Chapter 11 : Training Session & The Next Opponent

"Come on, Hiroto!"

"Show this arrogant firstie your strength!"

Hiroto snorted amusedly at the cheers that came from behind. Even though they were assigned as Furuya's fielders, they still rooted for him. That was understandable since Furuya himself wasn't a friendly person. Even though the others were convinced by his pitching ability in the training session, that didn't mean they had to like him.

"Get ready, Hiroto-kun!" The catcher behind grinned at him.

"Ono-kun, you are here too?" Hiroto raised his eyebrows.

"Of course, I will be here." The catcher snorted. "I have heard about his monstrous pitch for a long time, and I want to see how good it is from a close distance." Hiroto nodded, acknowledging his answer.

The catcher was Hiroshi Ono, the second team's catcher from his generation. Unlike the genius Miyuki or Chris, Ono was the solid catcher type, just like Miyauchi from the third year. To be honest, his skill was enough to enter the first team in any good school, even if it was just as a reserved player. Unfortunately, Seido had a lot of talented catchers, and that made him gain less attention compared to the so-called genius like Miyuki.

He didn't play in the intra-game before due to an emergency reason, so when he heard two pitchers were promoted from the newcomers, he was intrigued. From what he heard, those two had unique pitching styles, and he wanted to form a battery with them and see it closely. This was the first time he got a chance to do that since Sawamura always stayed with Chris in the last couple of days.

Hiroto could see the fighting spirit burning in Ono's eyes, so he just reminded his friend softly. "Be careful. His pitch has some speed."

"Thanks for the warning, Hiroto-kun!"

Hiroto nodded before shouting to the others, "Okay, everyone! I will not make a homerun today, so be ready to defend the ball!"

"Yeah!"

Everyone was so excited at Hiroto's declaration that they ignored the somehow insulted Furuya. For as long as he could remember, Furuya was always hailed as a monster pitcher. This was the first time someone looked down upon his pitch as if it was so easy to hit. The first-year pitcher snorted before he started to wind up.

'Let's see who will get the last laugh.'

A second later, the ball was launched at a very high speed, making everyone hold their breath unconsciously. However, Hiroto didn't even blink as when the ball was within his reach, he swung his bat decisively, sending it far to the center field.

"A line drive! Maezono!"

"I got it!"

"Aaahh! What the hell, Maezono?! How could you miss that? If Hiroto started running, with his speed, this would be an infield homerun!"

"Sorry, that's my bad!"

"Come again! Hiroto, send it here!"

Everyone was so excited that once again, they ignored the somehow shaken Furuya on the mound. If it was once or twice, he would believe it was a coincidence how Hiroto could blast his pitch away that easily. However, this was the third time, and the invincibility that he always believed he had in his pitch started to crumble.

"Think you can do it again, Furuya-kun?" Hiroto asked playfully on the batter box. Furuya snorted silently, not wanting to show any weakness. He started to wind up again, ready to throw the ball. Unfortunately, just like before, the ball was blasted away easily by Hiroto.

"Shortstop! Fumiya-senpai!'

"I got it! Haruichi-kun, be ready!"

"Yes, Senpai!"

"First baseman!"

*WHAP!*

"Oh! Nice catch!"

"Nice defense, Fumiya-senpai, Haruichi-kun!"

Hiroto nodded his head in approval as he saw Haruichi high-fived Fumiya. Even though he was downgraded as a reserved player, Fumiya still had the widest defensive range in the team. He used his rapid movement and quick judgment to cover the area behind the infielders and made them feel at ease. It was unfortunate his performance was declined after he got a knee injury last year and he couldn't find his best performance again until now.

This was the problem that haunted Seido a lot last year. Due to their excessive training, a lot of players suffered injuries. Chris hurt his shoulder at the beginning of the spring tournament, then there was Fumiya and Hiroto who got injured in the fall tournament before the end of the year. Kataoka-sensei got a lot of criticism because of that and promised he would address that issue. Since then, additional training was only allowed for two hours outside of their normal training to not let the players go overboard.

"Okay, come again, Hiroto-kun!"

They continued training for another half an hour, and it was a horror experience for Furuya s he saw Hiroto do what he declared before. No matter how he threw the ball, Hiroto would always be able to blast it away, and the most outrageous part was there was no homerun just like he said before. All the ball was sent into a tricky position to help the fielders train too, and everyone was satisfied with the result.

It was so outrageously accurate that made Furuya start to doubt himself.

'So, this is one of the best hitters in Tokyo, huh?' He murmured. 'As expected of Seido. It was full of monsters.'

Seeing Furuya in a dazed state, Hiroto approached him with a kind smile. "So, what do you think after watching your pitches getting blasted away several times?"

"It's terrible." The first-year pitcher answered honestly, eliciting a laugh from Hiroto.

"Well, let me tell you something. Even though it was amazing, I could name five or even more players who could hit your pitch, and they are all in a Tokyo team."

Furuya had his eyes widened in shock. "Really?!"

"Yeah." Hiroto nodded firmly. "From our team, Tetsu-san, Miyuki-san, and even Ryousuke-san would be able to do that if he was given enough chance to observe your pitch. And I could name two players from Inashiro Industrial who could also do the same. That was five already, right?"

Furuya nodded in a daze, not knowing what to think. He was so shocked that there were a lot of players who could handle the pitch he was so proud of. Even though he had never seen any of the players that Hiroto named, he knew Hiroto tell the truth, not just wanting to scare him. For a moment, he started to doubt himself, whether he was a good enough pitcher as he imagined himself to be or if it was just his imagination.

"Don't worry too much about it." Hiroto patted his shoulder reassuringly. "I tell you about them not to scare you, but to motivate yourself. If you don't improve your ability, you will be eaten alive by the other strong players. Just remember, you are not the only monster out here."

"Thanks, Senpai." Furuya nodded unconsciously.

Seeing his state, Hiroto decided to leave him alone, letting his words sink into Furuya's head. He knew what he said was a bit harsh, but it needed to be done. From what he heard from his senpai, Furuya seemed to think he was invincible on the mound. Hiroto didn't want such a talented player to go down due to his arrogance and ignorance. That's why he agreed to Furuya's sparing training offer.

"Is it okay to leave him like that?" A first-year player suddenly approached Hiroto with a worried face. "This is the first time I saw him lose his calm." Hiroto furrowed his brows, trying to remember what's the name of the boy in front of him.

"You are….. Kanemaru-kun, right?" He asked hesitantly.

"Ah, right! I am Kanemaru Shinji, the first-year third baseman! Nice to meet you, Suzuki-senpai!" The boy, Kanemaru, introduced himself in such a militaristic way.

"Don't be too formal." Hiroto chuckled. "Just call me Hiroto like the other did, okay?"

"Yes, Hiroto-senpai!"

"As for your question before…. Don't worry about him. It was better to let him suffer in the training session rather than in the official match which would cost us the game. He is also our new monster here, so a lot of people would take care of him. He would be alright."

"Well, if you say so.."

There was an awkward silence between those two until Hiroto found a conversation topic. "Say, Kanemaru-kun. You are friends with Tojo-kun, right? How did he do in the class? Is he alright?"

"Aah…" Kanemaru grimaced a bit before he replied, "He put a good face on the front and made everyone believe he is alright. But I know he is still depressed about his last performance, and I couldn't blame him."

"As expected.." Hiroto sighed tiredly. "I have half in mind to ask Sawamura-kun to drag Tojo down to do the training with him. With Sawamura-kun's cheerful personality, it might lighten up his mood. What do you think?"

"This…." Kanemaru hesitated to answer. To be honest, that was such a good idea. He was tired of seeing Tojo look so gloomy and couldn't concentrate on his training. He knew his friend's strength pretty well, and what Tojo showed in the training session was far from his level. However, he didn't know what to say to his friend right now.

"Maybe.. That's a good idea..?"

"Good!" Hiroto smiled widely. "I will ask Sawamura-kun to drag him down and do training together. Let's see if we can cheer him up."

"Yeah.. Thank's senpai. And sorry to bother you."

Kanemaru was touched by Hiroto's effort to cheer up Tojo. To be honest, this didn't happen for any other newcomers who also got destroyed in the last game. As their senpai said, if one bad loss could destroy their motivation, they didn't deserve to be on the team. No one had time to take care of them as they continued training as if nothing happened to the newcomers.

Tojo was fortunate that he had such a kind senpai as his roommate, and Kanemaru hoped his friend would appreciate it.

"Don't worry about it. He is my roommate, and it is my responsibility to take care of him. Just wait if this worked or not. Anyway, let's go to the dugouts. I can see Kataoka-sensei there."

A few minutes later, Hiroto had already found himself in the middle of the crowd, waiting for Kataoka to start his instruction. After all the players gathered there, the coach coughed a little, silently asking for everyone to pay attention.

"Okay, listen. The Kantou Tournament would start in the next three days, and our opponent was already determined. It was Yokohama Kouhoku Institute." And just by that announcement alone, chatters exploded among the players.

"Yokohama Kouhoku Institute? Is that a strong school?"

"I don't know. I have never heard of them before. It should be easy for us, right?"

"Idiot! Never underestimate your opponent!"

Hiroto himself ignored the chatters, trying to recall his memory about their next opponent. Ryousuke who stood next to him whispered lowly, "Okay, Wikipedia. Tell us about that school."

Hiroto rolled his eyes exasperatedly as everyone who heard what Ryousuke said snickered, holding down their laughter. This was the internal joke among the first-team players. Since Hiroto liked to collect any data and information about baseball no matter how useless it was, everyone started calling him a walking Wikipedia. He didn't bother about the nickname though, since he knew they were just joking with him.

"Well, Yokohama Kouhoku Institute is a new rising star in Kanagawa. In the last five years, they were able to reach the final of the spring tournament twice and won the fall tournament once. They participated in Senbatsu two years ago if I remember correctly."

"That strong?" Isashiki who overheard that raised his eyebrows.

"Yeah." Hiroto nodded his head. "Even though they are not a famous school, they have a good coaching team and focused on cultivating players to reach their potential. Matsumoto Yuki came from this team."

"Really?! Chunichi Dragons' new rookie monster came from that school?!"

"Yeah. You could see this was a good school, maybe even better than us."

Everyone who heard that nodded solemnly, turned their attention to Kataoka, and waited for the next instruction. However, what Kataoka said next shocked almost all of them.

"In this Kantou tournament, I would give opportunity to our new players. So, I hope you all can guide him well."

And just right after that, all the heads suddenly turned to Furuya with full hostility. They were so jealous of him who got the chance to play in a major tournament right after he joined the team.

Hiroto himself found nothing wrong with this decision. Even though it was risky to let a newcomer play, Kantou Tournament had its reputation as the place where a new star was born. Since its prestige was lower than the upcoming summer tournament, almost all the teams used this tournament to let their new player feels the atmosphere of the game. That's why this was the stage for the newcomer.

"As for the second team, there would be a lot of sparing games prepared for you. Remember, there are two spots left for the next summer tournament. So, I hope you can work harder and show your best performance!"

All the envious gazes on Furuya suddenly disappeared when they heard the next part. Although they still looked at Furuya with hostility, they were too distracted by the prospect of grabbing the last two spots for the next tournament.

"YOSH! I WILL TRAIN HARD HERE!"

"Isashiki-senpai, I will follow your path!"

"Isashiki! Maezono! Don't go overboard! Remember, only two hours of additional training! Tetsu, keep your eyes on them!"

"Yes, Sensei!"

And with that, a new chapter started in Seido High, as all the baseball players there were fired up, looking forward to do better in the future.

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Author note :

Hey! I have written a few next chapters of this new story and posted it already on my patreon account. If you want to read it in advance, you can visit patreon(.)com/ZetaFaes .

You can read this story up to chapter 19, and I will try to update it faster. 

You can also read my other fanfiction, Kuroko no Basket: The Sixth man of Seirin Basketball Team up to chapter 157 on that page.

Thank you for your support! I appreciate it! :)

-Zeta Faes-