Ace of Diamond: Return of the Pitcher

After the afternoon class ended, Sawamura Eijun and Miyuki Kazuya took the train together to head to Inajitsu High School.

In terms of baseball status, Seidou High School and Inajitsu High School are almost on par with each other, and Seidou High School is even slightly ahead.

This is because Seidou High School has a long history, and another reason is that Seidou High School has been exceptionally strong and overwhelming this year.

As for Inajitsu, it has only risen to prominence in the last ten years. While it had a respectable history before, compared to Seidou High School, it lacks a certain depth.

Its background is a little weaker, and its current reputation is not as prominent as Seidou High School's.

Therefore, it might feel like Inajitsu High School is slightly inferior to Seidou High School, but overall, the two teams are comparable.

Both are among the top elite schools in the country.

However, when it comes to the school's popularity, Inajitsu High School far surpasses Seidou High School. Inajitsu High School is an affiliated school of Waseda University, and this alone makes it far superior to Seidou High School.

In addition to being a baseball powerhouse, Inajitsu High School is a truly prestigious institution. Seidou High School is also a well-known school with good national recognition, but its fame doesn't compare to Waseda's.

For a student, it's one of the most desirable schools.

"I never expected that one day I would step foot on this place," Miyuki said, feeling quite emotional.

Back when he had just graduated from middle school, he had also received an invitation from Inajitsu High School. However, the young Miyuki had already set his heart on Seidou High School and had already considered himself a member of Seidou High School's baseball club.

From that standpoint, he could never have seen Inajitsu High School as his ideal place.

At that time, Miyuki saw Inajitsu High School as the team he had to defeat.

Any admiration he had for the school was overtaken by that strong emotion.

Now that he was actually stepping into this school, he felt quite nostalgic.

In contrast, Sawamura Eijun didn't have the same complicated emotions.

Miyuki was quite gifted in academics, even though his performance isn't outstanding, he have a good head. It's understandable that he would have some yearning for Inajitsu High School.

Sawamura was different.

Whether in before or after his regression, Sawamura Eijun-kun had no interest in academics.

Not to mention his poor grades before his regression, even in the present, Sawamura's grades didn't merit dreaming about such a prestigious school.

He was a person without desires.

Without such thoughts, he didn't place much importance on the fame of Inajitsu High School.

Inajitsu High School was built halfway up the mountain, which is a very common phenomenon in Japan.

Japan itself is a country full of mountains, and its natural environment is relatively harsh.

Not to mention earthquakes, the interlocking of mountains is also a natural constraint.

After entering modern society, these natural constraints have weakened considerably. But in ancient times, especially for farming-based societies, such an environment would have been seen as barren land compared to the inner continents.

However, from an aesthetic perspective, the environment around Inajitsu High School is quite good.

Built on the mountain, the scenery is beautiful.

It is a great place for studying and scholarly work.

This made Miyuki have to admire it.

Sawamura too thought it was very nice.

As the two walked along the slope, they suddenly encountered four figures on a high platform in front of the school.

Sawamura focused his eyes, and, to his surprise, they were all familiar faces.

"You're here to greet us in person? I never thought you were such a good host," he said with a smile, taking the initiative to step forward.

Unfortunately, the four people ignored him and instead, all stared intently at Miyuki.

Sawamura awkwardly withdrew his hand and scratched the back of his head.

As he looked at Miyuki and the four people locking eyes, a thought appeared in his mind.

'Is this the famous scene in anime where the demon king and his subordinates great the Hero/Savior and his friends?'

'But wait, Shouldn't I be the Demon King?'

'Then why am I standing next to the Hero? Am I one of the Friends He Made Along The Way too?'

'Oi! Director! I think we got the wrong script?!'

He knew the drama between these people, but he hadn't expected them to come out to greet Miyuki personally, which felt rather nice.

"I never thought you'd set foot on our Inajitsu grounds one day. I thought you'd never come here in your life…" Shirakawa muttered.

"That's right!" Carlos chimed in, agreeing.

"Are you welcoming us?" Miyuki, facing the four, wasn't about to back down.

Even though this was Inajitsu High School's territory, Miyuki held his head high and never lowered it.

He represented the King's Seidou.

No matter what challenge he faced, he couldn't bow his head.

He had the capital to do so.

"Welcome to my territory, please!" The one in charge among the four was, of course, the Ace, Narumiya Mei.

Yamaoka, who had remained silent, also put on a gesture of invitation at this point.

They all laughed sheepishly and the five of them entered Inajitsu High School together.

Behind them, Sawamura stood all alone.

'I see, so they are doing this on purpose.'

A gust of cool wind blew by, and Sawamura Eijun's clothes rustled.

"Hey, did you guys forget something?" Sawamura shuddered and immediately chased after them.

Narumiya Mei and the others had, of course, done this on purpose.

They, who were annoyed by Sawamura, didn't mind giving him the cold shoulder.

"Mei-san! You are being so cold! I was even planning on sending you a Christmas present!" Sawamura dejectedly declared.

Hearing this, Narumiya turned around and shouted.

"Who cares about your present? It will be something cheap anyway! Also, we are still this far away from the end of the year, you dumb kid…!"

"You say that but didn't you complain that they were only sending you birthday presents and not Christmas presents?"

"I didn't complain! I only said they were sending it on the same day, in the same package, and the very same item!"

"But that is the same thing!"

"It is not the same! What is important is the feeling!"

"Then why do you complain about my cheap stuff if the feeling is what is important?"

"Because you are sending cheap things on purpose!"

"It is not cheap!"

"It is! You just said it!"

"It's Not!"

"It Is!"

"IT'S NOT!!!"

"IT IS!!!"

The two started quarreling like children again, and the silent treatment from before was wasted.

"These two… talk more than I thought!" Miyuki, who saw the two of them talking lively like that, couldn't help but say.

The Inashiro teammates around him couldn't help but nod their heads at the two dumb children in front of them.

"I kinda want to apologize to the world for his behavior…" Yabe said hesitatively.

"Me too…" Carlos agreed.

"Do you think this is what our parents feel when we are acting like an embarrassment in public…" Miyuki couldn't help but wonder.

"Hmm." Yamaoka hummed and nodded in agreement.

"TSK!" Shirakawa for some unknown/known reason clicked his tongue.

But most likely it is because he and Miyuki agreed on the same thing.

…

T/N: Narumyia's birthday is the 5th of January, so people usually ignore his birthday present and only give him his Christmas present. XD