The sunset over Nagano painted the sky in purple and orange as we sat in a circle on the dusty edge of the field. We had the permission but as the minutes passed the reality of our situation started to sink in. We weren't a team yet. We were just a bunch of kids with a piece of paper and a lot of nerve.
"Okay" I said, pulling out a crisp notebook. "We have the field but we have zero resources. If we want to survive until next March we can't just play baseball. We have to build ourselves from the ground up. We played enough in elementary school to catch up with the basics, but now we need to focus on our stamina."
Nobu leaned in, his face serious. "So what's the plan Eijun?"
"First" I said, clicking my pen. "We need the equipment we can actually afford. Everyone has a mission for tomorrow. Find an old tire. Check your garages or the junkyard near the river. And a thick heavy rope. Each of us needs a set."
I started scribbling our immediate gear list.
"We're going to tie those ropes to the tires and drag them until our legs forget how to shake. We need explosive power."
Wakana looked at the list, her brow furrowed. "Tires? Eijun, we're going to look like a construction crew, not a baseball team."
"We'll look like winners" I countered with a grin. "And it's not just about strength. Look at this." I flipped the page to show a detailed stretching routine. "Flexibility is our shield. We have to train our shoulders, arms and legs properly to avoid any unwanted or unnecessary injuries. I've seen players ruin their elbows by being reckless. We start every session with fifteen minutes of deep stretching. No exceptions."
"Speed is the other thing" I continued pointing to the agility section. "Being faster is the best idea for us right now. If we can't outrun the big teams yet we'll outplay them."
Nobu nodded, absorbing the intensity of the plan. "It sounds like a bootcamp."
"It is" I admitted. "Because we have a bigger problem. The Advisor. The Principal gave us a year but we can't just wait for someone to feel sorry for us. I've been asking around. There's a teacher named Eiko. She's on maternity leave right now but she's supposed to come back in about six to eight months. She's our main target. If we can show her a functional disciplined team by the time she walks back through those gates she might actually say yes."
Wakana's eyes lit up. "Six months. That gives us time to actually look like a real club."
"Exactly. But we can't train on a field that looks like a landfill" I said, gesturing to the overgrown weeds and the rocks scattered across the dirt. "Saturday and Sunday are for the Great Clean up. We spent the entire weekend clearing this court. Every rock, every weed, every piece of trash. It'll probably take us two full days of manual labor before we can even think about throwing a ball."
"Two days just for cleaning?" Nobu groaned but he didn't look like he was going to back down.
"Two days of building our home" I corrected him. I looked at my two best friends. We were starting from the bottom. No coach, no money and a ticking clock. But if we followed this plan we wouldn't just be a pretend club anymore.
Wakana reached out, placing her hand in the center of our circle. Nobu followed suit without hesitation. I placed mine on top feeling the callouses on my palm.
"To Eiko-sensei" Wakana whispered.
"To the Koshien" Nobu added.
"To the first pitch" I finished.