Chapter 443: Two-Seam Fastball? Forkball? Curveball?
"Two-seam fastball?"
When Eijun uttered the name of the pitch, the reaction was… expected.
Furuya stood there looking completely blank—
he clearly had no idea what kind of pitch Eijun was talking about.
Kawakami and Ono blinked, exchanging glances.
In each other's eyes, they saw the same confusion and curiosity flickering.
Only Miyuki, crouched behind the plate, paused momentarily his mind flashing back to Seiko's batters and how they had crushed pitches during today's game.
Then, he smirked.
...
"So that's your idea, huh? I see… the two-seamer really could work well against Seiko's lineup."
He nodded in understanding.
"A pitch with both lateral and sinking movement... It wouldn't just be a great weapon against them. For someone like Sawamura, whose core arsenal is based on fastballs, it's a perfect fit."
Miyuki glanced toward Eijun, a rare look of admiration in his eyes.
This guy… was made for baseball.
Not only did he have the physical gifts,
but he was also smart—
always thinking ahead, analyzing himself clearly, and making decisions that fit his strengths.
Truly remarkable.
...
"Not a bad idea, Sawamura. But first," Miyuki said, crouching fully into his catching stance with a teasing smile, "You've got to actually throw it like it's supposed to move."
"Of course, Miyuki-senpai. If I didn't think I could pull it off, why else would I have asked you to catch for me?" Eijun's eyes glinted with a strange golden shimmer as he grinned.
Just like Miyuki suspected—
Eijun had been thinking carefully.
Most of Eijun's current breaking balls were built around small, precise movements.
Out of all his pitches, only the modified Cutter Kai had the sharp horizontal break needed to challenge a team like Seiko.
Its movement was sharper than a standard cutter—
sharp enough to be a potential finishing pitch.
But the rest—his changeup, five-seam, and so on—
were too risky.
Especially the changeup.
If even a little mistimed or mislocated, Seiko's raw power would crush it.
Even an off-center contact could still get driven deep.
And if they timed it cleanly?
Good luck.
With that kind of strength, any one of Seiko's nine batters could send it out of the park.
No exaggeration.
It was a real threat.
Taking all of that into account, Eijun realized he needed another finisher another decisive pitch to help contain Seiko's brutal lineup.
And that's when the two-seam fastball came to mind.
He had considered learning it before, but never fully committed.
Now, though?
It felt like the perfect weapon—
the one most suited to his current self, and to Seiko.
"First, place your index and middle fingers along the two closest seams—try to keep the seams as perpendicular to your body as possible," Eijun recalled mentally, running through every bit of technical detail.
"Make sure your fingertips stay tight against the seams, and position your thumb underneath the ball. The most important part is the balance of pressure between your fingers and thumb—get that right, and the ball will drop sharper and faster."
His mind played back everything he had studied about the two-seamer—
And how to make it his own based on his unique mechanics and physique.
As a left-handed pitcher, Eijun had certain unique traits in finger control.
He adjusted his grip slightly.
"Normally, the index finger applies more pressure than the middle finger," he thought, "which gives it more of a sinker-like trajectory. But if I incorporate some of my quirky pitch mechanics… and keep the pressure between both fingers equal…"
He reminded himself.
Don't rely too much on finger strength alone.
He raised his right leg slowly.
Lower body stable. No excess movement.
"Whoosh."
His arm swung up.
All Eijun could see was Miyuki's glove in the distance.
No extra pressure on the fingers.
Let the entire arm generate the force—
make the pitch sharper.
"Fwoosh!"
As his arm reached its peak, Eijun's left arm snapped downward.
A sharp streak of light burst forward.
The ball whistled through the air a cold gleam cutting through space.
And in a flash—
it reached home plate.
"Whoosh!"
The ball wobbled.
At first, it bent and curved downward like a curveball,
but midway through the air, it flattened out suddenly—
then jolted and dropped.
"Fwump!"
A clean, sharp drop.
So fast. So sharp.
Miyuki's pupils shrank.
He jerked his mitt to adjust mid-flight.
"Thwack!"
The ball slammed into the mitt but ricocheted out, falling to the ground with a dull thud.
It bounced off the dirt, spinning and rolling.
And in that brief silence, Miyuki's stunned expression said it all.
Off to the side, Kawakami and Ono had their jaws wide open in disbelief.
Furuya, still lost, blinked in confusion, clueless about what just happened.
"…That's the two-seamer?"
Kawakami swallowed hard, still staring at Eijun with wide eyes.
Weren't two-seamers supposed to be just a variation of a sinker?
One thrown from an overhand delivery with a sinking path, and the other typically from a three-quarter or side-arm angle.
(Of course, that's just generalization—some overhand pitchers can throw sinkers too.)
...
Ono gave a wry smile.
Even Miyuki missed it.
If it were him behind the plate, it'd probably take dozens of tries just to cleanly catch it once.
Every time Eijun learned a new pitch,
it was like he'd invented an entirely new pitch.
"That pitch…" Ono muttered, shaking his head. "The first half looked like a curveball. The second half felt like a forkball. It's…"
He didn't even know what to say anymore.
"So, Miyuki-senpai—"
Eijun tilted his head, a rare, proud smile on his face.
"What did you think of my two-seam fastball?"
The feeling in his arm, the touch off his fingertips, the grounding in his lower body—
it had all come together perfectly.
The next step was to master full control over it.
Miyuki finally regained his composure.
"That wasn't a two-seam fastball…
That was a sinking fastball. Like a MLB-style pitch.
That wasn't the traditional two-seamer you're thinking of—it was more like the American version of a power sinker."
Then he narrowed his eyes.
"Sawamura… how the hell did you get the ball to move like a curveball in the first half?"
He could understand the late drop—
that was typical of a sidearm sinker or even a forkball.
But that first half?
That curveball-like arc had caught him completely off guard.
He could only guess it was something to do with arm angle, grip, or the release point—but even so, it defied expectation.
This thing had the front-end break of a curveball,
the late drop of a forkball, and the path of a sinking fastball.
And they were still calling it a two-seam fastball?
Miyuki could only laugh dryly.
What even is this pitch?
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