Chapter 8: It Is Rei-chan’s Fault!!

School Starts, Class assigning…

The members of the Seidou High School baseball team are already quite familiar with these routines. They quickly sorted everything out!

In the Afternoon.

The baseball team members gather at the A field.

According to the original plan, they should still be taking it easy.

However, this year, Seidou High School made it to the end of the Spring Koshien schedule. By the time they returned, the Tokyo Spring Tournament was on the door.

The players didn't even have time to shake off the fatigue built up in their bodies before diving into intense training.

Fortunately, only the first-string players were forced to train rigorously; those on the second and third strings didn't have to rush.

Of course, they weren't idle either.

As assistants to the coaches, they would help evaluate new players during the skill test.

The skill test was presided over by Deputy President Takashima Rei, who looked proudly at the more than one hundred players standing before her.

One-third of them were recruits she had personally scouted.

With Seidou High School's consecutive National Championships last summer and this spring, their fame soared, and very few of the players she valued turned away her invitation.

Among this group, there are many promising players, some of whom have already achieved impressive records during their middle school years.

For instance, Yui Kaoru, Nishiyama Kibo, and Yuuki Masashi.

On the other side, Sawamura and the others, led by Miyuki Kazuya, headed to the A field to find their rhythm.

Their most important task now was to restore their physical level, aiming to be fully recovered before the official games begin.

"Have you seen the groups?" Kuramochi said, grinning.

"Yeah!"

"Group D is really something!"

"I didn't expect those two teams to be paired together."

"Why are you still in the mood to gloat? If those two teams are together, it means one of them won't make it against the seeded team. Think about which group they're in—it's really bad luck."

"You're right about that," Kuramochi admitted, his expression tightening.

Inashiro, returning from Koshien, would face Sankou High School in the ninth match.

Both are top-tier giants in West Tokyo, and the clash between these two teams would undoubtedly be an explosive showdown.

The players were buzzing about it.

Coach Kataoka was soon invited back to his university for a lecture, also to 'recharge' himself.

As the Coach of the national champion Seidou High School, he felt he was still somewhat inadequate, so he wanted to improve.

The players wholeheartedly agreed to this.

Just the thought of having the legendary Kataoka beside them made them feel uneasy.

Before leaving, Coach Kataoka specifically called Miyuki and Sawamura to him.

"For the three days I'm gone, I'll leave the team in the hands of Coach Ochiai. When I return on April 5, I want the new players to introduce themselves."

"Understood!" Miyuki could only nod in agreement.

"As team captain, I hope you'll work well with Coach Ochiai."

"Yes!"

After instructing Miyuki, Kataoka turned to Sawamura.

"During the skill test later, you'll help Takashima-sensei."

Sawamura's eyes widened in disbelief as he looked at his coach.

'What?! Are you kidding me?!'

'Everyone is doing basic training together to recover their stamina.'

'How could I possibly have time to deal with the skill test?'

Even if he was very curious about this year's Kohais, it didn't mean he had to assess them himself!

"But Boss! I-"

Without much thought, Sawamura wanted to refuse.

This is ridiculous! I am busy too; how could I care about those underclassmen?

"Didn't you injure your fingers? You should take care of them in the week leading up to the competition," Coach Kataoka said firmly.

'I pitched very well with those fingers! You Damn Sunglasses!!'

Sawamura suddenly felt an avalanche of frustration rise within him.

His eyes widened, his mouth agape, full of all kinds of words and insults he wanted to voice out.

"As the biggest star on the team, having you as a referee for the players will inspire the juniors. That's probably what the Coach is thinking," Miyuki shamelessly reasoned with Sawamura after Kataoka left.

Sawamura rolled his eyes in exasperation.

It's not that he didn't understand Kataoka's plan; it was simply using him as a living advertisement to attract recruits.

~~~

Want to succeed at Seidou High School?

Want to have thousands of fans?

Want to be a big star?

Look at the living example right in front of you.

This is the most successful PRODUCT of Seidou High School in recent years: Sawamura Eijun.

If you can't get in, you'll regret it; don't waste the opportunity…

~~~

'It is definitely Rei-chan's idea!!!'

The image of an advertisement flashed through Sawamura's mind, and he guessed whose idea is this.

The team gathered together and began their warm-ups and training.

During this time, Seidou High School's training intensity wasn't very high.

Their most important task wasn't to dramatically increase their abilities in just a few days but to eliminate physical fatigue and maintain their condition for the spring competition.

Sawamura, who was ordered not to pitch by Coach Kataoka, approached Takashima Rei with lungs full of fire.

At that moment, he was stunned by the crowd in front of him.

'What the heck!'

'Twenty in a row, nearly seven rows!'

'Is this a joke?'

Aside from the players specially invited by Takashima Rei, most of the others also had some degree of skill.

They just weren't recruited by Seidou High School, but that didn't mean they lacked confidence in their abilities.

There were indeed some like Nabe-san who regarded baseball as merely a club activity.

However, compared to the more than one hundred players, they were a rare breed.

As long as one wasn't foolish, it was easy to imagine how rigorous the training of the Seidou High School baseball team was on a daily basis.

Hardly anyone joined the Seidou High School baseball team just to 'have fun'.

Of the more than 130 people, 90% had a baseball background.

How many official members are there on the Seidou High School baseball team?

Just 120.

In addition to the original 59, more than 30 were specially recruited.

That leaves just about 30 spots.

A staggering 2/3 elimination rate!

"The Qualified will be official members, and the unqualified will be observers. Observers can withdraw at any time, and assessments will take place in the middle and end of each semester. This is an opportunity for observers to become official members…"

Takashima bluntly announced the assessment rules.

Then the examination officially began.

The preliminary assessment was actually quite simple, merely testing some basic skills.

First up is pitching!

This will measure how far you can throw the ball.

Don't underestimate this point; without specific practice, it's tough to throw the ball far.

Pitching speed, power, accuracy, distance…

These are all assessment criteria.

Seidou High School has dedicated a testing site, with distances exceeding 110 meters.

After giving the order, Takashima explained the assessment grading to Sawamura beside her.

Sawamura picked up a pen and prepared to record without saying a word.

He was already feeling frustrated, and naturally, he wasn't in the mood to interact with the new Kohais.

This attitude unexpectedly drew the attention of a group of little fans.

"Isn't that Sawamura-senpai?"

"So cool!"

"Just look at how he writes; he's so impressive."

"When he talks to the teacher, he has such a casual behavior…"

The whispers around him annoyed the blonde boy Okumura.

'These people must be crazy.'

'It's clear he's annoyed; how do they interpret that as cool?'

Regardless of Sawamura's attitude, the test began.

The names called at the start were mostly unfamiliar to Sawamura.

Most of these players chose to join after seeing Seidou's impressive results.

They have a clear goal: as long as they can become core players at Seidou High School, they can almost guarantee entry into the big stage.

For these ambitious folks, this was certainly an easy way up.

To be honest, the skills of these players were quite intimidating, with average distances throwing between 60 to 80 meters.

The deviations in accuracy were generally no more than two or three meters.

In a pool of hundreds of thousands of high school players nationwide, they would be considered at least upper-middle level.

Some even managed to throw the ball in the 80-meter range with impressive accuracy.

"The level is quite impressive!"

If these players weren't at Seidou High School, they would easily be the main force at any ordinary high school.

Unfortunately, they just happened to land at Seidou, a place filled with exceptional talent.

With such standards, trying to stand out at Seidou High School would require more effort.

After all, Seidou High School isn't as easy to navigate as they imagined.

One must admit, that Takashima Rei's eye for talent is sharp.

The players she was interested in were clearly a notch above these ordinary recruits.

They tested about sixty or seventy players, each throwing three pitches.

So far, the longest throw was 87 meters.

An 87-meter throw with a deviation of less than two meters.

This level has already surpassed most of the second and third-year players on the former third-string team of Seidou High School!

…