"First-years, report to B Field for testing! Second- and third-years, defensive drills at A Field!"
With that order, everyone who had just been idle enough to speculate about troublesome first-years no longer had the leisure for it.
The first game of the Spring Tokyo Tournament was only a few days away. As a seeded school, Seido would not play until the third round, but even so, they had only a little over a week to rest. They had practically gone straight from Spring Koshien into the Spring Tournament.
The fielders were fine. What mattered was getting the pitchers back into form.
Other than maintaining a daily hundred-pitch routine, Kōshū had only been doing recovery training so far. Furuya was the same. Instead, Eijun had become the main focus of attention lately.
"Right in front of the pitcher!" Miyuki shouted, lifting his mask.
Eijun no longer needed anyone to remind him. He shuffled beneath the base, scooped up the ball, and threw to first.
Maezono felt the force of the ball entering his glove, then threw it to second. "Not bad. Good strength behind that."
"Heh heh, was that cool or what? I designed that move myself. Usually, a right-handed pitcher has to turn around before throwing after getting that ball, but as a lefty, I have to make use of the left-hander's advantage. I shuffle beneath the bag, catch it barehanded, then rise with the momentum and throw to first. So? Pretty good design, right?"
But Kanemaru, who had hit the ball, quickly cut him off. "Sawamura, you're blocking Home Plate." Then, as if remembering something, he added, "Don't tell me you're going to design another move where you catch the ball with the back of your head?"
"Huh?" Eijun was deeply wounded. When he had first thought up the