Diamond No Ace: The Strongest Hitter Has Arrived

Chapter 463 463: Catch

Just as Nitta was interviewing Yakushi, the Seido High School Baseball Team was also at practice.

Not only the second and third team players. Even the First String, who had just finished their game, were not resting.

They were training too.

Todoroki Raizo and Coach Kataoka had very different coaching styles, but on certain points they aligned completely.

Both believed that players should maintain the same amount of training every day.

The benefits of that consistency were clear.

For the players, the process was another matter.

Training every day, with no rest days. Even if something interrupted a session, practice resumed the moment they returned.

Final exams, games, it made no difference in the end.

Of course, when a game had been particularly intense, the volume of training was adjusted accordingly.

After a genuinely demanding match, the Seido High School Baseball Team wasn't entirely unwilling to give players a half day. That was only reasonable.

A truly brutal game could stretch beyond nine innings into extra time, putting enormous demands on physical reserves. Asking players to train hard immediately afterward wasn't realistic.

This was also why teams typically took a half day after games.

However, if the game had required very little from everyone, Coach Kataoka would still have them do some additional work.

Seido's game against Hongmo today had ended in five innings, and the energy expenditure had been minimal.

In that situation, Coach Kataoka was certainly not going to let the players off easily.

The Seido High School Baseball Team players were very self-disciplined.

They had to be. Under Yuuki's influence, all the third-year starters had become deeply committed to their training.

Since the third-year seniors were staying for extra work voluntarily, could the juniors have the nerve to head back early for a shower and sleep?

Of course not.

And if not, they might as well stay and train together.

Zhang Han had mixed feelings about this arrangement.

In Japan, the relationship between seniors and juniors carried a weight similar to the relationship between superiors and subordinates. Even at the Seido High School Baseball Team, which had a relatively healthy culture, this was not something that changed much.

Zhang Han had looked into it privately, and he believed it had a great deal to do with how people were raised here. Education across Tokyo, and Japan more broadly, emphasized humility and care for others.

Exceptions existed, of course. But exceptions were clearly the minority.

This was also part of why people tended to form positive impressions of those from this country. When someone is consistently courteous toward you, it becomes difficult to respond with anything less.

That said, this kind of upbringing could also be suppressive in its own way. It had its clear strengths, but also its limitations.

Zhang Han could see that. He had no interest in challenging or trying to change it.

The social environment was what it was, and it wasn't something one person could shift. His choices were to adapt or leave.

To avoid standing out, Zhang Han always stayed to train with the third-year seniors until the very end. Honestly, though, he preferred morning practice to evening extra sessions.

Today was the same. Zhang Han and the other second-year juniors stayed and trained with the third-year seniors through to the finish.

This too was a kind of tradition.

Once it became habit, those second-year players would carry it on when they became third-years.

Prestigious schools had many such subtle influences. Some aspects might seem unreasonable from the outside, but following them shaped the team in ways that added up over time.

Details were often what changed a person most.

After spending enough time in the Seido High School Baseball Team, everyone changed in one way or another.

Zhang Han was no exception.

Although he had kept up with the seniors' training rhythm ever since joining the First String, he hadn't been entirely willing at first.

His preference had been an hour of extra work in the morning, a steady pace in the evening, a quick shower, and then back to the dormitory for some stretching before sleep.

But to avoid standing out, he had simply practiced alongside the seniors.

By now, he had grown accustomed to it. If he didn't practice with them, something felt off.

After today's session, Zhang Han still felt like he hadn't done enough.

He planned to find Ono and get some pitching practice in.

The coach had already indicated he might be sent out to pitch in tomorrow's game. How could he not prepare as much as possible?

"I'll come with you."

Miyuki volunteered.

"Really? Don't you need to work through things with Tanba and Kawakami?"

Zhang Han was genuinely puzzled.

Although the coach had suggested he might pitch, that was only a possibility. Compared to the confirmed starter and the reliever, his role was far less certain.

This was also why Zhang Han hadn't felt comfortable pulling Miyuki into practice on his account.

He had assumed Miyuki would need to go over pitch signals with Tanba or Kawakami tonight and work out the strategy for tomorrow.

"Don't worry. All of that was sorted out beforehand."

Miyuki smiled and headed off to change his gear.

Zhang Han warmed up, put on his glove, and made his way to the baseball team's indoor practice facility.

The facility was brightly lit.

Beyond the two of them, more than a dozen other players were already there practicing.

When they saw Zhang Han and Miyuki approaching, they stopped instinctively and drifted closer to watch.

A practice session between these two, even just a catch, was worth paying attention to.

"Want to start with catch?"

Catch was the best warm-up and one of the most important practice methods in baseball.

"Sure."

Zhang Han agreed without hesitation, relaxed.

It had been a long time since he had practiced with Miyuki.

Since injuring his finger, he had gone nearly three months without pitching. Recovery practice had only resumed in the last few days, and even that had been kept quiet from those around him.

Zhang Han held the ball and lined up with Miyuki Kazuya about ten meters apart.

"Ready?"

"Whenever you are."

Miyuki opened his glove as the signal to begin.

Zhang Han threw casually.

"Swoosh!"

The ball arrived in front of Miyuki in an instant and went straight into his glove.

"Thud..."

Miyuki felt his arm drop from the weight of it. He looked up at Zhang Han, a flicker of disbelief in his eyes.

This guy hadn't pitched in over three months. Why was the ball still that heavy?

Miyuki wasn't the only one surprised. The watching players exchanged glances.

The ball Zhang Han had thrown without any particular effort was faster than most of them could manage at full output.

Miyuki threw back.

"Thud!"

Zhang Han felt it in his wrist.

"That's strange. With your arm strength and that kind of weight behind the ball, why didn't you become a pitcher?"

In most cases, the first position a talented player gravitated toward was pitcher. From the feel of Miyuki's throws, he would have been a formidable one.

"The coach who trained me back then said the same thing. But give up catching? How could I hand over such an interesting position to someone else?"

As they talked, they kept stepping back. Each time the ball was thrown, the thrower took a step back after releasing it and the catcher stepped back after receiving it.

The distance between them kept growing, and quickly exceeded fifty meters.

At fifty meters, the other person looks considerably smaller. And yet both of them were still throwing the ball consistently into the area around each other's glove.

The onlookers were stunned.

Not just the distance. Other players who could throw that far would constantly be adjusting their position. These two had barely moved from where they started.

Just then, a tall figure appeared in the entrance of the training facility.

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