Not even wanting to speak, Yuki pointed at the food on the table.
After eating, Ken caught up on some much needed study. The increase in his mental grade had been a tremendous boon, allowing him to remember things a lot clearer.
Unfortunately for him, it wasn't to the point where he could remember the exam answers from his previous life.
Once it hit 9pm he packed everything away and hopped into bed before entering the Image Training and selecting the batting training.
Since there was not a free for all option, he had to face the pitcher version of himself on the mound. However this was not a bad thing, especially since the pitcher never needed to take a break or even recover the ball.
Plus, the point of mental training was to imagine facing a pitcher and trying to hit their pitches.
After about an hour and a half, Ken was done with his 500 swings. Since it was amateur difficulty, the pitches were around 140km/h and were a mix of fastballs, sliders and curveballs.
Thankfully the system counted what his stats were and displayed it on the window in front of him.
STRIKES: 140
SINGLES: 83
DOUBLES: 63
TRIPLES: 18
OUTS: 94
FOULS: 67
HOME RUNS: 35
"Not too bad."
Ken looked at the counter and was pleased. Since he was swinging at every single pitch, it was hard to gauge just how well he had performed throughout the practice.
Most of his fouls and outs were done so off balls, which made him feel slightly better. Of course he also received strikes for swinging and missing at breaking balls, but it was all experience that he could take with him.
He brought up the batting mission while he was at it, wanting to see how much progress he had made.
#BATTING MISSIONS:
> Hit 1000 bunts successfully - 250 Major points + Silver Lottery ticket [Claimed]
> Hit 1000 balls into outfield [397/1000] - 250 Major points + B-grade Stamina Elixir
> Hit 3000 foul balls [453/1000] - 250 Major points + Silver Lottery ticket
> Hit 1000 sliders [182/1000] - 250 Major points
> Hit 1000 curve balls [199/1000] - 250 Major points
> Hit 1000 fastballs [579/1000] - 250 Major points
> Hit 1000 home runs [49/1000] - 2000 Major points + A-grade Strength Elixir + Gold Lottery ticket
A wry smile climbed onto his lips as he saw the missions. The rewards seemed to be a little outdated now since a lot of his stats had been upgraded to the A and S grades.
However, at least he knew that the system offered Major points in exchange for Elixirs that he could no longer use.
He was also rather far away from completing a lot of the missions thanks to focusing on his pitching for the last month. But he had faith that by the time he finished the second Ascend to the Peak mission that they would all be done.
"I'll just have to be consistent."
Ken's thoughts drifted to the idiom that Rome wasn't built in a day, feeling it resonate with him deeply. As long as he continued to work hard, he would be able to forge the path towards his goals.
***
Ai woke up to the familiar sound of muffled old school rap music downstairs, causing her to stir awake. She looked over at her clock and saw it was 5am which she had expected.
Every morning her father would be up from the early hours, preparing dough for all of the pastries he would make for the bakery that day. This had been the case ever since she was little, therefore she didn't have much of a reaction.
She never needed an alarm clock since her dad would only start his music at 5, otherwise he would face his mothers wrath.
Ai headed downstairs, sending a muffled greeting to her father who was too busy rapping along to his music to hear her.
"Hayaku shiro, hayaku shiro kono baka yarou" Tetsu sang along, wielding his rolling pin enthusiastically.
If anyone else was to see the burly man rapping whilst wearing an apron and covered in flour they might laugh, however Ai was used to this scene and able to ignore it.
Today was just like any other day yet she was feeling a hint of excitement, despite just waking up. It was going to be the first baseball game of the new school year for their club, a momentous occasion, even if it was just a friendly match.
"Morning mom."
Ai greeted her mother who was currently immersed in the ledgers, armed with a steaming cup of coffee. Despite her husband being a morning person, Naomi was the opposite.
Even though they had been in the baking business for almost 15 years, she still needed a few shots of coffee to function in the morning.
"Mmm"
Receiving the usual grunt in response, Ai headed to the bathroom and washed up.
'He'll only be a relief pitcher today, so maybe I'll be able to spend some time with him while he's on the bench.'
With these thoughts in mind she began to get ready, wanting to look cute for the day.
By the time she left the bathroom it was already 5:30, just in time for the bakery to open to customers.
"Ai! Can you help your father bring in the pastries?"
"Coming."
She entered her fathers den where the old school rap music was still playing. Usually her father would see her come in and point to which of the baked goods to bring out, however this time he completely stopped what he was doing to stare at her.
His jaw dropped slightly, looking as if he had just seen a ghost.
"W-Why the hell are ya wearing makeup? Are ya off ta' see a boy?"
His thick accent seemed to get even deeper as he uttered those words.
Ai instantly felt her face redden, however she puffed out her cheeks and quickly took the tray of pastries and left the room, leaving a stunned Tetsu.
"I ain't ever seen her wear makeup before" he mumbled.
"Oh my goodness Naomi, is this your daughter? She's grown up to be so beautiful."
One of the old ladies who were waiting in the shop called out after seeing Ai walk in with the pastries.
"Thank you so much Grandma, of course she takes after m—"
Naomi's words stopped abruptly after she turned to her daughter, her expression morphing into one similar to Tetsu's.
Seeing her mom react in such a way as well, Ai felt even more embarrassed.
'Can't I just wear make up without being gawked at?'