Ace of the Diamond, Volume 2

This is Volume 2 of the Ace of the Diamond series, published in the Tong Li Traditional Chinese edition on July 18, 2007. The story picks up right after Volume 1: Eijun Sawamura has made it into the prestigious Seido High School baseball program, but on his very first day with the team he oversleeps and sends Coach Kataoka into a fury. To win back the coach's trust, he accepts a "long-toss bet"—and loses, after which he is told to give up on becoming a pitcher. At Seido, where talent is everywhere, cracking the first string was always a distant dream, yet Eijun refuses to surrender. Meanwhile, a new first-year appears: Satoru Furuya, another aspiring pitcher whose first showing shakes Sawamura to the core—and with that, the future rivals meet. At the same time, Sawamura's catcher-pitcher relationships with seniors like Kazuya Miyuki and catcher Chris begin to take shape at this stage. This volume carries on the rough-hewn art and heated pacing, centering on the core question of "can he stand on the mound?" and pushing the boys' frustration, stubbornness, and grit to the fore. It is an important early installment that lays out the internal hierarchy at Seido and sketches the protagonist's first growth curve.