Diamond No Ace: The Strongest Hitter

Chapter 165: Planning To Slack Off

Without knowing why, Sendo found himself running alongside a group of punished teammates for the entire morning!

It was still spring break, so the training schedule was packed.

After just one morning, Sendo was already eagerly anticipating the start of the school term.

Even though he didn't remember much about the plotlines, he knew that at a prestigious school like Seidou, the only real break during the year was the two or three days around New Year's.

Weekends, spring break, summer vacation?

Those were all reserved for either games or training!

If the team kept winning during the prefectural qualifiers—the spring, summer, and fall tournaments—things were manageable.

There would be breaks between games, and the training intensity would decrease to allow for rest.

However, if they lost, they would be thrown into the off-season training schedule early, which was, frankly, a nightmare.

By the first day, Sendo was already struggling to find a reason to smile.

Getting directly into the first string was something that others envied to death, but for Sendo, it was a mixed blessing.

Being included in the first string meant he would be part of the bench for the Spring Tournament.

Currently, Seidou's first string had 18 players, and Sendo made it 19.

Masuko had always been in the first string, though his starting position was revoked.

During the intra-squad practice game, which was mainly for the starting nine to rest, Masuko and several first-string substitutes joined in to crush the first-years.

As for why there were only 18 players in the first string, Sendo speculated it might be due to the Spring Koshien system.

Tokyo had two spots in Koshien: one for the fall tournament champion and another awarded by a vote to the best-performing team.

This didn't necessarily mean the runner-up, and as a prestigious team, Seidou had a strong chance of being selected.

Of course, this was just Sendo's personal guess.

Sendo didn't dare to ask Coach Kataoka directly. Even though he joked about calling him "Sunglasses Uncle," he wasn't stupid.

The coach must have watched his videos and made his decision based on what he saw.

A strict and impartial person like Kataoka wouldn't play favorites, especially for someone he barely knew.

Sendo had also considered the possibility of Coach Nakani's influence but dismissed it.

While Nakani gave advice to his graduating middle school players about choosing high schools, he had little to no interaction with high school coaches like Kataoka or Takashima.

Little did Sendo know, Nakani had secretly taken time out of his schedule to watch his games and, by sheer coincidence, had encountered Takashima's… assets.

If Sendo were to ask why the first string only had 18 players or why Kataoka noticed him, who knows how much trouble he'd get into?

That would definitely ruin his plans for slacking off in the future!

On the first day, he was already thinking about slacking off!

The field, which combined two pitches, was spacious but off-limits for running during first and second-string training sessions.

Sendo, participating in first-string training, wouldn't be involved in every drill, following tradition.

So… hehehe!

Sendo was 100% planning to slack off.

He already had his excuses ready: frequent bathroom breaks, dietary adjustments, or anything else he could use to minimize his training load.

As someone new to Seidou, he could use the "not used to the food" excuse as much as needed.

Sendo and Miyuki were similar in personality, but Sendo's methods were much more refined.

Miyuki's earlier antics, like dumping food into "the guy dragging down Seidou's looks" (Maezono)'s bowl or tricking Sawamura into copying something Miyuki claimed to have done last year, were clumsy and easily exposed.

In contrast, Sendo's approach ensured that even if he was noticed, people couldn't be sure whether he was lying.

That's the difference between intelligence and emotional savvy!

Even if Sendo's slacking was discovered, what could they do?

He was participating in first-string training, after all.

With limited time for running, there wasn't much anyone could do to him.

As long as he maintained his performance on the field, Kataoka wouldn't make a fuss.

Talent granted certain privileges, after all.

How else do you think Miyuki got spoiled?

Despite occasional lapses when there were no runners on base, his elite defense, command, and ability to deliver in critical moments made him irreplaceable.

Miyuki's personality was easy to understand: threaten his catcher position, and he'd fight to keep it.

But Kataoka never went that far, choosing instead to foster players' individuality and passion. Letting the talented play kept the team motivated.

Is individuality really that important?

Absolutely.

Top players all had their unique styles, thoughts, and approaches.

Young athletes were easily influenced by their environment, and building their confidence and fighting spirit required careful nurturing.

Players like Chris and Sendo were rare—mature and self-assured. For others, Kataoka's motivational talks were invaluable.

Morning practice ended, and neither Sendo nor Sawamura had much of an appetite.

Sawamura looked at his bowl of rice and couldn't bring himself to eat.

Sendo, unusually, only grabbed about a pound of meat and avoided rice altogether.

For him, rice was just filler, taking up space in his stomach and interfering with his energy intake.

With Seidou's intense training schedule, not eating was out of the question.

"Sendo! You can still eat?" Sawamura complained, glancing at him.

"People say I make food look delicious when I eat," Sendo replied.

"Is that some kind of magic?" Sawamura exclaimed.

"Baka! It's just good table manners!" Sendo flicked Sawamura on the head.

"Eat up. This school's training isn't a joke. If you don't eat, you'll starve or collapse from exhaustion!"

Sendo had the nagging feeling he'd forgotten something but quickly shrugged it off.

As they started eating, Miyuki walked over and sat beside Sawamura.

After fooling him earlier in the morning, Miyuki seemed to treat Sawamura as a comrade now.

Sendo understood the sentiment.

Neither Sendo nor Miyuki felt any guilt about teasing Sawamura—such thoughts were entirely foreign to their similar personalities.

After a brief greeting, Miyuki began eating too.

A while later, Sawamura finally finished one bowl of rice but couldn't stomach the next.

"What's wrong? If you don't eat more, you won't survive the next practice!" Miyuki said, echoing Sendo's earlier advice.

Sendo found the words oddly familiar but didn't have time to dwell on them.

"Ugh!"

"Hm?" Sendo heard a sound from beside him and turned his head.

"Ahhh!" Sawamura threw up!

"Whaaat?!" Sendo shouted in shock.

Sitting right next to Sawamura, Sendo got hit by the vomit splattered across the table, some of which bounced onto him.

Meanwhile, Miyuki, who had been watching Sawamura, quickly grabbed his bowl and tray, dodging the mess with agility.

"This is what I forgot! How disgusting!" Sendo finally remembered what had slipped his mind earlier.

Looking at his tray, which was now contaminated, he lost all appetite.

Even though not much of the mess landed on his food, who could possibly eat in this situation?

The cafeteria was in chaos.

"Are you okay?" Miyuki, having dodged the mess, immediately asked.

"Don't puke here!" a senior nearby yelled, equally disgusted and losing their appetite.

Sendo, holding his ruined tray, quickly left the scene.

Despite leaving a lot of food behind, he had a valid excuse.

Explaining to the cafeteria staff that his food had been contaminated, they were understanding.

He decided he'd eat more at dinner if necessary since there was no way he could stomach anything now.

...

After the cafeteria chaos ended, the coach instructed the first-years to start warming up.

The coach didn't explain much, but Sendo knew it was time for individual ability tests.

Coach Kataoka had mentioned this earlier, but everyone had been too shocked by Sendo's sudden placement in the first string to pay attention to the second half of the announcement.

Meanwhile, the upperclassmen had already begun their training.

The additional warm-up time for the first-years was to help them adapt and account for their lack of stamina.

Even Sendo diligently participated in the warm-up.

In truth, warming up didn't matter much to Sendo.

After all, warm-ups were usually followed by low-intensity training, and Sendo's physical abilities—apart from endurance—were undoubtedly the best on the team.

His basic endurance was still far above the average person, but compared to the upperclassmen… well, let's just focus on his physical skills for now!

In short, for exercises with minimal effort required, Sendo could outperform his peers even with a casual effort.

The kind of "I'm just warming up while you're giving it your all" situation.

Slacking off during warm-ups wasn't exactly surprising.

Sendo was confident enough to slack off during pre-game warm-ups as an outfielder—assuming they were batting second and fielding first.

Sendo also knew that, as a first-string member, he was likely to serve as a pinch hitter or runner at first.

If he performed well as a pinch hitter, Coach Kataoka would move him to the outfield during defense.

Sendo had a clear understanding of his role.

Getting into the first string without proving himself was already outrageous.

If his defense was acceptable but his batting faltered, he'd likely remain a pinch hitter or runner until he proved otherwise.

As for the opposing team being unaware of his speed?

Sendo didn't even consider this an issue.

With the Spring Tournament still some time away and him participating in first-string training, his speed would inevitably be noticed during batting and defensive drills.

Knowing Coach Kataoka, Sendo figured his first defensive position would be in the outfield, to avoid disrupting the team.

Even during warm-ups, Sendo had already mapped out his role on the team and anticipated Coach Kataoka's decisions.

"Enough thinking for now!"

...

"Ha ha ha! A world-class phoenix spreading its wings!" Miyuki's dramatic voice caught Sendo's attention.

"Who would let you pass through!"

"This guy's such a clown," Sendo thought, recalling how he never noticed Miyuki's antics in the anime. "So cheesy and cringe!"

"First year players!" A coach's voice interrupted, calling out to the first-years.

"Yes!"

"Get your spikes on and gather at Field B for ability tests!"

Hearing this, Sendo glanced at Sawamura.

Judging by his expression, it was clear he was already fantasizing.

Sendo also went to change into his spikes.

Even though he didn't need to participate in the ability tests, he knew Kataoka wouldn't let him keep running.

If he were in Kataoka's position, he'd make Sendo participate to prove his placement in the first string was justified.

In other words, it was time for Sendo to show he belonged in the first string.

"And there's a good show to watch too," Sendo thought with a sly grin.

He knew Sawamura's fastball was about 10 km/h faster than in the original story but suspected his moving ball wouldn't make it past 90 meters due to its first-drop trajectory.

After changing into his spikes, Sendo loitered near the field.

He didn't want to miss the showdown between Sawamura and Furuya, so he stayed close to secure a front-row view.

Oblivious to everything, Sawamura cheerfully ran toward Field B. Sendo followed him at a leisurely pace, securing his VIP spot.

...

"Kid, where are you going?" Kataoka asked, his tone sharp.

"Huh? Where? To test my abilities!" Sawamura replied.

"You don't have to participate. If you're free, go run some laps instead."

"Why just me? The upperclassmen are already training!"

"They've already apologized," Kataoka replied, clearly making excuses and subtly indicating that apologizing wouldn't help Sendo avoid running.

"Really?" Sawamura's high-pitched voice chimed in, full of disbelief.