The original intention of the diamond ace

"Aha, aha, aha..."

Although it was the hottest time of summer, I could almost see the breath coming out of my mouth, and my eyes were blurred. The only thing I could see was the back of the person in front, and the seemingly unreachable end point.

Damn...

How can I be so tired......

Is baseball supposed to be a sport of this level......

The water I drank before seemed to have run out not long after the beginning. I felt that the water in my body turned into sweat and flowed out, and my mouth became very dry. I felt that my throat was sticking together, and my mouth was bloody.

"Huha, aha, ha, ha..."

The lungs contracted violently, to the point of throbbing pain, no matter how hard I felt, I couldn't breathe in.My hair was all wet and stuck to my face, and it was itchy when the sweat flowed, but I didn't even have time to wipe it off.

"Erha, aha, aha..."

At the beginning, I would calculate how far away I was from the end, but with the lack of oxygen, my mind went blank, and now I can only run forward mechanically with my sore legs.

but!

How can you just admit defeat here!

I gritted my teeth, increased my speed a little, and ran forward desperately.

"First graders, let's run!"

"If you don't want to run, just quit quickly! There are so many people who can replace you!"

…………

The seniors on the sidelines yelled, but I could hardly hear them.

On the first day after the selection of the first army, we started a five-day summer training camp.

Looking at the caring seniors, I was prepared that these five days would be very difficult, but I really didn't expect it to be this far.

During the five days, there was a lot less baseball-related training, and most of them were basic training for physical fitness. Unlike before, because there were only 20 people, the physical training for the training camp was almost uninterrupted and high-intensity. .

"Aha, ha, heh..."

finally reached…………

"Let's stop here today, remember to have a good massage after you go back, and have a good rest at night."

As soon as I reached the finish line, I lay down on the ground. From the corner of my eye, I saw that although the seniors were covered in sweat, they were all standing in place. Some of them even went to practice swinging together after discussing.

Is the gap that big......

I smiled wryly, I didn't expect my physical fitness to be so much different from them......

Anyone who achieves this level will lose. It seems that I am still far behind.

But after that, don't try to be brave, go back and rest quickly, there are still four more days of training like this.

I moved a bit, intending to get up and go back to the dormitory to eat and wash, but my body was so weak that I couldn't stand up at all.The people next to him were also surprised.

"Whoever is free now, take these first graders back!"

***

Excessive exercise made it almost impossible for me to eat anything. In the end, although I struggled for a long time, I swallowed the meal one bite at a time.

Tsk, there is still a bloody taste in my mouth.I leaned on the wall, took my things and prepared to take a shower.

As soon as I entered the bathtub, the slightly tingling hot water relaxed my stiff muscles, and I collapsed on the edge of the bathtub.

"Ah~" I looked at the white mist with empty eyes, so comfortable.

"Brush!" Sawamura and Furuya opened the door of the bathroom, and walked in talking and laughing.

"Ah! Oda is sinking! Are you okay!" Sawamura yelled and pulled me up, and Furutani was beside me to help me fan the wind.

"Ah, it's Eijun and Furutani-senpai, I'm fine."

Sawamura looked at me with a blank face, feeling very subtle.

"I always feel that this scene is a bit familiar..."

"Isn't this exactly the same as I was last year! And no one rescued me!! I almost drowned that time!"

"Sawamura-senpai, you are really noisy..."

"Hey! Are you really okay?! Don't sleep here!"

…………

The next morning, I opened my eyes in a daze. I just wanted to get up, but my whole body froze and I froze on the bed.

Why is it so painful!

Can't move at all!

How do you train like this...

***

After afternoon baserunning practice.

"Everyone can come and eat and have a look. We made these." The managers walked to the sidelines with trays of rice balls and put all the food on the table.

Everyone surrounded him at once.

"Oh, that's great, I'm starving to death!"

"I'm not doing very well..." A first-year manager girl whispered while grabbing the corner of her clothes.

But soon, most of the food had been taken away.

"Yuki, eat more, there is still a long time to go for training, and you won't be able to survive without eating more."

"Okay! Senior." He quickly ate the rice ball in his hand, and went to get several rice balls and natto.

"That's right! Eat more!"

There are many seniors booing next to him.

Seeing me watching what happened over there, Kuramochi-senpai came over with a smile on his face, "Oda, you should eat more too, there is still a long time before dinner."

"No need, senior, you are the one who needs to eat more." I smiled back at him, unmoved at all.

'Tch, this kid is really not easy to deceive, he is not fooled at all. '

Sure enough, after finishing the lap, Yuuki vomited while supporting the pillar with an ugly face.

Why is this kid so easy to deceive?

***

The five days of hell training finally passed, and finally I was not so embarrassed at the end. I didn't expect that I could start to adapt to this intensity of training in five days. I have to say that people's adaptability is really strong.

Although I also want to improve my physical fitness and strength as soon as possible, let's forget about this kind of training, alas.

After the training camp, there were several games against strong schools in other regions.

It is worth mentioning that the second game was started by Furuya Senpai. His unhurried pitching made my eyes shine.

Although the opponent scored two points in the first two innings, he did not panic and was anxious to suppress the opponent. Instead, he used defense to deal with the hitters. When the situation was not good, he would occasionally throw a few shots with all his strength.He failed to allow the opponent to score again until the seventh inning.

It seems that he has listened to my words. I hope this experience can help him grow up.

In the match against Kunou the next day, Sawamura, who started the game, still performed well, throwing the whole game.And to my surprise, I played the game as the starting outfielder.

"After one game, five bats had four hits and two runs. Although there was no outstanding performance on defense, there were no turnovers. As the first time as a first-team outfielder, Oda delivered a satisfactory performance. answer sheet." Deputy Minister Takashima said with a light smile.

Director Kataoka nodded solemnly.

I also started one of those games as well.

At the beginning, due to the stiffness of the body, the speed of the ball did not come out at all.

I called a timeout and my partner, Okumura, ran to the mound.

"what happened?"

Before I could reply, he continued, "Although the situation is not very good now, you don't have to be too nervous. You can cast in a more tricky position in the future. They won't play well..."

"Hahaha, so I'm not in good shape, you're so nervous." I looked at him with a wicked smile.

…………

"Don't worry, I've already expected this kind of situation, after all, my body is so stiff. I asked you to come up to discuss with you about the next match, and let me relax my body by the way."

After the timeout ended, I simply dropped the speed of the ball and focused on the ball control instead.With the help of our teammates, Okumura and I survived the crisis smoothly, suppressed the opponent's line of play, and won the game.

Afterwards, the match list came out.

Canteen at noon.

"Oh! The semi-finals will be against strong schools!"

"This time the signing is really good!"

"Fortunately, the captain was not allowed to draw. The trials were really scary."

"Hey!"

"Hey, hey... I'm still here." Miyuki said helplessly.

"If all goes well, the semi-finals will either be a pharmacist or a city junior, and the final will be Dao Shi."

"We can't take it lightly. If we are so lax, we may lose in the first few games." Senior Qianyuan interrupted them.

I nodded secretly.

Never underestimate any opponent, this is the most truthful sentence in my many years of baseball career.

Anything can happen in the game, which is the most unpredictable but also the most fascinating part of the game.

Stories like long-established hitters being struck out by a little-known rookie, and speedrunners tripped by a base bag and not only being blocked but breaking bones, the list goes on and on.

Even if there is a big gap between a prestigious school and other schools, anything can happen if you let your guard down.

But there is a half sentence behind this sentence: But don't underestimate yourself too much, this sentence often means a miracle happens.

The tense and anticipated competition is about to begin!

But before that, we have one more thing to do, and that is...

final exam

Yui and I passed the exam smoothly as expected, and Yuuki also had to take the make-up exam as expected, but what was surprising was that Okumura had to go to the make-up math exam.

Seeing his smart face, he turned out to be very bad at mathematics!This is really surprising, hahahaha.

Okumura looked at me who was grinning sullenly.

After the exam, everyone's minds were settled, and the atmosphere became tense day by day.