He looked to the text below the image and read it aloud.
"Tetsuhiro Suzuki…"
"Why does that guy keep popping up?"
Ken felt that it was too suspicious to be a coincidence that the Suzuki Corporation kept appearing recently. First it was the World Cup, and then they sponsored the U18 National Team, even forcing the coaching staff to select the team without a tryout.
Now he found out that they were involved with the Warrior's sponsor who had ultimately forced his father to be removed from his Assistant coach position.
Ken felt as if he was onto something, but he was just missing a crucial piece of information.
He closed his eyes and focused, taking a deep breath in through his nose and out through his mouth. Without the Academic Trait, he would need to focus completely if he wanted to get to the bottom of this.
After a few minutes of silence, Ken's brow furrowed.
'That guy was being weird with Daichi at the closing ceremony. It was only for a fleeting moment, but I remember the guy holding onto his hand for a lot longer than usual…'
Ken's eyes snapped open in the next moment, feeling as if his head had been hit by a sledge hammer.
"Suzuki… That was Daichi's last name before he was adopted…"
"No way right…"
He quickly entered Tetsuhiro's name into the search engine and began to scour the results. The 4th article showed a picture of his wife and child who looked to be around the same age as him.
After looking closely at their features, Ken slumped back on his chair with a confounded expression on his face. The two had a similar build and some features in common, enough for him to base his theory on it.
"Daichi is Tetsuhiro's illegitimate son?" Ken murmured in disbelief.
However, something seemed a little off. If he was Tetsuhiro's son, why didn't Daichi's mother collect some form of alimony or child support from the guy?
Suddenly, his well crafted theory seemed to be falling apart right in front of his eyes. Before it could slip away, Ken once more found himself scrolling through articles about the Suzuki conglomerate.
An hour later, his eyes were bloodshot as he continued to scroll through website after website, searching for some kind of information that he could use to tie Daichi and Tetsuhiro together.
Apart from the guy acting weird in front of Daichi and his company sponsoring their teams, Ken had no hard evidence to build his theory around. It was a stretch at best to say they were blood related.
After all, Suzuki was the 2nd most popular family name in Japan with over 1.8 million people sharing it. The odds of them being related were slim.
Just as he was about to turn in for the night, Ken saw an article that piqued his interest.
"Heir to Suzuki Corporation killed in a gruesome accident."
He clicked the link and saw the face of the man who died, his eyes widening considerably.
"Tatsuhiro Suzuki…"
The resemblance of this man to Daichi was uncanny. It truly looked like an older version of his best friend with a different hair style.
Just to be sure, Ken read the rest of the article and happened upon the date of the accident.
"January 2001. 2 months before Daichi was born."
Suddenly, everything seemed to line up in Ken's mind. It was as if he'd found the missing puzzle piece that brought it all together.
"Tetsuhiro is Daichi's uncle and must have noticed him at the U18 World Cup. He tracked down Daichi's biological mother and found out the details about the adoption."
Ken continued his murmurs, as if speaking it out loud was completing the puzzle.
"He convinced her to try and take Daichi back, threatening Dad in the process. When Dad didn't give in… He used his connections at BnA to have him removed from the Yokohama Warriors."
He let out a deep breath, feeling as if he'd just cracked the case. Yet there was no joy in his expression at this revelation. If anything, finding out Tetsuhiro's involvement in the plan had just made everything far more complicated.
A man with such power and authority would be a nightmare to go up against, especially with his wide array of connections.
To make matters worse, his father seemed to be truly despondent at this moment. Perhaps it was because he just lost his job, but he'd never seen the guy in such a state throughout his 2 lives.
"But what's his plan now?" Ken muttered.
It was one thing figuring out what had happened, but that was only half the battle.
What was Tetsuhiro's goal when he got Chris fired?
Ken began to feel a headache creeping up. Even if he found out all of this, it didn't change the fact that his father no longer had an income and would likely find it difficult to find work in the future thanks to the Juggernaut from Suzuki Corporation.
He grit his teeth, feeling helpless once more.
'If only I was a pro already…' Ken thought in his heart.
If he was a professional baseball player already, his income would easily allow his parents to retire, even if he entered the NPB. The problem was, he needed to graduate High School first in order to be eligible for the draft.
There was still 18 months until this could happen, yet his father didn't have that long.
If he were to make a conservative guess, his parents shouldn't have more than 3 months savings to last them. Which meant he needed to think of something fast in order to get money into the house.
While he could work a part time job, there was no way he'd be able to support the household. Not only this, he'd also lose valuable time needed for training his body.
Without a word, Ken retrieved his phone from the desk and scrolled through it before arriving at a name on his contacts.
RING RING
RING RING
"Hey Grandpa… I need your help."