Ken began his walk back home, unable to enjoy the warm breeze as his mind was currently spinning. Everything had happened too fast for him to make sense of it.
'Did I really just get a confession from Ai?'
Since he had no experience with the opposite sex, he wasn't entirely sure how these things worked. Disregarding how the conversation ended, he felt perturbed about the situation he now found himself in.
It was clear that both his mother and Ai's mother had been conspiring to make them a couple. While it was commonplace for parents to try and matchmake their kids, he felt it was quite improper at this moment.
Of course his mother had no knowledge that her son had regressed and possessed the mind of a 24 year old at this moment.
He could not in good conscience take advantage of 16 year old girl, even if this girl was someone who he had a huge crush on in his previous life.
Ken subconsciously pulled out the piece of paper containing Ai's email address and read it a few more times. He thought it was cute that Ai would choose such an username since her name literally translated to the word Love.
'Do I message her?'
His jumbled mind debated if such a thing was a good idea. But if he left things as they were, it could become awkward at school and at club for both of them, possibly hurting the teams chemistry.
Before he knew it, Ken had already arrived home on autopilot. He saw the lights were off, which meant his mother was already in bed.
Ken breathed out a sigh of relief. He wasn't exactly in the mood right now to endure the inevitable rapid-fire questions from his mother.
Not long later he was in bed, still staring at Ai's email address.
"Maybe I'll just check up on her." He mumbled.
He then spent the next 30 minutes crafting a message before deleting it, over and over again.
'Damn it… This is harder than I thought.'
Eventually he got fed up and just sent a simple message.
[Hey, its Ken. Just wanted to say thanks for tonight, I had a lot of fun.]
"Haaaah, she probably won't reply." He said, letting out a small sigh and rolling over.
BUZZ
Almost as soon as he put the phone down, he received a notification.
[Hi! I also had fun, thanks for coming over :3 Sorry I stormed off at the end, my Dad was eavesdropping. But don't worry, I made sure Mom punished him XD]
Ken couldn't help but smile, imagining the scene of Tetsu being punished. He hadn't expected Ai to reply since it was so late already, with such speed as well.
He began to type back, beginning his first in-depth conversation with Ai. Since they were not face to face, she opened up a lot more, giving him much more insight into her as a person.
Before he knew it, it was already 11pm. He was just about to end the conversation before he read the most recent message from Ai, stalling his thoughts.
[Did you have time to think about an answer to my question?]
This time there were no emoji's, meaning it was a serious question.
Ken paused, unable to respond. He had been thinking about the question on his walk back home, evaluating all of the scenarios.
He didn't want to hurt Ai's feelings, but he also didn't want to lead her on or take advantage of her. If he was being truthful to himself, Ken really liked her.
However, that didn't mean he would throw away his morals for such a thing.
[Are you sure you want to spend more time with me? Everything I do revolves around baseball. Some even call me a baseball-idiot because it's all I ever think about.]
Ken sent the message, his eyes lingering on the phone for a little while longer. In reality he was feeling rather vulnerable right now.
[Of course dummy xD. Don't get me wrong, I didn't confess to you or anything. I just want to spend more time and get to know you lol.]
"Ah…"
Ken felt his face heat up in embarrassment. It seemed that he had jumped the gun, thanks to his inexperience.
He suddenly felt like an idiot. Why was he questioning his moral compass over such a small and seemingly insignificant request.
[Ok I agree to your terms. Since we live near each other we can start traveling home from practice together]
As Ken sent this message, he suddenly remembered why he hadn't done this previously.
"Crap. I usually stink after practice."
Before he could send another message, Ai quickly replied.
[It's a deal! Gtg goodnight :3]
"Ah…"
Ken massaged his temples. He would need to find a solution to this problem, otherwise he might ruin the budding friendship with his body odor.
He checked the time only to shake his head. His late night messaging meant he would only get around 5 hours sleep before he had to be up for his morning run.
"I'll deal with it tomorrow…"
***
Ken woke up the next day with bleary eyes. He slowly made his way to the bathroom in order to wake up, splashing some water on his face to speed up the process.
Just as he was about to head off for his run, Yuki bombarded him with questions about last night, something his tired mind was not ready for.
"Let's chat later Mom."
Yuki puffed out her cheeks in disappointment, yet she still agreed.
"Alright, but I want to hear everything when you get back."
Ken reluctantly agreed, heading off on his morning run shortly after. Thankfully, he always felt alive after a run, no matter the amount of sleep he had the night before.
When he returned he was forced to answer every one of his mother's questions before finally managing to retreat with the excuse of being late for school.
He stopped by the convenience store to pick up some antiperspirant deodorant, hoping that it would be able to mask his sweaty teenage self at the end of practice.