You're messing with me!"
Narumiya Mei had just delivered a message that left Kiriyama Ren speechless.
Lately, they had been using Narumiya Mei's batting cage as their gathering spot. His father was generous enough to give them a large bundle of coins every day, providing a place for the group of boys on holiday to hang out without spending money.
Originally, Narumiya Mei had told him he would talk to the baseball club's recruitment teacher to secure a special recommendation spot for him. Thankfully, he hadn't fully trusted Narumiya Mei and had also applied for Inashiro's general entrance exam. Otherwise, the Seido exam period would have passed, and his student career would be in big trouble.
Inashiro's academic difficulty was higher than Seido's, and he wasn't sure if he could pass the public admission test.
If he couldn't get in, he would have to go to a nearby public school, and his baseball career would definitely be more difficult. No one wants their lifelong skills to end up being completely useless.
"The teacher said you had no achievements in middle school, and they've already used up all their special recruit spots this year. They also have to consider other clubs, you know." Narumiya Mei scratched his head, looking embarrassed. "But you don't have to be discouraged. Although it's not a special recommendation, they have a tryout this Saturday. Those who are selected can get a score reduction at the Manager's discretion."
"I really shouldn't have trusted you." Kiriyama Ren sighed.
He definitely wanted to go to Inashiro. Otherwise, even with Narumiya Mei's enthusiastic invitation, he would have taken Seido's public admission test as a backup. Now, he could only go to this tryout.
Every point less is a point less… At this point, he could only hold onto this hopeful mindset.
Saturday quickly arrived. The Narumiya quintet, uncharacteristically, went with Kiriyama Ren to Inashiro. From their expressions, it didn't seem like they were there to cheer him on; it looked like they had another agenda. However, they claimed they were afraid he would get lost and wanted to reduce any risks by escorting him to the Inashiro tryout.
A pervasive atmosphere of conspiracy hung in the air.
Hayashida, the bearded Inashiro baseball club President, looked at the crowd of dozens of people and couldn't help but complain, "I think our baseball club already has enough special recruits with Narumiya and a few others. If other people can pass the exam, they can just join our club, right? There's no need to hold another tryout."
He was primarily responsible for strengthening the club. He believed that all the strong players in the Tokyo area had either already been selected by them or had accepted invitations from other schools. Now, in the cold of December, they should focus on next year's main roster. This spring, they lost in the Autumn Tournament finals in Tokyo, but there was still a chance for the Spring Invitational Tournament. In Hayashida's opinion, it would be better to save time and strengthen the practice of existing members.
"No, we are sending a signal to people with a challenger's mindset to join our school. We cannot rely solely on specially recruited members to support the team. The main members of our baseball club are precisely those non-special recruit students. But if they lack ambition, it will only make the special recruits lose their fighting spirit, making them think they don't need to train hard to get a starting position. This is not a beneficial development for the team."
The speaker was Coach Kunimoto, the general Manager of the Inashiro baseball club. He stood beside Hayashida with a stern expression, his gaze sweeping over the players preparing for the assessment. From the moment the players stepped onto the baseball field, he had already begun his selection process.
Putting on the fluorescent green vest, Kiriyama Ren stood in the center of the line according to his number. After a whistle blew, everyone nervously looked at Coach Kunimoto, standing upright, hoping to impress him with this small detail.
He stared at the players with a severe gaze, making them all feel a chill down their spines: "Although this tryout is only for a negligible score reduction in the public admission exam a few days later, I believe none of you are just thinking about getting a few points less to enter Inashiro. You want to wear our baseball club's starting jersey number, don't you! If you are ready, today's tryout officially begins. I will not tell you how many people will receive a reduction. Perhaps none, perhaps several. Don't try to guess from our expressions; just perform at your best."
"Yes!" Hearing Coach Kunimoto's words, everyone responded loudly as if on reflex.
After a few seconds of pause, Coach Kunimoto dropped another surprising piece of information: "Although I said there's no specific rule on how many people will receive a reduction, there is an upper limit: a maximum of nine people!"
Nine people, which is the maximum number that can play on the field.
This means…
To confirm Kiriyama Ren's guess, Coach Kunimoto immediately revealed the true nature of this tryout the next second: "This means that out of all of you, at most, only nine people will remain. And these nine people will play a three-inning mini-game against our already specially recruited students. The final result will be determined from this game."
Like a bolt from the blue, several people who had been chatting and laughing before the test instinctively moved away from each other. After Coach Kunimoto made that statement, everyone became an opponent. They had never been asked about their positions, meaning the final nine people would be chosen regardless of position, purely based on their upcoming performance.
Kiriyama Ren gave a wry smile. He knew those five people wouldn't be so kind as to just watch his tryout; they wanted to beat him up…
But before he could face them, he had to make it into the final nine.
"First event: long throw."
"Second event: 50-meter sprint."
"Third event: spot batting."
"Fourth event: outfield defense."
After the four events, nine people were finally selected, and Kiriyama Ren was one of them. Except for outfield defense, where he wasn't used to the position and missed some balls, his results in the other three events were consistent with his usual training. Generally, teams don't have strict requirements for a catcher's running speed, but Kiriyama Ren still managed to run it in 6.5 seconds.
The remaining people all looked somewhat familiar with each other. After the list was finalized, they finally breathed a sigh of relief and had a brief exchange. They were all players who had participated in little league, and there were certainly many games where they had faced each other over the years.
Only Kiriyama Ren seemed out of place in this group.
Next, they would become teammates.
"Both sides have ten minutes to decide on tactics. The game officially begins in ten minutes." Coach Kunimoto's voice carried over, speaking to both teams simultaneously.
Unlike the special recruit team, which had Narumiya Mei as its central figure, the tryout team had no central figure. Although everyone looked familiar, no one believed that the other person was necessarily stronger than themselves. How to discuss tactics in a short amount of time was an important challenge.