Chapter 3: The First Practice Match

After bidding farewell to Sano, Sawamura immediately brought the good news to the young buddies of Akagi.

"Practice match!"

Having been established just three days ago and still not fully understanding how baseball works, the young buddies stared dumbfoundedly at Sawamura.

"Captain, you're not joking, are you?"

"Joking?"

Sawamura was quite surprised. "Why would I joke? You should have heard about me being an honest person in Nagano."

Honest person?

Aotsuki Wakana stared at Sawamura without saying a word, her expression intriguing.

"Alright, never mind!"

Sawamura's shamelessness had its limits, and he felt a bit embarrassed under the scrutiny of his childhood friend.

"But most of us still don't know anything."

Nakagawa Shin hesitated.

"It doesn't matter, it doesn't matter!"

Sawamura smiled and shook his head, gesturing for them not to worry. "Baseball is the kind of sport you'll understand as you play."

"Of course, as the team's captain and ace pitcher, I need your help. I need someone who can catch my pitches—a catcher."

Catcher?

The young buddies looked at Sawamura without speaking. They weren't completely ignorant; they knew what a catcher was. But could a team really play a game with just one catcher?

"That's enough!"

Sawamura's smile was radiant.

Dealing with a weak team like Shiron Chugaku, as long as someone could catch his pitches, it would be sufficient.

"You all put on the catcher's gear and take turns trying. As long as someone can catch my pitches, we'll go eat Chinese food tonight."

"Alright!"

Hearing that Sawamura was treating them again, Ruocai protested, "Treating us again? Do you even have money?"

The 10,000 yen the school gave them had already been spent.

"It's okay, I'll ask Sano-sensei to join us. I think he'll be more than willing to contribute to our newly established baseball club's activity funds."

In the office, Sano inexplicably sneezed.

"Hehe, did someone think of me just now?"

Having just met with a girl, Sano's chubby face blushed.

He felt that maybe his spring was coming!

On the other side, after each buddy took their turn, only Yamaguchi managed to catch Sawamura's pitches. So, he naturally took up the position of the team's second player, the main catcher.

With the battery of the team just decided, news came from Shiron Chugaku.

It seemed like they had a lot of free time as they scheduled the practice match for this Saturday afternoon.

Both teams could either go to Akagi or have Akagi's buddies go to Shiron Chugaku.

"We'll go, we'll go!"

The newly appointed captain of Akagi Middle School's baseball team, Comrade Sawamura, firmly said, "Since we proposed the match, of course, we should go to them. How could we ask Shiron's students to rush over?"

"It's not that far, the two schools..."

Wakana wasn't sure if Sawamura meant it or not, so she exposed his intention.

Sawamura's big eyes widened, feeling annoyed. "What does distance matter? What's important is sincerity."

"Are you worried that the team doesn't have a dedicated baseball field?"

Aotsuki couldn't stand Sawamura's appearance and directly exposed him.

Just established, Akagi Middle School's baseball team naturally didn't have a dedicated baseball field. Given Principal Takada's stinginess, Sawamura even doubted they could get one even when they reached third grade.

In fact, in the previous life, until Akagi was merged, they never had a dedicated baseball field. The only makeshift field was built by the buddies themselves.

"True friends don't need to hide things. Haven't you heard that?"

Sawamura couldn't keep up his front anymore, glaring at Aotsuki

"Oh dear, you're staring at me like that, and I'm getting a headache. Maybe I won't be able to attend the match on Saturday."

"Miss, what's wrong with you? Did someone upset you just now? Tell me, I'll go take care of them."

Sawamura immediately did a 180-degree turn and rolled up his sleeves, looking like he was ready to fight someone.

"You, who do you think you are, calling me miss?"

Aotsuki was embarrassed by Sawamura's words, her face blushing with an odd hue.

"How much chance do you think we have to win?"

Before the match with Shiron, Aotsuki worriedly asked Sawamura.

In the first match of Akagi Middle School's baseball team, Aotsuki Wakana really hoped they could win.

As long as they won the match, everything else related to the baseball team would go smoothly. If they could form a fighting force, represent the school in matches, achieve good results, and bring glory to the school, even Principal Takada couldn't remain indifferent.

With good results, everything was possible for school clubs. Some powerful clubs might even get sponsors. As an established club, the baseball team had a higher chance of receiving support.

Dreaming her own dreams, Aotsuki hoped that everything would go well. But Sawamura's eyes were almost rolling.

What did Wakana just say? What were the chances of winning?

A joke had gone too far, right?

The major competitions in this country were elimination-based. This meant that the teams in the first round and the teams in the second round had vastly different levels of strength.

Shiron regularly reached the third round, so their strength could be imagined.

Akagi was a group of rookies; if they weren't beaten to a pulp, it would already be good enough. Yet, they were thinking about their chances of winning?

Daydreaming, but not in this way.

"Probably a few chances."

Sawamura looked at Wakana's expression and ultimately didn't dare to be too straightforward, only speaking vaguely.

What are "a few chances"?

Aotsuki's heart finally settled, understanding Sawamura's character very well as his childhood friend. Although he often boasted, his judgment was usually accurate.

If Sawamura said there were a few chances of winning, then there must be some chances.

The next day, when Sawamura saw his buddies, they all stood tall and confidently.

They seemed to have prepared themselves to win.

But Sawamura genuinely didn't know where their confidence came from. It was probably like they say, "A newborn calf is not afraid of tigers," right?

After explaining the basic rules of baseball again, Sawamura began to lead everyone in training.

Before the match with Shiron, he always thought about teaching them more things and did so.

Sharpen your weapons beforehand; not being fast doesn't mean you don't shine.

Time flew by, and in the blink of an eye, it was the agreed day for the match with Shiron.

Akagi was a region in Nagano Prefecture, with three middle schools located closely to one another.

They were Akagi, Akagi West, and Shiron.

Among them, Akagi and Akagi West were public schools, while Shiron was a private school and had better conditions compared to the two public schools.

The two schools were only two hundred meters apart, and

Akagi's buddies arrived at Shiron's baseball field in less than two minutes.

Here, they would have their first practice match after the establishment of the Akagi baseball team.

...

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