Everyday Life in the New Semester

Everyday Life in the New Semester

For this practice game, Ido was the catcher and Nozawa the pitcher, but many of the fielders had been switched out. For example, Lang Zhi was playing shortstop this game.

Even for a practice game, Coach Ninomiya is still this confident. He put in several players who rarely get a chance to play. The Edogawa Little League coach quietly observed those players and reminded the scorekeeper to record their performances.

"Kinoshita Little League is West Tokyo Number One, after all. Any player they pull out is incredibly good. Scary..." A vein bulged on the coach's forehead.

"Miyuki Kazuya, even if you're not playing, you still need to wear your uniform. And you're late."

"Yes—" Miyuki Kazuya pulled out his uniform and put it on, answering absentmindedly. His mind was filled with the sight of someone pitching into the net just now.

Should I tell the coach about such huge information? Haha, whatever. I'm graduating soon anyway, so I'll leave those unruly juniors a little surprise. Hehe.

The seventh batter stepped up amid cheers. He nearly thought the first pitch was a hit-by-pitch and took a huge step back, only for it to be a Slider that crossed the plate. The second pitch was a low inside fastball. The third was Outside Low Corner, nicking the bat and resulting in a groundout.

The top half of the inning ended, and it was Edogawa Little League's turn to field again.

This game's battery was Hasegawa and Nakamura, who did not get along with Miyuki at all. Because of the pitcher's vehement objections, Miyuki had been unable to take the field as catcher in this game.

Youth Baseball games ended after six innings. Kinoshita Little League gave up one run in the third inning, but their lineup came alive in the later innings. Before Edogawa's battery could react, they launched a fierce offensive and scored four runs. The final score was 5–1, with Kinoshita Little League taking the win.

After the game, the coaches from both teams exchanged the usual pleasantries. Since Little League games were mostly held within individual branches, teams from different branches had developed a habit of playing friendly matches.

"Coach Ninomiya, even while rebuilding the team, Kinoshita Little League still has remarkable strength."

"Not at all."

Over with the players, Kōshū had just planned to head to the training room for some strength work when someone blocked his path.

"You're Kōshū, right? Let's exchange email addresses."

"Huh? But I didn't bring my phone." A hand suddenly reached toward Kōshū's right pocket. Since there was no training that afternoon, Kōshū had changed back into his tracksuit.

"Kōshū, you're not being honest. Isn't it right there on you?"

Kōshū brushed the hand away, black lines practically appearing across his face as he played along. "Huh, I brought it after all? But why do you want to add my email?"

"So we can talk about pitching."

"I don't think that's any of your concern."

"I'm your senior, you know. Also, if you ever want to pitch, you can come find me anytime. I'm very interested in your pitches."

Kōshū said warily and speechlessly, "Senior, even if I want to pitch, I don't think I need to come looking for you."

Still, Miyuki ended up getting Kōshū's email address and left in high spirits.

Kōshū was also called away by the gathering shout. As he hurried off, he thought, I'll delete him when I get home.

After the practice game, there was a brief review. Lang Zhi had played four innings without making a single error and was now standing in the second row with a beaming face, while Kōshū hid in the back row.

He was gradually realizing that his team seemed pretty strong.

"School starts tomorrow. Pack up and go home as soon as you can," Coach Ninomiya urged everyone to leave. "And remember to finish your homework."

"Yes—" Better not mention homework.

Kōshū had exercised too little that day. After returning home, he secretly changed into his tracksuit again and prepared to go out for a run. But the moment he pushed open his door, he saw Lang Zhi coming up the stairs with drinks from downstairs.

"Hey, where are you going? Don't tell me you're adding extra training for yourself." This kid treated the coach's words like an imperial decree and was getting awfully cocky.

"I didn't get to play today, and it's still so early. My body isn't used to this little exercise."

"No. Coach said rest isn't just rest for your muscles; it's rest for your nerves too. A lot of the time, resting your muscles isn't enough. Only when your nerves have rested can training have its full effect." Lang Zhi pushed him back, condensation from the drink bottle getting onto Kōshū's clothes. "Oh, and Idol Live has a new season out. Let's watch it together."

"What is that?"

Inside Lang Zhi's room, those colorful posters had once again appeared on the walls.

"Come on, let's watch. I'll tell you all about it..." Lang Zhi's face was full of excitement at the thought of recommending his favorite thing.

Bang— Kōshū returned to his room and shut Lang Zhi outside. Going for a run was out of the question for the moment, so he could only do push-ups and lift dumbbells at home.

I'm too weak. Am I really going to just watch everyone else play until half a year from now?

Even at dinner, Kōshū was not in particularly high spirits. Although his pitching had made a breakthrough, he had only accumulated one week of training, which was nowhere near enough. Shen Qing misunderstood the reason for his low mood. "You two, the new semester starts tomorrow. Have you finished all your homework?"

The two boys obediently nodded. Shen Qing followed up, "Then why do you look so listless, Takano?"

Lang Zhi answered for him. "How could students possibly be happy about school starting? Once school starts, we can only practice baseball with all our strength on weekends."

Kōshū nodded too. Once school began, he would not be able to train as intensely as he had during vacation. His already slow progress might become even slower.

"But I'm very happy, because starting tomorrow, I'll be making bento for you two." Kōshū and Lang Zhi both choked at once—one covered his mouth and coughed, while the other tipped back his head to drink water.

Kōshū pointed at the dish on the table, sitting untouched and isolated. "Are you going to make this for bento tomorrow?"

"Of course. I made the soup very thick, so when you eat it, every grain of rice can soak up the meat broth." She then turned toward Mr. Sasaki, who was trying to make himself as inconspicuous as possible. "Honey, don't you think that's a wonderful idea?"

"I... think it's wonderful. It's just, don't you think you used a little too much sauce? It's all black, and you can't even tell what the ingredients are anymore." Mr. Sasaki spoke carefully. "How about this? I'll make the main part of the bento from now on, and you can make the side dishes."

"Yeah, I like refreshing side dishes. If we have a snack in the afternoon, having side dishes makes it easier to eat, Mom." Lang Zhi hurriedly fanned the flames from the side.

Kōshū also unusually took the initiative to persuade her.

"Why do I get the feeling that you all don't want me making bento?" Shen Qing said helplessly.

That's right. Mr. Sasaki's cooking is still better. The two children instantly understood each other without speaking.

So the next morning, Mr. Sasaki still got up to make the bento, Lang Zhi made coffee, Shen Qing fried eggs for breakfast, and Kōshū went for his morning run.

The new semester seemed no different from the last one. Kōshū sat by the window while the classroom broke into several little groups during recess. A boy who sat in front of him and had spoken with him before was reportedly injured during vacation and would not be able to start school for another half month. How boring.

Kōshū took out his Scorebook and studied the notes Hayakawa had recorded, learning his Pitching Strategy.

"Are you in the Baseball Club?" the boy beside him asked, pointing at the Scorebook.

Kōshū nodded. "What about you?"

"How should I put it? I want to become a sports reporter, and when it comes to sports, baseball is unavoidable. So I've been learning how to keep a Scorebook lately too."

"Oh. Right." Looking at the boy's flamboyant hairstyle, Kōshū did not really want to continue the conversation. At the same time, he wondered why Japanese boys kept their hair so long that it covered their faces. Compared to that, the Baseball Club's buzz cuts were really pleasing to look at.

Seeing that Kōshū was ignoring him, the boy wisely did not continue speaking.

That day, the Little League team only trained for two hours, from four to six in the afternoon. The main focus was physical conditioning. The coaches seemed determined to squeeze every last drop out of the players in those two hours. Everyone flipped tires and ran shuttles. After that, the Infield Group did agility ladder drills, while the outfielders practiced all kinds of sliding catches. On the pitchers' side, Kōshū was only allowed to pitch after completing three sets of strength training.

"Hayakawa, I'm going to pitch," Kōshū said excitedly.

Hayakawa did not speak, but beneath his mask, the shadow on his face seemed to shift slightly with a smile.

A normal fastball, the steady feeling of pitching. Then he still aimed for that same spot, maintaining the mindset of throwing an ordinary fastball while only increasing the force in his fingertips. That fastball would then rise half a ball higher, becoming a High Rotation Speed Straight Ball.

"NICE BALL," Hayakawa replied as he caught it.

Coach Fujii pondered at the side. Kōshū had actually been allowed to experiment a few days ago. It seemed that whether his pitches were accurate depended only on where he imagined the catcher's mitt to be. If, while throwing a High Rotation Speed Straight Ball, he imagined the location half a ball above where a normal fastball would go, then the ball would float an entire ball higher.

But whenever Coach Fujii wanted him to conduct more experiments, Kōshū was likely to lose his pitching feel. So after discussion, the coaching staff unanimously agreed that Kōshū needed to stabilize first before they considered experimenting with his accuracy.

They had originally hoped to gather more accuracy data from Kōshū to use in developing Sato, but that plan would apparently have to be delayed as well. Sato was only in his first year of middle school, yet his pitching speed had already reached the level of a third-year middle schooler. However, after sixty pitches, he would lose his accuracy.

"Ah..." Coach Fujii sighed. Kinoshita Little League had many pitchers, but every one of them had more or less some problem. Still, perhaps that was the meaning of a coach's existence.

"Sato, after sixty pitches today, shorten the distance between you and the catcher to ten meters. If you can find your pitching feel at ten meters, slowly increase the distance again afterward," Coach Fujii could only arrange it this way.

"Okay."

At the gathering that day, based on everyone's game practice over the entire summer vacation, Coach Ninomiya assigned uniform numbers to the First String. The current ace of the First String was Senior Nozawa, while Senior Heishi received number 10.

"So nice," Shibasaki murmured. Kōshū looked at that number-one jersey but did not feel much. He could not even play in games right now, let alone receive an official number.

National Day was almost over already. I really can't bear to say goodbye to my vacation!

After National Day, there will be two major events. One is the quarterly work report, and I still haven't made my PowerPoint. The other is a qualification exam. I've only read half of one out of four books. It feels like disaster is looming...