NOVEL NEXT Debut
Inside Rei's room.
Rei opened the Training menu curiously.
As soon as he opened the training menu a blue screen popped up.
[Daily quest:
Complete Takigawa Chris's training menu.
Reward: All 0.1 stats]
Rei was happy that he had gotten a new daily quest because gaining stats was getting harder.
Daily quests are not mandatory, if he does them, he gets a reward and if he doesn't complete them for a day, he will not get a penalty. It is his choice.
Rei looked at the contents of the training menu.
It said that he had to do: 10 hill sprints, 3x10 scissor jump, 2x10 push press, 2x10 MB sit-up throw, 2x10 ballistic lunge, 2x15 dumbbell push and low, 3x10 MB overhand, 2x15 lunge and twists.
Rei nodded and understood the content since he had done these exercises before in his previous life.
This training was for conditioning core and inner muscles to prevent injuries.
Rei smiled and thanked Chris for this thoughtfulness.
It seemed like Chris senpai had studied him too.
Maru had fallen asleep already. As he was about to close the lights so he can sleep, he heard an aggressive knock on the door.
"Ugh, who the hell is it at this time", said Rei opening the door.
"Oh, you're here too. Never mind just tell me if Chris senpai is here", said Sawamura hurriedly.
"Nope, he just went out recently. He told me he won't be staying the night today. Maybe try tomorrow", said Rei.
"Tsk…I missed him. Guess I'll meet him tomorrow", said Sawamura leaving.
Rei nodded and closed the door.
The next day, morning practice.
Rei was doing the training menu that Chris gave him while Miyuki was catching Furuya's pitches.
"Take a rest for a while", said Miyuki.
Furuya nodded and took a break.
"What are you doing", said Miyuki approaching Rei.
"Nothing just doing Chris senpai's training menu", Rei pointed at the menu beside him.
Miyuki grabbed the menu with interest and looked over it.
"Oh-oh…seems like he knows about your body type", said Miyuki looking over the menu.
Rei nodded in response.
"Rei, what do you think of Chris senpai?", asked Miyuki.
"Nothing but he seems like a good catcher", said Rei as he continued doing his exercises.
"You guys are pretty close right since you guys are roommates", said Miyuki.
"Yeah…what about it", said Rei.
"When it's your turn training with him, tell me who is better as a catcher me or him?", said Miyuki.
"Seriously, but I don't wanna", said Rei.
"You'll do as I say, REI, RIGHT?", said Miyuki glaring at Rei while smiling.
Rei nodded as he felt threatened by Miyuki's glares.
"Oy, get ready the bus is coming to pick us up", said Miyuki as Rei was done with his exercises.
"Bus for what?", asked Rei distracted. He was looking at the notification he had gotten.
[Host has gained, '0.1 All Stats']
Furuya and Miyuki looked at him dumbfounded.
"Don't you know today is the Kanto tournament's first day? How can you forget about this?", said Miyuki.
"You guys might debut today, how come you forgot", said Miyuki sighing.
"I finally get to pitch in a match", said Rei feeling pumped up.
"Yeah, yeah just get on the bus", said Miyuki.
In the practice field.
"Hey, Chris in the third year asked me for a favor. Here, it's a new menu", said Haruichi running towards Sawamura holding a menu in his hands.
"Are you kidding me? Like hell I'll actually be doing this!", said Sawamura throwing the menu away.
"The tire is all I need! Let's go buddy!", said Sawamura walking away with his tire.
"Hey, what are you gonna do for the Kanto tournament today? This time everyone's required to go?", said Haruichi.
Sawamura glared at Haruichi saying that he isn't going.
"I see. So, you don't want to go. For now, we can only watch from the bleachers. It doesn't make me feel good either. But they're teams we'll be playing against in the future. Might as well get to know them", said Haruichi.
Kanto Tournament, First Match. Seido (Tokyo) – Yokohama Academy (Kanegawa)
In the audience, Seido students were surprised to see the score because Seido was currently losing.
"They're down by 4 runs".
"Tanba was pitching well until the 6th inning. But the Yokohama Academy batters had figured him out by the 7th. If they lose the pitching battle, they'll lose the game".
Discussed the audience.
"Top of the eighth, Seido high school has called for a change in players", said the announcer.
"Whoa! A pitcher change! But does Seido have a pitcher other than Tanba who can fare well against Yokohama academy?" said one of the students in the audience.
"Switching out Tanba for the pitcher, Rei.", said the announcer.
"Rei?"
"He's a first-year"
"Seriously?"
"They're putting in a first-year in this situation?"
"Is Seido giving up the game?"
Discussed the audience.
"Awesome! I can't believe Rei got a chance to pitch", said Haruichi sitting in the audience next to Sawamura.
Sawamura got jealous seeing this.
"Do they take us for idiots? They're bringing out a first-year to the mound. Show that rookie what high school baseball is about!", said the Yokohama Academy coach.
"Haii", said the players.
On the mound, Rei used a Rosin bag on his hands and prepared to pitch.
The Yokohama batter came up to the batter's box and said, "He's thin. He's not even built yet. You guys have it tough every year".
"Go easy on us", said Miyuki playfully.
Dropping the bag Rei got into his pitching position and released the ball from his hands.
The ball went 140 KM hitting the mitt.
The opponent's team was shocked to see the pitch and remained silent.
The audience was riled up seeing Rei's awesome pitch.
Rei struck the batters out continuously.
The opponent's team's coach was getting restless seeing his batters struck out every time.
"5 strikeouts in a row! Unbelievable!"
"Seido's got themselves a monster player!"
"What junior high is he from? I've never heard of a Rei!"
Rei struck out another batter and the next inning came.
Coming back to the dugout Rei was bombarded with praises for his pitching.
He was feeling happy, pitching in a game after so long.
"Rei, you go rest the next inning I'll let Furuya pitch", said Kataoka.
Rei nodded and accepted it easily.
"That's it", thought Kataoka. He felt relieved that Rei didn't argue with him about this. He wanted Rei and Furuya to get an equal amount of experience.
"Top of the ninth, Seido high school has called for a change in players. Switching out Rei for the pitcher, Furuya.", said the announcer.
The audience was troubled thinking that something was wrong with this school, why would they take out such a monstrous pitcher?
Furuya came to the mound and struck every batter out closing the game and leaving the audience speechless.
"They are 2 monsters like that on the team. Next year will be interesting", thought the Yokohama Academy Coach.
At night in the dorms.
"Today's game was amazing. I had goosebumps at the bottom of the ninth! We lost, but we were a step away from taking down Yokohama Academy".
"I bet we can really go to nationals this year".
"Yeah, we'd better train hard".
Discussed the players in the laundry room.
Next day, morning practice.
Sawamura was having trouble during fielding practice and kept dropping balls. Everyone wondered how he even came to Seido.
Takashima asked how he was doing with Chris and Sawamura complained about him saying that he left early and wasn't motivated.
That's when Sawamura learned about Chris's truth and his injury.
As soon as he learned about it, he went to find Chris and apologized.