90. Lunch And Camp

Waking up the next day, Rei made his way to school with Sora. As he walked, his mind was on what Akhira said yesterday and how Suzaku was taking all the blame for himself. He wanted to help Suzaku get over this, So he could pitch more freely again.

Noticing Rei deeply in his thoughts, Sora said, "What happened, Rei?"

Hearing him, Rei thought if Sora knew the answer to how he could go on about this and explained to him the whole story about the summer tournament. He also asked him how to help Suzaku get over the hurdle.

"It's different for everyone, Rei. This especially true for the Ace of a team. When a pitcher becomes the Ace there is so much pressure on him. It is the job of the catcher and the whole team to make him understand that baseball is a team sport."

Rei could only nod at his words and continue walking towards the school in silence while his mind was constantly making ways to bring this topic up when he would talk to Suzaku in the evening after practice.

As they reached school, Rei shook his head and decided to be straightforward about it. He wanted to tell that he is a partner Suzaku can tell his worries about when it comes to a game and the best way is to be straightforward about it.

Rei reached his class and went to take his seat. He noticed Mizuki and Keiko not yet coming to school and decided to take out his baseball notebook. He started to write down the whole game he played two days back, play-by-play.

He wrote each inning from start to finish and tried to remember the exact pitches he called for in each inning. Even though he forgot some of them he was able to cover all the 5 innings. He wrote down the performance of the people he knew and the pitchers too.

As he continued to write the inning by inning play in his own view, he heard the door open and class become silent. He noticed the teacher coming in and stood up to greet him. He also noticed Mizuki and Keiko in their places, trying to catch their breath.

He could only shake his head at the two of them and sit back down. He closed the book and kept it back in his bag to continue it later on and opened the books related to the class. The classes went by slowly, with Rei listening to almost all of them while simply staring out of the window some other times.

Rei felt the urge to eat outside the class today, noticing the bright warm sun. He went down and sat on one of the benches by the cafeteria to eat lunch. As the bell rang he closed all the books and took out his own box.

He stood up to make his way outside and noticed Mizuki with Keiko coming towards him with their own lunch boxes.

"Are you going out somewhere?" asked Mizuki, noticing him standing up with his box.

"Yah I wanted to sit outside today for lunch. Do you guys Wanna come?"

"Nah! You go ahead. I feel comfortable inside." replied Mizuki while Keiko nodded, supporting her.

Rei only nodded and walked away, waving his hands. He kept a hand in his pocket and went through the walls calmly observing the sun and students. He made his way down and went towards the cafeteria, which was to the side of the school in front of the lawn where the benches are located.

For a public school, Sensen had very nice facilities for the students such as lawns for the students to eat and spend time. Rei made his way towards one of the corner benches under a try and sat down. Even though he sat alone on a six-seater bench, Rei felt peaceful at the silence he got.

He slowly opened his lunch and as he started to eat he heard a voice calling behind him and turned back. He saw the 2nd years he knew in the team, along with some other players he did not know about.

"Oh Rei, you're here," said Daichi in the lead with Tanaka beside him with their lunches in their hands.

"Oh! Daichi, Hi, Yah I noticed the weather was good and wanted to eat out. Do you guys eat out?"

"Yeah, we eat outside every day." Said Tanaka, taking a seat on the bench. All the people sat on the bench and started opening their lunch.

Rei also noticed Takashi on the bench on the other end. It was Suzuki's turn to pitch for him and wondered how it would go. He looked at some other guys on the bench and remembered all of them from the game. Some of them were his teammates while others weren't. He did not know their names, but only what they played.

As the people started to eat, Tanaka was the first to talk, "So when is the camp we generally happen?"

"Oh! It might be next month. I can't wait to make the smirk of the other teams vanish this year." said Daichi and the others nodded.

Rei was lost about what they were talking about and could only ask silently, "Camp?"

"Oh! It's your first year in the club. We have this camp where we play with these 3 matches in a period of 2 weeks after classes. The 4 schools are really close and the coach has good relations with their coaches."

Rei only nodded and understood. Noting the expressions on their faces, he understood the team lost against all the 3 teams last year and wanted to get revenge on them. He could understand their frustration.

"How good are these schools?" asked Rei again.

This time it was Tanaka who answered, "I guaranteed The 3 teams better than us. The first team is the Seiki middle school. Their specialty was always batting. The middle-order was an actual pain to deal with last year.

Last year Akihiko-senpai could not control pitches as much as this year. We couldn't hold them off properly. In the regional tournaments, they go to the semi-finals every year. "

"The next is Tenko Middle school. Their powerful point is their pitching. They have a complete variety of pitchers in their squad. It's almost terrifying to face the pitches because of the variety.

Last year it was only Ito-senpai and Akihiko-senpai and some other senpai which went to high-school. In the tournaments they reached the national quiet sometimes and are a frequent finalist in the regionals," said Takashi from the other end of the table.

Rei was surprised to learn the coach has connections to conduct a camp with 2 powerhouses of the region. It seemed like the coach isn't a regular old man who coaches a small team and had wonderful connections.

"The last team is called Teigo Middle school. This is the balanced team in the 3 of them. They aren't as good as the other teams and are in fact relatively weak. They went to the semi-final of regionals 2 years back, but overall they are slightly better than us," explained Daichi at the end.

This all information made Rei more curious than ever. He always wondered how good is their team compared to the other ones in the region and by their description the team was relatively weak. His spirit only raged more in excitement to fight the talented teams in a camp for an entire week.

"So, I think this year it's our school who hosts the camp, right?" asked a player sitting on the bench.

"Yes, Last year we had to go Teigo. So this year it's our school that hosts the camp. This is so much better than going to other schools. It takes a lot of time to come back home, and the journey is very tiring." said Daichi.

All of them nodded and Suzuki said, "This year we should also take some games in return." clutching his hand tightly.

All the others nodded and continued to eat in silence. Rei decided to do his best and help them as much as he could. He can't sit down and see the team losing to others. This is a hurdle the team needs to get over if they aim for the nationals.

After completing their lunch all of them made their way back before the bell rang. Rei's mind was only on the camp which might be in a month and wanted to test himself with other schools.

After the classes ended, Rei made his way towards the club but before he exited the class, he told both Mizuki and Keiko to not wait for him today. He had to have a talk with Suzaku and if not solve at least try to help as a partner and friend.

Rei made his way towards the club and changed his clothes. He got out and got to exercise after everyone was done changing. He changed into his gear together with Suzuki and made his way towards the bullpen to catch for Takashi.