Ken and Daichi returned home in high spirits. After having beaten Fujimi Junior High, they would now face the Seigakuin in the final this coming weekend.
"That's my boys!" A loud crackling voice echoed from the cellphone that Yuki was holding in her hand.
Yuki had called Chris straight after hearing the news. She had even walked away from preparing dinner, something that was rare for her.
"I'll be back from overseas by Friday, so your mother and I will be able to watch your final game of middle school." The excitement was evident in Chris's voice as he said these words.
Both Ken and Daichi's faces lit up upon hearing the good news. Daichi in particular felt a little nervous. This would be the first time that Chris and Yuki would see him play in an official match as his adoptive parents.
He had never experienced anything similar in his life before, which meant he felt a lot of pressure. However, Daichi would not let such pressure ruin such a precious moment.
"That's great Dad! Maybe we can go celebrate after we win." Ken said with a cheeky grin.
"Oho, confident are we? Daichi, make sure your brother doesn't become arrogant after you guys win. HAHAHA."
Yuki couldn't help but shake her head. Instead of telling their son to be modest, her husband was busy fanning his ego.
"Okay okay, that's enough excitement for today. You two need to go to bed early tonight so you can recover. You have final exams for the semester next week so I expect you to be studying all day tomorrow." Yuki said, unceremoniously hanging up the phone to stop the laughing coming from the other side.
At the mention of exams, both Ken and Daichi's moods plummeted. Whatever high they were riding on after winning such an important game was utterly destroyed beneath the weight of their academics.
Seeing the boys reaction, Yuki stifled a giggle. "Your grades have improved a lot Kenny, so maybe I'll let you both off with only half of Sunday studying."
Ken's eyes lit up, "Thanks mom!"
Yet a moment later a loud grumble filled the room, drowning out all other sounds. Both Ken and Yuki turned at the same time to stare at Daichi who went beet red after his stomach had let out such a noise.
"I think that's my queue to finish making dinner." Yuki said while trying to hold in a laugh. Ken however, was less tactful, choosing to laugh uncontrollably.
He held his sides and tried to speak between fits of laughter, "I thought Godzilla had come to life!"
Daichi's eyebrow twitched and he couldn't help but pinch his Big Bro to relieve some of his embarrassment.
"Ow! Oi what was that for?" Ken called out.
The two then began to scuffle just like real brothers, however despite being the little brother, Daichi was able to overpower Ken.
"Tap! I TAP"
Daichi felt vindication as he saw Ken panting on the floor after he had successfully wrestled him into submission. He didn't hold any hard feelings, in fact he felt safe and comfortable enough to behave in such a way.
This was just another indication that his life had changed for the better. He now had a real family that he could rely on, who he could laugh and joke around with and who he could share the successes and failures of life with wholeheartedly.
As Daichi's thoughts were full of gratitude and thanks, his stomach once again let out a voracious roar. Thus another bout of laughter ensued from the defeated Ken who was still upon the floor.
"Big Bro…" Daichi's face looked scary as he inched closer towards Ken.
"A-AH NO! I'm sorry!"
Another wrestling match took place, yet the end result was the same.
The three ate a sumptuous dinner and then the boys returned to their rooms for the night. Like Yuki had said, today was an exhausting one and now that they had filled their bellies, sleep was calling out to them like an old friend.
Ken laid in bed and fought off the desire to roll over and enter sleeps embrace. He had been waiting for a moment when he was free to check the mission rewards.
#NEW MISSION: Free the baseball slaves of Fujimi
*Task 1: Reignite the Fujimi players passion for baseball [Complete]
REWARDS:
>Skill: Charismatic Air [Claim rewards]
>B-grade Stamina Elixir [Claim rewards]
>Unlock potential Shiro Masuda (Catcher)
>Unlock potential Kenji Taguchi (Pitcher)
[Congratulations, you have been awarded 1x B-grade Stamina Elixir and the skill Charismatic Air]
[Charismatic Air: People are drawn to you and are more likely to listen to your suggestions.]
Ken read the small description of his new skill and felt a bit exasperated. While the name of the skill sounded good, the description did little to explain how it worked or what the effects were.
He didn't know if it was referring to just baseball, or even how useful the skill would be. Ken decided to just leave it be, focusing on the second part of his reward which was the B-grade Stamina Elixir.
Stamina was the one thing that he had trouble increasing. It had only increased by a single grade since he had been given the Major League System all those months ago.
Without hesitation, he selected it from his inventory and awaited the pain that usually came after using an Elixir. However, he was surprised a moment later when the expected pain did not come.
Instead, he felt his muscles vibrate individually on their own for a little while, causing him no discomfort at all. Yet after a few moments he suddenly felt a wave of exhaustion over his whole body, as if he had just run a marathon.
He was already dead tired, so he quickly fell asleep without the ability to check on the effects of the Elixir.
The next morning, Ken woke up to Daichi shaking him and calling out his name.
"Ken, it's time to get ready for school."
At first it was a gentle nudge but after receiving no response, Daichi used more and more strength until he was almost using his full force. If it wasn't for the loud snores, Daichi might have even thought that Ken had already gone ahead to the afterlife.
Finally Ken began to stir, feeling a bout of nausea from the constant rocking back and forth.
"W-What is it!?"
Seeing that he had finally awoken, Daichi let out a sigh of relief.
"It's already past 7, we need to get ready and head to school. It's finals today."
"HUH!?"
Ken quickly got out of bed, still looking half asleep. He searched around the room with a sense of urgency and quickly began to get dressed into his uniform before heading to the bathroom to brush his teeth.
Daichi tried his best to contain his laughter, seeing the frenzy that his brother was in now. He let out a whistle as he head down the stairs and sat down at the dining table for breakfast.
After only a couple of minutes, Ken raced down the stairs and said hello and goodbye to his mother before putting his shoes on.
"Where are you going?" Yuki asked with a confused expression, seeing that he was in his uniform.
Ken stopped in place and turned to his mother, before moving his gaze to Daichi who was sitting at the table. He could see a mischievous light in his eyes as he let out a laugh.
It was only when Ken saw that his brother was not in his uniform that things finally started to click into place.
"It's Sunday today isn't it?" He said in exasperation.
"Yes it is." Yuki answered.
She saw the amused expression on Daichi's face and began to put the pieces together. She stifled a laugh and turned back around to continue washing the dishes, not saying another word.
Ken took his shoes off and headed back up the stairs to get changed. It was likely that his 11 hour sleep was an aftereffect of using the Stamina Elixir the night before.
Since his body was not used to sleeping for so long, it made sense as to why he was so groggy and fell for such a petty trick. He opened the door to his room and couldn't help but grin.
As he was getting changed, he quickly brought up the system window and checked out his status.
MAJOR LEAGUE SYSTEM
SYSTEM LEVEL: 2 (1280/1000 Major points to level up)
NAME: Ken Takagi
AGE: 15
TALENT ASSESSMENT: B-
POTENTIAL: D (S+)
MAJOR POINTS: 1280
[You have consumed: B-grade Stamina Elixir.]
[Stamina grade has been increased by 4!]
USER STATS:
>Physical Fitness: B+
>Pitching: F (B)
>Fielding: C+
>Game Intelligence: C+
>Mental: B+
>Skills: 7
PHYSICAL FITNESS: (Avg. B+)
Balance and Coordination: B+
Agility: B-
Strength: A-
Stamina: B+
'Whoa, my fitness grade has been bumped up to B+ after taking the Stamina Elixir.' Ken felt a surge of happiness after seeing his stats. In the short span of 4 months he had managed to improve so much thanks to the system.
He also had enough Major points to level his system. Considering he would be spending the whole day studying and the finals were only a week away, he decided now was the best time to do so.
#SYSTEM ALERT
>The user has chosen to upgrade the system.
>1000 Major points will be deducted to upgrade the system.
>System will shut down for 24 hours in which all functions will be unavailable until the upgrade has been completed.
[Would you like to commence the upgrade now?]
[YES/NO]
He selected the Yes option without hesitation.
#SYSTEM ALERT
>The user has confirmed an immediate upgrade of the system.
>1000 Major points have been deducted.
SYSTEM UPGRADE INITIALIZING
SHUTTING DOWN TO INSTALL UPGRADE…
Ken waited for a few moments before trying to access the system. Yet no matter how much he tried, nothing would pop up. Despite this, he didn't feel any different which filled him with confidence.
He was worried that his capabilities would return to normal once the system shut down which was why he had been putting off this upgrade for so long.
Once he was changed, Ken headed back downstairs and had a delicious breakfast with his family. Daichi could still be seen chuckling every now and then, seemingly pleased with his little prank this morning.
The two then spent majority of the day studying together. Since they were in the same grade and same class it made things even easier.
It was a tedious day, but they were able to make it through the grueling study sessions with each others company. Daichi was pretty smart and never really struggled even in high school, whereas Ken was quite the opposite.
However, with his improved mental capacity he found it much easier to memorize and understand the important parts. This was reflected on his mid-terms which he had performed well on, even his mother had been surprised by his improvement.
Soon enough it was time for bed after hours of cramming. Ken did not waste any time considering the system was still shut down so he couldn't do any image training even if he wanted to.
He soon fell asleep, imagining the kind of changes the system would undergo after successfully upgrading.