The next day, eleven boys and girls walked into Qinghe Middle School.
"Are you the Akagi Middle School Baseball Club? I'm Qinghe's coach, Takei!" As soon as they reached the field, they saw more than ten players in Qinghe uniforms. A man who looked to be around thirty walked over and asked.
"Yes! Thank you for having us today. I'm Qinghe's coach, Sendou Akira, senpai!"
"So you're Sendou-kun! No need to be so polite. Coach Nakanishi already told me about you. Here's our roster. You can choose whether to attack first or bat second. If that's settled, go warm up!"
"Here's our starting lineup. Then I won't stand on ceremony—I choose first attack, senpai!"
"Sendou-kun, is there a mistake with this roster? You're not playing? And you chose to attack first?"
"Yes! I'm not a player in the Baseball Club. As for attacking first, I'd like to see my companions' defensive ability."
"I see... so that's how it is. Understood. See you in a bit!"
"Yes, senpai!"
"How was that, Sen-chan?"
"I chose first attack because I wanted to get a good look at your defensive ability. How far we can go in the autumn tournament will depend on our defense, understand? Now start warming up for defensive practice!" As he spoke, Sendou casually tossed the roster aside without even looking at it.
"Don't you need to look at it?" Fumino asked.
"No. We don't have any information on them, so what's the point of reading it?"
"There are girls on their roster too! I thought those two girls were both managers. But they're so cute! So cute, damn it!" On the other side, Qinghe's players began chattering as they looked toward Akagi's bench after finishing their warm-up.
"Those eyes are amazing!"
"So nice! We only have boys.