Diamond Ace: Another Story of Sawamura

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“……” Rong Chun couldn’t sleep as usual and stared at the ceiling in a daze.

Seeing the seniors fighting, he was not shocked like in his previous life, but was reminded of the training period when he first entered the battlefield.

Sleepless training, getting used to eating raw food in the wild, endless wars, desperate fights, deep inner silence, facing the weight of life.

Although he still has the body of a child, compared with that intensity training, the current training is like child's play and has not reached his limit at all.

I am such a cunning adult.

Now I am just an adult in a child’s skin, using the knowledge from my previous life to deal with a group of children.

After being discharged from the hospital, he began battlefield training. No matter how well he performed, facing this group of children who worked so hard, what qualifications did he have to feel superior to them?

Five o'clock in the morning...

Eijun sat up on time. Although he knew that Kuramochi-senpai and Masuko-senpai had not slept well that night, he still got out of bed quietly to avoid disturbing them.

Regarding the incident in the bathhouse yesterday, even though Rongchun had accepted the apology from the seniors and expressed that it was okay, he still ate very quietly during dinner.

“…” Kuramochi didn’t sit up from the bed until Eijun left.

To be honest, not only him, but everyone was shocked.

He suddenly understood why Rong Chun's clothes were all dark long-sleeved shirts and long pants. He didn't wear short-sleeved shirts, shorts, or white clothes because they would show his scars.

They wanted to say it was okay, but no one could say it out loud because no one knew what he had been through, how many strange looks he had endured, and how much gossip he had endured behind his back.

Because last night in the bathhouse, Sawamura showed a look of fear for the first time. Unlike when he first came to Qingdao and made a scene, he was not at a loss, but afraid.

He carefully observed the expressions of others, dodged their gazes, hurriedly put on his clothes, and said to Chris with a very forced smile, "Well, I'll come back to wash later."

Then, he fled.

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"Morning, Chris!" As expected, he found Chris in the indoor practice field. Rong Chun rushed to Chris like he was seeing a treasure, "Lollipop!"

"..." I thought it was something else, but it turned out to be another lollipop. I guess I'm not as attractive as a lollipop! Chris took out the candy he had prepared and gave it to Rongchun.

"Eh!" Rongchun was stunned for a moment. What he put in his hand was just some gummy candies.

“Sorry…” Chris said helplessly, looking at Rongchun who looked puzzled: “We have eaten all the lollipops. We will buy new ones tomorrow, so please be patient today!”

"No...no more..." These words were like a bolt from the blue, causing Rong Chun to freeze there and instantly become depressed.

"Eijun, it's okay, there's more!"

"..." Looking at the hand that had collapsed in front of him, Rongjun looked at Xiaochun who was laughing softly, and caught the candy that was placed in his hand.

"These are the fruit candies I bought yesterday. Use these instead!"

Although he didn't know what happened, he seemed to have faded from the resentment of the gap between him and his brother. Eijun smiled and said, "Thank you, Xiaochun!"

After what happened in the bathhouse last night, many seniors still felt guilty, but seeing that Rongchun acted as if nothing had happened, others didn't know what to say.

But when facing Rongchun who was still able to laugh, they had more concerns and more heartache.

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Today, the match against Osaka Kiryu was held in the afternoon, so there was not much training in the morning. I just did basic training as usual to prepare for the afternoon match.

But when he thought about not having any candy in the afternoon and evening, Rongchun felt his mouth even more lonely.

At this time, the teams from Seidou High School and Osaka Kiryu High School on the baseball field had already arrived at the rest area, waiting for the practice game to begin.

Coach Kataoka and Osaka Kiryu met on the sidelines and exchanged their starting lineups. "Thank you for coming all the way here today... Summer is almost here, let's play some good football together!"

"Haha... play a good game?" Coach Matsumoto looked at the starting lineup of Qingdao and couldn't help laughing: "You want to play a good game but send a freshman to start?"

"Although I understand that the team will make some adjustments before the summer, I didn't expect that they would send freshmen to compete with our Kiryu High School..."

"I guess your first years are all players with great potential? Or are they secret weapons that you don't want the high schools in the same battle zone to know about?"

"..." I can only say that what he said was completely right, and there was still no trace on the surface of Katagang.

"Hehe... no matter what..." As the national quasi-champion team, Matsumoto is a seasoned veteran on the field, so he naturally guessed what Kataoka meant, "We will all enjoy the game!"

"Please advise!"

Following the salute, the practice match between the two sides was officially announced to begin.

Seidou's starting players are still those unshakable sophomores and juniors, but there are adjustments in pitching and catcher, with No. 9 pitcher Furutani and No. 6 catcher Miyuki.

"..." And number eight Sawamura, who squeezed out Sakai senior and stood in the left outfield, looked at Chris in the dugout and felt good. This meant that when it was his turn to play, his partner would be Chris senior!

At this time, on the pitcher's mound, Fūya blew off the rosin powder on his hands, and remembered what the coach said before the game, that he should pitch and let the opponent hit. 'I haven't stood on the pitcher's mound to pitch for two weeks. I won't let anyone hit my ball! '

"kick off!"

Following the referee's order to start the game, Miyuki adjusted his gloves and asked Furuya for the ball.

The semi-final winner of last year's Koshien Summer League - Osaka Kiryu High School.

The average push-up force of the team members exceeds 180 kilograms, which is the best in the country in terms of swinging power.

The fatigue from the training camp and the only pitch path he could use was straight balls. For Fūtani, this would be his first time to experience the rigors of high school baseball.

Kiryu's first batter looked at the pitcher on the mound, got into position, threw the ball with all his strength, and swung the bat with great force.

The ball then brushed past Hakushu's glove and hit the ground with unstoppable momentum, resulting in a long hit to right outfield. By the time Isashiki recovered the ball and threw it back, the batter had already taken the opportunity to reach second base.

"Oh!"

There was another crisp hit, and the ball was swept to the left outfield. As the batter confidently ran to the base, a figure suddenly jumped out and pounced on the ball that was about to fall to the ground.

The ball was accurately put into the glove, and Eijun quickly stood up and passed the ball to Ryosuke-senpai at second base.

Kiryu's runner still managed to get back to the bases. Looking at Eijun in left field, I thought the first-year player would be the one to catch the ball. "What an unlovable first-year player. It would have been better if he had just missed the ball."

“That was a close call…” Eijun lifted his mask, raised his hat slightly, and raised his hand to shout to Furuya on the pitcher’s mound, “Furuya, once you’re out, pitch with your usual vigor!”

However, the more anxious he was, the harder he pushed. He had no control over the ball to begin with, and now he didn't even have any speed. 'Damn it, I can't throw the ball fast at all.'

"Bad ball!"

"Wow...the batter got walked! That pitcher is in terrible shape!"

"The second run... No batter hit the ball high enough to hit it!"

"Very good!" Coach Matsumoto encouraged the players with a smile.

"Yes... Although the ball is fast, it can be hit, and his good and bad balls are very obvious, so it is easy to judge..."

"So their training camp has just ended..." Director Matsumoto thought that he would not show any mercy, "Although the opponent is not in good condition, don't be polite! Let's blast them into a daze!"

"Yes!"

At the same time, Minister Ota was very anxious, worried that this game would have an adverse impact on Furutani, but Kataoka insisted on letting Furutani pitch the entire five innings.

“…”Chris had no objection to the supervision’s insistence.

As Miyuki said, Fūtani doesn't have any ball path in his mind right now. This is the time when he has no ball speed to let him experience the importance of ball control firsthand.

At this time, Kotani had not yet realized the significance of this game to him. However, as he failed to make the strike zone and was hit out, his eyes became more and more fierce.

He was hit by the ball again, and facing the pitcher's forward-falling ground, Furutani missed the catch.

"Ah...the ball is gone! What is that pitcher doing!"

The spectators outside the stadium were extremely nervous about this. They came here specifically to support Qingdao but saw such an embarrassing game.

At this moment, a glove flashed out and caught the flying ball, and before he fully stood up, he passed the ball to Kuramochi who came forward to support.

After catching the ball, Kuramochi quickly jumped up to avoid the person sliding on the base, and passed the ball to Yuki at first base, ending this round of defense with a perfect double play to the middle.

"Ugh...it hurts!" On the way back to the rest area, Kuramochi couldn't help but cry out in pain.

"Everyone is the same." Ryosuke replied with a smile and patted Kuramochi's stomach encouragingly.

"Hahaha... I was saved by the defense behind you, but considering your condition today, it'd be good if you can lose less than ten points!" Miyuki did not forget to tease Shigekatsu when he came off the court, and his smile looked like he deserved a beating.

"I won't lose any more points..."

"……"Looking at Fūtani who was easily provoked, Eijun rolled his eyes at Miyuki who was about to come over to provoke him, ignored his existence and ran to Chris.

The defense was changed, and the one who walked onto the mound was Kiryu's ace, Kiri Hiromi.

Facing his first hit, Kuramochi swung the bat readily, but was weighed down by the heavy ball. Although his footwork stunned his opponent, he was unable to reach base.

The second batter, Ryosuke, fought for more than a dozen pitches and caught four balls, and was walked. He successfully reached second base due to the random hit of the third batter, Isashiki.

With two outs and a runner on first base, fourth batter Yuki hit a timely hit straight to the left fence, sending Ryosuke back to home plate.

Unfortunately, the fifth batter Zengzi was struck out by a fly ball.

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