During this past week, Shun managed to accomplish a few things that greatly helped him feel more prepared for the Kanto Tournament. The first of these occurred while he was practicing his pitches against the hologram of José Martínez.
[Slider (SSS+)
50% mastery of the pitch]
The mastery of his slider finally reached 50%, and although this might not seem like much, considering the boy needed to fully master the pitch to learn and throw other types of pitches, Shun felt that his control and understanding of the slider had improved significantly. But of course, this wasn't the only benefit Shun received.
[DING]
[Congratulations to the user for creating their first custom pitch! The gold-level pitch "Death Ball" has been added to the user's arsenal and is now ready for use.]
Enjoy new adventures from empire
[Death Ball (A+)
An effect pitch created by the user, based on the legendary slider pitch. The pitch has a pronounced vertical break and almost no horizontal movement.]
"Huh? Yeah..." – Shun was a bit distracted, thinking about how this would be his last practice as a member of Shoto's team, but he quickly nodded.
"And? What did you think?" – Kenta also turned and asked eagerly.
"Well, to be honest... They're probably the best middle school baseball team I've ever seen." – Shun spoke calmly as he recalled the video he had watched. He couldn't help but think about a pair of blond players from Seishin.
"Oh, that's quite a compliment. Are they really that good?" – Ren asked skeptically. The young samurai found it strange for Shun to say this so confidently, considering they had already seen teams like Hokuto and Kasuga, and even Shoto was an incredible team.
"Yes, they have many talented players, but their real strength lies in their consistency. From the video, I noticed that all their players are extremely well-trained defensively and are also excellent hitters. Furthermore... they have a three-pitcher rotation that's even more dangerous than ours." – Shun explained honestly. He saw no reason to hide this from his friends now.
"Well, we're not going to face them early in the tournament anyway." – Kenta spoke calmly. Although impressed by Shun's words, he understood that anything could happen in a baseball game, so he knew he needed to focus solely on their next opponent for now.
"Yeah..." – Shun murmured, nodding in agreement. Since the tournament bracket had already been released, Shun knew that Shoto and Seishin would only face each other if both teams advanced to the final. And obviously, it was too early to assume that.
But of course, that didn't mean Shun wasn't planning ahead for a possible final against Seishin. In fact, the boy was preparing strategies to be ready for nearly every team in the Kanto Tournament. His biggest challenge was the matches on the first day, especially the opening game, as Shun had no data on their opponent.
The four friends continued walking toward the Shoto Junior High School baseball field, chatting as if it were just another ordinary day. But deep down in each of their minds, they knew this would be their last day practicing on this field as official team members.