Chapter 9: Chapter 09 : After the Game
A few days after the game, Hiroto's daily routine is back as he returns to the first team. The intensity of his training is also getting heavier as the Kantou tournament will begin soon. Even if they are strong on the paper, they are still a new team compared to the other powerhouse schools. The new players need to adapt to the pace of high school baseball as soon as possible to help the team go further in the next tournament.
Hiroto shook his head, trying to clear his mind from wandering around. He stretched out his body as he yawned big, trying to throw away the sleepiness in the morning. It was still pretty dark outside, so he decided to do all his homework first before he went out for his morning run.
Half an hour later, the alarm clock rang loudly, and when he turned around, he could see Miyauchi blinking his eyes rapidly, still in the state between awake and asleep.
"Good morning, Senpai."
"Morning, Hiroto." Miyauchi greeted back with a hoarse voice. Hiroto offered a glass of water which his senpai took quickly. "Thanks."
"It's okay."
After getting up and washing his face, Miyauchi came back with fresh energy, stretching out his body to get ready for his morning run too.
"Hiroto-kun, do you want to join?"
"Wait a sec, Senpai." Hiroto replied, still with his eyes on the table "I am almost done with my work here."
"What are you doing, by the way?" Miyauchi took a peek curiously. His mouth twitched when he saw Hiroto's book full of algebra equations. "How long have you been studying for? Since you woke up? Man, you work even harder than us third year who will have the university entrance exam next year."
"What can I do?" Hiroto shrugged helplessly. "Unlike you, Senpai, I have to maintain my score, or I will lose my scholarship. If only I could have the same scholarship as the other, I wouldn't study this hard."
Miyauchi nodded in understanding after hearing Hiroto's explanation. Basically, there are two types of scholarships that Seido offers to its students. One is the non-academic which almost all the baseball members had, and the other is the academic one which required the student to be in the top 5% in terms of the final score.
The non-academic one is the scholarship that all the students probably wanted. Not only Seido would provide them with the best environment to help them develop their talent, but they also didn't have to work hard in their study. As long as they are above the minimum requirement, that is enough for them.
Unfortunately, no one knows what is the standard to get this kind of scholarship. No matter how much they wanted to get the scholarship, they couldn't apply for it. Instead, it had to be offered by Seido's people. Like Rei-san who was responsible for recruiting baseball players, Seido had a lot of scouts who observed the talent from all over Japan.
For the baseball team, the students who received this scholarship could be counted with his fingers. Chris and Tanba from the third year and Miyuki and Kuramochi from the second year were probably the only players Hiroto knows who received this privilege. As for the other scholarship, besides him, Hiroto believes Ryousuke also received one too.
Ten minutes later, Hiroto finished all of his work, closed the book in front of him, and stood up from his chair. Miyauchi who was playing with his phone raised his head slightly, asking silently if he was done with his work or not.
"Let's go, Senpai."
Miyauchi nodded silently, taking his sneakers and getting ready to run.
The sun just started to peek from the east, and its rays had started to eliminate the darkness from the night. It was spring this time, and the weather was pretty warm. When they went outside, they could see two people had already sweated from their morning run. It was Ishashiki and Tetsu, the
"Jun! Tetsu!" Miyauchi greeted the two training madmen. "How long have you been here?"
"It's just ten minutes," Tetsu replied calmly before turning his head toward his kouhai. "Hiroto-kun."
"Senpai." Hiroto nodded back.
"Enough of the pleasantry!" Ishashiki clicked his tongue in annoyance. "Let's start running!"
Those four ran silently in the morning, only accompanied by the chirping birds from afar. To be honest, this kind of morning run is not something that would improve their physicality at all. They wouldn't be faster or have more stamina just from the morning run. However, it was still done by a lot of players to maintain their body's fitness and discipline. Once they missed the morning run, they would feel something weird and started to become anxious before they finished their run.
After half an hour of running, Ishashiki and Tetsu took a step aside, ready to go back.
"This fast?" Miyauchi raised his eyebrows slightly. "It has only been 45 minutes, right?"
Hiroto also looked at his senpai curiously. Those three, especially Ishishaki and Tetsu are the training monsters on the team. Usually, they would be the last ones standing on the field. It was unusual for them to voluntarily give up their training routine like this.
"Tch. I also wanted to continue. But I have to think about the other schedule." Ishishaki clicked his tongue in annoyance. "Today is the first day of the additional class for whoever wants to prepare early for the university entrance test. Miyauchi, you registered for this class along with us. Don't tell me you forgot about this."
"Eh?! It is today?!" Miyauchi widened his eyes in surprise. "I forgot about it!"
Just like any good high school in Japan, Seido provided additional classes since the start of the term to help the students prepare for the university entrance test next year. Even though it wasn't mandatory, considering the class itself is free, it was pretty popular among the final-year students, including the baseball club's members.
Even though they all wanted to be scouted and drafted into NPB teams, they all knew the possibility was slim. They need alternative options for if their performance wasn't enough to attract the scout's attention, and the safest option is the most ordinary option possible, go to the university and try to find a stable job for living.
"Well, we will go back first," Tetsu spoke. "Keisuke, you better prepare well, or Sensei will scold you again."
"Yeah." Miyauchi nodded seriously. "I will go back first. Sorry, Hiroto. I will accompany your run another day."
"It's alright, Senpai."
"Well, see you after school, Hiroto!"
After his three senpai left, Hiroto continued his run for another 10 minutes. When he was about to finish it, an energetic voice suddenly greeted him from behind.
"Hiroto-senpai! Good morning!"
Hiroto turned around, just to see Sawamura warming up with a tire tied to his body.
"Morning, Sawamura-kun." Hiroto greeted back. "I haven't seen you doing the morning run since the intra-game. Is there anything wrong?"
"Aaah…" Sawamura rubbed the back of his head sheepishly, having a guilty expression. "Kuramochi-senpai forced me to play games with him all night long and I couldn't say no to him. I had a hard time waking up early."
Hiroto furrowed his brows at Sawamura's explanation. "Should I talk to him?"
"No, no, no! No need to do that, Senpai!" Sawamura denied his offer pretty quickly. "Don't worry. After a while, I will get used to it and I will be able to wake up and train early again!"
Hiroto stared at Sawamura's eyes, trying to see if his kouhai was telling the truth or not. He knows pretty well how much Kuramochi is addicted to his game. And even though he just got to know Sawamura in the last several weeks, he knows the pitcher had a hard time saying no to the other. Sawamura would always want to maintain the relationship between him and the other and didn't want to offend anyone. Hiroto was worried if it lasted long enough, Sawamura's performance started to decline.
Unlike Kuramochi who had a stable position in the first team, Sawamura just had a chance to perform in the last game. If he couldn't maintain it during the training, he would be abandoned once again by the coach.
However, seeing the firm determination in Sawamura's eyes, Hiroto sighed and gave up his idea to convince Sawamura to accept his help.
"Well, if you say so." Hiroto finally spoke. "But don't let this affect your performance, though. You were just promoted to the second team. If you cannot maintain your best performance, Kataoka-sensei wouldn't hesitate to drop you again."
"Yes, Senpai!"
Yeah, after the intra-game a few days ago, three players from the newcomers were promoted to the first team. Those three were Sawamura, Haruichi, and Kanemaru. The first two were because their performance was the key that changed the game after they were subbed in, and the last one was because his performance was the most stable in the defensive end. All the second-team players know that too, and no one makes a fuss about it.
"So, how is the second team treating you?" Hiroto asked casually. However, he didn't expect Sawamura's face to turn into an unhappy one. "Is there anything wrong?" He asked carefully.
"Ah, not really." Sawamura shook his head quickly. However, his unhappy expression is still there. "It's just frustrating.. That bastard got the chance to form a battery with Miyuki-senpai, and I am stuck with a grumpy senpai! It is so unfair!"
Hiroto's sweat dropped at Sawamura's rant. He knows pretty well the bastard that Sawamura mentioned should be Furuya on the first team, and the grumpy senpai is probably Chris on the second team.
"Well, what's wrong with Chris-senpai? He is pretty knowledgeable about baseball, and I dare to say he was far better than Miyuki in that regard. He could guide you to be a better pitcher, you know?"
"Really?" Sawamura looked sceptical. "All he had done was just give me the training menu and didn't say anything at all. If not for Boss's order, I wouldn't even want to stay in a room with him!"
Well, Hiroto could see the personality clash here. Sawamura is an extrovert loudmouth brat, and Chris after he got his injury was just like what Sawamura said, a gloomy grumpy senpai. However, he knows everyone is still optimistic about Chris, and by pairing him with Sawamura, it would pave the way for Chris to get back into the first team. There is no way Chris would mess up this chance.
"Can you tell me what is your training menu?"
"Hmm.. Let me think about it." Sawamura pondered for a second. "Well, I couldn't remember it all pretty clearly. But there are a lot of basic exercises there. I think there are a lot of plank variations and a lot of leg exercises. He also gave me a set of weird and difficult stretching exercises to be completed after that. It was rough."
Hearing that explanation, Hiroto could understand why Chris designed that training menu for Sawamura.
"A lot of plank variations is to strengthen your core, and the leg exercise is also necessary for a pitcher too. As for that weird set of stretching exercises, it was also important to improve your flexibility and reduce the injury risk. All in all, it was a pretty good training plan, I guess."
"Well, if you say so.." Sawamura still looked unconvinced. "Ah! I remember! He mocked me too! He said I couldn't throw straight into his mitt! What does he mean by that?! Didn't he watch the intra-game? Uuuurgh! He is so irritating!"
Hiroto chuckled wryly at Sawamura's rant. He couldn't blame him, though. For everyone who just got to know Chris after his injury, the catcher is indeed just like Sawamura said, grumpy and irritating. He could see a lot of people misunderstood Chris here. However, Hiroto knows Chris meant well, and he could guess what the catcher meant by Sawamura couldn't throw straight into his mitt.
However, he decided not to tell Sawamura about that. Hiroto didn't want to overstep Chris's authority as he didn't know if his senpai had already had a plan for Sawamura or not. For now, he just kept silent, listening to Sawamura's never-ending talk while continued his morning run.
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15 minutes later, Hiroto went back to his room while wiping all the sweat on his face with a small towel. Right after he entered the room, he could see Miyauchi's bed had already made up neatly. However, when he saw the other side of the room, he couldn't help but feel disappointed in Tojo who was still asleep.
After his disastrous performance in the intra-game, Tojo seemed to lose all of his spirit to play baseball. He would still go for training, yes. However, it was like he was a robot controlled by someone else. He lacked focus on his training and kept making mistakes after mistakes that led to dissatisfaction from his teammates.
'Well, should I ask Sawamura? Maybe, after seeing him, it would ignite Tojo's fighting spirit again.'
Hiroto shook his head, trying to clear his mind. A moment later, his attention was distracted by the sound of his phone ringing loudly on his bed. When he saw who was the one who called, a small smile curled in his mouth.
"Hello, Hiroto here.."
"Hiro-nii! Long time no see! How are you?!"
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Author note :
Hey! I have written a few next chapters of this new story and posted it already on my patreon account. If you want to read it in advance, you can visit patreon(.)com/ZetaFaes .
You can read this story up to chapter 17, and I will try to update it faster.
You can also read my other fanfiction, Kuroko no Basket: The Sixth man of Seirin Basketball Team up to chapter 155 on that page.
Thank you for your support! I appreciate it! :)
-Zeta Faes-
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