This spring was destined to belong to Inashiro Industrial.
Although the program produced by Tokyo Television had largely focused on Seido High School, even making the Seido High School Baseball Team the primary subject of their coverage, the team that ultimately took up the largest portion of the program was not Seido.
It was the Inashiro Industrial High School Baseball Team, which had brought glory to Tokyo.
It had been many years since a Tokyo team had dominated the nation.
Even if the Spring Koshien wasn't as celebrated as the Sumr Koshien, it was still a national championship.
That alone ant no one could question Inashiro's standing.
Many fans had placed high hopes in this team, expecting them to continue bringing glory to Tokyo in the Sumr Tournant.
Then they lost in the round of 16.
Many fans found it impossible to accept.
So even directed complaints toward Yakushi, the team that had defeated Inashiro.
Fortunately, such reactions were extrely rare. But even so, it showed how deeply the news had shaken people.
Almost no one could believe it.
The Yakushi High School Baseball Team had co out of nowhere.
And now the Seido High School Baseball Team had to face this sudden dark horse as well.
To prepare for Yakushi, the team actively gathered information, and the players began targeted training.
On top of that, even the freshn received opportunities they never would have dread of before.
If anyone at the Seido High School Baseball Team owed Yakushi a debt of gratitude, it was those first-year newcors.
Without the three outstanding newcors in Yakushi High School Baseball Team, they would have had to wait at least half a month longer for their chance.
Alongside studying Yakushi, the Seido High School Baseball Team also set aside ti to look at their next opponent, Hongmo.
Hongmo High School was a well-known sports school in Tokyo.
Almost all of their sports teams were strong.
Baseball was one of their signature programs.
Before significant outside investnt entered the school, this baseball team had made it to Koshien several tis and achieved solid results.
Even now, with its strong tradition, capable staff, and good training facilities, Hongmo High School remained a quality program.
They were roughly on the sa level as Sensen.
An opponent of that caliber posed a genuine threat to the Seido High School Baseball Team, and preparation was warranted.
But when they learned their opponent was Hongmo, everyone on the Seido High School Baseball Team felt a distinct sense of relief.
Although this team had a strong track record, it was also famously passive.
It was hard to imagine that a group of competitive teenagers could have so little fighting spirit. Against weaker opponents, they won without enthusiasm, as if going through the motions. Against strong opponents, they tended to fold before things even got started.
In the past two years, whenever Hongmo had faced a powerhouse, they had shown almost no will to resist.
They were known as the most relaxed baseball team around.
With the current form of the Seido High School Baseball Team, beating them should be straightforward.
So players even wondered if Hongmo would simply concede the mont the ga started.
If that actually happened, the Seido players would have mixed feelings about it.
They were happy to advance. But playing a ga against an opponent with no drive to win was not sothing to look forward to.
However, Chris, who had been reviewing Hongmo's previous gas, raised a question.
"Has Hongmo's coach changed?"
No one at Seido had paid much attention before, but after looking into it, they found that Hongmo had indeed brought in a new coach.
One with a notable background, apparently.
Even so, after this coach joined Hongmo, the team's style didn't seem to have changed at all.
"That's strange."
Even Zhang Han felt sothing was off.
Why had Hongmo's previous style been so passive in the first place?
A large part of it ca down to never having had a proper coach.
Previously, the Hongmo baseball team had only a teacher in charge, and by all accounts, that teacher was an amateur who largely left the team to its own devices.
Zhang Han could understand that to so extent. A man in his thirties who hadn't found a partner yet had other priorities. Managing a baseball team wasn't high on the list.
It was just that his search seed to have been particularly difficult, stretching over several years with no success.
He was still single.
Because the teacher in charge was disengaged, and there were no natural leader types within the team itself, such as a Yuuki, a Miyuki, or a Sawamura, there was no one to set a direction.
Players like that, with genuine leadership and the ability to inspire those around them, could give a team purpose even without a formal coach.
Seido happened to have three such players.
But in reality, people with that kind of personal presence were rare anywhere, let alone in a single baseball program.
That was why Hongmo had drifted for so long.
No leader from within. No ambitious coach from without.
When the school finally recognized the problem, they spent considerably last autumn to bring in a retired professional player as coach.
Everyone had expected Hongmo's style to shift dramatically, and for another force to rise in Tokyo.
Instead, sothing unexpected happened. The new coach and the previous teacher in charge had apparently hit it off imdiately. The two beca inseparable in their daily lives and largely ignored the baseball team together.
Or at least, that was what outside observers had reported.
Whether in practice gas or the official Spring Tournant gas, Hongmo's style remained unchanged.
They were still being called the most passive strong team in the tournant.
But Chris and Zhang Han both felt sothing was off.
For one, a team this passive seed almost too deliberate. Even if morale was scattered and the group was hard to manage, it was difficult to believe that every single player had no competitive drive whatsoever.
The current Hongmo gave the impression of a group putting on a performance.
For another, the new coach's behavior didn't add up either.
Hongmo High School had paid a significant sum to bring him in.
The world worked a certain way in that regard. Pay soone modestly and they'll do the minimum. Pay them well and they'll take ownership. Hongmo had paid this coach well above the minimum.
For the sake of that salary alone, any self-respecting professional would have made an effort. If he couldn't demonstrate his value, why would Hongmo continue paying him?
It didn't make sense.
When things were too abnormal, there was usually a reason.
Zhang Han couldn't shake the feeling that there was sothing they didn't know about.
Of course, this was only a personal suspicion. Without real evidence, it had no practical use.
There was nothing specific to prepare for.
"Everyone should approach this as they normally would. Even if the opponent has been holding sothing back, as long as you perform at the level of your daily practice, you will win."
Coach Kataoka was straightforward about it.
In his view, there were only two possibilities.
Either the opponent had deliberately concealed their true strength, or they were exactly as passive as they appeared.
In his opinion, the difference wasn't significant.
Even in the first case, since Seido had no specific intelligence to work with, targeted preparation wasn't possible.
Better to simply be ready to perform.
No matter what Hongmo brought, as long as Seido's own players stayed steady and showed what they had, the team that would win was Seido.
Two days passed quickly.
Beyond giving the freshn a chance to handle the ball, Coach Kataoka made no special arrangents for them.
They could only watch the departing bus with envy, imagining when they would finally be able to ride it to a ga alongside the First String.
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