Ken woke up to the sound of his door closing in the morning. He groggily took a peak onto the floor where Daichi had been sleeping on a futon last night. Seeing that he was not there, Ken looked at his alarm clock which was reading 5am.
His sleepiness quickly disappeared as he remembered that the system had been upgraded the night before and should now be available to use again.
With a hint of excitement he opened it up.
#SYSTEM ALERT
SYSTEM HAS SUCCESSFULLY UPGRADED TO LEVEL 2.
MAJOR LEAGUE SYSTEM
SYSTEM LEVEL: 2 (0/1000 Major points to level up)
NAME: Ken Takagi
AGE: 15
TALENT ASSESSMENT: C+
POTENTIAL: D (S)
MAJOR POINTS: 0
USER MENU:
-STATS
-MISSIONS (1 unread)
-SYSTEM SHOP (Locked)
-LOTTERY (Locked)
-IMAGE TRAINING (new)
Ken was a little bit underwhelmed after seeing that his System shop and Lottery pages were still locked, yet he instantly recovered after seeing the brand new option that had been added to his menu.
"Image training…" He mumbled, opening it up curiously.
IMAGE TRAINING:
#NOTICE: USER'S CONSCIOUSNESS WILL BE TRANSPORTED INTO A SPACE CREATED BY THE SYSTEM WHERE HE CAN PRACTICE REAL GAME SCENARIOS. USER WILL BE ABLE TO TEST AND HONE SKILLS WHICH WILL TRANSLATE INTO THE OUTSIDE WORLD. ADDITIONALLY, MAJOR POINTS ARE AWARDED FOR COMPLETING ACHIEVEMENTS WITHIN THE IMAGE TRAINING.
#NOTICE: IT IS ADVISED THAT USER ENTERS THE IMAGE TRAINING WHEN HE WILL NOT BE DISTURBED.
DOES THE USER WISH TO ENTER IMAGE TRAINING?
[YES/NO]
'Holy crap!' Ken exclaimed inwardly after reading the description.
He had heard the phrase image training before, it was something that a lot of professional athletes were proprietors for. However, he was 100% sure it was not this exaggerated.
With this in his arsenal, he could experience real game scenarios in his mind all while gaining Major points. This would certainly come in handy when there were times he couldn't play baseball.
"Ugh." Ken groaned after his last point, remembering that his team would likely face some punishment in the form of disqualification. If Coach Yoshida was correct, then they would be lucky to just miss out on the spring tournament.
"As long as I can still compete in the Summer tournament…" Ken said, trying to manifest positive energy. Now that he had gotten Daichi into baseball a lot earlier, it would really hamper his development if he missed out on a whole year of competition.
Of course they could still practice together, yet it would not yield the same results.
Ken contemplated entering the Image training to check it out, but he had to get up and go for a run. He inwardly set a reminder to check it out before sleeping tonight.
Just as he was about to haul himself out of bed to begin his morning routine, the door opened. Daichi stuck his head in, checking up on him.
"Whoa, Ken are you okay?" He asked, a hint of shock in his voice.
"Yeah why?" Ken was perplexed, what kind of question was that.
"Dude, go check the mirror. You look like a panda."
"Panda?"
He quickly raced to the bathroom and stepped in front of the mirror. It seemed that the punch thrown by Yoshinao had given him a black eye, hence the panda comment.
Ken washed his face, feeling a little tenderness around his cheekbone, yet it was nothing he couldn't handle. Having lived with a debilitating shoulder injury for 8 or so years had really changed his perspective and pain tolerance.
After having a bit of a laugh with Daichi, Ken quickly got dressed and they headed downstairs. He was met with the soft sobs of his mother, who quickly wiped her face as she heard them approaching.
"Mom? What's wrong? Why are you crying so early in the morning?" Ken once again was perplexed.
"N-Nothing. Go and have your morning run." She responded, shooing him away.
"Huh?"
"Come on let's go." Daichi urged, dragging Ken to the front door.
He reluctantly went along, putting his runners on and heading out onto the street. The two began to jog, yet Ken felt as if Daichi knew something that he didn't.
"Man, what's wrong with mom this morning? Usually she's chipper after her morning coffee."
"Ah. That might be because of me." Daichi said, feeling a little guilty.
"Huh??? Didn't we just have a happy occasion yesterday? How have you made her cry already?" Ken was flabbergasted. Even when he was a turd in his previous life, he had rarely made his mother cry, yet Daichi had succeeded in a single day.
"I asked permission to change my last name…" Daichi said quietly, feeling a little embarrassed.
"Oh."
"…"
"Yeah, that checks out." Ken said simply. In truth he was a bit shocked by the revelation, yet he didn't want to make it awkward for his new little brother.
"I guess it's the next step in your evolution. Maybe when you start your old family you can change your name to Oki…"
(This is a pun in Japanese. Daichi's last name of Suzuki = Bud Tree - Takagi = Tall Tree - Oki = Big Tree)
"…"
The two jogged in silence for a moment before breaking out uproarious laughter, startling a stray cat which quickly ran off into an alley.
An hour or so later, the two arrived back at home and showered before getting dressed for school.
"Ah man, I'm so hungry." Ken complained, making his way down the stairs.
He saw his father sitting down at the dining table reading the newspaper as he usually did in the mornings that he was home. Chris turned his head, his facial expression flickering for a moment before returning to normal.
"Ken, I'm terribly sorry. We are all out of bamboo for breakfast this morning so you'll have to settle for bacon and eggs." He said with a straight face before returning to his paper.
Muffled giggles suddenly sounded from the kitchen and Daichi beside him.
Ken stood still in puzzlement for a moment, before remembering the black eye he was now sporting thanks the punch he had received yesterday, making him look like a panda.
"Ha ha." Ken let out a sarcastic laugh before heading over to the table and helping himself to some breakfast. If he was being perfectly honest, he too enjoyed the joke, yet his father didn't need anymore encouragement.
The four ate their breakfast before Ken and Daichi made their way to school.