Tokyo: The story begins with a confession.

Page 64

The innocent, youthful love that drew attention and the imperfect ending that ultimately brought a sigh of regret are intertwined, making it feel genuine and natural.

Chapter 125 I Was Here First

This is an animation that draws you in without you even realizing it. While watching the pure and beautiful love between the male and female protagonists, you can't help but feel sorrow and emotion.

He still remembers the anxious feeling when their eyes met as cherry blossoms fell all around, only to have their view blocked by a speeding train, and the relief he felt when he realized the girl had already left after the train passed.

When people hear the phrase "5 centimeters per second," they immediately picture cherry blossoms slowly falling from the branches and landing on the ground.

"Judging from the name, it seems like a very sad story," Kato Megumi remarked, echoing the sentiments of the girls.

With a smile playing on his lips, Uesugi Kenichi slowly recounted the story under the watchful eyes of everyone.

Kasumigaoka Utaha "603" is most sensitive to the content of the story. As Uesugi Kenichi tells the story, she seems to have been taken to that distant past. A young boy and girl appear before her, and a simple story that makes people unable to help but shed tears comes to mind.

It was an indescribable journey of the soul, bringing a certain kind of emotion deep within the spirit. This story describes a kind of innocent yet sincere emotion, far more precious than any passionate love. It is the purest love in the world, a love that needs no foundation or reliance, a love that needs no anchoring or pursuit of eternity, because it is eternal in itself.

This is Kasumigaoka Utaha's feeling.

"I don't know how, but I missed it." Eriri sighed, feeling a strong urge to try and write this story.

But the thought that this was prepared by Uesugi Kenichi for Mashiro made him so angry that his teeth itched.

"That's nothing but a cowardly declaration," Saeko Busujima sneered.

She found this relationship incredibly boring. If she had just been a little braver and had fewer reservations, the outcome would have been completely different. But because of all sorts of affectations, they still hadn't been able to be together.

This contradicts the life principles of Saeko Busujima.

Uesugi Kenichi chuckled at Busujima Saeko, "But not everyone can be as brave as you, after all, you are a samurai family's daughter."

Saeko Busujima blushed deeply upon hearing his praise. "I'm going to prepare lunch. You two continue chatting."

"Can you really entrust this story to me?" Mashiro lowered her eyes and whispered. The story was so beautiful and sad that she felt a little insecure and worried that she would ruin such a good story.

"Believe in yourself, you can do it," Uesugi Kenichi encouraged Mashiro.

Besides the melancholic plot that easily resonates with readers, the story is also characterized by its exquisitely beautiful visuals and details.

Character creation is precisely what Mashiro excels at.

Furthermore, having read the original work, he grasped the plot's direction and provided guidance to Mashiro; he couldn't think of any reason for failure.

"But……"

"No buts, I'm here for you. I'll give you guidance when the time comes."

"Mmm." Mashiro nodded obediently, then couldn't help but reach out and hug Uesugi Kenichi.

"Eh!!!!"

"What kind of relationship do you two have? You've only known each other for a day! Let go of my hand right now!" Eriri shouted, stomping her legs on the ground, clearly very angry.

She clearly didn't do that, yet someone who came later didn't queue properly and dared to do such a thing!

If it were any of the other three who did this, it would be tolerable, since she was the one who came later. But why should Mashiro do this?

Eriri grinded her teeth and glared angrily at Mashiro.

At this moment, Mashiro was no longer the genius painter she used to admire, but a despicable philanderer!

"Kenichi is my owner." Mashiro glanced at Uesugi Kenichi, then turned to Eriri and said calmly.

"This is absolutely shameless!" Eriri exclaimed in shock, her face turning bright red.

At the same time, images of adult content kept forming in her mind.

Damn it! If you like this kind of thing, just ask me. I'm not incapable of doing it. I'll definitely do it better than that philanderer!

She was jolted awake by this terrible thought, her face flushed crimson, as if steam were rising from it. She then glared fiercely at Uesugi Kenichi.

It's all your fault!

She threw a tantrum, apparently ran over and stepped on Uesugi Kenichi's foot before running into her room.

Stare~

Upon hearing this, even Kato Megumi turned her gaze over, her eyes darting between Uesugi Kenichi and Mashiro, becoming quite dangerous.

“She’s always been like this. You can ask Shiyu if you don’t believe me.” Uesugi Kenichi gestured towards Kasumigaoka Shiyu with his lips.

Kasumigaoka Utaha shrugged, remaining noncommittal and offering no opinion.

Kato Megumi nodded, indicating that she accepted the explanation.

She also noticed something: Mashiro seemed different from ordinary girls, and had a certain lack of common sense.

……

After lunch, he led them to rent a car and head to the Heisei Stadium, where the preliminary rounds of the Koshien Tokyo tournament were held.

After a half-hour drive, they arrived at their destination. Uesugi Kenichi led everyone to take a look at the magnificent stadium before they went inside.

Built in 2012, Heisei Arena is a well-known stadium in Tokyo, hosting many important sporting events and concerts.

The baseball stadium area is quite large, with a capacity of around 5 people, comparable to Koshien Stadium.

Koshien 1.8 is so famous mainly because of the nostalgia factor, even though the venue itself is actually quite dilapidated.

However, I heard that it seems to have been renovated this year, and the scale and facilities are much better now.

After receiving the notification from Uesugi Kenichi, Watanabe Fuuta waited at the entrance of the baseball stadium with Ishida Tetsuya. He was very happy to have such an outstanding friend as Uesugi Kenichi, who was also one of the best among his peers.

Upon seeing Uesugi Kenichi, he stood up and waved, but upon seeing the large group of girls following behind him, he immediately smiled and shook his head, as if there was yet another unfamiliar girl among them.

Kobayashi Yoshihara dreams of having no girlfriends, yet some people have already amassed a whole bunch without even realizing it, which is rather amusing.

Chapter 126 Baseball Game

"Uesugi-kun, who is this?" Watanabe Futa asked, looking at Shiina Mashiro.

After a moment of surprise, Uesugi Kenichi quickly introduced them, "This is Shiina Mashiro from Country Y. She just transferred to a school in Japan. Mashiro, this is my good friend Watanabe Fuuta, and this is Ishida Tetsuya."

Mashiro had been looking at the huge baseball stadium since entering the venue. After hearing Uesugi Kenichi's words, she turned to Watanabe Fuuta and Ishida Tetsuya and said softly, "Hello."

"Don't mind her, she doesn't really understand RB's perspective," Uesugi Kenichi explained to Mashiro with a simple greeting.

"It's alright, I know." Watanabe Futa didn't seem to care at all. He greeted Mashiro and then led the way forward.

Where is Sato?

"He doesn't really like these kinds of occasions, so he didn't come."

Kenichi Uesugi nodded upon hearing this.

Since they were participants, the organizers were giving out tickets. After giving them the tickets, Watanabe Fuuta turned to look at Uesugi Kenichi.

"This match between Qingchuan No. 11 Middle School and Mingfeng High School is almost over. The next match is ours."

Uesugi Kenji nodded. "By the way, who is our opponent, and how strong are they?"

Upon hearing this, Watanabe Fuuta gave a wry smile. "Our opponent is Tokiwa High School, which has always been a strong contender for a spot in the Tokyo Koshien tournament. Although Kobayashi said they are different from before, I still feel it's very uncertain. After all, you know our school's past record."

“Hmm.” Uesugi Kenichi understood the meaning behind Watanabe Futa’s words. Although Kobayashi Yoshihara seemed very confident, there was basically no hope of qualifying.

Upon entering the venue, a wave of heat swept over you, accompanied by loud cheers and shouts of encouragement, creating a lively atmosphere.

Uesugi Kenichi secretly admired the atmosphere. He reminded Kato Megumi and the others not to get separated, and then took the hands of Mashiro and Eriri, who were probably the easiest to lose, so he had to keep a close eye on them.

He looked around the stadium. Although it was only the preliminary round, it did not dampen the audience's enthusiasm for baseball at all. About two-thirds of the 50,000 seats were occupied, and the stadium was packed with people.

After all, this is Tokyo. If it were a smaller city, it would be almost impossible for a single match to attract so many spectators, unless there was a highly anticipated genius player.

The entire baseball field is a fan-shaped area. Starting from home plate, the four positions of first base, second base, and third base form a diamond-shaped area, which is generally called the infield. The area outside the infield is called the outfield.

The distance between the four bases is about 28 meters. The pitcher's mound is the area in the center of the infield near home plate, where the pitcher throws the ball. There is a white pitcher's plate on it for people to see and distinguish.

The stands are just outside the playing field, which is surrounded by a wire fence to prevent baseballs from flying in from anywhere and hitting the spectators. However, the wire fence is not very high and cannot stop high balls or home runs.

But I didn't really care. The ball flew so high that it wouldn't be a big deal if it fell back down.

Led by Futa Watanabe, they walked towards an area with a good view from the front row, which could be considered a perk of the competition.

Kenichi Uesugi's arrival caused quite a stir; people made way for him even before he reached his spot.

This caught the attention of other viewers, who glanced at it from a distance but didn't notice anything and then stopped paying attention.

He walked to the front row and sat down, constantly smiling and greeting the students around him who were wearing the uniforms of Yamato Private Academy, causing a group of girls to blush.

This area was filled with students from Yamato Private Academy, all there to cheer on their baseball team.

Uesugi Kenichi looked around and found that there were quite a few people, probably seventy or eighty.

I didn't expect my own baseball team to be so popular.

Kenichi Uesugi's arrival caused quite a stir.

He glanced at the scoreboard; the game was now in its eighth inning, with the score at 12-5, and Qingchuan High School in the lead.

If no tie occurs at the end of the game, the match will end after the ninth game; if the score is tied, a tiebreaker will be played.

Based on the current score, unless a miracle occurs, Qingchuan High School is basically guaranteed to win.

Kenichi Uesugi sat in his seat and watched the game with great interest. This was his first time watching a baseball game live, and he found it quite novel. As he watched, he compared the game with his understanding of the rules of baseball in his memory.

Mashiro was also watching intently beside him, but although she was watching carefully, she didn't know much about the rules of baseball.

"Kenichi, what's this competition like?" Mashiro asked, his eyes filled with curiosity.

She had never been to such a lively stadium in her life. The occasional loud cheers from the audience made her heart flutter.

Uesugi Kenichi opened his mouth as if to explain, but then suddenly remembered that he was also a novice, so he looked at Watanabe Fuuta.

Watanabe Fuuta smiled and began explaining the rules of baseball.

A baseball game consists of nine innings, each of which is divided into two halves, meaning that each team has one opportunity to attack and one opportunity to defend in an inning.

If the score is tied after nine innings, a tiebreaker game is played. If the tiebreaker also results in a tie, the game continues indefinitely, even into the middle of the night. However, this only applies to professional baseball; high school games typically go a maximum of 15 innings before a new game is scheduled for another day. 603

The offensive team's task is simple: they have nine players who take turns hitting the ball thrown by the defensive pitcher at home plate. After hitting a valid bat, they drop the bat and start running the bases. Only after running through first base, second base, third base, and home plate to form a loop is a run counted.

There is a specific order to running the bases: you must first go to first base, then second base, then third base, and finally return to home plate.

Therefore, it is often used to describe the progress of a male doubles relationship, and the origin of phrases like "how many bases have been reached". As for what home plate is, there is no need to explain it further.

Generally speaking, it is very difficult to hit all four bases at once. You have to get to the bases after you hit the ball and before the opposing defenders catch it, otherwise you will be caught and out.

Therefore, in a typical game, the batter hits one base after another. For example, the first batter hits a strike and reaches first base, then stops. The second batter hits a strike and runs towards first base, while the first batter moves from first base to second base.