Even though he wasn't thrilled, that one point of stamina definitely made a difference.
Okay, Miyuki Kazuya might have been second to last, but still, for a freshman who'd just joined the team, almost keeping up with the First String's training was kind of a big deal.
He was a super talented player back in junior high, known for his technique and smarts.
That's why he couldn't beat the older guys in running. If he was all about strength and speed, he probably could have.
So, how far behind was Takumi compared to a genius like that?
Well, when they ran laps on the field, Miyuki could lap him in ten laps, easy.
Yesterday, Takumi was more than a lap behind.
But today, he was only about twenty meters behind Miyuki.
Miyuki even tried to speed up at the end, but he still couldn't get much further ahead.
Takumi was only five or six meters behind the senior who was third to last.
Azuma Kiyokuni, Yūki Tetsuya, Kusunoki Fumiya, Isashiki Jun…
Even those guys weren't all the same.
He was already about as fast as Miyuki was when he first joined the team.
The system might have called Takumi "a slightly stronger genin," but for him, this was a huge step up.
That one point of stamina turned him from just some average guy into a pretty decent baseball player.
The difference was night and day.
Besides running, he also got better at other stuff after his stamina improved, like his endurance.
With the stamina he had before, he could only throw about 30 Spiral Balls, which would maybe get him through two or three innings.
If the team was in trouble, he might not be able to hold out, unless the other team decided to just swing at everything.
But come on, how often does that happen?
When he faced off against the older guys like Azuma yesterday, they were just swinging away and not really trying to figure him out.
By the time he got to the seventh batter, his pitches were already losing their punch.
Even if his stamina said he could throw a few more Spiral Balls, they wouldn't be as strong.
That's why Azuma was able to knock it out of the park.
Otherwise, even if he knew what was coming, he wouldn't have hit it that far.
But after getting that one point of stamina, Takumi could suddenly throw forty Spiral Balls.
Ten might not seem like a lot, but it was enough for him to last three or four innings.
If the team really needed him to pitch in a tough situation, he'd feel a little more ready.
Besides lasting longer, he also got a bit stronger and faster.
Even his ball speed went up a little.
But compared to the Spiral Ball and when he used his Sharingan, those changes weren't super noticeable.
After that, the team started a crazy intense week of training.
He started his own training based on what the coach had planned for him.
Besides the usual exercises, he focused on pitching and getting better at the whole pitcher thing, since his pitching still needed work.
But compared to actually throwing the ball, his skills on the mound were basically zero.
Like, how do you even pick off a runner?
How do you tell your teammates where to play defense?
How do you decide what to throw based on what's going on in the game?
He had no clue.
Coach Kataoka and the others were working hard to help him with it.
They wanted him to get used to real game situations, but they also didn't want anyone to find out about him, since he was their secret weapon.
Some of the third-year seniors who'd already left the team even stuck around to practice with him.
Coach Kataoka and the baseball club managers felt a little awkward about that.
Those guys had worked hard for three years, and now that the Summer Tournament was coming up, they were off the team.
Kataoka meant well, wanting them to focus on studying and getting into good colleges, but the team still kind of owed them.
They'd put in all that work and never even got to play in a real game.
So, it was hard for the club managers to feel great about them being practice partners now.
But those third-year players were really committed.
They said that even though they couldn't play, they still really wanted the team to go all the way!
"Let us give the team one last push," one of them urged.
"Let our three years of hard work help the younger guys get better!" another chimed in, full of hope.
"Let Yamamoto-san go to Koshien for us," a third added, with a bit of longing.
Coach Kataoka was deeply moved.
When Takumi heard those words, he almost teared up.
Even though he hadn't really hung out with those third-year seniors much, he could still feel how much they loved baseball and how much they cared about the team.
So, to not let them down, he just had to train hard and do his best to help the team get to Koshien.
It was his way of making up for what those seniors were missing out on.
Time went by, and before he knew it, a week had gone by.
Masuko Tōru, a second-year player, got cut from the team.
It wasn't that he was bad or anything, it's just that the team had a ton of good hitters.
Compared to them, he had a few more weak spots, so it was kind of inevitable.
Perhaps Takumi showing up took some of the pressure off Takigawa, or maybe his little heads-up saved him.
Takigawa's overtraining issue came up pretty early, and the coach told him to rest for a week.
When he came back, he acted like nothing had happened.
"I thought I had a shot at snagging your number two spot," Miyuki quipped with a grin.
Even though he could be a jerk sometimes, he really did hope Takigawa was doing alright.
When he got hurt, Miyuki was probably more worried than anyone else.
The hellish training week finally ended, and the team officially handed out the jersey numbers.
Takumi, who was still on the First String, got number 20.
Since Takigawa was still on the team, Miyuki got 19.
Those two freshmen were going to be representing Seidō in the Summer Tournament this year.
After the draw, Seidō, being a seeded team, had their first game a week later than the other teams.