I (30), Who Works for a Black Company and Died While Regretting My Gloomy Life, Started Over From High School! - Chapter 50

Chapter 50 Special Training Begins!

“Well then, Coach Fumihashi-san! I’m counting on you!

“Yes, I’ll leave it to you! Now that I’ve accepted, I’ll do it with all my might!

When I bowed, Fumihashi-san turned her chest and said in a good mood.

She’ s pleased to be called a coach.

“Well then, let’s see what you’ve got, Nihama-kun! I’ll keep throwing the ball, so try to catch it!”

“All right! I’m embarrassed by my inability to catch the ball, but watch me closely!

I replied with all my energy and dashed away from Fumihashi-san.

Even though I was going to thank her, she was going to make me break my bones, and I wanted to at least show her how serious I was.

“I’ll go then!”

Fumihashi-san throws the ball underhand, and it rises above my head.

All right… referring to the brilliant catch by Fumihashi-san just now—

(There it is…!)

My spirits were high, but reality was not so kind.

The falling ball bounced mercilessly on the ground without even touching my glove.

“Hmm…? You tried to catch it, but you didn’t catch it…? Well, well, well, never mind, never mind!　Let’s move on!”

At the urging of Fudehashi’s cheerful voice, I said, “One more time, please!” And rolled the ball back to her.

And so—

We practiced catching flies over and over again.

At first her face was cheerful, but with each repetition, it became more and more somber, as if she was coming to some kind of realization.

“I’m sorry, Nihama-kun… I didn’t know…”

When the fifteenth attempt failed at last, Fumihashi-san opened her mouth gravely, as if ashamed of his ignorance.

“I thought being able to catch a ball was a standard human function, as commonplace as opening a doorknob…! I didn’t know there were people who couldn’t catch a ball like this … like a loose arm in a crane game…”

“Can you please stop insulting people with zero malice?”

I told her, who was too shocked to realize that she was being extremely rude.

“It’s not just me, most people who don’t like sports are like this. When I try to receive a ball in volleyball, it hits the side of my arm and rolls to the floor, and when I try to serve in tennis, I have a half chance of striking out.”

“So, that’s how it works…”

As if she had just realized the common sense of the world, she gulped.

It seems that people with a good sense of exercise have a hard time understanding the sensations of those who were not athletic.

“Well, well, well, but I’m starting to see some improvements. Your movement, form, and so on.”

“Oh, really? As expected of a former softball member!”

“Well… first of all, what can I do to help you, Nihama-kun?”

“Yeah?”

“You’re flapping your arms too much, so you can’t see the ball. When I catch the ball, it would be better if I catch it with a shuffle instead of a push and a shove.”
TLN: Not baseball/softball expert idk what that mean.

“What?”

Isn’t that explanation too sense-oriented?

“I’m sure that was a bit confusing. If I put it in words that don’t rely on my senses, it would be …”

She cleared her throat and continued.

“Don’t put your arms out when you move, just snap your glove to pinpoint where the ball will come swooping in. But the ball is a grapefruit, so open it with a large hand!”

“Even after all that, onomatopoeias account for about half of it!”

“Ugh… I’m sorry! In fact, I always end up explaining things like this, and my younger underclassman gives me the same look as Nihama did…!

It was indeed difficult to understand. The onomatopoeia rate was so high that even a certain legendary former professional baseball manager would be surprised.

But this was about as good as it gets.

“If you’re looking for the best way to catch a softball, you’ll want to look at… And I’m going to catch the ball by looking at the trajectory of the ball as it falls. Softballs are big like grapefruits, so I’m going to spread my glove wide?”

“Yes, yes, yes, that’s it! How did you know what I was talking about?”

“Well, I have a little experience…”

The “little experience” came from, of course, my experience as a company employee.

There were a lot of people in this world who left our understanding behind and talked as they pleased, and I often suffered from this when I was on the phone or in business meetings.

So, for example—

“This subject is fully agenda-driven and committed to results.”

” I will be doing this and that, and then I’ll be doing that and that over there at…! Pronouns everywhere.”

”Company A’s product B, you know! Put in the elements of C, plan D, and then use the sales method of E to eventually achieve the goal of F!” They were all a “flood of words”.

There are other types, such as “talking too fast and not understanding what you are saying” and “talking too fluently”, but organizing and translating such unintelligible speech is an essential skill for working people.

The current “onomatopoeic speech” like Fumihashi is a cute thing.

“All right, I’ll try to keep that in mind for now…!

“Yeah! And keep an eye on the ball! That’s what ball games are really all about!”

“Ah! Let’s try that again!”

I knew that it would be easier to find a solution if I worked with an experienced person rather than if I practiced blindly by myself.

As a courtesy to the girl who was kind to me, I picked up my glove and raised my spirits.