CHAPTER 87: CHAPTER 87: CHALLENGING THE CHAMPION

From the commentary booth, looking around at the stands, Tanaka Shuji could feel the ground beneath him shaking incessantly—the entire Koshien had sunk into a frenzy as fans caused a miniature earthquake: not only in Takayama, but even in Nihon Professional Baseball or the Major League, this walk-off steal of home plate is a scene rarely seen in a hundred years.

Amidst cheers from the crowd and in front of tens of thousands of spectators, the hero of the game slowly rose from the ground—he raised his fists high, fully unleashing the emotions overflowing from his heart, before being engulfed by his teammates who sprinted from the dugout.

On the sidelines at the media booth, dozens of reporters simultaneously pressed their shutters, wanting to capture this moment forever—at that moment, the flashes shone like fireworks at a summer festival.

On the same field, two different worlds were on display:

On Narita’s side, the players clearly hadn’t yet recovered from the sudden death result, looking a bit helplessly at the chief umpire and their celebrating opponents on the sidelines, each one looking pale;

The players from Waseda Real were crazily rushing from the dugout to home plate, waving their arms wildly while shouting frantically along the way:

"Aaaahhhhhhh——!!!"

"How dare you, how dare you!!!"

"Amazing!!!!!!!"

When the excitement finally subsided, and the crowd gradually dispersed, Lin Guanglai, who was at the center, resurfaced:

The golden sunlight of a midsummer afternoon spilled onto his body, making the beads of sweat on his forehead glisten; his off-white baseball uniform was already completely soaked through with sweat and black dirt.

In the spotlight, Lin Guanglai slowly stood up from the ground and raised his arms towards the direction of their cheering section, posing in a celebratory manner—at that moment, Lin Guanglai was the rising star at Koshien.

Just as the commentators and spectators were still immersed in the game, unable to extricate themselves, the players on the field were already beginning the game-ending lineup procedure.

"Buzz—— Buzz—— Buzz——"

The alarm signaling the end of the game sounded once again above Koshien.

Lined up in front of home plate, Waseda Real’s players stood neatly, loudly singing the school song, watching the school flag gradually rise and flutter at Koshien.

The 92nd National High School Baseball Championship.

The twelfth day, first game.

Quarterfinal match.

Waseda Real (West Tokyo) 2:1 Narita (Chiba).

West Tokyo representative, Waseda Industrial School, enters the semifinals after four years.

...

After the game ended, as the losing side, Narita’s players returned to the dugout, took prepared bags from their gear, and began to scoop handfuls of dirt into them—for most of them, this might be their last chance to feel the soil of Koshien in their lifetime.

After finally coming to terms with the shock of the game ending so abruptly, at first, Narita’s players were still joking and teasing each other; but as they continued speaking, tears began to flow uncontrollably from their eyes, and their remorse made them choke up, unable to speak.

Having battled their opponents fiercely for ten full innings, only to lose in the end to a steal that could have been avoided, it’s hard for Narita’s players not to feel regret, especially the third baseman Daiki Anzui and the pitcher Nakagawa Ryosuke who were directly involved, who cried uncontrollably.

"I’m sorry... everyone, if... if only I had... noticed earlier... then our summer... wouldn’t have... wouldn’t have ended here!"

Since defeating a strong opponent, Wisdom Wakayama, in the first round, everyone at Narita High School firmly believed that their team had the strength to reach the finals and win the championship—returning to Koshien after twenty years, the players had put in countless hours of effort and endured countless hardships over the past three years, and now they had to leave this stage of dreams, they were filled with unwillingness.

But this is Koshien, this is life—dreams are beautiful, but dreams are also cruel: the single-elimination knockout format determines that the losers can only leave, dejected—in this sweltering summer, only one team in all of Japan can brandish the victory flag and return triumphant.

After the game, Lin Guanglai once again stood on the post-game player interview platform, answering questions from reporters.

When asked about the decision to steal home, Lin Guanglai responded:

"Actually, there was an element of gambling in my decision at the time—after all, I think 99% of people wouldn’t easily make the decision to steal home."

"Because I’m taller, my lead-off range is larger than most other players; then, before making the choice, I also observed the defensive positions—after noticing that they didn’t seem to be paying much attention to me, I just decided to run for home plate."

"Communication? There wasn’t any communication! After all, neither the coach nor the seniors would have predicted an opportunity for a steal of home, right? It was just that I felt it was possible at the time, so I went for it."

"Not afraid of failure? Hmm... to say I’m not afraid at all would be a lie, but when the opportunity presented itself, I felt in my heart that I had to seize it, otherwise, with Nakagawa-senpai’s great pitching form today, it was hard to say what might happen in the continuation—it was just good that it succeeded, otherwise, I’d definitely be scolded by the coach when we got back, hahahahahaha—"

Having won the match, Lin Guanglai was in high spirits, and occasionally interacted with the reporters as he answered questions; the reporters were also amazed by his judgment and courage on the field, giving more attention to the young man before them.

After the interview, Lin Guanglai returned to the team’s locker room—having reached the semifinals in their first Summer甲, everyone at Waseda Real was very excited; but due to the cameras in the locker room, everyone held back a bit, saving the celebrations for when they returned to the hotel later.

In the locker room, there was a large screen broadcasting the ongoing semifinal draw ceremony at Koshien Stadium—since Waseda Real was the first team to reach the semifinals, there were only seven teams left in the draw.

After the operation by the draw officials, amid the exclamations of the audience, the arrangements for the last three games of the 92nd Summer Koshien were freshly unveiled:

Upper bracket: Waseda Real (West Tokyo) VS Konan (Okinawa)/Holy Light Academy (Fukushima)

Lower bracket: Kyushu Academy (Kumamoto)/Tokai University Sagami High School (Kanagawa) VS Niigata Meikun (Niigata)/Hodokusho Academy (Hyogo)

Upon seeing this result, the previously noisy and lively Waseda Real players instantly fell silent.

If nothing unexpected happens, Waseda Real’s semifinal opponent would be the top favorite of this year’s Summer甲, the reigning champion of the Senbatsu High School Baseball Tournament, Konan High School—clearly, this was not a favorable draw.

The cameras in the locker room faithfully captured each of their expressions: there were sighs for drawing a tough opponent, fear of a formidable adversary, and of course, excitement at the chance to challenge the champions.

The battle was about to begin.