Ken tried again, trying to do as the coach said. Now that he had to think through every step of his pitching form, it made it a lot more difficult than he expected.
He was made to try time and time again until…
As he stepped forward, Ken felt as if his body was filled with power. Out of instinct, he leaned forward on his lead leg, his body almost spinning from the torque generated.
"Yes! Very good." Seiji exclaimed.
"Keep going, etch the feeling into your body."
Ken felt a wave of excitement as he quickly did as he was told. He tried a few more times, but he didn't get the same feeling as before.
He saw that the sun was beginning to set over the horizon and felt a little bad. Just as he was about to ask the coach if he needed to stop, he saw the expression on Seiji's face.
"Take your time, this is the most important step." He stated, watching on intently.
Ken felt a warm sensation flow through him at the coach's sacrifice. He wasn't sure that he would be able to be as patient as the man in front of him, but that only made him respect the guy more.
Only after another 10 minutes did he finally begin to catch the feeling he was looking for again.
"Mmm, very good. You did well Ken." Seiji said, pausing the camera.
"Thanks coach. Sorry for taking up more of your time."
With the extra training and now Ken's one on one, it was already past 6pm. The fact that his coach was willing to stay back for so long just showed what kind of person he was.
"Don't mention it. The sooner you get back into form, the better our team will be for it." He responded with a grin.
"Tomorrow we'll work on the next 3 steps. Until then, make sure you continue your shoulder exercises."
"Yes sir!"
Seiji shook his head and let out a chuckle. Ever since the guy had returned from the World Cup, he would often respond like this, making him feel like an army officer.
"Dismissed." He replied with a grin.
With that, Ken made his way home, not arriving until after 7pm.
"I'm home."
"Kenny, could you come here please."
His mother called out as he entered the door, not even greeting him like she usually would. It was at this moment that he knew his parents were prepared to fill him in on what was happening.
Originally he was a little taken aback. He thought that they would wait at least a week before getting him involved.
He peered his head around the corner and saw his mother and father both at the table, waiting for him. His father looked to be in a similar state as yesterday, though he seemed to have accepted his fate.
"Hey Ken, take a seat." Chris said, his features softening a little.
"Okay."
Ken took a seat across from them. If he didn't know any better, he might think that he was in trouble thanks to the atmosphere.
As if sensing this, Yuki spoke up. "Don't worry, you're not in trouble. We just need to tell you something."
Ken nodded in response, waiting for his father to speak.
"We originally weren't going to tell you anything, but you're part of this family and are almost an adult. I don't like keeping secrets, especially from the one's I love." Chris stated, his expression serious.
"We've run into some trouble with Daichi's biological mother. She threatened me a few weeks ago saying she was going to press charges for extortion and intimidation if we didn't annul the adoption of Daichi."
At this revelation, Ken's face morphed. While he had known that Daichi's mother spread rumors, he had not known this.
Seeing his son's reaction, Chris felt rather sad. He didn't want Ken thinking that it was his fault they were in this position, especially since it had nothing to do with him.
Before he could respond, Chris continued.
"Somehow, she managed to spread a rumor to the Yokohama Warriors sponsor. They in turn threatened to pull out their funding unless I was removed from my position in the organization." He paused, letting out a deep sigh.
"So they let me go yesterday…"
Ken nodded slowly, showing his father that he was following along. He wanted to wait until Chris was done before bringing to light the information that he knew.
Ken was silent for a while, though he felt a little guilty.
"I actually heard you guys talking last night…" Ken admitted, shrinking a little.
However, his parents didn't seem mad at all which was surprising to him. He thought they might admonish him, but they seemed too depressed to really care about it.
Seeing this, he continued. "Why did Daichi's mother go so far? Didn't she sign away her parental rights?" Ken asked, trying to gauge what his father knew.
Chris shook his head, "I don't know. Maybe she had a change of heart? Though I doubt it."
He looked towards his mother, but she seemed just as lost as his father. It seemed that they hadn't come up with a plan on the next steps to take.
"I did some research last night…" Ken stated, causing both his mother and father to look at him oddly.
Ken took a deep breath and began to explain what he had found the night before. He detailed the relationship between BeNA mobile games and Suzuki corporation before retelling his theory about Daichi's family.
Yuki's eyes widened as she tried to keep up with the words. She looked at her husband who just silently listened, his full focus on his sons words.
At the end, he frowned. He too had seen Tetsuhiro act weirdly towards Daichi at the World Cup closing ceremony. But something didn't seem to make sense.
"That's the bastard who's been messing with my family!?" Chris's expression darkened, his face taking on a scary light.
Ken shuddered. He'd never seen his father this angry before in his entire life.
It seemed his reverse scale had been touched.
Yet instead of losing control, Chris internalized his anger. There was no point in losing his cool in front of his family, they were on his side after all.
After a few moment's silence, Yuki spoke up.
"Why now though? Wouldn't the Suzuki family have taken in Diachi's mother after his fathers demise, especially if they knew she was pregnant."
"…"
"Unless… They didn't know she was pregnant?" He muttered.
Chris's eyes widened as he spoke the words aloud. The final puzzle piece seemed to slot into place, allowing them to see the full picture.
"So we can assume that Tetsuhiro only found out about Daichi at the World Cup and learned that we had adopted him. It sounds like he then used Sachiko as a pawn to deal with me…"
Ken frowned.
"But I don't understand… If he wanted a relationship with Daichi, why didn't he just reach out? Why was he targeting us when we were the one who saved him from Daichi's abusive mom?"
He felt it was unfair that such person could toy with their lives on their own whim.
"I don't know. Chances are he'll be the one to reach out to me soon and state his demands, likely using my career as leverage." Chris stated calmly, though his eyes still held repressed anger.