Ken woke up the next morning at 5am, feeling fresh. Thanks to his fatigue management skill, his body recovered much faster than before, as long as he had enough rest.
His mind quickly moved to what had happened last night within the Image Training.
After experiencing the curveball first hand, he had received a proficiency gauge.
[Curveball: 66.7% proficiency]
Ken was quite impressed that he had been given such a high proficiency to begin with, however it was likely due to his new skill that this was the case.
Amidst his good mood, he spotted Shiro who seemed to have had a better sleep last night. He remembered his friends expression yesterday and couldn't help but feel a little guilty.
He wanted to help his friend, but at the same time didn't want to upset him incidentally.
'Maybe I can ask him to catch for me? I need to practice my curveball otherwise I can't use it in games.' Ken thought to himself.
He mulled it over a little before nodding. While it wouldn't allow Shiro to play games right away, it would at least make him feel like he's being of use.
With that, he approached Shiro and tried to wake him up.
The short guy tossed and turned a little, resulting in some drool escaping from his mouth. Ken tried to ignore it and shoved his chest, only for his arm to be grabbed.
"S-Stop it Kaori-chan. I'm shy…"
Ken blinked a few times, feeling horror creep into his body as the guy caressed his arm.
'W-What the hell!?'
He tried to pull his arm away from the pervert, yet Shiro was holding on for dear life. He began to pucker his lips and raise his head in Ken's direction when suddenly...
THUD
Shiro flew across the room, colliding with one of the walls on the opposite side. He was upside down with his bum in the air, yet he still seemed half asleep.
The noise was enough to rouse some of the lighter sleepers, however Ken stealthily moved to where Shiro was and picked him up with one arm before leaving the room.
'This idiot… Here I was worrying about his mental state, and he's dreaming about a girl…'
Finally awake, Shiro looked at Ken with confusion as he was being carried like a kitten by the scruff of his shirt. He saw the annoyed expression on Ken's face and felt even more confused.
"K-Ken, what are you doing?" he asked meekly.
"We're training today."
Since they weren't playing again until the 5th day, there was some downtime. While most of the players would be going to watch the other games, Ken had other plans.
Shiro felt his body shudder unconsciously, yet he didn't have the guts to dispute Ken. It was only when he realized that he was still in his pyjama's that he spoke up.
"Are we going to train in our PJ's today?"
"Ah…"
Ken stood still in the next moment, realizing that he had yet to get changed as well. Shiro's antics had made him want to leave the room right away so he wouldn't wake anyone up.
He dropped Shiro to the floor in the next moment and cleared his throat, telling him to get changed. Ken also followed along and got changed into his running gear.
Around an hour later, the two returned to the residence. While Ken had a healthy sheen of sweat on his body, Shiro looked as if he'd been dunked into a lake on his way back.
Seeing him like this, Ken felt sudden vindication for the early antics he had to suffer through.
"Why are you. Doing this. To me" Shiro said between sucking in large gasps of air.
Inwardly he was feeling rather annoyed in this moment. It felt like Ken had been picking on him for quite some time, yet he never knew the reason why.
"Doing what? Taking you to train with me?" Ken replied, sensing some of the discontent within his tone.
"You know what I mean. Why do you push me around so much? Does it make you feel better about yourself?"
Shiro snapped at Ken after a few moments of silence. He was feeling rather depressed yesterday, questioning his usefulness to the team since he'd yet to play a single minute this season.
He thought that he would be happy just supporting the team from the background, as long as they continued to win. Yet it was quickly becoming clear that this wasn't the case.
Ken could feel that Shiro was serious, yet he smiled and turned to the short guy before placing his hand on his shoulder.
"Shiro my friend. Why would I go through so much effort to push you around if I didn't think you could handle it? We're going to be a battery next year, so I need you in good shape okay?"
Shiro blinked a few times, looking at Ken as if he just had a revelation.
'That's right… Yuta will be gone next year which means I'll be the starting catcher.'
He was so caught up in this season that he failed to see the bigger picture. While it didn't immediately show, jealousy had began to worm its way into his head.
There was no way that his friend would torture him just for the fun of it, at least not the Ken he knew.
Now that he thought of it, he treated all of his teammates the same way through the special training they had done. No matter who it was, they would all go through hell in order to improve.
Just as he was starting to feel regret from his earlier words, Ken gripped his shoulder tighter.
"Let's forget about your earlier words. I need your help."
Shiro felt grateful as he looked at his friends gaze.
"O-Okay, let's do it!"
*DING*
USER HAS MET THE CONDITIONS TO TAKE TEAMMATE SHIRO MASUDA AS A MENTEE
ACCEPT?
[Y/N]
'Huh? Take Shiro as a mentee? What does that mean.'