Chapter 144: Post-Game Interview

After the handshake session, everyone from the Seido High School Baseball Team stood in a line, and the school anthem of Seido High School began to play within the stadium.

The teammates wore expressions of glory, singing loudly with smiles on their faces. Afterward, everyone went to thank the fans at the scene. After being busy for a long time, the group returned to the locker room, and the next part was the press interview session.

Of course, Kataoka did not want the players to be disturbed by the outside world at such a time. After answering a few questions casually, the group boarded the bus and returned to the hotel.

However, Kataoka clearly underestimated the persistence of these media reporters. Seeing that Kataoka would not budge, and not knowing which media outlet was so resourceful, they called the Seido High School board of directors directly. Not long after returning to the hotel, Department Head Ota received a call from above.

"Director, the board's meaning is that if possible, accepting interviews is not a bad thing," Department Head Ota said in a low voice.

Even the school principal was extremely polite to Kataoka, especially now that Kataoka Tiexin had led the team into Koshien. Even if those old fogies on the board wanted to use this opportunity to expand Seido's fame and influence, they had to consider Kataoka's attitude.

"Interviews are fine, but only the third-year students can be interviewed," Kataoka said.

There was naturally a reason for doing this.

First of all, the third-year players were more mature in their mentality and could better handle the flattery or difficult questions from reporters.

Especially since Seido had entered the Round of 16 and won by a large margin, those reporters would surely praise Seido to the heavens for the sake of a topic.

If it were first or second-year players, they might be puffed up with pride and become dizzy, affecting their performance in later games. But the third-year players, although they had fewer opportunities, had previous experience with interviews.

Most importantly, after this Koshien, the third-year players would be retiring. If they didn't seize the opportunity to let them shine now, when would they?

Especially for those in the third year who had a chance to enter professional baseball, being able to attract more attention on the Koshien stage would undoubtedly be a great help for the future, such as Dong Qingguo.

And for people like Nanjo Taishi, Zhitian Jiangtai, and Tanaka Wataru... it might be difficult for them to enter professional baseball, but with greater fame, it would be beneficial whether they were going to university or joining a university baseball team.

As for the first and second-year players, Kataoka planned to let them come forward for interviews after all the Koshien games were over, preferably after winning the championship!

Of course, this plan was not realistic. With Seido's victory, the outside world's attention on them would certainly increase. If they could enter the Round of 8, after the second round of draws, Seido would inevitably have to accept interviews.

"I will go arrange it right away," Department Head Ota said.

Although it was only for the third-year students, they made up the majority of the First String. They couldn't all go, of course. Dong Qingguo, Nanjo Taishi, Zhitian Jiangtai, and Tanaka Wataru were definitely going to attend.

After selecting the players for the interview, Department Head Ota brought them to the interview hall specially prepared by the hotel. Suddenly, a burst of camera flashes went off with a *click-clack* sound, and a large group of reporters sat in chairs, staring at them with burning gazes.

The reporters scanned the faces of the Seido players. First was Dong Qingguo, hmm, the 4th-batter Captain of Seido, known as the monster batter; he was a good subject for an interview.

As for the next few, the reporters were more or less disappointed after a glance. Why didn't the ace come? And what about that impressive first-year Catcher, Miyuki Kazuya?

The reporters had long heard of the Seido Twins and thought they would be able to interview them this time, but neither of them appeared.

Not to mention the two high-profile first-years, what about the second-years? The 3rd-batter, Yuki Tetsuya, who possessed hitting strength not inferior to Dong Qingguo and had always been considered by the outside world as the pillar of Seido for the coming year, the existence who could take over Dong Qingguo's position—why didn't he come either?

Although they felt a bit disappointed, the reporters scrambled to start asking questions once they regained their focus.

"Don't rush, everyone be quiet. Please raise your hands to ask questions, one by one," Department Head Ota and the press officer tried their best to maintain order.

Once the room quieted down, the Q&A session began.

"First of all, congratulations to Seido for winning today's game."

A reporter who was called upon stood up and said.

"Student Dong Qingguo, after 5 years, Seido has entered Koshien again and defeated Seika by a large margin to enter the Round of 16. May I ask how you feel right now?" the reporter asked.

"Happy!" Dong Qingguo spat out two words.

"Anything else?"

"Happy!"

"This... then, Student Dong, what do you think of Seika Academy's performance today?"

"Pretty good."

"Pretty good? But Seika didn't score a single point," the reporter was unwilling to give up. Wasn't it said that this person was usually quite forthright? Why were his answers so cautious?

"They worked very hard," Dong Qingguo said.

The reporter was helpless, but Department Head Ota had already pointed to the next reporter.

"May I ask Student Dong Qingguo, everyone knows that you will be retiring from high school after this Koshien. Do you have any plans or intentions for the future?"

"Keep playing baseball!"

"Does that mean you are going to enter professional baseball?"

"Yes!"

"Then do you have anything to say about your next opponent?"

"I'm looking forward to it."

The interview proceeded in an orderly fashion. In a corner of the hall, Huangqian Yangyi, who was peeking, couldn't help but shake his head. These seniors usually all had quite a bit of personality, so why did they all turn into well-behaved babies as soon as they were in front of the camera?

After resting for an afternoon, the Seido group gathered in a small conference room to study their third-round opponent, the Aihime Prefecture representative, Kawae High School.

Like Seika Academy, Kawae High School was also a dark horse. Before this, they hadn't entered Koshien for over a decade. However, this time, not only did they enter Koshien, they successfully made it through the first and second rounds, successfully breaking into the Round of 16, and were about to face Seido.

"Pitcher, Qinghai Lin, third year, maximum pitch speed 143, has mastered two types of Fastball—four-seam and two-seam—as well as two types of Breaking Ball: the forkball and the Slider."

Chris stood in front of everyone holding a thick notebook and said.

"Among them, the forkball is his finishing pitch. Generally, his condition fluctuates quite a bit during the early stages of the game; we must seize this opportunity!"

While watching the game footage, everyone studied the Kawae lineup. Aside from the pitcher, their batting lineup's strength could not be underestimated. Every batter had a very solid foundation. Although there were no overly dazzling players, they were not inferior to any powerhouse in the execution of tactics. Their overall strength was much higher than Seika's. As for suppressing Kawae the same way they suppressed Seika's batting lineup, Nanjo Taishi shook his head, indicating it would be very difficult, or even almost impossible.