Restroom

The entire opening ceremony dragged on forever. First came the officials' speeches, and after that, the players had to give speeches too. Narumiya Mei, standing in front of Su Qing, was practically being driven insane.

"Why is there so much pointless crap to talk about?!"

It finally ended, only for them to have to file out one by one. To make matters worse, Inashiro was right in the middle, so whether they exited from the left or the right, they would be among the last to leave.

"I'm going to the restroom to splash some water on my face. It's boiling. Anyone want to come with me?"

Having finally made it into the shade, Narumiya Mei wiped his equally sweaty face with his sleeve, which was already soaked through.

Rather than asking everyone, Narumiya Mei was really asking Su Qing, because he was staring straight at him.

"No. I'm not hot."

"Ah!"

Narumiya Mei took a closer look and found that Su Qing truly hadn't sweated a single drop. His clothes were fresh and crisp, with no sign of being drenched in sweat.

"Are you some kind of monster? Are you sick? How can you not sweat at all?"

"Just go already. Splash some water on your face, then we can head back to school. I'm seriously about to die from the heat." Luckily, Inashiro's dorms had air conditioning. Otherwise, he would have had to figure out a way to donate a batch of units to the school.

In the end, under Narumiya Mei's pleading gaze, Su Qing still went with him. What kind of habit was this? Needing someone to accompany him to the restroom?

It wasn't that he didn't want to accompany Narumiya Mei. The restrooms in Ace of Diamond were seriously cursed! He always ran into strange things—no, people.

Su Qing didn't really like dealing with other people. It was too tiring and too troublesome.

Sure enough, before they even reached the restroom, Su Qing heard the sound of an encounter.

"Raichi! Don't eat bananas in the restroom!"

There was no reply, only the sound of chewing.

Su Qing instantly didn't want to go in. As expected of an Ace of Diamond restroom—there was always some surprise waiting to be discovered.

But he was afraid Narumiya Mei might get ganged up on inside, so Su Qing followed him in anyway.

The moment they entered, they saw Todoroki Raichi, adorably eating a banana. He quickly finished it and casually tossed the peel into the nearby trash can. Then he stared blankly at Su Qing and Narumiya Mei as they came in.

Off the field, Todoroki Raichi looked adorable and wasn't all that sharp. Seeing Inashiro's uniforms gave him some thoughts, but his brain simply couldn't process them.

"I'm done. Let's go."

Mishima Yuuta wasn't surprised by Su Qing and the others' arrival at all. It was a restroom, after all. On the day of the opening ceremony, with so many people gathered at Meiji Jingu, wouldn't it be stranger if the restroom had been empty?

It wasn't until Mishima reached the sink to wash his hands that he noticed Su Qing standing off to the side with his arms crossed, as well as Narumiya Mei washing his face.

"Ahh, that feels much better. Let's go."

Narumiya Mei soaked his face once more before finally raising his head in satisfaction and speaking to Su Qing.

"Inashiro's Narumiya!"

"Huh? And you are?"

"Mei!"

Wasn't that way of talking just asking to be hated? Did he not see the difference in their sizes? Mishima was a huge fat guy! If they started fighting, Su Qing definitely wasn't helping.

"Hmph. It's normal for the Tokyo Prince not to know small fries like us. But before long, you'll remember us forever. Raichi, let's go."

The adorable Todoroki Raichi silently followed Mishima out. But before leaving, he glared fiercely at Narumiya Mei for several seconds, making Narumiya Mei's skin crawl.

Especially with the two scars on Todoroki Raichi's face, he looked like someone nobody should mess with! Narumiya Mei was already regretting why he had run his mouth earlier. When they said he would remember them forever, they didn't mean they were going to call people to beat him up, did they?!

So scary! No way!

Watching Todoroki Raichi leave, Su Qing felt conflicted. In Ace of Diamond, the author had three favored sons. Narumiya was one, Hongo Masamune, who had yet to appear and was far away in Hokkaido, was another, and the most doted-on of all was undoubtedly Todoroki Raichi!

He was the bug-level batter of Ace of Diamond, someone who had trained himself to an almost divine level purely through imagination. He could be said to be the ceiling among high school batters in Ace of Diamond.

As he thought about it, Su Qing's hands actually began to itch. Since he had transmigrated into the world of Ace of Diamond, how could he not experience the charm of the three favored sons?!

Unfortunately, Inashiro definitely wouldn't face Yakushi this summer. There might still be a slim chance in the fall, but next summer, Yakushi would be eliminated by Ichidai Third High, leaving no opportunity then either. It seemed their only chance to face each other would be in a practice match.

"What are you thinking about? We're leaving!"

"Yeah~"

"By the way, who were those two just now? You looked like you knew them."

"They're from Yakushi. The chubby one is their catcher, Mishima Yuuta. The one with scars on his face is Yakushi's coach's son, Todoroki Raichi."

"The coach's son? Don't tell me he got onto the team through the back door? And how do you know so much about them? Have you met them before?"

Narumiya Mei was teasing Su Qing about how excited he had been when facing Little Angel last time.

"Don't underestimate that team, especially Todoroki Raichi. Before long, they'll become famous throughout Tokyo. Raichi in particular—sooner or later, he'll become famous across Japan."

"Raichi? You call him so affectionately. So you do know him. But I don't believe it. A team nobody's even heard of, with players who've barely had any results before, is probably just a first-round exit. Hmm, because of your evaluation, I'll give them two rounds."

"Yakushi and Ichidai Third High are in the same bracket. They'll meet in the third round. Want to bet? I bet Yakushi can defeat Ichidai Third High and advance to the quarterfinals."

"Don't joke around. As much as I hate to admit it, Ichidai Third High is a team that can contend with us for the championship! There's no way they'd lose to some completely unknown team!"

"Are we betting or not? You tell me."

Su Qing didn't care what Narumiya Mei said. This was a guaranteed win. Narumiya Mei believed he was guaranteed to win too, so wasn't this the perfect chance to make some money?

"Deal! If I win, then when we go pro, I want us on the same team—and I want you to be my pitcher-catcher partner."

Lately, whenever Su Qing trained Narumiya Mei in Trajectory Synchronization, he often squatted down to catch for him. He had to admit, Su Qing gave Narumiya Mei an incredibly good feeling—perhaps even better than Harada did.

!!!!

I see you as a brother, yet you want me to become a catcher!

Su Qing hesitated. Though he knew he was guaranteed to win this match, the stakes were too high—he really couldn't afford to lose! Even with a second chance at life, catcher had never once been among his options. There was no other reason: catchers were simply too exhausting, both physically and mentally.

Crouching behind the plate once in a while as a change of pace was fine; he could treat it as viewing the field from another angle. But doing it long-term? Spare him. His knees couldn't take that.

He still hoped to have a reasonably healthy body after retirement, especially his lower body.

In the end, Su Qing gritted his teeth.

"Fine! If I win, then after you graduate, I want you to come straight to the United States with me to play baseball, instead of staying here in Japan."

Su Qing took the opportunity to voice the idea he had been plotting for a long time.