The entrance ceremony for new students had been scheduled for 1 April, when spring was already in full bloom.
At the gates of Akagi Junior High School in Nagano Prefecture, the atmosphere was as lively as a festival.
The basketball club, dance club, archery club, kendo club…
One club after another had set up tables and raised banners, resembling merchants hawking their wares at a bustling marketplace.
Most of the students responsible for recruiting new members were the clubs' most attractive female representatives. Dressed in neatly tailored school uniforms, they greeted the newly enrolled boys with radiant smiles, extending their delicate hands towards them.
And in those hands were application forms for joining their respective clubs.
Walking amongst the recruitment stalls, Yamaguchi Ken felt rather bewildered.
He had heard plenty of stories about how popular club activities were in junior high school. Apparently, the more prestigious clubs would sometimes even quarrel over promising new students on the very first day of term.
But could someone please explain why, after standing there for two whole hours, not a single person had approached him?
Whenever those friendly-looking upperclassmen noticed him, their gazes would naturally drift elsewhere. None of them showed the slightest intention of striking up a conversation.
And to think he'd actually been worried when he first entered the school!
What if several clubs fight over me? How am I supposed to choose?
Standing just 150 centimetres tall and weighing a hefty 75 kilograms, Yamaguchi Ken found himself utterly bewildered by the situation.
"Hey, kid! I can tell just by looking at you that you've got extraordinary potential! That physique, those natural gifts… You're clearly a once-in-a-century batting prodigy! How about joining our baseball club?"
Just when Yamaguchi had begun to despair, a voice as heavenly as an angel's suddenly rang out behind him.
He turned around.
Standing before him was a boy roughly half a head taller than himself, with a well-proportioned build and rather handsome features.
The boy was smiling warmly at him.
His eyes were remarkably clear, almost as though they possessed some mysterious power capable of drawing people in.
What a charming upperclassman!
Yamaguchi desperately wanted to accept the invitation.
However, remembering how everyone else had ignored him, he couldn't help feeling doubtful.
Would such a wonderful club genuinely welcome someone like him?
After all, baseball clubs were amongst the most popular clubs in practically every Japanese school.
"Senpai… Are you absolutely sure you want to invite me?"
As he spoke, Yamaguchi tried his hardest to suck in his protruding stomach, hoping to make himself appear a little less bulky.
"Absolutely! Of course I'm sure! Having the opportunity to recruit a genius like you is an incredible stroke of luck for our baseball club!"
Those words nearly brought tears to Yamaguchi's eyes.
Ever since childhood, he'd endured more than his fair share of ridicule because of his weight. Whenever people described him, they invariably compared him to a certain farm animal.
Yet, for the first time in his entire life, someone had called him a genius!
Even if the other boy was merely being polite, Yamaguchi was more than happy to hear it.
While they were talking, the boy had already slipped an application form into Yamaguchi's hands.
Before he quite understood what was happening, Yamaguchi had filled it in and officially become a member of the Akagi Junior High School Baseball Club.
Only after completing his registration did he finally learn the name of the boy standing before him.
"I'm Sawamura! Sawamura Eijun! You can call me Ei-chan or just Eijun. Either's fine!"
Sawamura was grinning like a fox that had just made off with a chicken.
For some inexplicable reason, a faint sense of foreboding began creeping into Yamaguchi's heart.
"Oh, and there's no need to call me senpai. I'm a first-year student, just like you!"
It was only then that Yamaguchi finally took a proper look at the people standing around Sawamura.
Behind him were two boys who looked like thoroughly ordinary lads from the countryside.
One was tall and painfully thin, almost as though he were suffering from malnutrition.
The other had such an unremarkable face that, if someone were to lose him in a crowd, finding him again would probably be quite a challenge.
Noticing Yamaguchi's interest in his companions, Sawamura enthusiastically introduced them.
"These are my mates from back home! The tall one's Nakagawa Shin, and the slightly shorter one's Little Yamazaki!"
Sawamura delivered the introductions with infectious enthusiasm.
However, by Yamaguchi Ken's standards, neither of these two fellows could exactly be described as impressive specimens.
Suddenly, Yamaguchi began to question Sawamura's rather peculiar judgement.
Just what sort of standards does this ridiculously charming classmate use when choosing people?
Unfortunately, Sawamura had absolutely no time to concern himself with Yamaguchi's doubts.
Even after recruiting Yamaguchi Ken, they had only managed to gather five people.
Including Sawamura himself and his childhood friend Wakana, their numbers amounted to a grand total of six.
They still needed three more!
The revolution has yet to succeed! Comrades, we must keep fighting!
After silently encouraging himself, Sawamura set off on another recruitment expedition.
Trailing behind him were a boy with an utterly forgettable face, a tall and skinny lad who looked half-starved, and an exceptionally fat boy who stood 150 centimetres tall and weighed 75 kilograms.
The four of them made quite a spectacle as they wandered through the crowds of students.
Anyone who noticed their peculiar little group immediately hurried away, as though trying to avoid catching the plague.
"Haah… When everyone's hearts are scattered, leading a team really is difficult!"
Carrying a sign advertising the baseball club, Sawamura continued roaming around the school grounds, searching for potential recruits.
After considerable effort and relentless persuasion, he finally managed to talk another boy into joining.
The newcomer was a delicate-looking lad who could easily have been mistaken for a quiet, refined girl.
"Fūryō, trust me! You're absolutely born to be a shortstop!"
Sawamura spoke with such unwavering conviction that he was beginning to believe his own words.
Following behind him, Yamaguchi Ken wore a rather peculiar expression.
For some reason, he couldn't shake the feeling that he'd heard Sawamura use almost exactly the same line before.
"Erm… Don't we have any upperclassmen in the club?"
Regardless of how modest Sawamura might have been about his recruiting abilities, he'd already gathered quite a few members.
From what Yamaguchi had heard, including Sawamura's friends from primary school, there were already six or seven first-year students in the club.
Surely that was enough?
After all, Akagi was only a small school.
Across all three year groups, it had merely three or four hundred students.
There were only slightly more than a hundred new students this year, and their year group was particularly unusual because girls vastly outnumbered boys.
Rumour had it there were so many girls that every boy could have one on each arm and there would still be plenty left over.
Considering those numbers, Sawamura's recruitment success was actually rather astonishing.
Even if his recruits were hardly the finest physical specimens, he'd still managed to gather a respectable number of people.
Surely he'd already exceeded whatever recruitment target the senior members had assigned him?
"Upperclassmen?"
Sawamura stared at him blankly.
Then, as though suddenly understanding the question, his face lit up.
"Oh! We don't have any upperclassmen!"
He announced this with complete confidence.
"That means every single one of us is an indispensable member of the baseball club! Everyone has a chance to play in matches! Nobody has to spend all their time sitting on the bench!"
Sawamura continued enthusiastically describing the bright and glorious future awaiting their baseball club.
Yet the longer Yamaguchi listened, the more he felt that something wasn't quite right.
"This school didn't actually have a baseball club before."
The newly recruited Fūryō Shōta delivered this revelation in a calm, refined voice.
"Then… what exactly have we joined?"
Yamaguchi Ken, along with Yamazaki and Nakagawa standing behind him, suddenly looked as though they'd been thoroughly swindled.
There wasn't a baseball club?
Don't tell me we've actually joined some sort of informal hobby group!
"Relax, relax!"
Sawamura waved away their concerns without the slightest embarrassment.
"The baseball club has only just been established! I personally went to the headmaster and applied for permission!"
He raised his thumb and pointed proudly towards his own chest.
"Today marks the very first day of the Akagi Junior High School Baseball Club!"
And so, on the very first day of the new school year, the Akagi Junior High School Baseball Club officially came into existence.
Admittedly, the situation wasn't particularly promising.
They didn't even have a proper baseball field yet, and they still hadn't recruited enough players to form a complete team.
But who could possibly predict what the future held for Akagi?
Even Sawamura himself had no grand ambitions beyond making up for the regrets his childhood friends had suffered in their youth.
All he wanted was to lead them to the National Tournament.
That was all.
I'm Sawamura.
I've come to fulfil my promise.
Gazing at the faces before him — faces so familiar that he could never possibly forget them — Sawamura silently repeated those words in his heart.