"After you settle your luggage, I will take you to the Practice Field area we rented, and then you are free to do as you please."
However, the supervisor instructed me not to overdo the self-practice and to make sure I'm well-rested for the opening ceremony tomorrow!
The room number has been sent to you via SMS!
Three people per room, so stay tuned to see who your roommates will be! Haha!
"Besides, there's Open-Air Hot Spring here!" As soon as they got off the car, Head Manager Oota announced the arrangements for the rest of the trip.
The room is a little Easter egg/game.
"Oh!!!" Upon hearing that there was a hot spring, the people in the group began to cheer.
Japan's hot spring bathing culture has always been deeply ingrained in people's minds.
Almost every Japanese person finds it hard to resist the allure of hot springs.
Sendou's identity has nothing to do with whether he is Japanese or not; taking a bath is indeed very comfortable.
" Eijun! Don't run around like that after this!"
"The hotel is so big, you'll get lost!" Sendou joked to Sawamura.
Haha! That's right! That's right!
"You can easily get lost! And Furuya too!" Miyuki chimed in.
"Shut up!" Sawamura instantly snapped.
Furuya was because Miyuki mentioned that he seemed flustered and looked around, but in reality, he was half asleep in the car and it was just his instinctive reaction to hearing someone calling him.
"Ah! Hot springs! This is just like a school trip!"
No! Above that!
"You can't stay in such a nice place on a school trip!" Sendou said, taking his bag and walking inside.
The seniors have already gone in.
Miyuki followed suit, and the two have been getting closer lately.
Miyuki craves him... well, he craves his pitching.
Haha! Who will I be sharing a room with? I can't wait!
"I hope it doesn't involve..." Miyuki's voice came from afar.
However, the remaining three first-graders didn't hear clearly.
Although Seidou stayed in a hotel, the hotel offered them a very favorable price because they were a team with great promotional value.
"Huh? Someone's here?"
They must be seniors who came in earlier!
Looks like it's not going to be the case that we first-graders will share a room!
"I'm kind of looking forward to it!" Sendou thought to himself as he walked to the door of the room and saw that the door was not closed properly.
With a hint of anticipation in his eyes, Sendou reached for the doorknob.
"Excuse me!"
"Hmm?" The person packing their luggage in the room turned around as if they had sensed something.
Ah! Tetsu-san!
How lucky! I'm sharing a room with Tetsu-san!
"Really? Then hurry up and pack!"
Beds are available on a first-come, first-served basis!
"It's very comfortable!" Captain Tetsu said with a smile when he saw that Sendou was smiling as well.
"Hi!" Sendou replied with a smile, and went inside with his luggage.
To Sendou's surprise, before tidying up, Captain Tetsu actually enjoyed the comfort of the bed first.
So he lay down on it too!
"It feels so good!"
"Right?"
"Excuse me!" At that moment, the third person arrived.
"Pfft! Hahahaha!" Sendou knew who it was as soon as he heard the voice. He glanced at Captain Tetsu, then collapsed onto the bed and burst into laughter, rolling around in a frenzy of laughter.
"What good luck!"
"Sharing a room with you, Sendou!" the person said as they opened the door, clearly hearing Sendou's laughter.
"You're here!"
"Huh? Tetsu~,... Tetsu-san?" However, upon seeing Captain Tetsu, Miyuki could no longer smile, and his eyebrows twitched unnaturally.
"Hahahaha!" After glancing at Sendou, who was laughing Miyuki understood what was going on. He had been wondering what was making him so happy, but he never dreamed it would be because of him.
The second half of the sentence that Sawamura hadn't heard before was, "I hope I don't share a room with Tetsu-san."
Then he won the lottery.
"Hurry up and pack! After that..." Captain Tetsu made a gesture as if playing shogi.
"Hahahaha!" Sendou laughed even harder.
"Stop laughing!" Miyuki teased Sendou.
Sendou understood the purpose of the room. He and Captain Tetsu were the core of the team's offense, arguably the most consistent scoring duo.
Plus, he and Miyuki could discuss tactics (dirty tricks) at any time, making them a perfect Good-for-nothing Duo.
As for Miyuki and Captain Tetsu, it's unclear whether the coaching staff who arranged the rooms had any wicked ideas.
But in Sendou's view, it was truly killing three birds with one stone; after watching this trip to Koshien, he wouldn't be lonely anymore.
Once he learns about Sawamura's room arrangement, he'll understand that it was definitely intentional.
" Tetsu-san! But there shouldn't be any shogi in the room, right?"
"I wonder if the hotel can borrow it from there!" Miyuki replied to Captain Tetsu.
"Oh! No need for that!"
Hearing this, Miyuki breathed a sigh of relief.
"I brought it!"
"I brought..., I brought..., I brought..., I brought...,...
"Pfft! Hahahaha!" Sendou, who had just sat up in bed, laughed maniacally again, spitting out blood, before collapsing back down.
"Hmm?" Captain Tetsu glanced at Sendou, a little confused as to what Sendou was laughing about.
"That... that one! Tetsu-san?"
"Hmm? What's wrong?"
"Why bring shogi?" Miyuki asked, somewhat speechless.
Since Captain Tetsu is a day student, it's really hard to predict what he'll bring. Also, Sendou noticed that there were quite a few snacks in his bag, which were obviously forced upon him by his family.
This is clearly not in Captain Tetsu's character.
"I brought it because I wanted to relax in my spare time..." Captain Tetsu's answer was as natural as ever.
As for who to relax with in their spare time, it goes without saying that it was all premeditated.
"Don't you find it too heavy?" Miyuki thought to himself.
However, Miyuki also knew that it wasn't really heavy, since Captain Tetsu lived close to the school and it wasn't a long walk from there to the hotel.
Miyuki looked at Sendou, who was laughing and rolling around on the bed, and was speechless.
Because they had a bye in the first round, even though they rented an indoor venue (which was actually provided free of charge by the hotel), the training programs they could participate in were limited.
Therefore, they actually have quite a lot of free time.
However, Miyuki also wanted to use his free time to persuade Sendou to shoot a few more balls!
But Captain Tetsu!
Everyone knows that this Natural Airhead can't refuse at all. He kneels in front of the table and bows very properly. Anyone would have to do it!
Otherwise, it would be too impolite.
In reality, Sawamura and Sendou are better at Miyuki, but Sawamura only played half a game with Captain Tetsu ( Miyuki had played half of the game before), so it's hard to tell much. Sendou, on the other hand, showed no mercy and carried out a brutal massacre.
This guy really doesn't hold back when playing chess... so Captain Tetsu never contacted him again.
Miyuki can't be as ruthless as Sendou, so he's the one who's going to suffer...
In fact, Miyuki had also been curious, so he went up against Sendou and gave it his all... but the result was just as bad as Captain Tetsu's, maybe a little better...
Captain Tetsu watched from the sidelines, but he couldn't understand their schemes. So when he saw Miyuki's miserable state and his expression of utter despair, he became even more determined not to play Go with Sendou.
Although Captain Tetsu enjoys playing chess and is somewhat naive, he's not stupid. No one can stand the gap between him and his opponent when he only manages to capture one or two pieces in the entire game.
You have to play chess seriously, but you can't give up entirely. Even if you don't want to win, you still have to capture as many pieces as possible.
"Hurry up and pack up!" Tianran Zhe was completely oblivious to the ulterior motives behind his two juniors' actions, simply looking forward to finding Miyuki Go after they finished packing.
Miyuki realized that "free time" meant starting after tidying up!
He felt utterly hopeless and numbly began packing his luggage. Sendou slowly got out of bed, laughing until he felt weak all over.
After tidying up, it was time for some happy watching. Captain Tetsu and Miyuki stayed until dinner.
Sendou watched the entire battle, suppressing his laughter the whole time... He probably won't be able to enjoy such a scene again in the future.
Sendou had no idea that Captain Tetsu's younger brother also had a taste for this.
All he knew was that his Tetsu's Younger Brother would come, nothing more.
During dinner, Kuramochi learned that Miyuki and Captain Tetsu sharing a room, and he almost cried with laughter.
But then he revealed the truth with a laugh.
It turns out that Kuramochi, Isashiki, and Sawamura in the same house, and Onii-san lived right next door to them.
Sendou almost died laughing.
He thought to himself, " Sawamura is the Group Favorite... they're spoiled rotten."
Hahahaha!
Not only that, everyone in the hall burst into laughter.
Only Sawamura looked listless and utterly dejected...
Sendou glanced at Miyuki and Sawamura, feeling extremely satisfied.
By the way, Koharu and Onii-san share a room, which is one of Head Manager Oota's thoughtful gestures!
Kawakami Tanba and Furuya share a room, which is also near Sawamura's room, and adjacent to Sendou's and even the coaching staff's rooms. This was probably to facilitate discussions among the pitchers, catchers, and coaching staff.
Including Rei-chan, there are exactly six girls in two rooms.
After dinner, Captain Tetsu didn't continue to torment Miyuki, but instead went to practice his swing with Sendou.
Miyuki also needs to practice pitching with the pitchers.
Although the pitching lineup has been completely revived thanks to Senior Tanba, the two first-year students still need to seize every minute to practice.
After all, these two are beginners. Before they have mastered their techniques and have a solid lower body and stable ball control, they are in a period of rapid growth.
The advantage compared to teams like the Little League and Junior Little Senior League, who receive professional baseball training from a young age and grow up to be roughly the same level.
To put it bluntly, it's a difference in talent. They can become important figures in the team just by relying on their physical talent. Every skill they master, and even every advancement in a skill, is a leap forward for them.
After practicing his swing with Captain Tetsu once, Sendou realized just how easily Tetsuya could be led astray.
As long as someone nearby mentions numbers, he can be easily swayed.
For example, if someone next to him says they want to buy something but only has 50 yen, he might forget where he was before, 51, 52, and so on...
If you remind him, "Look, you've swung a hundred or two," or "You've been swinging for so long, how could you only have swung this much?" Captain Tetsu will realize that he's been led astray and can't remember where he was before.
That's okay, let's start from the beginning, and then it's 1, 2, 3.
If you try to talk to him during this time, don't say anything.
"Oh no! I forgot where I swung... No problem, let's start from the beginning..."
Sendou and the others watched in stunned silence. Only the third-year seniors dared not say much to Captain Tetsu, otherwise this guy would never finish his "500" swings every night.
No, because there was no training today, Captain Tetsu decided to swing a thousand times.
Anyone who knows the inside story, who would dare talk to him? He's a ticking time bomb.
If you swing it over 900, it might get skewed...
Scary!
Even so, Captain Tetsu was still led astray three times, but thankfully he didn't swing hundreds of times...
After the first time, no one dared to speak to him anymore, but the second time, Sendou realized what was going on.
Seeing the number that Sendou stated with a confident expression, Captain Tetsu chose to believe it.
Actually, it was all just a rough estimate by Sendou, a number he made up...
This was the third time he'd been led astray, and Captain Tetsu instinctively looked at Sendou. This time, the guy actually remembered it, so there was no need to make it up.
Among a group of innocent baseball boys, only Miyuki and Sendou can casually make up a number. If it were Miyuki, even Captain Tetsu might not believe it...
And Miyuki wasn't even there; he was catching the ball dozens of meters away...
"Nine hundred and ninety-nine! One thousand!!! Phew! It's over!"
"Then let's go back! To the hot springs!" said Sendou had been squatting down beside them and had long since stopped waving.
This guy only swung a little over 700 times. He originally only wanted to swung 300 times, but he felt bad about stopping by himself, so he swung a little longer.
Once he got to know the place, Sendou could no longer be as carefree as he had been at the beginning.
"Ah! Sorry to keep you company!" Captain Tetsu knew that Sendou was with him, otherwise he would have left long ago.
"It's okay! I didn't bring any comics either, and it's boring to be alone in the room!" Sendou waved his hand casually.
Captain Tetsu saw that Sendou was talking nonsense, but he didn't call him out on it. He just smiled and didn't say anything more.
Let's go!
"Hmm!" Sendou replied, looking in another direction.
"When are you going back?" he shouted to Miyuki and the others.
"Oh! You go back first! I still have twenty more balls to shoot!" Sawamura replied naturally.
"Hey! Still the same old thing, completely ignoring my opinions!" Miyuki complained.
"Then! I want twenty-five balls!"
Miyuki felt like vomiting blood when he heard Furuya's voice.
"Pfft! Hahahaha! Well then, good luck to you guys!" With that, he and Captain Tetsu left.
After all, a warm hot spring awaits his arrival!
"Ring ring ring!" Sendou's phone rang after he had only taken a few steps.
"That uncle!"
Hello? What's wrong, sir?
"Really? As expected of you! Your network is truly impressive! You're amazing!" A short while later, Sendou hung up the phone.
"I'm in a great mood! Is there something good?"
"Of course! That uncle, no, my elementary school Coach Nakanishi, said he has an acquaintance in this area who is the supervisor in junior high school."
So he contacted them, and since the schools there were on holiday, they could lend us their facilities and even equipment.
Because it's a well-known private school, its facilities are very complete, maybe even better than ours!
"Really? That would be a huge help!"
This allows for some defensive practice.
As expected of Coach Nakanishi!
"That person has a really wide network! I didn't expect to know so many people here!"
I'm not sure if the second update will be two or four thousand words; I got a bit stuck on the last few hundred words of this chapter.
If the second update is 2,000 words, I'll make up the remaining 2,000 words tomorrow. Please bear with me!
I have a bit of a headache right now. I didn't sleep well last night. I can't even remember if I borrowed the venue today or yesterday when the idea suddenly popped into my head...
Let's give away all those hidden recommendation tickets and monthly passes...