Ace of Diamond: Sawamura Gets a System

The day Sawamura Eijun bound himself to the “Ace of Diamond Training System,” he had just been rattled by Furuya Satoru's fastball. The System said coldly, “Your fastball is like cotton candy, and your breaking ball is like a drunk dancing.” When everyone was convinced he could only be a substitute, Eijun quietly worked through the System's tasks in the bullpen: “Throw 1,000 consecutive pinpoint pitches to the inside corner.” “Read the seams of a 144 km/h pitch from the batter's box.” In the fall tournament final, Seido was down by two runs, with no one left to put in. Coach Kataoka looked toward the bullpen. “Sawamura, warm up.” Eijun took off his cap, and the System's prompt rang in his mind: “Ultimate task unlocked: Use your one-of-a-kind seven-color breaking ball to save the world.” Seido High won its opening game with Sawamura Eijun's complete-game shutout. That day, Sawamura threw a Type 3 from the mound. Miyuki caught his pitches, Chris watched him from the dugout, Haruichi blushed for a long time after catching a fly ball in right field, Ryosuke made three spectacular plays at second base, Kuramochi dove to stop two sure-fire hits at shortstop, and Zono caught every throw cleanly at first. That day, everyone felt that summer would be a long one.