Shiro grit his teeth and kept his eye on the ball. He'd been a catcher ever since elementary school, so his form was already good, he just needed the confidence to succeed.
PAH
"Oh that wasn't that bad…" Shiro muttered, surprised that nothing had gone wrong.
"Alright, next one will be a little faster." Ken stated.
He could tell that Shiro was nervous about catching for him, which was something that he couldn't allow to stick. Therefore he decided to slowly get the teen used to his top speeds by increasing the speed by increments.
After receiving the ball, Ken shifted his body and began his wind up.
PAH
Once again Shiro caught the ball easily, surprising even himself.
Ken continued to pitch his fastballs until they approached his max speed.
"Okay, next one is coming at full speed. Try and follow the ball."
'I can do this…' Shiro said inwardly, getting into his position. Now that he had faced Ken's pitches, he was starting to feel more confident in his abilities.
At the start of the season he struggled to see anything around 150km/h yet he had improved by leaps and bounds.
WHOOOSH
Ken's fastball ripped its way through the air, spinning quickly from the force.
Shiro's eyes widened as he did his best to follow the ball. Unlike all of the other pitches, this one wasn't controlled perfectly and would require him to actually move his glove.
PAH
The sound was like music to their ears as it filled the park with a bang.
"I-I did it!" Shiro quickly jumped to his feet, an elated expression on his features.
Ken felt a smile reach the corner of his lips. He hadn't seen his friend this happy for quite some time, despite him usually being one of the most energetic out of the bunch. Unless it was during training of course.
"I actually saw the ball and moved my glove to catch it since your control was so bad."
Ken's face stiffened in the next moment, hearing Shiro talk about his pitching. But he decided to drop it this one time since the kid was so happy.
"Alright nice work. I'll throw a few more of them, try leading me." He said, calling for the ball.
The two continued with around 40 fastballs all up, most of which were in the high 150km/h range. Out of all the balls, Shiro only mishandled 6 of them, all of which were in the first half.
Ken was amazed that Shiro could learn to catch them so quickly. Especially since according to the system, his pitching could be equated to a mid-tier college player.
"Now it's time for the main event. I'll be practicing my curveball."
Shiro nodded. He had come here with the intent of helping Ken, yet so far it had just been him receiving the help.
Inwardly he was grateful, so he decided to do his best.
Ken fixed his posture and looked at his grip, ensuring to hold it like he was shown the previous night.
Since he had done it in the Image Training, it had not yet translated outside of his mental realm. Even as he held the ball in his hands, it still felt awkward and foreign.
He closed his eyes, trying to remember the feeling that the system had shown him.
In the next moment he brought his knee up and stepped out, just like he did for every pitch. While the form and throwing action looked the same, the ball came out around 20% slower.
The ball flew through the air with top spin, yet it could not reach its destination, dropping a couple of meters in front of the makeshift home plate.
Ken frowned in the next moment, trying to get over the awkwardness.
"We might be here for a while Shiro." Ken said, a little apologetically.
"No worries! We'll stay as long as you need."
***
Later that day, Ken and Shiro dragged their weary bodies back to the residence. Ken had thrown close to 200 balls and was forced to pick up some Ice on the way for his shoulder.
Despite them both having the fatigue management skill, Ken did not want to take any risks. The two returned and moved straight towards the showers before Ken opened the system.
[Curveball: 77.1% proficiency]
He stared at the number for a while, trying to do some calculations in his head. Out of the 100+ curveballs he threw, there were only around 50 that would be passable at nationals.
Of course, that was against the best schools in Japan. If this was the prefecture tournament, the number would be around 70-80.
All in all, he was happy with the 9% increase for a single days work. While he may not be able to successfully reach 100% before nationals was over, he may still be able to pitch it every now and then.
Just as he was thinking about the possibilities, he heard the system notification appear.
*DING*
[Mentee Shiro Masuda has broken through to S-Grade Fielding]
[Shiro has received Skill: Hawk Eye]
[Hawk Eye: Gives user greater vision while in the catchers position]
'Hmm?'
Ken was caught off guard by the sudden notification. Not only had his training increased Shiro's catching grade, he'd also received a skill because of it.
'I wonder if he would have received the skill if he wasn't my mentee' He thought inwardly.
He waited for a few moments, yet did not hear a peep from Mika at all. Which meant she either couldn't tell him, or didn't want to.
However he didn't care too much. He was happy that he was able to cheer up his friend while also being given the chance to practice a new kind of pitch for his arsenal.
Once he showered and got ready, he went to the dining room just in time for dinner. He saw Hiroki, Yusuke, Yuta, Yuko and even Ai sitting at the same table not far away.
As they saw him enter, Yusuke waved vigorously.