Shiro walked up beside him and grinned, "Man you played so well in that final game, congratulations dude."
Ken didn't respond, his eyes still locked onto the changed version of Shiro in front of him.
"Alright… You've got some explaining to do." He said, placing his arm around the guy's shoulders.
They began to talk as they walked to class.
Apparently the team had been doing Ken's workouts every day while he was gone. At some point Shiro's body had beefed up and he amassed the confidence to ask Kaori out to which she surprisingly agreed.
This only served to boost his already burgeoning confidence, almost causing him to be unrecognizable in his current state.
Yet Ken was a little skeptical, at least until he remembered the skill he'd passed to Shiro during Koshien. With the Fatigue Management skill, he probably had a much easier time during training.
The two chatted all the way into class where everyone seemed to be looking at Ken like he was a celebrity. He had sort of gotten used to the looks since acquiring Charismatic Air, but it was almost 10 times worse now.
'Don't tell me Charismatic Air is even more effective now that I have some fame?' Ken thought, feeling a headache coming on.
Thankfully the bell rang and the teacher arrived not long later. Since Ken was at the back, the other kids couldn't brazenly look at him throughout class. Yet that didn't stop them during breaks.
"Congratulations on the World Cup win Ken!"
He was quickly inundated by his classmates at lunch time, making for an awkward scenario. Ken palmed them off with a few words and began to eat his bento, hoping they would leave him alone.
Despite it only being his first day back at school, he was already tired.
After what felt like an eternity, the bell signifying the end of school rang out, prompting Ken to let out a big stretch. He saw some of his classmates walk towards his table, about to start a conversation.
"Ah, I better get to club!" He announced, dashing from his chair and avoiding all of the students. Even Shiro was left for dead as he left the classroom in such a rush.
Soon enough he arrived on the baseball field only to see his Coach already setting things up.
"Coach!" Ken called out, happy to see a familiar face.
Seiji Hanada with his coarse stubble and bags under his eyes turned and saw Ken walking towards him.
"Haha! Well if it isn't Japan's U18 Ace. So nice of you to join us." He said with a grin.
"It's good to be back." Ken admitted, though it was only a half truth.
While he was looking forward to club activities, school was a bit annoying.
The two chatted for a while before the rest of the team arrived.
Yusuke, Makoto, Yuta, Tatsuya, Jun. All of his teammates that he won Koshien with gave him a warm reception, making him feel at home.
"Man when you hit that intentional walk pitch I was like… ORYAAHHHH!" Makoto said, slapping him on the back and laughing heartily.
When Hiroki arrived he was also inundated by the rest of his teammates. Since he was in his second year, he was closest to the 3rd years of the team.
It took a while but finally everybody had settled down enough to begin their training session. After only 20 minutes, Ken was beginning to sweat and couldn't help but smile.
After 2 weeks of no heavy training sessions, it felt good to be able to push his body to the limits once more. Not only that, he was in good company with his old team.
'I missed this…'
***
Two weeks later, Ken was sitting in his room and closed up the text book he'd been reading from. Beside him was a mountain of notes which covered everything for the next year of studies.
Formulas, curriculum, lesson notes. Basically whatever he could remember through his memory recall and whatever he could find on the Internet he had studied profusely over the past 2 weeks.
While it had left him feeling somewhat drained, he knew that it would be well worth it in the long run. He'd also worked on his baseball knowledge while he had the chance, bumping his game intelligence to the A-Grade.
Ken retreated downstairs for dinner with his parents. Since Chris had returned from America, he'd been preoccupied looking for work in the meantime since the U18 operations had ceased for now.
Tonight, he came back with good news.
"You're looking at the new Assistant Coach for the Yokohama Warriors!"
"WOW!" Ken rose to his feet in shock and happiness, almost not believing his ears.
Apparently Chris had received a glowing recommendation from Coach Takashi and received a call from the General Manager of the Yokohama Warriors with the job offer.
Not only did it pay well, he wouldn't have to leave the country for his job.
Sure it involved some travel, but he would be home for at least 4-5 days per week which was much better than before.
"I'm so happy for you honey." Yuki said with a bright smile.
The news invigorated everyone as they began animatedly talking amongst one another.
"Ah, you should tell Daichi too." Ken said, not forgetting about his little brother.
"I called him earlier, don't worry." Chris said with a grin.
After dinner, Ken showered and went back up to his room. Now that he had got his affairs in order, it was time to make the decision.
He scrolled through the calendar on his phone, swiping past the months until he found the date and created an alert.
"April 20th, 2019 8:45pm… Let's hope everything goes okay until then." He muttered.
Ken opened his system window and began going through every part of the system. Things that he'd taken for granted just a few weeks ago were going to disappear for a time.
However, this might be the opportunity that he was subconsciously looking for. If he could continue his domination it would give him peace of mind, silencing the voices in his mind.
Yet would it turn out this way? Only time would tell.
#SYSTEM ALERT
>The user has chosen to upgrade the system.
>100,000 Major points will be deducted to upgrade the system.
>System will shut down for 13,000 hours in which all functions will be unavailable until the upgrade has been completed.
[Would you like to commence the upgrade now?]
[YES/NO]
"Yes…"
#SYSTEM ALERT
>The user has confirmed an immediate upgrade of the system.
>100,000 Major points have been deducted.
SYSTEM UPGRADE INITIALIZING
SHUTTING DOWN TO INSTALL UPGRADE…
Ken sat in silence for a while as he stared at the ceiling.
'Mika are you there?'
…
"I guess not."
End Volume 3 - World Cup