(Continued)

That night, after training in the baseball club, Shiiichi Kazuki went to a Chinese restaurant for dinner.

"It's been a long time since I've eaten Chinese food, and I feel so nostalgic!" He smiled as he ate deliciously.

"Even if it's Chinese food, it's still a little different from authentic Chinese food...... "Okay, can you tell me, why did you suddenly want to eat out together today?" ”

"I heard you had a perfect match today, so of course you have to celebrate! Even though it's a 5-round valid match, it's not easy to achieve this! "What, aren't you happy?" ”

"Is that all you have to say? I Captain Nakano today, and Coach Kamibeppu doesn't know how he's going to train me tomorrow......"

"Do you mean what happened after the game?" Qi said, "I wasn't there at the time, I listened to what the captain said, and you scolded Li Yuan in public, right?" ”

"You want to lecture me, too, don't you?" Shi Yi asked with some unhappiness in his heart.

"After all, that person has done very excessive things to you, and there is nothing wrong with you revealing those things...... Hawkers, it's like catharsis! "But the question is, are you really happy after you vent your emotions?" ”

"I ......" was speechless for a while, "I don't know...... At least...... Probably not a happy feeling......"

"I think so," he continued, taking a sip of water, "you pay too much attention to things outside of baseball itself, especially your past experiences, and you won't be able to experience the joy of playing baseball if you continue to do so." Shouldn't playing baseball be a very pure thing? ”

Although the words of the instrument have not yet reached the point of making Shi Yi feel empowered, Shi Yi does not have any room for refutation, because what the instrument says is reasonable. But at the same time, Shiichi also sighed in his heart: "Sure enough, not everyone is as pure as you, and you can see everything......

"Didn't I say that before?" He continued, "I don't have that much time left, a happy day is a day, and an unhappy day is also a day, so why spend every day unhappily? ”

Once again, he said that time was running out, but Shikichi still didn't pay much attention. Just casually asked: "You weren't there during today's game, did you go to the doctor?" Where did you get hurt? ”

"It's okay, it's just a little sore in the shoulder, just rest and recuperate!" replied lightly.

***

The next day, Shiiichi came to the office of the coach in Kamibeppu.

"I heard from Maekawa and Dongguo about your entanglement with Li Yuan, and Li Yuan's classmates did do a very excessive bullying behavior towards you when you were in junior high school," said the coach of Kamibeppu, "and as you said yesterday, there have been rumors of bullying in the baseball club of Santa Salikia College for the past two years, and these rumors have also focused on Li Yuan. So you don't have to come forward in this matter, Maekawa-sans and I have already helped you settle it. ”

"Thank you, coach......" Shi whispered.

"But I can't say that you're not at fault at all, so it can't just end here," said coach Kamibeppu, "I'm the coach of the baseball club, and I'm also a teacher at this school, and it's my responsibility to teach students and make them grow up healthy." ”

"I'm sorry, teach...... Teacher, you're bothered......"

"The person you should apologize to the most is not me, it's Maekawa-san," Coach Kamibeppu said, "He also took great pains to get you back to shape, but your words and deeds yesterday embarrassed him, and he is still blaming himself." ”

"This ...... I really didn't do it properly and didn't think about other people's feelings......"

"Also, what do you mean by 'pitcher's filler'?" Coach Kamibeppu's tone suddenly became stern, "As long as you are still in this team, as long as I am still here as a coach, I will never allow you to degrade yourself so much!" ”

"I'm sorry...... I won't ......."

After that, Shikiichi found Maekawa-senpai and sincerely apologized to him. Senior Maekawa was also relieved of this matter, and encouraged Shishiki to keep his condition good and continue to work hard to dominate the country.

***

At the Tournament at the end of October and the beginning of November, Chengfeng High School won the championship and runner-up of the Osaka Prefectural Competition, Ritsuseisha (which is also the champion of this year's summer armor) and Osaka Tongyang, and finally won the championship, which is almost certain for next year's spring armor. In November, at the Meiji Jingu Tournament, Chengfeng High School went on an expedition to Tokyo and finally won the championship in one go, and in the final, they defeated Meiji Kogyo 2-0 to avenge Hagar's death. Although it was not played at Koshien Stadium, it was considered a national championship for Chengfeng High School.

In this way, the official competitions of the year are all over. The top eight of the summer armor, the champion of the autumn competition, and the champion of the Jingu competition, with such results, I am afraid that the outside world will no longer regard Chengfeng High School as a dark horse next year.

"If you want to dominate the whole country, you should be in Koshien!" Captain Nakano said to everyone after the game. Naturally, the whole team will never be satisfied with a national championship that is not very heavy, such as the Meiji Jingu Championship.

In winter, everyone is working hard for the goal of dominating the country. It's hard to imagine that even the march into Koshien was once an unattainable goal, but now it seems that dominating the whole country can be achieved on tiptoe.

In the spring of the following year, still on that court, Chengfeng High School was indeed proving that it had the strength to dominate the country. Due to the sudden rise of the army last year, this time Chunjia Chengfeng was obviously targeted by opponents from all walks of life, and the pressure it faced was much greater than last year. Even so, Chengfeng High School still broke through all the way, and before I knew it, I had already reached the finals, and I was really only one step away from dominating the country!

However, in this most critical final, the core of the team, Dong Guoqi, sent a LINE before the game to say that he couldn't come. In this game, he didn't even show up on the bench.

The opponent in the final is Yokohama University of Technology Affiliated High School, who returned to Koshien for the first time in two years, and it is a Kanagawa strong team known for its strong playing line. Coach Kamibeppu's original plan was to let the team be the starting pitcher and try to suppress the opponent's line as much as possible, but the absence of the device frustrated the original plan, and the team quickly lost a lot of points as if it was missing key parts. Fortunately, the ace pitcher attached to Yokohama University of Technology was not in the state, and Chengfeng kept biting the score, and the game became a random fight. In the first half of the 9th inning, Chengfeng High School finally chased the score to a 9-9 draw. However, in the second half of the 9th inning, the situation changed abruptly after 2 people were out, and the guards of Chengfeng High School caused a crisis due to inattention and continuous mistakes; The latter hitter hit a boccia ball between second and third base, and shortstop Nishizaki hesitated when he received the ball, allowing the first base runner to go to second base, and then passed to first base a step too late, and the second base runner took the opportunity to hit home plate after hitting third base. In the end, Chengfeng High School lost 9-10 again, and it was only one step away from dominating the country but failed to achieve it......

"It's okay! Never mind! The national runner-up is also very good! Summer is the main play! After the game, Captain Nakano comforted everyone.

Shikiichi also felt a pity, but more than this, he was more concerned about why he was suddenly absent from such an important game.

- Is it because of the shoulder injury you mentioned earlier?

However, the truth is far more serious than he imagined. One day after the spring competition, Shiichi learned this grim truth by chance.

It was also from that day that he learned what the true meaning of "time is running out" that is often on his lips......