After the first round match with Teikyo Junior & Senior High School ended, the members of Waseda Jitsugyo returned to Shuiming Manor. After some post-match relaxation stretching, the entire team, led by Coach Izumi Minoru, watched the second half of the game between Hanamaki East and Yamanashi Gakuin.

Since the time Ohtani Shohei came onto the field, Hanamaki East's morale had indeed been renewed: with an ace pitcher in the lineup, the enormous defensive pressure of the earlier innings suddenly eased — in this era, having an ace with a speed over 150 kilometers per hour is indeed quite a luxury. Yamanashi Gakuin, which swept through the prefecture tournament, was completely silenced before Ohtani Shohei, only managing to score 1 point in the latter half of the match.

After dinner, Lin Guanglai returned to his room alone.

Before leaving, Yagaki Kentaro and Ogata Kazuyoshi invited him to join the others in watching tonight's broadcast of the "Hot Battle Koshien" program, but he refused — this surprised his teammates who have been by his side day in and day out.

After all, even on the eve of this year's Senbatsu High School Baseball Tournament finals, he wasn't this serious, and he could still happily watch TV with his teammates while they were praised in the program.

Since it was confirmed that they were in the same section as Hanamaki East from Iwate Prefecture, Lin Guanglai's attitude became somewhat peculiar; or in other words, he valued this game far beyond what his teammates imagined.

This left his teammates, who have been with him for almost two years, even more bewildered: they've heard Lin Guanglai talk about his previous encounter with Ohtani Shohei, but in the eyes of Ogata Kazuyoshi and Yagaki Kentaro, it's just a game, and winning or losing is quite normal;

Moreover, even if Lin Guanglai lost to Ohtani from Iwate two years ago, two years have passed, and the two are no longer comparable:

Lin Guanglai today is a baseball prodigy garnering attention all over Japan. It is believed that he is destined to become a professional player, and with the physical condition and baseball talent he has shown, entering the national team and challenging Major League Baseball in the future isn't just a pipe dream;

As for that Ohtani Shohei from Iwate, honestly speaking, if Lin Guanglai hadn't emphasized it several times during team meetings, the people of Waseda Jitsugyo might only become familiar with him during pre-game analysis meetings.

Even taking a step back, even if Ohtani Shohei is indeed strong, or even a super talent of Lin Guanglai's level, the overall level of Hanamaki East is quite average, and baseball isn't a sport that can rely on individual efforts alone to triumph.

Hence, the players of Waseda Jitsugyo couldn't quite understand why Lin Guanglai placed so much importance on this ordinary second-round match; but this didn't mean they thought they could defeat the opponent casually — even if it was just to assist their captain in his "revenge," it was enough to motivate the Waseda Jitsugyo players to give 120%.

After all, they were very curious about the kind of player who could be seen as a worthy opponent by their genius player.

Sitting alone on the tatami in his room, Lin Guanglai had a large stack of information on Hanamaki East and Ohtani Shohei in front of him — some written by professional Takano Media and commentators, some local reports from Iwate, and some collected by Lin Guanglai himself.

Indeed, his teammates weren't wrong; Hanamaki East's hard strength is indeed far inferior to that of Waseda Jitsugyo; and now Lin Guanglai has already gained much recognition. In contrast, the once-defeater Ohtani seems like an unknown player — as it stands, even if they are to play another Koshien match against Hanamaki East, it should be their ace Ohtani Shohei leading his team to challenge Lin Guanglai instead.

Yet, he remains deeply bothered by that defeat two years ago: it's not that he can't accept losing a game, but the walk-off home run in that match was like a thorn deeply embedded in his heart for two years. Thus, when he learned he had the opportunity to face Ohtani Shohei again, that intense thrill and excitement almost overwhelmed him.

If he could defeat an opponent like Ohtani Shohei on the road to championship victory, Lin Guanglai thought there could be nothing better in this world.

The next day, after the match concluded, Waseda Jitsugyo continued their daily training under the guidance of the team coach.

The first round of the Senbatsu High School Baseball Tournament tends to be stretched out longer as half of the participating teams have to be eliminated.

With the second round's game nearly a week away, Waseda Jitsugyo had ample time to prepare for the match, enough to thoroughly research Hanamaki East from top to bottom.

On the pitcher's mound, Lin Guanglai was pitching — at this moment, Waseda Jitsugyo devised a practical training exercise specifically to counter pitcher Ohtani Shohei.

Other schools, when facing teams with powerful pitchers, often can only resort to pitching machines or have the pitcher throw from a closer position — not to mention, pitching machines capable of throwing fastballs over 150 km/h are expensive and many schools cannot afford them; pitching machines can simulate speed well but lack the momentum from a strong pitch, making it hard to reproduce the effect against pitchers with strong follow-through.

In contrast, Waseda Jitsugyo had a significant advantage — their team had a player whose bodily attributes and pitching style closely resembled that of their matchup opponent, an ideal scenario.

Apart from the usual practice routines, Izumi Minoru and the coach introduced an exercise over the following days, allowing Lin Guanglai to simulate Ohtani Shohei's characteristics using collected data for practical exercise, facilitating the team's quick adaptation to what they might face against Hanamaki East in the second round.

At least from Izumi Minoru's viewpoint, this training was effective; however, it still required time to verify its efficacy.

At noon that day, after concluding the morning's training, Waseda Jitsugyo returned to Shuiming Manor, unexpectedly running into their "neighbors," Teikyo Junior & Senior High School, who also stayed there and were set to return to Tokyo today after losing to them in the first round.

Regardless of the field's outcome, both teams had played numerous friendly games in Tokyo, maintaining a good relationship off the field.

Before leaving, the players of Teikyo extended their best wishes to Waseda Jitsugyo. Their captain patted Lin Guanglai on the shoulder, saying:

"Guanglai, you guys are a team capable of winning the Summer League championship — please bring the trophy back to Tokyo!"

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