Uekusa edged closer to Ikegami Ryoji, lowering his voice even further.
"Did you forget?"
"What Captain Chi Tong said on the baseball field before."
Uekusa Tomoyuki's words caught Ikegami Ryoji off guard. His gaze went blank for a moment, and then the scenes from the baseball field surged uncontrollably back into his mind: Captain Chi Tong's stern expression, his forceful words, and the unusually heavy atmosphere in the air.
"Ah... N-no way?"
Disbelief entered Ikegami Ryoji's voice as he instinctively glanced toward Chi Tong.
"Captain Chi Tong was probably just saying that on purpose so we wouldn't let our guard down, right?"
Uekusa Tomoyuki slowly shook his head, uncertainty filling his eyes. He swallowed the second half of his sentence before he could finish it.
"I don't think so. If what he said then was true, the consequences..." Though he did not finish, Ikegami Ryoji understood completely.
His heart sank sharply, and a chill crawled up his spine. After a pause, he finally spoke with difficulty. "If it's true, then we're in trouble."
In Sannoh Industrial High School's locker room, the players were scattered in small groups. Some unscrewed their water bottles and gulped down water, droplets running down their jawlines and into their jerseys. Others used towels to wipe the sweat from their foreheads, their movements casual yet carrying an air of relaxed confidence.
Compared to Ryonan's tense atmosphere, they were clearly far more at ease.
Masashi Kawata draped a towel around his neck and turned the water bottle in his fingers, surprise in his voice.
"I didn't expect Ryonan to be this tenacious. When we matched up on the court, they didn't seem all that resistant."
Ichinokura Satoshi leaned against a locker and nodded slowly at that. "Yeah, really. Looking at their information before the game, I thought