"Mr. Lin, nice to meet you for the first time—I'm also looking forward to competing against you."

A hand appeared in front of him, accompanied by a gentle voice by his ear.

Not far away, Mori Yuuya, who had just been scolded by the team's captain, still seemed a bit unconvinced. Lin Guanglai shook his head with a smile before retracting his gaze and focusing on the person before him.

Raising his gaze slightly, his eyes met a handsome face—it must be said, this feeling of having to look up at someone gave Lin Guanglai a peculiar sensation:

From elementary school, Lin Guanglai had always stood out among his peers—by the time he graduated elementary school, he was over 175 centimeters, and nearly 190 centimeters by middle school graduation. After coming to Waseda Jitsugyo, with over a year of training and plenty of nutrition, Lin Guanglai's height had already surpassed 1.9 meters, reaching 192 centimeters.

Yet, even with this height, considered tall in professional basketball, he still needed to slightly tilt his head back when facing this person.

Lin Guanglai clearly knew who he was.

Fujinami Jintaro, a renowned talented pitcher from Osaka, possessed natural gifts that seemed almost un-Japanese: his height surpassed 180 centimeters upon graduating elementary school, and now he had grown into a "Giant" nearly two meters tall.

The immense physical talent he possessed granted him an innate advantage as a pitcher: with the height bringing an advantage in arm span and leg length, Fujinami Jintaro was naturally able to throw faster fastballs than others—by middle school, his pitching speed had already surpassed 140 km/h, a level that many third-year high school pitchers could only dream of reaching.

Facing the polite greeting from the other party, Lin Guanglai extended his hand forward and grasped Fujinami Jintaro's hand.

"I'm also looking forward to our confrontation, Mr. Fujinami—hope this game is exciting enough."

After a brief exchange of pleasantries, the two nodded slightly before passing each other.

With the pre-game ceremony completed, the game quickly began in earnest—Osaka Tsubaki High School, as the guest team, batted first while Waseda Jitsugyo defended second.

In the Osaka Tsubaki player area, Fujinami Jintaro sat on the substitute bench, looking toward Mori Yuuya beside him.

Over time, as Mori Yuuya's catching skills steadily improved, even the picky Fujinami Jintaro had to admit that he was indeed an impressive catcher—especially when it came to batting; not only was Mori Yuuya's power formidable, but he also loved to swing with his full strength every time, placing significant pressure on the pitcher.

"If you want to prove yourself to the others, then be ready. In this game, Coach Nishikawa will surely give you a chance to substitute-hit—if you can hit the ball like you do in practice, no one can say anything against you."

Fujinami Jintaro's eyes were fixed on the field, and it was unclear whom he was speaking to. Yet, upon hearing this, the previously sulking Mori Yuuya's expression gradually turned serious, and he too directed his gaze toward the pitcher's mound.

"This is the person I absolutely have to defeat," Mori Yuuya murmured.

"Then don't just boast—hitting the ball on the field is more important than anything."

On the field, the top half of the first inning was unfolding intensely.

Like Waseda Jitsugyo, Osaka Tsubaki was also making the final sprint for the upcoming summer regional tournament. In this match, Osaka Tsubaki's Coach Nishikawa Koji had deployed their strongest starting lineup.

Leading off was their current main shortstop Yamazaki Tatsuya—before transitioning to shortstop in his second year fall, Yamazaki Tatsuya was already a main left fielder among Osaka Tsubaki's starting nine, characterized as a contact hitter with excellent foot speed.

Faced with a hitter boasting high batting averages and substantial threat on base, Lin Guanglai favored striking out the opponent to resolve the situation.

Coincidentally, he had been expanding his pitching arsenal recently—facing the powerful Osaka Tsubaki was a perfect opportunity to test the potency of his new pitches.

At the start of the at-bat, Lin Guanglai displayed his exceedingly aggressive attacking desire, frequently targeting the batter's inner corner, with the baseball moving extremely close to the hitter's body.

With the first three pitches, Lin Guanglai took the lead with a ball count of one strike and two balls, placing all the pressure on the batter, Yamazaki Tatsuya.

Exchanging a glance with Uesugi Yasuyuki, Lin Guanglai understood intuitively and then slightly opened his index and middle fingers, placing them onto the baseball—from the grip, this seemed to be a forkball.

The baseball was thrown by Lin Guanglai with the swing of his arm, appearing in Yamazaki Tatsuya's eyes as possessing strong velocity, intense spin, and a seemingly direct path; moreover, based on Osaka Tsubaki's research into Lin Guanglai's pitching, he indeed favored using fastballs for decisive two-strike pitches—after a brief mental calculation, Yamazaki Tatsuya decisively chose to swing.

Of course, he was aware of Lin Guanglai's remarkable pitching speed, which had surpassed 150 kilometers in his second year; but coincidentally, their Osaka Tsubaki team also had a second-year ace capable of surpassing 150 kilometers—pitches like these, they had faced quite frequently in training!

Yet, it wasn't until the bat brushed past the white ball and, carried by momentum, swung back behind him that Yamazaki Tatsuya realized he had missed the baseball.

This wasn't just any straight ball; it was undoubtedly a highly deceptive fast splitter!

Unlike the slower and heavily dropping traditional "Forkball," the fast splitter, also known as the "small fork," is a new variation evolved from the traditional forkball.

Compared to the forkball, the fast splitter is quicker and drops less steeply—therefore, as this pitch approaches the plate, it typically appears similar to a fastball to the hitter's eyes. Only after swinging with the intent of hitting a fastball do they realize the misjudged contact point, frequently resulting in a swing and miss.

Most importantly, compared to the traditional forkball's significant harm to the shoulder and elbow, the fast splitter is a very effective finishing pitch with considerably less physical wear—and in the world of professional baseball, the usage of fast splitters has been gradually increasing.

Lin Guanglai had been practicing this pitch for a while now, including a brief showcase in the recent victory against Luzheng Society, where it proved quite effective.

After Yamazaki Tatsuya, the second batter Mizuhara Gakuto and third batter Nishida Naoki also failed to pose any trouble for Lin Guanglai, each being successively dismissed.

He was in excellent form today.

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