The Old Baseball Player System

Chapter 179: Pride

"StrikeOut! 3 outs, Game Set!" - The umpire announced as soon as the ball landed in Daigo's glove.

"YEEAAAHHHH!!" - The crowd cheered with a deafening roar.

"Yeeeeaahhh!" - As the ball landed in Daigo's glove, Shun roared with excitement, raising both arms in the air. He turned around to celebrate with his friends, but he couldn't even take a step before two figures jumped on him.

"Yeeeeaahhh!" - Kenta and Ren shouted excitedly as they ran toward Shun, not thinking about anything else.

"Hahaha, we won! We really won!" - Ren, the young samurai, shouted as he hugged his two friends, unable to contain his excitement.

"We did it!" - Kenta also yelled happily as he hugged his friends, hardly believing they had truly made it to the Kanto tournament.

Shun smiled and joined in the cheers, feeling his friends' emotions as the rest of his teammates arrived at the mound, hugging and shouting with excitement. First Daigo, then Takeya and Tomo, followed by Jiro, Sora, and Hisashi, who ran in from the outfield. Even the substitutes ran out from the dugout, rushing to the mound to celebrate joyfully.

"They really did it..." - Coach Yamada murmured in disbelief as he watched his players on the mound. After being brutally eliminated by Hokuto last year and with most of the team's players quitting, Shoto Junior High had finally achieved the long-dreamed-of spot in the Kanto tournament.

The Shoto players didn't celebrate for too long, although it was normal to rejoice, they didn't want to appear disrespectful to Kasuga's team. They started walking back to the dugout to a standing ovation of applause and cheers from the fans in the stands.

"Broooo!" - Before Shun reached the dugout, he heard a familiar voice calling out to him from the stands. Shun looked up and saw little Yumi waving and smiling at him with excitement, clearly thrilled by her brother's victory.

Looking past her, he was surprised to see just how many familiar faces had come to watch him play today. Besides his parents and his friends from Tokyo Nakano, whom he'd already noticed in the stands earlier, he saw Masahiro, Satoru, their wives, as well as his grandfather and a man he didn't recognize.

"Well, it was a pleasure meeting you all. I hope to see you again next year!" - Ushida also said his farewells, addressing Hana and Mika.

Ushida glanced at the three boys standing behind them. He clearly knew who they were but said nothing to them. The three stars who shone in the senior league and international championships, Ushida knew they were slightly out of his reach, after all, Toji, Akira, and Satoshi could choose to attend any school they wanted next year.

---

Meanwhile, somewhere in the stands...

"Hehe, not bad. Looks like Kanto just got a lot more interesting..." - A tall, blond boy grinned as he watched Shoto's players celebrating happily on the field.

"Hahaha, I really want to hit against that number 10's slider! Oh wait, I also want to face Kohei's pitches. What should I do?" - Another blond boy, though not as tall, spoke up. He had a stocky, muscular build that was unusual for a middle schooler.

The first boy, the taller one, was about to say something else, but before he could speak, another person spoke from behind them.

"Senpais! We need to go down for the awards ceremony." - A short, dark-haired boy called out respectfully to the two blond boys.

"Oh, right. Let's go." - The tall boy turned and began walking, and the stocky boy quickly followed suit, passing by the dark-haired boy.

The dark-haired boy quickly fell in line behind them, his eyes on the numbers on their backs. The stocky boy had the number 3 on his back, while the taller one bore the number 1. All three wore white uniforms with black stripes, bearing just one word on their chests.

"Seishin."