Mash-Up: I'm Not A Substitute

That's why winning the summer Koshien championship this time was a must for Advanced Nurturing High.

The entire school was united, something that only happened when facing a common enemy.

Normally, Class A and Class D would never cooperate.

Advanced Nurturing's generosity had a purpose.

It wanted to dominate Koshien to attract more talent.

The school had always harbored the ambition of achieving a 100% university acceptance and employment rate—to become the top school in the country.

But for now, that goal was far out of reach.

Because above them stood Aoba and Shuchiin, pressing down hard.

Advanced Nurturing had its share of elite students, but compared to Aoba and Shuchiin, they were second-rate.

Once, a Shuchiin student mocked one from Advanced Nurturing in an argument, saying:

"Anyone who can get into Shuchiin or Aoba wouldn't even look at your crappy school. Only losers who can't get in go there."

Harsh words, but not untrue.

Aoba is backed by the Five Regent Houses, and Shuchiin has the support of the Shinomiya family.

Power, money, status—all concentrated in those two schools.

Let's not even mention anything else—just connections alone.

At Advanced Nurturing, could you ever meet people like Shinomiya Kaguya, Ryuuju Momo, Kashiwagi Nagisa, or Yozakura Hitomi?

If Takashi hadn't worked hard enough to get into Aoba, he wouldn't even have the qualifications to meet someone like Narii.

To those truly powerful people, ordinary folks are like dust.

You could work your whole life and still never even earn the right to meet them.

That's why Shuchiin students looked down on those from Advanced Nurturing.

Actually, even Advanced Nurturing students harbored resentment toward their own school.

In their hearts, they believed they were supposed to go to Aoba or Shuchiin—they only ended up here because they didn't perform well on the entrance exam or interviews.

In Japan, if you can get into Aoba or Shuchiin, you wouldn't even consider another school.

The leadership at Advanced Nurturing knew this, which is why they planned to win the Koshien championship first to build fame.

"The last school—Private Aoba High School."

At the mention of Aoba, everyone at Advanced Nurturing perked up, their eyes widening as they looked at the screen.

[Private Aoba High School]

Koshien Record:

Championships: 0

Runners-up: 2

Final Four: 4

Top Eight: 22

Danger Level: ?

"Aoba has a Top 1.5-tier batting lineup this year. Originally, after losing their powerful third batter Shota Otani to injury, no one expected much from Aoba."

"..."

"But ever since Kitahara Takashi joined them, Aoba's chances of winning the championship have skyrocketed, now reaching 5.4%."

At the mention of Takashi, Nagumo Miyabi's lips curled into a faint smile.

He had long wanted to meet this genius—Kitahara Takashi, who only played baseball for seven days and could already pitch at 157 km/h, hailed as the next Shohei Ohtani.

Defeating him would definitely be fun.

'…Just wait, you arrogant guy.'

Horikita Suzune's gaze turned slightly cold as she thought.

Her impression of Takashi was still stuck on the time when her brother invited him to tour the Advanced Nurturing High School, but he couldn't even be bothered to show up—he hung up and immediately blocked her brother's number.

Because of that, Horikita Suzune had a very negative opinion of Takashi.

'So we'll finally meet again, Takashi.'

Ichinose Honami's lips curved into a soft, beautiful smile.

She had first met Takashi during Aoba's entrance exam.

The two had taken the exam together—only Takashi passed, and she did not.

Ichinose Honami had never been able to forget how, when everyone else (herself included) was racking their brains over the exam, that boy finished the entire test in just twenty minutes and was the first to leave the room.

Later that day, she overheard someone mention that same boy.

Apparently, he had scored full marks on the written test.

It had shocked Ichinose Honami deeply.

She had gotten more than half of the questions wrong.

If even she had done so poorly, there was no need to mention the others.

And yet Takashi had scored full marks.

'Takashi, huh? I've heard plenty about him.'

Arisu's eyes sparkled with anticipation and curiosity at the thought of meeting Takashi.

She had once seen Hitomi receive a call from someone named Takashi, and the corners of her lips lifted into a subtle smile.

Even though the smile was faint and barely there—she had smiled.

And that was a woman who had dared to kill her own father.

Yet she smiled because of a boy.

Arisu had always wanted to meet Takashi.

She had no ulterior motives—she simply wanted to compare the boy Hitomi had taken a liking to with the boy she herself had chosen: Ayanokouji Kiyotaka.

…

At Hanshin Koshien Stadium, the commentator roared with intense passion: "Home run! A walk-off home run!"

"Araiyada High School's cleanup hitter, Izuno Ren, ended Toin High School's Koshien journey with a single swing."

"Let's congratulate Araiyada High School for advancing to the next round!"

At the sound of the air-raid siren, the boys from Araiyada High School erupted in joyous cheers, while the boys from Toin High School clung to each other in tears.

On the same field, emotions split sharply into two extremes.

On one side, unrestrained celebration as if there were no tomorrow.

On the other, silent tears of regret despite having given it their all.

One side's victory is always accompanied by the other's defeat—such is the unique charm of competitive sports.

"Who would've thought Araiyada would be this strong this year?"

Kudata Musashi frowned.

"This is gonna be rough…"

Okura Kento wore a face like he had just bitten into a bitter gourd.

They had known Koshien would be tough—but not this tough.

"Kitahara, can he hit your pitches?"

A fellow first-year baseball club member leaned in curiously to ask Takashi.

"No—"

Before Takashi could respond, the very same Ren Izuno who had just hit a home run suddenly pulled out a microphone from who-knows-where and, facing the camera, declared loudly in front of more than fifty thousand people:

"Umaru-san, I like you! Please go out with me!"

Takashi: "…"

Umaru was stunned by the confession.

She never imagined that someone would confess to her in front of such a massive crowd.

"Say yes!"

"Say yes!"

"Say yes!"

The audience began chanting in unison.

Umaru looked like a frightened deer, completely flustered. 

Her eyes darted about in panic and desperation, as if pleading for any shred of salvation or escape.

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