Ace of Diamond: Return of the Pitcher

V6_Chapter 20: Pouring Cold Over Victory

Eijun was very attentive to his health. An athlete who neglects their body only endangers their career.

To avoid affecting the next round of games, Sawamura decided to change his clothes and head straight to the Seidou baseball team's dedicated bus. He planned to hide in the bus and return directly to school. Once there, he would take a comfortable hot shower to chase away the chill.

If Sawamura could follow through with this plan, he would avoid catching a cold. His physical conditioning was excellent, and minor ailments typically wouldn’t trouble him.

However, the rainy weather made catching a cold more likely. And he pitched for too long, it would be hard to avoid getting sick.

‘For the team, I really give it my all,’ he thought, giving himself a silent pat on the back. He greeted Coach Kataoka told him the situation and headed towards the gate.

He wrapped himself up tightly, as he was most afraid of the wind when he had a cold.

The weather was strange. Even though it had just rained and was clearing up, an autumn breeze had picked up.

Autumn winds aren't as biting as winter winds, but they are cool and can seep into the body, making the person feel uncomfortable.

As he stepped out the gate, Sawamura saw six buses parked neatly. Familiar faces were emerging from the buses.

They were the Brotherhood of Red Hearts, who had come all the way from Nagano Prefecture specifically to support him.

Today, it felt strange that they weren’t in the stands. Sawamura was worried, but he had to focus on the game and hope that everything was okay.

Seeing Sawamura, Obayashi who is now in his thirties, smiled like a child.

“I heard you won the game. I’m so sorry; the rain made it impossible to see the road…”

He wanted to say more, but Sawamura grabbed his hand.

“Did nothing happen?”

Sawamura was surprised by his own question. Despite various thoughts crossing his mind, he had never doubted that the Brotherhood would come.

This feeling was wonderful!

Sawamura didn’t get on the bus as he had planned. Instead, he spent 20 minutes chatting with the Brotherhood members in the autumn breeze.

After seeing them off on the bus, Sawamura waved goodbye.

Before they left, he specifically asked Obayashi and Kobayashi to record the names of everyone who came today.

“Tell them that in three years, I’ll invite all of them to my first professional game.”

“What?! But we have hundreds of people!”

“Don’t worry, I have the money!”

Sawamura regretted his decision as soon as he got on the bus!

When he saw the members of the fan club members, he was moved and acted impulsively.

It’s not that Sawamura is unwilling to spend the money; the real concern is that this move might lead to significant trouble.

His fans aren’t just from the Brotherhood of Red Heart; there are also many die-hard fans from the Demon King’s Guard, Sawamura Eijun’s largest fan club.

Inviting fans to a game isn’t unheard of, but paying for their trip is another story. Major League tickets are expensive.

And that’s not even the biggest expense! The main costs are the round-trip airfare and accommodation.

Even if the fans themselves cover accommodation costs, it’s hard to ask them to pay for their own airfare and tickets.

Sawamura Eijun searched his memory, thinking about ticket prices.

As he played in the Major Leagues before his regression, so he remembered the cost of flights between Japan and the U.S.

Ticket prices haven’t changed much in the past decade, around 60,000 to 70,000 yen.

60,000 to 70,000 yen means it’s roughly six to seven hundred dollars.

With six buses for the club members, there are at least three to five hundred people.

This means that just the airfare alone would exceed 40 million yen.

‘Adding in accommodation costs…’

Sawamura felt like his math lessons were completely useless; he couldn’t even figure out the total!

‘It’s a significant amount of money.’

What’s more frightening is that if he really invited them, he couldn’t just invite the Brotherhood of Red Heart members.

If he only invited the Brotherhood of Red Heart and not the Demon King’s Guard, it would be favoritism.

Even without thinking, Sawamura knew this would be an extremely troublesome situation.

‘It definitely can’t be done that way.’

So, if he’s going to invite people, he should invite them all together.

It’s impossible for everyone to go. Sawamura has some money, but he can’t invite all of his fans. Even the richest person in the world couldn’t afford that.

So, he can only invite some of them.

‘Like the previous autograph sessions, a lottery could work.’

Others probably wouldn’t complain.

There are about 500 people in the Brotherhood, so he could invite 500 people from the Demon King’s Guard as well.

That adds up to a thousand people!

Airfare, round-trip tickets, accommodation…

Without counting other expenses, these alone add up to nearly 80 million yen, and that’s a huge amount. (Around 800,000 USD$)

Even though Sawamura had saved a lot of money, even buying stocks, he felt he was richer than most peers. As long as he wasn’t compared with those born with a silver spoon, he was still quite confident.

But after calculating, he realized this would be quite the hit.

With only two and a half years until graduation, he must earn tens of millions in the coming years to fill this huge gap.

“Me and my big mouth!” Sawamura sighed.

Even before his regression, he never worried about money and wasn’t very concerned with his spending.

Unexpectedly, after his regression, he started worrying about finances.

Sawamura was a bit annoyed but not very regretful.

He genuinely wanted to do something for his fans who supported him.

“Then let’s make moneAaaH-choo!!”

Sawamura, who had just faced financial crises, sneezed heavily.

Back at school, Sawamura inevitably caught a cold.

It was fine to be in the rain because he was active, and his body was in motion.

Though he felt cold, it was just a few sneezes.

But after the game, he stood in the wind for 20 minutes.

It’s no wonder Sawamura caught a cold.

The Ace is sick!

This is a big issue at Seidou High School. The coaching staff held a special meeting, insisting that Sawamura Eijun must rest properly and avoid delaying the next game.

Meanwhile, during today’s game, the Seidou High School coaching staff noticed several issues with their team.

The score was 3-0!

Looking at this score, it seems acceptable, considering the opponent is the strong Teito High School.

Not to mention that after the third-year players retired, Seidou High’s attack power had decreased significantly.

Scoring three points is quite good.

But the problem is these three points are too special!

There were no points won through teamwork or solid performance, only with personal skills.

When did Seidou become such a team?

Even if Seidou High wasn’t originally like this, the current situation is severe enough to be addressed.

If this issue isn’t resolved quickly, it’s only a matter of time before Seidou High loses in the next game.

Kataoka, Ochiai, Ota, Takashima…

The entire Seidou High coaching staff, along with the third-year's acting coach Chris, and Captain Miyuki, gathered to review the situation. They believed the current lineup was fine (only Ochiai suggested that Maezono wasn’t suitable for the fifth hole).

The key issue was the lack of coordination among the batters, which still needed improvement.

“We need to practice hard!” Coach Kataoka concluded coldly.

…

T/N: Catching a cold in the middle of a busy season is the worst! The Worst!!

It is worse at having to work in a holiday!!

So, stay healthy guy, and Thank you all for reading!

I hope you all have a good day!

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