Chapter 4 third chapter

On the second day of the competition, the sky over Jiashien was still blue in midsummer. Toride Gakuen appeared in the third game of the day.This is their first battle at Koshien! Nakayama sat on the infield bench next to first base, observing Toride Gakuen who was practicing before the game.The nine players on the field all wore bright red school badge jerseys with a white background that imitated the Waseda University baseball team uniform, giving a refreshing impression with a slightly traditional simple design.Zhongshan thought to himself, the team led by Sanada is suitable for such uniforms.

Under the strong direct sunlight and the reflection of the concrete in the auditorium, the infield stand seemed to be entering the heat of a sauna. ——Like this, it’s easier than on the field! Nakayama wipes off his sweat with a large sports towel. Perhaps because Koshien Stadium is a clay court, unlike artificial turf, the heat reflected on the court will not be so strong, and you will not feel particularly hot during the game. Toride Gakuen's opponent is Akama High School in the Yamaguchi area, which is one of the few strong teams in China. Generally, Malu commentators believe that Akama has an overwhelming advantage.

The players of Toride Academy are a little stiff in their movements, and it is undeniable that their physique is worse than other schools. Zhongshan looked towards the pitching field.Miyamoto is practicing throwing according to his own ball with a leisurely big movement. No matter how Sanada trained, Toride Gakuen's striking power and defensive power were only at the amateur level, and there was no way to compare with Akama, who belonged to the semi-professional group. In the end, he could only rely on Miyamoto.And can Miyamoto really throw a fastball that even Sanada has never seen in this Koshien?

Zhongshan watched Miyamoto's pitching practice with anticipation and anxiety. The defensive practice of the two teams ended, and the referee made a gesture of assembly.After the two teams lined up in front of the home plate and shook hands with each other, Toride Gakuen's starting lineup immediately entered the defensive position. Akama High School took the lead in the first half of the game. Miyamoto, who was standing on the pitcher, slowly started pitching practice as if confirming the touch of Koshien's pitcher.He didn't throw a fastball, just hit straight and curve balls from the strike zone.

Zhongshan was uneasy.Miyamoto has been bombarded with slow balls in the regional preliminaries. Will this become a habit?No matter how talented he is, he can't have more than a dozen pitchers like Shinko, and they have to compete with each other, so they can make great progress. After the prescribed number of practice shots is over, the referee raises his hand to announce the start of the game.Miyamoto flicked the talcum powder bag on the master's hand with his fingers, stepped on the pitcher's board hard, leaned forward with his upper body, and after confirming the catcher's signal gesture, he began to throw the ball smoothly.

Zhongshan leaned forward. The moment the straight ball of the first pitch entered the catcher's mitt, there was a slight cry from the stands. Zhongshan looked towards the press box.No one seems to have noticed the mutation happening yet.The hitter was visibly shaken and walked out of the strike zone. second ball.The hitter doesn't swing until the ball is in the catcher's mitt.A strange exclamation finally spread throughout the stadium! Zhongshan turned on the radio switch. - Miyamoto seems to be doing well, throwing a pretty quick ball.The anchor's leisurely voice came out.

Zhongshan smiled wryly.Just kidding!Not only is it quite fast, it has a speed of at least 155 kilometers to 158 kilometers per hour.Including professional players, Miyamoto may be the fastest pitcher in Japan right now! Zhongshan felt his blood welling up. At this moment, Miyamoto is gradually transforming!His harmonious pitching posture with his right foot held high was not accomplished through continuous training, but he no longer concealed his natural aptitude and was working hard to let it bloom. In addition, he not only can only throw the fastball, but also has the ball handling skills that allow the opponent to hit the ball where he wants it.Next, what kind of whirlwind will blow up in this Koshien...

Zhongshan felt a trembling excitement. As the second and third innings progressed, the press box obviously began to commotion. For them, since they had never noticed Toride Gakuen, of course they thought it was a monster appearing. The hitter of Akama High School, who is known as the hard hitting type, can't even wipe the ball with a bat.I want to use a strike, or even hold a short bat, but the gap in strength is too great after all, and the bat I swing still passes under the ball. The result of the game was 2-0, with Toride Gakuen winning the first game.Miyamoto struck out 20 times, allowing just one hit and no walks.

Zhongshan didn't stand up contentedly until he saw the end of the game. Sanada finally created a perfect team, a team in line with his ideals, and used this team to create a whirlwind in Koshien. Zhongshan was very envious and very happy.I thought to myself: Maybe a team like this can really compete with Nashino Nishi and Shinko Park! The pitcher's strength accounts for 70% of baseball's victory or defeat.As for whether they can win the final victory, of course, it depends on the overall combat strength of the whole team. The pitching strength of Toride Gakuen is absolute, but the offensive power and defensive power are greatly inferior.That is to say, in terms of overall combat strength, the strength of these three schools is comparable, and in the end it only depends on endurance and luck.

"come on!" After thanking the cheerleaders, the nine starters of Toride Gakuen briskly ran to the rest area.At this time, loud cheers sounded from the stands. Sanada ran behind nine players. Zhongshan stopped in the aisle and continued to applaud sincerely with the audience around him! Looking up from the newspaper spread out on the table, Oyagi looked out the window.Opposite the window is an old residential street. Under the strong summer sun, the fences of each house reflect white light. Early in the morning, Oyagi was watching outside Kuniyoshi's apartment in Takatsuki.

Outside the coffee shop where he was sitting, across the narrow road, there was an old two-story apartment. The day before yesterday, he followed Guoji to come here. There are four rooms on the first and second floors, each with windows facing the road. Guoji's room is at the side of the second floor, the farthest from the coffee shop. The curtains are still drawn. After checking the entrances and exits of Kuniyoshi's room and apartment and making sure that there was no movement, Oyagi returned his gaze to the newspaper.In the past two hours, how many times have you repeated the same action? ——When is he going to sleep? Oyagi cursed secretly. I arrived at the apartment after 7:00 in the morning, so I shouldn't have gone out, right?It's almost eleven o'clock now, not to mention the windows, even the curtains haven't been moved! Standing behind a telegraph pole for two hours.The coffee shop opposite opened, and it was nine o'clock when I entered.After that, I waited another two hours in the store.Oyagi sighed softly, flipping through the sports news again, trying to find reports he hadn't read. The coffee shop is a small shop that only needs to accommodate 15 people. The interior decoration is white and blue, and it feels very clean. It was probably still early, and there was only Oyagi as a guest.After delivering breakfast to Yagi, the shop owner went back to the counter and read the newspaper leisurely. "Mr. Guest, did you see Toride's Miyamoto throwing the ball yesterday? It's very good!" Entering the store and lighting the sixth cigarette, the boss suddenly spoke and said. "No, I didn't look at it, but it seems to cast well." "It's not only good! It strikes out 20 opponents! I couldn't help applauding when I saw it. It's better than Jiang Chuan's when he was in Zuoxin high school. The ball speed is nearly 160 kilometers! Like that kind of ball speed, in a professional team It should be fine." The boss seemed to recall yesterday's excitement while talking, his face flushed.Oyagi nodded ambiguously, thinking: Looks like a nice guy! I'm about forty years old!His short hair is all combed back, he has a mustache, and he wears a brand new white apron. He looks like a French chef, but the appearance of talking happily with sports news in his hand gives people a sense of intimacy. Oyagi was relieved, and wanted to take the opportunity to ask about Kuniyoshi.The apartment is directly opposite, and Guoji, who lives alone, must have been here many times.Well, maybe some things about Kuniyoshi can be asked from this talkative boss. But he changed his mind: Wait a minute!If the boss triumphantly told Guoji who came to the store that there was a suspicious man asking about you, then Guoji would definitely become wary, and it would be even more difficult to work in the future. Oyagi looked at his watch, and after confirming the time, he returned to the newspaper. At this time, there was a white thing shaking slightly outside the window, which was the curtain of Kuniyoshi's room.The curtains were drawn a little, as if someone from Kuniyoshi was looking out through the gap. Oyagi hurriedly stood up and looked at the shop owner.He didn't want his boss to find out that he was spying on someone! The boss's eyes are still on the newspaper.Oyagi felt relieved, and turned his gaze back to the apartment window. Kuniyoshi opened the curtain halfway, raised his head, as if looking at the sky, then immediately left the window and disappeared. ——Finally wake up! Oyagi drank up the iced coffee whose ice cubes had completely melted, prepared the change, and waited for Kuniyoshi's next move. About twenty minutes later, Kuniyoshi walked down the stairs, wearing the same outfit as the one he saw in Koshien two days ago—blue jeans and a white T-shirt. Oyagi paid the bill and walked out of the shop. Kuniyoshi shrugged and walked quickly towards Takatsuki Station.Oyagi kept a distance of about twenty meters from the opponent. When he arrived at the station, Guoji went directly to the small steel ball shop in front of the station. Oyagi had an ominous premonition.All day yesterday, he accompanied Guoji to kill time in the small steel ball shop, coffee shop, and swimming club, and returned to the hotel with no results, and that painful experience flashed through his mind again. ——Don’t be the same as yesterday! O Yagihan stood in front of the small steel ball shop as if praying.The automatic door opened, and loud music hit him like a flood. Oyagi followed Kuniyoshi's slender back with heavy steps, walking on the completely dark Takatsuki Street. Guoji, who entered the small steel ball shop after noon, stayed like this for nearly six hours. After holding a large bucket of steel balls in exchange for prizes, he happily walked to the neon-lit street, as if planning to have a few drinks. ——Looks like today is going to be wasted again. The steps are heavy and the shoulders naturally droop.However, Oyagi was no longer at the age where he would get discouraged over such a trivial matter. —What on earth does he live on? In order not to lose his concentration, Oyagi pondered in his mind. He didn't go to the Qingfenghui's office, and he always wore a T-shirt and jeans, and he didn't look like a formal subordinate of the Qingfenghui.However, it is impossible to get a large amount of money for idleness throughout the year just by selling Shinko's information.Although the skill of playing small steel balls does not seem to be bad, it is not like a professional master who can rely on small steel balls to fill his stomach.I probably won a lot today, but I spent half a day yesterday but got nothing. From this point of view... he was really extorting? Oyagi shook his head.No, it's impossible!Assuming that Kuniyoshi blackmailed Shibata, what kind of excuse did he rely on?Was it the gang fight that caused him to quit the baseball team?Or is it the secret to the onslaught from the third inning? The gang fight incident happened eight years ago, and it has a clear social conclusion. Even if the victim himself brings up the old incident now, the other party should not take it seriously! On the other hand, even if the secret of the onslaught is the improper behavior as Oyagi guessed, it is very difficult to prove such behavior unless the evidence is seized on the spot.This kind of problem also exists in professional baseball. The professional baseball league has also conducted in-depth investigations, but it has also been ignored. Assuming that Kuniyoshi has some kind of evidence, with Shinmitsu's behind-the-scenes background and Shibata's face, it should be easy to be suppressed, as long as he stops this behavior and pretends not to know what happened afterwards. That's why Oyagi actively wanted to obtain definite evidence in a very secret situation, and it was not revealed until the day of the championship finals, so that Shinmitsu had nowhere to hide. ——If it wasn't for blackmail... It may also be just selling information during the Koshien competition, and it may not be necessary to have some other job at other times! Or, Guoji also blackmailed someone else? Suddenly, Kuniyoshi stopped in his tracks.O Yagi also stopped. Guoji looked at his watch in front of the public telephone booth, as if he was thinking about something, before long, he entered the telephone booth and picked up the receiver. Oyagi moved to the position where he could see the dial, and wrote down the phone number "061-X21-6348" he saw. The phone conversation was quite long.Due to the darkness of the sky and the location, it is impossible to see the expression of Ai Kuniyoshi, but Kuniyoshi's attitude is calm, with a look of indifference and explanation. After about ten minutes, Guoji walked out of the phone booth and entered a nearby restaurant in the same pattern as yesterday.Oyagi observed for about an hour, then turned and walked to the restaurant.Although I don't know what will happen next, but this is the sorrow that no one can take turns to replace! Since it is impossible to monitor continuously for 24 hours, we have to retreat at the right time. On the way to the station, Oyagi tried to dial the phone number he had written down. "This is the Bamboo House." Oyagi was stunned for a moment. "Hey, hello, this is the Bamboo House." "Ah, sorry, I dialed the wrong number." Oyagi hurriedly put the microphone back.Bamboo House... is an inn where the Narashino Nishi baseball team stays! —So, Kuniyoshi called Mukai just now? This possibility is very high.Kuniyoshi and Mukai are teammates in the same period, of course they know each other, but it is absolutely impossible to just call each other to cheer up!It seems that besides Xinguang, even Xi Zhiye has a relationship with Qingfeng. O Yagi walked towards the station in a half daze.Shinko and Narashino Nishi are the two teams with the highest hopes of winning this year's competition. If these two schools not only use unfair competition methods, but also have contact with violent organizations... Oyagi is now also trembling at the unexpected development of the situation! "You're back!" Upon returning to the hotel, the door opened, and Kuwahara stood behind the door with a flushed face. "Don't spray the smell of alcohol on me! You came back so early, did you take things seriously?" Oyagi said, throwing the empty beer cans on the table into the trash can. For the past two days, Oyagi watched Kuniyoshi, and Kuwahara watched Yajima; the two fought hard from early morning until late at night.Of course it was hard to watch outdoors all day in the scorching heat, but compared to yesterday's no gain, today had an unexpected harvest, so Oyagi still had a lot of strength to go back to the hotel to show off to Kuwahara. "It's too unreasonable to say such things as soon as we meet! No problem, I have gained a lot today." Kuwahara countered calmly. It seems that he has also gained something! "That's good! I'll take a shower first and then hear your good news." Oyagi took a shower, changed into his yukata, and sat down on the sofa while drying his wet hair with a towel. "How about you?" Kuwahara took out a can of beer from the refrigerator and threw it to Yagi. "Listen to you first." "Okay! Hey, hey, you might be freaked out." "Don't worry, don't go around in circles, just say it." Kuwahara's confident expression seemed to be true, and Oyagi sat quietly waiting for him to speak. "Today, I found a few colleagues who know more about baseball gambling, and finally got good news. Yajima looks ordinary on the outside and is young, but he is quite easy to get along in the Qingfeng Club. I was very happy. Unbelievable, but I finally understand why.” "what reason?" "In the field of baseball betting, Yajima is quite a master who is responsible for determining the betting points." "Bet points? Is it the score difference between the two teams that the gambler bet on in baseball betting?" "bingo." There are various ways to gamble on baseball, the most common being guessing the championship team, however, this is only for the uninitiated.The method adopted by violent organizations targeting professional gamblers is to predict the outcome of each game by determining the betting points based on the strength of the team. For example, in a match between team A and team B, team A is the favorite to win the championship, while team B has a large gap in strength.At this time, if you only bet on which team wins, almost everyone will bet on team A, and it is impossible to bet at all. Therefore, we must rely on the strength of the teams, such as betting on team A to win with three points, etc., that is, If team A cannot beat team B by more than three points, it is not considered a victory; on the contrary, even if team B loses, if the loss is within two points, it is considered a victory in gambling. The so-called betting point determiner is a professional expert who is responsible for determining the team's score difference. To determine the appropriate difference, one must be able to correctly grasp the strength and status of each team.Weekly magazines have often reported that such pros are always more accurate in predicting wins and losses than some low-level baseball critics. "Qingfenghui has several such characters, but Yajima is the best among them." "Yajima? But usually this kind of person won't be seen by others..." "Yes, for violent organizations, they are chickens that lay golden eggs, so I often hear rumors that a professor of a certain national university is such a person, and so is the secretary of a famous congressman, but in fact they don't know the truth. False. However, Yajima may be a figure of the new generation, and he seems to increase his status by putting himself in front of the screen." "No matter how you look at him, he doesn't look like that kind of powerful person!" "Because it's not just his own strength that decides the outcome, but how he can have more powerful sources of intelligence, and he is able to grasp quite a few contacts as sources of intelligence." "The so-called mastery, what does it mean specifically?" "Candy and a whip. That guy has a good heart. He often helps young people when they are in trouble. It's not like some people." "I don't understand who you mean, and what about the whip?" "That's the problem. He seems to be good at grabbing other people's handles. There are often such people! They will know other people's secrets inconceivably." "and then?" "Once you can't get the information you want, you will use this kind of excuse to blackmail you. Therefore, even though candy and a whip are used together, it is quite nostalgic. For example, Kuniyoshi, despite his appearance, is very afraid of his grandmother. Afraid to let her know that he was associated with violent organizations, so Yajima always used his grandmother as a trump card in a pinch." "Yes, Kuniyoshi's parents should have passed away. Of course, it is possible to rely too much on grandma for fear of hurting her heart. Anyway, no matter how evil a person is, there will always be a cute side. However, although Yajima's doing so is very beautiful, In fact, they stepped on the fire pit and were in danger of falling at any time." "Your words are correct. However, he is always a well-known figure in that line of business! He has accurate information about Shinmitsu and Narashino Nishi, and he has made a lot of money in the games played by these two teams. Anyway, these two teams are the most popular teams in Koshien, and for Qingfenghui, they are golden eggs that are absolutely impossible to let go." Oyagi drank the beer in one gulp. "I can accurately grasp the information on Shinmitsu and Narashino Nishi..." "Is there something wrong?" Kuwahara probably sensed that Oyagi's appearance was unusual, so he asked. "Yeah." In Oyagi's mind, the structure of baseball gambling centered on Yajima and Kuniyoshi gradually took shape. "In fact, I followed Guoji all day and finally found something interesting." "What is it?" Kuwahara's eyes lit up. "I followed the little pachinko shops and restaurants all day, but in the evening, he used the public phone to contact people. Guess who he contacted?" "..." "It's Mukai." "real?" "I finally got a rough idea of ​​the gist. Kuniyoshi sold information on Nobumitsu and Narashino Nishi to Yajima, and the Blue Wind Society can make a lot of money from it." "The question is how does Kuniyoshi get the information?" "You mean to say that he used threats and blackmail?" Oyagi stood up from the sofa and lay down on the bed. "Again! Why don't you just express your approval? Kuniyoshi used to be Shinko's player, so he must have the secret of why Shinko can play magic and attack fiercely, so let's use it to blackmail him! Well, it can't be wrong." "You use magic to describe it really well." Oyagi didn't deny that it had something to do with the "secret of the magic attack"; no, he even thought it must be.But... Using this as an excuse to blackmail Shibata and Mukai, isn't it too weak?If it is indeed blackmail, either there is some kind of conclusive evidence, or there are other factors! "That's right, it's not necessarily necessary to think that those two were blackmailed. Like Shibata, you denied it last time, but Mukai is different. He has just embarked on the road of supervision, and he is not as famous as Shibata. Said that he is not afraid of losing his prestige and achievements, and of course he may take the initiative to sell information.” "It's not impossible." In fact, although it is not publicized, there have been several supervisors who have been rumored to disappear from the high school baseball world unknowingly in the past. "I say! It must be so." "However, this is still only imagination after all. Tomorrow Nashino West will play, we must try our best to find out the inside story of the 'magic'." "It's all up to you. Then I..." "By the way," Oyagi thought about it, and said, "You monitor Kuniyoshi. There is a game tomorrow, so he should take action! At least for now, Kuniyoshi is the key person." "No problem. Things are really getting interesting." Oyagi closed his eyes, he felt that the fatigue of the whole day was surging up at this moment. Before tomorrow's game, there are certain things that must be analyzed first.Although he had such a fetter in his heart, he still fell asleep unconsciously. As I walked from the dim walkway behind the Koshien stands to the outfield stands under the midsummer sun, the bell rang to start the game. Oyagi squinted his eyes, watching the tense atmosphere on the court just after the start of the game. Xi Zhi Xiye, the first striker, has entered the strike zone with the first hitter.The bat is held extremely short, which is a rare bunting posture for college students. Oyagi stood in the aisle to the left of the center, took out his binoculars, and watched the catcher's signal gesture.He was investigating where in the outfield bleachers the range of the sign gesture was clearly visible. From the left field stand, the position of the guerrilla zone slightly to the third base and the catcher's connecting line is the boundary where the signal gesture can be seen, then, it should be the same angle from the right field stand! Oyagi sat by the top rail in the left field bleachers, binoculars in hand.He intends to carefully observe all suspicious characters within the set range. Except for Narashi Nonishi, there were no other popular teams playing today, and the outfield stands were only filled with about one-third of the spectators. Oyagi thought to himself: like this, one person should be enough. But it didn't take long for this comfort to turn into anxiety. Careful observation was made from left field to right field, but no suspicious person could be found. I don't know when, the game has entered the fourth game.Prior to this, although Nashino Nishi had someone hit the base, he failed to hit consecutively and had no score yet. "Aren't you going to use that pattern today?" Oyagi muttered to himself while wiping the sweat dripping down his arms with a towel. But... the opponent, Kagawa Industries, was a strong team that won the championship in the Four Nations Tournament last fall, and it was not a team that could be easily defeated. The game was a pitching battle, and it went fast.Narashino Nishi clearly did not use "magic". Kagawa Kogyo's Kanemori pitcher is a traditional pitcher who relies on fastball and curveball, and is the most popular type of pitcher for Nashino Nishi hitters.It's true that Kanemori pitchers are in good shape, however, Nashino West's hitters are dominated by fastballs and curveballs, which shouldn't be the case if "Magic" is used. As a precaution, Oyagi searched the outfield three times with binoculars, but he still couldn't find someone watching the catcher's signal gesture in the outfield. Everything says Narashino Nishi "does not use magic"! --why? Oyagi couldn't understand.It's impossible for Qingfeng to instruct his own cornucopia, Nashino Nishi, to lose to the opponent in the first battle! The game went into overtime at 0-0. In the first half of the eleventh inning, Nashino Nishi hit base due to an opponent's mistake after two outs, and then used a stolen base to cooperate with the next hitter's double hit across the third base line, finally breaking the deadlock. In the second half of the eleventh inning, after the last hitter from Kagawa Kogyo hit the ground before second base, Oyagi stood up and walked quickly to the exit.He had to leave before the exit of the stadium and the ticket gates of the station were overcrowded, and rush back to the hotel as soon as possible. That's right!Something must have happened.Then, Kuwahara, who is following Kuniyoshi, will definitely contact the hotel, and he has to wait for the other party to contact him before formulating the next battle method. About an hour after returning to the hotel, Kuwahara called. "Yagi, it's me." "Where are you?" "Shin-Osaka. Kuniyoshi seems to be going to Tokyo." Kuwahara seemed short of breath and his voice was urgent, as if he didn't have time. "If you don't have time, you can make a long story short. What happened to Guoji after the game?" "His face was livid from the beginning of the game. As soon as it was over, he immediately used a nearby public phone to call who he didn't know." "and then?" "He went directly to Yajima's apartment, stayed for about 30 minutes, and came out with a changed face, so he came here directly." "Didn't go back to the apartment?" "Yes. What should I do? He seems to have bought a Shinkansen ticket to Tokyo. Should I follow him? Decide quickly, or the train will leave." --what the hell is it? Oyagi couldn't judge for a moment.Of course he wanted to know Kuniyoshi's whereabouts, but he also thought that from today onwards, there would definitely be conflicts between Yajima, Qingfengkai and Mukai, and it would be impossible for him to find out his movements by himself. till tomorrow! "You immediately go around to the hotel where Mukai is staying. There must be some action. I will rush to Yajima's residence to monitor." "But what about Kuniji? Just let him leave like this?" "It's a last resort." Everyone will encounter days when they are unlucky for themselves. At this time, even the judgment will be dull.And this is not Oyagi's lucky day!