Kanto Tournament 9

Su Qing ran around the bases and returned to home plate, feeling quite disappointed to find that Harada wasn't there to celebrate with him. After picking up his bat, which he had gently placed down, he returned to the dugout.

Back in the dugout, Narumiya Mei still had an ice pack on his arm. Su Qing quickly checked the time, realizing it hadn't even been five minutes yet.

Heh heh, that's him, quick and decisive.

"How does it feel to hit a home run in your first high school at-bat?"

Su Qing felt like Narumiya Mei had just sucked on a lemon; he was practically sour with envy.

"It feels amazing, of course! Couldn't be better!"

Narumiya Mei suddenly remembered his own first at-bat, which ended in a strikeout.

He's not jealous, not at all!

"It's just that no one celebrated with me. How about I treat you to a big meal when we get back today?"

They had been eating at the Inajitsu cafeteria for the past few days, and it was always just rice, rice, and more rice, with barely any meat. Su Qing felt like his taste buds were dying!

Besides, he was in the middle of a growth spurt and absolutely needed a lot of nutritional support!

"Today? Let's forget about it. By the time we get back to school, it'll be late. Maybe next time."

"We're going back to school today?!"

"Of course. We have classes tomorrow, so we have to go back."

"We have classes tomorrow?!"

Su Qing had only attended one class this afternoon before leaving. The teacher hadn't said anything, and he had assumed they would be staying in Saitama Prefecture for a few days, until the tournament was over or they were eliminated.

"Saitama is right next to Tokyo; it doesn't take long to get back and forth."

Narumiya Mei added, seemingly sensing Su Qing's question.

"Looks like it's time."

Su Qing glanced at the alarm clock and saw that it was indeed time. He took out a pair of scissors he had just bought from his bag, cut open the plastic wrap he had used to seal the ice pack, and then took out the ice pack and threw it into his empty bag.

Narumiya Mei, seeing that Su Qing was about to throw away all the ice packs, quickly asked:

"If you give yours to me, how will you ice your arm?"

"Don't worry, I have more."

Su Qing gave Narumiya Mei a reassuring look.

Narumiya Mei was completely puzzled. He remembered that Su Qing only carried two bags, one that seemed to be for bats and the like, and the other was a backpack. Could it be that the backpack was full of these ice packs?

That would be too tiring.

"Oh, right, you still haven't told me what TJ surgery is."

Next, Su Qing gave Narumiya Mei a good explanation of what TJ surgery was.

"Losing a ligament from your thigh, will you really be okay?!"

Narumiya Mei hugged Su Qing with a look of horror.

"Of course it's fine, otherwise I wouldn't have chosen that ligament transplant there."

"If you replace it with a new ligament, will your pitching be the same as before?"

"Well, that depends on the rehabilitation. If the rehabilitation goes well, it might be similar to before, but there will still be some impact, more or less."

Su Qing had undergone TJ surgery twice in his previous life. The first time he did it, he was still young, and the rehabilitation was very successful. His ball speed didn't decrease much, and his spin rate was still there.

But the second TJ surgery wasn't so lucky. His ball speed dropped significantly, which meant he couldn't be a Fireballer anymore. At that time, Su Qing had the idea of retiring directly, but in the end, he chose to transform.

There were many pitchers in the Major League who were worse off than him. The worst, those who suffered from pitcher's yips, didn't give up. In the end, they relied on the bat to once again ascend to the Major League and become a left fielder. How could he give up without even trying?

In the end, Su Qing chose to transform. The first few years of the transformation were extremely painful for Su Qing, because he relied on ball speed in his early years, so he didn't have many well-developed breaking balls.

In addition, his ball speed has now decreased, so everything can only start from scratch.

In fact, Su Qing, who was already 32 years old at the time, could have chosen to hold on to the big contract the team gave him until retirement, but his conscience wouldn't allow him to do so, and he didn't want to let down the fans who had always supported him.

Finally, in the second year, the brand new Su Qing returned to the Major League, relying on his sharp breaking balls to reawaken the hitters' fear of him.

At that time, Su Qing was still thinking that if he had to have a third TJ surgery, then he would switch to throwing Knuckleballs! However, this time Su Qing didn't manage to completely use up his new ligament. Due to other injuries, he chose to retire when his contract expired, bidding farewell to the Major League.

Living a new life, Su Qing will of course cherish his ligaments very much. In fact, he didn't want to be a pitcher in the first place. If he started pitching from high school, it would definitely accelerate the consumption of his ligaments.

But when he thought of the scene of Narumiya Mei possibly burning out on the field, he wanted to help him. Ah, he really is too sympathetic! It's not because Narumiya Mei is just too cute!

"I don't want to have TJ surgery! It's scary just thinking about it! I don't want to!"

"Relax, relax, as long as you still want to continue pitching, TJ surgery is unavoidable. Otherwise, why would they say pitchers are consumables?"

"Is there really no way to avoid it?!"

"Every time you pitch, you consume your ligaments, so unless you don't pitch, there will always be a day when they run out, it's just a matter of sooner or later."

Su Qing looked at Narumiya Mei's frightened little face and couldn't help but pinch it.

"If you don't want to have TJ surgery so early, then cherish your shoulder! Ice it carefully, and don't overdo the pitching. Training should also be moderate. You're still young, and a lot of training is not good for your body. It must be appropriate and moderate. Also, drink more milk and supplement with some protein. Your height is really not good."

Hearing the last sentence Su Qing said, Narumiya Mei stood up with a whoosh:

"Your height is about the same as mine! If I'm not good enough, then you are!"

Narumiya Mei's unusual behavior immediately attracted everyone's attention.

Su Qing quickly comforted Narumiya Mei and made him sit down.

"I just hope you can grow taller, and being taller is good for ball speed."

When Narumiya Mei heard this, he was no longer angry, his eyes full of stars:

"Really! Does growing taller really help with ball speed?!"

"Of course, look at the Fireballer in professional baseball, which one is shorter than 1.9 meters."

Narumiya Mei thought about it carefully, and it seemed like there really weren't any, and he suddenly felt a little down.

"I only grew one centimeter when I was in the first year of high school, and I haven't grown since."

Su Qing thought to himself, if he only eats the kind of food in the Inajitsu cafeteria every day, it would be a miracle if he could grow taller!

"It's because you're not getting enough nutrition. From now on, you eat whatever I eat. I'll cover all your nutritional supplements."

"Wow!"

"Isn't that a bit much?"

After exclaiming "Wow!", Narumiya Mei suddenly realized that things like nutritional supplements were quite expensive.

"It's okay, I'm loaded. It's just some nutritional supplements. We're roommates after all, isn't it normal to share some good things?"

"Mmm-hmm!"

Narumiya Mei suddenly felt that he was so childish to have inexplicably disliked Su Qing before. Su Qing was such an interesting person, and he even gave him a kawaii bat when they first met.

He was really going too far by targeting Su Qing out of jealousy!