Saturday, blue skies all the way.
Out at Hachioji Stadium in Tokyo, the West Tokyo regional tournament was kicking off with a round of 16 match.
Since it was a holiday, a lot of Seidō students showed up and packed the stands.
The school's orchestra and cheerleading squad were there too, ready to cheer them on.
They all got together and filled up about half the seats.
The orchestra and cheerleaders really brought the energy, making the school look like a total powerhouse.
Tons of other fans came too.
Even reporters showed up, since Seidō's been making headlines.
They were hoping to get the inside scoop.
Counting the students, there were definitely over a thousand people there to cheer them on that day.
The crowd was huge, buzzing with energy.
As soon as the Seidō players appeared, the crowd erupted, cheering like crazy.
"Azuma-senpai, knock it out of the park today!" someone hollered enthusiastically.
"Takigawa-kun, lead us to victory!" another shouted eagerly.
"Kusunoki-san, give 'em a hard time right from the start!" a fan yelled with excitement.
Mixed in with the cheers for the upperclassmen, you could hear people cheering for Takumi, and even some chatter about him.
"Hey, is that Yamamoto Takumi?" someone asked curiously.
A young girl with binoculars, after getting a good look, beamed.
"Okay, he's way cuter than I thought," she squealed with delight.
Her friend nodded, a little surprised herself.
"I saw his picture in the article, and I just thought he was okay," she admitted, a little embarrassed.
"But wow, he's way more impressive in person," she breathed, her eyes widening
"Sayuri-chan, you're totally crushing on him," another girl teased playfully.
Things like that were being said all over the place.
There were also players from other teams there, like the ones from the other two powerhouses in West Tokyo.
They all sent scouts to check things out.
And they didn't just send people; they came prepared with cameras and everything.
They were pretty much expecting to face Seidō, their main rivals, next.
So, they had to be prepared, you know?
Those two teams weren't the only ones; at least seven or eight other teams had similar gear.
And that didn't even include the actual media reporters.
The game hadn't even started, but it felt like Seidō had already won the thing.
Like they were about to hold a press conference or something.
As for Seidō's opponent today, Hachiya Oji,
The players were actually kind of flattered at first.
A lot of their families came to watch, and even a couple hundred of their classmates showed up to cheer them on.
This was Hachioji Stadium, and they were Hachiya Oji High School.
Home field advantage, for sure.
There were so many people rooting for them.
When their players first walked out, they were all holding their heads high, looking confident.
So what if their opponent was a national powerhouse?
Today, they were gonna prove that their students weren't just good at studying.
They could play sports too.
There was this one saying they were really into:
"A sound mind in a sound body."
When their players saw those words, it was like they were seeing their own motto.
This was the life they were meant to live.
They were in high spirits until they actually stepped onto the field.
Then they saw all those Seidō students taking up half the stands.
And the students weren't the only ones; there were a lot of adult fans there too.
They seemed really excited to watch Seidō play.
Those people were probably old Seidō grads, or just fans.
Either way, they were all big supporters of the team.
Heck, even the other teams were getting footage of their game with professional cameras.
This was Hachioji Stadium, which they knew like the back of their hand.
But right now, the Hachiya Oji players didn't feel like they were at home at all.
Even though they had more classmates cheering them on than ever before – like, over a hundred for the first time –
They just couldn't find that home-field energy.
"Is this what it's like to go up against a national powerhouse?" one player wondered aloud, a little nervously.
The players hadn't even started playing against Seidō yet.
But they already felt like the other team was messing with them.
"They're owning us even on our own field," another player grumbled, frustrated.
"Where's my notebook? I need to check my notes and see how to handle this," a third player muttered anxiously.
The atmosphere at the stadium was just too much.
The Hachiya Oji players, who were so confident before, suddenly went quiet.
They didn't know what to do next.
Just when everyone was feeling lost,
Their Ace stepped up.
In the videos, he didn't look that tall, kind of average. But he was actually over 180 centimeters, which is pretty tall.
He might not stand out in Seidō, but he was a big deal on their team.
He looked at his teammates around him and stated with a confident smile, "Didn't we all know what we were signing up for?"
Even though they were all trying to look cool when they first walked in.
They were all a little nervous inside, let's be real.
Their opponent was a national powerhouse, after all.
Playing against a team like that, the odds were they were probably gonna get knocked out pretty quick, right?
Just like Akikawa, who played against Seidō in the last game.
Before they faced them, Akikawa was doing really well.
But then they played against Seidō, and it was all over.
"So, we're gonna let a few fans get in our heads? How are we even gonna play then?" he demanded, a bit irritated.
As he said that, the Ace was already standing right at the front.
He was checking out the other team, sizing them up.
"You guys hyped for this or what? The tougher the team, the better the game," he asked, his eyes shining with excitement.
"Nobody here thinks we can win, but what if we actually pulled it off?" he added, a playful grin on his face.
Then he turned to look at his teammates.
"Think about it, beating Seidō right here. What's going to happen when we get back?" he prompted, a grin spreading across his face.
The teachers and coach will be all over us, everyone will be singing praises, and even the haters who give us crap will be eating their own words.
Just thinking about it makes you wanna go out there and win, right?
"Seidō's not scoring on me, end of story. All you guys gotta do is get one run, that's all we need," he stated firmly.