Afternoon.
Since Seidou High School would participate in the Tokyo Metropolitan Competition,the members of the First Team briefly trained for a while.
They were gathered together by Head Coach Kataoka and began a pre-match mobilization meeting.
"You should understand.
Advancing to the Fall Conference for Spring Selections, and the highlight of the Summer Tournament...
Compared to these two competitions, the Tokyo Metropolitan Competition in the spring is really not so important.
But..."
Kataoka paused for a moment and said with a serious face:"Our opponent today is Ichidaisan High School, who stopped us in the Fall Competition!
Let them pay back the humiliation we received tenfold!"
Everyone in the team said in unison:"Yes!"
Head Coach Kataoka nodded with satisfaction:"Very good! Yuki, shout slogans!"
Hearing this, Yuki had the rest of the First Team form a circle.
Subsequently—
Yuki: "Who are we?"Everyone: "King Seidou!"
Yuki: "Who has shed the most sweat?"Everyone: "Seidou!"
Yuki: "Who has shed the most tears?"Everyone: "Seidou!"
Yuki: "Are you ready for the game?"Everyone: "Oooo!"
Yuki: "Carrying the glory of the whole school, we have only one goal, and that is to dominate the country!
Let's go up!"
Everyone: "Ooooo!!"
The captain asked every question.The rest of the First Team responded in unison.
After taking turns a few times, the momentum of the First Team had been raised to the extreme.
"Wow… that's awesome!""Their aura is completely different from ours!""So handsome!""Hmm—I really want to enter the First Team quickly!"
The freshmen who were specially summoned by the assistant coach watched the mobilization ceremony of the First Team.Everyone was enthusiastic, and they couldn't wait to join it now.
"Next time, I'll be one of them!"
Sendo looked toward the direction of the First Team expectantly.
Yesterday afternoon, in order to prevent Sendo from feeling aggrieved,the middle-aged assistant coach had specially told Sendo about the rules of the competition.
The assistant coach's exact words at the time were:
"The list of participants in this tournament is submitted before the tournament starts, and once submitted, it cannot be changed.
So.
Although your pitching qualifies for the First Team,since you are not on the original submission list, even if you enter the squad of the First Team, you will not be able to participate.
However—
Although you missed the quarterfinals of this Tokyo Tournament,the list of participants in the Kanto Contest will definitely have your place.
Before that, you can train at ease and don't think too much."
It was precisely these words that let Sendo understand one thing—
That the original Furuya, despite showing good ability in the freshman test,couldn't participate in the quarterfinals of the capital competition.
At the same time, it also let Sendo know that his ability had entered the sight of Head Coach Kataoka.
Next—as long as he waited for the Kanto Tournament, he would get a chance to play.
"Ready to go!"
"People who want to watch the game, hurry up and get in the car!"
At this time, the voice of the assistant coach urging people to board sounded.
"Yes!"
The freshmen responded.
Subsequently, in addition to Sendo and Sawamura Eijun, as well as the oversleeping Furuya,the other freshmen all hurried to the bus arranged by the school for the baseball department.
"Sawamura, and this junior—won't you come and see how popular we are?"
The two seniors (Yoichi Kuramochi and Toru Masuko), who shared the dormitory with Sawamura,saw that Sendo and Sawamura did not move, and stopped to ask.
"Sorry. I'm going to stay.At this time, I should work harder.Otherwise, I won't be able to catch up with you."
Sawamura clenched his fists and replied, his face showing slight reluctance.
"I plan to stay too."
Sendo replied with a smile:"My physical strength is too poor, and it's difficult to improve to the level of seniors without spending more time."
Kuramochi was stunned for a moment, then nodded:"Okay, you guys come on!"
With that, he left with Masuko.
"Continue the run?"
Sendo turned his head toward Sawamura and asked.
Since Sendo's physical strength was not strong enough,the training arranged by the assistant coach was all related to enhancing physical strength.
And long-distance running was one of the methods.
As for Sawamura—since his baseball was not thrown to the outfield fence ninety meters away,Head Coach Kataoka gave him a punishment: run whenever you have time.
This punishment meant—before Kataoka gave any other orders,no touching the ball, no other training, only running.
Therefore, Sawamura, like Sendo,spent most of his time running around the baseball field.
The two ran together for so long, and slowly became familiar.
"No problem!"
Sawamura nodded.
Running alone was lonely.Running with friends gave you someone to chat with, so it wasn't as boring.
Of course, that's only at the beginning.After running for a long time and exhausting too much strength, there was only silence.
Nevertheless, having someone to train with gave more motivation.
Because Sendo and Sawamura were both people who did not admit defeat,they naturally hoped to hold out a little longer than the other.
Just as Sendo and Sawamura were jogging around the stadium and reached the entrance of the baseball grounds—
A tire suddenly hit Sawamura's foot.
Bang!
Sawamura, who had been running, was hit directly, lost control of his body, and then fell to the ground.
"Shhh—"
Sendo, who was next to him, couldn't help but gasp at the scene.
Especially since—it had almost hit him too!
To be honest, he expected this.
Because when he first watched the anime/manga,seeing Sawamura hit by a tire, he was one of the people laughing.
So, the impression of this plot was quite deep.
For prevention,when running with Sawamura, Sendo had kept a mental note.
But he didn't expect that—after chatting with Sawamura and getting distracted,he forgot to pay attention to the surroundings for a moment.
"Y-Yes… sorry, are you all right?"
Haruno, who was always clumsy and careless, stepped forward to apologize to Sawamura very guiltily.
"You're too careless, aren't you!"
Sendo frowned and said.
Although when watching the anime/manga he thought this plot was funny,experiencing it firsthand only felt terrible—his heart was still pounding.
He knew well—the biggest fear for athletes is injury.Once injured, a career can be ruined.
Of course, Haruno's strength wasn't that great.Just looking at Sawamura's performance when he was hit—he only took two steps forward before losing balance and falling to the ground.
If he hadn't lost balance, he wouldn't have fallen at all.
As for the original anime,being hit in the waist by a flying tire was just an exaggerated description.
In the real world, Haruno was such a weak girl—naturally she didn't have the power to throw a tire like that.
But nevertheless—injuries are unpredictable, and there's always risk.
So, even though he knew Haruno was unintentional and didn't have much strength,Sendo was still a little angry.
"Y-Yes… I'm sorry!
That… I was thinking…
If the baseball club needs to run, you use tires…
So… but I didn't expect…
I'm sorry…"