Chapter 4: Who Are We? King Seidō!
Afternoon
Because Seidō High School was set to participate in the Tokyo Metropolitan Tournament, the First Team gathered for a brief training session before being called together by head coach **Kataoka Teshin for a pre-game motivational meeting.
"You all understand," Kataoka began, "progressing to the Autumn Tournament means a shot at Spring Koshien, and the highlight is always summer. Compared to those, the Tokyo Metropolitan Tournament in spring isn't as important. But-" Kataoka's expression turned serious. "Our opponent today is the team that beat us in the autumn tournament and took third place in the city! The humiliation we suffered will be paid back tenfold!"
"Yes!" the First Team responded in unison, their voices echoing across the field.
Kataoka nodded in satisfaction. "Yuuki, lead the chant!"
Yuuki called the First Team into a circle.
Yuuki: "Who are we?"
Everyone: "The King's Seidō!"
Yuuki: "Who sweats the most?"
Everyone: "Seidō!"
Yuuki: "Who has shed the most tears?"
Everyone: "Seidō!"
Yuuki: "Are you ready for the game?"
Everyone: "Oh oh oh!"
Yuuki: "Bearing the glory of the whole school, we have only one goal-to dominate the nation!"
Yuuki: "Let's go!"
Everyone: "Oh oh oh oh oh!!!"
With each question from the captain, the First Team responded in perfect unison. After several rounds, their fighting spirit reached its peak.
---
Hayashi Sora and the other freshmen, specially summoned by the assistant coach to watch the First Team's mobilization, were full of excitement and longing.
"That's incredible… Their aura is on another level!"
"So cool!"
"I really want to join the First Team as soon as possible!"
Sora looked toward the First Team, eyes filled with anticipation.
---
Yesterday afternoon, the assistant coach had explained the tournament rules to Sora to prevent any misunderstanding:
"The roster for the Metropolitan Tournament was submitted before the event began and can't be changed. So, even though your pitching is First Team caliber, you weren't on the original entry list. That means you can't participate this time. But you'll definitely be on the roster for the Kanto Tournament. For now, just focus on training."
Sora finally understood why, in the original story, even a standout like Komiya Takashi couldn't play in the Metropolitan quarterfinals after his impressive freshman test. He also realized that his own ability had already caught the attention of head coach Kataoka. Now, all he had to do was wait for his chance in the Kanto Tournament.
---
"Time to go! If you want to watch the game, get on the bus!" called the assistant coach.
"Yes!" the freshmen responded, hurrying to the school bus-except for Sora, Sawamura Eijun, and the always-oversleeping Furuya.
Kuramochi Yoichi and Masuko Toru, Sawamura's upperclassmen roommates, stopped when they noticed Sora and Sawamura weren't leaving.
"Sawamura, and you, freshman-aren't you coming to see how popular we are?"
"Sorry, I want to stay," Sawamura replied, clenching his fists. "I need to work harder, or I'll never catch up to you."
"I'm staying too," Sora added with a smile. "My stamina is still too weak. I need to put in extra time if I want to reach your level."
Kuramochi was momentarily surprised, then nodded. "Alright, do your best!"
With that, Kuramochi and Masuko left for the bus.
---
"Continue running?" Sora asked Sawamura.
Because Sora's stamina was still lacking, the assistant coach had assigned him mostly endurance training, including long-distance running. As for Sawamura, since he hadn't managed to throw the ball to the outfield fence, Kataoka had given him the punishment of "run whenever you have time." That meant: until Kataoka said otherwise, Sawamura couldn't touch a ball or do any other training-just run.
Thus, Sora and Sawamura spent most of their time running laps around the baseball field. After so many laps together, they'd grown closer.
"No problem!" Sawamura replied.
Running alone was lonely; running with a friend made it bearable. At first, they chatted as they ran, but as fatigue set in, silence fell between them. Still, having someone by your side made it easier to push through.
Both Sora and Sawamura were stubborn competitors, each determined to outlast the other.
---
As they circled the field and neared the gate, a tire suddenly rolled into Sawamura's path.
Bang!
Sawamura tripped over the tire and fell to the ground.
"Hiss-" Sora, who was running beside him, gasped. That was close-he'd almost been hit too!
He remembered this scene from the anime and manga, where Sawamura's mishap had seemed funny. But experiencing it firsthand, Sora's heart was still pounding. Injuries are an athlete's worst fear-one wrong move could ruin a career.
Yoshikawa Haruno, the clumsy manager, rushed over, apologizing profusely.
"I'm so sorry! Are you alright?"
"You need to be more careful!" Sora scolded, frowning. It might have looked funny in the anime, but in real life, it was terrifying.
Of course, Haruno wasn't that strong-Sawamura had only stumbled because he lost his balance. The original anime had exaggerated the impact. In reality, Haruno couldn't possibly throw a tire with that much force.
Still, Sora was shaken. Even if it was an accident, he couldn't help but worry.
"Y-yeah… sorry! I was just… The baseball club needs tires for running, so I was bringing them over… I didn't expect…"
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