“Are you done? You can leave now.”
After realizing that his tantrum was getting him nowhere, the player stomped his way off the field. Yet in the next moment his face changed, carrying an arrogant smile.
‘Let’s see what the Head Coach has to say about your bias.” He thought inwardly.
At this point he had already accepted he would not be in the team, but if he was going out, he wanted to other down with him.
With his new plan in mind, he headed towards the infield practice instead of going off the field. His target was Coach Takashi who was standing on the side with his arms behind his back.
“Are you okay Ken?”
Chris’s concerned voice broke him out of his reverie.
“Ah, yeah I’m all good coach.” Ken said with a small smile.
Thankfully there were plenty of witnesses to what had happened, otherwise he might have been in hot water after pushing down a fellow player.
Of course Ken had no regrets. If it had have been in a real game, he would have likely been praised for his actions since it would have secured an out.
His father patted him on the shoulder a couple of times before heading back to his bat to restart the drill, paying no mind to the earlier incident.
If someone couldn’t communicate or listen to their teammates, then they were not the kind of player Japan was looking for, simple as that.
Just as Chris picked up the bat, he heard a commotion on the other side of the field.
He saw the player he’d just cut talking to Coach Takashi animatedly. The guy then turned and pointed to him and Ken before continuing his story.
Chris merely rolled his eyes before turning his attention back to the outfield.
“Alright, let’s shuffle. You’re the next runner.” He said, pointing to the gloomy looking Kuro.
FWHEEEE
DOONG
The drill continued as if the previous incident never happened.
On the other side of the field, the player was pleading his case to Coach Takashi, doing his best to sound pitiful. Of course he only told his side of the story, making sure to paint both Ken and Chris in a terrible light.
As long as they also suffered from this, he didn’t care if he didn’t make the team.
“And then the coach said that Japan doesn’t need a player like me before kicking me out.”
He finished his impassioned words, ensuring to make a pitiful expression, much like the one he gave his parents when he was younger.
Coach Takashi’s expression was unreadable as he listened to the story of the youngster. It was as if he was just a bystander, not letting anything effect him at all.
“So, why are you here?” He asked in a disinterested tone.
The player was slightly taken aback so he couldn’t answer right away.
“W-What do you mean? I’m reporting some obvious favoritism in your coaching staff. Surely that’s not acceptable in the National Team right?”
He began to feel a little worried after not getting the response he was after.
“No, I mean why are you still here? Didn’t Coach Takagi tell you to get your things and go?” His tone was genuinely confused, as if he was looking at an idiot.
“I-I…” The player was dumbstruck. He could only stammer a few words in response to the coach’s question.
“Alright goodbye.” Coach Takashi said, making a shooing motion with his hand as if he was dealing with a fly. Afterwards, he turned back around and continued to watch the players catch grounders.
‘W-What the hell!?’ The player suddenly felt the strength leave his body as he was promptly ignored. He had no choice but to grab his things and retreat from the field, cursing the coach’s internally.
Ken had watched the entire conversation from afar and couldn’t help but chuckle as he saw the player retreat after being dismissed by the head coach.
Although he would be lying if he said he wasn’t nervous, Ken nodded in appreciation afterwards. It seemed that his father’s integrity was not in question, at least from Coach Takashi’s perspective.
He could already tell that the Head Coach had a no nonsense outlook, though he could still be considered as eccentric. But in Ken’s eyes, he was a reliable and old school coach who would do everything in his power to win.
Subconsciously, his respect for the coach increased.
No one seemed to bat an eye at the removal of one player so early into the day. In their eyes it was just 1 less person that they needed to compete with for a spot in the team.
After going through the rotation another 3 times, the whistle was blown and the group of players swapped drills. Hiroki’s moved to the outfield drill, while Ken and Daichi’s group moved to the infield.
Unlike the outfield drill, this was something that they’d practiced often in their own clubs.
They lined up around the short stop position and would come forward to receive a ground ball from one of the staff members. After collecting the ball, they needed to throw it to first base accurately.
The drill went quickly with the staff sending accurate grounders every 5 to 10 seconds depending on the speed of the fielder.
While they had only gotten 4 rotations in the other drill, each player was able to get at least 10 before they put an end to it.
FWHEE
The sound of a whistle on both sides of the field echoed out, bringing an end to the two drills.
Ken felt like he had performed well enough throughout the two drills, but what he was looking forward to was getting to pitch in front of Coach Takashi.
Chris led the 2nd group over to the infield where they merged once more.
“Alright, next up we’ll be breaking up into positions. Pitchers and Catchers, you’ll be with Coach Takashi. Everyone else is with me.”