Chapter 318: Check-in
"After you settle your luggage, I'll take you to the practice facility we rented. After that it's free time. But the supervisor has one order: Don't overdo your individual practice. Rest up for tomorrow's opening ceremony! Room numbers have been sent to all of you by text. Three people per room—look forward to discovering your roommates! Haha! And by the way—there's an open-air hot spring here!"
Once the bus stopped, Ota announced the schedule.
It was a small surprise-game with the room assignments.
"Oooh!!!"
The moment they heard "hot spring," the team erupted in cheers.
Japan's bath and onsen culture ran deep—no Japanese could resist a hot spring.
Sendo had nothing to do with being Japanese or not—soaking in a bath just felt good.
"Eijun! Don't run off later! This hotel is huge, you'll get lost!" Sendo teased.
"Hahaha! True, true! One wrong turn and you'll disappear—same for Furuya!" Miyuki chimed in.
"Shut up!" Sawamura instantly puffed up and hissed.
Furuya, on the other hand, looked around in confusion—having just been woken up from a car nap and reacting on reflex.
"Ahh! Hot springs! It's practically a school trip! No—better than that! School trips don't get places this nice!"
Sendo walked in with his bag.
The senpai had already gone ahead.
Miyuki followed—those two had been getting closer lately.
Miyuki… wanted his pitches.
"Haha! Who will I get as a roommate? I'm excited!
Hopefully not—"
Miyuki's voice trailed off down the hall.
The remaining freshmen didn't catch the rest.
Though Seidou stayed in a hotel, since they were a highly marketable team, the hotel gave them a very generous discount.
….
"Hm? Someone's already here? Must be a senpai who arrived earlier… Guess the freshmen won't all be stuck together. Kinda looking forward to this."
The door wasn't fully shut.
Expectation flickered in Sendo's eyes as he reached for the handle.
"Excuse me."
"Hm?"
The person unpacking turned around.
"Ah—Tetsu-san! Lucky! I get to room with you!"
"You think so? Then hurry and unpack. Beds are first
come first serve—they're comfortable."
Tetsu smiled as he spoke.
"Yes!" Sendo smiled back and rolled in with his luggage.
He hadn't expected that before unpacking, Tetsu had already tested the bed's comfort.
Naturally, Sendo threw himself onto one too.
"It really is comfortable."
"Right?"
"Excuse me."
The third roommate arrived.
"Pfft—HAHAHAHAHA!"
The second Sendo heard the voice, he knew who it was.
He glanced at Tetsu, then collapsed into silent hysterics.
"Lucky you, Sendo—what a draw."
Miyuki walked in, clearly having heard the laughter.
"There you are."
"Eh? T-Tetsu-san?"
Seeing Tetsu, Miyuki's smile froze.
His eyebrows twitched unnaturally.
"HAHAHAHAHA!"
One glance at Sendo rolling in laughter and Miyuki realized the situation instantly.
He had wondered what made Sendo laugh so hard—never imagined it was because of him.
The part Sawamura hadn't heard earlier was precisely:
"Hopefully not Tetsu-san."
And he hit the jackpot.
"Unpack. After that—"
Tetsu posed as if placing a piece on a shogi board.
"HAHAHAHAHAHA!" Sendo convulsed even harder.
"Quit laughing!" Miyuki snapped at him.
Sendo understood the intent of the room:
He and Tetsu were the lineup's most stable run-producers.
Together they could discuss tactics anytime.
Add Miyuki—who could coordinate plays and schemes—The "Dirty Trick Duo" just got upgraded.
As for whether the coaches paired Miyuki with Tetsu for mischief… who knew.
But to Sendo, it was perfect: three birds with one stone.
This trip wouldn't be boring.
Later, when he learned Sawamura's room assignment—he would know without a doubt that this was intentional.
"Tetsu-san, we probably don't have shogi here.
Maybe the hotel can lend one—" Miyuki offered.
"No need."
Miyuki sighed in relief—
"I brought mine."
"I brought mine… I brought mine… I brought— mine…"
"Pfft—HAHAHAHAHA!"
Sendo sat up only to collapse again, laughing until he looked ready to cough blood.
"Hm?"
Tetsu glanced at Sendo—completely clueless why that was funny.
"U-Um—Tetsu-san?"
"Hm? What is it?"
"Why did you bring a shogi set?" Miyuki asked helplessly.
Tetsu was a day-student—so no one could predict what he'd pack.
Sendo had already seen snacks shoved into the bag—clearly family-issued, not Tetsu-style.
"To relax during breaks, so I brought one."
Still natural as ever.
As for who he planned to "relax" with—no explanation was needed.
"Wasn't it heavy…" Miyuki muttered internally.
But it honestly wasn't. He lived close—just walked to school, then boarded the bus to the hotel. Barely any distance at all.
Miyuki stared at Sendo rolling across the bed like a dying otter—utterly speechless.
Since they had a first-round bye, even with the indoor facility (actually provided free by the hotel), there wasn't much they could train.
They had plenty of free time.
But Miyuki wanted to use that free time to coax Sendo into throwing a few more pitches…
Yet Tetsu—
Everyone knew it.
Once he politely invited you to sit seiza at the table, nobody could decline.
Too rude.
And between Sawamura and Sendo—Sendo was the brutal one.
He gave Tetsu no mercy in shogi, slaughtering him outright.
Tetsu never asked to play him again.
Miyuki couldn't bring himself to be that ruthless—so he was the victim.
Out of curiosity, he once tried a serious match against Sendo—He met the same tragic fate.
Maybe a little less tragic—but still tragic.
Tetsu observed from the side, not understanding their calculations at all—just seeing Miyuki's crushed expression and deciding never to play Sendo again.
For someone who loved shogi, losing while only capturing one or two pieces before being wiped out was unbearable.
Serious games cannot be surrendered casually—nor can one purposely restrain themselves.
You want to win, or at least exchange more pieces before death.
"Hurry up and unpack."
Natural-airhead Tetsu understood none of the internal despair—only that unpacking faster meant starting shogi faster.
Miyuki saw it too—Free time clearly meant starting immediately after unpacking.
He resigned himself to fate and unpacked mechanically.
Sendo slowly peeled himself off the bed, still weak from laughing so hard.
After unpacking came spectator time.
Tetsu played Miyuki until dinner.
Sendo spectated the entire time—barely suppressing laughter—Scenes like this might never happen again.
Sendo didn't yet know that Tetsu's younger brother was into shogi as well.
He only knew the younger brother was coming—nothing more.
....
At dinner, when Kuramochi learned that Miyuki was rooming with Tetsu, he laughed until tears nearly came out.
And then he added fuel to the fire.
It turned out Kuramochi, Isashiki, and Sawamura were sharing a room—and Onii-san was in the room next door.
Sendo nearly died laughing.
So Sawamura really is team's mascot… pampered to the heavens, huh?
Even the lobby was filled with howling laughter.
Only Sawamura sat there lifeless, hollow-eyed, and spiritually dead.
Sendo glanced at Miyuki and Sawamura—extremely satisfied.
As a side note, Haruichi and Onii-san were roommates—that was clearly Ota being considerate.
Kawakami, Tanba, and Furuya were together, and they were close to Sawamura's room—and also close to Sendo's and the staff rooms.
Probably to make it easy for pitchers, catchers, and coaches to discuss things.
On the girls' side—including Rei—there were six of them, two rooms in total.
…
After dinner, Tetsu didn't continue torturing Miyuki—he went with Sendo to practice batting.
Miyuki joined the pitchers to practice throwing.
Even though Tanba had fully recovered, the two first-years still had to squeeze out every second they could.
They were beginners—until their fundamentals were stable and their control solid, every moment counted.
Compared to kids who came up through Little League and youth leagues with early pro-level training, their advantage was raw talent—body over polish.
For them, mastering each technique—or even improving a piece of one—was a leap.
Practicing with Tetsu once, Sendo finally understood just how easily the natural airhead could be derailed.
If anyone nearby spoke numbers, he'd get pulled off-track.
If someone said they only had 50 yen to buy something, he'd forget what swing count he was on:
"51, 52…"
If you then commented,
"How can it only be that much after so long?"
he'd suddenly snap back, realize he forgot, and restart:
"1, 2, 3…"
And if you tried to talk to him mid-swing, it was over.
"Ah—damn, I forgot what number I was on… never mind, I'll restart…"
Sendo and the others could only stare in shock.
The third-years refused to talk to him during swing practice—otherwise he'd never finish his nightly quota of 500 swings.
But since there was no training today, Tetsu decided on 1,000 swings.
Anyone who understood this situation wouldn't dare talk to him—he was basically a time bomb.
Imagine reaching 900+, only to restart…
Terrifying.
Even so, Tetsu still got derailed three times—luckily not after hundreds of swings.
After the first derail, no one dared speak.
After the second, Sendo reacted just in time—Tetsu looked to him for the number, and Sendo confidently answered.
He made it up off rough estimation…
The third time, Tetsu instinctively looked to Sendo—who this time had actually been paying attention and gave the correct number.
Out of all the pure baseball idiots present, the only ones capable of improvising a number with confidence were Miyuki and Sendo.
But Miyuki wasn't there—he was 30 meters away catching throws.
"Nine hundred ninety-nine! One thousand!!! …Huff! Done!"
"Then let's head back. Hot spring time!" Sendo announced, crouched beside him—he had stopped swinging long ago.
He'd only swung a little over 700.
Originally he planned on 300, but felt bad stopping alone and added more.
Once you got familiar with the team, you couldn't just slack openly.
"Ah—sorry for making you stick around." Tetsu apologized; he knew Sendo stayed for him.
"It's fine. I didn't bring any manga—sitting alone would be boring." Sendo waved it off.
Tetsu could tell he was lying outright, but didn't call him on it—just smiled.
"Let's go."
"Mm." Sendo nodded—then turned toward the other group.
"When are you guys heading back?" he shouted toward Miyuki and the pitchers.
"Oh! You go ahead! I still need twenty pitches!" Sawamura yelled back.
"Hey! Still ignoring my input completely!" Miyuki complained.
"Then! I want twenty-five!" came Furuya's voice.
Miyuki nearly coughed blood.
"Pfft—HAHAHAHA! Good luck then!" Sendo laughed and left with Tetsu.
After all, the warm hot spring awaited him.
"Ring ring—"
They had barely walked a few steps when Sendo's phone rang.
"Oh—old man, huh? Hello? What's up? Really? As expected of you! Your connections are ridiculously wide! Amazing!"
He hung up not long after.
"You look pleased. What happened?"
"Of course! The old man—no, my elementary school coach, Nakanishi—said he has a friend nearby who's a middle school supervisor. He contacted him, and since their school is on break, their field and equipment are free for us to borrow. And since it's a well-known private school, their facilities are fully stocked—maybe even better than ours."
"Seriously? That's a huge help! Now we can actually do proper defensive training. As expected of Coach Nakanishi."
"That man's network is terrifying—who would've thought he had contacts even here."
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