LIFE IN DIAMOND NO ACE WORLd

seido advances to semifinals

After our game , we went to see the other match that would decide our opponents in semifinals .

I was thinking that many little changes were seen since I came here in this world . Many match ups were different from the anime and the outcomes too . I decided to not think much about these little changes as I had a big goal of becoming a major leaguer with only hard work and more hard work as I lacked talent. 

In my past life I had short legs and big upper body.  Because these mismatched features i didn't possess a single ounce of talent that could complement my hard work. 

In this life , I had average body and barely any talent for the sport . This barely talent complemented my extreme hard work perfectly with high stamina permanent perk and I improved so much that in my first year of high school I'm a trusted member of a national class baseball team . But I knew the cruel truth that further improvement would be very slow and difficult as I could feel that with just my perfect pitching form and breaking small limits of my body I could no longer improve the speed of my ball quickly .

Now my max speed was 151 km per hour which was considered one of the best but I knew many high schoolers like furuya and narumiya near me who easily surpassed it much less pro players . In the 3 years of my high school I would train and train till the end and find my limits . According to my personal assessment,  I can improve the speed of my fastball till 157 km per hour when body stops growing in height .

But I will work so hard and bring out my inner potential to increase the limit even if it was only by 1 or even less . I will reach my full height in this life in the last year of my high school .till then I will train in my skills and control to gain achievement points and see if I can gain enough to purchase some perks from system shop to further improve myself . The perks like high stamina are extremely expensive . The enhanced brain which I bought from the store was a one time discount and even so  it cost me a full year effort .

I dont know how many ap I can gain in my 3 years of high school which will be filled with official tournaments . Ah .. forget about it as ap will be used to purchase more skills or perks on the way .

Anyway I'm now happy to reach semi finals with my team and the small changes I caused to the story from anime . I made furuya,  eijun , kominato and kanemaru better players and will continue to do so . These bastards have so much potential than me and continue to waste it . I will not forgive that .

We reached the other ground where our opponent would be decided so  , I stopped thinking about any more nonsense . I saw that semifinals was between seiko and inashiro. The made was coming to end now and after watching the pitching of both ace I pretty much guessed the outcome .

I furuya and eijun sitting together with kanemaru and kominato watching all the plays with full concentration.  These 4 guys became best friends now sigh . One is a quiet type , one is shy  , one is loud mouth and the last one is like their guardian . What a combination .

Ken - yo.. you guys when did the 2 of you arrive . Huh .. eijun  , kanemaru .

Eijun - shhhhh.... dont disturb. 

Watching this usual loud mouth I got annoyed but forgot about it as it was very tiring to argue with him .

Ken - so did you guys watching how an ace of a team pitches .

Now , furuya and eijun were hooked . Both of them furiously nodded without saying a word .

Ken - do you guys know what an ace is ?  An ace is pillar of support for the whole team . You see the trust between tanba senpai and other members . Every time whenever there is any difficult moment in a game all players count on the ace most .

Do you guys understand so far.  Both nodded so I continued. 

Ken -remember these few things now if you want to become ace of any team . Even if you are a monster pitcher who throws insanely fast balls like furuya or control your balls well and strike batters out , you cannot become ace for your team . With all that the most important thing is trust your teammates have for you including the coach so that they can leave everything about pitching to you in any difficult situation and mind their own business .

You see tanba senpai , he gave up a run despite being in top form but coach didn't even think about changing pitchers . If you guys would pitch coach would send you off on the mound with extra instructions like of you guys give up more than 2 runs I will substitute you with another pitcher etc . But for tanba senpai nothing is mentioned even if he gives up more than 2 runs . That is difference of trust the coach and your teammates have in you that you will pull over and lead the team to victory.  This trust will only be build in time.  your biggest to smallest achievements  will be kept in mind by the coach till the time to decide the new bench members like good performance during practice and results of pitching in countless practice matches etc .

You don't decide that you are ace   , the team and coach decides it .that is why ace number is considered sacred in high school baseball as it is the embodiment of trust by your teammates and most importantly your coach that I can even trust with the most difficult situations and he will overcome them .

So , the meaning is  that furuya , eijun , kawakami senpai and even me can become ace even though I dont have much interest in it .

So train harder to prove yourself rather than pressuring yourself unnecessarily by thinking that I have become ace or whatever .unnecessary thoughts only result in hesitation in your play . Remember everything well .

When I finished my small lecture , I heard clapping sounds which made me confused as the number was huge.  I looked sideways for the answer and got it which made me extremely embarrassed.  Eijun and furuya were watching me with blank expressions and nodding their heads off and other teammates heck even the coach were clapping. 

Coach - cough , everything that Ken told you guys was the absolute truth.  So remember everything well .

Anyways congratulations to advance in semifinals but be prepared for the four days before our next match. Train to your hearts content and be ready to play at your best . Is everything clear ( loud voice )

Everybody- yes sir