Ken was one of the last to alight from the bus, wearing a stark expression. He'd been looking forward to this day ever since he'd embarked on his personal training with the coach.
Amongst the Yokohama team there were quite a few new faces since the 3rd years had already retired to focus on their entrance exams.
Tatsuya, Jun, Hiroki, Akira, none of them were present, making the team look completely different. This was a common occurrence in High School sporting clubs, requiring flexible coaching from the staff.
He could hear the excited chatter from the first years as they looked forward to playing their first game.
Since his system was not online, it was difficult to assess the potential of the first years, though it was rather obvious who stood on top.
Mamoru Sugimoto, the first year who had taken over as the relief pitcher. While similar in build to Ken, he was a few inches shorter and viewed Ken as someone he looked up to.
At least, that was before he joined the team.
"Coach, who is the starting pitcher today?" The teen asked, his eyes showing a hint of excitement.
Coach Hanada looked at him briefly and answered, "Ken will be starting, but I'll need you on standby."
"Tch."
Mamoru clicked his tongue in displeasure, his gaze moving over to Ken. His eyes showed clear disdain, as if he believed that Ken was not fit to start this game over him.
Of course Ken could feel the gaze of the first year, but all he did was send him a smile in response. He was aware that he'd not lived up to expectation over the past year, so he did not blame the youth for his attitude.
However, now was the time for him to emerge from the shadows once again and reclaim his position as the top pitcher in High School.
"Hehe."
Just thinking about it now filled Ken with sense of expectation.
"What are you smiling about…" Shiro asked, his intuition tingling.
"Oh nothing, I'm just a little excited for the game." Ken replied, sending him a wink.
"Hey, you haven't caught my pitches in a while right?" He added.
"Not since Koshien… Why?" Shiro had a bad premonition. Why would he be stating such a thing before they went into a match? Was he trying to tell him something?
"Ah, no reason. Just be a little cautious, I've changed some things up over the past few weeks." Ken pat Shiro on the shoulder and made his way past, leaving the teen questioning his life decisions.
The team made their way to the field and placed their equipment in the dugout.
Since it was the early rounds for the Fall Tournament, there was only around 50 spectators, mostly family members of the players. When compared to Koshien and Rodgers stadium where Ken had played, it was a drop in the ocean.
However, Ken seemed to be more nervous today then he was at those times.
In fact, when he thought back to his first Koshien and the U18 World Cup, it felt like he wasn't the one that played in those game. It was as if he was merely a spectator, despite living out the moment himself.
Before they went onto the field to warm up, Coach Hanada addressed the team.
"Okay, this will be our first game with our new lineup. The 3rd years are gone, which means it will be up to all of us to carry on their legacy."
The players nodded in response. The 2nd years were more invested in the coach's words since they had played with the 3rd years more.
"Ken, I'll be appointing you as the new Captain since Hiroki is no longer in the team." Seiji said, looking right at him.
"Eh?"
Ken hadn't expected the coach to announce such a thing, especially right before the game. If he was completely honest, he'd been focusing on himself a lot lately, particularly in training.
At first he felt like declining, but that would just undermine the coach in front of the team. He respected the man too much to do such a thing, so he decided to accept, at least for now.
Seeing he had no objections, the coach continued.
"We've beat Yokosuka plenty of times before, this time will be no different." He stated matter-of-factly.
After saying so, he read out the starting line up. There were no real surprises since the players were aware of their own skill levels. Yet that didn't mean there wasn't any dissatisfaction in the ranks.
"Mamoru…Are you okay?" Katsumi, another first year asked his friend who was wearing his emotions on his face.
Mamoru grumbled in response, clearly in a bad mood.
"Ken has already begun to decline, why would the coach waste his time? Wouldn't it make more sense for him to start me since I can already throw over 90mph fastballs?" He complained.
From Mamoru's perspective, he had the most potential compared to Ken. What's worse was that he had joined Yokohama specifically to learn from the High School prodigy, wanting to seriously improve his pitching.
Coincidentally, after he had arrived Ken was already without the system and had entered his slump, essentially causing Mamoru to lose any respect he held for the guy.
"Mamoru, come and help the team warm up." The coach shouted from the field after noticing the guy had not joined them.
"Y-Yes coach!"
Thankfully, he still respected the Head Coach.
While Ken could deal with the disrespect from his Junior, should Mamoru cross that line and act in such a way towards the coach, he wouldn't allow it.
After around 20 minutes, both teams had finished their warm ups and gathered on the field facing each other.
"Bow."
Shortly after, Ken walked over to the umpire and stood in front of the opposing Captain. With his 6'3 height and bulkier frame, Ken was an intimidating figure to face.
"Heads. Yokohama win the toss." The umpire said, pointing to Ken.