Middle School

In the blink of an eye, Sendou was already a middle school student. He naturally enrolled in Akagi Middle School, which was closest to his grandparents' house.

"I plan to form a baseball club and join it! Let's advance to the nationals together! Hahahaha!"

"I refuse!"

"Why?" A very distinctive, hoarse shout.

"Aren't we already partners? Close friends! Wouldn't it be better if we all worked hard together?"

"Partners? Close friends?"

"The Going-Home Club is the best! I've finally got a few years of leisure, how could I possibly join you? Give it up!" Sendou said, shaking his head at the end.

"Also, please don't talk so loudly indoors!"

After the other party left, Sendou vaguely heard him talking to others, like, 'Failed again?' or something.

However, before long, the Baseball Club was still established, although there was a girl in it. Of course, it was the lovely Wakaba-chan!

After that, he once again witnessed Sawamura's audacity. Their homeroom teacher was tormented to the point of near death.

Sendou was amused every time. It wasn't him being tormented for once, with things like wanting to arrange practice matches, wanting activity funds, and so on.

Even Sendou himself didn't realize that he was being infected by the other party without even noticing.

Sendou also often went to watch them practice. Every time, the other party greeted him enthusiastically and invited him, and every time he was rejected, he would smile and say it didn't matter.

However, their practice was really just messing around. Even Sendou, who was also an amateur, could see how bad they were.

They were completely just fooling around, and no matter how long they went on like that, they wouldn't make any progress. They always looked so happy.

"I'm back!"

"Welcome back. You're late again today. Were you watching the Baseball Club practice again? If you like it, why don't you join them! You were the ace Cleanup Hitter in Little League. What a waste!"

"No, I'm just a beginner too. It's just that they're too interesting."

"Is that so? Go wash up and eat!"

"Sendou, join the Baseball Club! We'll definitely go to the nationals!"

"You've completely misunderstood. I wasn't saying yesterday that I refused because you guys can't get into the nationals, okay? Although you definitely can't get in."

"Ye, ye, ye (no), we will definitely get in, definitely!"

"Whatever you like! I don't care about any of that." Sendou gave up on continuing to argue about yesterday's issue.

"Eijun!"

"Hmm? Could it be that you're joining baseball? I knew you'd come."

"Hey!" Sendou was speechless.

"I'm not talking about that. You said you want to go to the nationals. Do you know the situation of the opponents in the prefecture? At least in my opinion, the people in our Baseball Club are more beginner than beginners."

"Well, that's..."

"Those things I gave you, have you been practicing them these past few years?"

"Of course!" Sawamura would never doubt his teammate's words. Besides, he had learned over the years that Sendou didn't talk nonsense when he was serious. The only thing was, before that, he had to distinguish whether he was really being serious or just pretending.

This guy was very bad, and in some ways, his personality could be described as terrible.

"That's good then!" With that, Sendou walked away.

"Just like that?" Sawamura's loud voice came from behind.

However, Sendou completely ignored him, having already learned what he wanted to know.

As for the Baseball Club, it really was just for fun. He had observed those guys, and only one or two of them had barely passable talent, which was just a little better than average people. And that was only if they were willing to work hard and receive the right guidance.

Given that many schools would choose some first and second-year Little League students with more free time to join the school team, there was no chance at all of making it to the nationals.

The days passed just like that.

During this time, the Akagi Middle School Baseball Club, led by an amateur teacher and an amateur captain, practiced like elementary school students, without making any progress.

(In the original work, even in their third year, they still didn't know how to hold the bat correctly, making such low-level mistakes, and couldn't handle a ground ball properly. They didn't win a single game throughout their entire Middle School era, which shows how shockingly amateur they were.)

"Sendou! Tomorrow is our first match of the Prefectural Preliminaries. If you have time, come watch the game!"

"Yeah, sure! I'll go!"

"Soga, if you don't have time, it can't be helped... Huh?... Nani? You're coming?"

Sawamura went from speaking with a smile to suddenly stuttering, and then shouting in shock, which made Sendou unable to help himself and he covered his mouth to laugh.

"Yeah, I'll go watch! Don't lose too badly, Eijun!"

"Hahahaha! You're finally taking the first step away from that evil Going-Home Club!!!

...,

Wait, what do you mean don't lose too badly? We'll win, we'll definitely win. Damn it!"

"Baga!"

"Baga? Did you just say baga? Hmmm!"

Sawamura glared with those completely harmless eyes that made people want to laugh and think he was cute, making a forceful expression in an unknown direction.

"Hahahaha, that's the way, Eijun! Kawaii oh! Hahahaha!"

Sendou's hidden dark-hearted nature of many years had finally awakened completely.

"Hmph, I'm going back!"

"Hahahaha, be careful on your way!"

"Kusou!!!" Sawamura's unwilling shout came from afar.

"Akila, why do you tease him like that every time?" Wakaba said from the side upon seeing this.

"Isn't he very cute? What's wrong? Did his girlfriend come to me to question me this time?"

"Girlfriend? What are you talking about?" Wakaba turned around and followed Sawamura.

"Wakaba! Tell Eijun and the others not to prepare lunch boxes. I'll treat them to Barbecue at my house tomorrow!"

And just like that, he drove away his two best friends, one after the other.

"Tomorrow? It should be their first and last game this year! That's really a game you can't miss!" Sendou said with an inexplicable tone.

"I'm back!"

"Yo, Akila, welcome back! You're in such a good mood today, did something good happen?"

"Grandpa, nothing happened!"

"That means you bullied Eijun again! Honestly."

"He's quite cute, that guy. I'm heading out now! Just came back to get some money!"

"What do you need money for?"

"To buy some ingredients. Our school's Baseball Club has their first match tomorrow. I'll have them over for Barbecue at our place after the game. It'll be fun watching those guys play."

"Especially Eijun, that guy definitely won't let me down. I can't wait. Oh right, Grandpa, do we still have the seasonings and lamb that I asked Dad to bring back last time?"

"We have plenty! Don't worry."

"Then I'm off!"

"Thank you, Eijun, thanks to you, Sendou has become much more cheerful!" Sendou Junichi thought silently as he watched his grandson leave.

Today, I finished filling out the application and received the electronic version of the contract. I guess after printing it out, I'll mail it out tomorrow. It's been a week since I received the short message from the website for my roughly 15,000-word manuscript. Various things have happened recently, which is why I only finished filling out the application today. Writing a book is indeed due to some life reasons, otherwise, I wouldn't have published it at this critical juncture when I don't have much time.

However, reader brothers, you can rest assured that my goal in writing is to create a work that feels like you're flipping through a real book.

Like Mitsuru Adachi's Cross Game, I reread it several times every year. I've already reread it for the third time in the last few months. His details are so perfect that even though I know the ending, I still have a strong interest in continuing to read.

Perhaps there will be a few chapters that some friends find boring, but either my current level is limited, or I want to express something, such as foreshadowing or introducing explanations, which is why I write them. Some people may have already noticed that I am a relatively stubborn person, and I will not easily change the overall direction of the work unless someone can really offer a suggestion that I think is better.

The premise is a complete suggestion, one with an overall idea. It is impossible for me to change the entire direction of the book just because readers don't want a certain outcome.

That's unrealistic. I don't think people without their own opinions are suitable for writing books. Finally, please support me if you like it, with recommendation votes and future subscriptions, to end my freeloading life. As for monthly tickets and rewards, I don't know what they are, so I can only say to everyone, do what you can, no one has it easy.