This wasn't the first time Kanemaru had helped deliver love letters.
Sawamura slumped over his desk, feeling disheartened. He had once envied Miyuki and Furuya for receiving such attention from girls and getting love letters.
But now that it was his turn, Sawamura realized that the experience was less pleasant than he'd imagined.
As a guy, it was impossible to resist curiosity when receiving a love letter from a girl. Even if he didn't intend to respond, Sawamura couldn't help but open them.
Despite his belief in his own self-control, Sawamura had rarely received love letters during his school days. He was somewhat slow in this regard.
After joining the Major Leagues and gaining fame, Sawamura fan letters from around the world. They weren't the romantic type (some of them were) and the whole thing was on a large scale, so his manager handled most of these things.
But experiencing all of these things in High School was a new thing for him.
Therefore, the whole thing gave him a mix of shyness, curiosity, and helplessness.
'I think this is the charm of youth.'
Sawamura was still a bit naïve in that regard. As he was devoting his youth to baseball, he didn't experience this side of high school life.
Previously, the fan letters he received came from various locations. People only needed his name and public address to send them. With the advent of email and his public homepage, anyone could freely express their fondness.
Moreover, most of the things they sent were tame and nice in nature. While some of them were weird, he had no idea who they were.
There were genuine letters, and there were prank ones. They all revealed the vast and diverse world out there.
But what all those letters had in common was that Sawamura didn't know any of the senders personally.
When he received letters from unknown senders, Sawamura could read them freely as long as he didn't reply.
But letters from classmates were different!
Knowing that a classmate had a crush on him created an awkward situation, especially when he had no desire to pursue anything further.
Sawamura had already received love letters from 70% of the girls in his class. Therefore, the level of embarrassment was off the charts.
***
After Seidou High School secured national dominance, every member of the baseball team felt the impact in one way or another.
The coaching staff was initially worried that the victory might negatively affect the players. After all, they were young and full of energy. A little praise might make them complacent. Would it be worth the risk?
President Ota even suggested bringing in a Psychiatrist for the team to provide mental coaching.
Coach Ochiai also agreed, stressing the importance of psychological support.
After winning the championship, it wasn't uncommon for teams to experience a decline in performance in the fall or the following years. The graduation of the senior players was one reason, but maintaining the right mindset was crucial.
Getting used to the fame and applause could make it hard to adapt to the routine of harsh training.
Coach Kataoka, however, remained calm and wasn't overly concerned. He had great confidence in his players.
In fact, it was all right.
Sawamura was experienced and had weathered many challenges, so there was no issue with his mindset.
Miyuki and Shiratsu were not the type to become complacent.
As for Kuramochi, his self-confidence was unmatched. He never felt satisfied with just the spotlight.
The main players were solid, but many others had never played at Koshien. They were the ones who might become complacent.
Only those who had fought on the Koshien stage had a reason to become complacent.
The only player with a slightly unstable mindset was Furuya Satoru. His performance at Koshien had made him famous, and the praise he received created some mental pressure.
But with Sawamura leading the team, even if Furuya was a bit off, it wouldn't impact the overall situation.
Training continued as usual.
Coach Ochiai had never seen a team maintain such a stable and focused mindset after winning a national championship.
"If such a team can't win the championship, what can?" he often remarked.
The team's mindset remained steady, and daily training continued without major changes. Despite the big win affecting everyone's lives, it wasn't a significant issue.
Thus, Seidou High School successfully started transitioning from the old to the new.
However, the great challenges remained. Although Seidou had quickly assembled a functioning team, this team hadn't been tested in actual games.
Seidou High School was highly popular, with numerous teams eager for practice games.
But the timing wasn't right.
In September, Seidou High School had plenty of free time. As the reigning Koshien champion, they didn't need to participate in the Tokyo Autumn Competition preliminaries.
Other teams, however, were busy with their qualifiers and had no time to play practice games with Seidou.
Ochiai even encouraged Kataoka to invite Yakushi for a practice game.
Coach Kataoka, seeing such a situation, agreed without thinking much.
But Yakushi politely declined the invitation!
Yakushi also had to participate in the round-robin matches, and their group was tough, including a formidable team like Kurashiki High School.
Sawamura thought Yakushi would easily defeat a no-name team like Kurashiki, but Todoroki Raizou was cautious, stating that Kurashiki was very strong. Yakushi needed to give their all to compete against them.
"That doesn't sound like something Raizou-ojisan would say," Sawamura guessed that the message was from their principal, not Todoroki Raizou.
And he was right. Todoroki Raizou's actual words were, "Am I out of my mind? Before playing Seidou, I specifically asked them to assess our strength."
The main reason for practice games with Inashiro was to boost the players' confidence. Yakushi's style needed them to build confidence to compete effectively against giants like Seidou and Inashiro.
Building a strong foundation takes time.
Even with Sanada and Raichi, Yakushi would need to handle things carefully to have a chance at Koshien.
West Tokyo was a tough place, and with all of Tokyo is now in the Fall tournament, unlike the summer when Tokyo is split into East Tokyo and West Tokyo. The whole of Tokyo will turn into a big battlefield.
Moreover, the summer champion is in the same area. So there is a big chance for any of them to meet the Champion in the coming match.
Therefore, everyone is taking this seriously and wants to hide the most cards they can, as hard work doesn't always guarantee results.
Finding a suitable practice opponent had become Seidou High School's biggest problem.
Even though the third-year seniors had retired, they were still concerned about the formation of the new team. Their attachment to the team was deep, even if they were pleased with the team's progress.
Captain Yuuki overheard the coaches' troubles while considering a professional baseball draft invitation.
An idea began to form in his mind.
After persistent efforts from Coaches Kataoka and Ochiai, they finally secured a practice game in the second week of school against a strong team from Chiba Prefecture.
Chiba didn't have the round-robin preliminaries like Tokyo, so their schedule was more flexible.
The coaching staff was highly focused on this practice game. They devised and adjusted various tactics, including substitutions and pitching strategies.
Despite Sawamura playing a minor role, the team dominated their opponents with a 13-2 victory.
Sawamura didn't get a chance to play. The original plan was to let him pitch, but seeing the overwhelming score, Coach Kataoka decided against it. With the game already in the bag, there was no point in pushing further.
The new team's supposed weakness in batting was proven wrong. Seidou scored 13 runs in nine innings—an impressive offensive display.
The game ended in a huge win, but neither Coach Kataoka nor Coach Ochiai could fully enjoy it. The result wasn't due to Seidou's extraordinary strength but rather their opponent's weakness.
After Furuya's home run, the opposing pitcher was completely flustered, leading to multiple hits for Seidou.
The victory wasn't due to Seidou being exceptionally strong; it was because their opponent was too weak.
In Chiba Prefecture, teams that had been eliminated early were unlikely to be very strong.
"Finding suitable practice opponents is so difficult!" the coaching staff lamented.
…
T/N: As always, Thank you all for reading!! And I hope you all have a nice day!
You also can check my Patre0n for extra Chapters.
https://www.patre0n.com/ColdColt
There are +115 Chapters there.