The Old Baseball Player System

The team members began arriving at the field. After almost an hour, everyone was there, including the coach.

"Everyone, get on the bus!" - Coach Yamada shouted to the players.

"Yes, Sir!" - All the team members shouted. Some were anxious, some excited, and some were scared of facing Hokuto, but they all got on the bus.

Shun noticed the different reactions. The captain, Kazuki, looked serious and focused. If it weren't for their conversation earlier, Shun would have thought that his captain was completely calm and confident.

He then looked at Kenta and saw that his friend was focused. It was clear that the boy was worried about the team they were going to face, but Shun also noticed a certain excitement, as if Kenta was eager to face a strong team.

The first-year pitchers, Sora and Jiro, seemed fine. Sora was chatting normally with the captain, and Shun even felt a certain confidence from the boy.

Jiro, however, was clearly nervous. The nerdy-looking boy was sweating a lot and was very quiet. Normally, this would be concerning, but Jiro always got nervous before games. Shun was at ease because the boy seemed to transform once he stepped onto the field and always gave his best.

Finally, he looked at his friend, the young samurai Ren. He was by far the worst of them all. The boy was trembling and sweating cold, the usually cheerful and playful boy now quiet and pensive.

"Hey Ren, are you okay?" - Shun asked, concerned, not expecting the young samurai to be like this before the game.

"Shun, did you hear?" - Ren didn't respond. Instead, he looked at Shun as if someone had died and asked.

"Huh? Heard what?" - Shun was a little startled.

"I heard some girls talking in my classroom... It seems Kenta's girlfriend invited several of her friends to today's game... you know, if I do well, maybe I can get a girlfriend too! I need to do well!" - Ren spoke as if this were some sort of life-threatening mission.

"You..." - Shun was speechless. He looked at his friend with anger before jumping on him, ignoring the fact that they were on a moving bus.

"Ahh! What are you doing? Help me!" - Ren cried for help. He was caught off guard by Shun and ended up in a disadvantaged position in the fight.

"What are you two doing?!" - Kenta looked at his two friends fighting and asked angrily.

"I... Your girlfriend... Play well... Impress... Ah!" - Ren tried to explain to Kenta, but unfortunately for him, he couldn't speak clearly due to the beating he was receiving.

"You idiot!" - Kenta didn't fully understand Ren's words, but hearing him mention "your girlfriend", he assumed it wasn't anything good and joined Shun in punishing the young samurai.

"Ahh! Help!" - The young samurai shouted, but no one was willing to save him. Everyone on the bus started laughing, and the previously tense atmosphere lightened up.

Meanwhile, outside the stadium, many fans were starting to arrive. Even though it was only the third round of the Tokyo middle school tournament, many people were curious to see the team that defeated Seishin.

"Oh, there they are!" - Shun's twin sister, Mika, said when she spotted two girls. She was with her parents and her younger sister and waved at the two girls.

"Hey Hana, Kaori! You both look beautiful as always." - Shun's mother, Aiko, said with a smile to the two beauties in front of her.

"Thank you, Mrs. Takahashi!" - The two girls thanked her shyly.

"Where are the boys?" - Mika asked.

"It seems they'll take a bit longer. We'd better get a spot first, the stadium is going to be packed today." - The green-eyed, blonde-haired girl, Hana Hoshino, said with a smile.

"Haha, let's head inside then!" - Shun's father, Kenshin, was excited. It had been a long time since he had seen one of his son's games. He noticed that the boy had regained his excitement for baseball, and that made him very happy.

There was nothing a father wanted more than for his son to surpass him, but unfortunately, surpassing one of Japan's best pitchers in history was an almost impossible task and had become a burden that the young Shun's talent couldn't carry.

Kenshin knew his son carried that weight with him, and even though he continued to love his son, he didn't know what to say to comfort him. He felt that their father-son relationship was becoming more distant, which is why he was excited to cheer for his son today. He didn't care if the boy became a professional or not, all he wanted was to see his son happy.

The Shoto Junior High School baseball team bus arrived at the stadium's parking lot, and the players quickly got off and headed inside.

They arrived at the dugout and started warming up on the field, doing some basic exercises and playing catch. The opposing team hadn't arrived yet, but the stands were almost full. The stadium had a capacity of nearly 10,000 people, which made the Shoto players a bit nervous. They had never played in front of such a large crowd.

Outside the stadium, a bus parked, and one by one, players wearing white uniforms with green accents began to get off. The word "Hokuto" was printed on the chest of each player.

"It looks crowded, huh?" - A young man with brown hair and black eyes said when he saw the number of people entering the stadium. That was Kohei Sasaki, Hokuto Junior High's left-handed ace.

"Let's just get this over with." - A young man with white hair and black eyes spoke disinterestedly, with an expression similar to that of a child throwing a tantrum for having to do something they didn't want to. That was Yoshinori Sugawara, the manic catcher of Hokuto Junior High, who was upset about having to face a "weak" team like Shoto Junior High.

The third round of the Tokyo middle school tournament, Shoto Junior High versus Hokuto Junior High, was about to begin!

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