"I hereby declare that the Akagi Junior High School Baseball Team is officially established, starting right now!"
Surrounded by his newly recruited teammates, Sawamura Eijun made his announcement with tremendous enthusiasm.
To celebrate the occasion and welcome everyone to the club, Sawamura had generously treated the entire group to a proper meal.
"How much pocket money have you got left?"
As Sawamura was paying the bill, his childhood friend Wakana asked him worriedly.
After all, today's expenses were hardly insignificant for an ordinary junior high school student.
"Don't worry, don't worry! It's nothing! I'll just ask the headmaster for some club funding!"
In Sawamura's opinion, the establishment of Akagi Junior High's baseball club was an occasion worth celebrating.
Naturally, something this wonderful ought to be brought to the attention of their beloved headmaster.
It was only right that the old man should loosen his purse strings a little!
"Hahaha! No problem, no problem!"
Headmaster Takada was a kindly man in his fifties.
With his gentle expression and leisurely manner of speaking, he resembled the friendly grandfather who lived next door.
Upon hearing Sawamura's request, he agreed without the slightest hesitation.
With a flourish of his pen, he approved a grant of 10,000 yen and handed the authorisation slip to Sawamura.
Only after approving the money did he suddenly remember something.
"By the way, have you found a teacher to supervise your club?"
According to school regulations, every club was required to have a faculty adviser.
Naturally, the newly established baseball club was no exception.
Sawamura happily accepted the funding and left.
Whether in his previous life or his current one, he'd never had much of a concept of money.
Consequently, he had absolutely no idea that although 10,000 yen might seem like a considerable sum, it was barely a drop in the ocean for a baseball club starting from nothing.
Forget luxuries such as proper baseball uniforms.
The money wouldn't even be enough to purchase all the bats and gloves they needed!
Nevertheless, despite the somewhat troublesome circumstances surrounding its establishment, the Akagi Junior High School Baseball Club had stubbornly managed to come into existence.
Like a wild weed struggling through the cracks in the pavement, it was waiting for its chance to flourish.
Having secured the club's operating funds, Sawamura moved on to his next objective.
Finding a faculty adviser.
Fortunately, he already had the perfect candidate in mind.
"Sano-sensei! You're such a handsome, dashing, extraordinarily charming gentleman! If someone as magnificent as you doesn't lead a baseball team to victory after victory, how will the world ever appreciate your boundless charisma?"
Inside the staffroom of Akagi Junior High School, Sawamura was enthusiastically attempting to persuade his homeroom teacher.
The unfortunate target of his relentless flattery was Sano.
Standing 165 centimetres tall and weighing a staggering 120 kilograms, Sano had a slightly receding hairline that made him appear somewhat older than his actual age.
For a single teacher who hadn't even managed to find himself a girlfriend yet, becoming the adviser of a newly established baseball club seemed like a tremendous waste of time.
He still had to search for his future wife, after all!
However, looking at the student before him, who was endlessly singing his praises, Sano found himself strangely unable to voice his refusal.
Whatever else you might say about this youngster, he certainly has excellent judgement.
"I…"
Before Sano could finish speaking, Sawamura suddenly grabbed his hand.
His expression was overflowing with gratitude.
"I knew it! I just knew Sano-sensei was the kindest teacher in the whole school! Right, then, it's settled!"
Without giving Sano the slightest opportunity to object, Sawamura continued excitedly.
"Here are the teams I've picked out for our practice matches! Please contact them as soon as possible, Sensei! The lads are already itching to get out there and play!"
Sano stared at the piece of paper Sawamura had shoved into his hand.
He opened his mouth several times.
In the end, all he could manage was a helpless, bitter smile.
He'd originally intended to explain that he genuinely didn't have enough spare time.
But…
Oh, well.
Since this student had such remarkably good taste, perhaps helping him out wouldn't be such a terrible thing.
With that thought, Sano finally lowered his gaze towards the paper.
Tenryū Junior High School.
Nagano Metropolitan Junior High School.
Nitta Academy.
…
What on earth are these three schools supposed to be?
Deciding that there was no harm in trying, Sano telephoned all three schools.
After finishing the calls, he calmly returned the telephone receiver to its cradle.
Then his entire face twisted with fury.
"What the bloody hell is wrong with those people?! They actually said we weren't worthy of playing against them! Just who the hell do they think they are?!"
Tenryū Junior High School was one of Nagano Prefecture's most renowned baseball powerhouses.
Nagano Metropolitan Junior High School had finished as runners-up in the previous year's Nagano regional tournament.
As for Nitta Junior High, they were regular contenders in the prefectural semi-finals.
With just over forty junior high schools in Nagano Prefecture, these three institutions stood amongst the absolute elite.
Of course, Sawamura hadn't bothered mentioning any of that.
And since Sano knew practically nothing about baseball, there was absolutely no way he could have understood the significance of those three names.
"What's so special about them, anyway?! I refuse to believe I can't find a decent opponent for a practice match!"
The arrogant attitudes of the three schools had thoroughly infuriated Sano.
He was now determined to find the youngsters of Akagi a respectable opponent, if only to prove a point.
"Wada-sensei, you're a baseball fan, aren't you?"
Wada was another teacher who shared the staffroom with Sano.
He was an enthusiastic baseball supporter who knew practically everything about the star players competing at Koshien and those making names for themselves in professional baseball.
"That's right. Oh? Have you taken an interest in baseball as well, Sano-sensei?"
"Of course!"
Sano forced an agreeable smile.
Truthfully, he had absolutely no idea how he was supposed to answer that question.
He knew next to nothing about baseball.
Unfortunately, he'd also just become the faculty adviser of the school's baseball club.
"I was wondering, Wada-sensei, are there any well-known baseball teams around here?"
The moment baseball was mentioned, Wada seemed to become an entirely different person.
His whole face practically lit up.
"Of course there are! There's one right next door, isn't there?"
Next door?
Sano was rather confused.
There was indeed another junior high school near Akagi.
But was its baseball team particularly impressive?
"Don't tell me you haven't heard! Shirin Junior High made it all the way to the third round!"
Wada spoke with an expression of almost personal pride.
The third round?
What the hell is that supposed to mean?
Sano was rapidly discovering that understanding the conversations of baseball enthusiasts was remarkably difficult when one knew absolutely nothing about the sport.
"Put it this way," Wada continued enthusiastically. "If you divided all the junior high schools in Nagano into four groups according to their strength, Shirin Junior High would belong to the very top group!"
His voice grew increasingly excited.
"Last year, they finished ahead of seventy-five per cent of the competing schools! If they hadn't run into the powerhouse Tenryū Junior High, they might even have reached the semi-finals!"
Wada spoke with absolute conviction.
Sano listened attentively.
Unfortunately, he understood almost none of it.
Still, judging by the way Wada was talking, Shirin Junior High sounded considerably more formidable than the three schools he'd just telephoned.
Excellent!
That's the one!
"Shirin Junior High?"
When Sano returned with the news, Sawamura found himself rather speechless.
Despite Shirin being one of Akagi's closest neighbouring schools, Sawamura knew surprisingly little about them.
The only useful information he'd managed to obtain concerned their recent practice-match record.
Even that had come about purely by chance.
During his morning run, he'd overheard a student from Shirin Junior High casually mentioning their team's results.
Apparently, they'd played sixteen matches and won eleven of them.
Judging from that record alone, Shirin Junior High ought to possess a reasonable amount of strength.
Although they hadn't managed to arrange a match against any of Sawamura's preferred opponents, facing Shirin was still an acceptable alternative.
"Thank you so much, Sensei! As expected of someone as handsome, dashing and irresistibly charming as you! Becoming a baseball club adviser is practically child's play for a man of your extraordinary talents!"
Sano listened to Sawamura's extravagant compliments with considerable satisfaction.
This youngster really does have excellent judgement.
And such a way with words, too!
Standing nearby, Wada stared at the two of them with his eyes wide open.
His gaze travelled slowly over Sano's enormous figure.
Then it moved upwards, towards the man's noticeably thinning hairline.
Wada examined him carefully, attempting to discover even the faintest trace of the handsome, dashing elegance that Sawamura had been praising so enthusiastically.
…
Well, perhaps my eyesight simply isn't good enough.
No matter how hard he looked, Wada simply couldn't find any of those remarkable qualities in Sano.
Of course, he had to admit that his judgement might have been influenced by a certain amount of personal resentment.
After all, he was one of the most well-known baseball enthusiasts in the entire Akagi Junior High School.
So when the school established a brand-new baseball club and needed someone to serve as its faculty adviser…
Why on earth hadn't they asked him?!