Ken stared at the system window in front of him for a long time, his mind racing. His initial thought was to instantly hit the decline option and go straight to bed, hoping it would be different when he tried tomorrow.
If he accepted the upgrade, then he would lose the system for over a year and a half. He had never played a game without the system in this life, so he wasn't sure how he would play without it.
Would he still be able to throw 100mph fastballs? What about batting?
There were too many unknowns for him to make such a decision right now.
However, his insecurities began to float up to the surface. All those times he had thought the system was a cheat, or felt like he was not playing by the rules were brought to the forefront of his mind.
Instinctively he knew the answer. Once his system goes, he'll become just a regular player.
'You're nothing without the system.'
'You'll just become a failure again.'
'You don't deserve to have this second chance.'
Ken grit his teeth in frustration, trying to fight back against the voices in his head. Only now that this scenario had appeared did his anxiety and depression begin to rear its ugly head once more.
He quickly closed the system window and stared at the ceiling fan.
The truth was, he would be limiting himself if he did not upgrade the system. He could use both of his SSS Elixirs, but he would be capped at SSS+ for all of his grades.
While this might be good enough to play professionally, it would severely limit his potential.
Looking at it subjectively, it made sense to do the upgrade as soon as possible. This was especially the case since he was only in his first year of High School.
Getting it out of the way early would ensure he could try his hardest to apply for a scholarship in his 3rd year. In fact, the longer he waited, the worse off he would be in the long run.
'It's too much to think of right now…' Ken thought, feeling his temples throb from a headache.
'Mika, please use sleep protocol.'
[Understood.]
With that, Ken drifted off to sleep, his worries retreating for now.
The next morning, Chris went to pick up Yuki from the airport, leaving both Ken and Daichi by themselves.
"When are you going back to school?" Ken asked, helping himself to some convenience store food that they picked up earlier.
"Probably this afternoon." Daichi said, seeming rather sad about the whole affair.
Ken nodded. They had already missed out on the first 2 weeks of the semester thanks to the World Cup, which meant they had a fair bit of catching up to do.
Since it was Sunday, they only had a single day to relax before it was back to school.
"What are you doing today?"
"I need to study…" Ken replied simply.
Daichi stretched his body and yawned in response, "Well, good luck with that… I'm going to go have another nap." He said, disappearing up the stairs in the next moment.
Ken could only shake his head and chuckle. He had no doubt that the guy had been on his phone all last night messaging Miho.
As for Ken, he was serious about studying. While he would usually moan and groan about it, he was now graced with the Academic trait, making the task a lot quicker than ever before.
'Time to go study… Everything.'
Ken retreated up into his room and began the longest yet most efficient study session of his entire life thus far. He began to pour over the curriculum from this year and the next, with the intention of making notes and burning the information into his mind.
He did this because subconsciously, he'd already made the decision to upgrade the system. If he used this time to study, he could save himself a lot of pain and suffering for the next year without his new trait.
Ken was only interrupted at dinner time where the family ate their final meal together before Daichi needed to leave. Since everyone was still rather tired, nothing heavy was discussed.
"It was fun bro… I'll see you later." Daichi said, holding out his hand towards Ken.
"Remember our promise." Ken stated, brushing off the hand and going in for a hug.
"Mmm."
With that, Chris took Daichi to the train station in his car, leaving both Yuki and Ken at home.
"Where do you think you're going?" Yuki said, her voice sounding rather suspicious.
"Hmm? I'm just going to study mom." Ken replied. He still needed to make the most of his Academic trait while he had it, otherwise he would regret it.
Yuki was gobsmacked. Since when had her son been the studious type?
"C-Carry on then…" She replied, taking a seat at the table. Only now did she feel how much her sons had changed.
***
"Here he is! The World Cup MVP!"
Shiro's voice shrieked out loud, turning everyone's attention towards their direction.
Ken who had his back turned suddenly froze after hearing the familiar voice, yet he instantly felt his annoyance rise. For some reason, he tried to guess who was more annoying, Aki or Shiro.
Yet as he turned his head, his jaw almost dropped completely.
Standing in front of him was Shiro, but he looked different. His once short and childish build had changed dramatically, most notably his body shape.
His unassuming build had changed into a fit and slightly muscular exterior.
However, that was not the most shocking thing. It was another figure standing beside the guy.
"Kaori!?"
"Hi Ken…"
He looked down only to see Shiro holding hands with Kaori, like they were a couple.
'Don't tell me…'
Shiro turned to Kaori and whispered a few words. She then planted a kiss on his cheek before walking past and leaving a shocked and speechless Ken in place.
Ken looked towards Shiro with amazement.
"How…?"