Chapter 4: First-Year Students!

"Did you hear? The guys from the baseball club are going to The United States tomorrow for a training camp!"

Early in the morning, gossip spread in the first-year classrooms of Seidou High School.

To be able to attend this prestigious private school, students' families must have some level of capability and wealth.

It's not just about being academically good.

The high tuition fees deterred many ordinary families from even considering it.

Usually, the students organize trips together. Many of them have even been to The United States before.

Under normal circumstances, the Seidou High School baseball team's training camp in The United States wouldn't cause much of a stir at the school.

But this time, the situation is completely different.

The news has created a huge sensation in the school, especially in the first-year class.

Students were whispering and discussing endlessly.

The main reason for the buzz is that this time, the trip to The United States for the training camp isn't funded by the students themselves—it's sponsored.

It's truly unfair.

Compared to the Seidou High School baseball team players, their previous trips weren't even in the same league.

To put it simply, imagine you pay tens of thousands of yen out of your own pocket to travel around the country, versus a friend sponsoring you tens of thousands of yen to go on the same trip. Would the feeling be the same?

Of course, it wouldn't be!

At least, that's how the first-year students see it.

Looking at the baseball players, they couldn't help but feel envious.

"Even if we're going, it's those third-year seniors, especially people like Sawamura-senpai who have already made a name for themselves in the first team. There's no way everyone's going, right?"

One student, dressed in a shirt and tie, hands in his pockets, leaning against the back of his chair, muttered discontentedly.

In the classroom, many girls had gathered around a certain handsome 'Wolf Boy', chatting excitedly.

The student himself was clearly upset.

Or, perhaps more accurately, jealous.

Even though he was only a first-year, his athletic talent was outstanding, and he was already a key member of the school's track and field team.

However, in Seidou High School, no club is more eye-catching than the baseball team.

When it comes to status within their respective teams, he didn't think he was any worse than Okumura.

"You don't know this, do you? It's not just the third-year Senpai. We actually have several first-year students going along too," Takuma said, pushing up his glasses, clearly enjoying the drama.

"Really? So, is Koushuu-kun going too?"

A beautiful girl with shoulder-length hair looked at Koushuu admiringly and asked.

She probably didn't care what Koushuu's answer would be; she just wanted to get closer to him.

Okumura Koushuu kept his face expressionless as usual, and after hearing the question, he merely nodded with a slight hesitation.

The process for the passports had already started. If it weren't for waiting for Sawamura and Miyuki, they would have been leaving today.

To be honest, arranging this trip now is a big pressure for the Seidou High School baseball team.

Even their preparations for the summer tournament have been significantly affected.

Normally, given Kataoka's strict and unyielding nature, he would never approve of something like this.

But unexpectedly, he agreed.

This situation has left the third-year players wondering.

"Although it's exciting to go to The United States for a training camp, I wonder what the Coach is thinking," said Kuramochi, moving closer to Miyuki in the third-year classroom.

"He must have his own plans," said Maezono, who came up, buzzing in his usual way.

He didn't have the kind of complicated thoughts others had. Whatever Kataoka and the coaches told him to do, he would do.

Miyuki looked thoughtfully at the baseball players in the same classroom as him.

This time, there would be a total of 30 people—players and coaches included.

Seidou High School's first-team roster would definitely be overloaded.

After returning from training, they would have to cut some of the extra players.

It didn't matter whether the ones eliminated were third-year players or first-year rookies.

Kataoka didn't want anyone to feel regretful.

On the surface, Kataoka may seem cruel and unforgiving, but in fact, he was a good person at heart.

He was a gentle soul inside.

If it had been the Coach of any other team, it would have been difficult to think about anyone other than the main players at such a crucial time.

But Kataoka was different. He never ignored the feelings of those players.

This trip to the training camp, rather than being about team unity, was more of a farewell for the players.

Kataoka really put a lot of thought into this...

Miyuki understood this, but he had no way of telling his teammates about it.

It seemed like Kataoka didn't want him to spread the word either.

The man always preferred to silently do everything behind the scenes.

Apart from Miyuki, the other person who truly understood Kataoka's good intentions in the Seidou High School baseball team was Sawamura.

It's not that Sawamura's intelligence and emotional intelligence had reached Miyuki's level.

It was just that Sawamura had spent more time with Kataoka and understood his coach's personality better.

A tough man with a tender heart.

That's probably a good description of Kataoka himself.

Like Miyuki, Sawamura thought that if this matter were to be made public, it would surely cause a bad reaction in the team.

After asking around last night, Sawamura had already learned that in the three days he and Miyuki weren't around, the new students had been performing excellently.

Several of the promoted rookies had stood out.

Hirota had one single, one home run.

Yuuki Masashi had two home runs and one single.

Both of them had a batting average of over 40%.

Not to mention comparing them to their first-year classmates, even older students would have to acknowledge that they were among the best.

Yui Kaoru had also performed well overall. Although not as dazzling as the other two, he showed strength beyond his age in every position.

He was an essential player for the team to focus on developing.

Matsumoto, Takatsu, Lee-Hyun, Nishiyama...

Every one of these first-year students had shown undeniable strength and potential.

It might be because of playing time, their overall results weren't as eye-catching as the others, but at their respective positions, they all displayed extraordinary abilities.

This was something no one could ignore.

But this wasn't the most shocking part.

The most impressive performance came from the 'Wolf Boy'—he really made an incredible impression among the new recruits.

When the new students first joined the Seidou High School baseball team, the presence of the rookie wolf, Okumura Koushuu, wasn't as strong as everyone imagined.

It's not that he wasn't excellent.

Whether it was his middle school achievements or his performance after joining the team, Okumura had a lot to be praised for.

The reason he wasn't very noticeable among the freshmen was that there were many players in his class who were more famous and performed even better than he did.

However, that changed lately.

In the past two days, Okumura participated in two practice games.

He stepped up to the Batter's Box five times, recording four hits and a total of five RBIs.

After Sawamura Eijun and Miyuki left, Okumura Koushuu's performance was unparalleled in the entire Seidou High Baseball Team.

Not just when compared to the other freshmen, but even when compared to senior players like Kominato Haruichi and Shiratsu.

He outperformed them significantly.

During the actual game, his performance wasn't particularly flashy.

But when all the games were finished, and the stats were counted, everyone was shocked.

They didn't expect that quiet guy to be so strong!

To be honest, no one on Seidou High's baseball team had anticipated this.

…

T/N: As always, Thank you all for reading!!

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