"The road to West Tokyo's continued domination."

"A declaration from the King of West Tokyo!"

"The best lefty in Kanto? No—he's the strongest lefty in all of Japan!"

"The Prince of Tokyo—Narumiya Mei!"

"The return of the champion—Inashiro's road to supremacy."

"The Autumn Champion—Inashiro Industrial."

Almost as soon as the Jingu Tournament ended, reports of the games and their results spread across the nation.

After all, this was one of Japan's three major high school baseball tournaments.

Granted, it was the least prestigious of the three,

but it still gathered the strongest teams from across the country, and its level of attention was not small.

Especially this year's final—the direct showdown between Narumiya Mei's Inashiro Industrial and Masamune Hongou's Komadai Fujimaki.

It set hearts ablaze across the nation.

A complete pitcher's duel that left everyone enthralled.

This was true high-level, high-quality baseball.

And in the end, Inashiro's victory announced that Narumiya Mei had once again forced Komadai into the runner-up spot: Summer's runner-up, and now Autumn's runner-up.

Both losses dealt by teams from Tokyo—specifically, from West Tokyo.

It was no wonder Hongou's face was dark with frustration.

According to whispers, when Hongou learned Seidou had lost the Tokyo finals and missed Jingu, his expression was as black as the bottom of a pot.

Some even said he nearly stormed into Tokyo to demand a rematch from Sawamura Eijun.

But Seidou wasn't there.

Inashiro was.

And instead of facing Sawamura, Hongou's "ledger of revenge" gained a new name: Narumiya Mei.

And—to make it worse—Narumiya was even more infuriating than Sawamura!

From Hongou's perspective, both Sawamura and Narumiya were unbearable.

But no matter what, the Jingu Tournament ended in this fashion.

Hongou could only swallow his anger and return to Hokkaido, waiting for another chance at revenge next year.

....

With that, the year's official tournaments came to a close.

Now, all schools would enter the long off-season of two to three months.

According to high school baseball regulations,

no official tournaments or invitationals were allowed during this time.

Even practice matches between schools were forbidden.

And so, Seidou arrived at their final event of the year:

the graduation match.

Third-years versus the underclassmen!

...

"Did you see? This ace has conquered the nation. Hmph! And next year's Spring Koshien too—Eijun, just you wait. You'll still be under this ace's heel!"

At Seidou's dorm cafeteria, after finishing dinner, Eijun's phone buzzed.

He glanced at it, and saw a text from Narumiya Mei.

Reading the message, Eijun couldn't help but smile wryly.

A tsundere ace to the very end.

"It's just for convenience in mocking you, don't get the wrong idea! Now give me your email and phone number!"

Eijun remembered that day in the hospital—Narumiya's tsundere way of asking for his number—

and chuckled again.

Truly, there was no senpai in the world cuter than Narumiya Mei.

"National champion, huh? Heh… well, do your best, Mei-san."

Eijun shook his head with a soft laugh, his fingers flying across the keypad as he typed a reply.

The screen flashed Sending… before the message was delivered.

Somehow, ever since that hospital meeting, followed by calls and texts afterward, Narumiya had dropped the "Sawamura" and started calling him by his given name.

And Eijun, naturally, had gone from "Narumiya-senpai" to "Mei-san."

In Japan, this was no small shift—such familiarity marked a genuine change in their relationship.

Though neither of them noticed it, for the two of them, calling each other by name simply felt right.

....

"Hmph. I don't need you to say it. This ace will keep moving forward. You'd better heal up fast, or else while I'm flying ahead, you'll be left behind. And then this ace won't have any interest in you at all, Eijun!!"

The read receipt appeared instantly.

Barely three minutes later, Narumiya's reply came back.

Eijun couldn't help but laugh.

"Yes, yes, I get it, Mei-san."

Shaking his head, his lips curved into a smile again.

The corners of Eijun's eyes crinkled with that unstoppable grin.

....

"Yo, you two sure look like you're having fun. What's with all this Eijun, Mei-san stuff? Since when did you get so close?"

As Eijun was still thinking about Narumiya, a quiet voice sounded beside him.

That voice instantly startled Eijun.

He turned his head, only to see Miyuki standing there with an expression that was hard to read, something between curiosity and mischief.

"Wah! Miyuki-senpai, don't you know suddenly scaring someone could kill them?!"

Eijun snapped back, annoyed.

"If you weren't up to something guilty, why would you be so jumpy?"

Miyuki replied in that same mysterious tone, his face unreadable.

"What guilty conscience?! You're the one with impure thoughts, Miyuki-senpai. And besides—peeking at someone else's texts is bad manners, you know. Very unethical, Miyuki-senpai."

Eijun twitched at the corners of his mouth and shot him a glare as he spoke.

"Serious question though—when did you two get so close? That guy Mei used to look like he wanted to kill you right on the field."

Switching the topic in a flash, Miyuki suddenly wore a perfectly straight, serious face as he addressed Eijun.

This made the corner of Eijun's eyes twitch again.

Who's the one not being serious here?!

At this point, Eijun didn't even have the energy to complain anymore.

His captain's ability to suddenly change the flow of a conversation was ridiculously strong—and fast.

"…There's nothing special about it. It just kind of happened naturally, I guess."

Eijun rubbed his nose, tilted his head thoughtfully, and then looked back with a surprisingly serious expression, answering Miyuki with sincerity.

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