***
Ken and Daichi returned to the locker room some time later. The Recovery Elixir had been taken and although there were no immediate effects, Daichi did not question his brother.
"I've never seen grandpa that angry before." Ken said, remembering the fierce expression on the older man's face.
"Yeah… I think that's the first time he's raised his voice at us."
"Well as long as you learned your lesson." Ken said, stretching. He dug into his bag and pulled out his phone only for his face to pale a few moments later.
"You should check your phone…" Ken said anxiously.
Daichi picked up his phone and saw that there were almost 50 missed calls and a bunch of messages from Miho. Only now did he realize that he'd messed up big time.
"Ah crap, I'm in trouble."
He quickly called his fiance back and was forced to apologize many times.
Ken decided to call Ai and let her know that he'd be home soon.
"Yeah Daichi is fine, he should be talking to Miho now. We'll be home soon, did you take care of Michael and Rachel?" Ken asked, remembering his younger friend.
"They went back to their hotel. Michael lost his voice from cheering so much." Ai replied with a giggle, "he really is your number 1 fan."
*DING*
Ken's body froze as he heard the familiar notification sound from the system. It had been some time since he'd last heard it and a sense of dread crept up from within.
Perhaps a year earlier he might have been excited after hearing the sound, but not today.
"Okay, we'll see you soon."
Ken hung up the phone only to see that Daichi was still talking to Miho on the other side of the locker room. Since he was distracted, Ken decided to open up the system and see what the notification was about.
[Michael Thompson has met the conditions to come under your mentorship.]
# MENTEE LIST:
>Shiro Masuda
>Stephen Adams
>Michael Thompson
NAME: Michael Thompson
AGE: 19
TALENT ASSESSMENT: SSS
POTENTIAL: EX+
USER STATS:
>Physical Fitness: SSS+
>Pitching: B
>Fielding: EX-
>Game Intelligence: SSS
>Mental: EX
Skills: 0 (2)
[Please select two skills to impart]
Stealth Runner: Enhances user's base-running instincts. Grants +2 grade to Agility when attempting to steal bases or take extra leads.
Slugger: Increase strength by 4 grades when the ball is struck with the middle of the bat
Lively Fastball: Your fastballs will come alive, moving unpredictably through the air. Requires flexible fingers and exceptional motor control.
Showdown: Allows user to assign a member of the opposite team as a target. When pitching to the target, all grades increase by 2.
Zone Mastery (Legendary): Grants the ability to perceive the strike zone with absolute clarity, enhancing both pitching and batting accuracy.
Ken's jaw dropped as he saw the unexpected notification. Who would have thought that this would happen with Michael?
With his last two mentees Shiro and Steve, they had needed to play together for some time before he could impart a skill to them. For this reason, Ken thought that this was one of the prerequisites to activate the function.
However, seeing Michael's name appear entirely debunked his theory.
'This is great… Two skills and one is a legendary. Just how lucky is that kid?' Ken thought, a smile creeping onto his lips.
The first choice was obvious, how could he pass up imparting a legendary skill to Michael with a clear conscience? However, the second would require some thought.
It was at this point that Ken realized he had no idea about how Michael played. After all these years, he'd never watched the kid play, making him feel quite guilty in that moment.
Ken pulled out his phone and dialed Michael's number. If he couldn't make a decision on his own, he would just ask Michael what he would prefer.
"Hello?"
Michael's raspy voice came out from the other end of the phone. It seemed that Ai was right about the guy losing his voice from cheering all night long.
"Hey Michael, its Ken. What did you think of the game tonight?" he asked with a grin.
"It was great! You guys were so cool. But I'm a bit worried about your brother, is he okay?"
Ken chuckled, "He's fine, don't worry. I have a question for you if you don't mind answering. It might seem out of the blue…"
"I'm an open book, ask away."
"If you had a choice, would you rather be able to steal bases easier, or become a slugger?" Ken asked seriously.
"Hmm? I guess stealing bases since I'm a lead off hitter." Michael replied honestly.
"Great! That's all I wanted to know." Ken said, "make sure you get some rest and come over to the house tomorrow morning for breakfast. You can come earlier if you want to join our workout."
After the call, Michael hung up the phone and blinked a few times in disbelief. It was still surreal that his idol had his phone number, let alone called to learn more about him, even if it was a random question.
"What did Ken want?" Rachel asked curiously.
"He asked me a hypothetical baseball question… Would I rather be a slugger or be able to steal bases easier. It was definitely a random question…" Michael replied in a raspy tone.
"Does he always do stuff like that?" Rachel asked, raising an eyebrow, "it seems kind of weird."
"No, this is the first time. He also invited me to workout tomorrow morning and have some breakfast, are you coming?" Michael added.
"Sure, Ken's mom makes the best food."
"Mmm." Michael nodded, hopping off the bed. "I'm gonna go shower and head to bed, we're up early tomorrow morning."
He let out a stretch and headed towards the bathroom before closing the door. Soon enough, the sound of running water entered Rachel's ears as she relaxed on the bed.
However, after around 15 minutes she felt something was weird.
"Michael, why are you taking so long?" she opened the door only to let out a shriek a moment later. On the floor of the shower was her unconscious boyfriend.
"MICHAEL!"