"So that was it!" Sendou sighed as he looked at Furuya's Baseball Notebook.
Seeing Furuya write that he wanted to become Japan's Number One pitcher, and that the team would become Japan's Number One if he did, Sendou felt rather emotional.
Afterward, Kataoka Coach gave him a thorough criticism over the Second Match of the Hakuryuu Match.
Too many Four Balls, putting too much force into his pitches, being too fragile with runners on base, and so on.
He even said Furuya's expression was far from what he had expected, and that it was a good thing he had not started him in the Hakuryuu Match.
After the full-scale criticism came questions about what kind of pitcher the Japan's Number One pitcher he spoke of was supposed to be.
Nothing in Furuya's pitching showed what that pitcher was meant to look like.
Sendou then looked again at the final passage written by Kataoka Coach.
"No matter how great a record a player may set,
it cannot be achieved overnight!
Only through day after day of effort can great records be created!
What does it take to achieve your goal?
How should you spend each day from now on?
I hope you will reconsider these questions."
From those words, Sendou could see Kataoka Coach's intentions.
The criticism was meant to completely shatter Furuya's pride and complacency.
And his arrogance after performing well at Spring Koshien, thinking that performance was his normal state and that he could become even stronger.
Then came the proposed way forward, followed by letting Furuya think it through himself.
It would naturally be better if he could figure it out on his own. As a mentor, fostering a player's independence was also extremely important.
Whether he thought of it entirely by himself or received appropriate reminders from