Chapter 7: School Starts!

After finally sleeping in, by the time Sawamura and the others finished their morning routines, the new semester had already begun.

On the first day of school, the baseball club members didn't have any formal classes to attend, which was a nice arrangement by the school.

In the morning, there were class assigning, club recruitments, and the opening ceremony…

In the afternoon, the baseball players would begin their adaptive training.

It wasn't that Superintendent Kataoka of the baseball club was unfriendly; rather, time simply didn't allow them to continue to relax.

School started on April 1st, and the groupings for the Tokyo Spring Tournament had already been announced.

The official start date for the Tokyo Spring Tournament was set for April 9th.

In just a week, the Tokyo Spring Tournament would kick off in full swing.

While the Spring Tournament might seem unimportant, the reality was quite different. Although only the teams that made it to the finals could participate in the Kanto Tournament and not in Koshien, people's attitudes towards the Spring Tournament often carried more weight than the Autumn Tournament, which directly impacted Koshien's qualification.

The slots for the Kanto Tournament weren't particularly eye-catching; none of the famous powerhouses in Tokyo would go all out for this competition.

But the Spring Tournament was different.

The top 16 teams from the Spring Tournament would be directly selected as seeded teams for the Summer Tournament.

It means that you will have an easier grouping in the summer, and you won't face another seeded team until the quarterfinals of the Summer Regionals.

This grouping is crucial for a bloody battle zone like West Tokyo.

In the Tokyo competition, especially in West Tokyo, being in a death group basically means that you are done for.

Just like the Autumn Tournament that recently concluded, if Seidou High School hadn't been placed in the death group, they might not have been eliminated.

The same goes for the Spring Koshien; if Inajitsu High School hadn't been in the death group, who knows who would have claimed the Spring Koshien crown?

In such circumstances, even Seidou High School had to tread carefully. Who put them in the worst death group before?

If they lost their seed position in the Spring Tournament, they might end up facing Yakushi, Ichidai Sanko, and Inashiro in succession during the Summer Tournament three months later…

That would be incredibly unlucky!

To avoid this unfortunate possibility, Seidou High School must exert every effort to quickly form a competitive team and secure a seed spot in the upcoming Spring Tournament.

Thus, their resting time ended on the morning of the first day of school.

As school began, the leaders of various clubs at Seidou High School donned simple outfits and headed to the club activity area to kick off their recruitment efforts.

They aimed to complete the task of recruiting new members as the new students entered the school.

With beautiful posters and warm words…

For a moment, the newly admitted freshmen felt as if they had entered a youthful paradise.

It all looked lively, but the Seidou High School baseball club was notably absent.

This powerhouse of Seidou High School didn't even bother to put up a poster; they weren't concerned about a lack of recruits.

In the school's admission brochure, prospective members would find detailed guidelines.

First, applications needed to be submitted before the semester started; if that was missed, applications had to be submitted by noon on the first day of school in the baseball club's activity room.

After the opening ceremony, students would be assigned to their respective classes.

All applicants would undergo a unified assessment.

In principle, the Seidou High School baseball team would not actively ask players to withdraw.

Except for a few truly unsuitable cases, the coaches would use persuasion to encourage them to leave.

For others, as long as they were willing, they could participate in baseball club training.

However, participation did not equate to being a member of the first, second, or even third string. You will be merely an 'observer' until the Coach says otherwise. (In the original, Sawamura was like that until he officially joined the team and was promoted to the second string.)

It was said that after this batch of freshmen entered, the official members of Seidou High School would surpass one hundred.

Players are divided into three levels: the first string, the second string, and the third string.

Theoretically, there are 20 players in the first string of the Seidou High School baseball club.

The second string also has 20 players.

The number of players in the third string isn't fixed; for instance, before the new members joined, the Seidou High School third string only had 19 players.

However, with the admission of freshmen, the ranks of all third strings have significantly expanded.

The combined total of the first, second, and third strings must not exceed one hundred and twenty.

Why is that? It's quite simple; currently, the Seidou High School baseball club has a total of forty dormitories.

If the numbers exceed that, the dormitories arranged by the school cannot accommodate everyone.

Otherwise, there wouldn't be situations where two new members are squeezed into an old dormitory.

Of course, as Seidou High School's reputation grows, this housing shortage won't last forever.

The school has decided to allocate funds to increase the number of dormitories, initially planning to add 20 dorms for an additional 60 spots.

That would bring the total of regular members to 180!

Other schools typically have a maximum of only 150 or 160 members.

In contrast, Seidou High School is much more impressive and prestigious.

This is the school's plan, and for the moment, it's not too troublesome.

So, how are player levels assessed?

It depends on the skill test.

The recruitment at Seidou High School differs from that of other schools.

Firstly, students who have gone through special invitations find the skill test to be just a formality. As long as their performance isn't too embarrassing, they usually qualify as members.

Secondly, students who enroll themselves are subject to the school's evaluation, which determines whether they become regulars or observers.

If there are exceptionally outstanding candidates, a second round of tests may be arranged.

The school will place well-performing individuals from the test into the third, second, or even the first string training, secretly grading their performance.

If their scores meet the standards, they could be directly promoted to the second string or even the first string.

The path from observers to the third string, then to the second string, and finally to the first string is informally known among the players as "climbing."

Only those who are truly persistent can make it to the top.

Sawamura experienced this process before his regression but in a very superficial way as he was promoted from an observer to a second string member, and from the second string to the first string due to Tanba's injury.

And after his regression, he was part of the third string upon joining. (First string if it wasn't for his first-day mistake)

Then he returned to the first string after the orientation game.

Of course, Sawamura was uncaring about all of that he was now in the bathroom washing his face.

He simply washed his face, brushed his teeth, had breakfast, and attended the opening ceremony.

The baseball club members were directly pulled onto the podium, serving as exemplary school representatives, receiving the cheering and admiration of all the freshmen.

During this process, the seniors who had just been promoted to their third year appeared particularly composed.

It seemed they had practiced many times in private.

With only a year left at school and four to six months left in the baseball club, they probably didn't want to leave any regrets.

In contrast, a few second-year players were much more halfhearted. They lacked the personal investment that the Senpais felt.

For instance, Furuya, who had previously burned out at Koshien, was dozing off.

Sawamura was still elbowing him on the side with cat eyes.

"It's the opening ceremony, so get it together!"

After Sawamura's rude reminder, Furuya finally came to his senses.

He opened his bleary eyes, looking at the excited freshmen applauding in front of him.

He looked bewildered.

For a moment, Sawamura even suspected that this kid might have forgotten what he was doing.

It wasn't that Sawamura was being paranoid; Furuya's behavior confirmed it.

'He was truly out of it!!'

After the opening ceremony, Sawamura Eijun and the others faced the next task: class assigning.

At the end of each academic year in Japan, students' classes are rearranged.

This year, after the class adjustment, Sawamura looked around and saw all familiar faces.

'Haruichi, Toujou, Kanemaru, Furuya…'

Every second-year player who could be a starter was present in this class.'

If the school wasn't doing this on purpose, Sawamura wouldn't believe such a coincidence.

'Even the team manager, Yoshikawa Haruno, was placed in this class.'

Sitting with familiar people naturally led to endless conversations.

Surrounded by envious gazes from their classmates, these few were the core players who had secured the Spring Koshien Championship for the school.

To put it bluntly, they were half of the starting lineup.

…

T/N: That's it for now.

Thank you all for reading!

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