Three days had passed since they joined the outfield practice. From the first day until now, Sendou had still been shoring up the basics for these guys. He had not yet added the kind of intense physical training expected of middle school students. After all, even if the regulars at those middle schools might not have had foundations as solid as Akagi's now, compared to these guys at the beginning, they were ahead by several dimensions.
But Sendou had no intention of making his team exactly like everyone else's. After all, he now possessed resources others would not even dare dream of.
"So this is the team Sen-chan used to be on? It's amazing!"
"So cool!"
"Enough chattering. Practice is about to start; it's already time."
"Come change clothes with me!"
Sendou's group of eleven had arrived at the Wildcats' headquarters, a place known in Kanto as the Cat's Nest!
Wakaba changed first, followed by Sendou's teammates. Afterward, they waited in the hall. Calling it a hall was generous—it was merely a modest reception room, the same room where Sendou had spoken with Coach Nakanishi before. It contained all sorts of things, including a huge stack of championship certificates. Sendou was not interested, but these guys certainly were...
"Is this a championship certificate from the Little League Kanto Tournament?!" Takada cried out.
"What? What is it?"
"This one too! This one too! And this one! How many championships did they win?"
"Ah, it's true! That's incredible!" Seeing his friends' expressions gradually turn vacant, Sendou could only sigh helplessly.
If not for Takada's shout, he would have forgotten. He had never paid attention to the Wildcats' past achievements, nor had he ever cared about the place where all the medals were displayed. He was not interested now, either!
"And the dates seem to be consecutive!"
"They really are!"
"One, two, three, four... ju... thirteen straight championships?"
"You're kidding! The last one was this year, and not long ago at that. Isn't that ridiculously strong? Hey!"
The more excited they became as they looked, the sleepier Sendou grew. He was a child who could never get enough sleep!
"Wait, Akila was the ace and cleanup hitter of a prestigious Little League team, which means..." Ono suddenly said.
"..."
"No way!!!" Sawamura shouted, then glanced at Sendou.
"What?" Sendou looked at Sawamura with bleary eyes.
"No, no, no, no! That's impossible!" Seeing Sendou's lazy appearance, Sawamura shook his head wildly and resolutely.
"It's true! Akila used to be our Wildcats' ace and cleanup hitter, and he did it after learning baseball for only two weeks!" An older man entered as he spoke.
"Old man, who are you?" Sawamura innocently asked.
"Idiot!" Sendou covered his face.
"Haha! I'm Nakanishi Masamune, the Wildcats' coach!" Coach Nakanishi said kindly.
"So you're this team's coach, old man! That's amazing!"
"Thank you! You must be Akila's companions, right? I look forward to working with you from today onward!"
"The feeling is mutual. Please take care of us!" Everyone except Sawamura quickly bowed in response.
"Huh? Oh, please take care of me too." Sawamura froze adorably for a moment before lowering his head as well.
"Akila, how many years has it been? Why are you so sleepy every morning?" Coach Nakanishi waved at Sawamura and the others, signaling them not to be so formal, then spoke to Sendou.
"There's nothing to do! Sleeping feels good! I stayed up late last night!"
"I think staying up late is the real issue!"
"You're so noisy," Sendou muttered with a slight pout.
"All right, everyone, my players have already changed. You should go warm up too, then you can use the field here for some practice. We'll be doing batting practice first today, and of course, you can watch. In an hour, I'll need you to take your places in the Batter's Box!"
"Yes!!!"
"They're shouting much louder than usual! Whatever, it doesn't matter," Sendou thought.
"Then we'll watch you today. We can train anytime," Sendou said, looking at everyone's expectant eyes and then at Coach Nakanishi.
"Yay! Yay! Yay!" Everyone immediately became ecstatic.
But since training would not begin for a while, they did not rush to warm up. Instead, they followed along to the batting practice area.
Coach Nakanishi had made arrangements before coming to find Sendou and the others, so the area was filled with the constant crack and clang of baseballs. When they entered, hardly anyone paid them much attention.
"The atmosphere here is really great," Fumino, who had come along, said.
"Why do you say that, Fumino?" Wakaba asked.
"They noticed us when we came in, but after one glance, they went right back to watching the people practicing over there." As expected of Fumino, the literary goddess—she noticed the details the moment she entered.
"That's true! They're practically like professional players. They really are all elementary school students, and mostly fourth- and fifth-graders, right? That's incredible!"
After hearing Fumino mention it, Wakaba noticed it too, and everyone else strongly agreed. Naturally, there was one exception. His eyes were shining as he watched the Wildcats Little League players batting.
"So fast. That's faster than the pitches we usually practice against, so... 130 kilometers per hour?" Ono guessed as he watched the pitch speed.
"That's right, but only a few of them can hit pitches that fast. The others are practicing against Fastballs at around 120 kilometers per hour," Coach Nakanishi explained from beside them.
"Takada, everyone, look at that kid's legs and stance. Just watching is a form of learning," Sendou said at the right moment, then yawned again.
No one answered. Just as he had said, they focused intently on observing the players bat.
From time to time, someone hit a Long Hit or even a Home Run. Compared with the players from Sendou's own generation a few years ago, the Wildcats' player quality in recent years was quite good. Several showed real promise for the future, while the others also had very solid fundamentals.
"All right, that's enough. Everyone, take a break! Akila, can you let your players come practice for a bit?"
"Really?" Sawamura blurted out before Sendou could answer.
"Of course. We're short on people too, so having you come over is a huge help. Besides, Akila is my student!"
"Honestly, make sure you warm up properly and don't get hurt!"
"That's great!" they shouted happily.
"But you might get completely crushed by elementary school students."
"What does that matter? We're only beginners!" everyone said without concern.
"Don't worry. There's no one in the Wildcats who would mock others. Besides, things can get a little livelier here too."
"That's right, senpai!"
"I see! What is it?"
"Um, excuse me, are you Sendou-san?" The other boy asked with a hint of excitement.
To find out what happened next, stay tuned for the next chapter!
Before you continue