Chapter 361: New School Year

After the Autumn Tournament, Seido High School spent some time adjusting their condition before competing in the Jingu Tournament.

The Jingu Tournament in November is the final major tournament of Japanese high school baseball, a grand event that only regional champions can participate in, and it is also a high-value national-level competition.

In this Jingu Tournament, Seido High School fought their way through, ultimately bringing the tournament championship back to Seido once again.

During the Jingu Tournament, Huangqian Yangyi's pitching remained as impeccable as ever; teams from various regions could not score a single point off him, while Huangqian Yangyi's home run count broke 80, reaching an astonishing 81.

This Jingu Tournament victory also added one Spring Koshien spot to the Tokyo region, and as the runner-up of the Autumn Tournament, Inashiro Industrial thus earned the qualification to participate in next year's Spring Koshien.

As for the remaining 0.5 spot, other teams will have to compete for it.

This year concluded perfectly with an undefeated record.

December 20th, Seido High School, the break began.

During the winter break, after packing his luggage and saying goodbye to his teammates one by one, Huangqian Yangyi returned to Kyoto.

At the station, his older sister, Huangqian Mamiko, and younger sister, Huangqian Kumiko, were there to pick him up.

"Sis! You bought a car!"

Hugging Kumiko as he arrived at the parking lot and seeing the small sedan parked in front of them, Huangqian Yangyi looked at his sister in surprise.

"It's just a used car," Mamiko laughed.

"Alright, alright, come on, Kumiko, let's sit in the back."

Huangqian Yangyi stuffed his sister into the back row and immediately sat in himself.

"Nii-chan, I haven't seen you in a long time."

As soon as she got in the car, Kumiko leaned against her brother's arm and swayed back and forth.

Huangqian Yangyi dotingly ruffled his sister's hair: "You're a big girl now, yet you're still so clingy, like a little kid."

"Hee hee, I am a little kid," Kumiko didn't care what Huangqian Yangyi said, she just kept holding onto her brother's arm.

Huangqian Yangyi stopped talking and chatted with his sister in the back row.

"It's a bit of a pity that you guys at Kitauji didn't get the gold prize this time."

"Hmph, stinky brother, why bring that up?" Kumiko pouted; in this National Tournament, Kitauji had fallen just short of the gold prize, and everyone in the Wind Instrument Department was extremely regretful.

"Keep it up, I'm sure you'll win the championship again next year," Huangqian Yangyi smiled.

Kumiko nodded; she thought so too.

After returning home, catching up with his parents whom he hadn't seen in a long time, and finishing dinner, Huangqian Yangyi went out shopping with his sister.

Time flew to early January; during these days at home, besides staying in, whenever Huangqian Yangyi went out, it was always with his sister, and also Reina.

Returning to school early, the Seido High School Baseball Club began winter training, and the youths in their winter training uniforms were sweating profusely on the training field.

Although they had won both the Autumn Tournament and the Jingu Tournament last year, weaknesses were still exposed in their batting lineup; when facing strong enemies, Seido's lower-order hitters struggled to make an impact. Regarding this point, after Coach Kataoka pointed it out, Coach Ochiai was put in charge of finding ways to improve the players' batting standards.

Because winter nights come earlier and the evening temperature is very cold, Seido's training ended at 5:00 PM.

After gathering all the players, including the First String, Coach Kataoka stood before them.

"It is now January 8th, and there are only two months left until the Spring Koshien. During this period, except for No. 1 Huangqian and No. 2 Miyuki, all other jersey numbers are being revoked!"

"The jersey numbers will be re-determined before the Spring Koshien begins. During this time, all of you have the chance to compete for a number!"

After Coach Kataoka finished speaking, everyone was very shocked. Those who were already in the First String had grave expressions—once a number is revoked, it is not easy to win it back. Meanwhile, those originally in the Second String were full of fighting spirit; as long as they performed well in the next two months, if they had the chance to enter the First String, they would go straight to Koshien!

Two more days passed; the weather was nice that day, and a group of familiar figures appeared on the field—it was the third-year seniors.

For the retirement match, the seniors led by Yuki Tetsuya formed a team and engaged in a contest against the active players led by Huangqian Yangyi.

It was a retirement match, after all, so they had to give the seniors some face; Huangqian Yangyi only pitched for one inning, and the rest was pitched by Kawakami, Sawamura, and Furuya.

In the end, Huangqian Yangyi's side still won, by just one run; this face was given quite appropriately.

After the seniors' retirement match and over a month of winter training, the Seido First String jersey numbers were confirmed. Time reached March, and the Seido High School Baseball Club lifted the trophy again at the Spring Koshien, achieving a 4-peat at Koshien.

After the Spring Koshien, the Baseball Club took a one-week short break. When he returned, Huangqian Yangyi was a third-year student. Precisely because of this, as soon as the Spring Koshien ended, many professional baseball clubs contacted him, or contacted Seido, offering him very generous terms, and even quite a few teams from the Major Leagues made offers.

Regarding this, Huangqian Yangyi did not agree to anything for the time being; there was still a year left, so it was a bit too early to talk about this.

In April, Huangqian Yangyi, who had advanced to his third year, returned to school, and the first semester of the new school year began.

During the opening ceremony, Seido High School even specifically added a segment to celebrate the Spring Koshien championship.

Under the gaze of all the teachers and students, the members of the Seido High School Baseball Club First String accepted flowers and applause.

Seishin Dormitory, cafeteria.

"Say, we're in the same class again." Miyuki carried his tray and sat down next to Huangqian Yangyi.

"You're like a ghost that won't go away!"

Huangqian Yangyi looked pained. That's right, for this class assignment, he, Miyuki, and Kuramochi were still in the same class.

"Don't say it like that, Huangqian, isn't it good that we're together?" Kuramochi said.

"Heh."

Just then, someone walked in through the door with pink hair.

"My god!"

"Something big happened!"

"No!!!"

Everyone in the cafeteria let out a wail upon seeing Kominato Haruichi walk in.

"Haruichi, why?"

"You changed your hairstyle?"

Having changed his hairstyle and revealing his eyes, Kominato Haruichi looked a bit awkward, but he looked even more like Kominato Ryosuke.

Especially when Sawamura was spinning around him, chattering non-stop, and Kominato Haruichi spoke up to scold him, even Huangqian Yangyi had the illusion that the person in front of him was Senior Ryosuke.

"I'm already a second-year, I'm not the me from before. This time at Koshien, I barely managed to perform; my batting average and on-base percentage were both very low. New students are coming soon, and as a senior, I also have to show my determination!" Facing everyone's gaze, Kominato Haruichi gathered his courage and said loudly, and after finishing, his little face turned red immediately.

"Very good, I support you, this is called starting over!" Huangqian Yangyi gave a thumbs up.

"No, Kominato, hurry and change back to your original self!!"

Sawamura's roaring continued.

Annoyed, Kominato Haruichi smiled and narrowed his eyes: "Eijun-kun~!!"

"As expected!"

"It's the genes from Onii-san's family!"

Startled, Eijun howled even louder.