Baseball: A Two-Way Player

The excitement of the Senbatsu High School Baseball Tournament gradually faded, and after a whole week of adjustments, the Waseda Industrial Baseball Training Ground came to life again.

Returning to this familiar baseball field after a week, Lin Guanglai felt invigorated all over —after enjoying a full week of zoo-like scenery, he had never missed the baseball field so much.

As Lin Guanglai stepped into the field, quite a few people had already arrived—aside from those familiar, time-tested faces, Lin Guanglai was surprised to notice a group of unfamiliar faces gathered on the other side of the field, some of them shyly looking over at him.

"I guess these people must be the newcomers this year—I wonder how well Sasaki and Mr. Izumi have been doing their jobs this year..."

Thinking this in his mind, Lin Guanglai scrutinized the newcomers from afar; and only then, a curious sensation gradually emerged in his heart, causing him to remember something:

"Oh, turns out I'm a senior now, haha..."

Born on February 14, 1995, Lin Guanglai started school relatively early, so since he entered Waseda, he was the youngest among his peers—even among those who showed enthusiasm for new members joining the team, he was undoubtedly the most passionate.

After all, being the junior for so long, occasionally he wanted to experience what it felt like to be respected as a senior.

Soon, when everyone had gathered, Lin Guanglai, as the captain, took on Suzuki Kensuke's responsibilities from last year. Under his arrangement, the new and old members formed two groups and stood ready, awaiting Mr. Izumi's speech.

One had to admit, Mr. Izumi's prowess in building team spirit was indeed exceptional. His passionate and youthful speech made even Lin Guanglai, who had heard it last year, feel somewhat fired up.

After Mr. Izumi finished speaking, it was the turn for the introduction session between new and old members, starting with the old ones.

As Lin Guanglai stepped first to the front of the lineup to introduce himself to the juniors in front of him, he could clearly sense the excitement coming from the group of newcomers—in the eyes of these baseball-loving new members, Lin Guanglai had undoubtedly become a star since his dazzling emergence last summer, culminating in the coronation of the Senbatsu.

For these newcomers who usually only saw him on TV to witness such a person standing right in front of them was truly overwhelming.

Once the older members finished their introductions, it was the turn for the newcomers—Lin Guanglai took a rough look around and noticed that influenced by the spring tournament victory, the number of new members this year had markedly increased, and among them, many seemed to be promising baseball talents.

The first to step forward had a rather delicate face.

This player looked awkwardly towards the spot where Lin Guanglai stood, then slowly began to speak:

"Hello, seniors, my name is Tanaka Justice, from Yokohama City Moji Middle School, right-handed pitcher and hitter, and my defensive position is pitcher."

"Actually, I initially planned to attend Soka High School, but because of Mr. Izumi's visit and my admiration for Elder Lin, I ultimately decided to come to Waseda."

"In the upcoming years, I hope to fight alongside seniors, striving towards advancing to Koshien together."

"My goal is to become a pitcher who, once standing on the mound, can reassure teammates and instill fear in opponents like Elder Lin!"

"Please take care of me!!!"

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Kanagawa, Kawasaki City, Tokogakuen Academy High School, baseball training field.

On the field, Tokogakuen Academy baseball team's annual red-white game was underway.

"Strikeout!" "Strikeout!" "Strikeout!"

On the field, Matsui Yuuki on the pitcher's mound began his frenzy of striking out, leaving the senior team frustrated.

Even though Tokogakuen Academy's senior members knew through these days of training that their first-year left-handed pitcher was extraordinarily talented at strikeouts, they were surprised to find out just how it felt to face him as an opponent in a match.

After consecutively striking out three seniors, Matsui Yuuki walked off the mound, receiving compliments from his first-year teammates as they welcomed him back, with a slight shy smile emerging on his youthful round face.

In the second and third-year players' area nearby, Tokogakuen Academy's main shortstop, Shinazaki Goro, nudged his teammate, the team's current starting pitcher, Kashiwahara Shiyu, while jokingly teasing:

"Shiyu, seeing the strength Matsui has displayed, do you, as a third-year senior, feel like sweating bullets? Haha."

Being the good-natured person known in the team, Kashiwahara Shiyu wasn't offended, merely nodding with resignation: "Yes, nowadays the newcomers just keep getting better; it seems like we might have a first-year ace pitcher here too."

"But this is also good news, after all. With such players joining, our chances of defeating schools like Yokohama, Tokai University, Tongying should increase this year..."

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Osaka Prefecture, Daito City, Osaka Tsubaki High School training field, where members of the Osaka Tsubaki High School baseball team are training.

As an elite, semi-military team, Osaka Tsubaki each year doesn't recruit many freshmen, but they are the cream of the crop nationwide.

On the field, an internal practice match was underway—unlike typical red-white games, it was a full-fledged match. To balance the strength between two sides, Nishikawa Koji, the team's supervisor, divided all members into two teams.

Fujinami Jintaro and Mori Yuuya whom was paired up—they were the starting battery for this team.

Finally finished this half-inning, Fujinami Jintaro walked down from the mound—just halfway through, he felt somewhat exhausted.

Looking at the junior standing not far ahead, Fujinami Jintaro felt a bit of a headache; especially considering, he was recruited by Nishikawa as catcher, they would be paired together for the next two years.

Fujinami Jintaro found this junior named Mori Yuuya a bit peculiar.

Not to mention, in daily interactions, Mori Yuuya never addressed the second and third-year members as seniors nor used formal language—a rare sight in a baseball team where hierarchical relationships between juniors and seniors are strict;

Moreover, as a catcher, Mori Yuuya's catching and pitch-calling skills weren't great, with frequent wild pitch occurrences, and sometimes his pitch calls were odd—making Fujinami, whose control skills were already mediocre, feel even more uncomfortable.

It was as if sensing Fujinami's gaze, Mori Yuuya, who was walking ahead, suddenly stopped and turned around, which made their eyes meet in that instant.

Mori Yuuya certainly knew what was likely on this pitcher's mind —just complaints about his catching, something he had seen plenty of times.

Not bothering to argue, Mori Yuuya returned to the bench, quickly put on his protective gear, then picked up his bat and headed towards the batter's box—he was the team's leadoff hitter.

"Thunk—!!!"

A few moments later, watching the ball fly high and far beyond the training field, Fujinami Jintaro suddenly felt he understood something.