After returning from Senior Maezono practiced, I took out my phone.
"Moshi moshi! Akila ma!"
"Hey! Still not asleep so late, old man!"
The person speaking to Sendou was naturally his mentor, Coach Nakanishi.
"After seeing your performance today, who can sleep?"
"So?"
So you're drinking now!
Do you know what time it is?
"... Are you alone?"
"How is that possible?"
You know him... Coach Sakaki!
"The two of you?"
"That's right! He's sleeping here tonight!"
Haha! Sakaki-san has been saying all along, why didn't you go to Yura General?
[If I obtain Sendou, I am confident I can lead Yura General to Koshien this year!]
That's what he said!
"...!" Sendou fell silent, and his expression was unusually unhappy.
"That would be exhausting!" Sendou complained.
"Hahaha! That's more like you!" Coach Nakanishi laughed heartily upon hearing his prized student's words!
"Perhaps it's fate! Sendou! Seidou! The two names differ by only one letter in pronunciation."
I'm happy as long as you're happy wherever you are!
In today's game, during the final strike, your focus must have been incredibly intense, right?
Because of my natural inability to concentrate, I've never seen you so focused!
"What exactly does it feel like?" Coach Nakanishi hit the Sendou on the head. He really wanted to ask him for advice!
"...!"
"I see!"
That state of yours should be your current strongest state!
I never dreamed it would reach this level. Do you see the pitcher's grip on the ball?
"That's practically a foul!" Coach Nakanishi exclaimed after hearing Sendou's description.
"The main thing is that it felt very comfortable at the time!"
"But I have absolutely no clue!" Sendou emphasized.
"Judging from your description, I'm afraid you've reached the [zone!] state."
"...!" Sendou's face was full of black lines.
When Sendou heard "zone," his first thought was the Rainbow Basketball Team, " the Generation of Miracles."
"I first heard about this concept from Michael Jordan, the man known as the God of Basketball in the NBA in the United States."
He and current star Kobe Bryant have both entered this state, and in that state, they were simply unstoppable!
Simply put, it's the state when a person's will is incredibly strong and their attention is incredibly focused.
The human body has a protective system, and there is absolutely no way the body can withstand such injuries. Similar to injuries caused by overexertion during training, these injuries are also the most likely to become lifelong.
Therefore, it will be prohibited by the body; to put it simply, the body has locked it.
When attention is focused to this extent, the body's locks will be unlocked to a certain degree.
It is said that even if a person thinks they have used all their strength, they are actually only using 30% of their physical abilities.
Although I don't think it's that exaggerated, I think the strength one can exert in normal circumstances would not exceed 70% of their physical abilities.
Moreover, 70% of them are in good mental and physical condition.
A zone can bring a person to their physical limit.
The body is almost entirely governed by instinct, and at that time, like you are today, your vision, hearing, and touch will be enhanced in an evolutionary way.
The five senses, no... the sixth sense, will also be enhanced, but the price is a high level of energy consumption and a loss of all five senses in relation to things outside of the game.
In reality, people who are more likely to concentrate—to use a batter as an analogy, a cross-country batter, or a batter with a simpler mind—are more likely to enter this state.
When you don't think about anything and are fully focused on the game, it's easy to enter the zone!
If I had to describe it in one word, it would be "clear and bright".
So you..." Coach Nakanishi's meaning was clear: you, who are naturally bad at concentrating, are unlikely to...
However, since Sendou had already made similar deductions, he wasn't too discouraged.
"So, it's easier for Natural Airhead to enter the zone!" Sendou thought of Captain Tetsu, since those two guys, Furuya, both have rather empty minds...
"Even someone who isn't Natural Airhead can enter this state. Just like you said, not only does the body experience a qualitative improvement, but the brain's thinking ability also improves."
However, it's also harder to get into that state. Coach Nakanishi practically pointed his finger at Sendou and accused him of being cunning.
"Never mind! Things will work themselves out. I'm very happy now!"
"We can't be fixated on this situation of 'not knowing if it will happen again in this lifetime'!" Sendou, on the other hand, took it all in stride.
"If you think it's good, then that's great! Koshien... Good luck!"
"Ah! You too!"
"Um?"
"Drink less!" With that, Sendou hung up the phone with lightning speed.
Coach Nakanishi thought he had misheard. That cunning and arrogant guy actually said something caring about someone outright...
The next day!
August 1st, 7:00 AM!
Coach Kataoka gave the athletes a day off yesterday, so they were basically free to arrange their time as they pleased.
These restless competitors were naturally practicing on their own, and many of them gathered in several places, including the Indoor Practice Field, after having breakfast.
Yesterday's batting performance wasn't great, so we had a lot of practice hitting.
Despite the batting lineup scoring twelve runs, eight of them were related to Sendou. After deducting the two runs from Inajitsu's pitching slump in the final inning, Seidou Batting Lineup only managed two runs, which is hardly a good result.
Therefore, the seniors practiced their swings with great determination.
"Where did Sendou go?" Isashiki shouted early in the morning.
"Hmph! He was still sleeping when I came out!"
"His physical strength wasn't great to begin with, and he basically had to rely on his mental strength to keep going in yesterday's match. He must be exhausted!" Miyauchi-senpai said, snorting.
"Yesterday... that's what happened!"
"Besides, today was supposed to be a day off!" Miyuki recounted the details of Sendou's last farewell ceremony.
"Soga!"
"It's pretty much the same as yesterday!" Captain Tetsu said.
"Um?"
"I was in a similar state yesterday when I hit that single. I didn't know anything in the Batter's Box and relied entirely on my body's reactions. By the time I realized what was happening, I was already on second base."
"..." The group was speechless!
"You two are way too wild!"
"You two are quite alike in that respect!" Isashiki retorted.
So this group of people stopped paying attention to the Sendou and started practicing on their own.
Miyauchi has been helping Tanba with his catches, trying to get back into form with his straight shots.
Yesterday's lesson was enough. If it weren't for their high score and the fact that Tanba was in high spirits and Fighting Spirit while maintaining the lead, they would have made substitutions long ago, which is why yesterday's score was so high.
After their Reflection Meeting, Sawamura and Furuya were called away by Senior Chris to go for a run.
This summer, Koshien will rely on these four pitchers to keep going.
To some extent, this multi-pitcher lineup has an advantage the further they go in Koshien.
Just like Narumiya Mei, even with two pitchers rotating, they started losing runs in the later stages due to stamina issues.
If Narumiya Mei were at his peak, he would probably have achieved his goal of dominating the entire country.
Even Narumiya Mei, who was fatigued from pitching consecutively, only lost the game in the fourteenth inning, with a score of 3x2.
The difference between two-person rotation and four-person rotation is too great. With four people, it is almost guaranteed that no one will have any fatigue issues.
Moreover, in his previous life, Iguchi only helped out at the beginning; in the later fierce battles, Narumiya Mei single-handedly held on until the very end.
How much the four Seidou pitchers can improve this week and in the Koshien tournament will determine how far they can go this summer.
"Ah!!!" Sendou walked into the cafeteria while yawning.
"Hey! Get up, Sendou-kun!" The cafeteria lady said to Sendou in a teasing tone.
"Good morning!"
"It's not morning anymore!"
"For me, it's morning until the clock reaches two digits!"
"Well, it's not morning now!" the aunt said, pointing to the clock.
Sendou then realized that it was already 10:10...
"...!"
Good afternoon!
"Pfft! Sendou-kun is so cute!"
"Thank you! Is there any more food? I'm starving!"
"Here! This was specially saved for you by Takako-chan!"
It's still hot!
" Senior Takako?"
"Are you the only one who didn't eat breakfast? Everyone else got up on time!"
"It's a day off today, so only Takako came. She's worried about you baseball boys."
"I see!
"I'm starting!" Sendou muttered to himself as he slowly ate the food in front of him. He was off today, so he could take his time.
Senior Takako knew almost everyone's preferences and required quantities, so what was in front of Sendou was almost entirely meat, and in ample quantities...
"What an amazing woman!"
"She'll be a wonderful bride in the future!" Sendou sighed, looking at the empty plate in front of him.
After Sendou finished eating, he found that he felt neither bloated nor hungry.
The amount of food was just right, albeit horribly.
"I'm full! Thank you for the meal!"
So Sendou went back to sleep...
On this day off, this guy basically slept the whole time.
By the time he came out to play, it was already dinnertime.
"Yo yo yo! You finally got out of bed!" Miyuki was the first to speak when he saw Sendou appear in the cafeteria.
"Any objections?" Sendou pulled out a chair and sat down next to Miyuki.
"No! I just think you can really sleep in on your days off!"
"I just feel like I don't know what to do!"
"Then go practice! Practice!" Miyuki teased.
"I just don't feel like moving today!" ( This Amakusa Hikaru when he said he had a strange noise in his body and couldn't throw the ball today.)
"You bastard, you just want to slack off, don't you!"
"That's not entirely true!"
"Do as you please! It's a day off anyway!" Miyuki gave up arguing with Sendou.
Of course, on training days, Sendou wouldn't dare to be this lazy. Did he really think that Coach Kataoka would tolerate his willfulness and not "punish" him? He didn't want to die.
"Could you help me with my self-study tonight?"
"What?"
" Sawamura's Outside Corner Ball kicks are completely Strike Zone!"
It seems like yesterday was entirely because I was in good form!
So the only way is to practice and figure out that feeling!
"So, how much is the difference now!"
"It's the same as not being able to!"
"...!" If Miyuki's frustration hadn't been genuine, Sendou would have wanted to kill him.
Give up!
This shows that Eijun's lower body is not stable enough. Let him continue running!
Once your lower body is stable, you'll be able to throw!
"So it's nothing..." Sendou said in a serious tone.
When it comes to serious matters, this guy is always meticulous.
"Therefore, I also plan to give up on Outside Corner Ball and continue to hone my skills on Inside Corner Ball!"
"Huh? Then you've said so much..."
"I want you to stand in the Batter's Box and look at Sawamura's Inside Corner Ball, and see how you see it from your personal perspective!"
Sendou then realized that he had been tricked by the bastard next to him!
Turning around, I saw that Miyuki was indeed smirking.
However, Sendou couldn't think of a way to retaliate for a moment, so he could only admit that he had lost this time.
It's truly impossible to guard against something like Miyuki's situation!
Sendou gave Miyuki, who was smirking, a deep look before turning his gaze to Sawamura.
"Fine! I agree!"
"Meet at the Indoor Practice Field area after dinner!" Miyuki was very happy after winning.
"Slap!" In an instant, Sendou delivered a chop to Miyuki's stomach at a speed imperceptible to the naked eye. In that instant, Miyuki felt as if he had almost died on the spot!
Even if you can't gain the upper hand verbally, you can openly admit it, but that doesn't mean Sendou won't take action!
And so Miyuki.
"Oh? That sounds interesting. How about I go check out the Batter's Box too?" Oni-san suddenly appeared and said.
"Of course! But Ryo-san, how's your foot? Are you alright?"
"Just standing in the Batter's Box is fine!"
"Hmm? What are you talking about?" At this moment, the person involved came over, accompanied by a little tail.
"Nothing! What's going on between you two?"
"Of course we have to eat in the cafeteria!" Sawamura looked at Miyuki with an innocent expression.
Furuya, the little tail behind him, was also staring intently at Miyuki.
It's obvious they're afraid Miyuki will run away, so they're keeping a close eye on him.
After all, today is a day off...
"Baka! Just say you want to throw the ball tonight!"
"Huh? Will you answer?"
"Of course! But today is a day off, so we can't go too far!"
"Of course! I'll only throw twenty balls!" Sawamura said!
"Then I'll take twenty-five balls!"
"Huh? Furuya! You! You're going to try and steal it from me again? Fine, I'll take thirty balls!"
"You could have asked Senior Chris help! I scored thirty-five points!"
" Senior Chris said he needed to maintain good teamwork with the Starting Catcher and get some rest, and he solemnly refused me!"
"I scored forty goals!"
"Then you should go and rest! I scored forty-five goals!"
"I'm not tired at all! I'm five..."
"If you don't stop it, you won't be sleeping tonight!" Sendou teased.
Miyuki immediately stopped the two from arguing and gave them a good scolding.