach Todoroki suddenly smiled.

"As expected of the nation's number one."

"I'm actually happy you all get the chance to face a player like him."

"When I played professionally..."

"I never encountered anyone quite like this."

His words sounded like praise for the opponent.

Yet somehow...

The atmosphere inside Yakushi's dugout relaxed.

Although hearing their coach compliment Seido wasn't exactly pleasant...

No one could deny the truth.

The pressure weighing on the freshmen suddenly became much lighter.

Even Coach Todoroki, who had competed in professional baseball, admitted he had never faced someone like Zhou Hao.

If they couldn't beat him...

Perhaps that wasn't something to be ashamed of.

It was a strangely comforting thought.

The situation itself hadn't changed.

But their mentality had.

And sometimes...

That made all the difference.

Yakushi's ace, Sanada Shunpei, watched his coach with a faint smile.

"As expected of Coach..."

"He found a way to settle everyone's nerves immediately."

Zhou Hao's overwhelming performance had nearly crushed Yakushi's confidence before the game had truly begun.

Had that continued...

The team might have fallen apart.

Instead, Coach Todoroki's lighthearted words pulled everyone back from the edge.

The Yakushi players straightened up once more.

They were ready to fight again.

"Go get them!"

Coach Todoroki's gaze shifted toward the next batter.

Third batter.

Third baseman.

Todoroki Raichi.

The moment Raichi stepped toward home plate...

The expressions of Seido's players changed.

Even Coach Kataoka became noticeably more serious.

It's him...

Before today's game, Seido had thoroughly analyzed Yakushi's footage.

And one player had stood out above all others.

Todoroki Raichi.

Nearly one-third of Yakushi's offensive production came directly from him.

That statistic alone was astonishing.

Yakushi already possessed one of the most explosive offenses in West Tokyo.

Even compared with the nation's elite powerhouses, their batting lineup wasn't much weaker.

Within such a dangerous lineup...

Raichi alone still accounted for more than a third of the team's runs.

Calling him merely dangerous wasn't enough.

He was a genuine monster.

"It's all up to you, Raichi!"

When Seido's players had first seen him earlier, many were surprised.

Although he looked rough around the edges...

His overall demeanor was surprisingly gentle.

Nothing about him resembled the wild slugger described in the scouting reports.

Then...

He picked up a bat.

The instant his fingers wrapped around the handle...

Everything changed.

His entire aura transformed.

A wild, almost feral presence burst from him.

"Hehehe..."

"I'm gonna hit it!"

Even standing across from Zhou Hao...

Even after witnessing a 166 km/h fastball...

Raichi showed not the slightest trace of fear.

Instead...

His only thought was hitting the ball.

That confidence made Seido's supporters unconsciously hold their breath.

They couldn't understand where such confidence came from.

All they could see...

Was a batter poised to attack.

At first, neither Seido's players nor their supporters had paid him much attention.

Not because they underestimated Yakushi...

But because Zhou Hao was standing on the mound.

To everyone connected with Seido...

Zhou Hao represented absolute invincibility.

As long as he pitched...

No opponent should be capable of threatening Seido.

Everything should have unfolded exactly as expected.

But reality...

Had other plans.

Standing in the batter's box...

Raichi never retreated.

The instant Zhou Hao's pitch exploded toward the plate...

He attacked without hesitation.

BOOM!

A fastball exceeding 160 kilometers per hour came screaming toward the plate.

Boom!!

A terrifying swing, powerful enough to shock the entire stadium, met it head-on.

The bat and the ball crossed through the strike zone almost simultaneously.

However, there was the slightest deviation in the middle, and the bat missed by mere centimeters.

Pop!

The baseball slammed into Miyuki Kazuya's waiting mitt.

"Strike!"

Zhou Hao took the first strike.

Crouched behind the plate, Miyuki's expression remained anything but relaxed.

"He matched the timing on the very first pitch..."

Zhou Hao's fastball wasn't 150 km/h.

It exceeded 160.

Miyuki had never seen anyone accurately time a swing against that kind of velocity on the very first pitch.

Yet the boy standing in the batter's box had done exactly that.

Despite swinging through the ball, Todoroki Raichi showed no sign of frustration. Instead, his excitement only grew.

"So fast... The ball is like a flash of light. Just watching it isn't enough... I have to feel it with my whole body..."

Raichi muttered to himself.

A bead of cold sweat rolled down Miyuki's forehead.

Not only had this little monster already found the timing for Zhou Hao's fastball...

He was actually analyzing it.

It was as if he truly intended to blast Zhou Hao's pitch out of the stadium.

Inside the Yakushi High dugout, Mishima stood at the front of the bench with a worried expression.

Although he had once admired Zhou Hao,

they now stood on opposite sides of the field.

His loyalty belonged to Yakushi.

"Don't get tunnel vision trying to challenge Mr. Zhou Hao's fastball. He could throw a changeup or a breaking ball at any moment."

Even as he thought that, Mishima knew understanding it and dealing with it were two completely different things.

To hit a 160 km/h fastball, a batter had to commit to the swing early.

If Zhou Hao switched to a breaking ball or changeup halfway through, an early swing would be fatal.

Simply put...

Zhou Hao was just too overwhelming.

Beating him on the field was unimaginably difficult.

As that thought crossed Mishima's mind, Zhou Hao delivered his second pitch.

Boom!

The ball exploded out of his hand with the same breathtaking speed.

In the blink of an eye, it was already in front of the batter.

So fast!

Even on his second look, Raichi was still astonished by the sheer velocity.

But instead of fear...

His excitement only intensified.

The instant the baseball entered his hitting zone, he unleashed another full-power swing.

Boom!!

A thunderous roar echoed throughout the stadium.

The home plate umpire and Miyuki both stared at the bat in disbelief.

Had they not witnessed it themselves, they never would have believed such a swing was possible.

It wasn't merely powerful.

It looked capable of destroying everything in its path.

Crack!

The bat connected squarely with the ball.

The impact sent the baseball rocketing into the sky.

Every eye in the stadium followed it.

Then—

Pop!

"Foul!"

One strike.

One foul.

On paper, Raichi had been driven into a two-strike count.

One more strike, and Zhou Hao would end the at-bat.

Yet everyone could feel it.

The player with the momentum wasn't Zhou Hao.

It was Todoroki Raichi.

"That monster actually caught up to the pitch?"

"That was 163 km/h! I've never seen anyone make contact with a pitch that fast on their first encounter."

"He's way too good..."

"And he's only a first-year!"

The crowd buzzed with disbelief.

For a moment, it almost felt as though the rookie truly had the ability to challenge Zhou Hao.

Inside Yakushi's dugout, however, Mishima thought differently.

"Don't get your hopes up... Mr. Zhou Hao isn't going to keep throwing fastballs."

He knew that better than anyone.

Earlier, Zhou Hao had struck him out with a devastating changeup after setting him up with fastballs.

The same thing could easily happen again.

Just as everyone reached that conclusion—

A faint smile appeared on Zhou Hao's face.

It had been a long time since he had faced someone this interesting.

The boy standing in the batter's box truly was a monster.

No matter how overwhelming the velocity, he somehow managed to make contact.

"Then..."

"Try hitting this."

Zhou Hao adjusted his grip.

He stepped forward and fired the baseball toward home plate.

Boom!

The instant the ball left his fingertips, the entire stadium froze.

It was unbelievably fast.

But more eye-catching than its speed...

...was its violent rotation.

"That's not a fastball!"

Standing in the batter's box, Raichi recognized it immediately.

This wasn't an ordinary fastball.

It was Zhou Hao's famous signature pitch—

The Spiral Ball.

He simply hadn't used it for so long that most people had forgotten about it.

Already backed into a two-strike count, Raichi had no choice but to swing.

Gripping the bat tightly with both hands, he attacked with everything he had.

Boom!!

The violent sound of the bat slicing through the air made even the home plate umpire's heart skip a beat.

Was something incredible about to happen?

The very next instant—

Crack!

The bat met the baseball.

The moment he felt the impact, Raichi's eyes lit up.

His greatest fear had been missing entirely.

He had also worried Zhou Hao would suddenly switch to a breaking ball.

Had that happened, he would've been in serious trouble.

But neither of those possibilities came true.

What Zhou Hao threw wasn't a breaking ball.

Nor was it a changeup.

It wasn't even a conventional fastball.

It was the Spiral Ball.

Following the timing he had already adjusted to, Raichi managed to make solid contact.

Now that he'd connected...

He was confident he could drive it out of the park.

Just as Raichi poured all of his strength into the swing—

A violent shock exploded through his wrists.

What?!

Before he could understand what had happened...

The bat was ripped from his hands and sent flying backward.