Return to the Wildcats

Three days had passed since they started practicing in the Outfield. From the first day until now, Sendou had been focused on reinforcing the basics for these guys. He hadn't yet added the kind of physical intensity that Middle Schoolers usually endure. After all, while those Middle School regulars might not have the same foundation as Akagi now, they were still several dimensions ahead of these guys from the start.

However, Sendou didn't intend for his team to be exactly like everyone else. After all, he now possessed resources that others wouldn't dare to dream of.

"This is the team that Sen-chan was on? So amazing!"

"So cool!"

"Alright, no more dilly-dallying. Practice is about to start. It's the agreed-upon time!"

"Let's go change clothes!"

Sendou and his eleven teammates had arrived at the Wildcats' main base, a place known as the Cat's Nest in Kanto!

Wakaba changed first, followed by Sendou's teammates. Afterwards, they waited in the lobby. Calling it a lobby was generous; it was just a small reception room, the same room where Sendou had previously chatted with Coach Nakanishi. It was filled with all sorts of things, including a huge pile of victory certificates. Sendou wasn't interested, but these guys were...

"This is a championship certificate from the Little League Kanto Tournament?!!!" Takada exclaimed!

"What? What?"

"This one too!!! And this one!!! And this one!!! How many championships are there?"

"Ah, really! Amazing!" Seeing his friends' gradually dazed expressions, Sendou felt helpless.

But if it weren't for Takada's voice, he would have forgotten. He had never paid attention to the Wildcats' past achievements, nor had he ever paid attention to the place where all the medals were displayed. But even now, he had no interest!

"And the dates seem to be consecutive!"

"Really!"

"1, 2, 3, 4... ju (the beginning of ten seems to be this sound) thirteen consecutive championships?"

"Seriously?! The last one was just this year, and not long ago. It's a bit too strong! Hey!"

As he watched these guys get more and more excited, Sendou only felt sleepier and sleepier. He was a kid who could never get enough sleep!

"Wait, Akila was once the ACE and Cleanup Hitter of a famous Little League team, which means..." Ono suddenly said.

"..."

"Really!!!" Sawamura shouted, then glanced at Sendou.

"What?" Sendou looked at Sawamura with somewhat sleepy eyes.

"yi ye! yi ye! yi ye! yi ye! That's impossible!" Looking at Sendou's lazy appearance, Sawamura shook his head frantically and resolutely.

"That's true! Akila was once our Wildcats' ACE and Cleanup Hitter, and he achieved it after only studying Baseball for two weeks!" At this moment, an uncle came in and said.

"O sang, who are you?" Sawamura asked naively!

"Baka!" Sendou covered his face!

"Haha! I'm Nakanishi Masamune, the Wildcats' Coach!" Coach Nakanishi said amiably. (The Japanese sentence ending "dei si" doesn't make the sentence sound awkward)

"Uncle is the Coach of this team! Amazing!"

"Thank you! You must be Akila's friends? I look forward to working with you all starting today!"

"The pleasure is all ours, please take care of us!" Everyone except Sawamura quickly reacted and bowed.

"Ah? Oh, please take care of me." Sawamura was momentarily stunned and bowed his head as well.

"Akila, how many years has it been? Why are you always so sleepy in the morning?" Coach Nakanishi waved his hand at Sawamura and the others, indicating they didn't need to be polite, and then spoke to Sendou.

"Nothing to do! Sleeping is comfortable! Stayed up late last night!"

"I think the focus is on you staying up late!"

"Annoying!" Sendou muttered quietly with a slight pout.

"Alright, everyone, my players have already changed their clothes. You guys should probably warm up first, and then you can use the field here for some practice. We're going to do batting practice first today, but of course, you can watch. In an hour, I'll have to ask you to stand in the batter's box!"

"Yes!!!"

"These guys are shouting louder than usual! Oh well, none of that matters!" Sendou thought to himself.

"Then we'll watch you today. Training can be done anytime!" Sendou said, looking at everyone and the Coach Nakanishi's gaze.

"Hooray! Hooray! Hooray!" Everyone was instantly excited.

However, since it was still early for training, they didn't rush to warm up and instead followed them to the batting practice area.

Coach Nakanishi had made arrangements before looking for Sendou and the others, so there was a constant clatter of sounds. When they entered, not many people paid much attention to them!

"The atmosphere here is really good!" Fumino, who had come along, said.

"Why do you say that, Fumino!" Wakaba asked.

"We noticed them as soon as we came in, but they just glanced at us and continued watching the people practicing over there." As expected of the literary goddess Fumino, she noticed the details as soon as she entered.

"Really! It's just like professional players, and they're all elementary school students, and mostly fourth and fifth graders, right? They're really amazing!"

Wakaba also noticed this after Fumino mentioned it, and the others agreed, except for a certain someone who was watching the Wildcats Little League players batting with shining eyes.

"So fast, this is even faster than the ball speed we usually practice with. Does that mean 130 kilometers?" Ono guessed, looking at the ball speed.

"That's right, but only a few people can hit such a fast ball. The others are practicing fastballs around 120 kilometers." Coach Nakanishi explained from the side.

"Takada and everyone, look at that kid's legs and posture. Just watching is a form of learning!" Sendou said at the right time, and even yawned!

The others didn't reply, really focusing their attention on observing these players hitting the ball as he had said.

People were hitting long hits and even home runs from time to time. Compared to Sendou's contemporaries, the quality of the Wildcats' players has been pretty good in recent years. There are several with potential, and the others have a solid foundation.

"Alright, let's stop here and everyone take a break! Akila, you can let your players practice!"

"Really?" Sawamura blurted out before Sendou could answer.

"Of course, it's true. We don't have enough people, so it's a great help that you guys came, and Akila is also my disciple!"

"Really, remember to warm up properly and don't get injured!"

"That's great!" The others shouted happily!

"However, you guys are going to get beaten by elementary school students!"

"What does that matter? We're just beginners!" Everyone said nonchalantly.

"Don't worry! The Wildcats don't have people who would make fun of others! And it can liven things up here too."

"That's right, Senpai!"

"So ga! What's up?"

"Um, excuse me, are you Sendou-san?" the other party said, slightly excited!

If you want to know what happens next, please read the next chapter!