"Damn it! What kind of joke is this?!"
Narumiya Mei angrily fired the pitch toward home plate.
The instant the ball left his hand, Yuki Tetsuya suddenly changed his stance and squared around for a bunt.
At the exact same moment—
Kuramochi exploded off third base toward home plate.
"Squeeze!"
Third baseman Yoshizawa shouted in alarm to warn the defense.
"What?!"
The entire Inashiro team was stunned the moment they saw Seido's cleanup hitter pulling out a bunt.
"Oh no… this is bad!"
Narumiya, Harada, and the others immediately realized what Seido was trying to do.
CLANG!
Yuki deadened the blazing 148-kilometer fastball perfectly with his bat.
The baseball slowly rolled toward the first-base line.
Even if Narumiya reacted instantly, it was already too late.
WHOOSH!!!
Kuramochi slid across home plate at lightning speed.
"Safe!"
The umpire spread his arms wide.
"Hahaha!"
Kuramochi clenched his fist excitedly after scoring.
Realizing they could no longer stop the run, Harada immediately shouted:
"Second base! Go for the double play!"
"Damn it!"
Narumiya snatched up the ball and fired it toward second.
SNAP!
Hirai Tsubasa caught the throw and immediately relayed it to first base.
"Out!"
The second-base and first-base umpires made their calls almost simultaneously.
"OOOOHHHHH!!!"
Seido's supporters erupted into deafening cheers.
"The cleanup batter… actually used a bunt?!"
The spectators were completely stunned.
Only Azuma Kiyokuni and a few others truly understood the meaning behind that play.
"Yuki… that brat…"
Uesugi stared at the field with goosebumps all over his body.
"Yeah…" Nitta muttered softly. "Last year against Inashiro… we lost because their cleanup batter forced home a run exactly like this."
Azuma's eyes gradually turned red.
"And now…"
"They returned it."
"Last year, Inashiro beat us by using their fourth batter to squeeze out the deciding run."
"But this year…"
"Our fourth batter paid them back the exact same way."
At that moment, the entire Seido cheering section exploded with excitement.
Even the commentators became incoherent from excitement.
No one had expected the opening inning to become this intense.
Meanwhile, over in Inashiro's dugout—
Although "ashen-faced" might have been an exaggeration…
…it was still painfully close.
Coach Kunimoto stared at the field in disbelief.
That scene was far too familiar.
Last year, on this exact stage, Inashiro had stolen victory from Seido using a squeeze play from their cleanup hitter.
And now—
Seido had returned the favor perfectly.
Today's match was supposed to be a pitcher's duel.
Narumiya had started strong, but Seido's tactics completely disrupted his rhythm and created openings.
Two runs allowed in the first inning?
That had almost never happened since Narumiya became Inashiro's ace.
Yet today, it happened immediately.
…
"Nice job, Yuki."
Coach Kataoka gave Yuki a thumbs-up with a satisfied expression.
But Yuki shook his head calmly.
"No… this wasn't my idea."
"To be honest, at first I only wanted a straight-up showdown against Narumiya."
"Then Ushijima reminded me of something."
"'An eye for an eye.'"
"That made me remember last year's game against Inashiro."
"We lost because their cleanup hitter forced home the winning run."
"And since I'm also the cleanup hitter…"
Yuki clenched his fist tightly.
"With all the seniors here watching us today…"
"We absolutely had to settle last year's grudge!"
Hearing those words, Isashiki, Kominato, and the others all turned toward the stands.
Their former seniors were really all there watching.
"Well done, Yuki!!!"
Azuma shouted at the top of his lungs.
"Tetsuya! That was satisfying!"
Uesugi, Nitta, and the others all gave Yuki enthusiastic thumbs-ups.
Everyone was thrilled to see the former third-years supporting them.
Meanwhile, Coach Kataoka looked toward Ushijima Wakatoshi with unconcealed satisfaction.
Even he hadn't anticipated this tactic.
Yet Ushijima had managed to think of using such an unexpected strategy to steal another run.
Just as everyone was celebrating—
"Ugh."
Masuko suddenly appeared beside them.
"Whoa! Masuko, don't scare people like that!" Isashiki jumped.
"Wait… how did you get out?"
"Ugh," Masuko answered gloomily, indicating that Narumiya had fooled him with a slider before forcing him into an out.
"Hehe… then it's our turn now."
Ushijima calmly removed his batting gloves and looked toward Inashiro's dugout.
Back in the dugout, Narumiya Mei sat with his head lowered, looking furious.
"Damn it…"
"The cleanup batter actually squeezed a run off me…"
He truly hadn't expected Seido to retaliate that way.
"Well, didn't we beat Seido using the exact same tactic last year?" Shirakawa said calmly.
"Yeah," Carlos added helplessly. "This is basically karma."
Narumiya immediately forced a smile onto his face.
"It's only two runs, right?"
"I'm not chasing a scoreless streak anymore anyway."
Then he stood back up confidently.
"We'll just take those runs back ourselves."
Even so, the twitching vein on his forehead completely exposed how irritated he still was.
"You're obviously still angry," Harada said mercilessly.
Narumiya immediately puffed his cheeks and started acting dramatic again.
"Then I'll be counting on you, cleanup batter~"
"You're so annoying."
…
Meanwhile, Ushijima had already changed into his pitching glove and walked onto the field with Seido's defense behind him.
"Here he comes…"
"Let's see if this kid is really as terrifying as everyone says."
"Yeah. Is he actually that incredible?"
Azuma Kiyokuni only grinned silently.
But internally, he was shouting excitedly.
Kid… this is your stage.
Show everyone exactly what kind of monster you are.
On the mound, Ushijima Wakatoshi bent down and picked up the rosin bag.
He squeezed it lightly in his hand before calmly looking toward Inashiro's lead-off batter—
Carlos.