Months later, Tokyo, Japan.
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The beautiful pink cherry blossoms announced the arrival of spring in Tokyo. In the courtyard of Shoto Junior High School, all the students formed lines as they attended the opening ceremony for the new school year.
Today marked the beginning of Shun's third and final year in middle school, and with it, his last chance to win the Kanto Tournament. After the opening ceremony, Shun went to class, and once classes ended, he headed to the baseball field with Kenta and Ren.
One of the new things this year was that Ren was now in the same class as Shun and Kenta, so the three friends spent even more time together.
"Kenta!" - A female voice called out from behind the three friends, making them stop in their tracks.
"Let's go to the field together!" - The lovely Mio Shimizu said with a smile as she held Kenta's hand. The boy felt a little embarrassed but didn't pull his hand away. The two began walking to the field like a cute teenage couple, leaving two jealous boys behind.
"That lucky bastard..." - Ren gritted his teeth as he cursed his fortunate friend.
"Let's go." - Shun sighed as he started walking. This scene had become quite common in recent months. Mio had joined the baseball club as an assistant after learning they were struggling with a lack of members.
Of course, she couldn't play and solve the problem directly, but thanks to her presence, they managed to convince some people to join the team. It was impressive how motivated the boys became when they found out there was a beautiful assistant in the club.
Additionally, some former club members regretted quitting and decided to return. As a result, the team had enough members to participate in tournaments.
However, due to the players' lack of experience and the disorganization that followed the departure of the previous third-year members, they hadn't performed well in any of the tournaments they had participated in so far.
Today was the day the new first-year students joined the team, and Shun was excited to see if any great talents would join. Well, he knew it was unlikely, but last year someone with incredible talent like Jiro joined the team, so why not this year?
"Ryosuke Sugano! Center Fielder!" - The boy said his name and position. He was tall for his age, had brown hair and black eyes, and though his face was still childish, it already showed signs that he would be popular with girls in the future.
[Ryosuke Sugano
Overall: C+
PITCHING: D+
BATTING: B-
FIELDING: B-
RUNNING: B+
GAME IQ: F+
Overall Potential: SSS-]
"What the hell? Why is someone like this here?" - Shun was confused. He hadn't expected such a talented player to join the team, especially someone who was already so skilled. Shun couldn't help but wonder why someone with such talent wasn't in the senior league, but he quickly shook his head.
It didn't matter why. What was important was that the team had gained another valuable addition. Shun smiled as he looked at the new gem he had found, he was already imagining how good Ryosuke would become after going through his training.
After everyone had introduced themselves, the coach instructed everyone to run a few laps around the field to warm up. Shortly after, he positioned himself at home plate to start hitting balls for the fielding practice.