Chapter 701 - 701: Cruel World

Inside Coach Kataoka's office.

The team's several bigwigs were all gathered by the window. From Coach Kataoka's office window, they could perfectly overlook the entire field.

Zhang Han and Sawamura's showdown caused quite a stir within the team.

Before their confrontation, the spectators had already taken their seats, waiting to watch the show.

When Chris entered the field, he could see schadenfreude in the eyes of these guys.

They seemed eager to see Sawamura get taught a lesson.

Recently, besides occasionally guiding Sawamura, Chris had been dedicating most of his energy to competing with Miyuki for a position.

He truly didn't understand why the players were acting this way.

"Is Sawamura's popularity that bad?"

Actually, Chris was mistaken; Sawamura's popularity was indeed average, but not as bad as he thought. It was just that this guy was too high-profile, whether during practice or when interacting with teammates.

Coupled with his innate talent, he had gradually solidified his position as the second team's Ace pitcher.

His teammates all wanted to see what kind of expression Sawamura would make if he were taught a lesson.

They were expectant, even impatient.

"Thank you all for coming to support me. I will definitely not let you down."

When Sawamura arrived, he looked at his cheering teammates, excitedly spread his arms, and kept waving in thanks.

Although these upperclassmen usually spoke harshly, they still valued him at critical moments.

Even when he was facing Zhang Han, these people stood firmly behind him.

Chris heard his partner's words and widened his eyes in disbelief.

Is there something wrong with Sawamura's eyes?

Which eye of his saw that these guys were here to support him?

The schadenfreude of these guys was already blatantly written all over their faces, okay?

However, to Chris's surprise, the people around them did not refute Sawamura's words. On the contrary, their eyes shone frighteningly.

"It's up to you, Seido's next Ace."

"Take down Han-san in one go! Don't wait until next year, I support you now!"

The second team's teammates were so loyal.

Kuramochi, who was watching the show, understood the thoughts of these second team players most thoroughly.

"What a bunch of shameless guys!"

These guys are being sarcastic. I wonder if Sawamura will be able to handle such a huge blow of disappointment when the game results come out?

"But then again, this guy's character is quite worrying! He's only been in the second team for how long, and he's already provoked so much resentment."

The originally noisy guys, the moment they saw that figure appear, were as if something had plugged their mouths.

They all fell silent.

The entire field could no longer hear a single sound.

Zhang Han.

After he stood in the batter's box, Sawamura, who had previously seemed to be the center of the world, suddenly had his light dimmed significantly.

As soon as Zhang Han entered the field, people's attention naturally shifted.

Zhang Han ignored these guys, and he didn't even acknowledge Sawamura.

He just gave a slight bow to Chris, who was squatting on the ground.

"Senior, please guide me!"

"Our junior's pitch is still very unstable right now. How about we have one pitch first?"

Hearing Chris's words, Zhang Han's astonishment was clearly visible.

If Miyuki were waiting to catch the ball right now, Zhang Han wouldn't be surprised at all if he said something like that.

Miyuki's personality was inherently like that; it wouldn't be surprising for him to do such a thing.

But Chris was different.

Although Zhang Han hadn't had much contact with this upperclassman, he believed he understood Chris to some extent.

Compared to Miyuki, Chris was much more serious.

Zhang Han had never thought before that Chris would say such a thing.

However, this also reminded Zhang Han that their relationship was no longer simply that of an upperclassman and a junior.

But opponents!

What he needed to face was not just Sawamura, but also Chris, and those who were currently playing defense on the field.

It's just that the second team players responsible for defense didn't seem to have very high morale right now.

"I really don't understand. What's the point of us standing here? Are we just live targets?"

One of the third-year upperclassmen kicked the dirt beneath his feet in annoyance.

"No matter what, Sawamura and we are both second team players. Sawamura represents not only the first-year newcomers but also the standard of our second team."

This sentence was fine before it was spoken, but once it was out, the players responsible for defense on the field basically felt very awkward.

Zhang Han and Sawamura were facing off; how crazy would they have to be to choose to stand behind Sawamura?

After Chris noticed this, he hesitated over whether to call a timeout first.

This showdown was truly bizarre: Zhang Han, with the strength of one person, was going up against their entire team.

Zhang Han, all by himself, was completely fearless, looking as if he already had victory in his grasp.

On the contrary, among the nine people in their team, everyone except Sawamura was not entirely at ease.

Given the current situation, they really had no confidence that they could win the upcoming showdown.

Something must be done!

Just as Chris was thinking this, Sawamura, who had already stepped onto the pitcher's mound, suddenly took a deep breath, puffing out his stomach.

Is this little guy feeling nervous now too?

Seeing this scene, Chris's worries grew incessantly.

If even the fearless Sawamura started to hesitate, then the rest of the second team would probably find it difficult to perform at their best.

"I will keep making Zhang Han hit the ball, and I'll leave the defense behind me to everyone!"

Initially, the second team players actually didn't think highly of Sawamura. Even when cooperating in defense, they didn't intend to give their 100% effort.

Several players were thinking about just going through the motions.

This was Sawamura's practice; they were just assisting, so they just needed to fulfill their duties and didn't need to overthink it.

But after Sawamura stood on the pitcher's mound and shouted those words...

The entire atmosphere on the field completely changed.

No matter how much they disliked Sawamura before, when Sawamura trusted them one hundred percent and entrusted his back to them...

These second team players were still moved.

The situation on the field had now turned into these people challenging the biggest hitting monster in the Seido High School Baseball Team, and even in the entire country.

"Let him hit it!"

Maezono was the first to cheer.

Immediately after, the other teammates also successively shouted out their voices.

In Coach Kataoka's office.

Ochiai looked at the scene before him with some surprise: "I didn't expect Sawamura to have such strong charisma on the field?"

He was very surprised.

Although Ochiai hadn't said anything before, this didn't mean he was unaware of the challenges Sawamura faced.

Sawamura's opponents were not just Zhang Han, but also himself and the teammates cooperating with him.

How would he overcome his fear of Zhang Han? And how would he coordinate his teammates' condition?

These were all tests for Sawamura.

As for the current result, Sawamura's performance had exceeded their imagination.

Although they still didn't know what the final result of his showdown with Zhang Han would be...

But there was one thing they could see.

That was Sawamura's progress.

Although that little guy had caused a lot of commotion shortly after joining the team, making him particularly conspicuous...

However, the Coach of the Seido High School Baseball Team and the coaching staff had a very clear assessment of this guy's ability.

As for Sawamura at that time, he had only shown sufficiently strong talent; he still had a very long way to go before demonstrating his true ability.

But the current Sawamura was already a changed person.

On him, not only talent was displayed, but also some other striking qualities.

"When I originally selected him to join the team, it wasn't entirely because I valued his quirk ball. His teammates were just a bunch of baseball novices. Yet Sawamura could lead such a group of teammates and contend with opponents until the very end. Especially his last pitch, which showed me what a true Ace should look like."

Takashima Rei said with a smile.

The other bigwigs might be surprised, not expecting Sawamura to have such strong leadership.

But for Takashima Rei, she had already known this all along, so she wasn't surprised at all.

"It's about to start!"

Ota didn't observe as meticulously as the other bigwigs; he was more focused on the progress of the game.

Sawamura, encouraged by the audience and his teammates, seemed full of confidence.

Ota strongly suspected that this guy's innate personality might just be like this.

Even without the encouragement of his teammates and those spectators, his fighting spirit at this moment would probably not be diminished at all.

Chris, at the catcher's position.

When he saw Sawamura begin to prepare his pitch, he gave him a deep look.

Just before the game, Chris had discussed with Sawamura alone about what kind of opponent he was facing.

Looking at the current high school baseball world, purely in terms of comprehensive hitting, there was no more terrifying monster than Zhang Han.

To deal with such a guy, Sawamura's original talent alone might not be enough.

They needed sufficiently brilliant pitch calling to have any hope of solving this monster.

"So control is the key!"

Chris wasn't without hesitation, but to solve Zhang Han, they had to start from these aspects.

Chris immediately placed his glove on the inside corner.

This scene shocked many people watching the game.

Miyuki's eyes suddenly lit up a lot.

"When did that little guy learn an inside pitch?"

Originally, Sawamura had absolutely no hope against Zhang Han.

But if he mastered the inside pitch, he might just find a glimmer of hope.

Miyuki wasn't the only one with this thought.

Thinking of the characteristics of Sawamura's quirk ball, if he could really skillfully use corner pitches, then maybe...

"Whoosh!"

On the pitcher's mound, Sawamura put all his effort into throwing the baseball in his hand.

To gain the upper hand first, he truly used every ounce of strength he had.

After seeing his pitch, Chris was initially a bit worried.

After all, up until now, Sawamura had only just learned to use an inside pitch, and he hadn't had much opportunity to practice...

This time, facing Zhang Han, in order to achieve surprise, Chris still directly gave the signal for an inside pitch.

The young man named Sawamura did not disappoint Chris; the angle of his pitch was very tricky.

In the process of Chris guiding Sawamura, an inside pitch of this level could definitely rank in the top three.

Facing Zhang Han, the first pitch was so tricky.

As long as they could get a good count, then next...

Just as Chris's brain began to pre-plan what actions they should take...

A bat suddenly appeared in front of him.

"Buzz!"

The low swing seemed to completely suck all the air out of the batter's box.

Chris's brain froze, and he looked at Zhang Han in disbelief.

How could he possibly hit such a ball?

"Ping..."

To everyone's disbelief, Zhang Han directly hit Sawamura's ball with one swing.

The white baseball drew a huge arc in the sky and then fell outside the wall.

"Homerun!"

Zhang Han nonchalantly blasted the baseball out of the field.

Because it was practice, he didn't have to run around the field, but Zhang Han also proved himself with his actions.

"I'm sorry, young man, this world is just that cruel!"

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