April 28,
"Mimura and Kawashima are going to start practicing with the First Team today!
And Takatsu too!!" Senior Asou suddenly spoke as they walked to school amid the morning greetings.
"Those two really made a comeback, didn't they? Hey!
Takatsu is pretty eye-catching too!" Guan-senpai turned to Nakata with a smile as he spoke.
Nakata, however, looked completely serious, without a trace of Guan-senpai's ease.
"Don't talk like it has nothing to do with you!!
Now that three people have entered the First Team, the roster has already gone over capacity!
The summer roster only has room for twenty people, and the Koshien bench only has eighteen!!
That means several people are going to get kicked off the First Team sooner or later!!
How is this something to laugh about?!
...We!
We... aren't Sendou, Miyuki, or Kuramochi!!
We don't have the right to stand where they do and laugh while watching who gets promoted and who gets dropped.
If we relax even a little—or even if we give it everything we have—we still can't rule out the possibility of being cut!!" Senior Asou, walking at the front, clicked his tongue and spoke sternly, with a hint of reproach.
Only after hearing Senior Asou did Guan-senpai suddenly realize how wrong his way of thinking had been.
They might be close teammates, but they were also rivals competing with him for a chance to play!!
"Even so... we can't just lose to them that easily, can we?!
How could I lose to...
That... is my dream too!!!" Senior Asou gritted his teeth and strode into the school building.
The other two quickly followed...
"Ahh~ ah!
That's so lame!!
A senior's stubbornness... there couldn't be anything lamer than that at a time like this, right?
Damn it!!
Those guys really are...
But...