Diamond Ace: Another Story of Sawamura

Chapter 41 Announcement of the back number

The ball was gently thrown up, then slowly fell down after reaching the height to unload the force and was caught steadily.

There is really no easier training than this exercise which can be done while lying down. In this regard, Chris can be said to be the most professional instructor.

Chris watched the two men's pitching movements and gave them instructions, "Don't use too much force! Pay attention to the rotation of the ball."

"In the future, you should practice like this whenever you have time. Although it is monotonous, it is the best way to master the feel of your fingertips. When practicing in the room, try to throw the ball as high as possible, but the ball cannot touch the ceiling."

"Yes!" The two responded and Furuya threw the ball hard, successfully making Eijun laugh.

"..." Looking at Rongchun who was laughing and catching the ball, Chris felt helpless but still laughed along.

After that, there is a series of training including pivot foot jumps, marching rotations, tire strip pulling exercises, dumbbell exercises, card throwing exercises, and then striking defense exercises.

During this boring and monotonous training, Fūya was only thinking about actual pitching and was eager to go to the bullpen.

Rongchun, on the other hand, felt that it didn't matter whether he pitched or not. Although he felt that he shouldn't need to do these things with his own strength, it was always a good idea to do more basic training.

"..." Seeing their completely different reactions, Chris knew the general idea in his heart, "Don't be anxious. You all have shortcomings. Anxious training will not be effective."

"Well then... let's practice defense by simulating an actual battle!"

"Please give me your guidance! Senior Chris!"

"..." Chris nodded to them with satisfaction. He thought about one more thing and added, "And you have to study hard too! Because the final exam is coming soon."

"Final exam!"

"..." Looking at Fūya, whose face turned pale the moment he heard about the final exam, Eijun couldn't help but laugh, "We have to go back and study after practice!"

The next day, they did the same training. Fūya was still disappointed about not being able to pitch, while Eijun ended the day's training by sucking on a lollipop.

As they passed the indoor training ground, they were attracted by the sound of pitching inside.

"What's up? Miyuki! My bazooka pitch!"

“I couldn’t throw it into the strike zone at all.”

"what!"

"It's obvious that the ball can be thrown into the strike zone when it is passed back to home base. Change players, Xiaojun, this is how a good ball is thrown." Yuki complained silently and walked to the pitching area to demonstrate it.

"Tsk... you're still pitching like an outfielder..." Isashiki pouted and complained back. Seeing Kawakami didn't move, he said, "What's up? Kawakami, if you don't want to pitch, let me pitch instead?"

"Eh? I want to vote!"

"..." Glancing at Eijun outside the door, Isashiki thought of what others said about him not having any desire to play, and couldn't help but get angry, "Sawamura! You too! Be careful or I'll replace you."

“No…” Thinking that no one would believe such a childish provocation, Eijun said with a smile: “I think that the senior’s pitching is so bad, he probably doesn’t want to play, but is just here to stimulate our pitcher.”

"rotten!"

"..." What he said hit the mark completely. Miyuki said that it was really unfair to himself to receive such a ball.

The coach wanted to inspire them to fight, right? The two of them had a sense of responsibility, so there was no reason for them not to fight hard for the team.

On the other hand, it is indeed as Eijun said, in order to inspire the fighting spirit of the pitchers who were originally pitchers...

"..." Looking at the laughing Rongchun, Chris didn't expect that this kid could have a sharp tongue sometimes, but as long as he smiled, Chris thought it was a good thing.

Recently, so many strange things have happened to Rongchun. How much has he been through to become like this? Why can he still move forward with a smile even though he has become like this?

In addition to what has been discovered, he has many unknown secrets that are unknown to everyone. These are secrets that only he knows.

The only thing they knew was that so many things had happened to this child that they couldn't help but feel pity for him.

"Sawamura, do you know how to solve this problem?"

"Hmm... Let me see."

Although I told Chris-senpai that I don't have to worry about Eijun's studies, Chris-senpai still asked me to pay a little attention to his studies.

But the student who is now asking Sawamura questions is one of the students who has always been at the top of the class. After thinking about it, Kanamaru quietly moved over to listen.

In the other classroom next door, because of Chris's baseball lessons in the past few days, the dizzy Fūya chose to escape from reality, holding the textbook and snot bubbles...

Asked to be in charge of Fūya's studies, Koharu was standing behind Fūya at this time, and said helplessly: "You can't do this! You have to face reality!"

The summer season is approaching, the seniors are gradually getting over the Tamba incident, training is going smoothly, and everything is getting back on track.

Fūtani also got the opportunity to pitch in the bullpen as he wished. Although he still focused on his physical strength and ball control, his predecessors still focused on his defense.

During the break time that Chris-senpai had specially created for him, Rongjun would go to watch the marching band and cheerleading team practice, and sometimes even sneak in.

As time passed, they also welcomed the announcement of their final exam results.

Among them, Eijun's performance was particularly surprising to everyone. Although it seemed natural, it was also incredible.

"You guy! You basically never listen to the lectures and just read books. How do you do that?" Jin Wan was stunned when he saw the test papers which were basically all full marks except for the two points deducted for the Chinese composition.

Even the teacher couldn't find fault with the answer. How did he do it? Did he memorize all the textbooks?

"Why not just write down the answers in the book?"

"Huh!?" Simply put...

Meanwhile, in the next classroom, cramming didn't work, and Furuya was petrified when he received a failing grade.

When seeing the result, Xiaochun was silent for a moment, then consoled him: "It's okay! There will be a make-up exam before the competition."

Today is not only the time for the final exam results to be announced, but also the time for the regular and regular numbers to be announced.

"We are now distributing the numbers. Please come in the order you are called."

"First up is number one...Tamba Koichiro!"

Danbo in the team was shocked when he heard this. Why was he not within the combat capacity?

"What's wrong? Come out and get it!"

"Yes Yes..."

"Don't worry, take good care of your injuries!"

Seeing Danbo take over the number 1 representing the ace, the second and third graders all smiled knowingly, "By the way... why did you shave your head?"

"Because I didn't pitch the entire game last time..." So Danbo took this as a punishment and shaved his head.

"You take the punishment seriously!"

"Hahaha! Tamba...it suits you very well!"

The contestants in the first team couldn't help but play with his head. When they were getting more and more excited, the supervisor stopped them and continued to speak.

"Number two, Kazuya Miyuki."

"...yes."

“……” Upon hearing that the second catcher was Miyuki, Eijun frowned.

Miyuki knew that he got the number two position not because he was stronger than Chris, but perhaps it was arranged this way to protect Chris and not let him overwork.

Miyuki could understand it, but it was a pity that he still couldn't have a real competition with Senior Chris.

"Number three, Yuuki Tetsuya."

"As ordered!"

"No. 4, Kominato Ryosuke."

"Ah."

"Number five, Masuko Toru."

"Gululu~"

"Number six, Kuramochi Yoichi."

"Thank you."

"No. 7, Ichiro Sakai."

"Yes!"

"Number eight, Isajiki Jun."

“Roar!”

"No. 9, Hakushu Kenjiro."

"I'll do my best."

"No. 10, Kenshi Kawakami."

"Yes!"

"Number 11... Eijun Sawamura."

"..." Although he felt that it was not surprising to get the number given his current strength, Rongjun just took the number in silence.

"Number 12, Takigawa Chris Yuu."

"Yes."

"..." Watching Chris-senpai take over the jersey, Rongchun looked at Chris-senpai who had no reaction, and reached out to hold his hand.

"..." Chris looked at Rongchun's inquiring gaze, smiled and squeezed his hand to indicate that he was fine.

Although I am a little unwilling, being able to compete with this child and continue to fight side by side with everyone is already a very good result.

"Number 13, Masaaki Kadota."

"Yes!"

"Number 14, Kusunoki Fumiya."

"Yes."

"No. 15, Higasa Shoji."

"Yes!"

"Number 16, Tanaka Jin."

"Ah."

"Number 17, Endo Naoki."

"Yes!"

"Number 18, Akatsuki Fūdani."

"Do well in the make-up exam!"

'Make-up exam...' He was instantly hit hard. Even though he got the bad number, Fūya couldn't be happy at all. He returned to his seat in dejection.

"Number 19, Kunio Yamazaki."

"Yes."

"And finally, number 20... Haruichi Kominato."

"Yes!"

Although he was the last one, Xiaochun didn't care. It was good enough to get into the first team and get the number one. This year would be his first and last chance to join Koshien with his brother. "I must do my best!"

"I'm sure you all know that there is no turning back in high school baseball. The hard work, sweat and tears every day are all for this summer!"

"Okay! Then let's shout Qingdao's slogan!"

"Yes!"

Twenty people, forming a circle, pointing directly at their hearts, shouting out their vows and goals.

"who are we?"

"King Qingdao!"

"I sweat more than anyone else..."

"Qingdao!"

"The one who shed more tears than anyone else..."

"Qingdao!"

“The one who loves baseball more than anyone else is…”

"Qingdao!"