"Jump!" The sound of a hard ball smashing into a glove.

Immediately after, a yellow light lit up.

On the huge scoreboard, there are three green lights, two yellow lights, and two red lights from top to bottom. Baseball fans don't need anyone to explain what these light signals mean – three bad balls, two good balls, two outs.

I really want to take this opportunity to talk about the classic line - "This is Koshien with a full house." ”

However, it is true that this is not Koshien.

This is the Meiji Jingu Baseball Stadium to a full capacity. In addition to the scorching sun of the midsummer and July specialties, a huge banner with a line of numbers and kanji that reads "The 100th National High School Wild Ball Tournament - East Tokyo Tournament" flutters over the stadium.

On the much-anticipated pitcher mound, a teenager in a baseball uniform raised the baseball glove on his right hand slightly and caught the baseball passed by the catcher very casually. Then the boy lowered his head and carefully sorted out the sand on the pitcher's mound with spikes on his feet......

There seems to be a faint piece of support played by the wind orchestra that came to support the pitcher's mound, which is the song "Go est".

The young pitcher cleared the sand from the pitcher's mound with spikes and whistled softly to the melody of the cheering song that drifted into his ears...... The rhythm and tone of "Go est" blown by the whistle are unbiased, especially in the key feeling of excitement, and the small whistle is even better than the performance of the wind orchestra not far away.

Because of the whistling, large drops of sweat ran down the young man's open lips, and even directly into his mouth. The boy's tongue was also in contact with the sweat that flowed in, salty, astringent, bitter.

The boy closed his mouth, looked up at the sky, and large beads of sweat dripped down with the boy's movements, falling onto the sand, I don't know whether they were immersed in the soil or evaporated instantly, and the water stains on the ground quickly disappeared - the power of the heat was visible, and the hot air on the pitcher's mound was steaming. The azure blue that poured into the young man's eyes was like an endless stream of clear water, which could wash away the tiredness of his body at this time and take away the pressure on his body. In an instant, the young man closed his eyes and silently felt the pounding in his chest here and now...... Boom! Boom! Boom!

The boy took a deep breath and looked directly at the home plate: Solve the last hitter, I'm going to march to Koshien!

The boy straightened up and stepped onto the pitcher's board, holding a baseball in his left hand and hiding it in his glove along with his hand.

At this time, there was no one on the base, but the boy still looked back and took a deep look at the conspicuous position in the rest area of the third base...... There were no instructions from the superintendent. At this time, the boy standing still, the back of the baseball uniform was facing the third base side, and the back number on the uniform was fully displayed - it was the unwashed No. 13.

At this moment, the song could no longer be heard, and a dense taiko drum sounded.

Exactly: the dust is not washed, the war drums are urged, and the field is decisive and who will give me up!

The boy turned his head and locked his gaze on home plate...... Without communicating with the catcher, he raised his arm straightforwardly, and made a complete action of throwing the ball with his arm very fluid.

When the boy stepped to pitch the ball, his whole body was very low, his baseball uniform seemed to be hunting and dancing with the pitching action, and the baseball cap on his head was actually ...... Dropped.

Fluttering suits,

Wave your arms high!

The ball cap fell,

The ball has been shot!

……

"Jump!" The sound of a hard ball smashing into a glove.

Immediately after, a yellow light lit up.

On the huge scoreboard, there are two yellow lights, three green lights, and two red lights. Baseball fans don't need any explanation to know what these light signals mean – two good, three bad, two out.

I really want to take this opportunity to talk about the classic line - "This is Koshien with a full house." ”

However, it is true that this is not Koshien.

This is the Meiji Jingu Baseball Stadium to a full capacity. A huge banner fluttered over the stadium with a line of numbers and kanji that read "The 100th National Tournament for Wild Ball Players in High Schools – Higashi-Tokyo Tournament."

On the much-anticipated pitcher mound, the player with the No. 13 on his back slightly raised the baseball glove on his right hand and casually caught the baseball passed by the catcher. Then he lowered his head and used the spikes on his feet to sort out the sand from the pitcher's mound......

The on-site commentator wholeheartedly explained the game situation for the audience:

"Good shot!"

"When the number of goals was behind, we took the key good ball and put the situation back on track."

"The excellent fighters who relayed the pitch in this game performed exceptionally well."

"In this encounter, the one-year fighter who was ordered to deal with the beaters in a row and successfully suppressed the opponent."

"Now there are two good and three bad bases, and there is only one good number left to win the last out...... Win the game! ”

"As long as this last hitter is solved, the future university will be able to enter Koshien for the first time in history."

"Huh? The fighter looks up – is he looking up at the blue sky? Did he feel his fatigue? Or is he thinking about life? ”

"Ahh Now the fighters are looking back...... I've been looking at the third base side rest area......"

"Is he receiving instructions from the overseer?"

"Oh! The player stepped onto the pitcher's board, and he is now staring at home plate......"

He didn't nod or shake his head...... Well? ”

"He voted!"

"There seems to be no communication, and there is no warning......"

"That's how the Yuto player threw a fateful shot!"

"It's too messy!"

"The result is ......"

……

Back to that sunny spring afternoon three months ago.

The training ground of the future college field ball club.

As usual, the members of the Wild Ball Department were tidying up their equipment and leveling the field, but everyone present was silent, and the atmosphere was solemn and depressing.

Finally someone broke the silence and said something amazing, "It's not ...... Will our new Overseer of the Wild Ball Division be in office today? The afternoon training has already begun, and I haven't seen anyone......"

"Come if you want to come, these things are not something we can control anyway...... We can only accept it. ”

"Even if it's a dog today, we have to accept ......"

"I don't understand, what's wrong with the original overseer?"

"In our team, almost all the main players were discovered and promoted by the original supervisor and poached......"

"It can be said that we would not have come together without the original overseer......"

"If it weren't for the fact that the original superintendent spent the whole summer training us last year, we wouldn't have been able to form a team for last year's fall convention."

"I don't know what the school committee thinks?"