The feeling of victory is sweet.

If anything could be sweeter than winning, it must be the honor of being a champion.

Even though just a month ago, I felt such joy on the grounds of Koshien, when the championship flag of the Kantou Conference was in hand, Lin Guanglai still felt a rush of excitement.

After Kenshu Yasuda and Shinjiro Shigetsugu respectively received the championship plate and certificate from the conference committee, the chairman personally awarded each player of Waseda Jitsugyo with a commemorative medal.

With the heavy medal hanging around his neck, Lin Guanglai held the championship flag in one hand and gently rubbed the surface of the medal with the other, with a smile appearing on his face from time to time.

For the Waseda Industrial Baseball Club, this spring, they were undoubtedly the biggest winners among all high schools in Kantou and even all of Japan:

Senbatsu High School Baseball Tournament champions, Spring Tokyo Tournament runners-up, Spring Kantou Conference champions—their participation in any competition ended up starting from the finals.

Such excellent results were undoubtedly a boost for the players on the field, allowing them to face the challenges ahead with even more confidence and a greater thirst for victory.

After the championship awards ceremony, the next was the runners-up award ceremony.

Although these results were already the best for their school in recent years, when the Narashino players looked at the runners-up medal on their chest, they still felt a bit empty inside.

Of course, they knew their own strength was very strong; therefore, from the beginning, they participated in this Kantou Conference with the mindset of winning and returning home.

Especially the semi-final, where they achieved a dominant victory over Nihon University with a score of 9:1, it gave Narashino's players boundless confidence, solidifying their determination to win the championship.

But in this just concluded final, they lost completely.

Their ace pitcher exhausted all his efforts, pitching the whole game by only dropping 1 point, but the batting lineup couldn't support the ace, and the entire game was completely suppressed by Lin Guanglai.

Watching the Waseda Jitsugyo players celebrating with full vigor not far away, the Narashino players silently kept this scene in their hearts—if they could meet again at Koshien this summer, they vowed to return the bitterness of today's failure.

With the successful conclusion of the last event of the spring season, the summer season was quickly approaching:

In early July, the local summer tournaments across Japan would officially begin—hundreds of high school teams would engage in fierce competition, vying for the entry ticket to Summer Koshien, symbolizing youth and dreams.

Compared to the high tolerance of the spring season, summer games highlighted the cruel side of Takayama events: whether strong or weak, whether star or grassroots, whether elite teams or ragtag groups, everyone enjoyed the same chance—either go all the way, or become a stepping stone on someone else's path to Koshien, ending the summer as just one of countless losers, even bidding farewell to high school baseball.

To many outsiders, the fact that this Waseda Jitsugyo could win the Senbatsu High School Baseball Tournament was already considered a complete success in their high school career; even if they won nothing in the upcoming Summer Koshien or even failed to pass the West Tokyo Conference, it wasn't surprising—such examples have occurred countless times over the years, adding one more won't make a difference.

Being a semi-finalist in the Summer Koshien, and a Senbatsu High School Baseball Tournament champion were achievements that many people couldn't acquire in their entire lives, and even many professional baseball stars were the same. Thus, in the eyes of some experts, Lin Guanglai should spend more energy in the next two years on improving his skills and adapting to the intensity of future professional baseball as early as possible; rather than consuming his professional life aimlessly for amateur events like Koshien.

Lin Guanglai didn't agree with those opinions; on the contrary, he believed such views were nothing more than one-sided conjecture by those who haven't truly experienced a life filled with baseball and were inferring results based on the process.

People always say those players who shone brightly and won multiple championships during high school often fade into the crowd after entering professional baseball; while many players who were insignificant in high school could shine brightly in professional baseball.

But Lin Guanglai's only thought towards this was: why, why not have it all?

Just like Matsuzaka Daisuke in high school, also a young ace, he accomplished the "Triple Crown Sweep" during his high school years, did that affect his achievements in professional baseball?

In his first year of career, he achieved 16 victories, except for missing a season due to injury, in his 7 years in Nihon Professional Baseball, the number of wins never fell below 10.

Even amidst formidable hitters in the Major League, he set an Asia record with 18 victories in a single season and won victories in the World Series.

In the Japan National Team, he was a major figure in Japan's two classic championship victories, where being named the Most Valuable Player twice in a row was the best endorsement of him.

Since predecessors have proven they can do it, then why should Lin Guanglai believe he can't? If even such a spirit of progress is absent, then how can one have the motive to keep improving after entering professional baseball?

After the closing ceremony, Waseda Jitsugyo's members boarded a bus and returned to the hotel, where they gathered again for a celebration.

Minister Sasaki and supervisor Izumi Minoru told the players to rest well tonight and to return to Tokyo early the next morning—this Kantou Conference victory was the fifth in the 34-year history of the Waseda Industrial School, and the school prepared a small reward ceremony for them.

The next day, when the Waseda Jitsugyo players returned to their familiar campus, they found the school principal, Watanabe Shigeo, was once again personally welcoming their return.

In the presence of the entire school's faculty and students, Lin Guanglai handed the championship flag to his teammate beside him, then walked up to the podium in the large auditorium to start the championship report.

In his report, Lin Guanglai thanked everyone who supported them, also thanking the supervisor, minister, the manager who quietly contributed daily, and all members of the team.

Taking this opportunity, Lin Guanglai shared his heartfelt thoughts with everyone—it was also the current goal of everyone in the baseball club from top to bottom:

"Winning the Senbatsu High School Baseball Tournament is not enough for us to be called 'Japan's Number One'."

"In this upcoming summer, we still need to once again go to that dream stage!"

"Starting from this piece of land under our feet, we will become Japan's Number One!"

"The historical 7th Spring and Summer consecutive championship isn't just idle talk!"

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