"Yeah." Tada grunted. "Traditionally, that's how it goes. We hold an intrasquad game right after everyone gathers on the first day. It's basically a test, too."
Su Qing was rather curious. Back when he played professionally, they had plenty of intrasquad games every year. They were a great chance for teammates to build rapport. Back then, though, veterans and rookies were mixed together, with large-scale rotations over short stretches. From the start of spring training through the middle, the rotation periods gradually got longer. "Do we play with the older players?"
Tada gave him a slightly surprised look. "How could that be? The previous starting players don't participate."
"By starters, you mean the main lineup?"
"More or less?"
"Then the pitchers..."
"The ace obviously doesn't count either."
Su Qing clicked his tongue. The original work focused on Seido as the main team, while Inashiro only made appearances in certain games. So even though he had watched some episodes, he had no connection to Inashiro. Besides... he had only watched a little here and there while mooching off kids, sneaking a few glances alongside them. It was fair to say he knew absolutely nothing.
He knew Narumiya Mei was the ace, Shirakawa had distinctive hair, and Narumiya Mei got grabbed by the catcher Harada—nothing else.
He had thought the intrasquad game would let him play against them, but apparently not.
"We're rookies." Seeing his disappointment, Tada comforted him. "There'll always be opportunities."
Huh? Su Qing nodded, packed up his things, and went to gather with Tada...
The gathering place was the Practice Field.
The facilities here were unexpectedly good. It was practically a small, multi-purpose ballpark.
Su Qing had seen plenty of nice ballparks, but after going pro, he had always played on regulation dirt fields. His student days were far too distant now; whether mentally or physically, he no longer retained any useful memories of them.
"Pretty, right?" Tada was quite proud when it came to this. "Not just the field—we've also got the latest equipment available! Even the meals are specially planned."
"That's pretty nice." Still, Su Qing did not have high expectations for the equipment. This era lagged far behind the world he came from and was still developing, so naturally he could not expect the facilities to be especially advanced.
But this environment really was beyond reproach~
"Do we have to wash our own uniforms?"
Don't want to, don't want to, don't want to, don't want to, don't want to!!
Tada choked for a moment. Just as he was about to answer, someone ahead called out, "You two rookies, hurry up."
"We'll talk later. Gather first."
"..."
~
Meanwhile, after the Livestream viewers snatched up a batch of Experience Tickets and discovered the drawing would be held an hour later, they started muttering again:
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Cute Little Lion: What did the streamer just ask? My ears were kind of itchy, so I didn't catch it, hehe! -
HuaHua You WangWang: Hahaha, the person above~ -
I Only Pick Up Balls: Hahaha! A rookie actually asked whether he had to wash his own uniform? -
Flecher: What else? Was he expecting the upperclassmen to wash it for him? He sure had some nice dreams.
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Green Field: Have you considered one possibility? Maybe the streamer isn't native to this world, and in his world, people don't wash their own uniforms?
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Gather Flowers When You Can: What are you talking about? Does he think he's a professional player or something? With staff to wash his uniform for him?
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QiMi QiMi: The streamer's a total baseball newbie, did you all forget? He doesn't understand much at all. He just got lucky and transmigrated into a baseball world. Once the Experience Ticket drawing happens, everyone can go over and give him some guidance.
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Narumiya is Super Cute: The intrasquad game is about to start. I'm recording it so I can watch the streamer get destroyed, hehe! -
Da Gu Da Gu: I really want to go down there and crush the streamer. My fastball hits 125. That should be more than enough against him, right?
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Little Angel Sai Gao: A 125 fastball would definitely make short work of the streamer, no doubt about it. I could probably crush him with my 115 fastball, right? -
Forever No. 2: You two above... ahem~ -
God of the Pitcher's Mound: Those flags have been planted! Waiting for you two to go over there! Yeah.
Based on the manga and his initial observations, Su Qing found the dorm arrangement rather interesting.
Big brother Harada Masaru was undoubtedly the most dependable one, making him a perfect match for the chuunibyou, tsundere ace Narumiya Mei, who occasionally had a temper.
After all, for an ace with a strong personality and a rather volatile temperament, the best choice really was to pair him with a catcher who could keep him in check.
Catchers and pitchers were naturally a rather contradictory pairing.
There were many elite ace pitchers in the world, and plenty of outstanding catchers as well.
But there were not many cases where the absolute best of both positions partnered together.
At the moment, Harada had taken Narumiya and Shirakawa, the two veteran players, ahead to the field to sort out matters concerning the rookies with the coach, while Su Qing was bantering with the Livestream viewers.
More interaction could speed up his level progression. Right now, the Livestream could only hold so few people that even earning tips was difficult. He hoped tomorrow's daily check-in would bring him some good luck and give him something useful, or simply upgrade the Livestream outright. As for baseball skills or cheating bats or anything like that... he had no interest at all.
Although professional baseball had countless unspoken rules, as well as players who cheated with all sorts of drugs and tools, and he did not entirely oppose some of those things, they had to be built on a foundation of personal ability.
"There are plenty of other tricks. Banned substances are just the stupidest option~" Su Qing rambled while sitting on his bed. He checked his watch. "There's half an hour until we gather. Then everyone will get to see them."
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Cute Little Lion: The streamer's watch is so cool. It looks really nice.
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HuaHua You WangWang: It's way too flashy, okay? -
I Only Pick Up Balls: How much was it? It looks expensive.
"It was all right. Just over seven hundred thousand dollars."
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Flecher: !! -
Green Field: Holy shit!凸(艹皿艹) -
Gather Flowers When You Can: Is the streamer serious? -
QiMi QiMi: Is the streamer really that rich?
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Narumiya is Super Cute: Has everyone seen this Livestream's description? Once you read it, you'll know whether the streamer is rich.
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Da Gu Da Gu: What does that mean? What does that mean? -
Little Angel Sai Gao: Let me go see what kind of person this streamer really is.
Su Qing felt a little awkward at that. The description had been generated automatically by the Livestream and had nothing to do with his own will. Wasn't this cheat too uncontrollable? -
Forever No. 2: !! -
God of the Pitcher's Mound: I'll copy it for everyone to see.
Streamer: Su Qing (fifth day after transmigration)
Height: 175
Cheat: Cross-world livestreaming; brought all his money with him after dying
Hobby: Playing baseball
Favorite food: Roujiamo
Favorite animal: Children
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Cute Little Lion: Hahahahaha! What kind of problem is "favorite animal: children"? Hahaha! -
HuaHua You WangWang: It's clearly such plain, unadorned wording, so why does every single point make me want to laugh? -
I Only Pick Up Balls: I dare say this self-introduction definitely wasn't made by the streamer himself. It's way too stupid.
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Flecher: Still, being able to bring your money over after dying sounds way too blissful.
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Green Field: Isn't your focus a little off, person above? -
Gather Flowers When You Can: Exactly, exactly. Shouldn't the point be that he was already rich in his previous life, which is why he could immediately afford a watch like that?
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QiMi QiMi: Streamer, what did you do in your previous life?
Su Qing answered seriously, "I played ball."
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Narumiya is Super Cute: ...Like hell I believe you!
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Da Gu Da Gu: Can we ask something practical? Streamer, were you really rich in your previous life? What was your monthly salary? It has nothing to do with now, so it isn't private information. Satisfy the curiosity of those of us who'll be very loyal viewers in the future, okay?
Su Qing laughed. So if he did not tell them now, they would not be loyal in the future? Smiling, he said, "I had money in my previous life. But we didn't calculate things by monthly salary. Normally, it was annual salary."
Only a few special seasons had been paid by monthly salary~
Though that was not entirely right either, because many of his salaries had been distributed weekly by the club—basically once a week.
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Little Angel Sai Gao: Wow! -
Forever No. 2: I suddenly look like some kind of 'talent.'
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God of the Pitcher's Mound: Why did you put talent in quotation marks? -
Cute Little Lion: How much was the streamer's annual salary?
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HuaHua You WangWang: Don't keep us in suspense. Tell us already.
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I Only Pick Up Balls: Yeah, yeah! If you tell us well, we'll tip you. It's money from your previous life, after all—it'll run out sooner or later. You're still young now, so you need to seize every opportunity to make money.
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Flecher: The person above has genius logic, hahaha~
Su Qing stretched, then counted on his fingers. "It depended on the stage. At first, it was over five hundred thousand dollars. In my second year, it was over ten million~"
He had been among the very best to enter arbitration early. Others normally had to wait until their third year, but he qualified for arbitration in his second year. So there was nothing wrong with putting it that way, right? -
Green Field: Holy crap! Big shot!! I kneel in worship!!
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Gather Flowers When You Can: Please accept my knees, big shot!! -
QiMi QiMi: What about later? What about later? I'm curious about later!! -
Narumiya is Super Cute: Yeah, what happened later?
"Later, I signed my first contract. They offered ten years and 150 million dollars, but I turned it down. Then it became five years and 120 million."
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Da Gu Da Gu: ...
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Little Angel Sai Gao: ...
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Forever No. 2: Are streamers really just messing with us?
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God of the Pitcher's Mound: Forget it. Everyone lies sometimes. Still, lying really is a satisfying thing.
Su Qing scratched his head awkwardly. He had not even finished talking yet—his second contract had been much bigger~
Though his second contract had screwed over the club. Because of his later injuries, the Prisoners had to keep paying his salary while he could no longer take the field for them.
Tsk, tsk. Just thinking about it made him feel secretly pleased!
Of course, he had felt terrible about no longer being able to play, but he believed nobody would turn down the chance to lie around and collect money.
But that was all in the past. With his previous experience, he would be smarter this time. He knew he should not push himself too hard in amateur ball or the Minor League. It was fine to show what he could do, but once many injuries occurred, they would recur again and again, and the impact on a professional career was simply too great.
"All right, I'm going to gather now. Let's go see the handsome boys together!"
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Da Gu Da Gu: I want to see Seido!
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Little Angel Sai Gao: I want to see Seido too! When will they finally play each other!! -
Forever No. 2: Fight, fight!
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God of the Pitcher's Mound: You people are too mean~ -
Cute Little Lion: Huh! Someone's coming.
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HuaHua You WangWang: Who is it? Who is it!
The viewers' field of vision covered a much wider range than Su Qing's, so they had spotted someone approaching the door long ago.
"Hello." The door was already open. The newcomer knocked on it and stood outside looking at Su Qing. "I'm Tada, a first-year rookie living next door. Want to go to the field together?"
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Cute Little Lion: It's Tadano Itsuki. He looks much more spirited than his two-dimensional version.
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HuaHua You WangWang: Do you mean his dead-fish eyes aren't as obvious? Hahahahaha!!
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I Only Pick Up Balls: That's so nice. He came to ask his buddy to go to the field together! Let's go!! -
Flecher: "Let's go! Let's go!!"
Of course Su Qing went with them. After introducing himself to the kids, he headed toward the ball field with them, conveniently gaining a guide along the way.
"How are you so familiar with this place? Did you do your homework in advance? That's amazing."
Tadano Itsuki was rather introverted. Embarrassed by such straightforward praise, he scratched his head. "Not really~ I really liked this school back in middle school, so I've come here lots of times before."
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Green Field: Why is that kind of cute? -
Gather Flowers When You Can: Points for the dead-fish eyes.
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QiMi QiMi: Kick the person above out! -
Narumiya is Super Cute: Streamer, walk faster. Hurry up and get to the field, I want to see Narumiya Treasure.
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Da Gu Da Gu: The person I want to see is at Seido. Streamer, go take a picture!
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Little Angel Sai Gao: The person I want to see is at Seido too, 55555~~
Before you continue