At about 6am the next morning, Coach Kataoka was in his office, planning the training for the day and thinking about the introductions of the new recruits that would be joining today.
The door of the office opened, and Rei walked in.
"Good morning, Coach." She said to him.
"You're here early." Coach responded.
"Mmm, I'm just excited with the new recruits starting today." She said as she went to pour herself some coffee.
The morning sun started peaking over the horizon at this moment and shed light into the room.
Coach got up from his chair and went to the window to watch it rise.
It was then that saw three figures running around the field at a decent pace.
Then one of the figures started pulling away from the other two, and then they followed close behind at the same pace.
The Coach kept looking at the running figures as they kept this cycle.
"What're you looking at?" Rei asked as she went to stand beside the Coach.
She then saw the three figures running.
'Hmmm, who's training this early?' She thought as she kept watching them.
Then she recognised the one figure breaking away from the other two.
"Sawamura?" She couldn't help but ask herself.
"Sawamura?" The Coach repeated, asking her.
"Ah! Sawamura Eijun. One of the first years, starting today." She responded.
"You remember I mentioned a pitcher I was interested in whilst scouting? That's him. He was also the pitcher that struck out Azuma during his visit here last year." She continued. "Looks like he's rooming with Kuramochi and Masuko. They must've not wanted to be showed up by a first year seeing that they joined his early morning training." She said whilst giggling, looking at the two figures following Sawamura.
"So, he's the pitcher that struck out Azuma." Coach Replied.
He then slightly smirked as he watched the three. "Interesting."
***
After finally finishing the training, all three of us were sprawled in the dirt, gasping for breath.
"You- do this- everyday?" Kuramochi asked in between breaths.
"No- I- do this- every two- days." I replied, also struggling for breath.
"That's- insane." Kuramochi responded.
We laid there for a while, until we finally recovered a little.
By the time we had recovered, we saw that the other players who entering the field.
They started splitting off into two groups, one for first years and the other was for the others.
"Okay, go join the first years. We'll see you late." Kuramochi said as he a Masuko walked to the other group.
"Okay, see you later senpais." I said whilst walking to the first-year group.
When they had broken off from me, Kuramochi spoke to Masuko.
"I don't know about you, but I'm never joining his early morning training again. That guy is a little monster."
Masuko responded by holding up a piece of paper that said 'Agreed' on it.
As I walked up to the first-year group, a lot of eyes turned to me.
I definitely looked out of place because of my attire.
I was sweating a lot and my baseball uniform had dirt marks all over.
They were also looking at me because of another reason, the build of my body.
My uniform was snug, so my built muscles were quite visible, especially after my morning training.
I looked around the first years to spot the ones I would recognise.
'Kanemaru Shinji, with Tojo Hideaki close next to him as always. Hmmm, who else ah- '
I was interrupted from my thoughts when I saw a figure I recognised, not too far from me.
Furuya Satoru, a monster pitcher and the original Sawamura's pitching rival in the manga.
His fastball was deadly, the speed close to 100mph. He also developed some breaking balls later down the line but right now he only had his fastball.
He seemed to sense someone looking at him and turned towards me.
I flashed him a big grin when our eyes met which seemed to confuse him, but I turned away after that.
'Hmmm, where is he? He should be somewhere around here.' I thought as I continued looking for a certain someone.
Then I saw him.
A small guy at 5'4, with long pink hair covering the top side of his face, including his eyes, standing to the side of the group, looking a little nervous.
'There he is. Kominato Haruichi. A prodigy batter who only uses a wooden bat. He was also Sawamura's closest friend at Seido.'
I walked over to him and stopped in front of him.
He seemed to flinch slightly when I stopped, looking at my almost 6' figure, I was slightly towering over him.
I held out my hand to him.
"Hey, I'm Sawamura. Sawamura Eijun. What's yours?" I asked after introducing myself.
He was a little taken aback from the sudden introduction, but he soon composed himself.
"I'm Kominato Haruichi. Nice to meet you Eijun-kun." He responded with a slight smile whilst taking my hand.
I beamed at him in response. "Nice to meet you too, Haruichi."
"You nervous?" I asked him.
"Yeah, a little. What about you?" He responded.
"I was last night, but now I'm just excited to get going. I also trained for a bit before this so my nerves are fine." I said to him.
"Is that why your all sweaty and dirty?" He asked with a slight smirk.
I laughed in response. "Yeah, that's right. Hopefully Coach wont mind me looking like this for the introductions."
As I said this, murmurs from the first years started increasing.
Me and Haruichi both turned the noises and saw a figure walking up to the two groups.
'There he is, the 'Boss' has arrived. He does indeed carry a heavy presence. Just what kind of leader I need to help me improve.' I thought when I saw him.
When he finally reached the group, he shouted in a deep and dominating voice.
"Alright, first years line up and get ready for introductions!"
All the first years, including me and Haruichi lined up quickly when he said this.
He then stood in front of us with his arms folded, the rest of the Seido baseball team standing behind him looking like soldiers.
"Okay." He then pointed to the first year at the start of the row. "We'll start with you and go down the line."
The introductions started but I didn't really know most of the players, there were a lot that weren't characters in the manga so I probably wouldn't see them much apart from in passing.
I kept notice when Furuya, Kanemaru and Tojo were called up though.
Then Haruichi came up.
Then it was my turn.
"Next!" Coach called out.
I stepped forward with a straight back and a calm face.
Looking straight at the Coach with a blazing fire burning in my eyes.
"Sawamura Eijun from Akagi Junior High School! My position is pitcher! I will do everything I can, on and off the field, to help Seido go to Koshien." I said in a loud voice for everyone to hear.
The silence that followed was deafening.
All eyes from the first years and to the seniors were on me.
'Most of the first years just stated their name, school and position. I must have stood out a bit when I mentioned nationals.' I thought, still looking straight at the Coach with determination.
The coach was looking right back at me throughout my speech.
He could see the blaze in my eyes.
"Why're you so dirty?" The coach suddenly asked me, looking at the state of my baseball uniform.
A couple of chuckles were heard throughout the two groups.
I wasn't embarrassed though and immediately responded.
"I was training before this Coach." I responded.
The chuckles stopped when they heard this.
'Training before this? It's just turned 7am, what time did this guy wake up?' They thought.
"Our trainings here are tough, they will push you to your limits, do you think you can keep up after training individually beforehand?" The Coach asked.
"Don't worry Coach, I know my limits. I'm still brimming with energy. I also had Kuramochi-senpai and Masuko-senpai with me to keep me in check." I said whilst glancing at my roommates.
The coach also followed my line of sight and looked at Kuramochi and Masuko who both were in the same state as me.
"Is this true, Kuramochi?" The Coach asked.
"Yaha! Coach, my cute roommate wanted to let off a little steam this morning and me and Masuko happily joined. It was nothing we couldn't handle." Kuramochi responded.
Masuko also held up a piece of paper that said, 'That's right.' on it.
"Alright, just remember that your bodies shouldn't be overworked." The Coach said.
"Yes, Coach!" Both me and Kuramochi responded together.
"Alright, next." The coach said, moving on to the next first year.
The rest of the introductions went on without a hitch.
But the first year's introductions started changing a bit as they kept adding on their own goals to the end of their speeches.
'Ah, it seems I've slightly influenced their answers a bit.' I thought.
After the final first year finished his introduction, the Coach then spoke up again.
"I'm Coach Kataoka! As you all know, this team has only one goal. And that goal is Koshien. Getting used to high school baseball practice is important, of course, but I want you to notice the attitude and approach with which this team practices. What they experienced fighting for a spot for Koshien, what they learned from it, and what they'll need from here on out… They've all been steeped in it. Start by looking with your eyes and feeling with your skin… the kind of baseball we want to play."
He speech shent shivers down every first year's spine.
"YES, COACH!" We all responded in unison.
"First years will have a physical skills test on Field B!" The Coach continued with a slightly raised voice. "Second and third years will practice on Field A! After a break, there will be fielding practice with runners! Pitchers will be fielding as well!"
"Yes, Coach!" Every player on the team responded this time.
We then split apart and got ready for the first training ahead.