“Hmm?”
He saw a blond girl with pigtails wearing their uniform, waving at him enthusiastically. She had brown eyes and a cute smile, only accentuated by the small touches of make up strategically placed on her face.
The problem was, he had absolutely no idea who this girl was.
“Oh don’t look at me like I’m a stranger.” She said with a bright smile.
Before he could even react, the woman grabbed his arm and hugged into him.
His arm was suddenly surrounded by something soft, instantly making his teenage body react. Ken’s face turned bright red and he felt a stir in the pit of his stomach.
Only after a good 10 seconds he was finally able to react, snatching back his arm and glaring at the woman.
He suddenly felt anger and a bout of humiliation since he had no control of his responses. If it wasn’t for his Poker Face skill, he would have taken this out on the woman in front of him.
“Tee hee. Thanks for playing along.” She said, sending a wink his way.
After that she walked in the other direction, leaving Ken flabbergasted yet still seething.
‘What the hell was that about? Was she trying to embarrass me?’
He had never met the woman before, so why would she target him like that?
Ken felt as if he was missing something, but he had no one to ask for more information. So instead of dwelling on it, he continued on his way to the faculty office.
“Alright hand it over.”
Hitomi Inoe held her hand out, a bored expression on her face. Her previous bright smile and bubbly personality seemed to have vanished, replaced by a cold mask.
A teenage boy fished in his pocket for his wallet and pulled out a few notes, handing it to the girl in front of him.
“J-Just remember not to tell anyone about this.” He stammered.
“Tsk whatever.” Hitomi scoffed before snatching the money and walking in the opposite direction.
The boy didn’t feel offended by the treatment, in fact he seemed to be in a great mood all of a sudden.
“This will do the trick.”
***
“Hmm, this is really in depth.” Seiji Hanada mused, combing through the report in front of him.
Ken stood silently by the side, waiting for the coach to finish browsing the information.
Inwardly, the coach was rather shocked. He had been a professional trainer and evaluator for NPB teams, yet this kid’s data was already so comprehensive.
He also had something similar, yet not in as much detail. Instinctively he knew where his players were lacking due to his experience, whereas Ken was merely a student, yet he showed great potential.
‘If he wasn’t so good at baseball I would have told him to focus on becoming a trainer for a club.’ He thought, rubbing the stubble on his chin.
“So you want me to take over the physical training?”
Ken bowed his head in response, “I’m sorry for doing this on my own coach. I should have consulted you to begin with.”
He had never really expected for the whole team to join in on the extra curricular training the system had made for Hiroki, yet it quickly got out of hand.
Coach Hanada smiled sincerely. He would be lying if he said that he wasn’t a little worried since those kids could possibly overwork themselves, however he had been quite pleased with their improvements lately.
If he could manage the training there would be much less risk of any injuries or accidents occurring. He would also be able to see their work rate and improvements in real time, allowing him to more effectively coach in the long run.
“Okay okay, there’s no need to be too formal. I’ll gladly help with your additional training.”
Ken breathed out a sigh of relief, allowing a smile to creep onto his face.
Having the coach on board would be a big boon to their improvement.
“Don’t take it too easy on us. We won’t be able to improve unless you push us to the limits.” Ken added.
“Oho? I’ll make you regret those words.” He said with a smile.
Although Ken laughed in response, he wasn’t laughing by the end of the day.
Not only him, it was also the whole team who was in a similar situation.
“K-Ken… What. Have. You. Done.”
Yusuke who was running alongside Ken said between gasps of air, looking as if he was about to hurl.
‘Must. Not. Fall’
Ken completely ignored his friend, going through his own mental battles in order to keep working. He couldn’t allow himself to show any weakness, especially since this was his idea in the first place.
If he were to go down now, he might just lose all of the respect he had gained over the past few months.
He continued his run around the field, passing by the human shaped roadkill that looked suspiciously like his friend Shiro on the way past.
FWHEEE
“Alright well done everyone!”
Coach Hanada yelled out, getting everyone’s attention.
“Thank goodness…”
“I’m beat.”
“S-Someone help Shiro! I think he’s dead.”
“Stay away from the light Shiro!”
True to his nickname, the White Zombie was able to reanimate and make his way back to where the coach was standing, albeit looking half-dead.
Coach Hanada looked at his players and let out a smile. Using this training session he was able to figure out their limits, cross-referencing his own data with Ken’s. Having now seen it first hand, he was even more impressed by the young Ace.
“Okay, we’ll have some light targeted training tomorrow and the day after, before the game on Saturday against Shonan Senior. Make sure you rest up tonight so your bodies can recover.”
Hearing that they would have some lighter workouts, the players let out a sigh of relief.
“Huh!? Light workouts? I can—”
Suddenly Makoto who had spoken out was tackled by the players surrounding him, preventing any other words from coming out of his mouth.
“What was that?” Coach Hanada asked, raising an eyebrow in question.
“Nothing Coach!”
Like an army battalion, the entire team answered at once.