Yet seeing that she was still being stared at intently, she quickly composed herself.
"H-He took him from me! I was taken advantage of by that man… He came to my house and forced me to sign away my parental rights." Sachiko yelled out, holding her head in her hands.
Tetsuhiro was silent for a while, as if taking in all of the information. He knew that he couldn't trust her words completely, yet his mind moved quickly.
After a few minutes of scary silence, he opened his mouth.
"I have a proposition for you…"
***
"It's getting late, I should probably get home soon." Ken said reluctantly.
He held the woman in his arms tightly as their fingers intertwined. They'd been sitting like this for a while, enjoying each others company.
"Just a little longer…" Ai said softly, not wanting him to leave.
Ken smiled and agreed with a chuckle.
There was a span of silence between the two, yet it wasn't awkward. Despite not seeing each other for so long, they communicated pretty much every day via messages.
Ai laid her head on his chest before speaking.
"I was worried about you for a while." She said softly.
"Hmm? What do you mean?"
"Well, it seemed like you were pulling away from me. It was like you were a different person almost." Ai admitted.
Ken frowned a little.
"And now?"
Ai lifted her head and turned her gaze towards him, a small smile creeping onto her face.
"You're back to normal now."
As she said those words, she leaned in and planted a deep kiss onto his lips, causing whatever response Ken had lined up to be forever lost.
After spending another 15 minutes together, Ken left the house and said his goodbyes. Ai was reluctant, but she still sent him off with a smile.
On his way back, Ken began to reflect on Ai's words. Without noticing he had began to retreat inwards, shutting others out like he had done in his previous life.
Just the fact that Ai could notice it even though they were so far away was an indication that it wasn't something small or insignificant.
'I need to be careful…' Ken thought to himself gravely.
He didn't want to end up like his previous life after pushing everyone away. Even if he made the Majors in this life, it would mean nothing if he didn't have his family or girlfriend to share his success with.
Ken returned home feeling much better than he had earlier that day. Not only did he get to spend some time with Ai, he also had a way forward to break out of his rut.
***
DING DONG
The school bell rang, bringing an end to classes much to the delight of the students.
Ken and Shiro left their class and headed towards the baseball field for club practice.
"Why have you got that?" Shiro asked, pointing to USB stick Ken was carrying.
"I wanted to do some film review with the coach after practice." Ken admitted.
There were only 3 people that he trusted to help him with his pitching form. That was his Grandpa, his father and Coach Seiji Hanada.
Not only did they all have professional baseball experience, but his current coach actually specialized in sports science. Out of the three, he would probably be the most knowledgeable when it came to tweaking one's form for maximum gain.
"Eh? What film? We don't have any tournaments coming up until the end of next month." Shiro asked, tilting his head in question.
Ken shook his head, "This is all film of me pitching."
"Huh? Why would you want to look at that?"
"Shiro, be honest with me." Ken said, stopping in place.
"Do you think my pitching has gone backwards since I came back from America?"
Since Yuta had graduated, Shiro had been promoted to starting catcher. He had improved tremendously in the role, mainly due to his hard work and determination to get better.
Shiro's face stiffened for a moment, almost as if he didn't want to give Ken the bad news. Yet seeing the earnest expression on his friend's face, he couldn't bear lying to him.
"Well… Yeah. For some reason your pitches lack the same liveliness and power that they used to. I thought it might be from an injury or something, but you never mentioned anything."
Shiro finally admitted his true thoughts, yet Ken was not angry. In fact, he respected his friend even more for not trying to meddle in his affairs.
Ken placed his hand on the guy's shoulder and smiled.
"You're a good friend man."
"Eh?"
Shiro looked at him suspiciously. What kind of person would say such a thing after receiving such a harsh feedback.
"Did you hit your head last night or something?" Shiro asked, trying to inspect Ken's head.
Yet Ken had grown a lot taller in this past year, currently standing at 6'3 or around 190cm tall.
Ken slapped away his hand in annoyance.
"Can't you just take a compliment?" He asked, giving the guy a nudge.
"Nah, it's weird when you say it."
"Weird!?" Ken feigned being offended, placing his hand on Shiro's shoulder in response.
"Oh my goodness Shiro, your muscles have gotten so big~" He said teasingly.
Shiro couldn't help but shiver at those words, causing him to want to back away as fast as possible. Yet he couldn't pull away from the vice grip attached to his shoulder.
"You must be working out every day, you're such an inspiration!" Ken continued, his words sounding straight out of a bad theater play.
"H-HELP!"
Shiro's expression fell as he felt Ken's odd tone caress his psyche.
Just when he thought that he would have to continue suffering, he heard a female voice from behind him.
"What are you guys doing?"
"Eh?"
Ken turned to see Kaori staring at him weirdly from behind.
"Ahem… I gotta go~" Ken said before shooting off towards the baseball field.