After finishing the warm-up run, the players went to their positions on the field. Shun ran towards right field, and behind him, two familiar faces also headed to right field.
"Shun senpai, what do you think of the first-year students?" - The young pitcher Sora Okamoto, now in his second year, asked. He no longer had the arrogance he displayed last year, in fact, after training for a year with Shun, he started to genuinely admire his senpai.
"Hmm, I don't know, maybe they'll surprise us haha!" - Shun gave a light laugh, he clearly couldn't say that he knew one of them had incredible potential. Well, he could say it, but he would hardly be able to explain himself.
"Anyway, we just need to focus on improving our pitching, Sora." - Another voice sounded, speaking calmly.
Shun looked at the young man, he was even taller, his arms and legs remained very long, and although he had gained some mass over the year, he could still be considered slim.
Those big glasses and neatly combed hair, like a nerd, were unmistakable in the Shoto Junior High School baseball team. The pitching genius, Jiro Fukuoka, now in his second year.
"Tch! I know that, Jiro!" - Sora said, his eyes burning with fighting spirit directed at Jiro.
Shun gave a small laugh as he watched the interaction between the boys. Since Jiro had returned to the team, he trained nonstop, focusing on improving as a pitcher. Sora noticed Jiro's rapid improvement and promised himself he wouldn't fall behind. The effort Sora put into training surprised Shun and everyone else, but the results were undeniable. Both had improved a lot.
"Haha, let's focus on the fielding practice first, okay?" - Shun laughed as he called the two boys' attention. As the oldest pitcher on the team and due to Daigo's lack of experience as a catcher, he unknowingly became the leader of the pitchers.
"Hm" - The two boys nodded as they lined up. Even though they were pitchers, Coach Yamada decided to have them train in right field as well.
Shun was the only right fielder on the team, and considering that he himself was also a pitcher, it wouldn't be uncommon to find situations where he was on the mound and someone had to fill the gap in right field. Therefore, the coach's solution was to take advantage of the fact that Jiro and Sora had good arms and hit better than the team average by having them train in right field.
"Let's begin!" - The coach shouted from the home plate as he started hitting.
DONG
The first ball towards right field came, and as the first in line, Sora ran to make the play.
The ball was a line drive over the second baseman's head. Sora quickly ran toward the ball. It bounced once on the ground before Sora calmly picked it up and threw it to second base.
"Nice play, Sora!" - Shun praised as the boy returned to the line. Of course, the play was nothing special, but no one expected that from Sora or Jiro. As long as they could execute the basic plays in right field, it was more than enough, after all, not everyone had a system to help.
DONG
DONG
The loud sound of the hit woke Shun from his thoughts. He quickly looked at the ball's trajectory and realized it was heading towards right field.
Since it was his turn, he quickly ran to the point of impact. He saw the ball flying high and easily positioned his glove to catch the fly ball.
PAH
The moment he felt the ball touch his glove, he began to run forward. After two steps, he planted his right foot in front of his body while twisting his arm like a whip, throwing the ball toward home plate with all his body's strength.
WOOSH
PAH
The ball flew like a laser into Daigo's glove at home plate with incredible speed. Both Shun's speed and accuracy had improved significantly since last year, and the reason was clear.
[# Total Integration
Achieve total integration of the new shoulder with the user's body.
Requirements for integration:
10% - 10,000 pitches
25% - 25,000 pitches
50% - 50,000 pitches
75% - 75,000 pitches
100% - 100,000 pitches
Pitch count: 30,300 (25% integration reached)
Rewards: Quirk Bringing the Heat]