Coach Ninomiya

The Kinoshita (Blue) Little League Club was originally a sporting goods store, located in what is now West Tokyo City. The owner, Kinoshita Moriyuki, spent his prime years during the tail end of Japan's golden age. With spare money, he purchased the adjacent sports facility, but just as renovations finished, the Plaza Accord ushered in Japan's "Lost Two Decades." Kinoshita's capital chain snapped, but fortunately, the club was already set up.

In the club's first year, Kinoshita partnered with an elementary school. The school had limited space and couldn't accommodate a baseball team, but parents wanted their children to get familiar with baseball from a young age. So the club provided the facilities, and the parents formed the coaching and support teams. Wobbly and uneven, the club's first year finally passed.

Soon, older students left and new ones joined. The parents serving as coaches kept rotating, but some stayed on, gradually gaining experience in teaching baseball. Even after their own children graduated, these parents chose to remain as coaches on the team. However, the coaching staff needed a head coach. After several years of selection and turnover, an orthopedic doctor named Ninomiya eventually became the team's head coach and has held the position to this day.

Coach Ninomiya is the kind of person who turned his career into a hobby and his former hobby into a career. Now, he has handed over his clinic entirely to others and has been formally hired as the head coach of the Kinoshita Club. Many of the coaches around him also had children who once played on the Little League team. It could be said that the Kinoshita Club grew up under their watch, like their own child.

This Coach Ninomiya, with drooping eyelids and a large bag under each eye, his dark pupils and expression hidden, watched the two brothers who had just finished their physical assessments with an unchanged demeanor.

The older brother was 1.82 meters tall, reportedly having grown two centimeters in the past six months. His explosive power was decent, and he had trained in sprinting for a few years—though whether he had any hidden injuries was unknown. According to his parents, he threw things very accurately. A pitcher potential test would need to be added later. The younger brother had played shortstop for a few years and was a regular at Magnolia Middle School. His body coordination was clearly good. As for batting, the older brother had good ball-tracking ability, but his stance needed adjustment. The younger brother was average, capable of handling the lower part of the lineup, but still lacked power.

After mentally reviewing the current roster, he said to Shen Qing, "It's fine, Mrs. Sasaki. Both brothers can join our club. But I need to make it clear first: Kinoshita Little League is a team that aims for results. In Little League, it takes a long time for kids to build chemistry. Many of our players have been together since third grade. Joining midway, especially with only a year and a half left, might not meet your expectations."

"Mr. Ninomiya, my husband and I only hope they receive proper hardball education. If it also helps improve their relationship, that's even better." Shen Qing understood the coach's meaning—if they ended up on the bench, they shouldn't protest to the coach and should follow the team's arrangements.

Ninomiya lifted his eyelids slightly, his mind flickering over the brothers' different surnames, and immediately grasped the woman's intent. "In that case, Kinoshita Little League will certainly meet your expectations. And precisely because we are a results-oriented team, if any child shows exceptional talent, we will do our utmost to develop it."

"Then I'll leave it to you," Shen Qing said in thanks.

Coach Ninomiya returned the gesture and assigned a middle-aged coach: "Mr. Fujii."

Then he nodded to the woman behind him: "Mrs. Sasaki, please follow the team's coach with your children for the tests." He quietly relayed the key points to observe to Coach Fujii, then bowed to everyone and left.

"Now, please follow me to the bullpen for the pitcher test." Mr. Fujii was a thin, somewhat comical man. His face was long, his skin dry and sagging on his bones. When he smiled, his muscles shifted upward, skin following, and the entire mid-face piled up with excess skin, creases blooming like a flower.

"Kōshū-kun, right? Have you practiced as a pitcher before?" He led the way, asking as they walked.

"No, I just learned the form a few days ago."

"Oh, I see. Have you measured your pitching speed?"

"Roughly 110, visually," Lang Zhi interjected from behind. Mr. Fujii smiled at him.

"So you can't pitch yet. Your trait is... accuracy in throwing things, so you want to try the pitcher position?"

"Since I'm a beginner anyway, I thought I'd give it a shot."

Mr. Fujii knew that in parents' eyes, any small strength their child had was treated as extraordinary talent. But in reality, talent and strength were two completely different things. Strength was just the longer plank among one's own abilities, while talent was being born above the cliff, watching those who worked desperately spend their entire lives climbing toward the summit—most never reaching it, and even those who did had already wasted the best part of their lives. By then, the talented had long since gone to places the climbers could never reach.

That was the cruelty of baseball. Thinking this, Mr. Fujii's smile faded slightly. "Well, here it is."

This was an enclosed field bathed in sunlight. A few people were practicing pitching, but they only glanced over before focusing on their own movements.

"Hayakawa-kun, please catch for this student."

Mr. Fujii turned to introduce them: "This is our second-string catcher."

Then he looked at Kōshū: "Kōshū-kun, start with some warm-up tosses. After that, I'll guide your pitching form and evaluate your development potential as a pitcher. Haha, but since you're new to baseball, this evaluation period might take a while."

Kōshū nodded. After a few days of special training with Mr. Sasaki and Lang Zhi, his warm-up now looked quite proper.

'He's really tall. A beginner? Is there still someone in Japan who's grown this big without touching baseball?' That was what Hayakawa thought.

"Alright, warm-up's done." Mr. Fujii stepped forward, explained the pitcher's stance to Kōshū, asked about his dominant hand, and had him demonstrate his current pitching motion without a ball.

'Traditional right-handed pitcher. The form is fairly standard. Someone taught him, huh?'

"Now, try throwing a few. Can you throw a four-seam fastball?"

Kōshū nodded and fixed his gaze on the catcher crouched ahead.

"Haah—" Even after several days of practice, throwing at someone was something he was only just getting used to. Right now, all he wanted was to throw the ball into that glove in the distance.

"Thwack—" The ball shot straight into Hayakawa's glove.

'110 speed, good control. A fluke?' Hayakawa pulled the ball out and tossed it back to Kōshū.

Kōshū adjusted the ball in his hand and threw another.

'Not a fluke.'

"What's your top speed? Are you holding back to aim better?" Mr. Fujii asked.

"If I threw full force, I'd hit someone."

"I'd be fine with it," Hayakawa said, sounding like a cheerful young man. "After all, handling a pitcher's wild pitches is part of a catcher's job."

Kōshū nodded, threw a ball using wrist strength, and the speed noticeably increased.

"That's 115," Lang Zhi whispered to Shen Qing. They were about the same height now.

Mr. Fujii spotted the issue. "Don't use your wrist. Put the power into your back leg pushing off the ground. Drive from your chest to your shoulder, then your shoulder to your elbow, and finally snap the ball off your fingertips."

Kōshū had good body coordination. The opposite of uncoordinated—where the mind knows what to do but the limbs won't obey—was that once the mind understood, the body could react immediately. This required a lot of mechanical training to lock in the motion, but for him, it clicked fast.

After a few throws, Kōshū's pitching motion became much smoother. His speed rose to around 120, and the risk of hitting someone disappeared. Though the ball was a bit wilder than at 110, he could still aim it into the glove. Kōshū followed the catcher's lead, working through all four corners of the strike zone.

"Not bad," Hayakawa said as he stood to return the ball, cautiously praising the pitcher to Mr. Fujii.

"Mm," Mr. Fujii nodded, stopping the session. He turned to Shen Qing. "As you said, Kōshū-kun does have considerable talent in pitching. I'm very glad to have your child join us."

"Next, I'll take you, Kōshū-kun, and Sasaki-kun on a tour of the facilities. The club rules will be explained by Grandma Hazuki from the support staff."

Even on a holiday afternoon, many kids were training under coaches, the place buzzing with activity.

"Currently, we have about 56 players, 15 of whom are under 12. Including Coach Ninomiya, there are 8 coaches, and 4 support staff. The facilities include an outdoor baseball field, an indoor bullpen, and a small indoor practice field..."

Kōshū listened absentmindedly, his hand unconsciously clenching and unclenching. What flashed before his eyes was the smile beneath that mask. 'So that's the team's catcher.'

Preparation wasn't sufficient—yesterday I was frantically saving materials everywhere. Hope to catch up during the National Day holiday.

The club having 56 kids? Because 56 ethnic groups, 56 flowers—the author really has no clue~

Also, thanks to the commenters. It's not a solo run—it gives me a lot of encouragement.