(4) The Waiting Game

The afternoon sun was starting to dip as Kanemaru Shinji and Tojo Hideaki finished their usual practice. Kanemaru wiped the sweat from his face, feeling good after a solid round of drills. As he stretched, getting ready to call it a day, Tojo's calm voice cut through the quiet.

"So, Shinji, how's your prep for the entrance test going?"

Kanemaru blinked, staring at Tojo as if he'd just said something completely out of the blue. "Huh? We're practicing right now, aren't we?"

Tojo raised an eyebrow, his face as expressionless as ever. "Not for baseball, for the entrance test."

Kanemaru froze, the bat still in his hand. Entrance test? His mind whirred as he processed Tojo's words. Oh, right—the entrance test for Seidou! He'd been so caught up in practice that he completely forgot about the academic side of things.

I'm reincarnated—how long has it been since I was supposed to pass school age? Kanemaru thought, shaking his head. He let out a nervous laugh, scratching the back of his head in embarrassment. "Yeah... I kinda forgot about that."

Tojo didn't even blink. "You forgot, didn't you?"

Kanemaru sighed, dropping his bat to the ground with a thud. "I'm in trouble."

Study Mode: Activated

That evening, the two of them sat in the small study room at Kanemaru's house, books and notebooks scattered across the table. Kanemaru was hunched over, his hair a mess from the stress of studying. He wasn't bad at everything, but let's just say not all subjects came naturally to him.

"Okay, so this is how you solve this equation," Tojo said calmly, pointing at the math problem in front of them.

Kanemaru stared at the page, his eyes narrowing. "Are you speaking some kind of ancient language right now?"

Tojo sighed, his patience unshaken as he explained the problem again, slowly. Kanemaru tried to follow along, nodding even though half of it was going over his head. Math was never his thing, but he didn't have much of a choice.

"Honestly, why do we have to study this stuff? We're going to play baseball, not become mathematicians."

"You still need to pass the entrance exam," Tojo replied, flipping to another page in the book. "Math isn't optional."

Kanemaru groaned, resting his head on the table dramatically. "Great, another life where I have to deal with this."

"Stop complaining and focus," Tojo said, though there was the tiniest hint of a smile on his face. "You're fine with history, right?"

Kanemaru perked up slightly. "Yeah, history's okay. At least I can remember dates. And literature isn't so bad either. It's just math and science... ugh."

Tojo quietly flipped through another book, handing it over to Kanemaru. "Then let's focus on those."

Kanemaru sighed but took the book. He may not have liked it, but there was no escaping it. If he wanted to get into Seidou, he had to pass the test. And if he wanted to play baseball at Seidou, he had to get through this.

They studied late into the evening, Tojo calmly walking Kanemaru through each problem, while Kanemaru made just enough progress to not panic completely. At least Tojo didn't mind going over things multiple times. He was used to Kanemaru's pace by now.

Test Day

The day of the Seidou High School entrance test had finally arrived. Kanemaru and Tojo stood among hundreds of other students in the exam hall, facing the same challenge: passing the written exam.

Kanemaru's heart pounded as he worked through the exam questions. The material wasn't too bad, especially after the last-minute study session, but the weight of the situation made it feel like every answer carried the weight of his future.

I'm ready for this, he reminded himself, even though part of him still wanted to be out on the field, holding a bat instead of a pen.

Tojo, seated a few rows over, was his usual calm self. He had gone through the material without issue during their study sessions, and now he seemed completely at ease as he answered question after question.

Kanemaru glanced at the math section and let out a small sigh of relief. It wasn't as bad as he had feared. He could handle most of it, thanks to Tojo's patient explanations. But there were a few problems that still made his brain hurt. He fought through them, determined not to let math be the reason he didn't make it into Seidou.

At least history will be a breeze, he thought, moving on to the next section.

The minutes ticked by slowly, each second feeling longer than the last. When the final question appeared in front of him, Kanemaru took a deep breath, double-checked his answers, and set his pen down.

Now we wait.

Outside the Exam Hall

After the exam, Kanemaru and Tojo walked out of the hall together, the weight of the day still hanging over them. Kanemaru rubbed his face, feeling both relief and exhaustion. "Well, that wasn't as bad as I thought... but still, math."

Tojo gave him a small nod. "You managed."

"Barely." Kanemaru sighed, running a hand through his hair. "What now? We just sit around and wait?"

"Pretty much."

They walked in silence for a bit, eventually making their way to a nearby park. After a few minutes, Tojo reached into his bag and pulled out a baseball glove, tossing it to Kanemaru.

"Let's throw for a bit."

Kanemaru grinned, catching the glove easily. "Now this I can do."

Throwing and Catching

The soft thwack of the ball hitting their gloves echoed in the quiet park as they stood several meters apart, tossing the ball back and forth. For a while, neither of them spoke. There wasn't much to say. They had done what they could on the test, and now all that was left was to wait for the results.

Each time the ball landed in his glove, Kanemaru felt a bit more at ease. Throwing and catching was simple. It was something he could control, unlike the uncertainty of the exam results.

"Think we'll make it?" Kanemaru asked after a while, tossing the ball back to Tojo.

"I think we've got a good shot," Tojo replied, catching the ball with his usual calm.

Kanemaru nodded, feeling a little better. They had worked hard to prepare, both for the entrance test and for the baseball team that awaited them at Seidou. Now, they just had to see if their efforts would pay off.

The Announcement Looms

After a while, they sat down on a bench, both feeling a little less tense after the game of catch.

"It feels like we've been preparing for this forever," Kanemaru muttered. "Now we just wait."

Tojo nodded. "Waiting's the hardest part. But we'll know soon enough."

Kanemaru leaned back, letting out a long breath. "Yeah, I guess we'll just have to see."

They sat quietly for a while longer, both mentally preparing for whatever the next step might be, knowing they'd done everything they could.