Ace of Diamond: Return of the Pitcher

Yakushi High School is in trouble!

By the time the game reached the 7th inning, everyone had this feeling.

All of Yakushi High School's main players had already been on the field and then substituted out. In other words, they no longer had the opportunity to re-enter the game.

Now, even if Yakushi High School wanted to make substitutions, there was no one left to put in.

The score had been narrowed to 10:9.

In three innings, Oikaze High School had scored nine points, while Yakushi High's freshmen had failed to score even a single run.

It indicates that the two teams are not on the same level.

With just two innings left in the game, it seemed almost inevitable that Oikaze High School would complete their comeback.

No one expected, however, that things would take a surprising turn.

A young man named Tomobe, after saying something to his teammates, managed to reignite their fighting spirit.

In the next inning, the 8th, they managed a strong defense and only allowed two runs to score.

The score on the field was now 11:10.

Oikaze High School had completed their comeback.

Unfortunately, this score didn't last long and was soon changed again.

Kuroki Daigo!

This tall, stocky young man redeemed himself and got the first hit!

Then, several of the freshmen followed suit, unwilling to fall behind.

With active swinging, they earned two more hits.

The situation on the field now was two Outs, bases loaded.

At this point, it was Tomobe's turn to bat.

The boy who loved reading 'certain books' used the hand speed he had 'honed' during his 'training' to create a final miracle.

Ping!!

The ball flew past the first baseman, piercing through the outfielder's blockade, and landed at the back of the field.

He had hit a super long ball!

The three runners on base ran home one by one.

Yakushi High School had recovered three runs in one go.

The score was now 13:11

"YEAAAH!!!!"

In the dugout, Todoroki Raizou's voice was trembling with excitement.

He hadn't expected to see such a result and had actually found such a gem in Tomobe.

"Tomobe!"

Though his ability might not yet be on par with Igarashi Sora's, the future of this young man will be great.

With such a fighting spirit, it should be no problem for them to win this game.

Raizou had overly optimistic expectations.

He thought that winning this game was very likely.

After all, at this late stage of the game, the opposing team had suffered such a heavy blow, making it hard for them to recover.

But he had miscalculated.

He had overestimated his players' stamina.

Though Tomobe had been performing excellently, he had already pitched almost six innings, throwing over a hundred pitches!

For a 15-year-old who had just entered high school, he had long surpassed his limits.

In the final moments, his pitching speed dropped.

Oikaze High's players seized the opportunity and scored three runs in one go.

The final score was 14:13.

Yakushi, who had reached the quarterfinals of the Spring Koshien and just won the runner-up spot in the Tokyo Spring Tournament, had been defeated.

They were eliminated in the first round of the Kanto Tournament.

Raizou's soul left his body, and if there had been a crack in the ground, he would have crawled into it.

Although he had anticipated this outcome, the reality of it happening still left him feeling utterly speechless.

He didn't know how to explain this to the school board or to the principal who had placed their trust in him when they returned to school.

He would have to come up with a good excuse.

The news would probably break the next day, with headlines reading:

[Yakushi High School's Unexpected Fall.]

Todoroki Raizou had let his guard down and lost the battle.

The players from Seidou High School all looked at the scene with strange expressions.

They didn't know whether to laugh or to be in awe.

Yakushi High School had been eliminated, and they had lost a major rival.

This should have been something to celebrate.

But…but…the team that had eliminated them was…this one.

It was hard for the Seidou players to accept.

Not to mention that Yakushi High School was their fellow team from West Tokyo.

All in all, their feelings were complicated.

After the game, Sawamura specifically went to the entrance of the field to wait.

He wanted to talk to Raichi.

Losing the game in this situation, based on his understanding of Raichi, he figured Raichi must be so embarrassed right now that he felt like smashing his head against the wall.

But when Yakushi's players saw Sawamura, they scattered like they had seen the plague.

Heads down, they all kept their distance.

Sawamura raised his hand in frustration. He really wanted to stop them and ask what was going on.

But in the end, he decided against it.

High school life was still focused on high school. Right now, they were still rivals.

Their days of turning opponents into friends would come, but that would happen far away in a foreign land.

But without himself, would Raichi, that guy, feel lonely in the two years that had just begun?

While Sawamura was lost in his thoughts, a foreigner with blonde hair and green eyes suddenly appeared behind him.

The foreigner, dressed in elegant attire and a typical Caucasian appearance, hesitated for a moment before turning to the translator beside him to ask a few questions.

When he confirmed that this was the person he was looking for, he immediately approached.

"Excuse me!"

Sawamura turned around to look at the somewhat unfamiliar figure.

He frowned in confusion.

But he wasn't sure whether the foreigner had come to him with a purpose or if there was some other reason.

"Can I help you?" (In English)

Sawamura took a quick glance at the man before asking the question.

The fact that Sawamura spoke fluent English surprised the foreigner.

In this country, there were many who had studied English. As a developed country, most of Japan's population had received higher education.

For those with higher education, learning English was a mandatory subject.

Unfortunately, the English they learned was often incomprehensible to anyone other than themselves.

Because of this, Robert had to spend a significant amount of money hiring a translator.

Otherwise, he would have been completely stuck here.

Both parties were fluent in English, so communication was smooth.

After a brief self-introduction, Sawamura learned that the foreigner's name was Robert O'Kelly an MLB 'agent'.

Sawamura couldn't help but laugh inside.

He clearly saw that Robert had mistaken him for a naïve kid who didn't know anything. If Sawamura's guess was correct, Robert was likely a rookie agent just starting out.

This type of thing was common in the sports world.

They would talk to you enthusiastically, saying they could introduce you to teams. Then, because young players didn't have professional agents, it became inconvenient for them to negotiate contracts with the teams.

Most of them would introduce themselves and naturally become the agents of these young players.

These young players would quickly start getting attention in a year or two.

At that point, the agent would either sell them off or transfer them to a bigger agency.

That's how they could make a huge profit.

Even if the young player didn't become famous, it wasn't much of a loss for them. At most, it would be a few days' work wasted.

It was a business model of "three years of nothing, then three years of big profits."

Although Sawamura hadn't been directly involved in these kinds of things, he had heard about them plenty.

Since he wasn't in a rush, he might as well humor the guy for now.

Sawamura looked at Robert with a blank expression, his eyes full of anticipation and a hint of hesitation.

He was playing the part of a naive rookie to perfection.

On the other side, Robert was already getting into character. His performance was convincing enough that he probably believed his own words.

"This isn't the best place to talk. If you have time, let's move to another spot and have a proper chat."

Robert's 'scam' was even more meticulous than Sawamura had imagined.

After informing Coach Kataoka, Sawamura followed Robert to a relatively high-end café.

The café had small, separate spaces divided by partitions. As long as you weren't speaking too loudly, it was an ideal place for a conversation.

The two sat down, and the translator who had been following Robert did not join them.

Sitting in the café, they spoke in English, discussing matters about the Major Leagues.

Sawamura immediately felt that the level of the conversation had jumped up several notches.

He couldn't help but be amazed.

The more skilled the liar, the more convincingly they behaved.

Just like Robert in front of him, Sawamura could bet that he was not one of the top agents in the Major League, just a small-time agent trying to scam the clueless non-American young talents into signing with him.

Because of his own agent, Sawamura knew quite a bit about the top agents in the Major Leagues. He had seen a lot of them and heard their names.

But he had never heard of a Robert O'Kelly.

Not to mention, Sawamura had already met Real MLB Scouts in this life, one of them was even his alumni.

Yet looking at Robert's every move, it almost seemed like the man had already made a name for himself as a top agent.

Now, being able to sit down and talk with Sawamura, Robert exuded the attitude of a polite but very professional person.

He was playing the role of a 'top-level agent eager to help a good talent bloom' to a perfection.

Robert spoke with great confidence about various insider stories in the Major Leagues.

Some of them Sawamura already knew while others were new to him.

As far as Sawamura could tell, 90% of what Robert said was true, with just a small exaggeration of about 10%.

The balance was just right, and his acting was flawless.

It was impressive enough to leave Sawamura amazed.

To be honest, if Sawamura hadn't had his experience, he might have been tricked by Robert.

At the very least, if Sawamura hadn't met his agent by chance before his regression, he would have found it hard to stay calm when this person suddenly appeared before him.

Perhaps his fate in the previous life would have turned out quite differently.

Shaking his head, Sawamura decided to teach this scammer a lesson.

As for whether Robert would take the bait, that depended on how much weight he thought Sawamura carried in his eyes.

"Mr. Robert, do you think I should go straight to the Major Leagues after graduation?" Sawamura asked bluntly.

Without a second thought, Robert shook his head.

"The baseball environment in North America is very different from here. Even if you go, you'll first need to get used to the rhythm there. My suggestion is to spend a couple of years in the Minor Leagues. Once you've adjusted to baseball there, then you can make a big splash in the Major Leagues!"

The advice was very sound.

Actually, Sawamura had suffered greatly because of this exact issue, staying in the Minor League for a full two years.

He has endured it, yes, and it helped him hone his—barely there— batting, which in turn was a big support for him through his dark years in the MLB.

But still, Sawamura didn't want to go through this again if he could help it.

This is why he wanted to stay in the NPB for a few years first, he can start playing immediately with the veteran Pros with 2 decades of experience, and see a different style of baseball than the Major League.

Returning back to Robert.

His words are not wrong, and the more reliable Robert seemed, the more uneasy Sawamura felt.

He knew that Robert was a big liar, but there was no way to expose his lies.

After thinking for a moment, Sawamura smiled.

"Since Mr. Robert knows us so well, I wonder if you've heard that Seidou has decided to go to the United States to participate in a few practice games, one of which is with New York…"

…