As the current president of Takano Ren, Oshima Takakou had rather mixed feelings at this moment: He was eager to witness the emergence of a super high school level player like Lin Guanglai; however, he still had reservations about the occurrence of consecutive Spring and Summer championships.

This is actually quite understandable:

From the content of the matches in the past two years, the generation of players born around 1994 have shown remarkable potential, with many significant players entering professional baseball after high school in previous years; now, Lin Guanglai, even as a second-year student, was seemingly poised to become the new giant in high school baseball.

The continuous emergence of star players, be it for the promotion of baseball or as their achievements as officials, was purely beneficial without any detriments. Every staff member of Takano Ren naturally welcomed such a situation, and they would even silently push from behind to further expand the influence of these star players.

However, this did not mean that Oshima Takakou was willing to see the emergence of "super teams" taking root — at least he hoped that during his tenure as president, occurrences like the "consecutive Spring and Summer Championships" could happen as infrequently as possible.

Despite Japan's high school baseball appearing to be flourishing and vibrant currently, there were still layers of hidden concerns behind the grand scene:

The original intention of the Koshien tournament was to cultivate the character and morality of high school students through baseball and to provide everyone with the fair and just right to enjoy their youth and pursue their dreams — in the early days of the tournament, this sport indeed achieved this goal;

but as the tournament gradually became more formalized and professionalized, the disparities between various regions, public and private schools began to surface:

Schools in large metropolitan areas like Osaka, Aichi, and Tokyo enjoyed resources vastly unparalleled by those in smaller regions; and in places where resources were already limited, most were extracted by private schools, while those public schools, which were already struggling in terms of student population and lacked baseball resources, often ended up as victims in this process.

Many talented players, who were hindered by the lack of baseball conditions in their hometowns, even went to lengths of leaving their homes to distant places like Osaka, Yokohama, and the Tokyo Region to pursue their dreams, further tipping the scales through this phenomenon of "baseball study abroad."

Private schools gradually monopolizing the Koshien tournament has become, at least from the current trend, an inevitable force; but as the president of Takano Ren, Oshima Takakou, who had a special affection for high school baseball, sincerely hoped that this day would come as slowly as possible.

Of course, this was just his innermost thought; shaking his head to clear away such notions, Oshima Takakou cast an appreciative glance at Lin Guanglai standing at the forefront of the formation in the stadium.

Witnessing the birth of a player of such caliber during his tenure, Oshima Takakou naturally welcomed it; Takano Ren had already passed a resolution internally — from next year onwards, the official promotion of Lin Guanglai would be taken to another level, grooming him into a new representative of high school baseball in the new era!

After the speech by the president of Takano Ren, the on-site band played the march of the tournament — hearing the familiar melody, the players of Waseda Jitsugyo stiffened, with their hearts stirring restlessly.

It's here! It's here! The exciting awards ceremony is finally here!!!

At the forefront of the formation, Lin Guanglai took off his cap and handed it to Kenshu Yasuda beside him, walking out of the formation with a serious expression towards the podium.

With every step he took, corresponding applause resounded in the Koshien Stadium — for this handsome-faced, extraordinarily talented genius, the spectators at Koshien also extended their warmest welcome.

Reaching the area in front of home plate, Lin Guanglai bowed respectfully towards Oshima Takakou, who was presenting him with the award, then took a step forward and extended his hands to receive the red flag symbolizing the Summer Koshien championship from the other party's hands.

"Congratulations! Well done on the victory!"

"Thank you!"

The moment the flagpole was in his hands, Lin Guanglai felt an inevitable weight — the Summer League championship flag is replaced every sixty years, and now, the flag was flanked by all the award ribbons of championship schools from the past thirty years. This weight was not just from the flag and ribbons, but also from the historical weight they carried.

Carrying the championship flag back, as Lin Guanglai walked past the section where Koushing Academy was located, he could distinctly feel the enthusiastic yet disappointed gazes from their final opponents — for the players of Koushing Academy, they were once so close to holding this flag, yet it felt so far away. The bitterness of this defeat would take a long time to digest.

Returning to the formation, Lin Guanglai placed the championship flag beside him, then took the hat offered by Kenshu Yasuda and put it back on, watching as the latter went to receive the championship shield.

The same process, they had actually done once in spring; but the meaning of summer was ultimately different — after this match, a large number of third-year players led by Kenshu Yasuda were about to retire from the club. Concluding their high school careers in such a manner, they should all be satisfied with that.

Compared to the championship flag, the Summer League championship shield is truly hefty, about a third as tall as Kenshu Yasuda himself; in Lin Guanglai's eyes, the keeper of the shield looked upon it as if gazing at his girlfriend, his gentle eyes constantly passing over the golden shield medal.

After the captains of the runner-up teams received the runner-up shield, it was time for the players to receive the champion medals — Oshima Takakou personally hung the medal around Lin Guanglai's neck, expressing his admiration and encouraging him to excel and create more brilliance in next year's matches.

Unlike the large medal of the Senbatsu High School Baseball Tournament victory, the medals of the Summer League are much more petite, similar in size to those in many other tournaments; Waseda Jitsugyo's players kept their heads down to examine the medals, their hands constantly feeling over them.

After the awards ceremony, it was free time provided by Takano Ren for the two finalist teams. As soon as the announcement of the end of the game came over the loudspeakers, the players of Waseda Jitsugyo rushed out, gathering around Mr. Izumi, and a dozen or so young men together threw him into the air.

"You rascals, put me down!!!" Although Mr. Izumi's mouth never stopped scolding, the players weren't afraid of him at this moment, taking this as their supervisor being embarrassed, hurling him into the air with even more vigor.

And then, Lin Guanglai became the next target — as the captain of the team and the biggest contributor to their consecutive championships, how would the other players let him off?

Tossed up and down several times by his teammates before being put down, Lin Guanglai found himself feeling a bit dizzy; just as he was about to find a place to rest, a staff member from Takano Ren came to find him.

"Huh? Is that so... okay, I'll go now."

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