Chapter 56: Autographed Photo?

In recent years, although Seido High School has been called a baseball powerhouse, its batting lineup has consistently maintained a top-tier national level.

However, compared to the batting lineup, the weakness of the pitching staff is something many people find a pity.

Therefore, every year, people's attention toward Seido High School has always been focused on whether a strong pitcher would join; any change in the pitching staff would attract the attention of every major baseball powerhouse in the Tokyo region.

During the Donghe match, people had already noticed this terrifying First Year at Seido. In the past, when the pitching staff was relatively weak, Seido already possessed the strength to cause trouble for any opponent; now, this shortcoming seems to be on the verge of being filled.

A Seido like this must be treated with the utmost importance by Inashiro, Ichidai Sanko, and Teito alike.

With Huangqian Yangyi, this summer, Seido will be capable of challenging any opponent.

Many people have even begun calling him the strongest newcomer, firmly holding a lead over Inashiro Industrial's Narumiya Mei.

"This guy, what do you mean 'holding a lead over me'? Huh?"

Over at Inashiro, Narumiya Mei, who was already unhappy about losing the game, was eating while scrolling through news online when he suddenly slammed his chopsticks onto the table and shouted, his little fangs grinding with a creak.

"Mei." A hand rested on Narumiya Mei's shoulder; it was a newcomer in the same grade as Narumiya Mei, Kamiya Carlos Toshiki.

"Is that Huangqian Yangyi really that outrageous?" Carlos asked.

Before Narumiya Mei could speak, Shirakawa Katsuyuki, with his red hair, spoke up from his other side.

"There isn't much we could see from the spectator stands. If it were just fast pitch speed, the seniors wouldn't be unable to hit it, even if his control were good."

Narumiya Mei gritted his teeth hard and said, "That chestnut-haired freak's performance wasn't just his own doing! Kazuya's pitch calling is also very important!"

Hearing the name Miyuki Kazuya, Shirakawa Katsuyuki and the others shook their heads speechlessly; Narumiya Mei is truly obsessed with that guy.

"Hmph! I'm done eating! I'm going to practice!" Narumiya Mei stood up with a swish and turned to leave, leaving Carlos and Shirakawa looking at each other in dismay. They then stood up and followed him; the two of them weren't even on the second string at Inashiro, so even if they wanted to help Narumiya Mei practice, they weren't qualified to do so.

At Seido, after Huangqian Yangyi returned to the dormitory, he slept comfortably for the whole afternoon until Miyuki woke him up.

"Eight o'clock!"

"Get up and train!"

Miyuki yanked off Huangqian Yangyi's blanket. This bastard, he clearly agreed to go to the gym, but as soon as he got back, he slept until now; it's simply outrageous.

Huangqian Yangyi opened his eyes groggily. In the dormitory, only Miyuki was standing in front of the bed; Chris-senpai and the senior from the east didn't know where they had gone.

"Is it dawn?" Huangqian Yangyi asked.

"Dawn, my foot, it's dark!" Miyuki dragged him down directly. Although the tournament had ended and they had won the championship, the seniors on the First String had all consciously gone to do independent training after a short rest.

He had also woken up from a nap to find the dormitory empty, which is why he came to find Huangqian Yangyi to go do leg strength training together, but he didn't know this guy was sleeping even more soundly than him.

Half an hour later, at the Seido Baseball Club gym, Huangqian Yangyi still looked like he hadn't woken up, yawning while doing lower-body strength training.

"Huangqian, don't slack off!" Miyuki was sweating profusely on the side. As a result, he turned his head to look and saw Huangqian Yangyi was almost asleep.

"Old nag!"

Huangqian Yangyi muttered in a low voice.

Two hours later, after coming out of the gym, Miyuki went to find Chris to exchange knowledge about catching.

Although in Miyuki's heart, Chris is the person he wants to defeat and surpass, this didn't affect him learning from Chris.

Huangqian Yangyi, on the other hand, dragged his sore legs to Director Kataoka's office.

Knock knock~

"Come in!"

Huangqian Yangyi pushed the door open and entered; only Director Kataoka was in the room.

"Huangqian, something up?" Director Kataoka looked up for a moment, then lowered his head again to start working.

Huangqian Yangyi walked in and saw a huge pile of notebooks on the desk. Director Kataoka was flipping through them quickly, marking them up, and writing comments from time to time.

"Director, I'd like to ask for leave," Huangqian Yangyi said.

"Leave? Going for a physical exam again? Isn't tomorrow a rest day?" Director Kataoka asked in confusion. After the Spring Metropolitan Tournament ended, he had given everyone in the Baseball Club a day off to let them rest.

Huangqian Yangyi shook his head, "No, I'm planning to go back to Kyoto on May 2nd."

"You're going back to Kyoto?" Director Kataoka put down the fountain pen in his hand, "Is there something going on at home? Do you need help?"

"No, no," Huangqian Yangyi smiled; he hadn't expected Director Kataoka to be so concerned about him.

Director Kataoka said "mm," then took a leave slip from the drawer, wrote a name on it, and handed it over, "Take it. You can fill in the time and name yourself, and just hand it to me when you leave."

"Oh, oh, okay." Huangqian Yangyi took it and looked at Director Kataoka with some surprise; he didn't even ask for the reason?

"Go on, get some good rest tonight, don't do extra training."

"Yes, Director, you take care of your health too," Huangqian Yangyi said, bowed slightly, and then turned to leave.

Watching Huangqian Yangyi leave, the corners of Director Kataoka's mouth curled up into a smile. Take care of his health? He was still quite robust for his age.

Suddenly being cared for, Director Kataoka felt gratified while also feeling a bit emotional; he was already over thirty, was it time for him to get married?

Huangqian Yangyi didn't know that his casual remark had actually acted as a catalyst for marriage. He happily tucked the leave slip away and walked toward the dormitory in two or three steps.

The next day, Huangqian Yangyi, who woke up early, went to the field with Miyuki and Kuramochi to start running. The three of them chased each other, and after running ten kilometers while drenched in sweat, they did half an hour of swing practice.

"Huangqian, do you want to go to the arcade after school this afternoon?" Kuramochi asked while swinging his bat.

"Arcade?" Huangqian Yangyi frowned. Although they lived at school, they could go out to play, especially since today was a rare holiday.

"I want to go too!" Miyuki raised his bat and shouted at Kuramochi.

Kuramochi clicked his tongue, ignored Miyuki, and kept his eyes on Huangqian Yangyi.

"Hey, what's that supposed to mean? Disliking me?" Miyuki immediately leaned over and put his arm around Kuramochi's shoulder, "You don't want to bring me when you go out to play; you aren't planning to take Yangyi to do something bad, are you?"

Kuramochi slapped Miyuki's hand away and said with extreme disgust, "Don't you have any idea what your gaming level is like?"

The merciless contempt left Miyuki speechless; his gaming level was indeed a hundred and eight thousand miles away from Kuramochi's.

"Hey, Huangqian, are you going or not?" Kuramochi asked.

Huangqian Yangyi nodded, "Let's go, it just so happens I'm planning to go shopping to buy some things."

Since he had already asked for leave and was planning to go back to Kyoto in a few days to see his younger sister's performance, he would likely see his sister's classmates and friends, so he should bring some small gifts or something.

For example...

An autographed photo of myself?