Almost all the main players were in the top ten!
After the players enter Koshien, any player can become famous. Of course, the most important thing is for people to see the skills of the players. To become famous, the skills are the main premise.
Otherwise, Kusunoki's ranking would not be ranked after the tenth rank. If it is really based on appearance, he can definitely rank in the top three in the popularity list.
After the strength is proven, how much attention can be obtained will depend on the play of the team and the players themselves.
Seidou High School has been rarely interviewed by the media. Coach Ochiai has a lot of criticism for this. He thinks that Superintendent Kataoka is really not good at marketing his precious players.
Koshien is not just a place for players to realize to aim and dream of achieving in high school, it is also a place related to the future of players.
Whether from the school's point of view or from the player's own point of view, the more famous they can be and the more attention they can get at Koshien the better it is for their next step in career and life.
As long as you can become famous in the field of Koshien, whether you win the National Championship or not is not necessarily that important.
Even if the team does not win the Championship in the end, this team and this voyage cannot be regarded as a failure. Just like Sawamura before he returned to the past, although the Seidou High School did not make it to Koshien, all of that changed in the subsequent autumn Tournament.
If you win the championship in the Fall, you can participate in Koshien in the spring. In that Tournament of Koshien, after Seidou High School reached the quarterfinals, they encountered Komadai, and regretfully lost in the end.
However, after returning to West Tokyo, they were still greeted with flowers, applause, and celebration. No one could say they failed, even if they themselves think so.
Coach Kataoka has been deliberately keeping a distance from the media after the team scored in Koshien. His original intention was not to want the media to interfere with the mentality of the players so that the players could concentrate on the game.
But this has created a kind of starvation marketing effect.
It is precisely because it is difficult to interview everything about Seidou High School that the media will spare no effort to report on anything they could find about Seidou, and the audience will be even more eager to know.
Even a little bit of information that was unintentionally exposed, will be remembered by almost everyone who hears it.
The marketing effect is very good, at least compared to their opponent in the final Komadai Fujimaki, Seidou is serval miles ahead of them in popularity.
Until now, no one thought that it was Komadai, not Seidou, who would win the finals.
And regarding the popularity list, most of the players are still very satisfied. Although there is a lot of argument over the rankings of the team, they are still a little happy when they see so many people paying attention to them and seeing their efforts.
Of course, there is no lack of unsatisfied people.
Shiratsu, who has always been considered calm, felt a little sad when he saw his few searches.
It's not that he is haughty or egotistical, but in terms of strength, he doesn't think he is any worse than Kuramochi, and the number gap between the two is actually 4 times, not to mention Miyuki which is 20 times different.
It's like two workers in a factory with similar abilities. One earns a minimum salary of 1000 ¥ yen an hour, while the other receives a high salary of 20,000 ¥ yen an hour. (T/N: Sniff I feel you, I feel you, buddy! 😭)
Shiratsu also has a good temper, otherwise, he would have thrown tantrums here and now.
Everyone was talking and chatting with each other, some were talking about the list, and others were joking around, and talking about mundane things.
The atmosphere was full of merry, and quiet enjoyment until…
"It feels like a dream…"
They don't know who said it.
All the players at Seidou High School stopped talking.
Yes, it feels like a dream!
Some time ago, they were worrying about whether their team was even competent enough, so they trained harder, harder than anyone else, while setting a high goal like Koshien and dreaming of playing there every night.
And then, after all of this time, they are here, on the night before the finals of Koshien, adjusting their state to play the game that they dreamed of playing at the deepest point of their thinking.
Since they scored in Koshien, they have also been able to maintain their focus on the field. Because they usually train too much and compete as much…
Showing their full strength on the baseball field has become a habit, not a task.
Habits like these are the scariest!
Even if they knew that the place they were standing was the Koshien stadium, the players of Seidou High School could maintain their focus on the field and play their strengths calmly.
But as soon as you step off the field, that feeling changes immediately.
Everyone felt as if they were floating as if they had become the center of the whole world.
This is Koshien, a place full of magic.
"Sawamura, did you feel the same way when you just won the national championship?" Isashiki asked suddenly.
Sawamura, who was called by his name, was taken aback for a moment, and then he smiled wryly.
"It's different. Although it was also a national competition, the attention of the middle school national competition was very limited. It seems that except for a few special games, the audience rarely exceeds half of the audience here. The media's publicity and reports are not at the same level at all! Otherwise! If so, I'd already be a trademark name. And there might be more than seven million searches."
Sawamura's words were modest.
But for the surrounding Seidou High School, it is a very useful and strangely reassuring word.
Even Sawamura, like them, experienced such a thing for the first time.
"Today is the last night, and it really makes me feel a little sad," Kuramochi said.
The finals were in the morning. After the finals were over, after participating in the awards ceremony, there was no need for the players of Seidou High School to stay.
After they finished their lunch, they would take the school bus back to West Tokyo.
That's why Kuramochi said that this was their last night here.
"You can miss it, after all, we are leaving tomorrow." Miyuki laughed.
"If nothing is going on, Sawamura, go to bed early. Tomorrow's game will be hard!" Chris said.
"I see!"
After talking with everyone for a while, Sawamura got up from his chair.
When he turned to leave, the whole hall suddenly fell silent. Before, everyone giggled and chatted and said some unimportant words.
But seeing Sawamura leaving, everyone stopped talking about what they were talking about before and looked at Sawamura's back.
And Sawamura, when he was halfway to the door also stopped.
He wanted to say something. But he didn't know what he wanted to say exactly. When Sawamura stopped, he hadn't thought about it, he just felt like he wanted to say something.
He turned around and looked at the teammate in front of him.
He Sawamura pondered for a moment and then bowed deeply to the third-year Senpai.
This sudden move stunned the Senpai of Seidou High School. They really couldn't understand what Sawamura wanted to do.
"Tomorrow, if nothing else, should be our final chance to play as teammates. If we parted, I wanted to wait until the Senpai officially retired and tell everyone. But I don't want to wait for that time now, there's never been a better time than this moment."
"Thank you, Tanpa-senpai, without your help, I couldn't have survived until now in such a hot summer. Thank you for helping me until now."
"Thank you, Leader, if it wasn't for your care and guidance, I might not have adapted so quickly in Seidou High School."
"Thank you, Ryo-niisan. Although you are mean to me normally, I know that it is for my own good."
"Thank you, Masuko-senpai. Although you have been annoyed about it, I know that you take care of me very much. Even the puddings you brought in the dormitory are twice as much as usual."
"Thank you, Chris-shisho, I couldn't have grown so fast in pitching without your training."
Sawamura thanked all the third-year Senpais one by one.
Of course, this is not all his feelings in this life, it also contains his feelings for these seniors from the previous one too.
He is really glad that he can come to Seidou and become teammates with these seniors in front of him.
Whether in the past or this life~
After he finished speaking, Sawamura didn't wait anymore, turned around left, and walked towards his room.
When he got to the door and pushed the door open.
He turned his head suddenly, looked at the overwhelmed Senpais who were shocked by his sudden action, and said.
"I won't let anyone hit my pitching in tomorrow's game. I will bring the championship to everyone. This is my graduation gift to the Senpais!"
…