"Mom I'm home."
Ken opened the door and was met with the delicious smell of curry wafting through the house. In any other circumstance he'd be ecstatic, however since he was already full to the brim with barbecued meat, he felt a little nauseous.
"Welcome home Kenny."
His mother poked her head around the corner and saw the sick expression on his face. Yuki's thoughts instantly moved to the worst case scenario. Without a word, she walked forward and hugged him tightly.
"Don't worry dear, you're only in the first year of High School. You'll get another chance to go to Koshien." She said warmly, consoling him gently.
"Ah mom… We won our game. We're going to Koshien in August."
"Eh?"
Yuki pulled herself back and held Ken at arms reach. She looked at him intently as if to check if he was playing a prank or not.
"Then why do you look like your pet hamster just died?"
Ken couldn't help but laugh at the absurd pet reference, yet his stomach was still groaning in protest.
After a few more follow up questions, Yuki finally believed that Ken's team had won their game. Her expression was wonderful as she gave him another hug, this time full of joy.
"I'm so proud of you Kenny. Just wait till your Father gets home, I'm sure he'll be just as excited." She said with a smile.
"I wonder if you'll play against Daichi's team at Koshien." She added.
"If we both keep winning, we'll face each other eventually." Ken responded with an expectant smile.
Yuki nodded before turning back to the kitchen. "I'll keep you some curry for lunch tomorrow since you've eaten already. Ah, that's as long as your father doesn't eat it all when he gets home late tonight."
She giggled, feeling very happy in that moment.
Ken thanked his mother, feeling a genuine smile creep onto his face. He hadn't seen her this happy since his father had left for America 3 months ago.
'If I can win at Nationals then Dad will have to do what he promised…'
He wanted both of his parents to be happy. Seeing how lonely his mother was during these 3 months, had only hastened his resolve to try and make things right.
Of course she had done her best to not seem down, but Ken wasn't so naive as to believe it.
"I'm a bit tired so I'm gonna shower and head to bed early."
"Okay Kenny~ see you in the morning." Yuki chimed back before turning her attention back to the food.
Ken retreated into the bathroom only to hear his mother humming a tune, her happiness evident.
A while later, Ken felt his body relax as he hopped into bed. Apart from his full stomach, he felt extremely content in this moment.
Yet there was an itch that he hadn't been able to scratch all day. Now that he was alone, he finally had the chance.
'Time to check the system…'
The moment he called for it, some notifications appeared in front of his face on a blue window.
*DING*
[Congratulations, user has broken through their limits and thrown a pitch far beyond what he was capable of.]
[Pitching grade increased by 3]
[New skill acquired: Limit Break]
[Congratulations, user has broken through to S- Grade Pitching]
[Received: 5000 Major points, 1 x Recovery Elixir]
Ken was assaulted by a wall of text the moment he opened up the system interface. At first he was puzzled, yet the further he read on, the brighter his expression became.
'Holy crap! I didn't expect this!?'
The biggest shock was that his pitching had broken through to the S- Grade out of nowhere. For the longest time he felt as if there was a wall blocking his progress which couldn't be broken by regular means.
It turned out that he just needed the right circumstances to evolve. If he used this line of thought then the more he was pushed by stronger teams, the quicker he would be able to improve.
Just thinking about all of the strong teams he would face at Nationals filled him with excitement.
"5000 Major points, a skill and… Recovery Elixir?"
He had never seen the Recovery Elixir before in the almost 18 months of having the system, so he was quite intrigued. But he quickly put it to the back of his mind, wanting to accept all of his rewards before he checked out the descriptions.
MISSION: Kanagawa Prefecture Tournament
*Task 1: Strike out 30 players [36/30] [Complete]
*Task 2: Hit 6 home runs [3/6] [Failed]
*Task 3: Make the finals of the Kanagawa Tournament [Complete]
*Task 4: Win the Tournament [Complete]
*Task 5: Win player of the Tournament [Failed]
REWARDS:
[Received 1800 Major points]
"Not too bad." Ken remarked, seeing as how he managed to complete 3 out of the 5 tasks successfully. Since there was no official judging panel for the player of the tournament, he assumed that the system would make its own decision in that regard.
However, that was not all. There was also the urgent mission he received during the last match, something that would have caused him great pain if he failed it.
#MISSION: Baseball's Honor (Urgent Mission)
DESCRIPTION: An opposing player is taking the game lightly, willfully placing their whims above those of their teammates and jeopardizing their success. System has deemed this unacceptable and requested you teach this arrogant player a lesson.
*Task: Humble the arrogant Carlos Toro by striking him out 3 times in this match and win the game. [Complete]
REWARDS:
[Received: S-Grade Physicality Elixir & Skill: Showdown]
Unable to wait any longer, he brought up his skill list and tracked down the brand new ones he'd just received.
Showdown: Allows user to assign a member of the opposite team as a target for the duration of a game. When pitching to the target, all grades increase by 2.
Limit Break: When certain conditions are met, user gets a temporary boost in all grades by 2. There will be a penalty after usage: All grades reduced by 1 for 5 minutes.