"Let me be the Captain?"
Sawamura looked at Takeda in disbelief.
He thought to himself, Is this old man sick? Is he not thinking clearly?
"This is a U18 competition. Although most of the players eligible to participate are high school students, some younger university freshmen or even professional baseball players can also be considered," Takeda said bluntly.
"I know this already!"
Takeda did not shy away and nodded in acknowledgment.
"Since Coach Takeda is already aware, I'll speak frankly. As a Kohai, facing so many Senpais, I don't think I have the qualifications to lead them."
Sawamura firmly refused.
What is he talking about? He didn't even want to be the Captain of the Seidou High School baseball team.
Let alone the troublesome role of being the Captain of the national team.
Being the Captain of the national team wouldn't bring Sawamura any advantages. It would only give him responsibilities and trouble.
If there were really no suitable candidates within the team, Sawamura might reluctantly take on the role to reduce unnecessary loss.
Just like how he already knew that Coach Kataoka planned to pass the Captain's burden onto him later.
After Miyuki left the team, Seidou High's baseball team indeed could not find a more suitable Captain.
The remaining players were either lacking in skill or character.
Though it was troublesome, Sawamura could only take up the responsibility without hesitation.
Seidou High's Era record had already been refreshed three times, and there was no reason it couldn't continue.
Since it was an unprecedented super Era, the record should naturally be as glorious as possible.
To achieve this goal, Sawamura reluctantly took on the role of Captain.
Although Kanemaru was envious of the job and, in terms of character, might be more suitable to be Captain than Sawamura.
However, he couldn't do it because there were too many troublemakers in the team, and his capability couldn't suppress them all.
Thus, he could only settle for a vice-Captain position.
As for Seidou's Captain, that was one thing, but Sawamura was really unwilling to be the Captain of the national youth team.
The trouble that came with this job was more than enough to say, and the key point was that he wasn't even an 18-year-old player in this selection.
It was clear that the core lineup for this batch was based mostly on the 18-year-old players.
As for him, he was almost one year younger than those players and had just turned 17.
For him to lead a group of Senpais like this was incredibly difficult.
In an environment where respect for Senpais was so important, Sawamura leading these older players as Captain was unimaginable.
What if these Senpais made mistakes? Should he chastise them or not?
Thinking about this, Sawamura felt like his head was about to explode.
He definitely didn't want to take on this troublesome job.
Takeda Coach showed a face full of difficulty.
"Choosing you as the team Captain should have been discussed with you beforehand."
"Not at all..."
Sawamura responded politely.
As the saying goes, Don't strike someone who's smiling at you, since Coach Takeda said so, Sawamura felt it was inappropriate to continue to scowl.
"Perhaps you don't understand our current difficulties. This batch of the national team carries a lot of expectations. Although we are currently ranked first in points, the gap with the U.S. is shrinking, with only a few points between us. Taiwan, ranked third, is catching up quickly..."
Takeda Coach rambled on about the national team's difficulties, but Sawamura still didn't understand.
What did Takeda mean by saying all this?
Did it mean anything special for Takeda to say the same thing that everyone else was already aware of?
When he thought about the possible future troubles if he became the Captain, Sawamura just shook his head like a rattle.
No way. He was absolutely not going to take this job.
"Japan still hasn't won the championship in a while. As the national team's coach, I've been worrying about this, but there's nothing we can do. Either we've been unlucky, or the players themselves lack strength."
Listening to Coach Takeda, it seemed the current national team was also in trouble, as the previous national team representatives were all from the same batch.
But this group just wasn't up to par. Although they performed well each time, they were always a little short of winning the championship.
Now, America, Taiwan, and even South Korea are all talking about increasing investments and finding more talented young players for their national teams to bring glory to their Nations.
America, South Korea, and Taiwan...
They had already taken action, and Japan couldn't afford to fall behind.
The players under Takeda's hands were fine when facing weak teams, but against truly strong opponents, they were no match.
That's why Japan had broken with tradition this time and wasn't using the same fixed roster as before.
Instead, they had launched a recruitment effort.
All the players that Takeda had his eye on from across the country had gathered together.
These players from this era were known as the "Platinum Generation."
With Sawamura's rise to prominence, the players of his generation seemed to have embraced the turning of fate's wheel.
To put it bluntly, these players' strengths were unquestionable.
But because they were all so strong, the competition among them was fierce.
Anyone selected to be part of the team was a true prodigy.
Not only Sawamura, but many others who hadn't been invited to the national team before were in similar situations.
Now that they had finally made it to the national team, how could they easily let go of the chance to show their worth?
Not a chance. Each one of them was more eager than the next.
On the surface, this was a good thing—internal competition.
The fiercer the internal competition, the stronger the players became.
But there were both advantages and disadvantages. To give an example:
In such a situation, who would be appointed Captain?
It was likely that the players underneath wouldn't accept it.
So what should they do? What should they do?
Takeda thought for a long time and finally decided to pass the message up to his superior.
A reply quickly came back, consisting of just two words: "No way!"
It was unclear what the people behind the scenes were really thinking.
Despite Sawamura's reluctance, Coach Takeda insisted on giving him the role of Captain.
"Now, with this lineup we've never experimented with before, the team's success is built on momentum. After analyzing everything, we still think you carry that kind of momentum."
Coach Takeda seemed as though he had been drugged, determined, and unyielding.
Faced with such a coach, Sawamura felt he had no way out.
Takeda Coach almost laid it bare.
…