Baseball: A Two-Way Player

Standing outside Izumi Minoru's office, Lin Guanglai lightly knocked, rapping his knuckles on the door.

"Come in."

Hearing the approving voice from inside, Lin Guanglai pushed open the door and walked into his coach's office.

From what Lin Guanglai knows about his own coach, Izumi Minoru is someone who pays extreme attention to cleanliness. Whenever he came, all the documents on Izumi Minoru's desk would always be neatly arranged.

But today, things were a bit different.

Lin Guanglai walked in and the first thing he saw when he looked up was the scattered documents on the desk, while his coach was bent over working, the pen in his hand ceaselessly circling on the paper.

"Oh, it's Guanglai. What is it, has something happened with the team?"

Izumi Minoru looked up, his eyes slightly red, and seeing it was his team captain who had come, he rubbed his eyelids with his hand and asked.

At least from Mr. Izumi's appearance right now, it hasn't been an easy time for him either.

The school hasn't given him much pressure—after all, having led Waseda Jitsugyo to three Koshien championships, Izumi Minoru himself is a prestigious figure of Waseda Jitsugyo; high school baseball has its ups and downs and the school authorities understand that.

The pressure on Izumi Minoru is more self-imposed.

Since last year's third-grade players left the team, the new team's poor condition is not something that just happened; it was assumed that the situation would improve after off-season training and integration, but judging from recent warm-up matches, if nothing changes, this slump might continue, perhaps even be taken to Koshien.

Frankly, Izumi Minoru doesn't care much about losing games—Even if they face an early exit in Senbatsu, as the team's coach and the person primarily responsible for wins and losses, he will assume full responsibility to shield his players from the brunt as was his duty as an educator.

More than the results, what he worries about is this new batch of players on the roster losing their confidence due to constant comparisons to their predecessors, and even worse, becoming resigned to defeat and seeing losing as the inevitable—it's that sense of complacency that terrifies him.

Once losing becomes a habit, it's not just the team's performance that's affected but also the development of these players' characters—he would never allow such a mentality to materialize within his team.

However, against the backdrop of consecutive practice game losses and dwindling team confidence, how they should revitalize team morale and players' true potential remained elusive.

The more he mulled over it, the easiest solution perhaps still was—

to win.

Thus the question came full circle: the best way to boost the team's confidence was to secure wins; yet winning under the current state of Waseda Jitsugyo was a huge challenge—defeating a weaker team wouldn't build confidence, only a closely matched contest could serve this purpose.

So, Izumi Minoru felt conflicted.

While he was racking his brain for solutions, Lin Guanglai appeared—looking at the earnest young captain standing in front of him, Izumi Minoru knew he was there regarding the team's recent issues.

Perhaps, from the player's perspective, he might offer another line of thought?

Before Izumi Minoru could ask, Lin Guanglai, with a serious demeanor, preemptively spoke:

"Coach, the team's recent performance hasn't been great—as the captain, I think it's time we made some changes."

Hearing his captain's frank statement, Izumi Minoru initially said nothing and only after a brief pause did he slowly respond:

"Tell me what you're thinking."

Having received his coach's approval, Lin Guanglai continued to articulate:

"With last year's seniors having left, I believe our team's problems won't truly be resolved until after the Senbatsu."

"But Coach, as the team captain, I don't intend to give up on the upcoming Senbatsu—I don't think the other teammates want to just go through the motions at Koshien either."

"It's my inescapable responsibility as captain to address our current issues, so my proposal is that in upcoming trainings, everyone should focus their efforts solely on batting!"

Hearing this, Izumi Minoru asked, "What about our defense?"

Lin Guanglai chuckled and explained his solution:

"This is where I'll need your cooperation, Coach—"

"For this period of time, I plan to increase my pitching training quite extensively—don't worry, Coach, I'm aware of my own limits and won't overstrain and injure myself."

"As for batting…"

"Since I'll be shifting more focus onto pitching, I think it'd be hard for me to maintain my spot as the fourth batter; I hope you can move me to the leadoff spot."

"After our championship victory last summer, you know the pressure I faced hitting fourth…"

"Switching to the top spot will prevent opposing pitchers from intentionally walking me as easily, giving me more opportunities to bat…"

Saying this, Lin Guanglai chuckled; but quickly, he wiped away any other expression, adopting a seriousness Izu Minoru had never seen, and gravely asserted:

"Coach, regardless, we are this year's defending Senbatsu champions—I know the odds of retaining our title are slim, but at the least, I want us not to lose so disgracefully as recent matches…"

"Regardless of the opponent, I'll do everything in my power to strike them all out—even if we ultimately lose, I want everyone in the team to leave Koshien with their heads high!"

"I'm not just being stubborn, Coach…"

"I'm asking sincerely!!!"

When Lin Guanglai looked back at Coach Izumi, he found he was already stunned, as if taken aback by Lin Guanglai's impassioned words.

After a long while, he finally emerged from his complex emotions and muttered to Lin Guanglai:

"Guanglai, if you're set on this, know that it'll be tough ahead for you—you have a promising future, and even if our team doesn't do well, no one would blame you…"

To this, Lin Guanglai simply shook his head and replied:

"Coach, the seniors left the team in my hands, so…"

"As the ace player, I will take on all responsibilities!"