The rest of the day seemed to drag on for Ken who found himself staring out the window just like old times. Yet instead of looking at the scenery, he now had the status window of his system hovering in front of him.
MAJOR LEAGUE SYSTEM
SYSTEM LEVEL: 3 (3120/10000 Major points to level up)
NAME: Ken Takagi
AGE: 16
TALENT ASSESSMENT: A-
POTENTIAL: C (S+)
MAJOR POINTS: 3120
USER MENU:
-STATS
-MISSIONS
-SYSTEM SHOP
-LOTTERY (Locked)
-IMAGE TRAINING
-IDENTIFY
USER STATS:
>Physical Fitness: A
>Pitching: C+ (B)
>Fielding: B-
>Game Intelligence: B+
>Mental: A+
>Skills: 11
PHYSICAL FITNESS: (Avg. A)
Balance and Coordination: S
Agility: A-
Strength: A-
Stamina: A-
In the month that he had since graduation, Ken had been working hard on not just his physical training, but also brushing up on his game intelligence. In reality, he had no other choice since even after 4 weeks he had yet to receive any increases in his fitness, at least according to the system.
Which was why only his Game Intelligence had improved by two grades.
Ken was hopeful that the A-grade physicality enhancing elixir would be able to push his stats closer to the S rank. Although he realized that his stats were harder to increase the higher they became.
This also begged the question, were there grades higher than S? Ken had seen Daichi’s potential was at the SSS+ grade which was the highest he had ever seen, even costing him some Major points to be able to view his stats.
Ken had a feeling that there were ranks above the SSS rating, mainly because even with his S rated Balance and Coordination, he still struggled to consistently hit the pitches in his Image Training.
Since he was only batting against the amateur difficulty, it was the logical conclusion.
DING DONG
Ken was startled from his deep thoughts by the sound of the bell, signifying the end of class. Before he could even make a move to pack his things away, Shiro was already bouncing around in anticipation.
“Let’s go Ken!”
Holding back a laugh, Ken calmly placed his things into his bag and headed out the classroom.
***
Not long later, the two found themselves at the baseball field located on the edge of the school grounds. Seeing the familiar pitch where he had played alongside Daichi in his previous life seemed surreal.
However, this field had also been a source of his pain for many years. After injuring his shoulder what was once his safe haven had turned into a reminder of what he had lost.
“Ken? Are you coming?” Shiro turned around and spoke to Ken who had stopped in place with a vacant expression on his face.
“Yeah, coming.” Thankful for the interruption, Ken continued forward, gripping his bag tightly with his right hand.
After arriving onto the field, Ken saw a figure dressed in uniform holding a clipboard. Ken instantly recognized the man who he had looked up to, who had tamed his selfish and arrogant attitude in his previous life.
“Seiji Hanada…” Ken whispered, his tone filled with respect.
“Good afternoon Coach!” Once close enough, Ken placed his bag on the ground and bowed deeply in front of the man.
“Ah… G-Good afternoon Coach.” Shiro was startled, having not met this person before he quickly followed Ken’s lead.
“You…” Coach Hanada looked up from his clipboard, recognizing the two students who had caused him to be late to the opening ceremony this morning.
He placed his free hand on his stubbly chin and began to rub it gently in thought. His eyes were sharp and intelligent, contrasted with some obvious bags under his eyes from lack of sleep.
“Names.” He replied, turning his attention back to the clipboard.
“Ken Takagi.”
“Shiro Masuda.”
The two responded one after the other.
“Takagi?” Coach Hanada’s expression seemed thoughtful for a moment, as if he was doing his best to remember such a name.
“Coach, you know my father Chris Takagi.” Ken said simply, attempting to reboot his memory.
“AH! Yes Chris, of course you’re his son, I can see the resemblance. It’s good to see that his son had inherited his mothers manners and not his fathers.” He responded.
Although his words may not have sounded too pleasant to the ear, a smile and reminiscent look painted his features.
The man in front of them was Seiji Hanada, someone who had worked with professional players alongside his father. Chris would send potential prospects to Coach Hanada in order to get an evaluation.
Coach Hanada was one of the main reasons he had decided to go to Yokohama High School after declining the Osaka Toin scholarship.
A moment later, another bunch of students arrived onto the field, causing the coach to move his gaze and size them up.
Ken also turned his attention to the new arrivals, his eyes focusing on one person in particular.
‘Yusuke…’
Memories flashed in front of his eyes as if they had just happened yesterday. Out of all of his teammates in his previous life, Yusuke was the one he hated the most, yet ironically they shared similar fates.
While Ken had gotten injured in high school, Yusuke suffered a career ending injury just days before he was set to make his professional debut in the NPB. Like Daichi, he was drafted out of high school, yet he fell just short.
‘I don’t know what’s worse, losing baseball in high school or just before turning professional…’ Ken mused internally.
“Looks like you’re all here. Say your names and then we’ll go warm up with the rest of the team.” He said.
After introductions, Coach Hanada took them to the changing rooms and gifted them a set of uniforms.
“Get changed and meet me back on the pitch. I’ll be testing you all on some fundamentals as well as your general fitness.” He said simply, walking out in the next moment.
After the coach had left, the 10 or so 1st year students did as they were told and began to get dressed. This was the case for all except Ken who made his way over to the freshman who was in the corner.
‘Ah, what’s he doing?’ Shiro looked on in puzzlement, was there a fight about to start already?