“I only put in a tenth of my effort during regular practice! Ryan, let me tell you, my potential is beyond your imagination. As long as I have a good partner, making it to Koshien is practically guaranteed!”

“……”

The two of them started arguing across the table. Henry Carter quickly pretended to send an email, took out his old phone, and looked up some information. Only then did he start to understand a bit.

Japan is different from China; in elementary and junior high school, there’s no specialized sports school system. Instead, there’s an in-school club system. Especially after entering high school, students who choose sports clubs become even more polarized—one group does it purely as a hobby, while the other treats it as a lifelong career. The latter is much more serious; it’s no longer just for fun.

At the same time, in terms of academic courses, Japanese high schools are often divided into special advancement courses, general courses, sports and arts courses, and business courses.

The special advancement course is an elite class aimed at prestigious universities, a class the school focuses on to build its reputation by nurturing top students.

The general course follows the curriculum set by Japan’s Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, and is the standard class for normal teaching. Seventy percent of students are in this track—these are the most typical high schoolers.

The business course adds some practical skills on top of the general curriculum, such as accounting, game programming, and digital office work. The goal is usually universities with special requirements, or for those who have little hope of further education and are preparing to enter the workforce directly after high school.

Finally, the sports and arts course focuses on subjects like sports, music, and fine arts, with the goal of becoming athletes, musicians, manga artists, and so on. These students participate in club activities more actively and with greater enthusiasm, and the school schedules give them more time for specialized practice so they can achieve outstanding results in competitions. Japan has a comprehensive national high school competition system, with professional judges, venues, dedicated public websites, national TV stations and newspapers covering the events, special reporters for interviews, and detailed personal profiles for all participants. The competitions cover almost every sport and art activity that high schoolers can take part in.

As for the audience, that goes without saying. In the summer national baseball tournament, the number of spectators for the finals even surpasses that of professional baseball, and the influence is huge. The scenes in anime and TV dramas where reporters chase after high school star athletes are very much real. Sometimes, when a player wins the championship and returns home, thousands of people line the streets to welcome them, treating them like heroes.

So, based on these tournaments, students who participate and perform well can receive direct recommendations for university admission as special talent students. For some “underachievers” who aren’t academically gifted but are ambitious for top universities, this is almost their only hope.

Henry Carter glanced at the explanations online and couldn’t help but be amazed. Japanese high schoolers clearly have a much richer daily life than Chinese high schoolers. With China’s large population and low university admission rate, the competition is extremely fierce. It’s nothing but studying, studying, and more studying—trying to do these things is just daydreaming.

He sat there, smiling as he listened to Walker and Smith bicker for a while, then interrupted them: “I’ve thought it over and decided not to join any club activities.”

If that high school boy named Henry Carter were still here, he might have joined a club. But now that he was occupying this body, this life should be his own, and he should be the one to decide!

Chapter 4: Play? Not Play! Study!

His original name was Henry.

The surname “Bei” is quite rare, said to originate from the Jiang surname, but there haven’t been any famous people in history with it, so many people probably haven’t heard of it.

The name doesn’t sound very auspicious—though it’s not nice to say so—since “北” (north) and “背” (bad luck) are homophones, and Henry’s life really was unlucky. His parents died young, his relatives were unreliable, and he grew up struggling on the meager inheritance his parents left, social welfare, and secretly working part-time. He gritted his teeth and managed to keep studying—he was at least smart enough to know that, in his situation, the only way to change his fate was through education.

China in the 21st century isn’t the China of the 1980s anymore; social classes are becoming more rigid, and it’s not so easy to make it from nothing.

He didn’t try his luck in society, but chose to study instead. Although he didn’t get into a top university, given his situation of working and studying at the same time, it was already quite an achievement. If he hadn’t suffered so much and endured so many cold stares from a young age, developing an especially tenacious character, he probably wouldn’t have made it. He might have even gone astray early on, become a delinquent, and ended up crushed by the iron fist of the people’s democratic dictatorship.

After barely making it through high school, life got much easier for him in college. At least he didn’t have to work in secret anymore, nor did he have to put up with unscrupulous bosses docking his pay for all sorts of ridiculous reasons. He took certification exams everywhere, worked as a tutor and a fast-food server to earn tuition and living expenses, all while planning for the future.

Even though life dealt him a bad hand, he never complained and always believed things would get better! His motto was “Character determines destiny, effort determines success or failure”—only by facing life with hard work can difficult situations gradually improve. Complaining is absolutely useless.

Instead of sighing and feeling sorry for yourself over a bad hand, it’s better to think carefully and find a way to win despite the odds!