'It's here!'
When Sawamura stood on the pitcher's mound ready to throw, he realized that the Komadai Fujimaki High School baseball team must have done an immense amount of research and targeted preparation on him before the game.
'The feeling is wrong!'
Whenever Sawamura felt this way, it was always a sign that danger awaited him.
Today's match against the Komadai Fujimaki High School baseball team made Sawamura's feelings unusually clear.
It was evident that the preparation and effort from the Komadai Fujimaki High School baseball team exceeded that of all the opponents he had faced before.
These were people who had thought of every possible way to defeat him.
This was a team that had already resolved before the game that they were going to defeat him!
They had analyzed their previous pitching errors.
This time, they targeted Sawamura's weaknesses and were determined to exploit them relentlessly.
'Good!'
Sawamura was pleased with the attitude of the Komadai Fujimaki High School baseball team.
This was exactly the kind of attitude he wanted. This was the flavor of a championship game.
If it weren't for this, today's final would have seemed boring to Sawamura.
It was their performance that made Sawamura feel the game was getting interesting.
He took his stride and decisively threw the pitch!
Sawamura could see the efforts the Komadai Fujimaki High School baseball team had put into their preparation.
But even after recognizing it, he didn't care.
The batter in the Batter's Box was so nervous that both his palms were sweating.
His bat was even wet.
His opponent was the Demon King, Sawamura.
Although their Coach had given them strong orders and suggestions to deal with Sawamura before the game, reminding them that he was just an ordinary person, not as invincible as people thought...
The advice was simple to state:
Sawamura was just an ordinary person. He wasn't as divine as everyone imagined.
They didn't have to feel like they were doing something impossible.
They were just trying to defeat someone their age.
But it was easier said than done when the opponent was Sawamura!
Back when the third-year Senpai were still around, things were somewhat better.
Although the Demon King Sawamura's strength was unstoppable, people felt they could still fight him.
But now, things were completely different.
With the older, stronger seniors gone, it was now their turn to bear the weight.
And that's when they realized that Sawamura, whom they had never quite understood, was terrifyingly strong!
This was something they had never imagined before.
In the past, people seemed to think that the title of "Demon King" was partly earned by Sawamura himself, and partly inflated by his fans.
No one knew what kind of "magic" Sawamura had cast on his fans.
An athlete who hadn't even graduated from high school could attract such attention?
At the 55,000-seat stadium, one-fifth of the audience wasn't there to support any team.
They were only there for one person.
How do we know this?
By looking at the uniforms they were wearing, those were the "Demon King's Guards" and "Brotherhood of Red Hearts" club uniforms.
A fan group actually had its own exclusive cheering vest.
And thousands of people wore the same uniform.
Isn't that frustrating?
Not even professional baseball players in Japan have such magnetic star power.
Even in the Major Leagues, there's no one with such charm.
But Sawamura has it!
What will this guy's future achievements in the game be?
No one dares to make a definitive statement.
After all, once he enters professional baseball, there are many uncertainties.
People can only say that, as long as he doesn't suffer injuries or accidents, his future achievements will be limitless.
As for how far he will go? That depends on his future potential and personal fate.
No one knows how this guy became so popular.
This is why, when players from teams outside the Seidou High School baseball team see Sawamura, there's inevitably a sense of distance and unrealism.
Just like the opponent currently facing Sawamura.
He was so nervous!
Even though he repeatedly reminded himself, repeating in his mind:
'I can't be so useless! We've prepared a strategy for this, haven't we?'
All they had to do was follow the plan, and they would get the pitch they wanted and hit it out.
Now's the time!
The baseball whistled toward him.
The batter, upon seeing the ball coming, immediately swung his bat.
"Wait…?"
"Eh…?!"
The sounds came from the dugout.
From their vantage point, it was clear that the batter's swing was too early.
By the time the batter completed his swing, Sawamura's pitch still hadn't reached him.
The Komadai Fujimaki High School team's dugout exchanged confused looks.
Clearly, they hadn't anticipated this situation.
What just happened? Why was the batter's swing so early?
The Coach of Komadai Fujimaki High School gritted his teeth in frustration.
He could swear to heaven that, before the game, he had thoroughly studied Seidou High School's team.
How thorough?
Let's put it this way: although he couldn't guarantee his team would beat Seidou, he could guarantee that he had watched almost every one of Seidou High School's official games.
And not just watched, he had taken detailed notes and conducted research.
He could confidently say no one knew Seidou High School's team better than he did.
Not even their own players.
After all, the person who knows you best is often not your friend, but your opponent.
Previously, Seidou had always been the greatest obstacle in Komadai Fujimaki's path to the championship.
He believed he knew Sawamura well.
Of course, he also knew his own first batter very well.
The first batter had already faced Sawamura a few times before.
He should have built up a strong immunity to Sawamura's unique pitching style.
So, even if he didn't hit the ball, logically, his timing on the swing shouldn't be so off!
Something's wrong, something's seriously wrong.
There must be something he missed.
The catcher, Miyuki, felt the intensity in Sawamura's first pitch.
He almost felt sorry for the opponent.
It seemed that they had encountered an enraged Sawamura.
Now, no matter how prepared Komadai Fujimaki's players were, it was probably all for nothing.
In front of an all-out Sawamura, they probably wouldn't even be able to defend themselves.
Let alone compete with him openly.
Miyuki wasn't looking down on them; they simply didn't have the qualifications.
To challenge the Demon King Sawamura openly today, one needed capital.
Not everyone has that capital, and certainly not everyone is willing to spend it!
The game continued, and Sawamura's second pitch came quickly.
The first pitch didn't seem to have an obvious effect, but by the second pitch, the batter's timing was still off.
When the reporters in the stands realized this, they couldn't hold it in anymore.
Owada Akiko, a reporter from Baseball Kingdom magazine, widened her mouth in surprise.
"What's going on?"
She couldn't quite understand what was happening.
Though Sawamura's strange pitching style often left his opponents unprepared in the first round, they were usually just confused, not with the eerie look on their faces like they were now.
The first batter in the Batter's Box felt completely off.
He hadn't underestimated Sawamura's strength!
Who in Japan doesn't know how strong Sawamura is?
Even a random kid off the street would know.
But now, facing him directly, it was no longer a simple imagination—it was real.
What they had only imagined before now required real action.
But what measures should they take?
That was even harder to figure out.
The veteran reporter, Fujio, noticed something odd as well during the game.
From a purely gameplay perspective, he didn't notice anything suspicious.
But one thing stood out: Sawamura's pitching rhythm seemed a bit off.
In the past, Sawamura's rhythm was so fast it was terrifying.
He never gave his opponents a chance to breathe, always crushing them with overwhelming power from the start.
But today, he had changed his rhythm.
He no longer pursued that simple, efficient pace but shifted to a new goal: dealing with the current problems.
Sawamura's pitching rhythm had changed!
A lot of smart people at the scene soon realized this.
They had no idea when, but the Demon King Sawamura had changed his rhythm.
This was far more stimulating than introducing a few new breaking balls.
The rhythm of a pitcher is cultivated over a long period and is hard to change once it's formed.
But Sawamura didn't follow the usual path.
What others couldn't change, he easily did.
And that wasn't the most important part.
The key was that after changing his rhythm, he didn't hesitate to attack fiercely.
Even though it was the same pitch, the different rhythm made it feel completely different to the batter.
Previously, Komadai Fujimaki's players had studied Sawamura's pitches in detail.
Though they didn't plan to hit every pitch, they had identified a few pitch types and were ready to attack them.
But now, all of that was in vain.
As soon as Sawamura changed his rhythm, Komadai Fujimaki's players realized it would be hard to hit anything at all!
"STRIKE!"
"STRIKE!!"
"STRIKE! BATTER OUT!!!"
…