Chapter 107: Exams for Students

Someone was seen abandoning the book in their hand and leaving the cafeteria.

Both Sawamura and Miyuki sighed.

Reality is often so cruel.

In the Western Tokyo regional tournament, a team is allotted only 20 roster spots.

By the time of Koshien, it becomes even harsher—each team is reduced to a mere 18 players.

For ordinary teams, this isn't much of a concern. After all, there are many baseball teams where even counting all the members and coaches, the total doesn't reach 18.

For them, such a rule is utterly meaningless.

Some teams, lacking enough players, even have to call upon members from other clubs for help.

But for a team like the Seidou High School baseball team, such a rule is unbearably cruel.

The Seidou High School baseball team alone has almost 120 official members!

So many people fighting for just 20 spots.

What a brutal competition this is!

The most daunting part is that many players' abilities are almost evenly matched.

Whichever player is chosen to advance, spells disaster for those left behind.

A prestigious program has its advantages—but it also carries its sorrows.

Fortunately, these players understood all of this from the beginning and came to Seidou of their own accord.

They wished to test their mettle and potential under the rigorous standards of a prestigious institution.

They wanted to see if they were truly qualified to take the next step!

During their three years in the Seidou High School baseball club, they would either blaze a bright trail through adversity or be ruthlessly beaten down by reality, which would show them just how naive and laughable their aspirations were.

No matter the outcome, every player will gain something from the experience, their lives will be enriched with new insights as a result.

At the very least, they will know that they tried and struggled—so that later on they won't be left with regrets.

Everyone came here out of their own will and chose to live this way.

Miyuki and Sawamura had nothing more to say on the matter.

They could only set the topic aside for now, so as not to put insult on injury of those around them.

Especially those few third-year players!

If, at this final critical juncture, Coach Kataoka eliminates them, it will mark the complete end of their high school baseball careers.

Inside Coach Kataoka's Office

The four major figures of the Seidou High School baseball club were in the process of finalizing the roster.

In Coach Ochiai's hand lay twenty or almost thirty small cards.

Each card contained detailed information about one player.

"It's time to finalize the final candidates!"

Coach Ochiai took out all the cards and spread them out.

They were going to select, from these cards, the players who needed to be eliminated.

The four of them looked at the cards in front of them, and information about each player's performance on the field was recalled in their minds.

It must be said that each of these players had his own distinct characteristics.

Eliminating any one of them would break the hearts of these four people.

After much agonizing deliberation, they ended up eliminating seven players.

Usually, Coach Kataoka would be mild and open-minded, giving as much opportunity to the players who are doing their best.

However, in moments like this, he is decisive and unilateral.

Because he knew that hesitation here was harmful to the team.

And he is a man who is ready to remove anyone even himself if they would harm the team!

~~~

The players of the Seidou High School baseball team, now in the baseball world, are like the eye of a hurricane.

Wherever they go, they attract a great deal of attention and admiration.

Even in school, their classmates look at them with admiration and deliberately try to get close.

After all, sometimes they are asked by acquaintances to get autographs from the players in their class.

As a result, even in school, the baseball team players enjoy a small celebrity status.

Especially the main players, who are even more sought after.

In Sawamura Eijun's class, every time class ends, several people always surround Sawamura and Furuya.

As for Kanemaru, although he is also a main player of the Seidou High School baseball team, his treatment is not even as good as the substitutes from other classes.

It can't be helped, who told him that he's in the same class as Sawamura and Furuya?

It's not about not recognizing value, it's just that when compared, there's no contest.

Even if Kanemaru is pretty skilled, he can't compare at all with Sawamura and Furuya.

The national top player and the national fastest pitcher!

Just listen to their nicknames; without adding "national," it would feel awesome to even say them.

Kanemaru is, of course, very indignant about this. However, when faced with these two, he doesn't have any way to fight back.

All he can do is quietly work hard behind the scenes!

When they reach their third year, they will have another chance to be reassigned to different classes.

Kanemaru has silently prayed to himself more than once, hoping that when the class reassignment happens next time, he won't be stuck with these two unlucky guys again.

As the end of the semester approaches, the final exams begin.

No matter how popular the baseball team members are now in school, and no matter how high their status, they are still students.

Even the baseball team members cannot neglect their studies.

This is a rule set by the school.

After all, not all baseball team members can make a living from baseball.

If they can't rely on baseball for their livelihood, their future still depends on their studies.

Especially for most of the players, they simply don't have the talent to make a living playing baseball.

In addition to training, they need to improve their academic performance.

When there's no way to rely on baseball for a career, they can still aim to get into a good university.

In terms of teaching quality, as a private school, Seidou High School is quite decent.

After all, just because you're on the baseball team in high school, you can't ignore everything else.

From this perspective, Seidou High School does quite well.

Even though Sawamura has the experience of being a regressor, Sawamura didn't become a top student.

It was fine when he was in Akagi because the curriculum was much simpler. With simple efforts, he was easily able to pass.

But at Seidou High School, this method clearly didn't work.

Apart from the baseball team players, the students who get into Seidou High School based on their abilities have pretty good grades.

Their foundation was already solid, the school's education quality was high, and they were willing to put effort into their studies.

Even though Sawamura has the advantage of being a regressor, it doesn't help much in this aspect.

During his light novel phase, he often read some novels about people being regressors and then retaking exams.

After being regressor, they can score even better and be number 1 in class or something.

To that, Sawamura could only sneer.

When you return to the past, even if you have your memory intact, you can't just magically improve your intelligence.

Some people are just naturally smarter than you, and they learn better than you.

Can make up for that by being regressed too?

That's ridiculous!

The most terrifying part is that even in terms of effort, you might not necessarily outdo them.

Some students preparing for exams can study until 2 or 3 in the morning.

Can you do that?

Sawamura is in the same situation. He spends most of his time playing baseball.

Even though he tries to study seriously when he can, and puts in more effort than he did before, his results still don't compare to those students who are truly excellent academically.

After two consecutive days of exams, the Seidou High School baseball team resumed their training.

At the same time, another important task arrived.

The day after the exams, the draw ceremony for the regional competition would begin.

In the spring tournament that had just ended, the Seidou High School baseball team had defeated all their opponents.

They successfully advanced to the championship of Kanto!

This meant they were the number one seeded team.

As the number one seeded team, other teams needed to win seven matches to become champions.

But the Seidou High School baseball team didn't need to do that.

They would only start playing from the third round and would only need to play five matches to win against five opponents.

This would allow them to conserve their energy and also observe their opponents in advance.

Being a seeded team is incredibly helpful.

Other seeded teams include Yakushi High School and Sankou High School.

Their situations are very similar to Seidou High School's baseball team.

They only need to win five matches to advance.

The seeded team selection is very helpful for strong teams.

That's why the spring tournament was so intense and everyone was giving their all.

Without this kind of benefit tempting them, who would be willing to sweat it out in those kinds of matches?

When it comes to the draw, being a seeded team, they shouldn't have bad luck.

In theory, it's hard to encounter strong opponents in the early stages.

But unfortunately, this year, West Tokyo was very unlucky.

There was one team that, despite having national championship potential, ended up losing in the first round.

This meant they lost their status as a seeded team.

And now, no matter which group they join, they will turn that group into a death group!

This team became the biggest wild card in this year's West Tokyo tournament.

…