Early the next morning, Kōshū was stopped by Coach Ninomiya at the cafeteria entrance. It looked like he had been waiting there for a while, scribbling away in a notebook. Only after being reminded that the person he was looking for had arrived did he close it.
"Kōshū, come with me."
Kōshū did not understand why Coach Ninomiya had not contacted him by phone, but he was even more curious about what the coach wanted.
The man ahead of him kept checking his phone and taking notes as he walked. Then the phone in his pocket rang. "Hello, Fukunaga. I've been waiting for your call. Yes, yes. Then I'll bring them over now."
The kid behind him was full of question marks. What? Bring me and who over? To see whom?
A taxi stopped outside an enclosed field. Kōshū and Hayakawa silently followed behind. During the ride, Coach Ninomiya roughly explained his connection with the leader of the U.S. team. Their pitching coach could take a look at Kōshū's pitching.
A Japanese man wearing a U.S. team uniform came out to greet them. When he saw Coach Ninomiya, he opened his arms for a hug, only for Coach Ninomiya to hold him at arm's length with a decisive motion. His words, however, remained exceedingly polite. "Fukunaga, it's been a long time. It's wonderful that you were able to coordinate this for us."
"We're very interested in your pitcher too." Though the man had an Asian face, both his manner of speaking and his expressions were very Western. He was the sort who scrunched up his nose when he smiled and showed a whole lot of teeth. Kōshū found it a little difficult to deal with people like that and quietly fell half a step behind Hayakawa.
"You didn't go and