a lot of time had passed and the time of summer tournament came .the summer tournament started every year in Japan one month before summer vacation of us high schoolers . in this world summer vacation was one month long and koshien or national baseball tournament was held during it .
in Tokyo tournament ( regional tournament) to qualify for national tournament one team had to win the tournament from 200 or so high school teams of Tokyo. the tournament followed elimination style so if one team lost once their summer was over there .
there were 7 rounds before the winner team was determined who gained the qualification to represent Tokyo in the national tournaments .
our coachs policy was to not have any practice matches with other school teams before summer tournament. in this period, there was one practice match every week within all our 35 club players .. the teams were always decided by coach on the same day of match . I had fun playing with different team members all the time . every player was given a chance to play by coach in every match . the bench members for summer tournament were decided by coach after reviewing the results of practice matches . I liked this method very much as only the strongest could be the bench members .
today we were standing in a line on the ground and waiting for the coach to announce the bench members.. I could hear the discussions of players but decided to ignore them as I was not nervous like them . I could see that my 2 best friends mori and Sato were confident so I was relieved. in this time period , the best thing that happened was that I became best friends with mori and Sato.
even though they were supposed to be my senpai but I couldn't see them as senpai . it was because I was a 3rd year in my previous world myself so it was awkward. I never called them my senpai and they didn't mind it . at first I had only respect for them but eventually we became friends . we 3 were the types that didnt mind what others thought of us so we got along really well . after practice, I took the two out secretly and we visited many places together . both of them were dorm students so they were not allowed to go out at night without permission so I could tell that they were having fun .
I also helped them with their studies because it was easy for me but those two always forgot to study properly.. both of them were intelligent so they quickly memorized the entire year worth syllabus in just a few nights.. welll I was a good teacher so it played a big part too .
while I was busy reminiscing, the coach arrived.
coach - yosh .. I'm going to announce the bench members now.. like I say everytime, those who aren't selected should not feel inferior because you guys also trained with them the whole time ..
cough .. so those who are called come forward and take your uniforms..
number 1 mori hiroyuki pitcher
number 2 Sato kazuya catcher
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number 11 Ken pitcher
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number 20 ....
I was so happy that tears were flowing from my eyes . it was expected because I longed for this chance for 3 whole years in my previous world but couldn't get it . now I had complex feelings inside as I held my grey uniform with number 11 on it .
after the meeting was over , the members who were not selected were crying with frustration. after 8 PM I came back using the secret passage and took Sato and mori away . we ate burgers but for some reason Sato was not happy ..
Ken - what's the matter Sato... ? it's not like you ... so dark ..
mori - that's right bakayaro... we got selected so we should be happy ...for all those who weren't selected ..
Sato - I'm happy .. really happy but you see I may have to quit school now .
mori - what ? ....
Ken- ma.. continue.
Sato- you know that my family operated a bento shop right.. well the truth is we have to close the shop because my dad can't pay back the debt now .. we have to sell the shop so I can't pay the school fees .. sorry you two ..
mori - how much debt is there..
Sato- 7 million yen .. I will have to work now to pay it back as soon as possible .. ( tears ) sorry guys I won't be able to play with you. I thought that maybe we can wait till I sign contract with a pro team but sob ...
mori - ( tears ) 7 million... . I only have 12, 000 with me ...
Ken- hey Sato tell me your bank account number ..
Sato- why ? forget it .... its xxxxxx ..
after that I took out my smartphone and transferred 10 million yen to his account ..
Ken- check your account balance . I just transferred some money there ... bakayaro... tell me these kind of things quickly..
Sato- ( after checking balance ) you ... ken . are you alright ...
Ken- ( after showing him my account balance ) bakayaro .. of course I'm alright with it ... who do you think I am .. hahahaha..
sato - you are really great Ken.. .
after that I stood up and left the shop alone . I left because I remembered my dad who died when I was 16 in my previous world . . mom died with him in a car accident.. I was devastated after they were gone for a long time but baseball helped me ease some pain ..
the bank account I showed Sato only had 36 million yen . it was just an account I made on a whim . my real bank balance was in billions . I knew that money was just tool of convenience for me but the conversation with Sato reminded me its importance once again.
I went home after a while to clear my mind because the tournament started the day after tomorrow and I wanted to enjoy the game with all my might ..