"Is all the gear packed?" "Did you bring enough clothes to change into?" "Did you forget anything?"

At the entrance of the players' dormitory building, watching team members strapped with bags, holding equipment bags filled with baseballs and gear, walking out one after another, Waseda Jitsugyo Baseball Club's captain, Sasaki Shinichi, kept reminding them of relevant matters.

"Don't worry, captain! Everything's ready, there's definitely no problem!" Tail-ender of the team, the last to exit, Ogata Kazuyoshi patted his chest, showing his white teeth and healthy gums, vowing with conviction.

Seeing Ogata Kazuyoshi's clowning act, Sasaki Shinichi shook his head helplessly, "You better really have no issues, or it'll be too late when we get to Osaka."

A month had passed since the spring Kantou Conference, and there was less than half a month left until the opening of the summer Tokyo Regional Tournament.

Throughout June, the members of the Waseda Jitsugyo Baseball Club did not indulge in the spring season's success, choosing to rest on their laurels. Instead, they set their sights on all of Tokyo and even Japan, playing nearly 20 practice games in less than a month against strong schools from various regions of Kantou, including Kantou University Takasaki, Hanasaki Tokuharu High School, Imperial Capital, and Kantou Number One.

In these practice games, Waseda often won more than lost, greatly sustaining the excellent state the team had been in since spring, boosting the confidence within the entire team.

Such performance led to an invitation from Osaka: Two top prestigious schools in the Osaka area, Osaka Tsubaki and Luzhengshe High School, both extended invitations to Waseda for an inter-school exchange match.

Considering the summer Tokyo Regional Tournament was about to start, Izumi Minoru gladly accepted the invitation from the two schools, preparing to make this trip to Osaka the final public practice before the summer tournament began—once they return from Osaka, Waseda would start the final prep for the summer games.

The Shinkansen was swift, in just a few hours, Waseda's team had crossed more than half of Japan, arriving in Osaka from Tokyo.

Upon the warm reception by relevant people, the Waseda Jitsugyo Baseball Club members headed to the hotel, swiftly settling their luggage before rushing to the arranged training ground for site practice—considering the members needed to attend classes, the exchange match was perfectly scheduled for the weekend, making time relatively tight.

On the first day in Osaka, after finishing the afternoon practice, having dinner and washing up, Lin Guanglai returned to the dorm, planning to view the Osaka Tsubaki team data.

This spring, Waseda had just played Luzhengshe, and they were quite familiar with each other, most players experiencing the opposing players' levels firsthand;

In contrast, Osaka Tsubaki was a relatively unfamiliar opponent for Waseda, Lin Guanglai only knew that their baseball club was an elite team under militarized management, with members all being famous middle schoolers from across Japan; apart from that, he knew almost nothing about this opponent.

Just as he opened the data handed over by the team manager, the room door was pushed open.

The one who walked in was Ogata Kazuyoshi.

"Guanglai, it's so boring at night, everyone's getting together in my room to play, do you want to come?"

Seeing Lin Guanglai with a stack of documents, Ogata Kazuyoshi teased him:

"Oh, Guanglai, didn't we face Luzhengshe in the spring? Why do you still need to look at documents!"

"No, I was going to prepare to look at Tsubaki…" Lin Guanglai tried to explain, but couldn't finish before Ogata Kazuyoshi cut him off.

"Aren't we playing Osaka Tsubaki the day after tomorrow? Check it out after we return from the Luzhengshe game tomorrow—come to my room quickly, almost everyone's there."

Unable to resist Ogata Kazuyoshi's enthusiasm, Lin Guanglai had to put down the documents and follow him.

Ogata Kazuyoshi did have a point, as when Lin Guanglai entered his room, he found most of the teammates were there—the room, already not very large, seemed even more cramped with so many people.

Standing at the door, looking inside, it seemed the teammates were playing games—in the room, people were divided by grade into two groups, with the third-year students standing behind Matsunaga Kenta who was operating, while the second-year students were watching behind Uesugi Yasuyuki.

"My turn, my turn—Kenta, you're too weak, you couldn't hit such a good ball, it's embarrassing for us third-years!"

"What are you guys playing?" Lin Guanglai asked, walking into the room.

Fresh off the field, Matsunaga Kenta lifted his head, and upon recognizing who it was, responded:

"Oh, Guanglai, you're here too! We're playing Pro Baseball Spirits, it's third-years versus second-years, each person plays half an inning in turns—how about it, do you want to play a few rounds, Guanglai?"

Before he could finish, the room was filled with protesting voices from the third-years:

"Kenta, aren't you supposed to be a third-year like us? We're already not doing as well as the second-years, and now you want Guanglai to join? Are you trying to make it even harder for us to win?"

In response to his teammates' doubts, Matsunaga Kenta said, "Of course I'm not asking Guanglai to join the second-years—I'm inviting him to our side! Our third-year strength is average, adding Guanglai could balance it out, right?"

This move gained teammates' approval, along with slightly disdainful looks from the second-year juniors.

After playing a bit longer, the players put down the video game—after all, they were in Osaka not for vacation, getting too carried away during the team camp wasn't appropriate; for tomorrow's match against Luzhengshe, they certainly didn't want to be reprimanded by the coach for losing focus.

With the games set aside, the baseball club members casually chatted—over nearly two years, living and eating together daily had bonded them like family, allowing any topic to be shared openly with everyone.

Young people always have endless topics: baseball, daily life, dreams, future, crushes… In the room, the lads either sat or lay down, saying whatever came to mind.

"Guanglai, speaking of the future, with your talent, you'll surely get drafted and become a professional player next year after graduation, right?" In the midst of everyone's chatter, someone posed this question to Lin Guanglai.

"Yes." Without hesitation, Lin Guanglai confirmed with conviction—he had a precise plan for his life; ever since discovering his talent, a professional path was his consistent goal.

"Wow—that's amazing, if only I had your talent, Guanglai..." Someone sighed, drawing similar murmurs from others around.

Among the crowd's exclamations, suddenly a voice piped up:

"Come to think of it, Guanglai—you're an amazing pitcher and batter, if you make it to the pros, will you fully devote yourself to being the team's ace pitcher, or simply become a hitter and focus entirely on batting?"

"I feel it's a pity to give up either way—after all, before you, I've never seen a high school pitcher hit so many home runs at Koshien Stadium..."

This question sparked a heated debate among all in the room, each person having their own opinion on whether Lin Guanglai should become a pitcher or batter in the future, arguing incessantly over it.

In the darkness, Lin Guanglai grinned, saying with determination:

"Why should I have to choose between being a pitcher and a batter? If I could only play one position for a lifetime, how boring would baseball become!"

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.